***
After a brief wash in the bath-house Marius made his way to General Rufus, who was standing outside the praetorium talking to local business men. He dismissed them when he saw Marius coming towards him.
“So you think it’s the same disease as the one you found in Parthia?” he asked without any preamble.
Marius nodded. “It broke out whilst we were caught in the tribal wars. Junius caught it but recovered. We had hoped that it was contained in Parthia, but it seems not. The auxiliaries are from Thrace, I suspect that they might have brought it back with them. Which is why it started in Salinae.”
The general looked grim. “How do we combat it?”
Marius had been hoping he’d ask that. “The ones who are recently exposed to it are sensitive to light. I suggest that we make all the men in the fort stand in daylight with their faces exposed to the sun. Anyone who refuses should be locked away with food and plenty of water. They’ll recover from the affliction in a few days. But if you have people in the fort who cannot wake and seem immobile, then I’m afraid that they’re as good as dead. They’ll never improve.” The general was about to interject, but he stopped when he saw that Marius hadn’t finished.
“Once you’re sure that everyone else is safe and those infected are locked away, then tonight you must stop all traffic into the settlement.” The general frowned. “We know that there are infected people out there who are spreading the contagion. They’ll only move around at night, so it’s fine to allow people to enter during the day, as they’ll be free of the disease.”
Sulpicius Rufus looked out into the fort. Marius could see him thinking and wondering if the precautions he’d suggested were entirely necessary,
“And Junius Silanus thinks he can find the source of this plague and stop it?”
Marius nodded. “He’s had it and knows what it’s like. He’s hoping to either destroy them all or persuade the infected to keep away and not spread the disease to others.”
“Like leprosy?” the general asked.
Marius hesitated, but decided it was a similar enough. “Yes, sir.”
“Why don’t we know about this? Surely the Emperor should have warned us?”
Marius already had an answer. “He doesn’t want to panic the people so soon into his reign; it could be seen as a bad omen. We reported our findings to the governor of Syria and then we were sent to Rome and told our story to Hadrian. It was he who suggested that we come out here and look into the mushrooms. We had the experience of dealing with the pestilence in Parthia and might notice things that busy Roman soldiers might not.”
The general sniffed. “Did he believe it was the same disease?”
Marius shook his head and lied. “No, sir, he was as bemused as we were by the reports and believed that it was the mushrooms, as you’d been told.”
“That information about the mushrooms came from the commander at the fort itself. Do you think any of the men there are infected?”
Marius chewed his lip and looked away. When he glanced back he could see that the Sulpicius Rufus was waiting for an answer. “Yes, I do and I think they told you this story to avoid detection.”
“Auxiliaries,” Rufus spat. “You’d never get a Roman soldier covering up anything like this. All right, we’ll do as you suggest. We’ll get all the men and slaves assembled. Even the patients can get up and join them in the parade court. Then we’ll see what we’re dealing with.” Marius nodded. The general called Celer over. “Tribune, do exactly as this man says. And come and tell me when you’re ready.” He turned and walked back into the building, leaving Celer with his mouth open and Marius with a grim smile on his face.
Marius wasn’t going to do as Junius asked and wait two days; he had no mercy for the Kin. If he found any of them in the fort, he’d kill them and it would help to show the Romans exactly what they were up against. And if Junius failed to persuade them to go east and he joined with them again, then he needed these men to understand the threat and how to deal with it as soon as possible.