The Trumpets of Mars (Imperium #2) - Chapter 12

The Village of Pertmig

“Commander,” Sophus’s voice said, ringing through Ky’s head.

It was a vague thing, something far off in the distance. It was impossible to tell if it was imagined or real at first, the hazy first few seconds of consciousness making it seem almost like a dream, or how Ky imagined a dream would be like.

“Commander,” the voice said again.

“Yes,” Ky sub-vocalized, and then stopped, taking stock of the situation.

For a moment, Ky almost didn’t realize where he was or what was happening, and then everything clicked into place. The loss of control in one leg, Sophus going silent and the translation stopping, and finally the darkness that had overtaken him.

“What happened,” he said.

“I went offline. Failsafe systems remained in place for vital system processes, but all other systems experienced complete and sudden shutdown.”

“Another stage of your system expansion?”

“Although that is the most probable explanation, I am running a self-diagnosis now to try and determine the exact nature of the fault.”

“Will it happen again? This was embarrassing, but it could be fatal if you go offline during battle.”

“Unknown, Commander. Until the nature of the failure is determined, it is impossible to predict reoccurrence with any degree of accuracy.”

“Could …”

“Commander, you are not alone, and they have noticed your stirring,” the AI warned him.

Ky’s eyes popped open to the view of a tent, although not the one he and Talogren had been in when KY had lost consciousness. The face of one of the men he’d met who regularly served Talogren loomed above him.

Checking the chronometers in his HUD, Ky saw that almost a day had passed since the meeting with the village leaders.

“He’s awake,” the man said, and Ky was relieved to be able to understand the man.

Sitting up, Ky looked around the room.

Someone was just leaving the tent as he did so, probably the person the man who’d been looking at him had spoken to, since only he and Ky remained in the tent.

“Talogren?” Ky asked.

“He’ll be here in a moment. He asked us to stay with you until you recovered from your … until you recovered.”

Ky just nodded and sat in silence on the dirt that made up the tent’s floor. Unlike Roman tents which, for legates at least, put down carpets and thick cloth floorings, the Caledonians didn’t see the need for flooring beneath them unless it was raining and the ground had turned to mud.

Ky did a mental check of himself while he waited. Everything seemed to be fine and in place as it should be. There was no permanent damage and, thanks to his nanites, any bruising he might have suffered would have already been mostly healed.

KY pushed himself off the ground and stretched to release the tension in his body as Talogren came through the tent flap.

“You can go,” he said to the man who’d been waiting for Ky. As soon as he left, Talogren said, “I’m glad you’re standing. Were you poisoned?”

“No. I … I’m not sure how to explain this in a way that will make sense. All I can say is that I’m fine, now.”

“You understand that one of the reasons our people have decided it’s worthwhile joining the Romans is because of the strength they see in you. There is already talk around the camp that you might not be as indestructible as you seemed to be.”

Ky did realize that was going to be a problem. For the Caledonii, strength was everything and they’d followed him because he’d thought he was some kind of invincible harbinger of death, much like the Romans had followed him because they thought him some kind of messenger of the gods. Ky had fought against this kind of thing with the Romans, not wanting to lie to them and give them the impression he was some kind of magical being, but with the Caledonii, he’d remained silent.

The alliance with the north men was tricky, and on paper, it shouldn’t have worked at all. There was a century-old hatred between the two people making any kind of treaty a hard sell, a point proven when the agreement pushed the Romans into open revolt to stop it from happening. Based on comments from Talogren, one of the things that had kept the Caledonii from having a similar reaction was their impression of Ky and a desire to have that level of power on their own.

Eventually, he personally wouldn’t be the key to holding the alliance together, but in its infancy, it was incredibly fragile. For this moment, his collapsing just while standing silently during a meeting could be enough.

“I do understand that,” Ky said. “I have never claimed to be indestructible or anything greater than any other man. I am the same man as when your people decided to follow me into an alliance with the Romans. I’m the same man who stood before each village and demanded their surrender, and led the assault when they declined.”

“Don’t be naive. A leader is only as good as his last victory and the men’s fortunes and support change like the wind. You don’t prove yourself once to the men you lead, it happens every day. Today, they saw weakness.”

“I understand it could look like that. I will do what I can to continue proving to them that you haven’t made the wrong choice. What happened to the village leaders?”

“Thankfully, you did not collapse in front of them. They complained like old women, but they agreed to submit and join the league. That leaves us with one more large group of villages to deal with, and then the majority of the north will be with us or dead.”

“I hadn’t realized how much of the country had already rallied to you. I’d been under the impression that half of the north had decided to stay independent.”

“There are only a handful of villages large enough to be significant. There are more villages that will be dealt with in time, but they are tiny, barely able to sustain themselves. Most could only send three or four warriors in total to the warbands. I will leave their pacification to local chieftains I assign to watch over the area they’re in.”

“Good. We’ve already passed the height of winter, so it won’t be long until the Carthaginians come for us. I want to be back with the legions in time to make sure they’re ready.”

“You will be. There’s one fight left, and then we’re done.”

