Chapter 17

“Talogren, I need to speak with you,” she said, riding up to the chieftain and his advisors.

Although she’d left Ky’s lictore with him, Carus had asked to go with her. At first, she wanted to tell him to stay behind. Unlike a lot of the things she had been dealing with as Ky’s voice while he was gone, this was much closer to her area of expertise and what parts of it were unique were more areas for a Caledonian to advise her on than a Roman.

She’d finally relented since Carus had shown the rare ability to keep his mouth shut and let a woman take the lead in conversations, and because eventually, Ky would wake up and he’d appreciate having a spymaster with as much first-hand knowledge of the situation as possible.

“You will not talk me out of teaching your people manners,” he said, correctly predicting what she had come to see him about, if not the particulars.

“I only wanted to know what you planned to do, specifically. Since Ky is currently unavailable, I thought you could use some counsel on what kind of ripple effect you might have from whatever punishment you decided to hand out to these men.”

“What I have to do is make sure we make it clear to everyone that we are equal partners in this alliance, and I can’t help but think the advice of the Roman Emperor might not have the same goal of protecting Caledonian interests as I have.”

“I can see why you’d think that, and you of course don’t have to listen to anything I have to say, although I would point out that my father isn’t just the Emperor of Rome, but of our entire new Empire. I only hope that the men you’ve had reporting to you about me have also reported that I have tried very hard to ensure all Caledonians are treated as equals.”

“There is a difference between arguing for one of the people who volunteered to serve you getting equal treatment, and counseling on the proper treatment under Caledonian law for Roman criminals.”

“If that’s all you think I’ve done, then you haven’t listened to your spies very well after all. I agree these men are criminals and should be treated harshly, and I’ve ordered men’s executions before, which I think you’ve been told. My concern is writing off the hostages in the name of Caledonian reputation.”

He gave her an appraising glanced and, after a beat, said, “What would your counsel be on how to treat them.”

“It would be to not play directly into their hands. The actual people behind this crime aren’t going to be at the site of the mine itself. They would have had lackeys and factotums doing that. If you plan on just seizing them and taking their heads, you might be playing right into their hands.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are plenty of people in Rome who want this alliance to fail and think they can use that failure to increase their own power. They look down on the Caledonians and find the entire idea of treating you like equals to be appalling. I am not saying that they are doing this solely to provoke this kind of response from you, but it wouldn’t surprise me. It gives them a message they can take to the people who, if given time, might come over to think of you as real people and not caricatures.”

“What would their message be, exactly?”

“That you are primitives, who not only slaughter those you don’t agree with, but also write off your own children’s lives without trying to find a peaceful solution,” she said, and then held up a hand to forestall the obvious objection Talogren was drawing a breath to make. “I know that isn’t true; but we both know what is true, and what they can convince others of, is not the same thing. In time, as our people commingle, most Romans will get to know your people on a personal level and will know this is a lie, but that takes time. Till then, they can use unfamiliarity to paint you in whatever light they choose.”

“What do we care what you Romans think of us. They can believe whatever falsehoods they like, but when they see these men’s heads on pikes, all of your people will know without a doubt that we are not to be trifled with.”

“In the short term, yes, but it will make integration of our two peoples more difficult. I know you don’t see why that’s important, although I also know Ky has tried to convince you it is several times. Until Romans and Caledonians see each other as simply people of the Britannic Empire, we will never truly be one people. Yes, your people are great warriors and valued members of the alliance, but militarily, technologically, and economically, the Caledonians are the lesser of the two of us. I know that isn’t something you, as the leader of the Caledonians, would openly agree with, but I also know you’re smart enough to know it’s true. Merging our people won’t be an easy process and it will take more than either of our lifetimes for it to fully happen, but that process can’t start until both of us decide to see problems from either side and find solutions that work best for the Empire as a whole.”

“And what would that solution be?”

“I don’t know. It depends on what has been done on the ground and how much the people at the village are responsible and how much those who sent them there with orders to - in all but name - enslave your people. Beyond just making sure the children are returned safely, I want to make sure those ultimately responsible are punished just as much as those carrying out their orders are.”

She could see the chieftain weighing over her words, and didn’t envy him the position she’d put him in. Everything in his culture said the most important thing was to be independent, free from the constraints of others, which was why it had been so difficult to unify the north in the first place and why he’d only agreed to the alliance if the Caledonians maintained autonomy in their region. Now he was being asked to let a Roman decide how to best protect his people.

“Fine, but if I don’t find what you decide fair to my people, I will still carry out justice in my own way. You also only have five days, and then I will take care of matters myself. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Lucilla said, giving a slight bow of her head and pulling the reins of her horse, turning back towards the middle of the column where Ky’s wagon rode.

