Legionary

Chapter 65

A fine rain whipped down on the minor wharf of Constantinople as Pavo shuffled humbly from the deck behind Felix, unloading crates under the gaze of the urban guards. He glanced up at the shiny cobbles and the algae and weed coated dock walls, all illuminated grudgingly by a single filthy lantern swinging in the spray. The place was dead; so different from the daytime when you would barely be able to move for cheeky traders and vendors. But the eastern horizon behind was now bursting into an orange splendour — they had to shake off this leech-like captain and his men before the daily chaos ensued again. The high stone wall in front of them had stairs cut into them leading up to the city, and Pavo could just make out the intercisa peaks of a pair of guard’s helmets at the top. They were obscured, but only just.

‘Get a move on,’ the captain of the urban guards growled. ‘And make sure you leave out enough furs for another piece for each of us. But I want three pieces.’

Pavo felt his heart skip a beat. They had successfully bluffed their way past the boarding and inspection, but they had clearly been brought to this dark corner of the city to be robbed of everything they had.

Pavo heaved at the next of the empty crates on the deck.

‘What in Hades do we do next?’ Sura hissed under his breath, picking up the other crate. ‘We’ve got nothing else to give them!’

‘Hold on, we can stall them,’ Pavo whispered, then turned back to Felix. ‘The small stock of sample furs we have will come out last,’ he offered. Felix turned to the urban captain and shrugged apologetically.

The captain jabbed a finger into his chest. ‘Just make sure they come out soon! We’ve got other business to attend to.’

The disguised crew shuffled uncertainly, darting glances to one another. Blank looks all round as they moved each of the empty crates with painstaking care and attention.

‘Am I going to have to slit one of your miserable throats to get you off your ship with my bounty?’ The captain hissed at Felix, hammering another finger into his chest.

‘Sir, I…’ Felix stuttered, rolling his eyes over their surroundings. ‘…I…oh sod this!’ He barked, bringing the hilt of his sword up from under his cloak in a clean swipe, straight into the captain’s gut. The urban troopers leapt back in alarm as their leader spluttered a mouthful of bile onto the cobbles. Before he could regain his senses, Felix spun round to his men.

‘Take ‘em out! They haven’t drawn a sword in anger in their lives,’ he hissed, wary of the presence of the guards above them. ‘Didn’t mind bullying a handful of manky traders did you? Well you picked the wrong ones!’

The legionaries dropped their cloaks to reveal their sword belts and clamped onto the urban troops like wolves, dropping them swiftly with a series of headbutts, sword flats across the neck and solid punches. Pavo smashed his elbow up and into the chin of his opponent, who collapsed like a bag of wet sand. As he turned, there was only XI Claudia and I Dacia left standing. But someone was missing. Felix.

‘Argh! Bloody…’ The optio lay on the ground, clutching at his grotesquely dangling shin. The lower half of his leg was bent like a twig, with a shard of pure white bone pushing at the skin behind the wound. ‘The bugger got me,’ he cast an accusing finger at the prone guard captain.

‘What do we do now?’ Sura gasped. The I Dacia contingent looked to Spurius, while Sura and Pavo looked to Felix. A murmur grew into a rabble.

‘Shut it, you idiots! Keep it down or we’re dead meat,’ Felix snarled through his pain. ‘Here’s what’s going to happen; Pavo, you’re in charge!’

‘Him?’ one of the I Dacia legionaries beside Spurius spat. Spurius shot him a cold glare.

‘You’ll address him as sir from now on or you’ll be flogged, you fat turd!’ Felix growled. The legionary dropped his gaze to his boots.

‘What about me?’ Sura moaned.

‘You’re bloody mental, son. Pavo is slightly less likely to get us all killed than you are,’ Felix hissed.

‘Sir?’ Pavo felt his mouth shrivel like parchment as all eyes fell on him.

‘Just listen! I’m knackered, so you’ll have to take the men through the city, and keep your heads down. Get to the emperor, Pavo, I don’t care how you do it. But deal with that swine first!’

Pavo followed the optio’s gaze to the crouching, gagging figure of the urban captain, and then glanced up at the guards high above at the top of the steps. They had not heard anything from the scuffle. He took a deep breath, glanced around the group gathered around him — catching the eye of each one, just as Gallus would do. Then he tipped the end of his sword down to tilt up the captain’s head. He stared into the panic-filled pupils of the man, before ramming his foot square into his face, sending him crumpling backwards into deep unconsciousness. ‘Right, he’s out of the picture for some time!’ He whispered. ‘But we can’t have them wake up and raise the alarm.’

‘What do we do with them then, sir? Are we going to kill them?’ One of the legionaries asked Pavo in a hushed tone.

