The Eagles Prey

CHAPTER THREE

' don't think the beard suits you.' 'I Narcissus shrugged. 'It serves its purpose.'

'How was the journey?' General Plautius enquired politely.

'What? Aside from having to spend every night of the last month holed up in some flea-bitten inn. Aside from having to eat the indescribably awful slop that seems to be accepted as "food" amongst the poorer travelling classes. Aside from being hunted down by a gang of hired killers on your very doorstep…'

'Yes. Aside from all that,' the general smiled. 'How was the journey?'

'Quick.' Narcissus shrugged and took another sip of citron-scented water. The Imperial Secretary and the general were sitting under an awning that had been erected on top of a small knoll to one side of the sprawl of tents that made up army headquarters. A small marble-topped table squatted between their two chairs, and an ornate jug of the water and two glasses had been quietly set out by a slave by way of refreshment. Narcissus had shed his sweat-drenched riding clothes and sat in a light linen tunic. Perspiration pricked out of the skin of both men and the breathless air hung heavy as the late afternoon sun burned brilliantly in the clear sky.

Around them the camp stretched out on all sides. Narcissus, used to the smaller scale displays put on by the Praetorian Guard cohorts back in Rome, was impressed by the spectacle. Not that it was the first time he had seen the army of Britain massed for campaigning. He had been present when the four legions and the host of auxiliary units had crushed Caratacus a year earlier. There was something very comforting about the ordered lines of tents. Each one marked the presence of eight men, some of whom were drilling inside the camp. Others were busy grinding sharp edges on to the army's blades, or returning from foraging expeditions laden with baskets of grain, or driving farm animals they had seized from the lands nearby. It all smacked of order and the irresistible might of Rome. With such a huge, well-trained force taking the field it was hard to believe that anything might frustrate the Emperor's aim of adding this land and its tribes to the inventory of empire.

That thought was very much to the fore in Narcissus' mind, and was the reason why he had been sent in secret from the palace to this far-flung camp on the north bank of the river Tamesis.

'How long will you be staying with us?' asked the general.

'How long?' Narcissus looked amused. 'You haven't yet asked why I'm here.'

'I imagine it has something to do with enquiring about the progress of the campaign.'

'Partly that,' Narcissus admitted. 'So how are things going, General?'

'You should know well enough – you must read the dispatches I send back to the palace.'

'Ah, yes. Very informative and very detailed. You have a fine style, if I may say so. Somewhat reminiscent of Caesar's commentaries. Must be heady stuff, commanding so large an army…'

Plautius had known Narcissus long enough to become immune to the ingratiating flattery that was the Greek's stock in trade. He was also sufficiently familiar with the nuances of palace officials to recognise the threat implied in the Imperial Secretary's last remark.

'I am, of course, flattered by the comparison with the divine Julius. But I harbour none of his thirst for power.'

Narcissus smiled.'Come now, General, surely a man in your position with such a large army at his disposal must have developed some small taste for ambition. Such a taste would not be unexpected or, indeed, unwelcome. Rome values ambition in its generals.'

'Rome might. I doubt the Emperor does.'

'Rome and the Emperor are as one,' Narcissus said mildly. 'Some people might regard it as faintly seditious to suggest anything else.'

'Seditious?' Plautius raised an eyebrow. 'You're not serious. Have things got that bad in Rome?'

Narcissus took another, long, sip. He watched the general closely over the rim of the glass before he set it down. 'The situation is worse than you can imagine, Plautius. How long is it since you were last in Rome?'

'Four years. And I haven't missed it a bit. Mind you, that was when Gaius Caligula was in the saddle. I've heard that Claudius is a much better proposition. I'm told things have got a lot better.'

Narcissus nodded.'Better for most, I'll agree. Trouble is, the Emperor is tending to become over-reliant on the wrong sort of people.'

'Present company excepted, I assume.'

'Of course.' Narcissus frowned. 'And that's not even remotely funny, by the way. I have served the Emperor as loyally as any man. You might say I have dedicated myself to ensuring his success.'

'I understand, from my friends in Rome, that your finances have prospered quite remarkably in recent years…'

'So? Is it wrong for a man to be rewarded for his loyal service? But I'm not here to discuss my private finances.'

'Evidently not.'

'And I'll thank your friends to think long and hard before they make such remarks again. That kind of talk has a way of rebounding on loose tongues, if you take my meaning… my warning.'

'I'll let them know.'

'Good. Now then, as I was saying, the Emperor's judgement has become misplaced in recent months. Especially since he slapped eyes, amongst other organs, on that little tart Messalina.'

'I've heard of her.'

'You should see her,' smiled Narcissus. 'Really you should. I've never known anyone quite like her. The moment she enters the room and makes those bloody eyes at men, they flop at her feet like puppies. Makes me sick. And Claudius is not so old that his head can't be turned by youth and beauty. Oh, and she's a smart one too. Jupiter knows how many lovers she is bedding, right there in the imperial palace, but as far as Claudius is concerned she is besotted with him and can do no wrong.'

'And is she doing wrong?'

'I'm not sure. Not intentionally, perhaps. Of course, the scandalous way Messalina is carrying on is damaging the Emperor's reputation and making him look like a fool. As to whether she has any more sinister designs… I have no proof as yet. Just suspicions. Then there's those bastards, the Liberators.'

'I thought you'd settled their account last year.'

'We bagged most of them following that mutiny in Gesoriacum. But there were still enough of them around to organise some arms shipments to the Britons last summer. My agents have picked up hints that they're planning something big. But they're powerless as long as the Praetorian Guard and the legions stay on side.'

