Marius' Mules II: The Belgae (13 page)

“
They should already be encamped maybe ten miles from the edge
of Remi territory in the lands of the Parisii, just north of
Lutetia.”

Fronto
frowned.

“
And if there isn’t another army out there? What’s Divitiacus
to do then?”

Caesar smiled
an unpleasant smile.

“
Then he has orders to burn the enemy lands to a cinder until
there is. He’s got to attract their attention. We need to split the
enemy up and even the odds a little. Cracks widening,
remember?”

Fronto nodded
slowly.

“
I can see that, yes.”

In the privacy
of his own head, he added ‘but I wouldn’t approve of scorching the
land to attract their attention. One day we might need these
people.’

There was a
moment’s silence and then Caesar stretched.

“
I’ve been thinking about Paetus and I’ve decided what we
should do. I can’t be certain whether Clodius is the hub of all my
troubles, or merely a piece in the game of someone more dangerous.
Clodius is certainly disrupting things for myself and many of my
allies, but two things nag at me about it.”

Fronto raised
an eyebrow.

“
Firstly,” the general said quietly, “I wouldn’t have credited
him with enough intelligence to create a network of men, even in
provincial armies, stirring up trouble. Clodius always struck me as
a thug; a blunt tool. He’s ambitious, but I can’t believe he’s
clever enough to work out how to play men like Crassus, Pompey and
myself off to achieve his goals. That sounds to me like someone
else pulling his strings.”

Fronto nodded
slowly.

“
That would mean someone more powerful than Clodius
too.”

“
And richer,” added the general. “That’s the other thing.
Clodius isn’t from a great line like Crassus. His family were of
middling importance like mine and I had to borrow to the point of
bankruptcy to get where I am. So where does Clodius’ money come
from?”

Fronto
sighed.

“
So it looks like Clodius is himself being used.”

“
Yes. So we need to employ Paetus not for disinformation, but
to try and discern more about what’s happening in Rome. I can get a
good sense of what’s going on when I’m there, but I can only get to
Rome in the winter. For the summer, I have to be here. We need to
somehow flush Clodius’ patron, if he has one, out into the
open.”

Fronto
nodded.

“
So what do we know about Clodius that we can use?”

Caesar
sighed.

“
It’s not something I try to advertise, but the man seduced my
wife.”

Fronto
blinked.

“
He seduced Calpurnia?”

Caesar rolled
his eyes.

“
Gods, Fronto, no! My former wife, Pompeia. Don’t you pay any
attention to what goes on in Rome? Didn’t you even wonder why I
divorced her?”

In the privacy
of his own head, Fronto trotted through several very unkind
responses while deliberately keeping his expression blank.

“
I try not to pry, Caesar.”

He
frowned.

“
So the question is: did he do that to get to you, in which
case he was already conspiring against you years ago, or is what
he’s doing now is some sort of weird revenge?”

“
It was the reason for our divorce four years ago, as I said. I
divested myself of her, but actually helped Clodius avoid
prosecution to keep the scandal as detached from me as possible.”
Caesar frowned. “He can’t want revenge... I saved him from trial.
At the time I very much blamed Pompeia but, in retrospect, with
what has been happening this past year in Rome, I’m starting to
wonder whether perhaps it was all down to Clodius.”

Fronto tapped
his finger on the table.

“
Perhaps Pompeia is the key? She’s not remarried, has she?
Perhaps she’s still in league with the man? Or at least perhaps he
is interested in her? We need to know more before you decide what
to do. Could you ask her about him?”

Caesar laughed
a laugh with no humour.

“
Pompeia will not exchange a single word with me. I’m afraid I
was quite unkind when we parted. Besides, Calpurnia and I have only
been married two years. She may take exception if I communicate
with Pompeia.”

“
Hmm.” Fronto drew a deep breath, once again thanking Nemesis,
his patron Goddess, that he’d managed to remain blissfully single
for so long. “You need to find out more about Clodius. Pompeia
might have the information you seek, but won’t speak to you. I do
believe the answer’s staring you in the face, Caesar.”

A frown.

“
Paetus…” Fronto said, tapping his finger on the
table.

“
Paetus can send a message to Pompeia, imploring her to speak
to Clodius and intervene with the matter of his debt.”

Caesar
shrugged.

“
It’s very likely Pompeia has no connection at all with Clodius
now. If she does, she’ll certainly have no leverage.”

Fronto slapped
his hand flat on the table.

“
But you’ll know. You’ll know whether any of this involves
Pompeia.”

Another
unpleasant feral smile crossed the general’s face.

“
I think we can go one step better than that.”

Fronto raised
a suspicious eyebrow.

“
We can have Paetus send that message, but imploring her to
speak to Clodius’ patron and intervene instead! We can discover in
one move what connections the man has.”

Fronto nodded,
but his frown deepened.

“
That’s true, but I have to point out, given what I’ve heard
about Clodius, the amount of danger that will put Pompeia
in.”

“
Yes, yes,” Caesar said dismissively, waving an arm, “but think
of what we could learn. Go and find Paetus. Speak to him
about…”

His voice
tailed off as there was a knock at the doorframe.

“
Yes?”

The duty guard
centurion stepped inside and saluted.

“
Apologies for interrupting, Caesar, but some of our scouts
have just returned at high speed.”

Fronto turned,
interested.

“
They report a large force of Belgae moving south through the
lands of the Nervii towards us.”

Caesar
smiled.

“
Sounds like it’s time to move, Fronto. Time to put away all
this intrigue and deal with plain old war. We’ll speak to Paetus
later.”

He turned back
to the centurion.

“
Sound the general muster. I want officers to me and all the
legions to begin decamping. And send me three riders.”

