19 The Emperor's Exile by Simon Scarrow

Author:Simon Scarrow [Scarrow, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2020-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Two

Centurion Massimilianus’s mounted force reached the fort at midday, two days after the main column had arrived. As soon as they were sighted by a sentry, Cato was alerted, and he rode out to meet the horsemen, reining in while they were still twenty paces off and raising his hand to halt them.

‘Good to see you, Centurion.’

‘And you, sir.’

‘Before you get any closer to the fort, I have to ask, have any of your men been sick or shown signs of the sickness?’

‘Yes, sir. I had to leave five men behind in Carales.’

‘What happened to them? My orders were for your men to keep their distance and turn people back.’

‘Yes, sir. One of the men knew of a good brothel in the town and talked some of his mates into sneaking inside the walls one night. By the time I heard of it, they had already left the camp. I was waiting for them when they crept back. I told them I’d have them speared if they tried to rejoin their comrades and ordered them to report to the fort at Carales. I let them know they’d be up on charges once this is all over, if they’re still alive.’

‘Good. Anyone else?’

‘The rest of my lads are fine, sir. I’ve told them to report any sign of sickness. But there’s been nothing. Not even a sprained ankle.’

‘Well done.’ Cato nodded and urged his horse forward. ‘What was the situation in Carales when you left?’

‘Not good. They were bringing the bodies out each morning and tipping them into a mass grave. Over a hundred a day, I’d estimate. Once word got round that we were turning people back, at spear point if necessary, they eventually stopped coming. We caught some who were trying to get past under cover of darkness and sent them back. But there’ll be some that got through. Maybe the same ones who passed the pestilence on to a handful of the nearest villages. I had a word with their headmen not to let anyone leave until they’d had no deaths or sickness for ten days. I didn’t have enough men to cover the villages as well as Carales, so all I could do was threaten them with dire consequences if I discovered one of them had allowed any of their people to spread the pestilence to another village.’

‘That was the best you could have done in the circumstances. Come, let’s ride on to the fort.’

Cato tugged his reins and waited for the centurion to fall in alongside him before clicking his tongue and walking his horse on.

‘We’re not going to be able to contain the pestilence, are we, sir?’ Massimilianus said quietly.

There was no sense in pretence or misplaced optimism, thought Cato. That only ever made a man look a fool when a crisis was over and people looked back and asked questions of those in authority. ‘I doubt it. We might have had a chance early on, if Scurra had quarantined people as soon as he heard they were sick.

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