Varro leading the way listened to the conversation as they all agreed to a man that if it was humanly possible to right this terrible wrong they would. The problem was that they were only a few soldiers, lightly armed, provisioned and miles away from any real support. They would have liked nothing better than to destroy the entire village but that was out of the question.
The boy had fallen asleep eventually, strewn face down across Staro’s back in front of the centurion, Varro had kept him in place with his knees, reassuringly patting his shoulder every now and again. As the first rays of light broke slowly before the dawn of another day he brought his small party to a halt raising his hand. Veranius helped carry the lad off Staro and lay his head down on a rolled blanket.
“We’ll get the horses fed and watered and ourselves and try and get some rest until the suns up properly and we can get our bearings.” The stars were beginning to disappear from the night sky as dark blue replaced the sparkling blackness that had enveloped everything above them.
Decimus lit a fire whilst Marcus brought water from a nearby stream to slowly boil. They may have had to live in the field but they still liked to have some comforts. They had learned from past experience that even small things like warm water were essential for moral and keeping spirits up. They had to be wary of hunting parties but a fire wasn’t enough to draw too much suspicion. The boy slept on fitfully, every now and again his body pulsed as a sleeping sob wracked his small body.
“Poor little bastard eh, what are we going to do with him?” Decimus asked of his commander.
“Well we’ve got a couple of choices the way I see it. We can either abandon him here leaving him to his own initiative, we could end his life or, we could try and take him home.” Varro replied. “I don’t want to kill an innocent child. He would surely die if he was just left here so I suppose we’ve got one logical option left. What do you think?” He addressed the group as a whole. They liked Varro for a number of reasons, his compassion being one, another; his ability to ask the opinion of his fellow soldiers especially when their lives could depend on the outcome.
“I say we try and get the child home as we’ve said, at least for the duration of today.” Veranius said. “If we can’t find his family by nightfall, we leave him to his own abilities.”
“Agreed,” Varro said, “does anyone have any objections?” He surveyed the weary eyes before him and received shakes of the head in response. “Okay. Let’s get some food, some sleep and we’ll see what the day brings. Marcus you take first watch.”
“Sir.” The trooper acknowledged as he scrambled in his food bag for some dried meat to chew and began to walk away.
“I’ll be on the outcrop.” He indicated to a position a hundred paces or so away from the rest of the group. It would give him a good vantage point if anyone or anything approached.
“I wonder if Caesar experienced the burning of native’s when he was here?” Lucius asked.
Varro a little more educated on the topic said, “Well there were two forays into the interior of this land. Although some believe both were merely reconnaissance missions, I don’t see it that way. With the amount of troops, ships and materials he had, it had to be an invasion.”
The others looked at him in surprise. “If you look at the facts no-one can argue that the Britons defeated him and sent him on his way, not once but twice. Some of it was down to back luck on their behalf and some of it down to fortune. Ships damaged by storms were sunk, supplies and men were lost. The Britons were prepared and lined those great white rocks we saw when we landed. This time they believed we had abandoned the invasion and so by comparison we had an easy time of it.”
Decimus listening intently asked, “So that means that those Britons or their relatives that beat the greatest general we’ve ever had, are still out there?”
Varro smiled, “They certainly are my friend and at some point we’ll surely meet them.”
“So what makes you think that we’ll fare any better than Caesar?” Veranius asked chewing on his salted meat.
“This time there’s a difference and tactically it’s enormous. We’ve got a foothold on their coast and our troops and equipment are pouring ashore still, even as we speak. As the ships are offloaded they’re returning to Gaul for more. In no time at all we’ll have over fifty thousand men on this ground.” He looked at the faces reflecting the flames of the fire. “It still won’t be easy but this time we’re better prepared, equipped and with legions that have fought through Gaul.” He smiled. “I’m sure this time Rome will give a better account of herself against these child burning primitives.”
A few hours later the sun was high in the sky and was beginning to warm Varro and his small contingent. He could feel the cold evaporate from his arms and legs. It looked to be the start of another warm day and the chill of the night before had all but vanished. The boy had been awake for over an hour and was now sitting staring at the small flames in the dying fire as most of the wood had turned to ash.
With daylight came good visibility and the area where the boy had been pointing to the night before was clearly visible from their position. No structures could be seen and there weren’t any smoke plumes from any villages but the rise in the land was now nearer on the horizon and was quite distinct.
Varro smiled at the boy and pointed in that direction, the boy looked towards the region indicated and raised his eyebrows. He spoke words not understood by the soldiers and slowly got to his feet. He seemed a lot more at ease now and must have realised that the strangely dressed men, were not intending to hurt but help him.
With the camp broken Varro helped the young lad climb up onto Staro lifting him with one hand and swinging him up onto the horse’s rump behind him. The centurion clicked and slowly nudged his horse forward as they set off at an easy pace. He adjusted his sword under the side of the saddle flap and below his left leg, making sure it was secure as they began another day and rode on.
They continued on for about an hour and saw no-one or nothing of any significance. Varro rode slowly leading but not taking a direct route to their destination. Every so often he would change direction, so as to limit the chance of ambush by anyone who may have seen them from the high ground. Soldiers travelling straight were easily tracked, stalked and destroyed and Varro would do everything he could to avoid that.
Just before noon they picked up the smell of wood smoke and eventually a few roundhouses came into view. The boy was chattering excitedly now at the rear of Varro as he clearly recognised his surroundings.
“Stop where you are Romans.” A husky female voice suddenly sounded from somewhere ahead of them in thick bushes.
“Who are you?” Varro shouted looking around trying to locate where the voice had come from.
“Come out where we can see you. We have a boy with us and we’re trying to find his home,” he paused, ‘where he lives.”
The horses came to a halt as the men strained their eyes searching the trees surrounding them but they could see nothing.
“Where did you find the boy Roman?” The voice called.
“He has been missing for a number of days along with his brother. Did you and your men take him and have your way with him?” The voice was heavily accented but clear, concise and Latin.
Varro looked at his men, anger on his face.
“We rescued him from people who wished him harm in a settlement about a half a day’s ride from here. I’m afraid we could do nothing for his friend who was with him.” Varro could still see nothing to give away the position of the speaker.
“Get ready for anything.” He said to his men under his breath as he turned to help the boy down. The female spoke again but in a local tongue and from a different location or so it seemed, this time speaking to the boy as he stood by the side of Staro. The boy answered, speaking in a normal tone whilst pointing to the soldiers and smiling. The woman again said something and the boy broke down and began to cry moving slowly forward.