The Trumpets of Mars (Imperium #2) - Chapter 19

Monadhcarden

Lucilla knelt at the little alter she’d asked Modius to set up next to Ky’s bed, whispering prayers to Jupiter. He continued to lay motionless in his nothing state, not awake and yet not asleep. Although she’d made it sound as if she were confident in his recovery when she’d spoken to Talogren, she could feel the fear in the pit of her stomach.

Part of it was the fear of knowing how short the time was coming when they’d absolutely need him. She was doing her best to ensure things Ky had already put in place continued to progress, but she didn’t know his full plan for the coming battle and wasn’t a military commander. Velius and the rest would do their best, and she knew Ky had shared parts of the plan with them, but they weren’t going to be able to pull everything he set in motion off on their own. Velius was a good man, but he was young and had only commanded in one large-scale battle, and he’d been doing what Ky’d instructed him to do there. She also knew that parts of the plan also required Ky’s ability to see what was going on in areas the eye couldn’t see. She’d watched him use the small floating disk once before, explaining he could see what it saw as he sent it flying away. No level of training could allow the Romans to reproduce that on their own.

That was only part of her fear, though. Survival of her people was important, but the other part of her fear was personal. She missed talking to him and knowing he’d be there for her. She missed the smell of him and how he froze up when she kissed him, the strong warrior sent by the gods terrified of what she might do. She missed him and wanted him back.

She must have been deep in thought, because the first indication that there was someone else in the tent with her was the clearing of a throat.

“Yes,” she said, not looking up from the altar where she was praying.

“Talogren asked me to check how things went at Mwynglawdd. You arrived in the middle of the night and came straight here, which he understands, but he’d like an update.”

“I’m surprised none of the men he’d sent with me reported back to him. If he didn’t send men instructed to tell him everything they saw, I’d be disappointed in him. Or is he asking me to report to him as one of his subordinates?”

She realized she was being needlessly caustic with Llassar, who was just the messenger. What Talogren was asking wasn’t unreasonable, even if he did send men to spy on her, and she knew both Ky and her father would have done the same, but she wasn’t in the frame of mind to deal with political maneuvering. She had arrived in the middle of the night, pushing the men with her hard to get back to the Caledonian capital as quick as they could, and hadn’t slept since she’d gotten back. She was tired and had been on the verge of tears for hours as she begged the gods to return Ky to her.

She knew all that and yet couldn’t stop herself from taking it out on Llassar, and just hoped he would forgive her for her attitude.

“Of course he did, but that isn’t the same as a first-hand report. We all appreciate your concern for the Consul, but there are still people here unsure of the alliance and saw giving the task of apprehending these Romans to one of their countrymen as a major mistake.”

“I know, and I will see him today. For now tell him all of the children were returned, the man and his primary agents executed and their property ordered sold and given to the village as restitution, and all of the guards and other men involved given the choice between being placed on forced work details or joining the legions for ten years.”

“That’s what we’d heard, and why he’d wanted to speak with you. The money was a good move, but he wanted to know why more men hadn’t been executed. If it were him or any other Caledonian commander, every man responsible for this crime would have ended up on the stake.”

She sighed and pushed herself up from the alter, blowing out the small flame flicking there from the burned offerings, facing the Caledonian.

“I know, which is why I’d wanted to go in his place. I get that it would make everyone feel better if we just executed everyone involved, but that would have been a mistake. This time, they gave up without harming the captive villagers or their children. When this happens again, if they know we’re just going to execute everyone, there is no reason for the criminals to give up so easily. Men will die apprehending them and people caught in the middle will die out of spite. If those who worked for the men behind the crime know that they won’t be killed outright, they will think twice about fighting.”

“That’s why Talogren wanted them all executed, to keep this from happening ever again.”

“If he thinks a few executions will end this, then he’s a fool.”

Llassar’s face hardened. She knew he liked her as a person, but he had strong personal fealty to Talogren and her insult clearly pushed the boundaries for him.

