Jack Whyte - The Singing Sword

"Well, General," I said. "I can call you General again."

"Again? You never stopped." He eyed his son. "You haven't answered my question, Picus."

"What answer would you have, Father? You read your warrant. It's unique. You have autonomy under imperial seal. I can't tell you what to do, nor can any other."

"You can make suggestions if I ask for them."

Picus nodded, smiling. "True, I can."

"Well then. I have already asked you. How do you see our role here developing?"

"I would like to see it develop considerably, Father, if you are willing. How many horses do you have now?"

"You mean trained cavalry mounts?" Picus nodded and Caius shook his head. "I don't know with certainty. Victorex will have the exact number, but I suspect it will be around a hundred and fifty, perhaps a hundred and seventy-five. No more."

"Hmmm! Not enough." Picus sat in deep thought, flicking his thumbnail against his teeth. "I can let you have a hundred more now, and the same again, later, say in six months to a year."

"Can you, by God?" I jumped into the conversation again. "And how will you justify that to your superiors?"

He grinned at me in boyish delight. "What superiors, Uncle? I have none in Britain, once Stilicho is gone. No, that's not strictly true. Marcus Telia, Military Commander of the Province of South Britain, is my nominal superior, but he has been well briefed by Stilicho on the real extent of his jurisdiction over me. He is to forward my reports to Stilicho regularly, assist me in any way he can in the strengthening of my command, preserve my autonomy in terms of allowing no interference with my performance of my duties and otherwise leave me strictly alone. I don't have to justify anything to anyone. I have decided to supply you with the horseflesh you need, so that you in turn can be useful to me in the prosecution of my mandate. If your men are well enough mounted, they can patrol this whole region and set up watching-posts and cavalry depots along the entire coastline of the territories given into your charge by Stilicho."

"To the north or to the south?"

"Both, eventually. For the moment, to the north, guarding the estuary leading to Glevum and freeing my men there for duty in the south-east. And there, if I needed any, is my justification."

Britannicus jumped to his feet and clapped his hands loudly together. "Excellent! So be it! We will work together." The door opened in answer to his summons and old Gallo came back into the room. "Gallo, is General Picus's room ready for him?"

"Of course, Master." There was just the barest hint of reproach in the old man's voice.

"Good. Excellent. When will dinner be ready?"

"Whenever you are, Master. The ladies are waiting."

"Then we are ready now. Come, Publius, Picus, let's dine. Your aunt will be glad to see you, lad."

"I hope so, and I will be glad to see her. It has been months now since I was last here."

We began walking towards the dining room, and as we went, Picus began quizzing me on weapons, asking how we were solving the problem of arming our men.

"Oh," I told him, "we are making some headway, but nothing revolutionary. We've had no major design breakthroughs. I'll show you what we have tomorrow, if you're still here. Will you be still here?"

He grinned and raked his spread fingers across his close-cropped scalp. "I'll be here. I have had a rough couple of weeks and could use a day off. I'll get back on the road before dawn the following day."

"Fine." I clapped him on the shoulder. "Now, no more talk of weapons or of war. Your aunt and your niece are completely tied up in their arrangements for the wedding next spring. Since Veronica has 'become a woman,' as she likes to phrase it, she and her mother have formed a conspiracy to domesticate the men in this household. We are actively discouraged from discussing business at table. Your father and I have decided that, until the wedding is over, we will humour them. We talk of generalities and social affairs at table now, all of which means that we listen to the latest developments in planning the nuptials."

He laughed aloud. "It sounds as though this is going to be a major celebration."

"Depend upon it. It is," his father answered him. "And I for one am not unhappy about it. Bear in mind what I said earlier about the underlying connotations of this match. The more moment we accord to it, the better it will suit itself to our purposes."

"You mean it really is political? A dynastic marriage?" He was still half joking.

"Yes, I do. The young people like each other, which is a valuable bonus. But this marriage is, nevertheless, political above and beyond all else. Had I planned it myself, I could not have arranged a better match. As it turned out, I did not have to. Varrus and Ullic between them arranged the contract, Varrus in total innocence of its portent. Ullic, I know, knew what he was doing."

I interrupted. "By the way, Picus, what of Seneca? Is he still in Britain?"

He barked a laugh. "Oh, yes, he's still in Britain. He's my commander in the north and I keep a close eye on him. He knows I do, and he takes great care to keep his nose clean."

"What will happen when Stilicho leaves? Do you expect any trouble from him?"

"From Seneca, you mean? The only way he can cause me trouble is to mutiny, and if he tries that, I'll crucify him, and he knows it. No, he'll cause no trouble. He has two more years to serve, according to imperial decree. When he gets out, then he might try to cause trouble for me, but the prospect holds no terror."

We arrived at the doors of the dining room just as he concluded this last sentence, and Britannicus placed his finger to his lips in a silent "Shhh," his right eyebrow quirked high in his own particular way, and led Picus and me, both grinning, into the company of the ladies.

XX

I slept poorly that night and rose long before dawn had even begun to register in the east. So I was surprised to find Picus up and about ahead of me, finding himself some breakfast. We ate together and talked for a while, and he suggested going for a ride. I was happy to go, but I made a joke out of slipping away quickly before Luceiia noticed us and found some work for me to do. We were soon mounted and heading out into the open fields behind the villa, where we gave our horses their head and let them gallop until they became tired and slowed of their own volition. My mount, Germanicus, was four hands shorter than the big black Picus was riding, and yet he was the biggest horse we had in our entire stable. I was eyeing the big black with my new appreciation for horseflesh when Picus broke in on my thoughts.

"Would Aunt Luceiia really have stopped you from coming, Uncle?"

I looked at him in amazement. "Of course not, it was a joke! She'd never even think of such a thing. Why would you ask that... you find it credible?"

He was frowning slightly, perplexed. "I don't know. Women are a mystery to me... I never feel at ease in their company, never know what to think or do... I can't imagine being married to one."

I grinned. "Welcome to the world most men inhabit! When you're safely married, you learn to appear to think and to do what you're told to think and do, if you want a quiet, peaceful life ... and in return, you're allowed to complain long-sufferingly about how hard it is to be so blessed... And that was another joke!" It earned me an uncertain, not-quite-convinced kind of smile.

By this time we were more than three miles from the villa, at the upswell of a range of low hills that held one of my favourite spots for being alone, by myself or with Luceiia.

"Swing left, over that way." I pointed with my chin and Picus kneed his big horse gently towards the hillside on the left, asking no questions. We swung into the rise and crested the hill to find a wooded depression that was hidden from below.