"It's done," said Venator, his voice solemn, his face weary. "The wisdom of the ages is safe."
Severus came and stood beside him. "A pity the same can't be said for us."
Venator turned. "If God grants us a smooth voyage home, what have we to fear?"
"Torture and execution," said Severus flatly. "We have defied the Emperor. Theodosius does not forgive easily. There will be no place for us to hide in the Empire. Better we find refuge in a foreign land."
"My wife and daughter . . . they were to meet me at our family villa at Antioch."
"The Emperor's agents have probably intercepted them by now. They are either dead or sold into slavery."
Venator shook his head disbelievingly. "I have friends in power who will protect them until my return."
"Friends can be threatened and bought."
Venator's eyes widened in sudden defiance. "No sacrifice is too heavy for what we have achieved. All would be for nothing if we did not return with a record and chart of the voyage. "
Severus was about to reply when he observed his second in command, Artofius Noricus, running up the slight grade toward the tent. The young legionary's dark face glistened in the noonday heat, and he was gesturing up at the edge of the low cliffs.
Venator held up a hand to ward off the sun and stared upward. His mouth pressed into a tight line.
"The barbarians, Severus. They have come to pay back the sack of their village."
It was as if the hills swarmed with ants. Over a thousand barbarian men and women stared down at the cruel intruders of their land. They were armed with bows and arrows, shields of leather hide and spears with chipped obsidian points. Some gripped clubs of rock tied to short wooden handles. The men wore only waistcloths.
They stood in stony silence, expressionless, savage, and as ominous as an approaching storm.
"Another force of barbarians has massed between us and our ships!"
Noricus shouted.
Venator turned, his face ashen. "This is the result of your stupidity, Severus." His voice was vicious with anger. "You have killed us all."
Then he dropped to his knees and began to pray.
"Your divinity will not Turn the barbarians into sheep, old man,"
Severus said sarcastically. "Only the sword can provide deliverance."
He turned and took Noricus by the arm and began issuing commands. "Order the bugler to sound battle assembly. Tell Latinius Macer to arm the slaves. Form the men in a tight fighting square. We'll march in formation to the river."
"Bugler!"
Noricus threw a taut salute and ran for the center of the camp.
The infantry unit of sixty soldiers quickly formed in a hollow square.
The Syrian archers took their place on the flanks between the armed slaves, facing outward, while the Romans formed on front and rear.
Screened in the center were Venator and his small staff of Egyptian and Greek aides and a three man medical unit.
The main infantry weapons of fourth-century Rome were the gladius, a double-edged pointed sword eighty-two centimeters long, and the pilum, a two-meter throwing and thrusting spear. for protection and armor, the soldiers wore an iron helmet with hinged cheek pieces that tied under the chin with a strap and looked like a jockey cap with the brim turned backward, a cuirass made up of overlapping metal plates encircling the body and covering the shoulders, and a guard worn over the shins called a greave-Their defensive tool was an oval shield made out of laminated wood.
Instead of rushing in to attack, the barbarians took their time and slowly encircled the column. At first they tried to draw the soldiers out of the solid lines by sending a few men up close who shouted strange words and made threatening gestures. But their heavily outnumbered foe did not panic and run as expected.
Centurion Severus was too much a veteran to feel fear. He stepped ahead of his front line and surveyed the terrain crawling with barbarians.
He waved derisively at them. This was not the first time he had faced overwhelming odds in a fight. Severus had volunteered for the legion when he was sixteen. He advanced from common soldier, winning several decorations for distinguished bravery in battles against the Goths along the Danube and the Franks at the Rhine. After his retirement, he had become a mercenary, hiring out to the highest bidder, in this case Junius Venator.