“I’m sorry, that came out wrong. I know he’s not a fool, but he isn’t thinking this through. There will always be people willing to do this kind of thing, even if they know the penalty is death, and always others desperate enough to follow them. Sometimes they think they can talk their way out of the penalty, sometimes they think they’ll be overlooked or that they can get away, but most of the time they don’t even consider what could happen to them when they’re caught. Greed blinds men from seeing the consequences of their actions. This will happen again, and I want to make sure when it does, we don’t end up with unneeded bloodshed.”

Lucilla paused. The hardest part of dealing with the Caledonians was their rather straightforward way of seeing the world. Other Romans who hadn’t gotten to know them might call it simplistic, but she thought that did them a disservice. They were every bit as complex in their motivations and desires as anyone else, they just culturally preferred to come straight at an issue, rather than talking around it for days and never getting to the point, like Romans seemed to prefer.

In general, she found this approach refreshing, but there were times when it meant they’d bulldoze straight over the complexities of a situation, seeing only the immediate outcome and not predicting the long-term possibilities. Talogren was generally better at this than his countrymen, which is why he’d been able to see far enough ahead to grasp the benefits of the alliance, but even he was sometimes blind beyond his initial impulses.

“I know, you and your countrymen aren’t afraid of danger, but the empire needsyou, all of you, and can’t afford to let you throw your lives away over pride. The people responsible are dead, the villagers have all of their children back and have gotten something in return for what they had to endure. The men that helped are going to serve the empire and help make sure your people remain free from the Carthaginians, and they will be around as living examples to others. Will this lesson have to be taught again to others? Yes. Eventually, there will be enough people telling the story of how they ended up in work details or in the legions to make it harder for those who want to take advantage of others to find help. That, in the long run, will be what protects your people better than any number of executions.”

“I see,” Llassar said.

She thought that, in his understated way, that was him agreeing with her, or at least not disagreeing, but it was impossible to tell. The man was sometimes infuriatingly difficult to read.

“I will go and speak to Talogren shortly, but if you report back to him, let him know I need to take Ky south, so he is on hand for the battle when he wakes up. We’ve passed the winter solstice. Spring will be here shortly, and we have to get final preparations completed.”

“I understand. When will you leave?”

“Tomorrow. Any of the men who traveled here with Ky are welcome to return with us and help in the battle, but I understand if Talogren needs to keep his warriors to make sure the villages you just incorporated stay pacified.”

“I believe most planned to return with the Consul.”

“Yes, that was the original plan, but with him being incapacitated, I know many of your warriors will be rethinking that. I want them to know I understand and there are no hard feelings if that is what they decide to do.”

“I will let them know, although I think you will be surprised by how many will agree to follow you in his stead.”

She thought that she actually wouldn’t be surprised. She was aware of her growing popularity among the north men and, while she didn’t try to exploit it, since they would see that for what it was, she had started to count on it when making her calculations. She also wasn’t going to point that out to Llassar or any of his countrymen. While they generally preferred straightforwardness, to the point where they had made bragging an art, they also wanted humility in their women.

“I hope so.”

She gave Llassar some time to report back before making the trip to see his chieftains directly, if nothing else to spare her having to explain everything she’d done again. She spent the time with Ky praying for his recovery before deciding enough time had passed to pay her respects, and answer for her decisions.

She stopped short of the doorway, putting up a hand to stop the Talogren’s guards from announcing her presence right away. Considering Llassar’s reaction, Lucilla steeled herself for a moment before nodding to the guards outside of Talogren’s hut, letting them know she was ready for them to introduce her.

“So, you returned,” he said when she walked through the hut entrance.

He was sitting at a small table to one side of the hut, eating some kind of burned meat that she could only guess at. She liked a lot of things about the Caledonians, but their culinary traditions had left a lot to be desired, consisting mostly of a wheat mush mixed with goats milk, mostly to cover the already rotting wheat. Because of the way they farmed and the limits to their permanent buildings designed to house grain while keeping it aerated, this far in the winter their supplies had already started to mold and rot. Because it was still their staple food and there weren’t many other options, they tended to continue eating it even in this condition, using strong flavors like fish and goat’s milk to cover the rotting taste.

