The Eagle's Vengeance Read Online Free PDF

continue, Prefect.’
    Castus smiled indulgently at Scaurus.
    ‘I see you retain the same impatience you had as a younger man, Rutilius Scaurus, but I take your point. With the Selgovae, the Carvetii and the Votadini tribes all safely back in their boxes it was easy enough for Governor Marcellus to march his legions back south and rip through the Brigantes, and indeed he did so with such gusto that I expect they’ll be keeping their heads down for a good long time. Two men of military age crucified for every soldier that we lost, villages burned out for any hint of collaboration with the rebels, well, you know how it goes. The revolt collapsed almost overnight once the tribesmen realised that we were deadly serious about ending it, and that, we presumed, was that. I’d joined the Sixth Victorious by that time, and I was more than happy with what I found, a well-trained and aggressive legion whose commander was more than capable even if he did lack a thick stripe on his tunic.’
    He shot a quick smile at the tribune, whose senatorial status was clear enough to the other men, and Sorex shrugged easily.
    ‘You know my views on the subject, Prefect Castus, a man doesn’t need to be of the senatorial class to have the ability to command a legion. Indeed Praetorian Prefect Perennis seems bent on removing the requirement, to judge from what I hear in my correspondence from Rome.’
    Castus inclined his head in recognition of the point, flicking a glance across the Tungrian officers to find the young man who had been introduced as Centurion Corvus staring at Sorex with narrowed eyes, an expression which softened in an instant as he sensed the prefect’s gaze upon him.
    ‘So, all tribal uprisings in the legion’s operational area were defeated, and that, I assumed, would be that. The men were looking forward to the resumption of garrison duties and the chance to see the inside of a bathhouse again, while the centurions were planning some nice, hard patrolling to keep their troops in shape, and the occasional raid to make sure the natives knew who was on top. And, I have to say, I was in full agreement that this was the only sensible course of action given that the men had been at war for the best part of two years and were desperate for a rest and the chance to see the inside of their home fortresses again.’ Castus paused significantly for a moment. ‘And of course I was almost immediately proven to have it all wrong. Governor Marcellus had complete victory for the taking, but in that moment of triumph he over-reached himself. He decided to go one better than just restoring order to the north of the Emperor Hadrian’s wall and enforcing the peace from our existing line of forts. He decided instead to re-establish control of the northern tribes’ lands with boots on the ground, rather than simply following the decision that was made twenty years ago to simply leave them outside of the empire.’
    Scaurus shook his head in disbelief.
    ‘Surely he didn’t … not the northern wall?’
    ‘He won’t get any closer to those chests than the rest of us managed. Those boys look every bit as keen as the marines were. And your lads aren’t going to make them any friendlier behaving like that, are they?’
    Titus nodded his smug agreement with Dubnus’s bluntly stated opinion, and the two men watched pensively as Arminius strolled away from them up the quayside with his hands behind his back, ignoring the thirty-odd pioneers who were amusing themselves by sneering over at the legionaries and laughing with each other in the manner of men who were sharing a private joke. Their centurion took a deep breath of the sea-tinged air, inflating his barrel chest and rolling his massive head around his shoulders before replying.
    ‘And why send a barbarian to do a job that needs treading softly, eh? That boy’s never really happy without a sword in his hand and someone to fight.’
    Predictably, the German got no closer to the chests