‘I have one further matter to discuss.’
He picked up an apple from the table, inspected it as though expecting it to be rotten, rubbed it on his tunic, bit and chewed for a long moment.
‘Where did the Arverni go?’
His companions turned frowns upon him, and Fronto ignored them, watching the faces of the four druids. Just as he expected, two of them immediately displayed expressions of guilty surprise before plastering innocence across the top. The other two were instantly guarded.
‘There are no Arverni in the north.’
‘Now you and I both know that for the lie it is. How do you expect me to trust your information on Ambiorix when you lie so plainly about your visitors?’
The man who had first accompanied them, and who Fronto had begun to think of as the headman, leaned forward and steepled his fingers.
‘The Arverni are no concern of yours. They are about on the business of our brothers from the south, and not in connection with your hunt for Ambiorix.’
Fronto narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath.
‘Bear in mind that I am an eminently practical man. Even my undead spirit will be able to handle a hammer and nails. Keep uppermost in your mind an image of the four of you hanging from your trees while your precious sacred stone is stood upright and carved into a statue of Nemesis. I do not like to be lied to or crossed.’ With a grunt, he dropped the part-chewed apple back to the platter and rose. ‘I think we’re done here.’
Masgava gave him a quick glance and grabbed a handful of meat and bread before rising with the others. Samognatos looked distinctly uncomfortable. For the first time his odd smile had slid to an almost straight line.
The druids rose together and bowed their heads, the ‘leader’ speaking for them once more. ‘I cannot say I am surprised at your attitude, and if our own circumstances were not so troubled, we would be a great deal happier to watch you from the far side of a battlefield, but the fact remains that we both desire Ambiorix’s swift death, and so we will ask great Arduenna to shelter, protect and guide you within her demesne until your task is complete.’
Fronto nodded his head in a curt acknowledgement.
‘I pray your information leads to a swift resolution, and that we never meet again.’
Turning, he strode from the laden stone, back between the trees and towards the gate in the fence without waiting to be escorted by the druids. His men marched along behind purposefully, Masgava still stuffing meat and bread into his face as though destined to starve. A chill breeze rose and ruffled the trees, sending a shiver up everyone’s spine as they exited the nemeton. Spring was here now, with flowers bursting into colourful life and the trees budding green, but the air still held a morning chill. At least, Fronto chose to believe it was a purely natural, seasonal thing, and nothing to do with the sacred site of the druids.
Outside, the Roman party paused to collect their weapons and pass on the information to the two soldiers waiting by the pile, after which Masgava slung his cloak over his shoulders and shivered into the cold material.
‘Alright, Samognatos.’ Fronto sighed. ‘Lead us down to the main road. The other three should be there now with the horses.’
The small force traipsed down the grassy slope without looking back at the nemeton they had left and when they reached what appeared to be a regularly-used path, Fronto cleared his throat. ‘Palmatus? Are they watching us?’
The former legionary turned his head slightly to look out of the corner of his eye. ‘No sign. They must have gone back inside. They’ll be out of earshot anyway.’
Fronto nodded. ‘What did you pick up there?’
‘That they want Ambiorix dead. That they have some secret business with the Arverni that they won’t share, and they don’t like us any more than we like them.’
Fronto nodded. ‘More than that. They assume that we want Ambiorix dead and that is what joins our goal to theirs. What they don’t know is that I don’t want him dead. I want that bastard alive to answer a few questions. I get the impression that the druids wouldn’t like that one bit, and noted that they expected a ‘swift death’. And they carefully told us that the Arverni were on their business, and not connected with our hunt for Ambiorix. They did not say they weren’t connected with Ambiorix, and that leads me to suspect that they are. The druids are trying to use us to put Ambiorix down — or at least some of them are. And I believe that these are the same druids who are allied with the Arverni and therefore that big warrior back in Bibracte who also had a low opinion of our quarry. We’re being played, but we haven’t much choice at this point but to go along with it. No one is to put a blade through Ambiorix’s neck before I’ve had a chance to talk with him. Got that?’
The men nodded their agreement, a number of them with hard expressions. The party strode on in silence towards the wide defile that rose east from the river and along which the road deep into the forest of Arduenna ran from Divonanto. For more than a quarter of an hour they descended until they saw the main road tracking through the trees ahead.
The Remi seemed to have located the junction successfully as the party could hear the many horses whickering and snorting nearby. With a sense of relief, they strode out onto the road, and it took only a matter of heartbeats for Fronto to realise that something was wrong. The atmosphere was charged with a nervous energy. The two Remi standing among the horses wore unpleasant expressions, Magurix’s big, muscular, handsome features darkened by a worried frown, and Brannogenos’ dark, bearded face scowling as he fiddled with one of the multitudinous sigils hanging from his person.
Two!
‘What happened?’ Fronto cast his glance back and forth, looking for the third Remi, but only two men were present. He was trying desperately to remember the other man’s name. He was an older man. A grey-bearded warrior. Seemed to be sensible. Gaul- something.
The dark, strange Brannogenos gestured back along the track. ‘Galatos has gone. No sign of him.’
‘He was with us this morning before we left,’ Fronto said, suspiciously.
‘Aye. Magurix went to rope the horses, while I went to settle up with the innkeeper. Galatos stayed in the hayloft, packing away the last of the gear, and when we got back, there was no sign of him or his kit. Vanished. No blood or sign of a scuffle, either.’
Palmatus scratched his chin. ‘You think he was spying on us?’
Fronto shrugged. ‘Could be. If so, whoever he’s passed his information on to only knows that we’re heading for the lands of the Segni, from what the ordo of elders told us. They don’t know that we’re heading for Cativolcus now. In a way, I’m hoping he was a spy. It could be very useful if he’s given inaccurate information to whoever he works for.’ He sighed. ‘There is, of course, another explanation. We know the Arverni have been here. What if they still are and Galatos bumped into them somehow? Unless we find him or his body we’ll not know.’
‘Do we go back to the town and see what we can find?’ Masgava muttered.
‘No. We’re unlikely to discover anything of use and it’ll cost us valuable time. We need to get deep into the forest and look for Cativolcus.’
One of the legionaries was making warding signs against evil and muttering something. Fronto glanced irritably at him. ‘What are you babbling about, Aurelius?’
‘Arduenna’s bats, sir. That’s what got him. The bats.’
Fronto rolled his eyes as Aurelius shuddered, reaching up and rubbing his head. ‘A bat cannot kill a man, Aurelius. Don’t let your fears carry you away with them. Come on. Mount up. We have a long way to go and time gets ever tighter.’
* * * * *
Fronto reined in the column yet again on the interminable journey deep into the forest. Celer was cantering back along the track towards them. Sensing danger, Masgava and Palmatus joined Fronto with Samognatos at the front, waiting for Celer, who halted inexpertly, his horse dancing and stomping, his breathing heavy.