Cogidubnus began to scrabble at the wickerwork’s weak point where the central pole cut through the ceiling. It was just within his reach. ‘It’s giving a bit.’ He stuck his fingers through the gaps and pulled up his body with his arms so that his full weight was suspended from the ceiling; he hung there for a moment and then began to bounce. ‘Add your weight to mine!’
Vespasian and Magnus each grabbed one of the King’s shoulders and pulled down; the woven wood began to creak and bend. Below, the druids had tied off the four ropes and were now forming a circle around the base.
Still Cogidubnus bounced as the wind howled around them and still the extra weight of Vespasian and Magnus produced nothing more than the groaning of supple wood. Their efforts became more frantic as it became clear from the raising of their hands that the druids had started to dedicate their sacrifice.
Cogidubnus heaved down once again and this time a small gap appeared between the ceiling and the pole; clinging on with one hand he forced the other into it, grazing his knuckles. Once he had a grip he slipped the other hand in next to it and then pulled himself up with all his strength as Vespasian and Magnus pulled down with all theirs. A loud crack caused their hopes to surge.
‘And again!’ Cogidubnus shouted as the cries of terror from below reached a new high.
They pulled down and, with another series of cracks, the gap grew. Vespasian glanced below and saw the cause of the intensified screaming: a brazier, glowing with burning charcoal, had been brought out of one of the huts. His pulse quickened as they wrenched down again; the gap was now wide enough for a head.
‘A couple more!’ Cogidubnus cried; blood trickled down both his arms.
Vespasian closed his eyes as he put his whole force into the effort; Magnus snarled like a beast at bay. With multiple snaps Cogidubnus fell back and all three of them collapsed to the floor causing the wicker man to sway and then jerk against the supporting ropes.
The gap was now a hole and through it could be seen the knots.
‘Give me a hand up,’ Magnus said, getting to his feet and clambering onto the pole. ‘I’ll undo the two seaward ones so we fall inland.’
The desperate noise continued to rise from below but now it came with something else: the smell of burning straw. Vespasian and Cogidubnus pushed Magnus without ceremony up through the hole as fingers appeared through the gaps in the floor.
‘Break it down!’ Balbus bellowed, tearing at the wicker with Glaubus; below them the sheep ran in circles bleating fearfully.
Vespasian and Cogidubnus both began to stamp and jump on the area around the pole as smoke fumed upwards from the legs along with screams that were no longer of terror but of anguish.
As Vespasian worked he glanced out to sea; the biremes were making their way north, under oars on a heavy swell. ‘We’ll head for the haven, if we make it.’ Cogidubnus’ expression indicated that he thought that was a remote possibility; the tang of roasting human flesh wafting on the wind seemed to confirm his doubts.
‘Catch!’ Magnus shouted from above and threw down the end of the first rope; the wicker man swayed precariously for an instant before Vespasian managed to take up the strain. ‘I’ll untie one more and that’ll do it.’
Vespasian coughed as the smoke started to rasp in the back of his throat; he held on to the rope whilst still trying to trample a hole in the weakening floor. Horrific animal cries rose even above the human agony as, below Balbus and Glaubus, the sheep began to ignite and race around the base of the belly like four-legged torches.
‘And again!’ Magnus shouted, chucking the second rope’s end down for Cogidubnus to catch. Magnus followed it down as Vespasian’s foot finally went through the floor. ‘We’re going down!’ Vespasian shouted at the two centurions as they scrambled to enlarge the hole. He looked below; through the wafting smoke he could see faint figures running this way and that and it seemed to him that there was a different human sound in the air and it was not one of pain. The heat started to scorch his legs; he, Cogidubnus and Magnus looked at each other for a second, as if to say “what choice do we have?”, before letting go of the ropes and then throwing themselves onto their backs on the floor, gripping onto the wall that would end up as their ceiling.
They felt the wicker man sway and then roll; below them Balbus and Glaubus clung on for their lives as the sheep, now balls of fire, threw themselves at the walls, maddened by pain.
The construction lurched and teetered for an instant, as if held up by one of the gods to whom the sacrifice was dedicated, before groaning forward just a few hands’ breadths; then, with a stomach-lurching inevitability, momentum took over and the colossus fell, uncontrolled, sickeningly fast, funnelling the smoke up through the wicker to blind Vespasian.
‘Bend your legs!’ Magnus yelled as they were at forty-five degrees; the sudden impact came an instant later and a mighty crash filled Vespasian’s ears as he was propelled forward face first into the jagged wooden weave that separated them from the throat before crumpling to the ground.
The clash of iron against iron broke through Vespasian’s reeling senses; he opened his eyes but his vision was still obscured by stinging smoke. A low groan next to him caused him to turn; Magnus was on his knees clutching at his face with blood seeping through his fingers. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I can run.’ He wiped the blood from his face, contorted with pain, to reveal a gore-dripping mush in place of his left eye, which hung, impaled, on a shard of wood protruding from the broken weave. He blinked his other eye. ‘And I can see, just; let’s get out.’
Cogidubnus picked himself up, unscathed, a flicker of hope on his face. ‘The head broke off in the impact; we’re clear!’ He climbed through the hole, dislodging Magnus’ eye.
Vespasian helped Magnus through the gap as Balbus and Glaubus scrambled out of their compartment with tunics smouldering and legs blackened with burns; behind them the sheep blazed and crackled.
Focused only on following Cogidubnus and Magnus out of the growing inferno, Vespasian made his way, crouching low, up the throat out into the open; figures ran towards them through the eddying smoke, shouting war cries, across ground strewn with the bodies of druids.
‘Cogidubnus!’ the King bellowed; the figures slowed and Vespasian almost stumbled to the ground with unexpected relief as he recognised them as Cogidubnus’ followers whom Magnus had sent to secure the haven.
After a brief conversation with his men, Cogidubnus turned to Vespasian. ‘We must hurry.’ He ran off in the direction whence they had come. Vespasian followed, helping Magnus who held a piece of material ripped from his tunic over his bleeding socket. Cogidubnus’ men, carrying the two marine centurions and a couple of their own wounded, maintained a rearguard as they raced away from the wicker man. Horizontal, blazing uncontrollably, it consumed the remains of the marines and the sheep. Only its great stag-like head remained untouched by the flames, looking up towards the gods who had been deprived of the most potent part of their sacrifice.
‘How did your men know to come here?’ Vespasian asked as they climbed down the escarpment where the wolves had attacked.
‘Some of the marines made it back to the haven and told them what had happened and that they thought we were dead. As my men are sworn to me unto death they were oath-bound to come to avenge me and reclaim my body. They say the way back is clear; the marines are holding the haven.’
‘The druids?’
‘Dead or scattered; my men came at them through the smoke and caught them unawares. We must be off the peninsula before they regroup.’
‘That gets my vote,’ Magnus croaked, struggling to keep on his stumbling feet as they passed through the bodies of the dead marines; all had wounds inflicted by blades. ‘I’ve just about had my fill of their company.’
‘I’ve a feeling that’s not a mutual sentiment,’ Vespasian observed, placing a supporting arm around his friend’s shoulders as they descended, as fast as the gradient would allow, diagonally down the steep flank of Tagell.