by Mike Rogers
“Corinth,” he whispered.
In a flash Anaxis planted his blade in the Roman's heart, and the body went limp.
The generals stepped a few feet back, surprised at the suddenness of the assault and some even cried out in surprise.
Anaxis turned to me and said, “Pack our bags; we leave tonight.”
Immediately he stormed off towards our tent, and the generals and I started running after him.
“What do you mean? Where are we heading?”
“Corinth!” Anaxis shouted, “The Romans lured us to Macedon merely to get us away from Corinth! By now they'll have boarded their ships and be well on their way! Damn the gods that I did not see it sooner!”
“But Corinth is impossible to assault from the sea! Our fleet blocks the strait that leads to it! The only way they can get to it is through…” And it was as I spoke the words that the terrible truth hit me, “Sparta…”
Anaxis stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. “Aye, Sparta.”
I put my arms around his shoulders and said, But Sparta is not defenseless! They
will give us enough time to get our troops to Corinth!”
Anaxis laughed out loud and pushed my arms away. “You think Sparta will oppose them? You are a fool, Trimidites. Sparta will side with them, as they always have done. Why do you think I left a full third of the Spartans behind? Because they were not to be trusted. They are Rome's lapdogs, useless in the assault on Rome itself. I should have foreseen it that Rome would sneak into Greece through Sparta! A thousand curses on the bloody gods that I did not see it sooner! A million curses!”
Anaxis resumed his steady pace to our tent and I followed.
“But if that is so, then our army will never get there in time! Corinth is lost!”
Anaxis nodded, “Aye, it is. But Corinth still had fifty thousand men behind its walls when we left and more came pouring in every day. With some luck it will last long enough for the rest of our army to arrive. And then we can crush the Romans! Providing the city doesn't fall! Providing the defenses is led by a capable man.”
And then it was my turn to grind to a halt.
“A man like you,” I said.
“We leave with the fastest ship out of here, Trimidites! With some luck we'll get there before the Romans. Tell Deopus he's in charge of the army.”
Deopus, who had followed us along with the other generals, stood baffled for a split second. He blinked his eyes in amazement but quickly grinned and nodded.
“I'll get the men in Corinth in two weeks, my lord. You can count on it.”
Anaxis nodded, “Very well. If Corinth should fall before that, divert the army to Athens. Mummius is surely to go there next.”
And that was that. All now came to the showdown at Corinth. Would we get there in time?
More important, even if we got there in time, would it matter?
Chapter 11
My fear for leading the defenses of a doomed city subsided as I noticed the ship that we were going to take hit the beach of Macedon. On its bow stood a bald toothless smelly example of a pirate and I groaned, “Mistra? This was the fastest ship in the entire fleet?”
Anaxis smiled and said, “That I do not know, but what I do know is that it has the finest captain of the entire fleet. Mistra knows the shores of Greece like the back of his hand.”
“And its brothels, no doubt. All I know for certain is that his ship is the fastest way to get me to lose my lunch.”
Anaxis smiled and walked onto the beach. Mistra, old as he may have been, jumped off the boat and spread his arms wide.
“Anaxis, you old dog! How the fuck did that fucking Roman pig snuck his fleet past us?”
Anaxis shrugged his shoulders. “If I didn't know any better I'd swear he asked that old bastard of a Hermes to fly them across the ocean.”
Mistra nodded and laughed. The stench of his breath penetrated my nose and I felt the first wave of nausea rise. Apparently Mistra noticed it, and he looked at me.
“What's the matter with your slave, Anaxis? He looks like he's been dragged through Roman latifundia.”
Anaxis looked at me and immediately understood what was going on. Witty as he was he asked Mistra to hand me some garlic, for it would heal all that ailed me.
The smell alone made me vomit. Again the trip to Corinth was a living hell for my stomach and nose. As Anaxis helped around the ship and ordered the men to go faster, I hung over the side puking my guts out.
There was another reason to be worried. Minerva was still in Corinth. I had left her behind with the distinct idea that she would be safe in the city. Corinth had never fallen, never. But now, with half a million Romans on their way towards the city, that would surely change.
One night, after having sailed for three days, I suddenly noticed a light on the horizon. I approached Mistra—no mean feat with his body odor—and pointed them out to him. He immediately started cursing and calling me names, saying how a measly landlubber like me couldn't distinguish the setting sun from a boat light. But as the old cursing pirate walked to the side of the boat, he too noticed the light and fell silent. He squeezed his eyes together and stared hard at it. Anaxis, too, joined us and started looking at it. Then, much to our horror, one after another light appeared on the horizon.
“I think we've found your Roman fleet, Anaxis,” Mistra said as he watched a thousand lights illuminate the ocean.
