Sarum - Edward Rutherfurd [110]
Aflek stared at him in astonishment.
“I will fight at your side, Tosutigus,” he replied; for even if he had been sent as a spy, the elderly Druid was no coward.
But Tosutigus shook his head.
“If the Romans find you here, they will kill you,” he stated. “Besides, I don’t want you.”
Aflek gazed at him uncomprehendingly. And then the young man revealed the plan that he had been secretly forming for so long.
“I am going to surrender the dune,” he said. “I intend to join the Romans.”
It had been so easy. The four Roman legions had landed in Kent in the summer of A.D. 43, led by Aulus Plautius. They had marched rapidly through the south-east, routed the brother of the impudent chief Caractacus and a few days later smashed the little army of Caractacus himself. As soon as he heard that all was well, Claudius came over with his elephants and watched the submission of the fiery Catuvellauni a few miles north of the river Thames. Sixteen more of the island’s tribes, including the now weakened Atrebates, immediately sent messages of surrender; some because they thought they could get advantages over their neighbours, others because they knew the Roman legionaries would cut them to pieces. But other tribes did not surrender; and certainly not the proud Durotriges.
Claudius did not care. He had his military triumph, and he only stayed on the island for sixteen days.
“Clean up the rest of this country,” he told Aulus Plautius, who was appointed the first governor of this new island province of Britannia. Then he returned to Rome and, as he had always wanted, the senate voted him a triumph.
“We must strike north and west,” Aulus decided. “The II Legion shall reduce the hillforts in the south-west.” He considered the commanders at his disposal. “Vespasian shall lead the expedition,” he added. “I can trust him to do it well.”
Vespasian was everything a Roman commander should be: already a veteran of several campaigns he had a hard, blunt, but handsome face that inspired respect in his men and admiration in women; he was intelligent, cool, ambitious, and ruthless. He was also young. His remarkable qualities were one day to bring him to the throne itself: and he certainly did not intend to allow the islanders and their Celtic warriors to stand in his way. The following spring the young legate led the II Legion swiftly along the southern coast.
The first of the Durotrigan forts that he encountered was not impressive: it was a long, low hill beside a sheltered harbour, and around the hill and its headland had been thrown a pair of walls twenty feet high and ending with a mound at the harbour’s edge. In the centre of the wall was a large wooden gate, reinforced with heavy posts at each side, and studded with fearsome iron spikes. Had it not been for this gate and the walls, it was clear that nature had destined the shallow harbour to be a quiet and peaceful place, a settlement and a port, but never a fortress. The waters were calm and herons glided over them. But the defenders were confident that their walls would deter the invaders. The settlement inside the walls was similar to that at Sarum, except that there were two small wooden jetties by the water’s edge where several boats were moored, and a collection of small barns for storing merchandise. There was also a small round building with a hole in the roof which had a vital purpose in the life of the harbour: for here silver coins were minted for the king of the Durotriges which were of a sufficiently good quality to be accepted by the merchants from Gaul.
When the hard-faced young commander saw the defences, he shrugged with contempt. He knew what to do.
The Durotriges stood along the top of the walls. Their bright cloaks and golden ornaments made a dazzling display and as the Romans approached, they shouted challenges and shook their spears. One of the warriors waved a red flag, for red was the colour worn by the god of war; and several of the young men cried out:
“Send forward your bravest warriors, Romans, to fight us in single combat!” While others shouted: