‘How far did you come down this way from the ladder before you reached open air?’
His whisper sounded hoarse, and the boy’s response was equally strained.
‘I don’t know, Centurion.’
They walked on, Marcus straining his eyes to the limits of the torch’s ruddy light, until when they had covered just less than three hundred paces he saw something poking up out of the rock floor. Squatting down, he turned and gestured to Arabus, who ghosted noiselessly to his side in the soft deerskin slippers he had donned at the tunnel’s entrance.
‘Scout forward and tell me what that is.’
The tracker was back quickly enough, his eyes glinting in the torchlight.
‘It is a ladder. It descends to a lower level, which is lit by small lamps. Better to leave the torches here, or risk being seen before we see?’
Marcus nodded. A swift discussion with Scaurus settled the matter — a pair of men would wait in the passage with the lit torches while the remainder of the party went forward to the ladder, each man holding an unlit brand. They found it just as the scout had described, the ladder apparently well maintained despite that level of the mine having fallen into disuse. Intriguingly, two long ropes were neatly coiled on the rock floor to either side of the ladder’s top-most rung, each with one end fed through a block and tackle. Both were tied to iron rings sunk into the passage wall. The tribune examined them closely by the light of a torch.
‘I’m no expert, but this looks like lifting gear to me. Lupus, were those ropes there the last time you came this way?’ The boy shook his head, and Scaurus exchanged meaningful glances with his officers. ‘Perhaps this way into the mine isn’t as disused as we might have imagined. Let’s continue onwards, shall we?’
Marcus was quick to be the first man to venture down the ladder, tucking an unlit torch into his belt and swinging his legs down onto the top most rungs. He climbed down with Lupus following, and found himself standing on another rock floor in the dim light of a pair of oil lamps.
‘Where now, lad?’
The child pondered for a moment, then pointed in the direction which by Marcus’s reckoning would take them deeper into the mountain.
‘I think that’s the way to the entrance.’
Waiting until the remaining eight men had reached the ladder’s bottom, Marcus led them off again, but had only covered thirty paces when the top of another ladder came into view.
‘What’s down there?’
Lupus stared down into the shaft.
‘At the bottom of that ladder there’s a big wheel that lifts water up to this level, to stop the mine filling up. There are men that turn it.’
The Roman turned back to Scaurus.
‘They may have information as to what’s happening in the valley. I’ll go down there and speak with them.’
He eased his body silently down the long climb, taking each rung slowly and patiently to avoid making any noise. At the bottom he paused for a moment before following a line of oil lamps towards the distant sound of running water, until he found himself at the corner of the passage where Lupus had told him that he and Mus had stopped to listen. Peering round the rock wall and into the cavern, he found a scene exactly as the boy had described it. A pair of men were rotating the waterwheel while two others rested off to one side, with no sign of anyone set to guard them. Marcus drew his gladius and stepped into the open space, standing still to avoid scaring the men into flight down one of the half-dozen passages that opened off the cavern. One of the resting men got to his feet and paced forward until he was close enough to see the Roman properly. He grunted and cast a meaningful stare at the sword, the look on his face telling Marcus very clearly that without its presence the situation would be very different.
‘Another soldier. But not it seems a German. Who are you, soldier?’
His voice lacked any edge of fear, and his stare was direct.
‘I am a centurion of the auxiliary cohorts that defended your valley from the Sarmatae.’
The miner nodded, his expression unchanged.
‘One of the men who left us to the tender mercies of these animals.’
Marcus tapped the blade of his gladius.
‘We have returned to deal with them.’
The other man raised a sceptical eyebrow.
‘You don’t have enough strength to retake the valley, or why sneak back into the Ravenstone this way, rather than smashing through the gate and putting this Wolf and his men to the sword?’
Marcus nodded, conceding the point.
‘We are the point of the spear, sent forward to seek a victory by stealth where a more forceful approach might fail. We hope to liberate the miners, and turn them upon the Germans.’
The man shook his head emphatically.
‘A week ago, perhaps, but now the men of the valley are penned in at night, crowded into a single mine’s barracks, which has been surrounded by a wooden wall to keep them contained while the soldiers entertain themselves with the valley’s women. Every barrack’s door and window is barred from the outside, and you will not free them without fighting your way through the Wolf’s entire strength. You have done well even to come this far without the aid of a man that knows the mine’s passages.’
Marcus shrugged.
‘We have a child with us who came this way once before, in the company of another boy who used to tend the mine’s lamps.’
‘Mus?’ The labourer stepped forward with a hopeful expression. ‘You have word of the child?’
Marcus tipped his head in question.
‘Surely you know his fate? He was hidden by your mistress Theodora, but he was discovered and killed by Gerwulf’s men.’
The muscles in the labourer’s arms corded as his fists clenched, the scarred knuckles white with the force of his anger.
‘If I had known that the child was dead then I would have left this infernal place of toil and gone to take my revenge on his murderer. .’ His fists opened and clenched again, and he stared up at the cavern’s roof, invisible in the gloom. ‘I am Karsas, from the same village as the boy. He was all I had left. .’ He mastered his emotions, shaking his head in frustration. ‘You saw the body?’
Marcus nodded sadly.
‘The woman carried his corpse to the parade ground on which we were preparing to depart.’
Karsas stood in silence for a moment, and then stepped closer, ignoring the Roman’s sword.
‘Take me with you. I will have revenge for the child before I die.’
The Roman stared at him for a moment before shaking his head.
‘We cannot take you down into the valley. This is work for men who have been trained to use the shadows, not for one man seeking revenge. But you can assist us.’
The two men reclimbed the ladder to where the raiding party were awaiting Marcus’s return, and after a brief discussion the miner led them confidently down the passage with a torch in his hand. After walking for several hundred paces down the tunnel’s gentle slope he stopped, squatting down on his haunches and pointing down the rock tunnel.
‘We have come four hundred and fifty paces. Another fifty will put you within sight of the mine’s entrance. There are men posted to guard the tunnel, but they usually doze for the most part, and leave one man to watch. I have considered killing them to make our escape — if only there was somewhere to run to in these barren mountains.’
Scaurus patted him on the shoulder.
‘Thank you, Karsas. And if there is revenge to be taken when this is done, I swear that you will have your part of it, if I can find a way. Will you care for the boy here until we return, and keep him from harm? Whether we succeed or fail in this venture, the valley will be no place for him this night.’