"Five stadia ahead, lord. There is a villa. It will not open its gates to us."
Rick frowned. "Yes?"
"My lord, Balquhain wished to batter down the gates, but Lord Drumold sent me to find you. Lord, the villa is defended only by women and loyal slaves. Balquhain told them to surrender or they would be given to the soldiers. They slammed the gates in his face. Then Lords Drumold and Caradoc came."
"I see. Go and tell Drumold I'll be there as soon as I can." He looked back down the road. Art Mason and Jamiy were close behind. Jamiy's arm was bound in a tight sling against his chest. Wearily Rick waved them forward and spurred his horse to a fast trot. The result was agony.
And I can't tell anyone what my problem is…
"Surrender in the name of Marselius Caesar," Rick shouted.
"My lady says that she will never open her gates to barbarians."
Was that an intentional pun? The double meaning was obvious, but it certainly wasn't intended to be humorous. And undoubtedly it expressed the deepest fears of the matron who guarded that villa.
"We need Tylara here," Rick said.
Drumold nodded. "Aye. You see now why I sent for you."
"Yes. There's little honor in victory over women. But a damn good chance of an incident worth more to Flaminius than a new legion."
"So I have told my son," Drumold muttered.
Baiquhain bowed his head. "Aye. I see that now. I was a fool."
First damn sign of wisdom I've seen from you, Rick thought. But no time for that now. "Mason, bring up the one-oh-six."
"You have a plan?" Balquhain asked.
"Yes. You're part of it." Part of it now, anyway. "Listen…"
"Fire in the hole!" Reznick shouted. The 106 recoilless blasted in fire; the shell smashed against the stout gates of the villa.
The instant the larger weapon fired, Rick and Mason fired concussion grenades from the grenade launchers on their H amp;K rifles. The grenades went over the wall to explode inside the courtyard beyond.
At the same moment, Baiquhain, Caradoc, and ten other picked Guardsmen rode to the gate. They flung themselves off their mounts. The gates sagged on their hinges; four men hit them at once, and the topmost hinge of one gave way. They scrambled into the villa.
Rick rode up behind them, and painfully climbed inside the ruined gate. "My ladies!" he shouted. "You see we have broached your defense. Yet only officers stand in your courtyard. My army stays outside. You will not be harmed. Come out, in the name of Marselius Caesar-"
Caradoc and two Guardsmen brought over prisoners from the outer wall; two young men, obviously slaves, and another, no more than ten. The boy struggled, but could not move in Caradoc's grip.
The villa door opened, and a woman about thirty-five ran out. "Rutilius!" she screamed.
Rick nodded in satisfaction. That's one victory I can be proud of. Why can't they all be like that?
It was late in the day, and Rick made camp at the villa. Only his officers were permitted inside; and before they entered, Rick asked formal permission from the mistress of the household.
"You will be paid for what we consume," Rick told her. "We are allies to a lawful Caesar, not conquerors."
She shrugged and gave a bitter laugh. "There's little enough to consume."
Her name was Aemelia, and her husband, Marcus Trebius, was an officer in Flaminius's army. She didn't know if he was alive or dead; but three days before, Titus Frugi's soldiers had stripped her villa of every able-bodied slave and freedman. They had also taken nearly all her food, and burned what was left.
"You seem to bear little love for Flaminius," Rick said.
"I have little."
"Then why did you not surrender to Marselius?"
"You are not Marselius," she said.
"Ah. My barbarians-"
She blushed. "We were told-told that it would be far better to fall into the hands of Publius than among the barbarians."
"Ah. Meaning-"
"That Publius asks," she said. "But I wronged you. I-thank you. For saving my son. For sparing my home." She came and stood near him. "Welcome, to my home and hearth…"
"Captain…"
What the hell? Aemelia moved next to him in the dark. She was tense with fear.
"Captain."
The voice was Mason's. Out in the hall. Quickly Rick rose and went through the connecting door to the other room. He pulled on a robe and opened the door. "Here. What is it?"
"Messenger, Captain. From Marselius. Said it was too important to wait until morning."
"I'll come-"
"Armor, Captain. I'll help you-"
"Give me five minutes," Rick said wearily. "Then come help." And just how close a friend to Tylara are you?
Lucius, Marselius's trusted freedman, stood in the library of the villa. Drumold, Elliot, Balquhain, Caradoc, and a dozen other officers waited with him.
"Hail, Lord Rick."
"Hail, Lucius. You bring a message from Caesar. It must be that you have found Flaminius's main army."
"Yes. No more than forty stadia. Some march toward us. Their light cavalry are everywhere-"
Rick bent over the maps. "Good territory for it. They'll be trying to circle past us, get some behind and some ahead. With more troops strung along this ridge above our line of march."
And worse than that. There were a number of parallel roads here, and Marselius's army was split into columns, divided into three main forces: Rick's on the left, Marselius himself in the center, and Publius on the right. With luck, Flaminius could hit one of the flanking columns and punish it before Marselius could come to its rescue. Or circle behind them and harass from the rear. Or- "It is clear that we must know what Flaminius is doing," Rick said. He turned to his officers. "Send out the Hussars. But in a body, to patrol and return. Not to fight. They're our eyes, and we'll need them,"
"I'll go myself," Drumold said. "Now?"
"Yes," Rick said. "Elliot, get the troops on alert, but keep them in camp. Until we know what Flaminius is doing it's silly to do anything-"
"And yet we have no choice but to continue," Lucius said quietly. "Or soon we will have no grain for the horses."
"Yeah," Rick said. He tasted sour bile. Horses eat a lot. Cavalry horses eat more than that. Stay here a week, and they'd have no striking force at all.
"Caesar demands that we march tomorrow," Lucius said. "I have brought his plan of battle."
The battle plan was no plan at all. March ahead and trust to God. Not that Rick knew of anything better.
"There is one more message," Lucius said. "I have waited until we are alone to give it."
Rick poured two goblets of wine. "Yes?"
"Your officer, Tethryn, shall have the Untipped Spear."
"Ah." So the Romans of Tran had preserved that ancient Imperial honor. "Dwyfyd will be pleased to add that to his brother's tomb carvings."
"Publius wanted instead to give money."
"He had a reason?"
"Ah. He said to his father, 'If I were as close to the purple as you, I would not waste Roman honors on dead barbarians." Lucius smiled. "Caesar replied, 'If I did not honor my friends, I would not be as close to the purple as I am."
"And what happens if Caesar falls in battle?" Lucius shrugged. "Publius is not evil, Lord. He is a strange lad. Well educated. Perhaps I was too strict. I do not know. But-well, we can pray to the saints that Marselius lives to be enthroned. I am unlikely to outlive him. And Publius may yet grow to a stature worthy of Rome."
The cavalry returned an hour past full light. "We found nothing," Drumold said. He pointed to the map spread on Rick's field desk. "So far as I can tell, we went to this spur of the ridge."
"A good ten stadia past where you should have been ambushed."
"Aye-"