“Maybe they’ll surrender like Pertmig did and make this easier on everyone.”

“They won’t. I know the chieftain of the main village. He’s proud and has been the most outspoken against the league. He had dreams of bringing the north under his own banner until I took the opportunity from him. No. He’ll fight.”

They broke camp within the hour, the new warriors from the surrendered villages added to Talogren’s total. Ky could feel the eyes of the men following as he led the horde towards their last victim. They hadn’t been openly discourteous, or at least discourteous in the way it counted among the Caledonii, but Ky could feel their wariness towards him.

If anything, Talogren had been understating the level of uncertainty and concerned his people had towards Ky. He had two days to their destination to figure something out, or there was a chance the entire alliance could fall apart just as it was forming.

Ky was just starting to work through possible solutions when he heard the ping that indicated Lucilla was trying to reach him. Lately, she’d been leaving the connection open, letting Sophus connect them if the AI saw Ky was free, which made the use of the query ping unexpected.

“Is everything alright?” Ky sub-vocalized when they connected.

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Lucilla said. “I was trying to reach you most of yesterday, but neither you nor Sophus replied. I was worried something happened.”

“Everything’s fine,” Ky said, not wanting to alarm her.

“He is obfuscating. There was an occurrence of some concern,” Sophus said, causing Ky to frown.

Although he found he liked the AI and its newfound personality, it could, at times, be unhelpfully honest.

“What do you mean, an occurrence?”

“My system expansion has begun its process of extension into Ky’s brain. Subversion of his neuron fibers caused a clash between my electrical impulses and his neuron transmitters that caused a cascading short, taking me offline and rendering Ky unconscious.”

“What?” Lucilla asked, sounding completely perplexed.

Ky wasn’t surprised. He understood at least the basic idea of what was happening, and much about it was confusing to him. Half the words Sophus had used had been in imperial standard, since the concepts behind the words, let alone the words themselves, had no Latin translation.

“It’s fine,” Ky said.

“No. I understood the part about it knocking you unconscious, so clearly it’s not fine. Ky, one of the things that are important for two people who are looking at a relationship like we are is being honest with each other. If this is going to work, you have to be honest with me now.”

“Sophus is in the process of becoming alive, in a way. Up till now, he’s been conscious, but not a distinct personality in his own right. As you met me, he had just started this process. Had you been able to communicate with him the day we met, he would have seemed very different to you. To do that, he needs to grow his ability to think, which means extending his connection to me, and more specifically my brain. That process is causing problems.”

“What will this do to you?”

Ky didn’t answer, since anything he could say would either be a lie or distressing to her.

“It will most likely kill him, and possibly me as well. There are ways it is dealt with in our time period, but here, there is no way to stop the processes.”

“You’re dying?” Lucilla said, distressed.

“We don’t know for sure. Like he said, this process isn’t something that has happened much; and, where I’m from, we have the medical technology to deal with it. Here, there’s no way to know what’s going to happen.”

“But you could die?”

“Maybe.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want to alarm you, and because we don’t actually know what’s happening. It’s all guesswork. I could just end up going insane. Besides, we don’t know how long this will take, either.”

“I don’t care. You can’t keep this from me.”

“I’m sorry. Like I said, this thing between us is new to me. I thought I was protecting you, but if you say I wasn’t, then I’ll try and be more forthright in the future.”

“Well … good,” she said, apparently taken aback by his apology. “So, what now?”

“Nothing. We just have to keep going as if we’ll always be able to. There’s no way to stop it, so what’s going to happen is what’s going to happen. Anything else would be just giving up.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“Good. Just don’t let it happen again.”

“Alright. What did you need?” Ky asked.

“What?”

“You were trying to contact me when I didn’t respond. I assume it was for something specific.”

“Ohh, it was. Since I’m grilling you on being honest, I should tell you there was an attempt on my life?”

“What?” Ky said.

He’d been dismayed enough that he’d let his control slip, and said it out loud, causing the men around him to all turn and look in his direction. Ky half shrugged and continued riding forward, as if it hadn’t happened.

“I’m fine, so don’t fly off the handle or come charging down here.”

“What happened?”

“Someone hired a gang of local thugs to come after me, probably hoping they could overwhelm my security. We’re pretty sure it’s the same person who had Norbanus and the man who served as executioner killed. All of the attackers died and Ramirus is looking into it.”

“I’m glad they underestimated you and your guards.”

“They didn’t, actually. That’s where things get interesting. They managed to kill two of my guards and it was looking very likely they would succeed when a group of Caledonii swooped in, killing the rest of the attackers. Apparently, Llassar took it upon himself to send men to protect me.”

“Good. I’ll have to thank him.”

“Afterward he pointed out to my father that, considering he was now responsible for both people as the new Britannic Emperor, that half of his daughter’s protectors should be Caledonii. They’ve now doubled my guard force, and half of them are Northmen.”

“That should be a good thing.”

She’d already shared with Ky the strange series of changes in the Caledonii attitudes towards her, so he wasn’t surprised to hear they’d want to be part of her detail. A few weeks ago, the thought of their being added to her guards would have been a problem for her, but she’d confessed a growing admiration of Llassar and his people as their attitudes to her warmed.

