He climbed onto his horse, “I’ll be fine I’m sure.” He said and sneezed again.
They travelled slowly further into the valleys and before mid-morning, they were consumed by huge green hills with steep falls at the side of paths, carpets of forests below where masses of pine trees awaited them, silver streaks of river snaking their way along the forest floors.
“How much further?” Grattius asked from behind the hood now covering his face.
“If you ask that one more time, I swear I’ll kick you off your horse and into the valley below.” Lita said.
“Ha, I think I’m a little damp for foreplay at the moment Lita but thank you for the offer, maybe later eh?”
She ignored him and continued riding, just as the patter of rain hitting them stopped and a shard of sunlight fought its way through the cloud. Varro shuddered, head down and looking pale.
“I think we need to warm up,” She said, “perhaps stop for a while and build a fire.” She was looking at Varro who was riding with his head down, his dark hair slick with rain water.
“Don’t worry about me if that’s what you’re thinking.” He coughed, “I’ll be fine.” His words said one thing, his body said another.
“Maybe I should ride on and look for some shelter? Lita suggested, “There are settlements in the next valley, I remember them from when I lived here as a little girl.” She looked at Brenna and Grattius for a response, “I could get help. We need to get him inside as soon as possible, he needs shelter, warmth.”
Brenna looked around becoming more concerned, “Go,” she pointed further along the track they had been following, “stay on the path, the last thing we want is to get separated. We’ll keep going and if we get to a fork in the road, we’ll wait for you.”
Lita nodded, turned her horse and galloped off, splashing water. “Come on,” Brenna said leading the two men, “we have to keep going.”
As they got lower, winding their way down the path they were following, the canopy of trees above shaded them from what little sunlight there was, Varro was visibly trembling now.
“We should stop and get him into some dry clothes.” Grattius said looking about, “I’m going no further.” He stopped his horse, jumped down and secured the reins to the branch of a tree.
“I was going to suggest the same.” Brenna said as she got down off her own mount, “Over here.” She said peering through the branches, “We’ll leave the horses there so Lita sees them when she gets back. I think there’s a cave or something here.” She said crouching down and walking through the undergrowth. “Well more of a shallow scrape out of the side of the hill but it will do,” she said from inside the trees, “it’ll give us some shelter though, so bring him through.”
Grattius reached up and grabbed Varro who was slumped over his horse shivering uncontrollably and pulled him to the side, “Come on, it’s a good job you centurions have us optio’s to look after you isn’t it?” He said dragging Varro off the horse by his shoulders, he didn’t even respond to the quip and his legs fell to the ground heavy and lifeless. Grattius threaded his arms under Varro’s armpits and dragged him to where Brenna was beginning to gather some dry sticks together.
“I don’t know how much wood we can find that hasn’t been soaked.” She said piling up the twigs she had found. Grattius gently laid Varro down and went back to the mules, returning a few moments later with an enormous leather sack.
“Right let’s get his clothes off quickly and get him into something dry, once that’s done we’ll worry about the fire.” Grattius said to Brenna as they both helped undress the centurion who was now either heavily asleep or unconscious, they weren’t sure which.
“Should we wake him?” Brenna asked pulling off the heavy tunic he was wearing. Grattius held Varro’s head up and looked at his face, “I don’t know what to do for the best,” he said, “let him sleep.” He looked at Brenna. “It’s supposed to help isn’t it?”
They stripped him down completely and then wrapped him in dry thick woollen blankets and began preparing to light the fire. Not long after the small flames began to warm them, they heard Lita’s voice calling for them.
“Over here Lita, follow the path we’ve cleared from the horses.” Brenna shouted.
“I will,” she called back. “I’m not alone though.” Grattius and Brenna exchanged nervous glances. The optio reached for his sword.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Brenna said to which he grimaced.
“And why not, what if they’re hostile?” He asked.
She looked round, “Remember where we are and there are three of us, what would you hope to achieve?” He frowned and moved his hand away from his hilt clearly not happy about the situation.
Legionary Valerius was acclimatising to his new cohort in the century and although the men in his tent party had been briefed as to how he had come to join their ranks, they were quite understanding and welcoming. He had expected a hard time but these men had quickly accepted him as one, of their own but he had been questioned nonetheless.
“So you had no choice then?” Pollo, a seasoned veteran had asked looking around at the others when he had first been introduced to them. “I’d have done the same, no point in dying for nothing eh?” The other six sat on their cots had agreed nodding. “Imagine if you and your friends had starting launching arrows at the hairies, you wouldn’t be sat here now that’s for sure would you?” He took a bite from a biscuit. “No you did the right thing friend believe me. It’s all well and good these brave bastards sat behind the lines slurping on fresh wine and buggering slaves every day, to start spouting all that bile about duty and honour but you tell me, when was the last time they saw any action eh? The last time they drew their swords in anger it was probably a wooden one in training. They can all tell heroic tales of duty and honour and how they’d lose their lives defending a lost cause or chasing after a standard, but in reality they’ve never done a day’s soldiering in their miserable lives.” He took another bite and chewed.
“Anyway,” he continued, “it’s not so bad being in the first cohort it’s all about looking out for each other, covering each other’s backs, you do that and you’ll be fine. Step out of line and you’ll have a problem, believe me and you’ll soon know about it and it’s not as if you’re a recruit is it?”
“Six years in.” Valerius said. “I’ve been here from the start. I was stuck in the mountains with Vespasian deep inside Silures territory for days, surrounded by thousands of the bastards, killed my share of them.”
Pollo smiled, “There you go, nothing to worry about then.” He finished his biscuit. “In reality you’re probably better off being with us up at the front of any large engagement, know why?”
He shook his head.
“What deranged lunatic is going to attack a square of centuries head on?” He asked, “We’re at the front for a reason, we know what we’re doing and anyone that attacks us is going to come head first into a huge row of pointy teeth and get introduced to this.” He pulled his gladius from its scabbard. “The hairies have learnt their lessons by now and it’s costs them plenty of lives. No, I’d rather be at the front than be in a century at the side, open to flanking you see, that’s where the threat will be. We’ll be covered off, tucked up, shields raised, swords out, heads down. You’ll be alright with us and with the amount of training we do, it’ll all come back to you soon enough now they’ve taken your bow away, don’t you worry.”
That was how his first night went as they sat around discussing previous encounters with the enemy, how they’d performed, personal stories, the few that had been killed and more that had been injured. Rumours of the next big push into the east Pollo had said were just speculation, Rome could wait and so would the Silures although the incursions into Roman held territory were disturbing, they were to be expected. He had assured him that he had joined them at the best time, campaigning season was over for the winter and the winters in Britannia could be long, so he had time to settle in and get to know how they worked.