Caledonian advocates

13

Meanwhile, Cimbrian and Angli troops arrived in the lands of the Goths in Scandinavia. They were assisted by 300 Roman cavalry troops. The 2000 troops occupied the Gothic capital of Scandinavia. This is where Dagmar and her former husband Arvid I lived during their lifetime. The Roman generals at the Rhine were behind this operation. They received the news concerning the 'hostage' situation at the Gothic Lake. The cities at the Rhine were dependent upon Scandinavia for almost 40% of their economy. Any chaos in Scandinavia would endanger mainland Europe's economy. The generals didn't ask permission from the governors of Gaul for this invasion. They knew it wouldn't be approved due to King Arvid II being a loyal ally of Rome. The generals and the other high military officers had other reasons for the occupation. Most of them were underpaid due to the expenses made by Rome into Dacia. This was their way to compensate for their lowered income. Also, the situation in Scandinavia offered a distraction from the crop failures in the countries at the East of the Rhine frontier. The sub-provinces of Gaul had to provide those Germanic countries with tons of grain, meat and fish sauce. This due to an agreement made between the Gaulish elites and those Germanic leaders. To prevent this news from spreading, the people in Gaul were distracted by rumours of a potential annexation of Scandinavia by Rome. As an excuse they said that 'Gothic bandits had raided villages on the Rhine and killed Roman families. The majority of the Gaulish people believed the lie without even analysing if the story made any sense. 

The troops were led by Venius. Venius, after occupying the capital, ordered half of his troops to inspect the coastlines of the Gothic lake. They had to report for any suspicious building and anyone who ''didn't belong over there''. Venius ordered this due to finding out that two days before their arrival a Finnish envoy returned from Caledonia. Venius immediately suspected the 'hostage' to be the work of the Finnish. His ambition was to arrest the perpetrators and deliver them to a military  tribunal. Three days after his order, several troops returned with the news that they found a young man with a female shaman at an abandoned shrine. They went towards the two luxury ships where the Caledonians were taken hostage. 

'Arrest everyone  you find on those two ships and transport them to the prison complex. We will inform the Caledonian about it afterwards. Keep them alive!'

The soldiers arrived at the two ships and found three corpses of dead captains. They captured thirty seven shamans and five male servants. The troops also took over the ships and sailed them towards the Gothic river which connected the lake with the sea. The capital was located at the southern branch of the river delta. The ships were anchored at a tiny island in the sea, just outside the river delta. This kept the ships in view of Venius. 

Meanwhile, Venius was informed about civil unrest with the Dani. The Dani attacked Scandian towns and occupied the southwestern shores of Scandia. Venius didn't have enough manpower to deal with the situation. The civilians in the Gothic capital were kept in the dark concerning the invasion of the Dani. The next day an ultimatum was send to the Gothic capital: the Dani wanted inclusion into the Scandinavian economy with land in the South of Scandia or they would riot and loot the South. The letter was send with the heads of two Scandian elders. 

'Sir! This is a declaration of war! The Dani also provoked Rome by attacking our ally!'

'We cannot have a war at this time.''

'We are at war. If the Dani get away with attacking one of Rome's ally, what will the world think of us?'

'What do you propose?'

'We need to crush them...'

'And then what?'

'We divide their land..'

'They live on several large and tiny islands in the sea. It is strategically difficult to wage war against them.'

'We do need some action...'

'Most people aren't even ware of that happened. We keep it that way. We go to Caledonia and we request the crown prince to come over...'

'The Crown prince?'

'Yes...'

'What about those two luxury ships?'

'The priestesses are safe in this capital.' 

'What about the Caledonian queen?'

 'That's none of our concern. Our concern is to find a way to appease the Dani.'

'Who is going to Caledonia?'

'We are!'