Ovid

This was something I hadn't expected. 'You were on the final march?'

'Sure. Don't be so surprised. Some of us survived. Not many.'

'I thought the Germans didn't take any prisoners.'

'They didn't. Not ones that lived long anyway. I survived because I hid and then fought my way back to the Rhine. It pays sometimes to be good at killing. And I'm good, Corvinus, believe me. Very good.'

I let that last bit go. 'You mean you were a deserter.'

'No,' he said quietly. 'By the time I decided it was no use fighting any more there wasn't a fucking army to desert from. And don't ever call me that again.'

'Uh, yeah.' Gods! Why didn't I keep my big mouth shut? 'So you saw what happened? At the end?'

He regarded me levelly before answering; and when the answer came it was slow and considered.

'Sure, I saw. And I'll tell you something for free. It's important and I want you to remember it. The general may've had his faults, he may have made mistakes, but whatever they were he paid for them. He fought to the end and he died well. You understand me?'

'Yeah.' My palms were sweating. This quiet-spoken guy scared the shit out of me, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. 'Yeah, I understand. You want to tell me what happened?'

He shrugged and turned away. 'Why not? But don't expect a word against the general. Like I say, Varus has paid his dues already. Maybe it'll save the mistress some pain later. If you've got a later.'

Jupiter, this guy was a real bundle of fun. Trouble was, it sounded like he meant it. My throat was dry and there wasn't a cup of wine in sight.

'Okay.' Agron leaned back 'So we're on our way back from the Weser to Vetera. The general gets reports that the Cherusci are arming. He decides to follow them up and we turn east towards the Teutoburg…'

'Just like that? Cut across dangerous country that late in the season to check out a local disturbance?'

Agron scowled. 'Look, Corvinus, I've already told you I won't bad-mouth the general. I'm telling this because you asked and it passes the time, okay? You got any smartass comments to make, you can fuck off.'

'Okay, okay!' I held up my hands. 'Forget I spoke.' Gods! And I'd thought Perilla was touchy!

'Then lose the commentary, boy.' I didn't answer. 'So the weather gets worse — wind, rain, you name it. Visibility's shit, the road's a sea of mud with fallen trees every hundred yards. We're well into the forest before they hit us. Not a full-scale attack, we could've handled that easy. Small groups, individuals even, slingers and spear-throwers. Picking off stragglers. Thinning us out. Chase them and they melt into the forest, follow and you don't come back. The first day's bad, but we're committed. At the end of it we pitch a proper camp and the general orders some of the baggage to be burned so it won't slow us down. The next day things get worse, and we know we're not going to make it.' He paused; his eyes shifted. 'The third day's the last.'

'What happened?'

He was looking through me rather than at me, and it made the skin crawl on my spine. He didn't answer at first, and when he did it wasn't an answer at all. 'You ever been there, boy? In the German forests?'

'No.'

'There's no light, the trees shut you in. Off the path they're set so close together it's like being in a cage with a black roof. You can't breathe, there's no wind, no sound. You can't even hear your own footsteps. It's as if everything's dead, and you're dead with it.' Now his eyes held mine. 'You believe in spirits?'

I shook my head, but I had the sense not to laugh. The guy was serious. Deathly serious.

'Nor did I, once. But that place was haunted by Mars knows what bitch of a demon that moved with us every step of the way. It ate our hearts out and then it killed us piece by fucking piece.'

I swallowed. His eyes were on mine, and they were hard as knives.

'So there wasn't a lot left of us by the third day. Not a proper army, for sure. We'd been split up, carved into bits no bigger than a company. Then Vela the second-in-command decides he'll go it alone with the cavalry, cut and run for the Rhine. He's been twitchy for days, poor bastard, and it's got worse. The forest takes some people that way. “Go ahead,” says the general. “Tell them I'm sorry.” Not that Vela gets very far, there's Germans everywhere by then. With the cavalry gone the rest of us don't have a hope. The Germans attack in force at last, they break our square and the lads go down like pigs in a slaughterhouse. That's the end, that's all there is. Finish.'

He was shaking. The big guy was shaking, and his eyes were fixed on something I couldn't see. Shit. No wonder the poor bastard believed in demons. After listening to him I half believed in them myself.

'What happened to Varus?' I said.

'He killed himself. Him and most of the staff officers. It was that or be taken alive. The Germans hacked the heads off and used them for footballs. Then they burned what was left. Or half-burned it.'

'You saw that?'

'Yeah. Like I said, I hid. I found a hole where a tree had come down, crawled into it and pulled some brushwood on top. There was nothing else I could've done. The army was dead and the Germans were rounding up the prisoners. Nailing the poor bastards to the trees for their gods to look at. When the screaming stopped and the Germans left I slipped off south towards the Rhine. It took me a month to get back.' He took a deep breath. 'You see now why I don't like unfair odds, Corvinus? And why I don't want spoilt young smartasses like you stirring things up again for your own pissing pleasure?'

'But if the whole thing was Varus's fault then-'

He reached over and gripped the neck of my tunic, his fist pushing me backwards into the chair and pressing so hard into my larynx that I couldn't breathe.

'You think that's news to me?' he said softly. 'You think it was news to Varus? Three Eagles lost. You know what losing an Eagle means to a general? To any soldier? Leave the general alone, boy. He paid all he had to give, and he doesn't owe any more. Least of all to bastards like you.'

'Agron!' Asprenas's voice slashed across the room. The fingers at my throat loosened without haste and I fell forwards gasping. Agron stood up and wiped his hand on his tunic. He didn't look at me.

Fat Face, with Quinctilia on his arm, looked pretty unhappy. Jupiter knew what they'd been talking about back there, but he'd clearly lost the argument and I suspect he would've been just as happy to see the big guy twist my head off. Quinctilia, on the other hand, didn't look any different. It would've taken an earthquake to throw her out of kilter. Maybe not even that.

'I'm sorry to have kept you,' she said, 'but my nephew and I had things to talk about and decisions to make. I'm happy to say we've decided to tell you the truth. The whole truth.' I wondered if that whole was for Fat Face's benefit. Certainly the guy looked as though he'd just swallowed a neat half pint of vinegar. 'Lucius, help me to my chair please.'

She sat down slowly but with great dignity, like a queen preparing to give audience. Agron and Asprenas took up their positions on either side, like the rod-and-axe men round a magistrate.

'You are quite right, young man,' Quinctilia said. 'My brother was a traitor.'

30

I stared at her; but I noticed that Agron didn't bat an eyelid, let alone Fat Face Asprenas. Obviously whatever Varus had done wasn't news as far as they were concerned.

Quinctilia was still completely relaxed. She had guts, that lady; guts and perfect poise.

'I should make it clear from the start,' she said, 'that Lucius here is against my telling you this and that I do so on my own responsibility. You are of course free to make use of the information as you like.' Agron shifted and swore under his breath, but she ignored him. 'However I would ask you please to think carefully before taking any action that would bring further disgrace on the family.'