Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 04] Roman Retreat (31 page)

Aodh knew that Morwenna had never been to Mona and yet the cave was exactly where she said it would be. The entrance was cunningly hidden but once inside there was clear evidence of human habitation.  The fresh breeze going towards the sea told Aodh that there was another entrance on the land side. He quickly moved the debris from the floor and placed their few belongings on the rock shelves in the side. By the time he emerged there was no sign of the bones.  He was going to ask where they were but one look at her face told him that would be greeted well.

“You will need to forage for food and find out, without giving our presence away, where the women are who live on the island. I will speak with my sisters for the child kicking deep within me tells me that the Mother wants me to begin my work.”

Aodh began his appointed task and, leaving Morwenna to go into her dream world, he headed north to spy out the rest of the mysterious land of Mona.

Calgathus and his warband had fared better than Lulach and he had more of his band intact.  They met in the long valley close to the barren mountain. Calgathus and his son embraced. “I see you did not do as well in the east as e had hoped.” There was no censure in his voice for he knew his son to be a cautious warrior who would not waste men’s lives.  His dead brother Ninian had been another thing altogether.

“No father.  Their cavalry pursued us and some legionaries came from the south to attack us from two sides.  We could not defeat their forts.  They are stronger here in the south; that have used more stone.”

“You are right son.  I fear that this strategy may not be the right one. Let us take the positives from this campaign, which is just the beginning. We have taken much plunder and given it to our allies to make their support stronger.  We will raid this region and take this plunder back for us. When we are back in our lands we will continue to attack their forts.  Our success in breaking through has given me heart. With our Selgovae and Votadini brothers we can make the Romans regret coming so far north. This is not the end. We have only just begun to fight.”

Calleva Atrebatum was a bustling and thriving town.  Aula and Decius had been there long enough not to attract attention as newcomers. Aula had changed her looks and hair colour so that only her now dead husband would have recognised here. The greedy, grasping pair had not retired from the business of money making.  Decius still knew where there were rich pickings to be had.  “We are not going to live here in this poor land as rich citizens Decius.  I want to return to Rome and be rich in a rich land.”

Decius set about recruiting the disenchanted and disenfranchised; those who had lost money and position and were eager to regain it.  Decius promised them much and in the late spring he took his little caravan to the area around Wyddfa and the gold his engineers had found there; the engineers whose bodies now littered the lakes and high streams of the mountains. Decius was the only one who knew where to find the gold.  All he needed were the people to mine it for him.  His mercenaries would ensure the cooperation of any one he found who could mine for him.

While Decius Brutus helped to organise the repairs to the fort and the bridge, Prefect Julius Demetrius took the ala on long patrols to ensure that their enemies were indeed gone. The east was indeed devoid of any sign they had been there. One evening when he and Gaius were talking at the fort Marcus arrived. “You saw nothing to show where they had been or where they were going?”

“It is as though they vanished into the air as spirits.”

“But we know, do we not Julius that the Caledonii do not disappear? They are a plague like the locusts which devour the crops in Egypt.”

Julius smiled. His old leader could never stop being a leader.  He was still doing all those years ago when he tried to get Gaius or himself reach the same conclusion as himself.  “I do wish Marcus Aurelius Maximunius that you would just tell me what you are thinking.  We have been comrades too long for this, as Decius might have said, ‘dicking’ around.”

“He would you know Marcus.” Gaius smiled in memory of his dead friend.

Smiling at himself and remembering fondly the friend who had died whilst he had languished in a prison cell, he continued.” West.  That’s where they would have gone.  It has far fewer forts and soldiers and yet it is rich.  Remember when we came up the west side with Agricola?  There was nothing between Deva and what is now the fort of Luguvalium. “

“And Julius it is more pleasant travelling that way now than in winter.”

“You are right.  Gaius you keep four turmae here and I will take the rest on an extended patrol.”

As soon as they dropped down the other side, past Brocauum they could see the devastation wrought by the barbarians.  They passed barely a living creature all the way north to Luguvalium.  When they reached that northern outpost the camp Prefect, who looked like an empty shell, told them of the siege which had kept them trapped in their walls for the past three weeks.  “We saw the warband and their plunder head north but we could do nothing to stop them and then the siege was lifted.  They took cattle, sheep and slaves.” Apologetically he repeated, “We could do nothing. It would have taken a legion to defeat them.”

