The Eagle's Vengeance by Anthony Riches

Author:Anthony Riches
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2013-08-21T22:00:00+00:00

7

The deeper the mounted detachment moved into the Frying Pan’s heart, the less Silus was able to shrug off the feeling of disquiet that had gripped him since the moment they had ridden away from the cohort. The forest was silent, even the birds’ song stilled as if in reaction to the presence of intruders, and the absence of any natural noise other than that of the wind through the trees was more chilling than would have been the case in the presence of a marching cohort of soldiers to fill the silence. A rider cantered easily down the path towards them, reining his horse in with a salute to the decurion.

‘Nothing to report sir! The forest is quiet, and we’ve seen nothing to make us think there’s anyone else about.’

Silus nodded, gesturing back up the path.

‘Back you go then, and when you reach your mates send another man back.’

The rider saluted again and turned his horse, galloping away back down the path to the east. Silus’s Pay and a Half muttered a comment, looking out into the sea of trees with a dour face as the party continued walking their horses down the narrow path.

‘Perhaps this place really is deserted. After all, nobody would ever describe them tattoo-boys as being overly blessed with brains, eh? They’re probably just running for the place we camped last night.’

The decurion shrugged.

‘One of the benefits of having a gentleman like the tribune for a boss is that he does tell an interesting and informative story with a cup of wine in his hand. I was lucky enough to hear him telling the first spear about a German called Arminius the other night, not that big oaf who keeps his boots clean for him, but a tribal chief who led a revolt against the empire in Germania two hundred years ago. Seems this man was a tribal prince, just a boy mind you, and he was taken from his family by our soldiers as part of a peace settlement with his tribe once they’d been given a beating. He was brought up in Rome, see, as a member of the nobility, and they taught him to be civilised. They made him into a Roman gentleman, or as much of one as he was ever going to be given where he came from, and then they put him in the army, as an officer of course. He was a tasty piece of work according to the tribune, a man with a talent for getting stuck into the barbarians and hacking them up in the front rank, rather than posing around on his horse and trying to sound noble and commanding like most of them do.’

The men around him murmured their approval, and more than one of them patted a sword hilt or reached up to rub the iron head of their spear with a silent prayer.

‘Anyway, it seems this Arminius was eventually persuaded to betray Rome by his old tribe, and so he led three

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