man Labienus spoke his mind. “Even if I ask the men to be loose with their definitions of attractive, strong and appealing, I’ll still hand Felix more than ten thousand Helvetians. You gave him that many after Suconna River. None were left alive a week later.”
“What he does with them is his decision.”
“They may be barbarians, Julius, but so many—”
Labienus was halted by a look. “Felix is working for me,” said Caesar, “for the benefit of all Romans and the Empire. He is to be afforded a free hand.”
“Indeed, Julius, but the men are talking. There is much murmuring about Felix’s mysterious activities, and the strange legionaries who do his bidding. A good many are claiming that Felix is using dark magic to create monsters.”
“Oh, for the love of Jupiter, can’t the centurions drum their bucolic superstition out of them?”
It was Labienus’ turn to give Caesar a look. “Sir, we both know that their fears aren’t entirely superstition, bucolic or otherwise. I’m certain that you allow Felix’s activities because they benefit Rome, but perhaps we should keep his business and his people away from the men?”
“All right, all right,” Caesar shook his head. “Give the prisoners to Felix. I will tell him to keep his activities out of sight and out of mind. And you, Labienus, will find these agents who persuaded Publius Considius to lie to me.”
Labienus coloured. “Of course.”
“I cannot understand why you sent only one messenger from the hill. If it weren’t for yesterday’s victory I’d be taking a dimmer view of your failure. I might have become very cross, if you get my drift.”
“I followed standard procedure. Crucifixion would hardly be—”
“No, no, you’re right. But don’t let standard procedure get in the way of common sense again. You may go. Ragnall?”
Labienus left and Ragnall Sheeplord, sitting at the scribes’ bench where he’d been pretending not to listen to the conversation, looked up from his scroll. “Sir?”
“Follow me, with the usual.” Caesar swept from the large tent without a backward glance. Ragnall grabbed the bag containing the bedroll and standard legionary’s morning rations and ran outside after the general.
It was coming to the end of the fourth night watch, shortly before dawn. In the peaceful air he could hear the screams of Publius Considius from the far side of the camp. Ragnall had never seen Caesar more angry than when he’d found out that Titus Labienus had been in position above the Helvetians and that Considius had lied to him. They’d caught the hapless Considius trying to escape on a donkey, dressed as a woman. It wasn’t a clever disguise in an army entirely comprised of men. The dissembling messenger had been keeping Caesar’s torturers busy ever since.
Caesar paid the noise no heed, striding away so purposefully that Ragnall had to half run to keep up. Approaching his forty-second birthday, the general’s hairline was in full retreat, but his wiry, fat-free frame quivered with apparently limitless energy. Ragnall wasn’t sure whether the man’s vivacity was the cause of his desire to be the greatest general in history, or caused by it. Whatever it was, Caesar was obsessed with military achievement. He was incensed that Alexander the Great had conquered the world by the age of thirty, yet his own significant martial successes to date had only numbered a few minor battles in Spain. He had much catching up to do.
Much, perhaps even most, of Caesar’s energy was directed towards conquering Britain. The conquest of Gaul would be a stepping stone towards this. That was the initial reason he’d brought Ragnall on to his staff. Now, Ragnall liked to think that Caesar saw him as a son. That might have been pushing it a bit, but he was certainly one of the great man’s favourites and privy to a good deal that the rest of the staff were not. This did not include why Caesar was obsessed with Britain; Ragnall guessed it was simply because it hadn’t been conquered before, by Alexander, Darius or any of the greats. Then again, they hadn’t conquered Gaul either. But Gaul was well known to the Romans. Although many Roman merchants sailed there regularly, and Rome contained plenty of British slaves, many Romans still thought of Britain as a romantic, semi-mythical place. Perhaps that was why Caesar wanted it so badly? There were plenty of resources in Britain, to be sure, and sometimes Ragnall thought Caesar must have been after these, but there were plenty of resources on the more convenient side