“What did he say,” Carus asked, riding up to meet her before she made it back to Ky’s wagon.

“He’s going to let me deal with it, although he made it clear he’ll do it his way if he doesn’t like my solution.”

“Do you know what you’re going to do?”

“Not yet. I need to see what exactly is going on and figure out the best way to get the children back safely. And for that, I’m going to need you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. I know that, although you are officially one of his guard commanders, your main duty is to handle the gathering and sifting of information for him, specifically about people and their activities in Rome and here. What I don’t know is what, exactly, you’ve been doing along those lines, which means I don’t know how to best use you to fix this current problem. You don’t have a problem working with me in the same capacity while Ky is recovering, do you?”

Although she’d asked the question straightforwardly, as if she didn’t particularly care what the answer was, inside she was metaphorically holding her breath. So far, her presence and even some authority over how to best move Ky had been accepted by his lictore, this was the first thing she’d asked of them outside of what would be her place as ... whatever she was.

“No,” he said, without hesitation. “Besides the partnership between the two of you that we’ve all seen, this was one of the situations that he was specifically worried about when the alliance was signed. He’d already had me building as many contacts as possible and getting what agents I could into Roman businesses already operating along the border, since they were the most likely ones to cross over first.”

“Do you have anyone inside this group?”

“Unfortunately, no. Until news of this popped up, I hadn’t heard of them. I’ve already sent a messenger to some of my contacts to see what they might know, but none of their names are familiar to me.”

“So, they weren’t on your list of people most likely to abuse the alliance?”

“No.”

“If these are unknowns, I’m concerned what the groups you were tracking are planning.”

“Most of them are planning nothing, because the Consul had me preemptively pull the reins on all of those we thought might be a problem. We let them know that we were watching them, and the full weight of Roman and Caledonian law would come down on them if they even stepped a toe out of line, and suggested they look elsewhere for their money-making opportunities. That doesn’t mean they won’t try something later, once they see how things shake up, but we had the praetorians make several visits to their residences and businesses, remaining as visible as possible, to help keep it in their minds.”

“I want you to find out who’s pulling the strings for this. I’ve dealt with these types of people before, and the ones behind it are rarely actually on the ground doing their own dirty work. I want to know what we’re dealing with before we get to the village.”

“Ma’am, it’s only a three-day ride to the village. I’m not sure I can get you what you need by then.”

“Ky has said multiple times how capable you are. I have faith you will prove him right.”

“But...”

“Although you should probably get started, if you’re going to make your deadline.”

Carus pursed his lips in frustration, nodded, and rode away from the line. She knew she was asking the impossible and pushing the man too hard, but she needed this to be a success. So far, she’d had a, more or less, passive role as Ky’s stand-in, and her primary move was to let people operate as they thought best, with only the occasional prod or redirection. This was the first real test of what she could do and this would be the thing that people would look to when deciding if she had the right capabilities for ruling.

Although her primary goal was to make sure the alliance held and protect the lives of these new citizens of the Empire, she also had to think of her legacy. There had never been a female emperor and with her brother defecting to the Carthaginians, she would one day have to take up her father’s mantle and she knew that it would be a hard transition for many Romans, and Caledonians. She would need a fairly untarnished record of success, and a fair number of them, to get over those fears.

She needed to not only succeed at this, but to do it quickly and spectacularly.

The Village of Mwynglawdd

The village of Mwynglawdd was similar to most of the other small villages in the north which Lucilla had seen since traveling across the border. A central wooden structure, probably used for gatherings, religious ceremonies, and other community events, surrounded by a mismatch of temporary hide tents and more permanent mud and thatch huts.

The biggest difference between Mwynglawdd and other villages she’d visited, even ones recently defeated by Talogren’s forces, was the people. Caledonian villages might be primitive, by Roman standards, but they were still full bustling places with people always on the go. Maybe it was because there were fewer services so everyone had to carry out every function for themselves or maybe it was just a figment of her imagination, but in every village visited, there were always people coming and going on some task.

Here, there were hardly any people on the muddy lanes between huts, and those she did see look downtrodden. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but they lacked that nobility of spirit that she had admired in the Caledonians she’d met.

“Ma’am,” Modius said from behind her, drawing her attention not towards the center of town, but the mountain looming over the village.

They’d noticed some buildings out in that direction, but had decided to head towards the village first, to see the situation there. While her attention had been diverted, a group of armed men had appeared from the buildings and were clearly headed to intercept them. Expecting trouble, Cynwrig and Modius had put together extra men, mostly made up of Picts who’d volunteered to help free the village. These men might have been a problem for her normal guard force, but she’d arrived with almost a hundred warriors under her command, well more than was needed to pacify the Romans currently lording over the Caledonians.