The richer Caledonians tended to eat a fair amount of goat and sheep, both of which did well in the mountainous conditions. She normally liked sheep, but goat was too gamey for her, and she preferred the Roman preparations over the Caledonian method of cooking it till it was black with little to no seasoning or flavorings.

“I have. Did Llassar report back to you?”

“He did. Does that bother you?”

“No. I would have done the same thing if I was in your position, just like I would have had men that accompanied the expedition report back as soon as they returned with early, even if undetailed, reports. In your position, there is no such thing as too much information.”

“Good. I’m glad you understand. That’s the thing I like about you Romans. You might be arrogant and entitled, but you at least don’t let your honor and personal pride get in the way of practical measures. I love my people, but I usually have to be more secretive about these kinds of things to keep tempers from boiling over at my dishonoring the people I was having watched.”

“Thank you … I think.”

“So you really feel only executing two of the people responsible will be enough of a deterrent?”

“IF by that, you mean do I think it will stop this from happening again … no. But as I said to Llassar, and he undoubtedly reported word for word back to you, I don’t think any number of bodies would have stopped this from happening again. I do think it will stop some of the people who might considerer doing this, and probably as many as would be stopped by executing all of them. I also think this outcome allows restitution to the villagers and puts a penalty on the rest of the men in a way that best serves the empire, if not the desire for vengeance. I also think knowing what they are being forced into, and the years of conflict ahead of us, men will think twice about taking these kinds of orders again.”

“I see,” he said, without much emotion. “I still think my solution would stop more of these kinds of people, but I respect your reasoning and see where it has its benefits. Consider this the end of the discussion.”

This would have been the third time he’d heard her explanation, even if it was the first time he’d heard it for himself, so she wasn’t surprised at how nonchalantly he took it.

“I also wanted to let you know I am leaving this afternoon with Ky. I want to get to the headquarters camp of the fourth legion by nightfall. Since the alliance is finalized and the praetorians are taking over patrolling the border with your people, I don’t see the need for a legion to be stationed as a guard between us any longer. Ky was planning on pulling them out as soon as you had finished pacifying the north, and I wanted to honor that plan.”

“Yes, Llassar told me that as well. Do you think he will be fit to travel, in his condition?”

“I don’t see why not. You brought him here by wagon from Rhaeadr and he was fine. Other than laying still and not responding, he doesn’t seem to have any other physical ailments I could find, so lying here or in a wagon shouldn’t matter.”

“I see.”

“Have you given any more thoughts to integrating the men you have patrolling the border into the Praetorians? I know Ky brought it up with you, but I had not heard what your decision was.”

“That is because I haven’t made one. His reasoning was sound and I appreciate that it will be a separate organization that the Roman praetorians, with their own commanders, all reporting to the same man, but I am still not sure that is wise.”

“Is it because the Praetorians have a Roman commander that your people would still have to report to?”

“We really are just backward, barbaric people only concerned with our honor to you, aren’t we?”

Although the words stung, he’d offered them with no heat or anger in his voice, which confused Lucilla.

“I didn’t mean any offense.”

“I know, and I know why you would think that would be my concern, since we really are overly stuck on our personal sense of honor, but no. That isn’t why I am unsure. I agreed to this treaty because Ky convinced me it would be good for the Caledonians, and we would eventually become one people. With our own cultures, true, but given enough time, we’d start to see each other as equals, and identify as just Britannians, and not Roman or Caledonians. My concern is that, the more we place ourselves in a position to be separate, even if equal, from the Romans, we will always stand apart from you. I was thinking if it was a good idea to have my people in their own organization, instead of just integrating them wholesale into the Praetorians.”

“You’re people would go for that?”

