Longinus stopped petting the animal’s head and walked around behind it, running a hand along its back. ‘How are ten fighters, one of them a woman, or eleven if you include a tough old bastard who can limp quickly, to fight their way past a couple of hundred warriors, who may object to having their trireme set on fire? Leave the tower and you abandon those who cannot move, and almost certainly lead the others who cannot fight to their deaths. Probably all will die.
‘If we stay here then all or most may survive. That is if rescue is close and if we hold off any attacks that come before it gets here.’
‘A lot of ifs,’ Vindex said. ‘And at best we survive.’
‘We cannot leave the tower,’ Longinus said, watching Ferox’s face closely. ‘But I do not think that is what you have in mind, is it? Most of us must stay.’
Ferox nodded. ‘There is little point in all of us going. Eleven against two hundred or more, the odds are absurd. But they are not much more absurd for one or two against a couple of hundred, and one or two might slip past unnoticed and be able to reach the ship.’
Vindex gave a grim laugh. ‘Is this one of those times when you presume on our friendship?’
‘Perhaps.’
‘Bugger,’ the scout said.
Longinus did not smile. ‘You should stay. If anyone is to go with the centurion it should be that old thief. He’s used to creeping about in the dark. And maybe the boy?’
Ferox was surprised, even though the same thought had occurred to him. Longinus’ one eye glittered in the torchlight, and he felt as if the old man was looking inside him.
‘It stands to reason,’ the veteran said. ‘You want to get out to a ship. And maybe if you are thinking straight and reckon you have luck on your side, you want to get off that boat and escape afterwards. They won’t have the ship on the beach. It’s from the classis Britannica and they tend to build in oak for these northern waters, so it’ll be too heavy to drag ashore unless you are planning to be there for a while. So, you’ll need to find a small boat to get out to it, because I don’t think they’ll have a jetty and it will be too far to swim. Bran is the best waterman we have, young though he is. And if I’m to hold on here with what’s left, I’ll need this Brigantian rogue. The boy you can take if you want to play the hero, and you can have the thief because his brother is the true fighter, but I’m keeping him.’ He flicked Vindex around the head.
‘You think it would be better if all of us stay?’ Ferox asked the old man.
‘Give us all a better chance of living. Still might not be enough, but there’s nothing we can do about that. I came here to get the lady back safe, because I owe her family and she is one of our own by marriage – and I happen to like her a lot. That job is not yet finished, and it matters to me more than anything else. So, if I was in charge, we’d all stay here and live or die to protect her. The most I’d let you do is creep out at night and see how many of their throats you can slit. No harm in keeping them nervous, but I wouldn’t take a risk with her life. But I’m not in charge.’
‘Lost the war when you were, didn’t you, father?’ Vindex said.
‘Yes, I did.’ He smiled. ‘Not sure I could ever have won, but then if that’s true maybe I shouldn’t have fought it in the first place. Didn’t have the choice, though, after what they did to me. Your lot didn’t do any better, did they?’
‘Us? We never fought the Romans. The Carvetii have always been friends to Rome – leastways while anyone’s looking.’ He jerked a thumb at Ferox. ‘He’s the one whose folk thought it was a good idea to take a crack at the Romans.’
‘In case you hadn’t heard, we lost,’ the centurion conceded.
‘I know,’ Longinus told him. ‘I was there under Frontinus.’ For some reason Ferox had never thought of this old man fighting against the Silures. He wondered if Longinus had been there when his own father had been cut down by the Romans, or when others of his family had died or been enslaved. ‘It isn’t nice to lose, is it?’
Ferox said nothing, and the veteran turned his attention back to Vindex. ‘Thought you Carvetii call yourselves the brave ones?’
‘Aye, but not stupid. When you see a huge bastard with an evil temper coming to visit, covered in mail and with a sharp sword and looking angry, it’s time to make friends rather than get in his way. Don’t your folk understand that?’
Longinus laughed. ‘We’re Batavians. We are the big bastards with evil tempers. But sometimes the odds are too big.’
‘Not wise fighting when the odds are stacked against you,’ the Brigantian agreed. ‘Wouldn’t catch sensible men like us doing that, would you?’
Longinus ignored him and came around from behind the cow to face Ferox. The animal’s gaze followed him until its head could not turn far enough. After that, it leaned down and began to eat some hay. All the while the calf drank milk and ignored them all. ‘Well then,’ the veteran said. ‘I’m not in charge. You are and you want to do this damned fool thing. I’m guessing you hope to slip out during the night. Maybe see if you can get some black clothes from their dead and wear those. Their sentries will have to be blind not to spot you, whether you try to swim through the water or crawl across the causeway. Odds are you are dead or captured before you get a hundred paces from where you start. But the rain may help, and if they’re blind and daft there is a slim chance that you’ll get through. Next you have to cross the island for a couple of miles to reach the harbour. Lots more of them out there and plenty of chance for them to catch you. What if you bump into a patrol?’
Ferox shrugged because he did not have an answer.
Longinus continued. ‘So, let’s say you get out to their boat. I don’t think you’ll get within bowshot of it, because if you know how valuable it is to them, then you can bet Cniva does. How are you going to start a fire big enough to do some damage? Will you tell me that, centurion? Because if you can’t then I’ll kill you before you leave this tower and put us all at risk.’ The one eye glared at Ferox.
‘Thought you promised Flora that you would look after me?’ he said.
‘I’d be giving you a quicker, cleaner death than you’ll get out there. Be a consolation for the old girl. In fact, I can do it now, unless you can convince me to change my mind.’ The veteran tapped the hilt of his sword.
‘I have an idea,’ the centurion began, and explained his plan.
Longinus listened and then sniffed. ‘Might work, might not,’ he said grudgingly. ‘And you might be a rare genius or the biggest fool ever to swear an oath to the emperor.’
‘What’s the difference?’ Vindex said.
‘Luck,’ Longinus told him. ‘That’s what it comes down to more often than not.’
‘Well, I’ll be all right then,’ the scout declared. ‘Don’t know about you two.’
‘If we are really lucky the first of Brocchus’ men will be here soon and then he will be in charge and he can make the decisions,’ Ferox said.
‘And if the lad was imagining things?’ Longinus’ voice was harsh. ‘What if he just saw some merchant ships sailing along, oblivious? Or he was right, but a storm picks up and drives them away from the island?’
‘Then we’re humped,’ Vindex said. ‘But worrying won’t change it.’
The veteran sighed. ‘Still, maybe you are lucky, and maybe if they realise some of us are abroad and up to no good they will be worried. Cniva might just pull away from here to protect his stronghold and his ship. But my money is on you not being able to get out of this tower in the first place. So you’ll get nowhere, or be dead, or they’ll have you and we can watch while Cniva slices you up and promises to finish the job unless we surrender.’
‘In that case spit in his eye, whatever he does to me.’