Legionary

Chapter 38

A stinging, torrential rain battered the fleet. Towering waves strove to raise each of the creaking hulks towards the sky and meet the full force of the storm. Then, an inevitable collapse back into the dark-blue abyss followed each of the ascensions. On board the Aquila, the crew lay scattered across the decks like twigs in a rainstorm, desperately clinging onto frayed rigging, shattered decking and crumbling masts. The storm had come from nowhere; one minute the sun baked their skins as the remiges rowed, the next, the sky had blackened and the fury of Poseidon was upon them.

Grasping a piece of worn rigging, Gallus blinked the frozen water from his eyes, willing his numb fingers to manipulate the loose end of the rope into a hoop. He staggered his attempts to save himself with barking orders to the flailing men on the deck. Every time the ship dropped into the trough of a titanic wave, he grasped the rope, praying that the other end was fastened securely enough, steeling himself against the screams of the less fortunate. Finally, the rope slipped into a loose knot. He braced himself as he waited for the next crashing impact, eyes shut tight, when a hand clamped itself around his ankle.

‘Sir!’ A desperate voice gasped.

Gallus blinked at the exhausted figure of Felix. ‘Felix, thank Jupiter!’ He roared above the noise, throwing down the remaining rope to his optio and grasping his wrist. ‘Brace yourself…’

Again, a wall of salty, perishing water collapsed down on top of them for long enough to once again make them doubt whether their ship had went under or capsized — at least two other ships of the fleet had done exactly that.

Gallus coughed as the swell tumbled from the decks. ‘Felix, what have you got for me?’

Felix spluttered, shivering violently. ‘Sir, we only caught broken signals from the rest of the fleet in front before the storm hit us.’ He stopped to retch, before lashing himself to the mast as Gallus had done. ‘I don’t know any more than anyone else — but it doesn’t look good,’ he chattered, nodding to the upturned hull nearby. ‘We’re being torn to pieces out here, sir.’

Gallus grimaced. ‘Damn the senate, Felix, damn them!’

‘They ordered us to set to sea yesterday?’ Felix roared.

‘All wrapped up in that deal between the dux, that fat cretin Tarquitius, the emperor and the Goths.’

Felix spluttered in incredulity. ‘What in Hades does the senate know about navigating the Pontus Euxinus. Bloody idiots!’ He raised his fists to the pitch-black sky as the next wave crashed down on them.

Gallus coughed. ‘Whatever happens, just make sure we don’t lose sight of the main body of the fleet!’