Anthony Riches - Arrows of Fury

‘… with me!’

The other man nodded, understanding the Roman officer’s purpose if not his words, and the pair burst past the knot of fighting men and ran hard for the gate. A single man hurried through the gap just as they reached it, drawn by the sounds of battle, and died on the barbarian’s sword without ever quite comprehending how badly the fort’s defence was undone, the slippery rope of his guts falling through his torn stomach wall as Lugos pushed him back against the timber rampart and lunged at him again, shoving the sword’s blade up into his chest to skewer his heart. Marcus burst through the gate and stopped, his swords held ready to fight as he took in the scene before him. A wide-open space crowned the hill’s crest, perhaps fifty paces in diameter and surrounded on all sides by the final wooden palisade. A single timber-built hall stood against the enclosure’s far wall, and the open space between gate and building was studded with smoking cooking pits and the scattered remnants of their last meal. A single warrior stood outside the hall, and as Marcus stood breathing heavily in the gateway he shouted something through the door behind him. A massively built warrior stalked through the doorway, a fighting axe held in one hand and a round shield in the other, the thick gold torc around his bull neck marking him as the tribe’s king. He stood for a moment, taking in the sudden reality of his defeat before setting off towards Marcus at a lumbering trot with his bodyguard running alongside him.

The centurion looked back at the gateway behind him, seeing that the prisoner was still the only man to have reached as far into the enemy’s defences. He stabbed his spatha’s long blade into the grass at his feet, pointing to the gate and chopping at the air with a bladed hand.

‘Destroy the gate!’

Even if he lost this last fight there would be troops following up soon enough, once the battle between the first and second walls was resolved, and the fort’s last gate had to be kept open if that were to mean anything. The barbarian nodded, taking the sword’s heavy blade to the uppermost of the gate’s wooden hinges in a flurry of blows, and Marcus pulled his spatha from the turf and turned back to find the fort’s chieftain and his companion less then ten paces distant. Pointing to the barbarian prisoner, the big man growled a command, locking his eyes on Marcus as his bodyguard trotted warily round the Roman officer and ran at the prisoner with his sword held high.

With a growl of anger the chieftain stepped in to attack the young centurion, hacking down at him with his axe, and the savage attack left Marcus with no option but to step back beyond the blade’s humming arc. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse as the man’s bodyguard and the barbarian prisoner fought in a whirl of blades, the two men almost perfectly matched in their skill and strength. The chieftain stepped forward and struck again, slashing the axe horizontally at Marcus’s belly in a backhanded blow that knocked aside his sword and connected solidly with his mail armour, sending him staggering backwards, winded by the blow’s force even though his mail had stopped the blade from penetrating. As he struggled for breath the big man whooped in triumph, raising his weapon for the killing blow that would split the Roman’s helmet and cleave his head apart, only to stagger and fall as an impact of unimaginable force dumped him on his back.

The artillery bolt had missed Marcus by inches before punching through the big man’s mail shirt and burying fully two-thirds of its length in his chest, a chance hit by a shot fired at random into the figures struggling in the gate’s skylined opening by some frustrated artilleryman on the far slope. The chieftain struggled to get back on his feet, making it no farther than one knee. He stared stupidly down at the bolt protruding from his body, feeling the strength ebbing from him with the blood coursing down his chest, then gave Marcus a beseeching look as he dropped the axe and shield, holding out his arms in readiness for a mercy stroke. The Roman looked into his eyes for a moment before nodding, and then dropped his gladius and wielded the spatha two-handed to sever the grievously wounded tribal leader’s head from his shoulders with an executioner’s stroke. The dead man’s bodyguard stopped fighting and stepped back from the exhausted prisoner, dropping his sword and prostrating himself on the ground. Gathering his strength, the barbarian lifted his sword, looking to Marcus for a decision. The centurion shook his head tiredly, pulling the big man out of the gate’s deadly opening before any more bolts could be sent their way, and sat down heavily on the turf, his body suddenly trembling as the relentless urge to fight burned out of his blood to leave him shivering in the afternoon’s warmth.

‘Let me make sure that I’ve fully understood this. Once the fort’s first gate was open you took half a dozen soldiers and charged off like a man with his arse on fire, ignoring your instructions to hold and let the legion cohorts come forward?’

First Spear Sextus Frontinius fixed Marcus with a fierce stare from behind his desk, raising an eyebrow in a silent invitation to comment.

‘Yes, First Spear.’

‘And as a consequence of disobeying your orders, you proceeded to secure both of the gates that the regulars were supposed to capture, once you’d made the initial break in and cleared the way for them?’

Marcus kept his face stony, only too well aware of the first spear’s swift temper. He shifted his stare from the wall of The Hill’s hospital, visible through the office’s open window, to the heavy gold torc sitting on the first spear’s desk. Frontinius caught the quick glance and his face hardened.

‘Never mind the jewellery, Centurion, just answer the question.’

‘Yes, First Spear.’

‘And to round things off nicely, you also engaged the tribal leader of the Carvetii in single combat?’

‘Yes, First Spear, although I should point out that I can’t…’

‘… take the credit for his death? Yes, I read the dispatch that Julius sent ahead of your return march so I’ve had a day to consider the implications of this latest feat of arms. He stopped a bolt in the middle of the fight. Has anyone got anything to add to this tale of disobeyed orders and glorious victory?’

Rufius spoke quickly, his tone light.

‘Yes, First Spear. You should have seen Legion Tribune Antonius’s face — he had a golden fortification crown all polished up and ready to hand over to whichever of his officers was first man over the fort’s last wall and he ended up having to put it away again, or else hand it over to an auxiliary cohort centurion.’

Marcus shook his head ruefully at the memory of the legion tribune’s amazement on hearing that the Tungrians had taken the hill fort in less than ten minutes, and with only a handful of casualties. On the other side of the desk from the four centurions standing to attention in front of him, still in their mail armour from the march back to The Hill, the first spear raised his eyes in amazement to the low ceiling of his office in the cohort’s headquarters before turning his glare on the subject of their discussion. Marcus kept his eyes fixed firmly on the view through the open window and his face expressionless.

‘You may well shake your bloody head, Centurion. Once again you present me with the ultimate conundrum, young man. Once again I’ve allowed you out into the countryside only to have you come back with your reputation enhanced and your profile raised. You’ve drawn more attention to yourself than either you or this cohort can bear. It’s a mystery to me that we’ve not all been nailed up months ago…’ He rubbed reflexively at his bald scalp, turning to Julius. ‘I know Tribune Antonius isn’t the sharpest officer you’ve ever served under, but surely even he could see that there’s something not quite right about a man so obviously Roman serving in an auxiliary cohort?’