Chapter 20

Devnum

Lucilla sat on her father’s throne, her throne now, and tried to radiate calm despite the rage churning inside of her. Everything she’d feared when they’d decided to start the new prisoner work gangs had come to pass, and she needed answers. However, she recalled her father’s words that a monarch must be calm and balanced at all times. Revealing her hand too readily, even to allies, only weakened her position.

It had been a hard-learned lesson, controlling her emotions, especially on days like this when she longed to scream. But she understood that emotional outbursts would not garner the results she required.

Faenius marched in first, stern-faced as ever, with his characteristic stiff-backed walk. Beside him was the other man she’d summoned. Ramirus was in every way a contrast to Faenius’s military bearing – unassuming, almost looking like someone’s grandfather, unless you looked into the man’s eyes.

Both men stopped before the throne and bowed with their equally charismatic manners.

“You sent for us, Your Majesty,” Faenius said.

“I did. I want you both to explain this failure,” Lucilla demanded.

“Your Majesty, this was not a fault of the design of the camp or prison factory, both of which have worked well,” Faenius said. “The men escaped from the crew working on the new facilities in Factorium. I said we didn’t have enough men to properly vet...”

She cut him off curtly, “I don’t want excuses. I want to know how this happened and how you will rectify it. When we first discussed using prisoners as laborers, you both claimed the camp was as secure as it could be. Now a dozen praetorians lie dead and fifty prisoners roam free.”

“Your Majesty,” Ramirus began evenly, “I accept full responsibility for the escape. Faenius is right that we didn’t have enough resources to check each of the prisoners who volunteered for the detail. We were still checking them, although we also knew these men were all soldiers and this was always a danger. It was a risk, but one I was willing to take. Even with the losses we suffered and the manpower it will take to find these men, I still think it was the only option we had. Several of the factories Hortensius requested are finished and are starting to produce, which wouldn’t have been possible without using the prisoners to do the work. Their labor in the prison camp has already started to produce goods, helping relieve some of the strain we’ve been experiencing.”

“What Ramirus says is true. Even with us interviewing everyone, all of these men are prisoners and all are trained soldiers who came here to kill as many of our people as possible. It’s always been a danger. That being said, we’ve made some adjustments to our security procedures to prevent this type of thing from happening again.”

“Your assurances of the effectiveness of any security procedures would mean more if you hadn’t said the same thing last time,” Lucilla said, her wrath on full display.

Faenius looked down, worry creasing his face, but Ramirus seemed unfazed. Lucilla hadn’t doubted she wouldn’t be able to cow him. He’d known her for her entire life, literally, and he still looked on her as the little girl who rolled her eyes at her brother and learned at her father’s knee. At times she found it comfortable, a connection to her father, but other times, such as now, she was annoyed her ire bounced off of him.

“Your Majesty,” he said, still calm. “Our assurances were only that we were making the best choices that we could, balancing resources and manpower with the protections we’d need. We fell short, but that was the risk we took. We are readjusting our security procedures, which will cost us more in other places, but it needs to be done. Is it going to be enough? Who knows? I think so, but it could fall short again, and we’ll have to pull yet more resources from other critical areas. We’re in a war for survival, and this is just the nature of it. Too many critical things that cannot be compromised and not enough resources to keep from compromising them. If you’re concerned that we aren’t doing enough, we can do more than we have planned, but there will be a cost involved. You could decide to end the entire project, but that too has a cost. It’s your decision which we pay for.”

Lucilla frowned at him, furious the old man made so much sense. Every time she doubted they were doing enough, that was his argument. There were too many people who needed Praetorians, wire, and all the other security apparatus, not to mention the factories and legions. She wanted to be furious, to blame the escape and deaths on someone, but she knew the dangers and the needs, and made the decision. She was mad at herself, as much as either of them.

“What are these new procedures?”

Faenius gave a side-eye glance at Ramirus and said, “Our biggest vulnerability, as we saw, is when prisoners have to go outside the wire, where we lose the ability to control them as easily. We discussed no longer using the prisoners for outside projects at all, but Ramirus believes this is impractical. We’ve already received two requests for work on additional projects today, and it is likely that will continue on most days. I am...”

“The main reason we started using prison labor force was for these outside projects,” Ramirus said, clearly seeing Faenius hedge. “The work factory inside the wire was a later add-on and not the primary need for them. So yes, unless ordered otherwise, we have little choice but to continue these work details.”