“Yes, although you’re not going to like what happened next.”

“Tell me.”

“Between Norbanus and the attempt on my life, my father has lost all faith in the city guard. He’s dissolved them as an organization and given the protection and policing of the city to Faenius and his men.”

“Does he know how thinly they’re stretched already?”

“He knows; he just doesn’t care. They’ve taken most of the men out of training and put them into their new position. Faenius thinks he can recruit some of the guardsmen into the Praetorians, but not as many as they’ll need.”

“We were expecting more of the men to come north to the border. The men I took as only the first wave that would be handling patrols, and I was hoping for the reinforcements soon. By the time more men are trained, we won’t need them as badly, since there will be additional pressure from the growing pains of the new alliance.”

“Again, he knows all this, but he felt that, if the city guard was as penetrated by the remaining insurrectionists as it seems, then it cripples the ability for him and the senate, both Roman and the new imperial senate, to govern our new alliance. I tried to make your case, but seeing as he’s both my father and my Emperor, he didn’t seem inclined to listen to me.”

Ky sighed and said, “I didn’t mean to take out my frustrations on you. He’s right, of course, but it will send ripples across the entire timetable we’ve been working off of.”

“He has the utmost confidence that you will figure out a way to make it work.”

“I’d like less confidence and more help sticking to the plan, but I guess I have to live with what I have to.”

“You do. Now, try to explain to me again what’s happening with you.”

Devnum

“Father, get up,” a voice said in Decius’s ear.

“What?” the craftsman said, his voice muffled and groggy as he transitioned from deep sleep to suddenly being awake.

“You must get up. They’ve taken Pescennius, Caius, and Camillus. I’ve been told soldiers are headed this way. You must leave town, tonight.”

“What happened?” Decius said, his brain still slow to catch up.

His son, Mettius, was leaning over Decius’s bed, his hands still on his father’s shoulders. Decius recognized the names of the other leaders in his cell of republicans. They’d come together after the failed coup to restore the republic and had worked closely to undermine the new Consul and his plans to destroy Rome.

What Decius didn’t understand was what Mettius meant by ‘taken.’

“Ramirus’s men burst into their homes about an hour ago and dragged all three men from their beds and towards one of his black chambers in the palace. A few minutes ago they started sending out patrols of Praetorians and rounding up other men from the group.”

“How did they find us?”

“I don’t know, but they did and you know that it’s impossible for them to stay quiet for long once Ramirus’s torturers do their work. I’m sure one of the men talked and is giving names. All three men know us. Ramirus will have our names by now and I left just ahead of more patrols coming this way. They’re traveling slowly, but they’ll be here any minute. We don’t have time to waste talking about this. We must leave. Now.”

Decius was glad his wife wasn’t here to see her husband run from their home. She’d died three years ago in one of the plagues that seemed to sweep through the city every couple of years. She’d always believed in Decius and he’d enjoyed her unconditional support and faith. Watching him and their son turn tail and run like scared children would have destroyed her.

The marble worker pushed himself out of bed and threw on one of the simple tunics. Grabbing a sword for protection, Decius left the rest of the accumulations of his life behind and led his son out their front door. Mettius hadn’t been wrong about being just ahead of the Praetorians. He could hear the men’s synchronous steps slam into the ground in unison as they marched towards him.

“We’ll make for the countryside. Placus has a villa there.”

“They’ll have Placus’s name by now,” Mettius said as they turned and headed north out of town, away from the oncoming Praetorians. “Running from here just to be caught there will do no good.”

“He’s staying at his home here, so there’s no one at his villa besides servants. Ramirus will know that, and won’t bother to send troops there any time soon. By the time he does get around to checking Placus’s other properties, we’ll be gone. We just need somewhere I can stay for a bit and work out a plan of where to go next.”

They paused at the major street that led from the palace to the city gates. It was late, but not so late that the street was emptied yet. Seeing that the way was clear, they started to dash across and Decius was starting to think they might make their getaway clean when voices came from down the thoroughfare. Turning, he could see several men in the armor of the new Praetorian Guard running in their direction.

“Run, Father. I’ll hold them off long enough for you to get out of the city. They’ll start checking on outlying residences for you soon, so don’t stay long, a day at most. Then go to one of the smaller cities far from here.”

“I’m not leaving you here,” Decius said, starting to pull his own sword.

“No. You know some of the other groups in town. If the imperials get their hands on you, they will be able to unravel our whole network. You must escape. I’ll be fine.”

Both men knew that was a lie. Mettius was a healthy young man, but he’d been raised to be a craftsman. A marble worker like his father. He wasn’t a match for the men of the Praetorian Guard. Decius knew that this would probably be the last time he saw his son alive, and felt a stab of guilt for having dragged his son into the conspiracy in the first place.

“Go,” Mettius said urgently as the guards closed on them.

With one last look, Decius ran north, away from the chasing guards and his son, the sounds of steel clashing with steel ringing in his ears.