Chapter 20

Although she wanted to ride with Ky’s wagon as she had on the trip back to the Caledonian capital, as leader of this surprisingly large contingent her place was in front of the column. Even though they weren’t headed directly for conflict, Caledonian tradition said the leader always rode at the head of the column, with only scouts and pickets allowed to ride before them. Considering there were almost a thousand Caledonians with her and only a handful of Romans, this was most definitely a Caledonian force and she needed to respect their traditions.

That would remain true even after they reached the fourth legion’s command group since, although the fourth was four times as large even at its currently reduced size, it would take them time to pull in all of its patrols and pull out of its long-held position. Lucilla didn’t want to wait for them, and planned on leaving as soon as she gave its legate commands, which meant it would only be her and her Caledonians continuing south.

As soon as they were underway, she sent one of the men back for Carus, who was riding with the rest of the lictore with Ky’s wagon. She’d considered waiting until they reached the fourth legion for this conversation, since it mostly would focus on the military outlook and she’d always been more concerned with politics, rather than the legions. Ultimately, she decided it wasn’t worth waiting. They wouldn’t arrive at the fourth legion until fairly late in the evening and the legate had been stationed up by the border for quite a while. Ky had stopped to speak with him several times and he was getting updates on the military situation, but she thought it might take more time getting him up to speed than she’d save by having his point of view added to the conversation.

“You sent for me?” Carus asked as he rode up to catch her, which wasn’t difficult considering the horses had to be kept at a pace equal to a thousand marching men.

“Yes. While I pray every night for Ky’s full recovery, it is late and we can’t afford to wait hopefully for him any longer. I know I’m not a military commander, or a soldier of any sort, and that if Ky doesn’t wake the battle will be left up to Velius’s directions, but since I was selected as Ky’s stand-in as Consul while he was unavailable, I want to do my best to fulfill that role. All of which is to say, I’d like you to bring me up to date on what you know about Ky’s plans for the Carthaginian army.”

“I see. You understand that I only handle information collection for the Consul, yes? I have been working with Ramirus setting up assets in the southern Roman areas trying to identify Carthaginian scouts and I have received reports of the interrogations of those scouts we’ve captured, but that is the extent of my work in the military area. Most of the information the Consul has given me instructions to collect focused on either domestic areas or building a network here in the north. What information has been given to me about the military situation I’ve duly passed on to the Consul, who hasn’t discussed them with me. The person you need to have this conversation with is Velius, who has been the most involved in designing our strategy towards the Carthaginian forces.”

“Although I didn’t know the specific areas he had you focusing on, I did know you weren’t directly involved in the military planning. I also know you are both clever and curious, a combination that leads you to be constantly paying attention to everything that happens around you. I also know, as one of Ky’s lictore, you are often present when he has these meetings and are one of the few people allowed in the room. If you haven’t gathered some idea of what he’s planning, then I may have overestimated your abilities.”

“I think that was a compliment; and yes, I have worked out some of it on my own. I just wanted you to know that anything I do have to say, might be in error and is purely my own understanding.”

“Consider me warned. Don’t worry, Carus, I won’t be making any decisions based purely on this information and I do plan on having a similar conversation with Velius, but I have found it is better to go into a conversation already knowing a lot of what I’m about to hear, than going in blind and learning it for the first time.”

“A wise policy. In the simplest terms, my understanding is that the Consul was going to head south to meet the army further from the capital. You’re aware of his ability to see things at a far distance, yes?”

“Yes.”

“He plans on using this to position the bulk of the army where the Carthaginians can’t see it, and use smaller parts of the army as bait to pull them into the trap. He hopes that, by doing this, he can pull the Carthaginians into a battle where their lines are compressed and ours are extended limiting their manpower advantage.”

“We have thousands of soldiers. Even seeing the Carthaginians so far away, how can we hide that many until the Carthaginians get close enough to close the trap?”

“I believe he planned to use the landscape to obscure the army, but as for where, I don’t know. I do know he had a location where he wanted the battle to take place picked out, based on the most likely path of advance of the Carthaginian armies, but I’m not sure where that is, specifically. I do know that Velius has been paying close attention to where we find the Carthaginian scouts and what information we can get out of them, to see if the Consul’s predictions on the path of advance were accurate.”

“If they come another way, do we have alternate places to fight that meet with his plan of concealing the legions?”

