The Eagle's Vengeance Read Online Free PDF Page B

than the nearest of the legionaries, who simply shook his head discouragingly and pointed wordlessly back at the watching Tungrian centurions. Arminius shrugged and turned away, pulling his cloak tighter about him as a wind from the sea swirled the mist that still hung in the air.
    ‘Told you so.’ Titus hooked a thumb over his shoulder at his men waiting patiently behind them. ‘The only way to get to see what’s in them would be to let my boys loose on those children …’
    Dubnus shook his head in apparent disgust.
    ‘Bugger me, Bear, do you ever give it a rest? My boys this, my boys that …’ He spat over the quayside into the dark water swirling around the jetty’s thick wooden pilings. ‘I’ll tell you what, let’s swap. You can have a play with my century, and find out what it’s like commanding men with a little more in their favour than big muscles and loud voices, and I’ll give your boys a taste of real discipline, rather than all that warrior brotherhood rubbish you spoil them with.’
    Titus smirked at his colleague in return, drawing himself up to his full height and looking down his nose at the irritated Dubnus.
    ‘Discipline? With a bunch of girly men you stole from a legion? Men their centurion was happy to see the back of given their habit of running away whenever a fight was at hand? Any of my boys could run your century, little brother, so why would I lower myself to such a thing?’ A crafty smile crept onto his face. ‘And besides, it takes a big man to control a herd of bulls like the Tenth, I’m not sure you’d be our sort of centurion, Your Highness .’
    Castus nodded grimly at the Tungrian tribune.
    ‘Oh yes, he did . He ordered all three legions north again, minus a couple of cohorts apiece to keep control of the Brigantes, and he ordered all three of the legions’ legati to re-establish Roman control over the northern tribes in the only way he believed possible, by putting their lands inside the empire. He re-garrisoned the wall that the Emperor Antoninus built a hundred miles to the north of the wall raised by his predecessor Hadrian …’ The camp prefect sighed, shaking his head. ‘The idiot sent the legions north to re-occupy a defensive line that has been found to be untenable on the two previous occasions it has been manned. Even I, brand new to the province, could see that it was a mistake, and the gods know that the legati did their best to dissuade him from the idea, but you know what a stubborn old bastard he is once he has the bit between his teeth. The worst of it is that he did it without any reference to Rome, whose permission for such a rash move we can be sure would never have been forthcoming.’
    Scaurus stared in disbelief at the older man.
    ‘Ulpius Marcellus took it upon his own head to set imperial frontier policy? Had he gone utterly mad ?’
    ‘Apparently not, but he might as well have. Once it became clear to the legions that they were going to be occupying the new line of defence for the foreseeable future, well, they revolted, and pretty much to a man. The legionaries of the Twentieth went as far as to offer their legatus Priscus the purple, which was the one thing guaranteed to get the attention of Rome even if he did display the remarkably good sense to refuse their generous offer of the throne. Once the praetorian prefect got to hear about the whole sorry mess he started throwing orders around like the bride’s mother on the wedding day, understandably given that he’s effectively running the empire, and none of it was ever going to be pretty. The governor’s already gone, of course, recalled to Rome by a fast courier for an interview without wine with some fairly serious characters, I’d imagine, and with his career in tatters around him.’
    He shook his head again.
    ‘He’ll be lucky to keep his head on his shoulders. The legion commanders were next on the list, naturally enough, although the orders were for them to hand over command to