Jack Whyte - The Eagles' Brood

Uther made his way to my side. "What do you think?"

"About what? I don't think I'm capable of thought. It's a mess."

"We all know that, Caius." There was a measure of asperity in his voice. "I didn't come to you to hear you crying! I want your opinion as an officer. Is it better to stop here and rest or to ride on? We've still got a long way to go and it's getting dark."

I made myself think, and it turned out to be easier than I expected, for a memory of Uncle Varrus sprang into my mind unbidden. I took a long look around me, as far as I could see. We were in the bottom of a shallow valley and as the land rose to my right it flattened out slightly before rising again to a heavily treed hillside. A picture emerged in my mind of a boat burning.

"Who's our quartermaster?" I asked Uther.

"We have three. Why?"

"Send them to me. We'll stay here tonight. The rain's gone. We'll move up to the high ground there and see what we can do about getting dry. Pass the word for one man in every two to start gathering wood. Enough for four large fires, big enough to dry us all off."

"Are you mad?" Uther's voice sounded shocked. "Fires? Everything's soaked! How in the name of Hephaestus are you going to light them?"

"Publius Varrus's way. That's why I want our quartermasters."

He looked at me in silence for a while, then shrugged his shoulders and rode away, signalling to a centurion. Very soon thereafter, everyone was out of the valley and up on the high ground. Within half an hour four large piles of wet wood had begun to take shape and I had spoken with the quartermasters in charge of our commissary supplies. They, too, thought I was mad, or at least profligate, but they produced the oil from our rations, poured it over the sodden wood and set it alight, and in what seemed like no time at all, our entire force was clustered around four massive conflagrations. I had no fears at all that these fires might be seen by unfriendly eyes. We were still a long, long way from home. The effect on our men was magical as the chill slowly thawed from their bones and their clothes began to steam. After a while, smaller fires began to appear apart from the larger ones, and the commissary staff began doling out food. The night was warm, too, and most of the men were almost naked as they waited for their wet clothing to dry. Leather legionary tents sprang up like mushrooms and out of chaos and demoralization came order, new resolve and comfortable rest. I was determined to make the most of this mood of renewed optimism, and I kept the men moving in relays to gather fresh supplies of wood, giving the roaring bonfires no chance to die down.

It must have been close to midnight when Uther approached me again, an excited look on his face. I was surprised to see him still awake and told him so, but he just shook his head briefly in that characteristic way of his, managing to convey the triviality of my thought in one gesture. "We're blind, Cay. Stone blind and foolish."

"Why? And how?"

"I've been racking my brain trying to think of the quickest back to Camulod come daylight. I imagine you have too?" I nodded and he went on, "Well, it suddenly hit me! Where are we and why are we here?"

"You mean here and now?"

"Yes, I mean right here and right now, and don't even bother trying to think about the answer, because I'm going to tell you. We are in the middle of nowhere, travelling a confused route from the camp to Camulod because we have to remain hidden, correct?"

"Correct. So? What's your point?"

"My point, Cousin, is that we are behaving like idiots. There is no need for secrecy now. Lot is at Camulod and all we have to do is get there as quickly as possible...And there's a road less than seven miles to the east of us that will take us within five miles of Camulod! We can mount a forced march down an open road now. No need to go on blundering through this damned forest."

I had jumped to my feet as he was speaking. "By the Christ! You're right, Uther! I am a fool!"

"Well, you're hardly lacking for company."

"Seven miles to the road, you say?"

"At the most. Perhaps half that far. I don't know. I've never been so far off the road in these parts. I know the last villa the Atribatus brothers bought is somewhere to the south-west of us—that was the last new property the Colony acquired—but exactly how far away it is—again, I don't know, perhaps ten miles. But from there, it's only eight miles to the road. We've been swinging in an arc. We must be close to the road right now."

I headed for my horse. "I'm going to find it right now."

"In the dark?"

"You're fire Mind. It's a clear, moonlit night."

"Wait then. I'm coming with you."

So we rode together and once away from the firelight it was easy to find our way between the clumps of trees that dotted the landscape. The road was less than two miles from our starting point, stretching black and straight and open from north to south. We rode straight up onto the roadway and sat there laughing at each other, until Uther spoke.

"Well, what do you think?"

"No need to think. I know. If we roust out our column now, we can be within a few miles of Camulod by dawn."

"My thoughts exactly. What are we waiting for?"

We galloped back to our camp like a pair of excited boys and roused everyone. The fires and the heat of the summer night had undone the damage of the storm and all of the men had managed to obtain some rest. There was some alarm and panic when we clattered in, but soon every man in the place was gathered around us as we sat there on our horses. Uther held up his hands for silence, and when he had it he looked at me in inquiry.

"Go ahead," I told him. "It's your show."

He grinned and raised his voice. "Hear me!" The silence grew more attentive. "You all heard the news today. Lot is at the gates of Camulod. The storm last night delayed us badly, and we will be hard put to come to Camulod before tomorrow night, taking this route. And if we do not come, our friends and families will die." Nobody moved or spoke. Uther looked at me again and then continued. "We have been blind, soldiers of Camulod. The road the Romans built is less than two miles from where we stand. If we go now, we can be close to Camulod by dawn. What say you?" The roar of surprised approval raised goose-flesh on my body. "So be it. Leave your supplies and tents here and mount up. Bring only what you need for fighting. The commissary wagons will stay here and follow later. We have a lesson to teach the usurper from Cornwall. We leave within the quarter-hour!"

XXI

We arrived back at Camulod in the heavy darkness before dawn and immediately deployed our men within the fringes of the forest that framed die great military practice plain at the foot of the hill. Uther had sent out some of his Celts earlier to range ahead of us and try to determine what had happened during our absence, but to a major and alarming extent we could see for ourselves.

Camulod was burning with a lurid, awe-inspiring glare that lit up the entire top of the hill, and we could hear the noises of a continuing battle at the bottom of the hill, around the hastily improvised fortifications that Popilius had been building, when Lot's army arrived: On our right, to the north, fires still burned sullenly in the wreckage of the villa. Even from more than two miles away, the scene resembled a madman's vision of Hades and bitter, acrid smoke blown on the breeze caught at the throat.

"Well?" Uther's voice was rough and abrupt in my ear. "What's our move?"

I shook my head, my mind in a turmoil from the evidence of destruction in front of us. I was fighting against tears of anger and frustration and had to swallow hard several times before I could trust my voice to answer him. "I don't know, Uther, I don't know. It's too dark. If we attack now we will have only the firelight to guide us. There could be any number of men out there, hidden in the darkness."