Book Eight, in case you don’t have Felix’s memory, begins with a description of Prince Turnus and all his warriors, so there’s no shortage of names, and it didn’t take him long to reach the third one, Messapus.
“There!” He smiled triumphantly. “That’s our password. Messapus.”
“Do you know the whole of the Aeneid by heart, Felix?” I couldn’t help asking. “I’m impressed! I mean everyone can do ‘Arms and the man I sing,’ but I couldn’t get through Book One, never mind all the way to Book Eight.”
“Most of it, yes. The Emperor used to set parts of it to music, and we had to listen to him rehearsing so many times, we ended up learning it by heart.”
“The Emperor?” Vedius looked scandalised. “Which Emperor? Not Domitian?”
“Hardly!” Felix laughed. “No, I mean dear Nero. The only truly civilised emperor we’ve ever had.”
Personally I always understood Nero was a monster, and was wondering whether to say so when Silvanius cleared his throat. “We’re getting off the point. Messapus is our password.”
After that the gathering broke up.
“All in all, a very productive meeting,” Silvanius declared, as we trooped out into the hallway, ordering our vehicles and collecting our cloaks. “We’ve made a good start, and we’ve got some plans to put into action. I knew I was right to suggest this sort of small high-powered gathering, Aurelia.”
“You were absolutely right, Clarus,” I agreed solemnly. What else could I say?
The sun was low as we set off for the mansio, and it made me uneasy. After all our talk of threats to travellers, I had no wish to be out on the road after sunset.
Silvanius suggested I stay the night at his villa, but of course I couldn’t be away from home that long. Vedius offered to escort me to the mansio, but I didn’t want him thinking I was some timid female too scared to go anywhere without his masculine protection, so I assured him we would be safe. But I wasn’t sorry that his route and ours were the same for part of the journey. We travelled through Oak Bridges together, and to the outskirts of town on our side, where his house and smallholding stood. When we said good-night outside his gate, I remember saying, “It’ll take more than a few barbarians to stop me travelling the roads.”
We hurried the mules along at a canter, the men on horses keeping pace one on either side of the raeda. The sun was setting in a golden haze, but it would be light for some time yet. The summer twilight is long here in the north, and we’d be home before full darkness came. I pulled my wool cloak around me; it was cool now, and I thought longingly of the fire that would be waiting for me at the Oak Tree.
For the first part of the way the road ran through farmland, fields of ripening barley and oats, grass meadows with sheep or cattle in them, and a few horse-paddocks too. Pleasant land, prosperous and well looked after.
But then we came to the oak woods, and I grew tense as we entered the thick gloom of the trees. We were still on the native road, and though the surface was good—Silvanius’ council had seen to that—the trees hadn’t been cut back from the road’s edge. I wanted to reach the good wide Roman highway, with its strips of cleared land to either side. You’re a fool to be out here like this, Aurelia, I thought, and I told Titch to use his whip and make the mules go flat out.
The tall old oaks seemed to crowd us in, closer and more threatening as the light faded, looming to left and right in a more or less unbroken line. No other roads crossed ours; there was just the occasional faint track, made by animals or woodcutters. Among the trees the shadows were impenetrable, and anything—or anyone—could be waiting for us unseen. I’m not one of these city folk who panic if they find themselves among a few trees, but when it’s getting dark and you’re feeling apprehensive, there are too many shadows, and too many strange noises. Every creaking branch and call of a night-hunting animal made me jump. Once we heard the faraway howl of a wolf, but it wasn’t wolves I was worried about.
Then the night was split by a loud and horrible scream from the trees on our left. A woman’s scream, fit to curdle our blood.
Titch pulled up the mules, and we all listened, torn between horror, curiosity, and fear. The scream came again, a dreadful sound; no words, just an animal noise, piercing and terrified. Someone was being hurt. Another attack by the Shadow-men? And on a woman this time! Common sense cried out that we should ignore it, but we all knew we couldn’t simply drive on and pretend we hadn’t heard.
I looked at my two guards. “That woman needs help, lads. Better go and see what you can do. I’ll stay here with the animals.”
“Right,” Bessus said, dismounting. “Come on, you two, if we’re quick we can catch the bastards.”
“Now don’t be too hasty,” Marsus began, getting down more slowly. “We don’t know how many there is. It needs thinking about….”
“No time,” Bessus answered, already heading into the trees. “Come on!”
“Wait.” Titch jumped down and threw me the reins. “Bessus, it could be a trap. To split us up, like. One of us better stay with the mistress. I’ll go with Bessus, Marsus can stay here. If you need us back again quick, Mistress, just whistle.”
It made good sense, and we three adults unquestioningly did what he suggested. That boy will be a general, I thought, as he and Bessus set off at a run into the trees. Marsus, probably much relieved, grasped his cudgel firmly and stood by the mules’ heads.