“At first there’d be complaints, but I don’t think it would last long. Ky likes to point out how much just being around each other will lessen our prejudices. I was concerned that your praetorian commander would not want Caledonians mixed in his command, however.”

“I can speak with him. He might not like it, but if my father demands it, he will have to accept it.”

“Good, then speak with your father. Although this does open up additional concerns.”

“Such as?”

“So far, it has been Roman organizations that we have been integrating into. I can see the need for that, considering my people have always been much more … nomadic than yours, but this has led to my people constantly taking a subservient role in these organizations. We serve under Roman commanders, we obey a Roman Emperor, and we listen to Roman politicians. For this alliance to work, there will need to be Romans serving under a Caledonian leader.”

“That is a good point, and one I hadn’t thought of.”

“I had been meaning to bring it up to Ky, but he fell before I could speak to him.”

“He and I never spoke of it, but I agree with you. I’ll speak to my father and we’ll find positions of leadership for your people in joint operations. It might take some time, however.”

“I understand. I know you have the Carthaginian army to worry about, and we will be patient, although not forever.”

“I understand. I need to get my men preparing to move out. We’ve already stayed here longer than Ky planned for, and we are in need every man we can gather together, and be ready to fight.”

“I understand. We’ve thrown our fortunes in with you now, so if you fail in this fight, it won’t just be your people that suffer the consequences.”

“Then we’ll have to not fail,” Lucilla said.

Lucilla returned to the hut she was sharing with Ky and called their collective guards together. After handing out instructions and sending them out to get everything prepared, she spent a few more hours preying over Ky, since it would be harder to find time to beg the gods help while they were traveling. Part of her felt bad, sitting in here with Ky while the men worked, but there wasn’t much she could do to help without being in the way.

If it were just her, him and their collected guards, it wouldn’t take much to get everything together and traveling south, things changed though, when a large force moved across the country. It was easy to provision a couple of dozen men for the weeks journey, but an entire force, their animals and all the camp followers that always came with that large of a group, required a thought-out set of logistics to keep everything fed and moving.

It was made harder by the fact that a largely Caledonian force was moving through Roman territory and to be extra sensitive of the effect they had on the civilians, who would be predisposed to distrust their new allies. This basically meant living off the land or trading for goods was going to be of limited value and they’d need to bring whatever supplies they needed for the journey with them, which meant more men, more animals and more mouths to feed.

She was glad to see that Talogren had been able to grasp the reasoning’s behind her decisions with only executing a handful of Romans and giving lesser punishments to the rest. It really did speak volumes about how much more strategically he was in his thinking and explained why he’d been able to do what no northerner had been able to do before him: unite his people into a single country instead of dozens of independent villages. It was a small blessing that someone of his ability was here in the north at the same time that someone like Ky had come to the Romans. If either hadn’t been here, the alliance and any chance of surviving the Carthaginians would have disappeared.

She stayed with Ky until late into the morning, when it was time for the Consul to be loaded into a cart for travel. She left the logistics to Modius and Carus, both of whom were better at this kind of thing that she was.

She knew that Ky would find her constant prayer over him to be silly. For someone she still thought was sent by the gods, he’d made it clear he didn’t believe in any kind of higher power and that the time spent worshiping them could have been put to better use on more practical concerns. Considering how different he was, down to having a seemingly all-knowing disembodied voice in his head, it wasn’t hard to accept his lack of faith.

She didn’t bring up her belief that he was an agent of the gods, regardless of his belief in them, but part of her had hoped that the gods were listening and would bring him back to her. She knew two days of prayer wasn’t going to be enough to convince them, but until the moment she stopped to begin the journey south, she’d secretly hoped he would just sit up and ask her how everything had been going while he was asleep.

When Modius came in and told her it was time to get Ky and the remaining possessions loaded up, she sighed and pushed herself up from the small alter she’d set up. She’d maintained a brave face for the others, but she was beginning to fear he might not ever come out of his long sleep.