“I assume you were going to talk about the new procedures for these work details?” Lucilla asked Faenius, ignoring Ramirus.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Going forward, we will rotate prisoners in smaller groups for any outside labor to prevent mass escapes. We will also be increasing the Praetorians guarding them, with more mounted men. That is going to primarily come out of the units assigned to the city guard, at least until we can recruit more guards. We will also conduct more thorough searches for weapons before we take the men out of the work camp. It will slow down the process of getting them in and out each day, but we found several work tools at the site of the attack, which they must have used to initiate it.”

“And what about the men that escaped?”

“Patrols are searching the hills to the southeast, where our trackers have indicated they ran, but the terrain makes them difficult to locate. We suspect they are trying to flee deeper into the wilderness.”

“I want every last escaped prisoner recaptured. We cannot allow these men to start causing unrest. Not after we finally quelled the insurgents. Nothing takes precedence over capturing them. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Faenius said.

“Good, now...”

Her next words faded as her attention was drawn to a commotion near the entrance to the audience chamber, where one of her guards was speaking in hushed tones to a frantic-looking man she recognized from his many stops at the palace. She’d never spoken to him, but he was a runner and messenger from Devnum’s semaphore station and often delivered messages.

“What’s that about?” she said loudly, causing her guard to turn.

With a gesture, the guard released the man, who sprinted into the room, skidding to a stop next to Faenius and Ramirus, both of whom were watching him intently.

“Your Majesty!” he said, his voice trembling. “Terrible news from Hispania. Port Invictus has fallen to the Carthaginians and Legate Velius is dead.”

He held up a note, showing the scrawled message from the semaphore, which Ramirus took from him and read, his face going pale as he did.

“The message is from Aelius, which he sent with one of the supply ships that had been at the port. Velius arrived to help lead the defense of the port, as he indicated he would in his last message, and Gordianus brought his legion up through the mountains to attack the Carthaginians from the other side. The Carthaginians dug deep trenches in the ground and used lightweight barriers to absorb and deflect cannon fire, to allow their men to get into range. Once they got close enough, they brought up catapults, and began hurling what Aelius believes were pots filled with gunpowder, which exploded, setting off our own gunpowder. The explosion created a breach in the walls around Port Invictus, at which point Velius ordered Aelius to take all but two hundred men and escape to the ships in the harbor. Shortly after, there was a gigantic explosion from the fort, although it’s unclear what caused the explosion.”

Lucilla felt as if a blow had struck her. She stared blankly at Ramirus, struggling to fully comprehend his words. The loss of Port Invictus and Velius, along with so many of their soldiers, was a devastating blow to their war effort. She also considered Velius a friend, not to the level of Hortensius or Ramirus, but a friend nonetheless, and one whose loss she felt deeply.

“So we don’t know if Velius is dead for sure?” Lucilla said, clinging to a small amount of hope.

“If the explosion was as massive as the legate describes, it’s unlikely he survived.”

“Does he give any indication of what he’s doing now? Returning here? Heading north to join the forces there?”

“They intercepted a message from the fort to Gordianus shortly before the explosion, ordering the legion to be pulled back to the line of forts, from which they were to request further instructions from the Consul. The orders reiterated that he is to continue falling back, all the way to the northern army, if need be, to protect the legion until he receives new orders. Aelius indicates his intentions are to sail north with the men rescued from the port and drop them further north in Gaul, where they will march and link up with Gordianus. That is all the message indicates.”

“I see,” she said quietly, before turning her attention to the messenger. “Thank you for your service.”

Seeing he was excused, the man practically ran from the audience chamber, probably thankful he didn’t have to get caught up in the aftermath of such bad news. Lucilla hoped that was not what he was thinking. She’d strived to not be one of those leaders who blamed the messenger for the words they carried.

“You can also go. I need some time,” she said to her two advisers. “You have your orders. Fix our security issues and find those missing prisoners.”

Faenius bowed and departed, but she could see Ramirus wanted to stay. She knew he’d worked out she could communicate with Ky and he was smart enough to know that was exactly what she was intending to do now. This kind of news couldn’t wait for a messenger, since it was going to completely upend their entire strategy on the continent. She could appreciate her advisor’s desire to be present, but she wanted this moment with Ky, just the two of them. Ky had been friends with Velius as well and would take the news just as hard as she did.

Besides, it wasn’t like he could hear what Ky was saying, and even if he suspected she could communicate directly with Ky, she preferred not to confirm it.