There was a narrow track into the wood heading in roughly the direction of the screams, but even so the two figures were lost to sight before they’d gone ten paces. Another scream shook the air. Bessus yelled “Hold on there, we’re coming!” and then the trample of their footsteps faded out and suddenly it felt very lonely.
An owl hooted close by, and another answered it from a distance. A few leaves rustled in the faint night breeze. Apart from that all I could hear was my own heartbeat, fast and loud.
But soon we caught the sound of returning footfalls, and saw figures emerging from among the trees. One…two…three of them, moving fast. Only as they came to the road we realised that none of them were Bessus or Titch.
Marsus thumped the nearest mule hard, and I cracked the whip, but two of the men leapt forward to seize their heads, so all the animals could do was rear up and kick. Marsus swung round to face the attackers and got in one good blow with his cudgel, but they all had swords, and they disarmed him easily enough. I put two fingers into my mouth and whistled as if my life depended on it. Which I suppose it did.
The tallest man snapped “Quiet, you stupid bitch,” and grabbing my wrists, pulled me roughly out of the carriage. One of his companions produced some rope and bound my hands behind my back. They tied Marsus’ hands too.
That’s something, I thought. They could have killed us already but they haven’t. They must want us alive—for now, anyway. And maybe Bessus and Titch have heard my whistle. I must play for time.
Then the leader said, “Right, boys. Kill them.”
Marsus let out a cry. I didn’t. To this day I’m proud that I didn’t, because believe me I wanted to.
The other two men moved, but not towards us; it was the mules and the two horses they were after. They slit the poor beasts’ throats so skilfully that they hardly had time to make a sound.
Would it be our turn next? My mouth was dry. But I couldn’t just stand there and say nothing.
“That was a cruel thing to do, as well as a stupid waste,” I said. “Those were valuable animals. I’d have paid you good money to leave them alone.”
The leader spat in my face. “We don’t want your money. You Romans think money buys everything, don’t you? But we don’t want anything from a stupid Roman slag. The animals are a sacrifice, an offering to the god of the woods.”
“Well I hope he appreciates it! If you don’t want money, what do you want? And who are you?”
“We’re the Shadow-men, and as for what we want, you’ll know soon enough. When the Chief gets here, you’ll be told. Till then, keep your mouth shut.”
“The Chief? The Shadow of Death, would that be?”
He leaned towards me for a heartbeat, staring into my eyes, his face twisted with hate. “If I had my way, Aurelia Marcella, you’d be dead already.” I could feel his hatred, radiating out of him like heat from a brazier. It was a horrible sensation, being the target of such loathing from somebody who didn’t even know me; all he knew was that I was a Roman, and that was enough to make him want to kill me.
But wait—he did know me, or at least my name. Gods, that meant these men had lain in wait for me—me personally, not just any Roman traveller who happened along. Why? Because I had Quintus Antonius as a guest at the mansio? Or because I’d just attended a secret meeting to make plans for destroying their war-band?
I felt slightly sick, as I leaned against the carriage side, watching his two companions wiping their swords clean. When they’d done that, all three of them stood silently watching us and now and then glancing down the road. One muttered “I wish he’d hurry,” but the others were as mute as the trees.
I looked at them carefully; I didn’t know any of them, but I felt I must try to memorise their appearance in as much detail as I could, to recognise them later. If there was a later….No, concentrate, Aurelia. Quintus Antonius will expect a detailed description.
The thought of Quintus calmed me down, and I surveyed the men like an officer learning the faces of a new cohort. They were typical natives, tall and square in build, dressed in drab homespun cloaks, but with good leather boots and sword-belts. Even without blue paint or armour, they had the bearing of fighting men.
The biggest one, the leader, had fair straight hair and beard, and a slanting scar on his right cheek, starting just below the eye. The next biggest had fair hair but a reddish beard, and he’d had his nose broken at some time in the past. The smallest was a head shorter than the other two, and he had regular features and exceptionally fair hair, almost white, and red eyes—an albino. I stared at each one in turn, but they didn’t meet my eyes.
Time dragged on. Where were the others? Had they heard my whistle, and could they do anything about it, two against three? I felt sure they would try. Unless they’d been caught too….It was almost dark by now; the stars were showing, and a thin sliver of moon, very low in the sky. And I was scared—no, not scared, completely terrified. But I wasn’t going to give these barbarians the satisfaction of seeing it.
“You won’t get away with this,” I said. Hardly very original, but I was pleased to find my voice was steady. “I’m supposed to be back at the Oak Tree by dark. When my people realise I’m missing, they’ll comb the woods till they find us. They’ll bring the hunting-dogs….”
