‘I’m not sure how far I trust your friend Litavicus. I think he’s rather more full of himself than of talent. Probably more full of shit than either, in fact.’
‘He remains loyal to us, nevertheless, and loyalty is a valuable commodity in these times.’
‘A loyal idiot can be more dangerous than a disloyal one. Nothing can be trusted when it is built upon tier after tier of lies and deceit, Vercingetorix. We believed the Aedui were ours because you had bought men working within them for our gain. But what this cavalry debacle should have taught us is that this is not a reliable way to achieve our goals. We had bought men, but Caesar had bought men within ours, it seems.’
Ignoring the disapproving gaze of his king, Cavarinos gestured at the flood of men leaving the twin hills and retreating north towards the oppidum’s western gate with a sweep of his arm.
‘We began this revolt to drive out Rome and the decadent influences and morals their culture seems to have introduced to the tribes. We were the heroes of our people, backed by the word of the druids and with the good of the people at heart. We would raise a great army with our words of freedom and justice, and we would take that army against Caesar and defeat him; teach the Romans that they would never take us.’
‘And that is what we are doing, Cavarinos.’
‘Is it? Is it really? It’s a rare and disturbing occasion when I find myself echoing my brother’s words, but he had a point. We have lost our way. Pride and stealth, treachery and subterfuge have become our core. We play tribes off against one another and sacrifice those we purport to champion for the good of ourselves. We trust to trickery and bribery to secure the support of others. If our cause was that just and noble, we should not need to buy our allies. I pictured this summer being my great war. I would be commanding half the warriors of Nemossos in battle, repeatedly defeating Romans until I had driven them back into the sea.’
‘Cavarinos…’
‘No. Instead, I spend my time running from one ruse or deception to another trying to hold our failing alliance together. And while I do so, you burn oppidum after oppidum to deny the Romans, but refuse to fire your own. What sort of message does that send? No wonder tribes like the Aedui will not flock to our banner. The Romans only punish their enemies… not their allies. Sometimes I wonder if our world would not be better under them!’
The king slapped his hand across Cavarinos’ mouth and rounded on him angrily.
‘You are long one of my friends and allies, Cavarinos, but talk like that could cause us more damage than a whole legion of Romans. If you want to free Gaul, then help me, but if you are to go on spreading such sedition, you have no place here.’
Cavarinos took a deep breath. ‘Give me your oath you will sacrifice no one else; that you will not put the Arverni above the other tribes that fight with us.’
‘You have it.’
‘And look me in the eye and tell me that you can win this. That you can hold Gergovia and beat Caesar.’
‘I can do it, Cavarinos. And I will.’
‘Then I am yours and I will keep my mouth sealed. But for the love of life and freedom, do not fail here, king of the Arverni. If you lose this mountain, then you lose everything and neither I nor the army, nor the druids nor even the gods can save us.’
* * * * *
Fronto blinked. ‘He’s right, general. They’ve left the heights. They’re still in their main camp below the oppidum wall, but both of the western hills are empty. It looks like they’ve moved back to the oppidum and the western approach. What the hell are they playing at?’
Caesar rubbed his jaw, noting with surprise how stubbly it had become and making a mental note to shave when he returned to his tent. Just because they were in the field was no reason to let standards slip, after all. ‘Whatever it is, the withdrawal is only temporary,’ the general noted, and gestured up to the hilltops. ‘If you watch a few moments, you will see the occasional glint of bronze. They have set scouts to watch. If they had no further interest in the place they would not be watching.’
‘Still,’ Plancus said quietly, ‘a few scouts are no worry. Two legions again and we could take those heights. Then we would really have them pinned, Caesar.’
‘Hardly,’ murmured Caesar. ‘They are half a mile from their former position. A mile at most, and at the same height. By the time we reach even the lower slopes they will be mobilising again. We wouldn’t be halfway to the top before they were waiting for us. It’s almost as if they’re inviting us. As if it is a trap.’
Fronto tilted his head slightly, his eyes narrowing. A slow smile crept across his face.
‘Do you remember that pissy ordo member in Corduba, general?’
Caesar frowned in incomprehension.
‘The one with the… er… over-friendly wife?’
Light dawned on Caesar and he pursed his lips as he though back over the decades to the event of which Fronto was speaking. It had been so long ago, and there had been plenty of ‘pissy’ politicians, and no few over-friendly women, if he was to be honest…
A smile broke across his face.
‘I forget his name, but I think I see what you mean.’
Antonius cleared his throat. ‘Care to enlighten me?’
Fronto opened his mouth to speak, but Caesar cast him a warning look and began the tale. ‘There was a young lady in Corduba who availed herself of my time. She was rather… welcoming… to a young dashing quaestor from Rome. I only discovered the next day that she was the wife of one of the city council, and when the man found out, he blew his top. He knew I was too important to have it out in public — I’d achieved a certain fame for my orations and that ridiculous business with the pirates — so he invited me to dinner. He’d cleared out his atrium, you see, and hired half a dozen ruffians with the intention of beating me near to death when I arrived.’
‘But that love-struck young lady warned us in advance,’ Fronto grinned nastily. ‘When the silly old fart opened the door he found not Caesar, but a contubernium of veteran legionaries, all rather incensed and on extra pay for their time.’
As Antonius chuckled, Caesar smiled. ‘I think he rather regretted setting the trap as he watched the thugs beaten senseless, waiting for my men to turn to him.’
Fronto laughed aloud. ‘Not as much as he regretted the fact that, while all that was happening, you and his strumpet of a wife were going at it again in his own bedroom.’
Caesar gave him a hard look as the officers around him made straining noises, trying not to burst out laughing. ‘Anyway,’ the general replied loudly, ‘the point was that he had expected us to come in the front, but I used that expectation to distract him while I affected entry elsewhere.’
‘You’re suggesting something similar here?’ Antonius frowned as Fronto chortled in the background.
‘I am. Let me run my idea past you all. I think you’ll like it.’
* * * * *
Cavarinos yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he rode across the hillside of the more southerly peak, which was dotted with scattered trees and yet nude in comparison with its northern companion, Vercingetorix and Vergasillaunus at his side and Lucterius and Sedullos close behind. Two of the Lemovices who had been left on watch atop the southern hill was waving over at them and pointing down the slope. The commanders of the rebel army trotted over to the scout and reined in, trying not to look east, where the early morning sun hovered just above the horizon with blinding golden light.
‘No need to ask what he saw,’ murmured Vergasillaunus as the five nobles peered down at the activity below. A train of supply carts was moving west along the valley floor from the Roman position, skirting the lowest reaches of this very hill. Roman regular cavalry moved among and around it in sizeable units, and Caesar’s allied Gallic cavalry were also in evidence, ranging across the lower slopes protectively.