Pavo looked to Felix. Felix nodded to the ship.

Pavo turned back to the legionary. ‘As much as I’d love to, no. I think we should send them for a little voyage. A ten should go back out to sea with Officer Felix, splint his leg and keep this lot bound and gagged — and sail as far away from imperial shipping lanes as possible.’

Nobody stepped forward. Pavo looked to Spurius, whom the I Dacia legionaries gathered around. Spurius nodded nudged ten forward. ‘Move it, we’ve got business to attend to here,’ he hissed.

Pavo gave a firm appreciative nod in return, and then addressed the ten. ‘Good. Now take her out and just circle for a few days. Keep them below deck and stay out as long as you can. Remember, a missing watch won’t go unnoticed for long, so expect patrols.’ He watched them shuffle around Felix, each waiting on the next to lift the optio. ‘Move it, you sods!’ He barked.

‘You tell ‘em Pavo,’ Felix cackled, and then stifled a howl as the ten hoisted him unceremoniously from the cobbles.

Then a gruff voice uttered from behind him; ‘Pavo, you know I’m going my own way from here?’

Pavo turned to Spurius. His granite features remained in the usual grimace, but his fingers rattled on the top of his sword hilt. ‘Think that’s the least we owe you. Let’s divide the men down the middle, eh? Ten for you, ten for me — how’s about that?’

‘Steady on,’ Sura whispered at his shoulder.

‘Don’t worry, Sura,’ Spurius grumbled, ‘I know you need the muscle more than me — you scrawny runt.’

‘Right, that’s it!’ Sura lurched forward; Pavo threw up an arm just in time to catch him.

Spurius dropped his cold stare and let a chiselled, broken grin creep over his face. ‘I only need five men.’ He nodded to five who jogged over to him.

‘Was that his idea of a joke?’ Sura mumbled.

‘Take it easy, keep your cool,’ Pavo whispered back.

‘Be seeing you,’ Spurius grunted, offering a hand to Pavo.

The wind whipped up, cooling the sweat bathing Pavo’s sweat and saltwater soaked scalp. Dawn pierced the sky at last and he took his old enemy’s hand. ‘Hope you get things sorted out,’ he nodded.

Spurius nodded in return, then turned and whirled his hand over his head, pointing two closed fingers to the shadows at the end of the wharf. In a dull rumble of hobnailed boots, they were gone.

‘You trust him? Because I don’t,’ Sura muttered.

‘He got us here. Whether I trust him or not doesn’t matter anymore, we’ve got too many other things to think about.’

‘Aye, we do. Don’t expect me to call you sir, by the way,’ Sura chirped.

Pavo shot him a grin and then turned to the remaining fifteen I Dacia legionaries. His skin burned at the thought of having to issue orders to them. He bit back the uncertainty, reassuring himself that they were all a good couple of years younger than him.

‘Right, this is the crux of it. We’re all in this together — we must save the legion, and in doing so you can save yourselves from execution, clear your names. And believe me, you’ll be heroes if you pull this one off — the empire is at stake here! We can’t have any more incidents like this one, so from now on we need caution and stealth all the way. You’re civilians from here on in, not soldiers, no matter what happens. Keep your daggers on you, but leave the spathas — anyone spots them and we’ll be rumbled.’

They all nodded and murmured in agreement, tossing their swords into one of the empty crates. Pavo felt his chest swell — they were listening to him, their eyes keen just as he had seen when men listened to officers.

‘The key is to get to the Imperial Palace. I don’t know how we’re going to get on once we get there, but let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. We’re already low in number, but I propose that we split into two groups. Sura, you take eight and I’ll take the other seven. Use your instinct and see what our options are. Keep a low profile but ask around — there’s got to be a way of getting in there. We should meet up at The Eagle, a shithole of an inn near the Hippodrome, a few hours before dusk tonight.’

‘Yes,’ Sura nodded, before adding begrudgingly; ‘…sir.’

‘Good. Let’s make this quick and we could be on our way to save our brothers before dawn,’ he said optimistically, then glanced at the I Dacia legionaries, ‘and remember, you lot could be heroes.’ The men gave a murmur of agreement.

Sura waved his half of the party on behind him and made his way along the dock wall in search of a safe place to ascend into the city streets in search of the emperor. Pavo looked up the opposite stretch of the dock and turned to his men.

‘Let’s go!’

Above the scene of the landing, the two guards looked down on the events, then glanced at each other nervously. One pulled the small purse from his belt, fingering the thick gold cross.

‘We accepted this, so we should tell the bishop.’

‘This stinks — but aye, let’s go.’

With a nod of agreement, they scuttled off into the streets.