“I told you, be quiet,” Scar-face snapped, and he slapped my face, hard enough to make my head ring and my eyes water.
“Don’t mess up the merchandise, sunshine,” I managed to say. “Your Chief won’t be at all pleased if you deliver him damaged goods.”
It was an arrow in the dark, but just for a heartbeat they looked shifty, almost scared. So the Shadow of Death wanted me alive and unharmed. Better not think about what he might want to do with me.
Then from the trees we heard trampling noises. My heart lifted, Bessus and Titch, at last! But out of the gloom came two more natives, dragging Bessus. His face was bleeding, and he was still struggling and trying to kick, but he couldn’t make any real impression against his captors, who were taller, and built like wrestlers. These were more men I didn’t recognise; one was dark-haired, with a black beard, and the other had long brown hair and small dark eyes.
And that left only Titch free. I sent a quick prayer to Diana that the boy wouldn’t try any crazy heroics; his job now was to stay free, watch what happened to us, and get help. Perhaps in the near-dark our captors hadn’t even noticed him. I would try and distract attention.
“Well isn’t this cosy? Now you’ve rounded us all up, would somebody mind telling me what it’s all about? You, perhaps?” I looked at the leader.
He slapped me again, and one of his men muttered “Go easy, Veric,” and got a venomous curse in return. The two new arrivals tied Bessus’ hands and pushed him up against the carriage, and he and Marsus and I stood there helpless, like beasts waiting for slaughter.
More time went by, and I could see our captors’ growing restlessness; they peered into the dark along the road, and shifted about, and exchanged glances. The owl hooted again, but otherwise the whole shadowy world was still.
And then, clear and shrill, we all heard a bugle. A cavalry bugle, calling “Rally,” the notes echoing through the woods.
By the gods! Titch! But surely he couldn’t pull off the same trick twice?
Our captors started and looked alarmed, glancing along the road. Veric turned on the white-haired man, and swore at him savagely. “I thought you said the road was clear,” he snarled.
“It
was
clear! Not a man or a beast….”
“Well it’s not clear now, is it? That’s a cavalry bugle blowing, if I’m not mistaken!”
“I tell you it was clear,” the small man stubbornly repeated. “We’ve been stood about so long, there’s been time for the whole ninth legion to march over from Eburacum. Where’s the Chief? We ought to be getting out of here.”
“How should I know, you stupid….”
“Calm down, Veric, they won’t catch us,” the broken-nosed man put in. “Just get the prisoners into these trees, then all the cavalry in the world can gallop about till they drop, and still never make contact.”
“That’s true.” Veric laughed nastily. “Once the Shadow-men hide you, you stay hid. And you needn’t look so pleased, you silly tart,” he added, turning on me. “Something’s coming that’ll wipe that smile off your face for good.” I’d been trying to look extremely pleased, as one would when expecting the army to come thundering to the rescue. I knew it was only one small boy, but they didn’t.
“We’ve got some cavalry staying at the mansio,” I improvised. “Ten of them. They’ve been hunting these woods today. Sounds as if they’ll be here any time.”
As if on cue, the bugle came again, and nearer. Not too close, Titch, I thought; just scare them, don’t let them catch you. You’re our only hope now.
“Let’s go then,” Veric barked. “Into the trees with them. Acco, stay here and watch, and mind you keep out of sight. Usual signal if we’ve got company.”
“We’re not going anywhere.” I wanted to spin things out, get a little more time for help to come, if there was any chance of it. “You’d better go though, Veric or whoever you are. Once the military get here, you’re dead. Run for it now, while you can. Otherwise….”
“Shut it!” Veric was really angry now. He drew his knife and for a heartbeat I thought he meant to stab me, but instead he grabbed my cloak, and wrenching it off me, he cut a long thin piece of the green cloth and gagged me with it. I tried to bite him, and I must have hurt his hand because I drew blood, but he didn’t seem to notice. The cloth tasted foul, and I could have kicked myself for being too reckless.
They started dragging us up the narrow path into the trees. We all struggled, twisted and kicked, trying to move slowly and make as much din as we could. In the end they all drew knives and pushed us forward with knife-points pricking into our necks. The track grew narrower and veered left. It was almost pitch black in the trees, but the men clearly knew their way, and urged us on in silence.
We moved slowly, but with every step we took my heart sank lower. I knew that in only a dozen paces we were hidden from the road; a few more twists and turns and we’d be lost for good in the trees. Titch would make it home to the Oak Tree if he was careful, and bring a search party out, but by then we’d be long gone, and nobody would ever find us. They would see the dead animals and the raeda, and even perhaps make out our footmarks for a short way, but following our trail any distance would be impossible in the dark. Maybe it’d be feasible tomorrow, for a good tracker like Hawk…but it would be too late by then. I felt despair closing in on me, as thick as the black trees.