'So you needed to assess my loyalty?' Plautius watched Narcissus closely.

'Why else do you think I'm here? Why else would I come so discreetly?'

'Won't you be missed?'

'Clearly someone's got wind of my mission. Just hope that the news doesn't get any wider circulation. The palace have put out word that I'm down in Capri, recovering from an illness. I hope to be back in Rome before any word of my presence here leaks out from any of the other side's spies on your staff.'

'Enemy spies on my staff?' Plautius affected a look of indignation. 'Whatever next? Imperial spies?'

'Your irony is duly noted, Plautius. But you should not resent my men. Their presence here is as much to do with your protection as it is to do with gathering intelligence on those who might pose a threat to the Emperor.'

'Who do I need to be protected against?'

Narcissus smiled. 'Why, yourself, my dear Plautius. Their presence will act as a reminder that those in the palace get to see and hear everything. Tends to curb the tongues and ambitions of some of our less politically acute commanders.'

'And you think I need discouraging?'

'I'm not sure.' Narcissus stroked his beard. 'Do you?'

The two men stared at each other in silence for a moment, before General Plautius let his gaze fall back to the glass he was turning round and round in his fingers. Narcissus laughed lightly.

'I thought not. Which leads me on to my next query. If you are not disloyal to the Emperor then why are you doing so much to undermine his cause?'

The general put his empty glass back on the table with a sharp rap and folded his arms. 'I don't know what you mean.'

'Let me put it another way, then; a less culpable form of words. Why are you doing so little to further his cause? As far as I can see, your army has done hardly more than consolidate the gains of last year. The only advances have been made in the south-west by Legate Vespasian and his Second Legion. You still haven't brought Caratacus to battle, despite having superior forces, and despite having half the tribes of this benighted land come over to us as allies. I can hardly think of any more propitious circumstances for pushing forward, defeating the enemy and ending this costly campaign.'

'So it's the cost you take exception to, then?' General Plautius sneered. 'There are some things in this world that don't have a price.'

'Wrong!' Narcissus snapped back before the patrician could launch into any high-flown rhetoric about Rome's manifest destiny and the need for each generation to extend the limits of the Empire's glory. 'There is nothing in this world that doesn't have a price. Nothing! Sometimes the price is paid in gold. Sometimes in blood, but it is always paid. The Emperor needs victory in Britain to make his position safe. That will cost Rome the lives of many thousands of its finest troops. That's regrettable. But we can rectify that. There will always be more men. What we can't afford to do is lose one more emperor. The murder of Caligula nearly brought the Empire to its knees. If Claudius' claim to the title hadn't been seized on by the Praetorian Guard we'd have had another civil war – power-mad generals tearing the legions to pieces in their pursuit of glory. In a short time the Empire would have become nothing more than a closed chapter in the histories of fallen powers. What sane man would wish that on the world?'

'Very nice. Very elegantly put,' said Plautius.'But what's this got to do with me?'

Narcissus sighed patiently. 'Your slow progress is costing us dearly. It's costing the Emperor a loss of reputation. It's nearly a year now since he had a triumph to celebrate victory in Britain. And still I receive requests for more troops. More weapons. More supplies.'

'We're just mopping up.'

'No. Mopping up is what you do after you've beaten the enemy. What you're doing is soaking up resources. This island is like a sponge. It's continually sucking in men, money and political capital. How much longer is this going to go on, my dear General?'

'As I said in my reports, we're making progress. Slowly but steadily. We're forcing Caratacus back mile by mile. Very soon he will have to turn and fight us.'

'How soon, General? Another month? Another year? Longer than that?'

'A matter of days, as it happens.'

'Days?' Narcissus looked doubtful. 'Please explain.'

'Gladly. Caratacus and his army are camped less than ten miles away.' Plautius gestured to the west. 'He knows we're here, and knows that we're expecting him to fall back when we advance, as he has done every time. However, when we next push forward it's his plan to cross the Tamesis at a series of fords not far from here, march round behind us and lay waste to all those tribes we've subdued south of the Tamesis. He might even try to steal a large enough advance on us to storm the supply base at Londinium. It's a sound enough plan.'

'Indeed. And how did you come to know of it?'

'One of his senior chiefs is an agent of mine.'

'Really? First I've heard of it.'

'Some information is too sensitive to commit to written reports,' Plautius said smugly. 'You never know into whose hands it might fall. May I continue?'

'Please.'

'What Caratacus doesn't know is that the Second Legion has been moved up from Calleva to cover the crossing. Caratacus will be caught between my army and the river. There will be nowhere to run this time. He'll have to turn and fight, and when he does he'll be crushed. Then, Narcissus, you and the Emperor will have your victory in Britain. All that will remain are a few malcontents in the mountainous country to the west and those savages up in Caledonia. It may not be worth bringing them under our control, in which case some kind of barrier defence will be needed to keep them out of the province.'

'Barrier? What kind of barrier?'

'A ditch, a wall, maybe a canal.'

'Sounds horribly expensive.'

'Rebellion is more expensive. Anyway, that's work for the future. For now, we must concentrate our efforts on defeating Caratacus and breaking the tribes' will to resist. I trust you will want to be there to witness the battle?'

'Very much so. I'll look forward to it. Almost as much as I look forward to relating the event to the Emperor himself. You'll do well out of this, Plautius. We all will.'

'Then may I propose a toast?' Plautius refilled both their glasses and raised his own. 'To the frustration of the Emperor's enemies, and a… crushing victory over the barbarians!'

'To victory!' Narcissus smiled, and emptied his glass.

05 The Eagles Prey