Just below the base of the tower roof were two grilled windows, one facing north on to the Via Cyrenaica, the other west. Cassius put down the javelin and knelt next to Eborius, who was gazing out at the square.
‘By all the gods,’ breathed the centurion.
The fire had been fuelled by the market stalls, of which not a single timber remained. The stack of wood was as tall as two men and just as wide. Thick flowers of flame reached skyward and a heavy pall of smoke drifted high. The tribesmen stood around it in groups of a dozen or so. Cassius estimated there were between a hundred and fifty and two hundred of them. Most were drinking and some were deep in discussion, gesticulating wildly to their fellows. Others idly watched the flames. On the far side of the square, dozens of horses had been tethered, watched over by some of the younger tribesmen.
Cassius thought of the youthful warriors Carnifex had crucified and looked at the southern side of the square. He was surprised to see that the crosses and the bodies remained.
‘Cervidus,’ whispered Eborius.
The centurion was also looking at the crosses. And when Cassius looked closer, he realised that in fact the two bodies were of fully grown men, not youths. One had a white bandage around his ankle. Cervidus: the legionary who’d injured himself at the quarry.
‘You had to leave him behind.’
‘Yes.’
Eborius moved away from the window and slumped back against the wall. ‘Until today I wouldn’t have thought the Maseene capable of such things.’
‘The other man?’
‘Lafrenius Leon. I bet they had their fun with him.’
Cassius watched as a group of tribesmen walked past the crosses. Every one of them took his turn to spit at the body of the dead governor. Cassius looked out beyond the big blaze to the west, along the Via Cyrenaica. There were smaller fires every fifty yards or so. He moved to the other window and looked east. The situation was the same, and he could see dozens of figures close to every fire.
‘Gods, we’ll never get across now.’
Cassius peered towards the harbour but it was too dark to see if the Fortuna was still there. He turned away and sat below the window, opposite Eborius. After a while, he realised the big centurion was weeping. Cassius reached across and touched him on the arm. ‘Manius.’
Eborius wiped his face, so ashamed that he almost seemed to be trying to scrape the tears off his skin. ‘My apologies, Corbulo. I have long since acknowledged my part in what’s happened here, but it is another thing to see the results of it.’
‘You didn’t cause this. The blood of all who have died here is on Carnifex’s hands, not yours.’
Eborius put his head back against the wall. ‘This is not the first time I have failed in my duties.’
‘You mean your demotion? Being sent back to Darnis?’
‘Even you know.’
‘People talk. I imagine it must have been very difficult, but at least you were assigned to a legion in the first place. I barely scraped through training. If not for the Service, I doubt they would have passed me.’
‘You are a young man. With chances to prove yourself.’
Cassius saw little point in explaining that he thought he’d already had quite enough chances.
‘You have proven much today.’
‘When it’s already too late.’
Cassius’s weary mind couldn’t summon a constructive reply to that. Outside, the fire roared and hissed. Occasionally another cry of victory went up from the Maseene.
‘Much was always expected of me,’ Eborius continued quietly, ‘looking as I do. Sometimes I think that was the only reason I was promoted — just because I looked impressive on the parade ground carrying a standard. When I arrived in Lambaesis, everyone told me I would rise up the ranks. They just piled more and more duties on me, thinking I would … flourish. In the end I think I did well to hold it together for a year. Then one day I realised I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had water in my canteen. Not long after that I was back here.’
‘That’s history now. You stayed. And you stood up to Carnifex. I don’t believe I would have.’
Eborius said nothing, which to Cassius seemed like progress.
He continued: ‘I thought I was going to die in that pit. You risked everything in coming after us — you should feel pride, not shame.’
‘Pride?’ Eborius looked towards the square. ‘For that?’
‘You’re a good officer. I see it, and your men know it.’
‘My men are dead.’
‘Not all of them. And Noster, Adranos and Lentellus need your help just like we do. No one else is going to get us out of here.’
It took a long time for Eborius to reply. ‘You speak well, Corbulo.’
‘Better than I fight, so I hope you’ll continue to lead us as well as you have so far. What now?’
Eborius got up on his knees and looked out of the window facing north. ‘Once it’s properly dark, we shall try and find a gap in the lines — get across the road.’
‘Let’s head back to the others then,’ said Cassius, moving towards the steps.
Eborius stayed where he was. ‘Must be three hours or so since the bridge. Plenty of time for Carnifex to reach the town. He’s out there. Somewhere.’
XXXIII
Even in the time it took them to collect the others and move east, the numbers of Maseene seemed to swell, with warriors converging on Darnis from all directions. Eborius had already identified four different local clans; it seemed the rumoured coming together was no longer a rumour. After another hour of darting from one villa to the next, they finally reached what the centurion had decided was the best place to cross the Via Cyrenaica.
Though the Maseene were in control of the road for at least two miles east of the square, the largest gap in their lines was next to the roofless temple of Jupiter. As Cassius joined him at the corner of the walled sanctuary behind it, Eborius quietly explained why. ‘They have always feared the place. It’s the only structure above ten feet still standing — testament to the power of the Roman god of gods.’
‘Even though the roof came down,’ said Cassius.
‘It didn’t come down. It was never built. They started work when I was a boy. The temple was paid for by a man named Sallustius, the richest man in Darnis at the time. He died before it was completed and his family decided they would rather spend the money on themselves. But Sallustius had insisted that every part was to be made as strong as possible — said he wanted it to still be here in a thousand years.’
Cassius listened to the hurried breaths of the others arriving. He and Indavara had taken it in turns to lead Annia through the maze-like town. Even so, she had fallen several times and had barely uttered a word. She was standing behind Cassius now and he could feel her shivering, even though Indavara had found an old blanket and tied it round her shoulders with twine.
‘All here?’ asked Eborius.
‘All here,’ confirmed Noster, who was still guarding the rear.
‘Stay close.’
The centurion led them up the broad stone steps and between two of the columns into the half-completed structure. There was one distinct advantage to moving through a temple: they invariably followed a uniform design.
Close to the rear were the staircases leading up to the anterooms where religious documents and treasures would be stored. These rooms, however, hadn’t actually been built — there was just a section of floor mounted on a set of smaller columns.
They then entered what would have been the temple’s central chamber. There was no proper flooring of tiles or mosaics, just slabs of stone underfoot. Neither was there a statue of Jupiter, only a large, unoccupied plinth where Eborius waited for the rest of the group to catch up. When they’d all come to a stop, Cassius realised he could hear the squeaking and scurrying of rats somewhere beneath.