We extinguished all fires and sailed under the cover of the darkness and silence towards the Roman fleet. We had no other choice than to sail through it, for sailing around such a vast fleet would take too long. All of the crew, every single man, held their breath as our small ship glided between the gigantic triremes, the powerful Roman warships. For three agonizing hours we navigated between the Roman vessels, sometimes approaching them dangerously close. But when the dawn broke, I was happy to see we had passed the Roman fleet without being noticed. It seemed impossible at the time, and yet we managed to pull it off. The gods were surely with us that night, or so I thought. It was only later that I found out the gods had saved us that night so that they could bestow upon us a fate even worse than being caught by Romans. We were but the gods' playthings and what would happen in Corinth would scar my heart for eternity. But what does not kill a man only makes him stronger, or so the Spartans claimed. I saw and heard things there, Alexander, that was far too heavy for my soul to carry alone. The burden of it has haunted my dreams for decades, and even now I am unease to tell you what happened there, but I must. For I made a promise, and promises must be kept.
We arrived at Corinth well ahead of the Romans. Our smaller vessel didn't have to carry the same amount of bulk as the Romans and thus we made good time. Anaxis and I rode like madmen to the city, and upon our arrival the city's governor frowned at Anaxis' unexpected presence. In a single sentence Anaxis brought the governor up to speed.
“The Romans will be here in one day.”
The poor man didn't seem to understand the severity of the matter and asked, “In a day? How many?”
Anaxis clenched his teeth together, “All of them. Their entire army. Macedon was a ruse.”
The governor turned paler than a toga. The poor man stumbled towards a nearby chair and sat himself down, burying his head in his hands.
“How far…how long will it take for our army to be here? Has the fleet returned with you?”
Anaxis shook his head no. “They will need at least another week and a half to get here. Corinth is on its own.”
Was it the shock? Had the man been ill before our arrival? I do not know, but the governor of Corinth fell out of his chair, never to rise again. Overwhelmed by fear, his heart had given in.
Anaxis cursed out loud and slammed his two fists in the man's chest. “Of all times, the old coot has to drop dead on us now!” he shouted through the palace.
I looked at Anaxis, turned pale myself and felt my knees weaken. I, too, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but my master was quick
to notice it. With those cold eyes of his he looked at me and said in a calm voice, “Take your wife and child and get to Athens. Take the city's treasury with you.”
I shook my head no. “There is no time for that! The Romans will be here before the gold has been loaded on carts! There will barely be time for the citizens to be informed.”
Anaxis cursed out loud for the second time and kicked against the governor's chair. It shattered on the far wall.
My master, Anaxis, had always been a calm man. I had never seen him this angry before, and this worried me. If a man like him was out of his mind, what then of the soldiers that had to defend the city?
But then the Spartan training kicked in. Anaxis dashed into the governor's study, looking for lists of the newly acquired mercenaries. To his pleasing he found out that the city counted some seventy thousand mercenaries and fifteen thousand militia guards. Perhaps not all was lost just yet. He dashed out of the office again, jumped on his horse and rode throughout the city, spreading word that the Romans were on their way and that the city had to prepare itself for a siege. Every man between fourteen and sixty had to report to the barracks to receive weapons, armor and orders. Within the day Anaxis had an army of nearly a hundred and fifty thousand men. The women and children were all to be assembled at the temple of Zeus, which was on the highest hill of the city and easily defendable. Anaxis ordered women and men unable to carry arms to construct a second wall there, for when the defenders had to retreat to it. He put me in charge of the oversight, but I quickly delegated this task to Krateros, who had stayed behind in Corinth to train fresh cavalries. Proud as the young man was, he regarded it as an inferior task, but I quickly made it clear to him that we were certain to be overrun and that the defense of the temple would be far more important than he'd imagine.
It was only then that the youth yielded and started working frantically on the wall. Then I went to Minerva to say my goodbyes. I found her in the central temple room, which had been converted to an infirmary led by the city's women. As she noticed me she approached, and we hugged. While I buried my face in those long blonde hairs she said, “The city is not going to hold, is it?”
I sighed. “No, it isn't. But if we hold out for another week Deopus and the rest of our army will arrive. A week is all we need, Minerva.”
She, too, sighed and looked at me.
“And Anaxis?”
“What about him?”
“How does he feel about all this?”
I stared outside over the city and watched at the main gate, where Anaxis would undoubtedly be.
“He's working like a madman to get the defenses in order,” I said. I noticed then that Minerva had tears in her eyes, and she buried her face in my armpit.
“What is it?” I asked.
She shook her head and pushed me gently away. “Go to your master, Trimidites. He needs your help more than you think.”
I left the temple confused. Never before had I seen her in this state, but then it occurred to me that never before we had been in such peril. Nevertheless I could not lose the impression that something was severely wrong.
As I rode my horse from the temple to the main gate I noticed Krateros leading horses up to the temple. I looked at him and raised my eyebrows, but he merely smiled and said, “You’ll see them when we need them.”
I shook my head in annoyance. We had not time for games and the youth was leading his precious horses up the hill for safekeeping. In my opinion Anaxis had made a serious mistake in naming Krateros a general. Mistra had made a better general than that boy, but I kept it to myself. Annoyed as I was I drove down the street, hindered on every step by Beotian and Thracian mercenaries. All wore their traditional Falxes, the large inward curbed blade. It was a crude blade, but highly effective as many of their enemies had experienced. In the right hands, such a blade would cut right through your armor or take an arm or a leg off. More than once had I seen a Roman cavalry charge have its feet sawed from underneath themselves by the quick Falxes. Brute and barbaric as the Thracians and Beotians might be, they make fine soldiers. Their battle cry freezes a man's blood, and their blades flash quicker than any Roman sword.
