Pendragon and the Clash of Kingdoms by C.J. Brown

Author:C.J. Brown [Brown, C.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-19T22:00:00+00:00

12

The Eagle Has Landed

Tiberius led his legion through the streets of Paris, the first Roman general to walk the city in decades.

The banner of Rome was looked on with disgust by the Franks and Huns alike, and Tiberius could feel their hatred.

He didn’t care. He would be the emperor’s greatest general. Perhaps Lucius would appoint him heir, endowing him with the greatest power. As emperor, Tiberius would grow the Roman Empire more than any of his predecessors had. He would see Roman garrisons as far as the uncharted west. He would occupy all of Britannia, the cold lands to the north. Rome would be the greatest city for the rest of time.

The legionnaires of Chimaerum marched with discipline. The horses of the cavalry neighed as they traversed the cobblestone road.

A line of war galleys was awaiting them at the Sequena, along with Hun captains and slaves.

Tiberius stopped before the gangplank of the first galley. “Make haste!” he shouted. “We leave at once.”

“Move!” A Hun captain bellowed.

At once the legionnaires marched with their shields over the gangplank. Filing onto the deck, five hundred of them took their place while the rest boarded the remaining ships. Tiberius would have preferred they were all galleys, but there hadn’t been enough time to build them. They’d have to make do with merchant ships, boats, and other vessels.

Once the legionaries and the cavalry had boarded the ships, around the trebuchets that each galley carried, Tiberius turned, not looking at the Hun captain who stood beside him and galloped onto the deck.

Jumping down, he landed with a thud as the Hun captain raced aboard and shouts were bellowed to remove the gangplanks.

Tiberius looked north.

He could not see the Narrow Sea, though he could in his mind.

He envisioned a grand campaign. He would use the Huns, see them capture Arthur and Uther, then seize them and defeat the barbarians. Lucius would appoint him as heir.

Smirking, he heard the captain shout for the sails to be deployed and for the slaves to start rowing.

Men, broken by evil, propelled the ships out to sea amidst dawn air, just two days since the Hun messenger had forwarded Attila’s proposal. The Roman rider had returned, fatigued with travel, only to pass on the answer of the emperor and fall unconscious.

He was left to the care of the Franks.

Less than three hours later, a storm was brewing over the Narrow Sea as the galleys and triremes heaved.

Tiberius looked around to see some of the boats drifting away uncontrollably while the smaller ones sank. Only the galleys and triremes made it safely to the shore.

As rain pelted the sails and the deck, the galley halted suddenly, amongst the Hun ships that had sailed for Britannia two days past.

High tide sent waves that destabilized the Hun triremes and galleys.

“Debark!” The Hun captain bellowed over the storm.

Tiberius gave no counter-order, and so the legionnaires streamed from the decks as the cavalry thundered off.

They raced up the beach as lightning clapped above. Tiberius jumped from the deck with his horse and thundered up to the rocks.

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