He stood and
squared his shoulders.

“
Time to get the Aedui advancing too.”

Fronto smiled
with relief. Thank the Gods for that. His head was getting tied up
in all this political crap. The more he delved, the more he
remembered why he stayed away from Rome. Life was so much more
simple when it came down to just putting the boot into a few
barbarians.

Chapter 5

(By the Aisne
river, around fifteen miles from Durocorteron)

“
Groma: the chief surveying instrument of a Roman military
engineer, used for marking out straight lines and calculating
angles.”

Fronto strode
forward to the command party. Caesar and half a dozen of his staff
officers were standing at the head of the halted column, gazing
down the slope and across the river to the far bank. Here, the
grassy hill dipped down to a small copse by the water. The river
was perhaps thirty or forty feet across and deep by the look of it.
On the other side, a little off to the side a small hillock rose
with an impressive command of the valley.

Caesar
smiled.

“
We cannot be more than ten miles at most from the Belgae here
and, given their numbers, I want a well protected position to work
from.”

There were
nods of assent around him.

“
Clearly that’s the place for the camp” said Labienus, pointing
at the hill opposite.”

Fronto cleared
his throat.

“
Absolutely. But you’re going to have to leave a force on this
side too.”

The officers
all turned to look at him.

“
Why?” enquired the general, his brow knitted.

“
Well if we’re going to spend more than a day or so here, then
you can’t rely on rafts for crossing. You’re going to have to build
a bridge. The supply line to feed an army this size is just too big
and busy to rely on boats. The engineers can have a solid bridge
here by nightfall. I’d suggest directly below the camp for
protection. And then, because you can’t leave such a vital crossing
unguarded, you’re going to have to put some sort of garrison at
this end.”

He
shrugged.

“
Unless you’re intending to move on in the morning, of
course.”

Caesar
smiled.

“
There are times I’m extremely grateful for your pragmatism,
Fronto. Good thinking.”

He turned back
to the other officers, who were all nodding their approval.

“
Sabinus? Take one cohort from each legion and start
constructing a camp on this side of the river.”

Turning once
more to Fronto, he frowned.

“
Who’s that tribune in the Tenth? You remember? The one who
fortified Geneva for us?”

Fronto
smiled.

“
Tetricus, Caesar.”

“
He’s a good engineer, yes?”

Fronto
nodded.

“
Probably the best in the army, general, yes.”

“
Good. I shall take the rest of the legions across and start
the construction of the fortress. Get Tetricus to gather whoever he
needs and set him to building the bridge. There should be plenty of
timber for him here in this copse.”

Fronto shook
his head.

“
With respect, Caesar, you want Tetricus with you constructing
the camp. If we end up fighting off a few million barbarians, I’d
like Tetricus’ talents behind the defences. He’s a tactical
engineering genius.”

He gestured at
the river.

“
Pomponius is my chief engineer. He’s the man who built that
impressive bridge overnight last year when we were chasing the
Helvetii. He’s the one you want for this.”

Caesar waved
an arm dismissively.

“
Whatever you think, Fronto. Just get me my bridge.”

Fronto nodded
and turned to head back to the Tenth.

Tetricus was
with the other tribunes at the head of the legion, chatting to
Priscus, who wore his usual disgruntled look. The officers all
turned as their legate approached.

“
Tetricus? I need you to go see Caesar. He’s building a camp
for the entire army on that bluff across the river. I want you to
make sure he does it well enough to withstand an attack by the
Belgae.”

Tetricus
nodded and squinted across the river.

“
The location’s a good start. But we’ll want at least a triple
ditch.”

Fronto patted
him on the shoulder as he stood marking out lines in the air with
his fingers and muttering under his breath.

“
That’s the sort of thing, yes. Go on.”

Tetricus
looked up as though he’d forgotten momentarily where he was.

“
Mmph? Oh yes.”

He turned to
the nearest group of soldiers, the legionaries of the First Cohort,
standing at attention behind Priscus.

“
You!” he pointed at a random legionary. “Find a groma and
follow me.”

Fronto smiled.
Engineers were all the same; they drifted along in a daze until you
prodded them and gave them a project, and then nothing short of an
earthquake would distract them. His smile widened as he turned and
wandered down the line of men.

“
Pomponius?” He called out as he reached the Third
Cohort.

One of the
centurions, a young, fresh faced man, stepped out of the column and
saluted.

“
Sir?”

“
How’d you like a task?”

“
A fun one, sir?”

Fronto let out
a light laugh.

“
Only an engineer would get to the end of a long march and look
forward to building something!”

“
With respect, sir, marching doesn’t exactly tax the brain. I
like to keep mentally limber too.”

Another
laugh.

“
Good. Get your kit together and get down to the waterline.
Caesar wants a bridge wide enough and strong enough to carry the
entire supply column built below that hill. You can draw what men
you need from any of the legions.”

Pomponius
shrugged.

“
Got everyone we need in the Tenth, sir. Happier if we keep
this party in our own house, eh?”

Fronto shook
his head in amusement.

“
You engineers are weird, you know that?”

Leaving the
centurion, he strode back to the head of the column to find Priscus
tapping his foot impatiently.

“
Gnaeus, we’ll be moving out any minute now. Pomponius is
taking whatever he needs to build a bridge and Sabinus will be back
in a minute to second a cohort. I’ll leave which one up to you. Oh,
and Tetricus will require quite a few men to help with constructing
a fort. Once they’ve separated off, take the rest of the legion
with the others across the river and get into a defensive position.
It’s going to be dark before all this is done and I don’t want any
nasty Belgic surprises in the meantime.”