‘We just need a storm,’ H concluded. ‘We get that, sir, and we have a chance.’
‘How are the skies looking?’ Caedicius asked of Malchus.
‘Good, sir. Cloud’s building. Winds are picking up. Could be as soon as tomorrow.’
‘Don’t waste any time, then. Get the garrison ready to move, and increase the patrols around the walls. Spread the word that anyone attempting to leave before I order it will be put to death. We can’t have word getting to the goat-loving scum.’
‘Understood, sir,’ Malchus grunted. ‘Is there anything else?’
There was not, and Malchus left. If he had praise for Centurion H and the information we had brought, he took it with him. Caedicius noticed, and smiled apologetically.
‘The cohort commander, as do I, knows that you have suffered hardship to bring us this information. Titus, you can consider this your slate cleaned. For you two’ – he turned to myself and H – ‘when we reach the Rhine, I’ll be recommending you both for the Golden Crown.’
The Golden Crown. An award for valour which brought with it the doubling of pay. Our commanders knew that the promise of financial gain was the best way of encouraging soldiers to commit deeds that they paid for in blood.
We murmured thanks. Coin was not in our minds now. Fresh clothes, our beds and food were – Titus had thrice dispatched the frightened clerk to fetch us more bread and wine.
‘You’re dismissed, men.’ Caedicius put out his hand to shake ours one by one. ‘You’ve given us a fighting chance, and that’s all a soldier can ask for. Take the time to rest. I’ll send instructions that you’re exempt all duties and rationing until we get our storm. Take the rest, and build your strength.
‘We’re going home.’
The prefect was wrong. I would never return to my home, but I was now in the closest thing that I had known to it – a barrack room with comrades.
‘All right, lads?’ Stumps spoke up nonchalantly from his bunk as we entered. ‘Did one of you shit himself?’ he asked disgustedly, sniffing the air. The act held for a few moments more before our excited friend sprang forwards, taking us in an embrace that drove the air from our lungs. Brando and Micon followed soon after, adding to the crush.
‘Seriously, though.’ Stumps grimaced, stepping back. ‘I’ve never smelt anything so bad.’
‘Sorry if it offends you,’ Titus replied, before lunging quickly towards his friend, grabbing Stumps’s surprised face and shoving it into a rancid armpit.
‘What was that?’ Titus asked as cries of muffled horror and laughter echoed about the room.
Stumps gasped as he was let free. ‘People have been condemned to the arena for less than that.’ He scowled. ‘Nice beards though. Yours looks really good, Felix.’
‘You like it?’ I asked, feeling at the dark whiskers.
‘Of course I do.’ He smiled. ‘It covers your face.’
Laughter erupted anew, relief in every note.
‘What can we do to help?’ Brando offered.
‘Stoke that fire up,’ Titus told him. ‘I’m going to wash, then I want to feel like I’m back in the desert.’
‘Where’s H?’ Stumps asked, but he wasn’t concerned. Doubtless the rumour mill had already informed him that three men had entered the fort that night.
‘Gone to his own quarters. Wanted some peace.’
‘Probably wanking himself silly after two weeks.’ Stumps laughed, full of humour now that his friends were returned to him.
‘Maybe,’ Titus countered. ‘Why don’t you go offer him a hand?’
‘I see you got funnier on your picnic.’ Stumps rolled his eyes. ‘I hate to think what you lot were doing to stay warm. But look, what happens in the field, stays in the field. Worked for the Spartans.’
Titus shook his head. ‘You done?’
‘I could probably scrape out a few more.’
Titus snorted. ‘If your mother’d scraped out more I could be sitting by a hot stove now, instead of talking to a dickhead. Now be a mate and get those flames going.’
Stumps obliged with a smile. His eyes were on the fire, but I knew that his next words were meant for me.
‘I can see that you’re gagging to ask.’
‘I am,’ I admitted.
My friend turned to me, brother to brother, and grinned. ‘She looks as bad as you do.’ He spoke warmly. ‘Minus the beard, of course. She’s been worried about you, mate, and you know what that means.’
‘I should go and see her,’ I confirmed.
‘Well, yeah, but…’ His voice trailed away as he took in the dishevelled figure in front of him. ‘Probably not when you’re looking like you just crawled out of a grave.’
I laughed, and took the wineskin that Micon held out to me.
I was home.
64
Hot air with my comrades was followed by hot food, hot water and hot shaves. Stumps had already acquired clean clothing for our return – a symptom of his friendship – and I now pulled these on to my gaunt frame as our comrades quizzed Titus about our mission.
‘Just let me sleep, you bastards,’ he growled from his back, lids shut.
‘You see a theatre around here?’ Stumps asked his friend. ‘We’ve been standing like spare pricks on the wall. Give us some entertainment.’
‘Shouldn’t you be in the quartermaster’s?’ Titus rumbled back. ‘Go stack your blankets on the hand carts ready to leave.’
‘Tell him about that, Stumps,’ said Micon with a rare smile of mischief.
Stumps’s own face turned sour and curdled. ‘Had to bribe the bastard Albus to reverse the transfer.’ His voice was forlorn.
Titus kept his eyes shut, but his thick chest bounced with laughter. ‘You got the job you always wanted and you paid to come back here? You soft bastard.’
‘Someone has to look after the suicide section,’ Stumps countered. ‘That’s what the rest of the century calls us, thanks to you lot. Especially you, Felix. Volunteering for everything like you’re tired of living. I’m starting to think you’re one of those strange ones that likes women to hit his balls.’
I allowed my friend a smile for that insult. Amongst my friends, and soon to set things right with Linza, a quiet confidence had settled over me. Perhaps it was the power of hot water, but I felt invigorated and full of life. I was under no illusions that there were trials to come, but for now I was content to take Linza’s advice and live in the moment, rather than fear the possible, and the inevitable.
‘Titus!’ Stumps exclaimed dramatically. ‘You missed it! He smiled, and you missed it!’
‘I’m going now,’ I told them.
‘Have fun.’ Stumps smirked before turning back to Titus. ‘Come on, mate, give us one bloody story.’
As I pulled back the partition to the equipment room I heard a groan as Titus gave up his battle for peace and began to tell his friend how a group of foraging German women had come within twenty yards of our hiding place.
‘One of them was the most delicious thing I’ve ever seen,’ Titus explained as I opened the door, the cold instantly assaulting my freshly shaven face. ‘I’m not going to lie. I was seriously considering certain death, just to have a go with her.’
Stumps’s reply was lost to me as the door closed quickly behind me, taken by the wind.
I turned and made my way in the direction of the civilian quarters. I wondered what I would find there, now that word would have reached them of our intended departure. The men of the legions were drilled in such decampment, and they would have prepared their kit and equipment within hours, the labour made easy by Caedicius’s order that only a day’s ration and fighting gear would be carried. The message in such an order was clear – this was an evacuation, not a relocation. I wondered if the civilians would understand that.