“I don’t know. I would think so considering how much the Consul looks forward to possibilities, but I have not heard alternate plans mentioned. I would warn again that I am often not in the room for these conversations as my duties both as lictore and hub of information for the Consul often lead me to being called away. They very well could have discussed these alternate plans and I just never heard them mentioned.”

“I understand. Do you know if he plans on using the Caledonian forces that chose not to integrate into the legions as part of the bait force?”

“I don’t. I assume you are concerned with how it will look to the Caledonians if all of the men used to lure the Carthaginians in were Caledonian.”

“Yes. I know enough about military strategy to know that for something like that to work, the bait force would have to make it convincing. They would have to fight and suffer losses to make the retreat seem real, otherwise the Carthaginians wouldn’t believe it. The Caledonians will notice if all of the sacrificial lambs were their warriors.”

“A valid question, and one I don’t know the answer to. You can speak with Velius about that, since he would know if the decision’s already been made. Normally, I’d say that is exactly the kind of point that should be brought up with the Consul.”

She nodded but didn’t reply. Since she’d been working with the Caledonians she’d made several observations she wished she could discuss with Ky, but hadn’t been able to. The longer he was unconscious, the more she realized that his absence felt almost like the absence of a limb. She knew what she wanted to do, but she was unable to actually do it without him there.

For the thousandth time since coming north, she wished he were here with her.

Fourth Legion Camps The legion camps were a bustle of activity as she rode through the perimeter and into the camp itself. She had sent ahead one of her Roman guards as a messenger for the legate of the fourth legion, letting them know she was coming with a very large contingent of Caledonians.

Although they were all allies now, the fourth had been facing off against the northerners for longer than any other legion and it was just human nature that seeing a thousand warriors marching towards them would have sent the camp into disarray, regardless of any documents signed between the two people. She’d also had most of the Caledonians halt a mile from the Roman lines and set up camp, with orders for Llassar to have them ready to move in the morning, when both they and the fourth legion would start the march south to join the rest of the Roman forces.

As she rode through the camp itself, she saw multiple groups of legionnaires either putting on their armor or already armored, hustling towards the perimeter she had just ridden through. This was not part of a move to pack up the camp preparing to march south, however. Those that she saw preparing were not loading supplies or taking down the semi-permanent structures they had put in place over the last year that they’d been in this position.

Vibius, the fourth’s commander, was coming out of his tent to greet her as she rode up and dismounted. She’d never met the man, but he wore the more ornate armor and carried a legate’s helmet under his arm, making it easy to identify the man.

“My lady,” he said with a slight bow. “I am Vibius Sepurcius Ennodius, legate of the fourth legion. I received your messenger several hours ago with news of your arrival, but his warning that you would have a large number of Caledonians with you did not prepare me for the number that is being reported.”

“Then I applaud you on your ability to adjust to the unexpected. I know that the Consul rode through here with five times as many men not so long ago, also headed south towards the capital. I am a little at a loss for why your camp seems to be preparing for an invasion, instead of welcoming allies.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“I mean, your men are forming a line facing the Caledonians that rode with me. I will admit I have never served in the legions, so perhaps I have confused the sight of men donning armor and running sword in hand towards the Caledonians as something it’s not. Perhaps this is how your legion prepares to permanently leave its camps and march towards the Capital as ordered.”

Although she never raised her voice, the sarcasm was palpable and she could see the mixture of anger and frustration on Vibius’s face. Waving towards one of his commanders, he whispered something in the man’s ear, half pointing towards the direction that Lucilla had come from.

As soon as the man ran that direction, “No, you have not misread that, however, they won’t attack and I’ve sent my man to make sure they don’t cause any problems.”

“That’s not good enough legate. Your men must stand down. I don’t want anyone not currently assigned guard duty on that section of the camp perimeter armed. If all of those men have so much free time, they should ready themselves for the march. It’s a long way back to Devnum and this camp has set down enough roots that it will take time to extract yourselves.”

“You have my word, we will be ready to move as soon as you give the word in the morning. You have to understand, my lady, that we have been facing off against the Picts for a long time, and we’ve seen what those barbarians are capable of.”

“Those ‘barbarians’ are the Caledonii, legate, and they are our fellow citizens in the new Empire. The thousand men out there waiting to cross the border have put aside their differences and have agreed to follow me south to join the five-thousand of their men who’ve already joined our forces to fight against Carthaginians, even though their homes are not directly threatened like ours are. From where I sit, only one group has barbaric attitudes, and it’s not the Caledonii.”