Читать книгу The Lost Knights - William Speir - Страница 12

117 A.D. – Elginhaugh

Present-Day Musselburgh, East Lothian

Near Edinburgh, Scotland

As the survivors of the Ninth Roman Legion settled into their exile in the Caledonian Territories, most were convinced that their expedition north had been an utter failure. Oddly enough, it had actually been a great, although costly, success.

After the Caledonian Tribes destroyed the nine Cohorts at the Legion’s base camp, the tribes met for one final war council before beginning the long trek south. Their plan had worked perfectly: the Romans sent soldiers north to investigate the destroyed forts, taking men away from the defense of the frontier. However, no one expected the Romans to send an entire Legion. The leaders of the united Caledonian Tribes were elated at their success, but they were troubled at the same time. Surely, the Romans knew that they were marching into a trap. Did they have so many men in Britannia that they could easily afford the loss of an entire Legion? Were there more Legions waiting for them across the frontier than they had first thought?

As the war council continued, the united tribes worried they were not yet strong enough to invade the Roman territories and drive the Legions out once and for all. In the end, they decided to wait and watch. The invasion was cancelled, and the tribes were sent home. In its destruction, the Ninth Legion prevented the invasion, saving the lives of thousands of Legionnaires and Roman citizens.

When Caesar Aelius Traianus Hadrianus, the Roman Emperor Hadrian, came to Britannia five years after the destruction of the Ninth Legion, no one anticipated that he’d recall all Roman garrisons from the Caledonian Territories and build a wall across the island to permanently separate the Caledonian territories from the Roman Provinces. Hadrian determined that it was too costly to continue attempting to subdue the tribes, and instead put the efforts of the Legions into protecting the southern provinces from invasion. No attempt was ever made to rescue or avenge the Legionnaires of the Ninth, and Rome never discovered the fate of so many of their finest soldiers.

In the years that followed, many historians would write about what they thought had happened to the Ninth Legion. Some said they were simply transferred to the northern European provinces and ended up in Syria and Judea, where they were eventually defeated and disbanded. Tacitus, the famous Roman historian, wrote of how the Legion was surprised because the guards were all drunk and sleeping while on watch, and that’s how the Caledonian Tribes defeated the Legion. This, of course, is ridiculous, as no Legionnaire would ever sleep while on watch in enemy territory. But with no one left to tell the truth about what happened, the Ninth Legion eventually became the subject of myth and legend.

It was some months before the Caledonians, who had only recently returned to the region after the invasion had been cancelled, noticed that the fort at Elginhaugh was occupied again. It was while deciding what to do about the people now living at the fort that a most fortunate circumstance happened to demonstrate the worth of the former Legionnaires to the tribes.

An expedition of raiders from northern Europe sailed to the mouth of the River Esk, and upon finding the bridge guarded by the fort at Elginhaugh, they decided to come ashore and see what plunder there was for the taking.

The Legionnaires, seeing the longboats pull up to the shoreline, immediately formed ranks and prepared to repel the raiders. The Legionnaires were armed with spears and swords, as well as shields and helmets retrieved from their hiding place underground. As the Legionnaires prepared for battle, they didn’t notice a group of Caledonian warriors approaching the fort from the opposite direction.

The Legionnaires stood their ground, waiting for the raiders to attack. The Caledonians, seeing the longboats and raiders moving toward the Legionnaires, stood back to watch. The raiders were unprepared for disciplined fighters this far north and didn’t realize how outmatched they were. The battle was short, and by the end, none of the raiders had survived. There were no injuries among the Legionnaires at all.

Several of the Legionnaires disposed of the dead bodies, while others were sent to the shoreline to retrieve the long boats and see what could be salvaged and used to improve the living quarters within the fort. It was even suggested that the boats themselves could be flipped to make excellent roofs for the shelters.

The Caledonian warriors were impressed with the Legionnaires’ performance against the raiders. Many of them wished that they could take on a raiding force while suffering no injuries. The leader of the warriors decided that they wouldn’t attack the fort. He was curious about the new inhabitants and decided instead to approach the fort more cautiously, seeing that Legionnaires were excellent warriors themselves.

Titus Aurelius was the first to notice the Caledonian warriors approaching and raised the alarm. The Legionnaires formed ranks, but Gaius Valerius stopped them and ordered everyone to lower their weapons and remain still. He ordered the Legionnaire who spoke the Caledonian language to come forward. Together, the two men moved forward away from the Legionnaires and waited for the approaching Caledonians.

As it turned out, two of the Caledonian warriors spoke the Roman language, having learned it from the garrison that had been assigned to the fort. The presence of a translator on each side made it easier to communicate. Gaius Valerius wasted no time. He immediately extended his hands in friendship as the Caledonians arrived.

The leader of the Caledonians spoke first, expressing how impressed he was with the way Gaius Valerius’ men handled the raiders. He then asked what the Legionnaires were doing at the fort.

“We’re new settlers here,” Gaius Valerius replied. “We found the fort abandoned and thought that it provided a good place for us to camp until we could find the best way to approach you. As you can see, we’re warriors like yourselves. But we have no one to fight for at the moment. We’re looking for someone to fight for, or someone who wants us to train them to be better fighters. All we want in return is to live here in peace as neighbors.”

“You are Romans,” the leader of the Caledonians stated. “We don’t want Romans here.”

“We were Romans once,” Gaius Valerius replied. “Now we’re not Romans. We were with the Legions once; now we work for whoever needs us and will pay for our services. We’re here; the Romans aren’t. This is your land and always will be. We just want to earn our place among you.”

The leader of the Caledonians looked at Gaius Valerius, obviously thinking about what he had heard and what he had seen. After a minute, he said, “I must discuss this. We will come back.”

