Chapter 17

Medb was happy to finally get off the train. With the exception of two short boat rides, she had been on one for the past five days, traveling up from Kalb to the coast of Gaul and then from Londinium up to Devnum.

While it was a miracle they could travel so fast, since a trip like that would have taken a month or two at best in the old days, it wasn’t particularly pleasant.

Of course, she could have taken a boat, which would have taken maybe a day less, but she’d wanted to stop and talk to a few people on the continent along the way, as she tried to work out her plans for once she left the capital again.

What she hadn’t expected was the squad of praetorians on the platform that snapped to attention when she and Claudius stepped off the train.

“What is this about?” she asked the optio in charge of the squad.

She had gotten a sense the Empress was displeased with her from her message demanding that she return to the capital, but she hadn’t thought it was clapped-in-irons-level displeasure.

“There have been disturbances in the city, my lady. Things have calmed, somewhat, but we were ordered to ensure your safe arrival at the palace.”

“Disturbances?”

“Over the new conscription laws. There were protests over them, although that has turned into anger at some of the ... better-offs avoiding service to the Empire. The worst of it has settled, but the Empress wanted to make sure you didn’t have any problems.”

Medb frowned at that. She’d been so focused on what was happening to the south, that she hadn’t realized things were getting out of hand in Britain.

Another sign that she’d been in Carthage too long, and had lost the handle on what was happening in the Empire as a whole.

“Lead on,” Medb said, gesturing off the platform.

With her escort in tow, Medb made her way toward the Imperial Palace. After a few minutes of walking, it became clear the upheaval had been a little worse than the praetorian had made it out to be. Here and there, buildings showed damage from the unrest and a few had been gutted by fire.

The Empress was also clearly still doing damage control, with men on most major street corners, reading aloud from some kind of proclamation, surrounded by citizens.

It did seem to be working, as none of the crowds seemed particularly ready to riot.

The biggest sign of what seemed to be recent violence was in the wealthier districts close to the palace. The damage looked more extensive, or at least more recent, to several of the homes in that section, including a home she knew belonged to one of the Imperial senators. It must have been burned recently, as the shell of what had once been a fairly impressive home was still smoking, with brigades of men throwing water buckets on it.

“What happened there?” she asked one of her escorts.

“It is the home of one of the senators. The people’s anger over conscription has turned to anger over some elements of the city not doing their part to support the war effort. Word spread that his son was stationed in Ulaid instead of serving with his unit. A mob stormed it last night, took what they could carry away, and burned it down. The senator was not home, thankfully.”

“Thankfully,” Medb repeated, but she wondered how word of that got to the common people.

Senators were normally much better at hiding that kind of thing.

When they reached the palace, Medb turned to Claudius and said, “Go ahead to my offices and start deciding who you want for your investigations. I want names by the time I get there after talking to the Empress. I’m not sure when I’ll be leaving, but I’d like your investigation to be up and running in the next day or two.”

Claudius saluted and turned to walk toward a separate section of buildings where her offices were located while she left her escort behind and was led by a servant to the Empress’s private study.

She found the Empress at her desk, reading some kind of report. Although their relationship had been rocky in those early days of the Empire, when Medb had been a glorified prisoner, since her ... adjustment in attitude, she had found Lucilla to be a fairly reasonable monarch.

Which is why the displeased look on her face was a little concerning.

“You have some explaining to do,” she said as soon as the door closed. “How did Egyptian ships manage to seize multiple ports without warning? Where were your intelligence networks?”

“I did warn you, as soon as we had a hint of their involvement. These weren’t some random criminals; this was an organized attempt supported by a government that had spent the last two hundred years keeping itself alive under Carthaginian rule. They knew what they were doing. My agent died uncovering the link between the shipments in Carthage. That is how closely they guarded their secrets.”

“Not good enough. Maleth. Cyprus. Our trading outposts. All lost because we didn’t see this coming.”

“Because we uncovered them. They were set up to react as soon as they were discovered. Had we not found the shipments, they would still be our ‘allies’ siphoning off whatever technology they could while secretly helping the Easterners. We didn’t get attacked because we missed the signs, we got attacked because we uncovered them.”

“How did they get their hands on our newer weapons? They aren’t part of the alliance, and so were limited to only much older weapon sales,” Lucilla asked, her tone much less accusatory than when Medb had first walked in.

“I’m not sure yet, but it is troubling. We’ve looked at the weapon shipment we captured, and they are pristine. No wear from transportation or battle. Most still packed with grease and protection, exactly how it comes out of our own factories.”

“You’re suggesting these came out of our own factories?”

“I am. Everything I’ve seen suggests they didn’t come from leaks in our supply lines. I think they were diverted before they even reached any of the armories. Probably before they were tallied on the quartermaster’s rolls.”

“Something worth looking at. Although, even if they were getting weapons, it doesn’t explain how they managed to duplicate them so quickly.”

“Something else I’ve been concerned about. Even the Carthaginians, with all their resources, never managed to copy any of the weapons we created. The only firearms they ever used were the cannons sold to them by the Easterners. And yet, somehow, the Easterners have been able to get production versions in the field in a few months?”

“Yes. Although reports from the front indicate their accuracy remains inconsistent.”

“If they get a chance to copy more of our designs, they’ll improve.”

“Which we need to prevent from happening. Have you identified which factory the shipments went missing from?”

“Not yet, but we will soon. I have Claudius putting together a team right now and they should start the investigation before I leave, so I can make sure they’re on the right track.”

“What do you mean ‘leave’?”

“I’m heading to the front, specifically to the prisoner camps, to start questioning prisoners and try to learn more about who we’re fighting.”

“Absolutely not. If we have some kind of leak in our development, that is our priority. We cannot defeat them if they keep up with us on our technology and we need your expertise to root out these traitors.”

“Claudius can handle that investigation. I’ve spent the last year training him on intelligence and he was deeply involved in uncovering the current smuggling. He knows what to look for, who to watch, how to build a network of informants. I agree this is important, but I think our lack of information on the Easterners is our weakest point. Besides, we don’t know for sure if the smuggling is directly connected to the Easterners. Yes, they got their hands on the end product, but that doesn’t guarantee that the people selling the goods knew who they were selling it to. It could be simple corruption; merchants selling to whoever pays the highest.”