The Eagles Conquest

'Silence there! Next man who opens his mouth is on a charge!'

The horsemen were barely a quarter of a mile away now and Vespasian could make out the purple cloaks and long hair whipping out behind the three being pursued. The gap between the two groups had narrowed to a few score yards and the men behind howled their triumph as they chased down their prey, swooping for the kill with their narrow-bladed cavalry spears. The man nearest the fortlet suddenly looked up and waved at the Romans.

Vespasian started. 'It's Adminius! Open the gate, Optio! Quickly, man!'

The section on the gate removed the bar and pulled the gate inwards.

Cato ordered the bolt-thrower crew to make ready to fire.

'Aim for the second group, and fire the instant the first lot are clear!' As the horsemen galloped up towards the fortlet, barely fifty feet separated the two groups. Adminius and his bodyguards slewed round in an arc and approached the open gate from the side, clearing the way for the artillery crew. A legionaire flipped the firing lever and the bolt-thrower discharged its missile with a loud crack. There was a sharp thwack as the bolt struck one of the British cavalrymen just below the throat, passed clean through him, and buried itself in the shaggy forehead of the horse immediately behind. Beast and rider fell in a sprawling, kicking mass, right in the path of the horsemen behind. Only a handful managed to ride on and keep up with their quarry. As they caught sight of the gateway, the leading Briton realised he had lost the race, and hurled his spear after Adminius and his men. The dark shape curved through the air and struck the rearmost man squarely between the shoulders and he toppled to one side as Adminius spurred his beast inside the fortlet.

The section on the gate ran into the opening and presented their shields and javelins to the Britons chasing Adminius. At sight of the legionaries, the horsemen drew up, savage expressions of rage and frustration etched on their features.

'Get 'em!' Cato shouted from the watchtower. 'Use your javelins!' The section responded at once and moments later two more men and their horses were down, thrashing about in the dirt track in front of the gate. The others turned and galloped off, leaning low across the necks of their beasts in case any more javelins came after them.

Cato followed the legate down the ladder and the two of them ran over to the gate where Adminius had dropped from his mount and lay on his back, gasping for breath, eyes clenched shut in pain. There was a large tear in the side of his tunic, which was drenched with blood.

'He's wounded.' Vespasian turned towards his escort to shout an order for a surgeon to be brought up from the main camp immediately. Adminius' eyes snapped open at the sound of the legate's voice and he struggled to raise himself up on one elbow.

'Easy there! Rest yourself. I've sent for a surgeon.' Vespasian knelt down beside Adminius. 'I see the negotiations with the tribes didn't go so well this time.'

Adminius gri

'S-something I have to tell you!' Adminius whispered anxiously. 'A warning.'

'Warning?'

'There's a plot to kill your Emperor.'

'What?'

'I don't know the full details… Only heard a rumour at the last gathering of tribal representatives.'

'What rumour? Tell me.'

'I was in disguise… because Caratacus was there, trying to get the others to join his fight against Rome… One of his advisers was drunk… started to brag that the invaders would soon leave the island… that a war amongst the Romans would start the moment the Emperor was killed. The man told me that it would be a Briton who would strike the blow… and that the assassin will be provided with the means by a Roman.'

'A Roman?' Vespasian could not hide his shock. 'Did this adviser of Caratacus give any names?'

Adminius shook his head. 'He was stopped before he could. Caratacus called him away.'

'Does Caratacus know what the man revealed?' Adminius shrugged. 'Don't know.'

'Those men chasing you – might they have been sent after you?'

'No. We ran into them. They weren't following us.'

'I see.' Vespasian thought for a moment, then turned to Cato. 'You heard all that?'

'Yes, sir.'

'You will not reveal one word of what Adminius has said. Not one word unless I give you express permission. Not to anyone. Understand?'

Vespasian and his escort returned to the main camp late in the afternoon. The legate dismissed his men and made straight for General Plautius' headquarters. Vespasian's creased brow was eloquent expression of his unease as he strode down the lines of tents. The rumour Adminius had spoken of might be no more than drunken bravado by one of Caratacus' followers anxious to be thought of as a man in the know, but the threat could not be ignored given the large quantity of Roman arms being found in the hands of the natives. The whole thing smacked of a grand conspiracy. Was it possible that the Liberators' network reached as far as Britain? If so, then they were truly a force to be reckoned with. If Adminius' information was well-founded, then there was a traitor in the army.

Vespasian's first thought was Vitellius. But would the tribune take such a terrible risk with his life? Vespasian wished he knew the man well enough to make that judgement. Was Vitellius so anogant and imprudent as to make yet another direct attempt to further his lofty political ambitions? Surely he had more sense than that.

On the other hand the assassin's Roman contact might not be in the army at all. There was already a large number of civilians following in the wake of the army; slave agents from Rome looking for bargains, wine merchants anxious to supply the legions, land agents mapping the best of the farmland for quick purchase from the Emperor, and all ma

Flavia was in the imperial entourage.

All the dreadful uncertainty about the woman he wanted to love unreservedly tortured him anew. How could she? How could she risk so much? Not just for herself, but for him and their son, Titus. How could she put them all in such danger? But, he told himself, Flavia might be i

Whatever the truth, if indeed there was a plot to kill the Emperor, then General Plautius must be informed at once. Regardless of the risk to Flavia.

The Eagles Conquest