“We’ll meet up by that small hill.” Marcus pointed to a distant rise beyond the forest. He estimated it had to be at least two hundred feet above ground level. “It should make a good place to camp and we’ll be able to see anything that moves from up there.”
When Varro and the others arrived the daylight was already fading fast. A small fire was burning in a hole in the ground and Lucius was skinning a hare he had snared, three others lay dead nearby. Varro surveyed the area around the hill, he could see for miles. Each man usually carried three days rations but if they could hunt and find fresh food, it was better for them, the salted dried meat from their rations would have to wait.
“We’ll rest here tonight and move forward tomorrow at first light. Quintus you can take the other men to the rear and report our progress to the Legate. We’ll continue along the coast and meet up the day after tomorrow.”
Quintus nodded in response as the men began preparing for the first night that would be spent under the stars in Britannia. Thick animal skins were untied from the rumps of the horses and unwrapped on the ground. Three were kept folded and placed in a triangular shape around the hole where the fire burned a foot below ground in case of prying eyes in an attempt to reduce the glow and flames of the fire.
“We’ll post two guards at each edge of the rise,” Varro ordered pointing, “once we’ve eaten as soon as the lights gone we’ll put the fire out and get our heads down. It’ll be a long day tomorrow for all of us, we’ll take turns as usual until the sun comes up, Servius, Sextus you two are first.”
He nodded to two of the men that would return to the legion with Quintus the following day. “We’ll do it in pairs, two hours about so everyone will get some sleep for most of the night, tomorrow will be a more exhausting day than today, that’s for sure.”
He stretched his aching limbs, they had ridden more today than they had for a while and his sore backside was testament to every bumpy mile, a few more days in the saddle would cure that though. They sat around the small fire cooking the meat and ate Lucius’ kills. It was tasty and succulent and just what they needed after a day in the saddle, the meat was washed down with a mouthful of water they had taken from the stream earlier that day. It was warmer now but still relatively fresh.
With the light virtually gone and the stars starting to appear, soil was kicked over the fire dousing the remaining flames. As everyone else bedded down, Servius and Sextus went out and took up their positions, both carried their javelins.
Sometime later a voice cut through the peaceful night. “Sir, come and look at this.” Sextus said in a hushed whisper from a short distance away in the dark. Varro blinked himself awake and went towards him, his figure silhouetted on a starry background. He shook two others awake and instructed Veranius and Decimus to follow. The others carried on sleeping undisturbed.
Varro didn’t have to ask what the problem was, he could see for himself. On the plains below fires could be seen flickering in the distance beyond the woods and forests, there were at least thirty fires burning some way off. Other fires could be seen separate from the main group but they were isolated, none could be seen in the direction they had come from.
“Looks like you were right,” Decimus remarked, “tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”
“That’s obviously a large village or a major settlement,” Veranius said pointing to the large cluster of flames. From this distance each fire was small, a dot nothing more but some were the size of a nail head, “It’s probably a day’s ride from here. We’ll be safe enough tonight,” he looked back to the area where they had eaten, “they couldn’t have seen us or the fire, Lucius dug the pit deep enough to conceal the flames and if they did, they’d probably think it was more of them or groups out hunting.” He pointed to the singular fires, “That’s probably what they are.”
It was a decision only Varro could make he knew. He looked out and thought for a while, if they went back the way they had come, they wouldn’t achieve anything but it would put some space between them and whatever lay below and around those fires. He had made his decision.
“We’ll stay here tonight. If you see anything and I mean anything moving towards us and getting close, wake us straight away, begin to saddle the horses and we’ll withdraw and head inland and around them dependant on the situation. We’re here to see what lies in the path of the column and we just achieved that to some degree.” He unfurled the map.
“That large place isn’t marked here, I wasn’t expecting to see any inhabited settlements for a while.” He marked the map and returned to the others where he instructed Quintus to note the details on his identical copy of the map that he would take back to the legion. Maybe the maps author wasn’t aware of this location he thought, or it was relatively new.
“We’ll scout ahead tomorrow and see exactly what’s out there before you head back so you won’t leave straight away. There’s no reason to return to the legion when you’re within a stones through of getting some real intelligence, understood?” Varro asked.
“Yes sir.” He replied.
“Right let’s get some sleep,” he patted Quintus on the shoulder, “and hopefully we won’t speak again until daylight.” As Varro made one last check of the area, he went to see Servius who was unaware of their findings and explained the situation. He told both guards to make sure they positioned themselves in dead ground so they couldn’t be seen from a distance, silhouetting their bodies against the night sky before settling down to get some sleep in their makeshift camp.
Being so close to potential enemy positions was not unusual for him or his men, it was one of the reasons they volunteered for such a duty but it still felt strange no matter how many times they’d done it before. In the past they had been so close to unknown groups that they had been able to hear them laughing and talking at night, in comparison, this was positively safe. The night passed without incident but it was the last good sleep they would all have for some considerable time.
That same evening just as Varro and his men were settling down, a long way to the north, two riders reached the capitol of the Catuvellauni, Camulodunum. They galloped through the open gates and found Togodumnus and told him the news of the Roman landing.
Chapter Three
When they awoke just before sunrise the next day, a damp dew covered the ground all around them and now they were wet and cold, silver thin spider’s webs adorned everything from men and equipment alike and birds sang a chirpy dawn chorus all around their makeshift camp. The sun was just beginning to rise as the black of night retreated but it would be a while before it burned away the chill of the night completely. A mist covered the lowlands making it impossible to define any detail except for the tops of trees in the distance.
“Jupiter’s balls it’s cold.” Quintus was heard exclaiming from the confines of his makeshift bed as he brushed down his damp clothing, he wasn’t talking to anyone in particular, just remarking at his own displeasure and muttering to himself.
“Germania was freezing, Gaul was cold and now we find ourselves on the dampest most remote island that Rome could find, at the furthest tip of the empire. Why couldn’t we have gone east where at least we could have browned our skin under the rays of the sun and baked our balls by the sea all day?” He continued to ramble on as others began to emerge from their own blankets and cloaks grinning.
“Syria would have been nice, we wouldn’t have frozen our cocks off there but no, we had to come here to this giant forest and…..” He looked around and saw the mist below, “Oh wonderful, just look at that.” He said pointing, “There could be all manner of hairy bastards hiding down there waiting to greet us when we get down, hundreds of them, thousands even and we wouldn’t have the first fucking clue they were there.”