She gave Modius a nod that told him she was coming and, when her guard had gone, leaned over and kissed Ky lightly on the forehead.

“Time to go home,” she whispered to him, before collecting herself and mentally preparing to face the world again.

Giving one last sigh, she stepped through the tent and stopped, surprised at the very large collection of men waiting for her. She’d heard the noises of course, while she’d been praying, but she’d thought it was just the sounds of the village going about its day, and had ignored it. The spaces of the semi-permanent tents she had been allowed to use was now packed with a huge array of Caledonians, some she recognized from traveling with them, and some who’d accompanied her to free the villagers and their children; and others were men she’d never spoken too, but who’d apparently decided they wanted to return with her. What was clear was that the number of men waiting for her was significantly more than she or Ky had brought north.

In front of the men Modius and his men, along with Ky’s Lictore stood with Llassar and Cynwrig, who was smiling from ear to ear.

“Goodness. All of these men are coming back with us?” she asked Llassar.

“These are just some of the men, there are more outside the village, waiting. Men have been arriving all day, some from as far away as Rhaeadr. There are almost a thousand men in all.”

“But … how?”

“Partly it’s the actions you took to free our people from the Romans, partly it’s because of the steps you’ve taken to help the western villages while they recover, and partly it’s because of him,” Llassar said, jabbing a thumb in Cynwrig’s direction.

“Because of Cynwrig?”

“Apparently, while you’ve been safely guarded here, he’s been traveling the area around the village, telling warriors who helped Talogren secure the rest of the countryside why they should now go with you and fight the death worshipers. He can be very persuasive, apparently.”

“You did this?” She asked Cynwrig.

“I said I’d help guard you, and you are headed towards what everyone keeps telling me is a massive army. Since I can only kill about half that many men by myself, I thought the best way to protect you would to get as many others to help me as possible.”

She couldn’t help but smile at his boast. When she’d first met the man, she’d found his braggadocios nature off-putting and somewhat annoying, but the more she’d been around him, the more she’d found it almost amusing. It helped to realize that, while he was highly confident, most of his boasts were purposefully exaggerated specifically to get a rise out of opponents or as a way to entertain himself. Now she just found it charming.

“And a good job you did. With this many brave warriors, the legions might as well stand down and let you deal with the Carthaginians yourself. Maybe show them a thing or two,” she said with a smile

Modius and a few Romans frowned at that, but the Caledonians erupted into cheers before beginning to chant ‘little bird.’ She waited a few moments for the men to settle down, knowing that she’d also have to do some damage control with her and Ky’s Romans. It was a balancing act to keep both happy without directly insulting or belittling the other, and she sometimes veered too far one way or the other, but she did want the Caledonians to know how much she appreciated their faith in her.

“Are you going with us?” she asked Llassar

“I am. I spoke with Talogren after you left, and he suggested that I would be more helpful to you, especially while the Consul is unavailable. He thought you could use my help managing the Caledonian forces.”

She wondered how much of their conversation Talogren had shared with his lieutenant. It wouldn’t surprise her if Talogren really did tell him that he wanted Llassar to assist in commanding the Caledonian forces. Now that she had met him and spoken with him as an equal, and not their captive, she’d been able to see that there was much more to the Caledonian leader than her fellow Romans would give him credit for. He was very crafty and played the game as well as anyone south of the border.

She was certain that this was more than just making sure the Caledonian forces were put to their best use. She could recognize the message he was sending, prompting her to move faster to get Caledonians into positions of power and his not-to-subtle suggestion as to who a good candidate would be.

Llassar, although stoic and hard to read, was much more straightforward than his chieftains, and she doubted he had grasped the nuances behind his orders. She knew her father and Ky would have seen the move for what it was, and without Ky to speak to, it was up to her to figure out how to best use Llassar, both to ensure their long term victory against the Carthaginians and as a further step to seal the alliance between the Romans and the Caledonians.

“I’m happy to have you with us,” was instead, all that she said.