“I’ll be here waiting for you as a friend.”

Several days passed before the Caledonian warriors returned. In the meantime, the Legionnaires managed to drag the longboats up to the fort, flip them over, and were in the process of raising them to be shelter roofs. When the Caledonians arrived, they found one of the boats had already been raised into position. They had never thought of using the boats this way, preferring to simply burn them after killing the raiders.

Gaius Valerius, Titus Aurelius, and the translator walked out to meet with the Caledonians unarmed. Several Legionnaire archers kept them covered from the walls of the fort, just in case the meeting didn’t go well.

“You will teach us ways of fighting?” the Caledonian leaders asked once the warriors and Romans were together.

“Yes.”

“You have weapons?”

“Yes.”

“What you want in return?”

“We want to live here safely. We need food and supplies. We’ll train you and help defend you if you’ll guarantee our safety and help feed us. We promise that we’ll work with you as long as you work with us. We want to be able to sell our services to others as well, but only if it’s understood that no one we work with is to attack anyone else we work with. Is this agreeable?”

“Yes.”

“When do you want to start?”

“Tomorrow.”

“That’s good for us. Would you like to join us for a meal?”

“Yes, we bring food.”

The Caledonian leader raised both arms, and Gaius Valerius saw a much larger group of Caledonians appear in the distance, bringing food, animal skins for clothing, and horses, in addition to their women and children. Evidently, the entire village had turned out to welcome their new neighbors. Gaius Valerius motioned for the Legionnaires to come out and greet the Caledonians. For a few moments, both sides stood silently, staring at each other. Then they moved forward with hands outstretched in greeting.

Gaius Valerius smiled as he looked around. This is going to work after all.

That’s how it all began. Gaius Valerius’ men became known as “Il Nona,” which means “The Ninth” in the Roman language. They helped protect their neighbors from raiders many times, and eventually they were allowed to begin marrying into the tribes. They sold their services to many of the local tribes, providing protection as well as training their warriors in the arts of war. Over time, they abandoned the fort, building a larger settlement closer to the tribal village where they could live, train, teach, and raise families. As more and more tribes wanted to barter for their services, Il Nona started accepting Caledonians who showed the most skills in warfare into their ranks. Over the years, Il Nona returned to Legion strength and preserved the Legion structure for their organization. Gaius Valerius took the title of Legate, and Titus Aurelius took the title of Prefect.

A mithraeum was built at the new settlement so the worship of Mithras could continue. The Aquila, Vexilla, Signum, and Imago of the Legion and each Cohort were moved to the new mithraeum in a ceremony to dedicate the temple. New Legionnaires were initiated into the practice of Mithras worship, which became the only link to Rome preserved by Il Nona.

Over the years, Il Nona continued to expand its operations. When the Roman Legions returned to the Caledonian territories, they faced an enemy with much better organization and fighting skills. Eventually, the Caledonian tribes were subdued by Rome, but Il Nona survived. When the Romans left Britannia and the island was overrun by the Saxons and Angles, Il Nona survived. When the Normans and the Danes conquered Britain, Il Nona survived. There were always people who needed to be trained to fight, needed people to help them fight, and needed weapons with which to fight. Il Nona provided this to whoever could pay.

Over time, Il Nona expanded its operations onto the European continent. As weapons improved, fighting styles changed, and Il Nona was there to help people learn those new styles. Il Nona took no sides in a conflict. They were politically neutral. They sold to whoever paid, but if someone failed to make the promised payment, then Il Nona provided services to the opposition. There were a number of conflicts in Europe during the Middle Ages where Il Nona worked with both sides. The leaders of Il Nona knew that, to ensure a steady stream of new business, you had to sometimes create demand. Arming and training one side of a conflict had short-term financial gain, but no long-term benefits unless the arms and training were put to use. Sometimes, conflict had to be initiated to ensure a steady revenue stream. Il Nona had no problems doing this; it was just good business.

Il Nona’s reputation across Europe was legendary. In fact, most people thought that Il Nona was only a legend, and Il Nona preferred it that way. It wasn’t good for a highly trained, highly professional private army to be too well known – especially during the Inquisition and the Protestant Wars.

Il Nona’s professional references were impressive. Il Nona was actively involved in the Scottish wars for independence, as well as the Irish wars for independence and the English civil wars. They were involved in a number of uprisings in Spain, including the Eighty Years War. They were involved in the Greek War of Independence and the Belgium revolution. They supplied both sides during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. They had originally provided assistance for the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II in Russia, but when Vladimir Lenin failed to make payment, Il Nona decided to support the rebels and criminal organizations in Russia who plagued the Soviet government until its eventual demise.

Prior to World War I, Il Nona had been supplying several European states, but in the absence of conflict, Il Nona wasn’t making money. A well-aimed shot from a rifle started a chain reaction that plunged Europe into war and increased Il Nona’s revenues considerably. During World War II, Il Nona helped the resistance fighters against the Nazi regime by supplying arms, training fighters, and leading revolts and insurrections to pin down German troops needed on the fronts.

As the Soviet Union and Iron Curtain collapsed, Il Nona found most Europeans tired of war and conflict, creating a potential cash flow problem. The organization had decided centuries earlier not to spread itself into areas outside of Europe, where most conflicts were based on ideology rather than the traditional causes, such as greed.

However, a situation was beginning to occur in Europe that could potentially create the greatest business opportunity for Il Nona in the almost two thousand years of its existence. The conflict knew no geographic or political boundaries. If handled correctly, it could easily engulf all of Europe in just a few years. Il Nona decided to put all of its efforts into this one initiative, feeling confident that the outcome would be greater than anything that the previous leaders of Il Nona had ever imagined.