To my surprise Anaxis deployed these men not on the walls but at the feet of the walls. Why was not clear to me until I noticed one archer after another climb the stone stairs that led to the top of the walls.
Anaxis came from the opposite direction and as he saw me asked for artillery. I shrugged my shoulders and replied, “The ballistae are with the main body of the army. The only thing we've got left here is a minimal artillery crew. They arrived here last week. Come from Pontus if I'm not mistaken.”
Anaxis grinned and slapped me on the back.
“Find these engineers, and order them to build us some ballista.”
My mouth fell open.
“Find a crew of engineers amongst a hundred and fifty thousand men? What do you think I am? The messenger of the gods?”
Anaxis planted his fists in his side and roared with laughter. “Dear lord no, not at all!” he said. “You're MY messenger and not that lazy bum of a Hermes. Now get going, and by tomorrow I want to see men working on ballista, got it?”
I grunted, knowing Anaxis wouldn't take no for an answer. I rode off on my horse, spreading the word amongst the men to send any siege engineers to the royal palace to come find me, but even before I crossed the main gate I heard a distant horn.
The entire city held its breath. None moved. All listened.
And then it sounded again, but louder this time. Anaxis and I stared at one another, and he said what we were all thinking; the Romans have arrived.
Chapter 12
Corinth was doomed from the start. Anaxis and I watched the Roman army of half a million souls set up their camp outside of our walls, and the thought crossed both our minds. Corinth was doomed…
The only question would be if she could hold out long enough for Deopus and the rest of the army to arrive?
An entire day the Romans used for setting up their camp. Men cut down the forests around Corinth and started building palisades, they dug trenches, set up tents, started cooking meals. At the far end of their camp, engineers started constructing siege engines. After a day they had already finished a single siege tower and a ballista. Anaxis looked at it with grim determination and had me take a hundred notes as he overlooked the camp. He gave me troop numbers, horses, supplies, weak points in their defenses, in short, anything we could use for when our army arrived.
How Anaxis did not allow himself to be paralyzed by the dazzling vision of the Roman legions, I do not know. On the contrary, his mind seemed to become clearer and sharper as the days went by and more of dangerous siege engines arose. After five days, a good five days before Deopus and the army would be here to assist us, the Romans launched their first assault.
It was a skirmish, nothing more. It's only intent was to probe our defenses. Anaxis did not give the Romans a chance to learn anything. He merely let the Roman scouts and small units approach our walls and then let the men throw rocks on them. After killing a quarter of the Romans they retreated. It had been a success.
Anaxis had revealed nothing about our defenses and had killed some five dozen Romans without losing a single man.
But then the Roman leader, Consul Lucius Mummius, ordered the full attack on our city.
It was to be the most terrible siege since Troy.
Half a million feet trod across the no-man's land between the city and the Roman camp, and they made the earth and walls shake. In front of them they pushed twenty siege towers, ten ballista and a battering ram. Anaxis had anticipated the use of a battering ram and had ordered the gate to be buried. The Romans could ram all they'd want, that gate wasn't about to budge with several tons of soil against it on the other side.
The siege towers and the ballista would be a different matter. Our own engineers had managed to build three ballista and were building more, but it would not suffice.
Just ou
tside the range of our archers the Roman army stopped. Mummius himself rode out in front of his men and up to the walls of Corinth. He looked at us and shouted, “Citizens of Corinth! As you can see you stand not the least chance of surviving this battle! Do the wise thing and surrender! I promise your deaths will be honorable!”
Anaxis climbed upon the rampart and stretched himself to his full height. To the Romans it must have been an impressive sight, for there he stood: Anaxis, the Spartan leader of all of Greece!
His long red cape played in the wind, and his helmet with red horse hairs gave him the appearance of a god. To all but myself, the man must have seemed the god of war himself.
“Consul Lucius Mummius, I salute thee. I am Anaxis of Sparta, the leader of Greece in its struggle against the Romans.”
Mummius smiled. He thought he had Anaxis trapped in a city that was ultimately to see its doom. The Roman consul must have been thinking about the victory parade he would be having back in Rome. What a prize it would be to be able to drag the Spartan leader behind his victory wagon. But there was a little problem with that vision: Corinth stood between it.
And as quickly as the smile had appeared on Mummius' face, just as quickly did it fade. He must have realized that any city led by the legendary Spartan would not be easily obtained.
And so Mummius did what Romans do best: talk.
“Ave, Anaxis Isocrates. Your presence changes everything! If you will simply surrender the good people of Corinth will be spared.”
All of our men smiled. Anaxis had told them the Roman would promise them that, but he had also reminded them that a word from a Roman pig was no good.
Anaxis laughed and said, “The only thing you will be getting here is death, Mummius! I remember how you broke your promises back in Rome! Your word means nothing to me!”
My mouth fell open. Back in Rome? Anaxis knew Mummius back in Rome? First the Roman in Athens, who blabbered something about Anaxis having been a gladiator, but who was quickly silenced by my master and now Mummius?