“I know we had a similar story in the east.”

When Julius finally returned to Morbium he told a sad tale of Carvetii and Brigante families dragged away into slavery and whole populations wiped out. “When I reached Strabo’s forts we could see the effect of the invasion.  There were three forts badly damaged.  They will not see another winter.”

Marcus sighed.  “That fool Sallustius played politics.  Had those four cohorts been committed to the north this might never have happened. I think Julius you ought to write a report for the new governor, whoever he is.  We need a line of defences from Coriosopitum west for mark my words Tribunes Strabo and Sura will either have to seek sanctuary in the south or they will die with all their men.”

“You are right Marcus.  I thought that we could hold them north of Veluniate but I was wrong.  We will take no more land.  Rome has started its long retreat.”

The End

Author’s note

The battle of Mons Graupius was the high water mark in the Roman occupation of Britain.  Julius Agricola was summoned back to Rome.  Although some authors argue that Agricola did not do as much as his son in law Tacitus claimed, the fact remains that he was the successful general who fought all the way from Wales to Scotland and, following his removal, Rome had to retreat. The fort at Inchtuthil was abandoned before it was finished and pots of nails were found buried to prevent them falling into barbarian hands. The Glen forts, as they were called, had been there for a few years but the date of their abandonment is open to conjecture.

Emperor Domitian did indeed withdraw legions from not only Britain but other parts of the Empire to help him fight in Dacia.  These wars were not successful and it was not until Trajan that the Empire began to recover some of the lost territory. With the legions gone it was left to the auxiliaries to defend the island.  Agricola held these soldiers in great esteem and felt he could conquer the whole of Britannia with such men. They had the same officer structure as the legions but fought in smaller units, the cohort.

The Governor of Germania Superior did rebel against Emperor Domitian in the late eighties. When the rebellion was put down he was executed. Sallustius Lucullus was the grandson of Cunobelinus. Bizarrely he was actually executed for naming a lance after himself. I found this hard to believe for an Emperor who, until the last years of his reign, was quite a reasonable Emperor. There is no evidence that he attempted to rebel against the Emperor but, as the grandson of a king of Britain and as another Governor did so at the same time I thought it was a legitimate story line.

As with all my books I use many facts and real events but essentially they are stories.  Stories which I hope you enjoy. I will continue to write abut the ala, the witch Morwenna and the wars the Romans fought in the north of Britain.

Griff Hosker November 2011

Characters and places mentioned in the novel

Decius Flavius              Decurion Marcus' Horse

Julius Demetrius              Decurion Marcus' Horse

Gaius Metellus Aurelius              Decurion Marcus' Horse

Macro              Decurion Marcus' Horse

Domitian              Emperor of Rome

Rufius Agrippa              Envoy for Lucius Saturninus

Morwenna              Fainch's daughter

Lucius Antoninus Saturninus              
Governor- Germania Superior

Sallustius Lucullus              Governor of Britannia

Calgathus              King of the Caledonii

Luigsech              Morwenna's nurse

Cominius Sura              Prefect Batavian auxiliary

Furius Strabo              Prefect Batavian Auxiliary

Marcus Aurelius Maximunius              Prefect Marcus' Horse

Luentinum              Pumsaint gold mine in west Wales

Livius Lucullus              Sallustius' nephew

Decius Lucullus              Sallustius' nephew

Parcae              The Roman fates

Aula Luculla              Wife of the governor

Alavna              Ardoch in Perthshire

Bodotria              River Firth

Clota              River Clyde

Coriosopitum              Corbridge

Corio              Corbridge-civilian settlement

Danum              Doncaster

Derventio              Malton

Deva              Chester

Dunum Fluvius              River Tees

Eboracum              York

Glanibanta              Ambleside

Hen Waliau              Caernarfon

Luguvalium               Carlisle

Mamucium               Manchester

Mona              Holyhead

Morbium              Piercebridge

Morbium              Piercebridge

Taus              River Solway

Tava              River Tay

uncia             
Roman inch

Viroconium             
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