Gaius left it hanging there. In armies across the globe and through time, all soldiers believed that quartermasters were all on the fiddle. For the most part, they often were, but they were also in the position to do favours, which is why they were often allowed to get away with it. The taxpayer was the victim, so no one else was bothered.
“Do you want to get closer?” Gaius asked as the soldiers moved off.
I regarded the ship for a moment. There was a slight wind blowing from the east, so the flags and sails on the various vessels fluttered in the breeze. Sailors and labourers shouted, while seagulls called as they swooped down to snatch an unexpected morsel from either the water of on the quayside.
Here we stood, resplendent in our uniforms of officialdom, like two rocks on an otherwise sandy beach.
“No, we’re far too conspicuous like this. I might come back at night.”
“Give the soldiers a day or so. They might come up with something. Besides, even if they get caught and say what they know, that would simply lead this Glax to believe that no one knows the real reason we’re after him.”
I noted the ‘we’.
“Gaius, you don’t have to...”
He held up his hand.
“Look, Gallinas has no skill, experience or honour, but he’ll be up there very soon. I’ve reached as far as I can get. I’m an ill-educated, army brat, who has done well, considering. You’re the best thing to come into my life that I could imagine. I’m here for the duration, however long that is. All right?”
I saw a couple of faces on the ship looking our way.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. My tits need a break!” I said, turning and marching towards the gate.
We took a longer way back, as I was keen to see what the Romans had done. There had been a settlement here before they came, but there was little evidence of it now, barely a hundred and fifty years on.
As I had already observed, most of the buildings were timber framed and often wattle and daub. However, the layout was more regimented, as per the military engineers that had designed and built it.
There was certainly a lot going on, with flourishing markets and stores where traders were selling their wares. It was novel to see livestock being herded along the streets, and often penned up at the various shops. Wooden cages of live fowl hung from hooks outside the shops, and cloth that had come from the other side of the Mediterranean was available, but at a price that was probably beyond all but the few rich Romans, or Romanised Britons. Not that there were too many of those, yet.
We came across a slave market in a small square. We stood and watched as pathetic creatures were dragged in front of the small crowd and sold into what I considered to be a living death.
They were mostly women and children. I wonder how many of them would be sexually and physically abused by those who bought them.
I began to get angry. I felt a hand on my arm, so I became aware that Gaius was watching me closely.
“Leave it. I know, it is shit, but you can’t change the system just like that. You said you don’t want to stand out, so just think what the consequences would be if you did something morally right but downright idiotic?”
I turned, shaking off his hand and walked off at some speed. It took me several hundred yards to calm down, so Gaius managed to catch up.
“Hold up!” he said, grabbing me by the arm.
I surprised myself by having tears in my eyes. I put it down to the hormones.
“I don’t understand you,” he said. “One minute, you are going into battle and prepared to kill, and then next, you’re weeping over some insignificant slaves.”
“Those poor sods have no choice. They are forced into slavery. No one makes a man go to fight, in that he has a choice. Sometimes, it’s tough to turn and walk away, but the choice is still there. Those poor wretches have no choice, and they are cast into a shitty life because of other men’s greed.”
“Some of them may find a better life. You know, scratching a living from the soil isn’t necessarily considered freedom. They are slaves to their circumstances.”
“Yes, I agree, but they at least have a choice to try to better themselves. Slaves don’t.”
We walked the rest of the way in silence.
Back in my tent, it was a massive relief to free my chest from the constraints of the breastplate. I gently massaged my friends as Gaius regarded me with an odd expression. He had stated that he would wait for me, so he could return the borrowed uniform. I told him to come in before people thought he was loitering.
“Need a hand?” he asked.
“No thanks. I think you might get carried away.”
“That is definitely possible,” he said.
There was something of Roger in this man. He was dependable and infinitely honourable. He had a code by which he lived, and even though others did not regard it, he maintained it at all times. He had shown his intelligence and ability to think laterally and outside the box. He was not a typical grunt, and the Romans, through their social mores, were missing out on having a talented senior military commander in this man.
“I owe you an explanation,” I said. “But I can’t tell you. I want to, but can’t.”
He was regarding me with a strange expression; strange to him, but I recognised it. He wanted me.
I knew what I looked like, so that wasn’t surprising. I wore a single plain shift that covered my genital region, just. If I were to bend over, he’d see everything. Having rid myself of the centurion’s clutter, I was enjoying the freedom of unrestrained bliss.
“Do you know how beautiful you are?” he asked.
“I bet you say that to all the centurions?”
“Don’t jest, woman. You’re driving me insane. I always thought I could resist female wiles. You deploy none, and yet, I am powerless before you. I have never wanted anyone as much in my life.”
He stood, with the tent flap closed behind him, tall and strong, hands on hips and lust in his eyes. The smell of sex was in the air and I breathed it.
I wanted him.
Memories of Roger came to me. That first time he took me in his arms and made love to me....
I took my shift off.
“So, what are you going to do about it?” I asked.
Now I know why the Romans wore those little kilt things. Far less hassle than pants! I had expected him to be quick, but perhaps not as quick as he was. That comes from thinking about it too much before the event! I suppose it paid me a sort-of compliment, as he must have been wound up terribly to simply come after perhaps a dozen strokes. I hadn’t even got going. He was mortified, poor love, having collapsed on top of me as his cock shrunk and slithered out of me.
“Forgive me,” he said, almost in tears. “It has been too long.”
“Then let’s hope the next one will be more encouraging,” I replied, gently pushing him off me and pouring some water into a bowl so I could wash. After I had done so, I invited him to do the same, which he did.
“You have no idea as to how ashamed I am,” he said. He had a good body, strong and lean.
“Don’t worry about it. They say familiarity breeds contempt, so perhaps if you come to be bored, you might go on forever.”
He laughed.
“Bored of you? Never!”
I returned to the bed, and lay there naked. It was quite pleasant, as there was a gentle breeze blowing through the tent and so it was cool and calm in here.
“Every man experiences this occasionally, you know?” I said.
“I haven’t. It was just that I desired you so much, I was almost there as soon as you undressed before me.”
“Well, we can’t hang about here to wait for you to rise to the occasion again. I’d better go and see how Iona is getting on with the new girls.”
“May I accompany you?”
“Sure, but don’t be too familiar, as it’ll give the game away, and screwing a subordinate might get you into trouble.”