The meal was strained. The Celts seemed to think there was a hidden motive, so they kept reasonably silent, at least for a while. Part of the difficulty seemed to be that the Roman style of cooking and the actual menu was somewhat strange to them, and they were determined not to get to like it too much. Gaius provided ample wine, but most of the Celts left it alone, however he had also purchased mead and ale from a Celtic brewer, and this was somewhat harder to avoid.
Eventually the Chief came over to Gaius. "What do you want for the coming year?" he asked.
It was then that Gaius realized that this Chief had viewed the evening as a summons, master to servant. It was not what he had intended, but there was not much he could do about that. Most Roman commanders would simply have summoned the subjects through the day and given orders, and would never have dreamed of offering a meal. He could almost feel Rebecca's look.
"Apart from your paying taxes and keeping the peace, not much," Gaius replied. "As you know, over to the north there's a large area we have cleared, and next year this will make good grazing land."
"So?"
"I want that to be common land for your people, and specifically the poor must have as much right to graze animals as the rich. The grazing rights must be so many animals per person."
"I see."
"Now," Gaius said, looking into the Chief's eyes, "I have told you what outcome I want, but you can gain from this."
"How?" he frowned.
"As long as you do what I told you to do," Gaius smiled, "I will not contradict how you do it. If I were you, I would announce this to your people by saying that you negotiated with me and acquired the land, and it is your idea that it becomes common land. That way everybody will be grateful to you, which makes it harder for anyone to challenge your leadership."
"I suppose it would be," he nodded.
"It is one thing to challenge a man," Gaius pointed out, "and altogether another to challenge the tribe."
"That's true," the Chief nodded. He looked away, seemingly uncertain as to what to do next, then he appeared to come to some sort of decision. "What do you want?" he asked.
"I want your people to be more prosperous," Gaius smiled. When it appeared that this explanation was not entirely believed, he added, "If your people have the chance to be prosperous, they'll be busy. Busy people aren't organizing revolts."
A look of understanding passed over the Chief's face.
"Believe me, I can put down any revolt that's likely to come up," Gaius continued, "and the way I would do it would lead to a bloody mess. I really don't want to do that and neither do your people want to suffer for no good reason.
"Let me give you some advice. Think more about your followers than yourself, and you will be a really great chief."
It was not entirely clear what the young man thought of this, or why he did it, but shortly after this meeting he announced the availability of the common grazing area.
* * *
Construction continued through the gloomy winter. The troops grumbled about the cold, they grumbled about the incessant drizzle, but work continued. Their one advantage of having been stationed on the German frontier was that they had experienced winters like this before. That did not make this one any more pleasant, but they had learned how to deal with it, and they had better furs than would be found in other legions stationed in warmer climates. Progress on the bridge was good, and the engineer outlined his plans as to how this bridge would be finished, and pointed out what had been completed. The work had stopped for the day because the light was too poor. The light seemed to be eternally poor in this place during winter, Gaius thought, but he had to agree that it was getting gloomy. He wrapped the cloak about him, thanked the engineer, then he set off walking towards the small building that was used to hold the plans and records relating to the bridge.
He was halfway there, and was passing a small hut when he heard a "Psssst!" He looked around to see a hand beckoning him towards the hut. With his hand on the hilt of his gladius, he walked towards the doorway. It was somewhat darker inside, but he could easily make out the form of the young man he had enticed into bridge building. He was unarmed, so Gaius quickly took his hand away from his gladius and asked, "You want something?"
"I want to thank you for helping me."
"You don't have to be quite so secretive," Gaius smiled.
"Yes, I do, and please, when you leave here, don't look back, and don't tell anyone you spoke to me."
"I didn't know I was so disliked."
"It's not that! I have some information, and if it were known I told you, I'd be killed."
"Then you'd better tell me what it is."
"There's a plot to kill the Chief and replace him with someone who will give refuge to Caratacus' men. There'll also be a raid by Caratacus' men so that it'll look like those killed were killed for aiding you, they'll destroy what they can of yours, and. ."
"And these people would kill you if they thought you'd told me about it."
"You have to save me."
"There's no need for you to be involved at all," Gaius smiled. "Do you know when this raid is going to take place?"
"In five days time, and I'm afraid I don't know the route they'll take."
"Tell me the names of those responsible."
The young man did, then when he finished, he pleaded, "Everyone will know it was me who gave you the names when you do whatever you are going to do to them. You've got to take me somewhere. ."
"I won't do anything to them until I catch the raiders," Gaius explained, "and I shall announce to everybody that those men talked."
"They may not," the man said doubtfully.
"They may not, but nobody else will know that. Now, when I leave, go back and act normally. If you run into trouble and you can escape, run to the legion. Tell them I told you to do this, and tell them I said they would protect you."
"They won't believe me."
"Probably not," Gaius reassured him, "but they won't let any Celt hurt you, and before they'd dream of doing anything to you, they'll check out your story with me, because if it were true and they let you get hurt, they know they'd be in deeper shit than you can probably imagine."
Gaius explained the situation to Matius, and three days later cavalry turmae quietly left to patrol the area, together with bands of exploratores. The orders were simple: this might be an exercise, but if they failed to find these raiders. . No explanation was needed; it was not their business to fail.
They did not. Two days later, a band of fifteen Celts appeared in a line, roped together, hands roped behind their backs, and gagged. They were separated and lashed to posts within separate tents where they were told individually that the complete details of their mission was required, including the names of Celts within the local village they were to contact. Some names were known. If they told everything they knew they would be kept as prisoners in Britain for a year, working on road building, then once the Roman Army had conquered the rest, they would be free to return to their families. If they were reluctant to cooperate fully, they would be sent to Rome as slaves, to work in the most dangerous mines. If they refused to cooperate at all, examples of a crucifixion were required for other purposes, and they would suffice. They would have an hour to think on this, then they would be approached at hourly intervals. As soon as enough information was gained, the opportunity would cease; those who had cooperated would be rewarded, those who had not would very soon wish they had.