The Eagles Conquest

'Look here, Vitellius, we're in the middle of a major campaign. The last thing I need to worry about is you spying on me and my men behind our backs.'

'Can you think of a better time to spy, sir? When men's minds are preoccupied with battle they're inclined to guard their tongues less. Makes my task that much easier.'

Vespasian regarded him with open contempt. 'There are times when you make me feel quite sick, Tribune.'

'Yes, sir.'

'If you come between my legion and its responsibilities to the rest of the army, I swear I will kill you.'

'Yes, sir.' If there was any sense of either smugness or surrender to a higher authority in the tribune's expression, it was unreadable to Vespasian. Neither man spoke, or even moved, as they watched each other closely. Eventually Vespasian eased himself back in his chair.

'I'm sure we understand one another, Vitellius.'

'Oh, I'm quite sure that we do, sir. And may I assume that the arrangement we came to over your wife's extracurricular politics and my treasure-hunting still stands?'

Vespasian clasped his hands together tightly and nodded. 'As long as you keep to your side of the bargain.'

'Don't worry, sir. Your wife is quite safe, for the moment.'

'Assuming there's a shred of truth in what you have said about her.'

'Shred of truth?' Vitellius smiled. 'I think you'd be quite surprised at the lengths Flavia would go to pursue her political ends. Far more than is discreet for one whose husband has a promising future… in the service of the Emperor.'

'So you say.' Vespasian nodded slowly. 'But you have yet to provide me with firm evidence of your allegations. Nothing you have told me so far would be provable in a court of law. '

'Court of law!' Vitellius chuckled. 'Such a quaint notion. What makes you think for a moment that any charges against Flavia, or yourself, would be brought before any court at all? A quiet word from the Emperor and a small squad of Praetorians would pay you a visit with orders not to leave until you were both dead. The best you could hope for is a polite little obituary in the Rome gazette. That's how the world works, sir. Best get used to it.'

'I'll get used to it. Just as you had better get used to the fact that I can implicate you in a little treason of your own.'

'Oh, I haven't forgotten, sir. That's why we're having this discussion. I assume you have made sure that your side of the agreement is safely documented?'

'Of course,' lied Vespasian. 'I have sent a message to Rome to be lodged with my lawyer until either I reclaim it or I perish. Whichever comes first: At which point the letter will be opened and read before senate and Emperor. I should imagine that your death would follow swiftly upon my own. So swiftly that we might even cross the Styx in the same vessel.'

'I would count that an honour, sir.' Vitellius permitted himself a wry smile. 'But there really is no need for things to go that far, wouldn't you agree?'

'I would.'

'Then there's nothing more to be said, sir.'

'Nothing.'

'Am I dismissed?'

Vespasian paused a moment and then shook his head. 'Not quite yet, Tribune. I need you to answer a question before you leave. '

'Oh yes?'

'What do you know of the Liberators?'

Vitellius raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised by the question. He tightened his lips and frowned before the answer came to him. 'She's been in touch with you, hasn't she?'

Vespasian refused to satisfy the tribune with a response and tried to hide his irritation at the informal reference to his wife.

'I thought so.' Vitellius nodded. 'The Liberators. Now there's a name that's been cropping up more and more in recent months. Well, well. Our Flavia is a darker horse than I realised, sir. You'd best guard her well before she does something your family line might have cause to curse her for. '

'You know of this organisation then?'

'I have heard of them, you might say,' the tribune replied smoothly. 'Rumour has it that the Liberators are a secret organisation with ambitions to overthrow the Emperor and restore the republic. They're supposed to have existed since the time of Augustus, and were vain enough to name themselves after the assassins of Julius Caesar.'

'A rumour?' Vespasian mused. 'Is that all?'

'It's still enough to get you executed, sir. Narcissus has men crawling all over Rome, and the provinces, searching for people connected to the organisation. Those involved with Scribonianus' plot are supposed to have links with the Liberators. I wonder how much your wife knows about them. I imagine Narcissus would be keen to ask her, given the chance.'

Vespasian refused to respond to the scarcely veiled threat; neither of them had anything to gain from exposing the other. He focused instead on Flavia, and her possible connection to this conspiracy hiding in the shadows of history. From what he knew of Narcissus, the imperial chief of staff would be relentless, and quite ruthless, in his pursuit of any who threatened the Emperor. However long it took, however many suspects were tortured for information, the conspiracy would be tracked down and its members quietly eliminated.

Yet if Vitellius was right, the Liberators had been quietly plotting for decades and that spoke of an extraordinary commitment to secrecy and patience. Vespasian could guess at the motivation of those who had joined the Liberators. Rome had been ruled by the emperors for over sixty years, and while Augustus had ended the terrible era of civil strife that had torn the Roman state asunder for generations, it was a peace bought at the cost of denying the aristocrats the political powers their families had wielded for hundreds of years. A social class imbued with such a sense of its own destiny does not easily accept its subordination to a dynasty that produced a madman like Caligula and a fool like Claudius.

But, wondered Vespasian, what other way was there for Rome now? Returning control of the empire to the senate would once again transform the civilised world into a battlefield, over which roamed the vast armies of power-crazed senatorial factions. They would leave devastation in their wake, while the barbarian hordes watched in glee from beyond the wild frontiers of the empire. Whatever their faults, the emperors stood for order. They might thin out the ranks of the aristocrats from time to time, but for the heaving masses of Rome, and everyone else who lived within the empire, the emperors stood for some measure of order and peace. Even though Vespasian was a member of the senatorial class, whose cause the Liberators claimed to represent, he knew that the consequences of the return to senatorial control offered by the Liberators were too terrible to contemplate.

'Sir?'

Vespasian looked up, irritated by the interruption to his train of thought. 'What is it?'

'Is there anything else for us to discuss? Or can I return to my duties with the Second?'

'We've said all that need be said. You'd better let Plinius know that he's to step down from the senior tribune's post. Get him to brief you on tomorrow's advance. And there's still some supplies to sort out. See to it before you turn in.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Bear in mind what I said, Vitellius.' Vespasian fixed the tribune with a stern expression. 'Regardless of your duties as an imperial agent, you are still my senior tribune and I expect you to act the part. One step, or word, out of line and I'll see you suffer for it.'

The Eagles Conquest

Chapter Nineteen

Early next morning the army advanced across the Mead Way. As the dense column of soldiers reached the ford, the pace slowed. Most had served long enough to know the discomfort of marching with a waterlogged shield, and kept their equipment held high as they waded into the churning water in the wake of the thousands of men crossing to the far side. Despite the previous afternoon's rest, the men still felt weary, and those with injuries light enough to classify them as walking wounded bore the strained expressions of men who fought their pain. All along the column were men with dressings to head or limbs, some still soiled by their blood, and the blood of others. But despite the ravaged look of the legion it still marched to the front fully prepared and willing to engage the Britons once more.