Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 06] Druid's Gold (20 page)

“It’s a risk.”

“If we lose them then we backtrack along the track until we find sign.  Cassius will be letting us know if they turn off that track.” They headed their horses north east and dropped over the ridge. There was another track way heading north and Livius could see that, some way in the distance it joined the Roman road. “Well we have a track for part of the way. We will ride for a couple of miles.” He held his hand up at the weak sun. “If we keep the sun at our backs then we should get some distance between us and them.”

After two hours the column stopped and Centurion passed around a water bottle. “If you ladies didn’t bring any food then tough titty.  I am not your mother.”

Cassius had the olives and nuts but he had to keep those to mark the trail.  He had secreted some of the bread Nautius had provided at breakfast and he took some out. He offered half to Mocius who took it gratefully.  As they chewed Cassius scanned the track behind them.  There was no sign of horsemen and no cover.   He could see a ridge away to the east and to the west the land fell away to low lying damp ground. Cassius hoped that his Livius knew what he was doing for he sensed that they were getting close to the camp. The rest was only for a few moments and they started again. Cassius felt the stiffness in his legs as soon as they started to run.  He was a fit soldier but being fit for riding and fit for running were two different things.

Mocius saw his pained expression and he grinned. “It is good to see a horseman struggling.  The times we watched lads like you galloping off while were trudging through mud and rocks.  How we cursed you.”

“Well you have your revenge now.  Give me a horse any day.” 

The land began to climb again, away from the soft spongy turf, and Cassius could feel his calves tightening.  With a sickening feeling in his stomach he saw the Centurion’s left hand come out as they approached a fork in the path. They took the path which veered sharply west.  It was time for his first olive.  He had the olive in his hand already having placed it there at the halt. He dropped back slightly so that he was running just behind Mocius.  As soon as they reached the trampled area he pretended to half stumble and then dropped the precious fruit to the ground.

“You alright?”

“Yeah just a bit of cramp.  Cleared it now.” He was well and truly in the Allfather’s hand now.  He glanced up to see the wood which started some four hundred paces op the other fork and cursed.  Had the wood been next to the road then his companions would have been able to watch over him.  He was on his own now unless they could find the olive.

“Good shout sir!”

“Thanks Agrippa.” Livius had got ahead of the column and they had waited in the woods until the column with Cassius had appeared. The two men watched from the eaves of the wood as the deserters headed west. ”It looks as though Cassius is able to leave sign.  I saw him drop something.”

“If we ride over there we should be able to see how easy it is to spot.”

“We will just wait until they get further ahead.  I don’t want to make our friends jumpy.” When they did leave the safety of the woods they walked their horses down to the parting of the ways. Livius’ sharp eyes easily picked out the olive.

“The track sir or another inspired guess?”

Livius looked back along the tack and then ahead.  “We have come what five, six miles?”

“About that.”

“I can’t see them doing more than fifteen to eighteen miles so we will follow slowly. We know that we can see sign and so far there is nowhere for an ambush.”

Livius could see that they were skirting the edge of an upland area, not a steep slope but one which led, eventually, to the road and then the high divide.  This was new country to Livius and he knew that his Explorates would have to become familiar with it if they were to be able to give the right intelligence. “Have you noticed Agrippa how few rivers there are?”

“Yes sir.  In the east they cross the whole land.  We have not seen many at all apart from that little one to the north and the one near Mamucium.”

“The Seteia?”

“I’ll take your word for it. Well they are the only two. Is that important sir?”

“To the legions?  Yes. It means they haven’t got natural points to block an invasion.  That little river in the north, the Belisama, why a child could wade that which means that if Morwenna comes over she can go anywhere.  There are no barriers.  Glanibanta and the new fort will, effectively stop anyone going north or south but down here well they could cross the divide and raid the rich lands near Eboracum at any time.  I think she is coming.” Agrippa looked at the younger man and thanked, not for the first time, the Allfather for not giving him the ambition to be anything other than a trooper.  He could just do his job and not worry, as his decurion did, about the bigger picture.

