Sword of Rome(124)

That evening Spurinna joined Valerius on the parapet and stared into the darkness. ‘Your men did well today. You should get some sleep.’

‘They’re up to something.’

Spurinna nodded. It was impossible to see anything, but like Valerius he could sense some great effort out there in the darkness. ‘They’ll have some new trick to torment us with in the morning. Even more important that you get some rest.’

But when the sun rose the camps were empty and the only movement on the battlefield was the flapping of wings as the crows fought over the bloating corpses of the dead.





XLIV


‘What will happen now?’ Domitia asked. The ‘to us’ was unspoken, but there just the same.

‘It depends what the Emperor decides.’ Valerius rode beside the covered wagon Spurinna had provided for his guest as they travelled from Placentia on the Via Aemilia to meet Otho’s advancing forces. It was the same road he and Serpentius had followed north on their journey six weeks earlier. Blue skies and spring sunshine had replaced the glowering clouds, but Valerius only had eyes for Domitia, who wore a blue cloak of fine cotton which set off her dark hair in a way that made the gulf between them seem all the wider. ‘He’ll furnish you with an escort back to Rome, while I …’ He shrugged. ‘He may give me a command, or he may not, but I’m a soldier and if there is a battle I will fight.’

‘So it is finished.’ It wasn’t a question and the pain was clear in her eyes.

‘Only if you want it be so.’ The words fell like stones into a void and each one proclaimed him a coward. His heart cried out to him to make her his; to send her back to stay with Olivia at the villa until he returned. But the Domitia Longina Corbulo who had stood with him on the parapet overlooking the battlefield, the Domitia who had not hidden her love for him, had been replaced by another woman. He had witnessed before how the bonds created by the shared hardship and racing blood of battle could be sapped by the realities and responsibilities of peace. If he wanted her, he must win her, but this Domitia was again her father’s daughter and that made his task more difficult. Duty was a Corbulo’s watchword and he doubted she would shame his memory by leaving her husband. There was another, equally complicating, factor. In what seemed like another lifetime Valerius had sworn an oath to protect her life and her honour. That oath now stuck in his throat, but it had been made to a man who had died for honour and duty and it was an oath he couldn’t break, even for Domitia.

With a last look of frustrated hurt she stared ahead and they continued the journey in silence.

Two days earlier, while the dead were still being cleared from Placentia’s ditch, Spurinna had summoned Valerius while he questioned the commander of a patrol that had just returned from harassing the retreating Vitellians.

‘Caecina is licking his wounds back at Cremona.’ The general didn’t hide his exultation. ‘He will be vulnerable until Valens can reach him. I have had word that the Emperor is on the way to Brixellum and I would ask you to ride there and tell him that I advise an early attack while the traitor’s men are still demoralized by their failure here.’ From somewhere close by came the sound of female laughter and Valerius could smell the scent of cooking meat from the kitchens. Spurinna hesitated as if he were mulling a decision, then nodded as he made it. ‘The lady Domitia will accompany you – I am sure he will see that she is safely taken south. I will give you a squadron of cavalry as escort. Oh, and he will need every man he can get, so I will send him five centuries of the First Adiutrix as soon as I’ve cleaned up this mess.’

Brixellum was a hard day’s ride from Placentia, but Vitellian cavalry patrols still plagued the road and it was late afternoon on the second day by the time they arrived at the settlement thirty miles south-east of Cremona. The town had been heavily fortified and six cohorts of the Praetorian Guard were encamped on the outskirts, but when Valerius asked for the Emperor he was told Otho had already ridden north to link up with his main force. The officer who gave him the news said there were rumours of a great victory near Cremona the previous day and Valerius wondered aloud if the war was already won.

The man’s mood changed. ‘No, there will be fighting yet. They say the armies of Vitellius have combined, and the false Emperor is on his way with reinforcements drawn from the legions of Britannia.’

‘I should send you south with Serpentius.’ Valerius despised himself for the emotionless formality in his voice. Domitia responded with a shake of the head and a smile marked with weary resignation.