Bear and the Wolf by S.J.A. Turney

Author:S.J.A. Turney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: empire, rome, roman, legion, caracalla, hadrian, briton
Publisher: S.J.A. Turney

CHAPTER 7

Brigius sat on the horse uncomfortably, praying as he had never prayed before to every deity he could remember the name of, whether Roman or Votadini. His backside was sore from the journey, since he had rarely ridden a horse in his life; never for such a distance, and certainly not at the pace of the Numidian cavalry. But the pains in his gluteus maximus were nothing compared to the near panic that had filled him throughout the journey.

He had once seen a theatre group from somewhere down south perform at a festival in Coria and had wondered how a person could possibly maintain such a mask of fiction throughout the whole event as those actors. Now, he felt he could teach them a thing or two after the last few hours of seeming confident and keeping a straight face.

He had ridden out with the cavalry in the company of prince Caracalla, the bitter-faced Numidian prefect, and a small unit of the prince’s own praetorian cavalry. He had guided them to the site upon which he and Senna had agreed, and now they were here the longer they waited, the more nervous he became.

What if he and Senna had been wrong and there was another, more obvious, route? What if she had not spoken to her cousin’s idiot husband? What if they hadn’t believed her and had decided to change their plan? What if they had believed her but had ignored her anyway? What if they had managed to attract the nobles and field active cavalry? What if they’d got lost? Decided not to move? Fallen ill? So many reasons this might all go wrong, and only one way it could go right. And even if it all went according to plan, who won when you set a wolf and a bear to fighting? The answer was almost certainly not ‘you’.

And to have the emperor’s son present did little to calm his twanging nerves. That was not in the plan, and would need working out when his mind was less filled with whirling panic.

They were two full days’ ride north of the wall now, a day south of the once-powerful fortress at which the Maeatae warband had planned to gather, and on the very same day that supposed assembly of warriors was due to move through here, if their estimates had been correct. Senna, stronger than he had ever thought possible, had passed on to him the salient points: when, where and who, and Brigius, almost as familiar with the region as her, had seen the sense in the rebels’ decisions. He had also been able to mentally track their route south and east the same as she, noting the places through which they would naturally pass. It had taken little imagination to see Twin Rivers as the best site for this meeting. Unless the Maeatae wanted to climb every ridge and hill on their journey south, they would have to either come either this way or down past

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