Saviour of Rome by Douglas Jackson

Author:Douglas Jackson [Jackson, Douglas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BluA
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2016-08-24T23:00:00+00:00

XXV

‘Well?’

‘It was as you said,’ Tito told his father as he dismounted from his pony. ‘They have weakened the guard on the convoys from the mines to Asturica Augusta.’

‘To draw us in and destroy us.’

The younger man nodded. ‘The hook-noses had left their tracks all over the hills north and south of the road. There are hundreds of them. A half-cohort of legionaries too, camped in a gully, but on the alert.’ Serpentius noticed he had something bundled behind his saddle. Tito untied it and hefted it from the horse’s back. It was obviously of great weight and he dropped it at Serpentius’s feet. ‘A gift,’ he said solemnly, ‘from one warrior to another.’

‘Where did you get this?’ Serpentius studied the tight-knit mail shirt, noting the brighter patches where it had been repaired and the places where the rings had been forced together by the impact of a blow. Men had fought and died in this relic. Still, it was of good quality. But what was this? Tito was watching him as he inspected it. ‘I said, where did you get this,?’ Serpentius demanded with more urgency.

‘There was a man. He was being hunted by the hook-noses. A Roman … I wasn’t sure what to do, but there was something about him.’ He shrugged, unable to fully explain his actions. ‘I decided to help. He gave me the mail in thanks. Did I do wrong?’

Serpentius ignored the question and fingered one of the mail’s leather straps where it had been repaired. ‘What was he like, this Roman?’

‘Tall, lean and dark, with a scar on his cheek, here,’ he ran a finger down the left side of his face from eye to lip.

‘No, what was he like?’

Tito searched for the correct words. ‘Not frightened. Angry. Fierce. He looked down upon his enemies like a hawk waiting to strike, but they were too many and well armed.’ The young man stared at his father as his thoughts converged on a conclusion. ‘Menacing. He reminded me of you.’

Serpentius shook his head and his expression took on a faraway look. ‘And was there some mark – other than the scar – that would identify him?’

‘His right hand was made of wood.’

Tito watched his father’s face for a reaction, but Serpentius had long ago learned to keep his emotions to himself. Inside, his mind was racing. Valerius here? But how? And more important, why? Their last meeting had been in Jerusalem with Serpentius lying face down on a bed with an open sword wound in his back, delirious from pain and fever. He had only the vaguest memory of their parting, but he was certain there had been a mention of Rome and Tabitha, the Judaean princess who had stolen Valerius’s heart. A marriage? Why then would he leave his new bride to come to the seething snake pit of Asturica?

Gaius Valerius Verrens was a dangerous man, almost as dangerous as Serpentius himself. Yes, they had been friends, but time and circumstance could erode the strongest of friendships.

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