*

Centurion halted them one more time and gave them more water.  They had not deviated from the path but their run had almost exhausted them. “You have done alright for a bunch of unfit rabble and we have finished with running.  We are nearly at the camp and we will now walk. Rest over.  Let’s go.”

As Cassius stood up he let fall four olives.  Although not a fork he wanted to warn his friends, if they were still following, that they were approaching danger.

Agrippa was on point and he waved over Livius. “Sir four olives but there is no fork in the path.”

“There has to be a reason but I can’t think what it could be. Search around and see if they left any sign.” A few minutes searching revealed that they had indeed continued along the path. “Let’s just take if steady then. Perhaps he was warning us.”

“Could have been dropped accidentally?”

“Agrippa do you think Cassius would have done that?”

“Not really.”

“Then onwards.”

*

Metellus and his companions approached the dune filled area with apprehension.  They had seen increasing tracks both of horses and men and yet they had not seen a sign of civilisation neither civilian nor military. Metellus halted them.  “Someone has been here recently and there were a lot of them. Look around.  See what you can find.”

“Metellus, droppings, from horses.”

“Well done Rufius. Nice to know you are still the shit master. That rules out the Brigante over here and makes me think cavalry.  Is it ours?”

Rufius knelt down to examine the spoor. “Don’t think so this is just grass fed.” Roman cavalry, certainly Marcus’ Horse and the Exploratores liked to supplement grass with grain.  It gave their horses and edge in terms of stamina and strength.

“Well that is a worrying thought. “ He looked over at the pine forest which grew out of the straggly grass flecked dunes. “The tracks head over there.  Let’s follow. But boys, let us be careful. Especially you Decius.”

The young man bridled a little. “Why me?”

“Let us just say, that, as the only trooper wounded so far in this maniple, that you are sometimes a little impetuous, one might even say headstrong. Remember the cave and the almost fatal incident?”

“One little…”

“Seriously Decius, in our line of work one mistake can mean your death so do me a favour and think before you gallop eh?”

It was the smell of wood smoke which made them halt. Metellus waved them back towards the edge of the woods.  Once they were in the dunes he dismounted.  “Wood smoke suggests a camp.  I think we have found something.  Decius you need to go back to the meeting point and wait for the others.  This is valuable information.”

Decius stuck his chest out belligerently.  “Why don’t we wait until we have found something a little more important than what could be charcoal burners?”

“He’s right Metellus. This is just the kind of place charcoal burners would come or it could be hunters we don’t know.  It would be a mistake to send a message back and find that we were at the wrong place.”

In his heart Metellus knew that he was right and that this was the deserter’s camp but he could also see their argument. They had to be certain. “Right.  Let’s find somewhere to hide the horses and then we will investigate that smoke.”

*

Centurion halted them at the edge of the wood. The sandy soil showed that man feet both human and animal had passed through before them.  “Right we are close now. You need to follow me in single file and follow exactly where I go.  We have put a few traps around in case anybody sticks their nose in here.”

Cassius was glad that he had only dropped a few of his valuable fruits and nuts.  He would need them all now. He held them in his hand as he followed Mocius through the pine forest. Once again he placed a handful at the spot where they entered the pine trees.

Almost immediately they turned left and only went forwards for ten paces before jinking right. Cassius began to worry that he would run out of fruit.  After another three sharp turns they found themselves on a broad track which Cassius could see led to a clearing.  As he stepped out in the light the sight almost took his breath away.  There was a camp albeit without a palisade.  There was a Praetorium and stables and a watch tower which just peeped above the surrounding pines. He had found the camp and he just hoped that Livius was close behind.

Like Metellus, two miles away on the other side of the wood, Agrippa and Livius smelled the wood smoke when they reached the small pile of fruit. “Looks like this is where they went in then sir?”

“Why the small pile?”

“Eh?”

