The Lost Knights. William Speir

vote by standing silently for the option he preferred. If there were no clear majority, Gaius Valerius would have them vote again and continue standing while he counted each vote. When he asked for the men to stand who wanted to return to the Legions, about fifty men rose to their feet including two Centurions. Gaius Valerius thanked them for their votes and asked the men to stand who wanted to stay and attempt to barter their services with the Caledonians to survive. The remaining five hundred and fifty members of the Cohort silently rose to their feet. It was decided.

      In a ceremony the next night in the mithraeum, all outward symbols of the Roman Ninth Legion were retired and placed along the sides of the mithraeum walls. The Aquila, Vexilla, Signum, and Imago of the Legion and each Cohort were carefully placed in holders one at a time. The shields and armor were stacked along the opposite wall. The Legionnaires would keep their swords, but little else. If needed, their armor could be retrieved from the mithraeum, but the men wanted to present no outward appearance of having been part of the Roman military forces in Britannia.

      As the ceremony ended, and the men left the mithraeum, Gaius Valerius wondered if they had made the right decision. Will the Caledonians let us live, or will they kill us anyway?

      4

      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