“Why not one or two? You wait here with the horses I will go in on foot.” Agrippa could not understand his superior’s caution but he respected him enough to stay silent. Livius walked gingerly and when he saw the next pile of fruit, only three pieces this time, he paused.  There was no discernible path; the floor uniformly even.  He knelt down and he could just see the faint imprint of a footprint leading left. He took out his dagger and scored three lines in the bark of the tree to his right, the resin oozing slowly out in the cool of the evening.  This time he crawled on hands and knees; when he found the next fruit he became more confident and, again marked the tree with three lines. He turned right, confident that this was the correct path. After two steps he began to doubt himself and dropped to the ground to examine the footprints.  As he did so the dead fall was trigged and the branch, with nails embedded in it, flew over his body to where his head would have been and thudded into the tree. Realising he had come the wrong way he backtracked.  He heard the loudly whispered, “Sir! Sir” You alright?”

“Stay there Agrippa I am fine.” He backtracked to where he had marked the tree and looked around, he found the footprints and saw that he had not gone far enough right.  He stood and retraced his footsteps to Agrippa.

“What happened sir? I heard a crash.”

“This is the camp alright.  They have deadfalls and the path twists. I was lucky the trap missed my head by an uncia. We’ll camp back up the path a ways and watch for people coming and going.  Cassius has only just arrived and if he does escape it will be in the night.  I am hoping that he has the route in his head and will come out here.”

*

On the other side of the wood the three troopers had also discovered the traps, fortunately it was the smallest one, Decius , who had triggered one and it had only stunned him.  Metellus and Rufius helped him back to the horses while they returned to the path.  Like Livius they had marked the trail with bark marks but Metellus had the advantage of the sharpest eyes and the best tracker in Rufius who was able to find the main, trampled route easily. Rufius waved Metellus to the ground and they crawled.  Rufius held his hand up again and they waited in silence.  When their ears became attuned to the sound of the woods they heard the unnatural noise of talk, just a low murmur and then the clang of metal on metal.  Rufius signalled for Metellus to remain where he was while he crawled forward, disappearing from view.  Metellus had to wait in silence, listening for the cry of discovery. He suddenly started as a hand appeared from behind him to tap him on the shoulder. Even as he dragged out his pugeo he saw, to his relief that it was Rufius who led him to the edge of the wood.

“You nearly made me jump out of my skin back there.  Where in Hades did you learn to move so quietly?”

“Hunting when I was a kid. If I was noisy we didn’t eat.”

“Well?”

“That is it alright.  A full camp with barracks and stables.” His face suddenly became serious and worried at the same time.  “If I didn’t know better I would have said it was one of our camps.”

“Why?”

“Everyone was wearing Roman armour, helmets. Gladii, everything.”

They had reached Decius and Metellus checked the wound which was superficial. “How are you feeling?”

“Stupid.”

“Don’t worry about it.  One of us was bound to have tripped those traps; the Allfather was watching over us for he made sure it struck you, the smallest of us.  Had it struck either of us it would not have been the branch which connected but the nails and I do not think we would have survived.”

“Well.  Is it the right place?”

Grinning Metellus said, “It is. Now this is what we will do. Decius you find the Prefect.  Head back to Glanibanta and stay on the road.  That is the route he will be taking. Tell him it is a huge camp.  How big Rufius?”

“Almost a cohort and fully armed.”

“Got that?” Decius nodded realising the import of the message.  “Tell him we think that boats have brought others ashore so there may be a second camp or even an army here.” He paused before continuing. “Tell him I think that the Queen may be back causing more mischief.”

Rufius looked at him.  “Sticking your neck out a little aren’t you?”

“Just doing what we are supposed to be doing gathering intelligence and making intelligent guesses.  If I am wrong they can laugh at me.  But if I am right… We will go back to the meeting place.” The three of them wasted no time in goodbyes but, fearful of discovery rode swiftly away.

*

Cassius and Mocius found themselves at the centre of the camp on an area which had been cleared to form what was in effect a parade ground.  Cassius was impressed by how military it looked.  The man, who had brought them, Centurion, had obviously held that office in a previous life.  What intrigued Cassius was the reason for his desertion.  It was rare for someone of that rank to do so.  That would be an interesting story.