by R. W. Peake
~ ~ ~ ~
Caesar had sent some of his heavier ships out of the harbor around to the north side of the island, where they were laying down a barrage with the artillery that the ships carried in order to draw the defenders away from the south side of the island. Pulling closer to the island, I could see that if it was successful at all, it was only partially so, the rooftops of the buildings closest to the shore lined with men.
“Uh-oh.”
I looked over at Valens, the one who uttered the warning, then followed his gaze. Coming towards us from the Inner Harbor were five warships, along with a number of smaller craft, heading for the northern drawbridge of the Heptastadion. Their intent was obvious; they wanted to head us off and keep us from landing. The island had originally only been home to the lighthouse, but in the intervening years, what was in effect a suburb of Alexandria grew up around it, so that now almost the entire island was covered with buildings and streets. The houses were mean; it was clear that the island was home to the lower classes, probably seafaring men, shipbuilders, and their families. Now those houses appeared to be filled with soldiers of the Egyptian army, and once we approached within missile range, the first bolts from their scorpions and rocks from their ballistae began hurtling our way. Nothing struck our boat, though I was soaked to the skin by a near miss, causing some amusement among the men.
Now within a hundred paces, I scanned the shore, feeling a tightening in my throat. We knew the shore was rocky, but viewing it from a rooftop a mile away and then seeing it up close were two different things. It was clear that we would have to climb more than ten feet over rocks, all while the Egyptians were firing down at us. The first of the boats was pulling up to the shore, men beginning to leap out into the water and wade ashore, trying to grab a foothold while keeping their shields above their heads. Almost immediately men were hit, most lucky enough to fall onto the rocks, but a small number of men fell backwards into the water, their armor dragging them under before any crewmember on the nearest boat could offer them an oar and pull them to safety. It quickly became obvious that there were only one or two suitable spots where the water was shallow enough for men to jump out without drowning, and our boat headed for where the first boat had landed, pausing long enough for it to move away. Our craft scraped the bottom several feet from the shore. Without waiting, I jumped over the side, landing in water slightly above my waist, Valens right behind me. Naturally, we drew the most fire by virtue of our transverse crests and the fact we were not carrying shields so we had to dodge everything coming our way while trying to keep our footing. I made it to shore, beginning the climb over the rocks, Valens and the men of his Century close behind. We made it across the rocks, joining the other men who were looking for their standards to form up.
“Seventh of the 6th, on me,” I bellowed, grabbing Valens’ signifer, pointing to a spot that gave us room to form up. With men streaming ashore, I noticed that the missile fire was slackening. I looked up to see that for some reason, the Egyptians were leaving their position on the roofs, not that I was complaining since it gave us a respite from the constant harassing fire. If they wanted to give up a strong position, I was not going to argue. The other benefit was that it gave us time to form up. Once we did so, we began marching along the length of the island on the gravel path serving as the ring road around the outside of the buildings, looking for an entrance into the village. While we marched, the reason for the disappearance of the Egyptians became apparent when they appeared from around the corner of a side street, coming face to face with us, arrayed in their own formation. For a moment, both sides stopped to stare at each other. During the pause, I took a look around to see that two of my Centuries were leading the assault force, aligned side by side. Without waiting, I gave the command to move forward in assault positions, and we began closing the distance. Making a quick decision, I ordered the men to drop their javelins to go immediately to the sword. Raising my arm, I held it aloft for a split second, then let out a roar.
“Porro!”
The men leaped forward, sounding their battle cry, closing the distance quickly to slam into the Egyptians, and I had just enough time to see the look of shock and fear on their brown faces as we cut them down. It was only a matter of moments before they broke and ran for their lives. Our men slaughtered them, running after them and killing as many as possible before they could escape. The panic of the soldiers infected the civilians who had remained behind, the narrow streets of the village quickly becoming choked with fleeing people. At times like this, it is hard to restrain men whose bloodlust has been set afire from putting anyone with whom they come into contact to the sword, so a large number of civilians were killed in the rout, and it took several moments to get the men under control. We had penetrated several blocks into the village, but we were still short of the Heptastadion, and Caesar sent orders from his flagship to stop the advance and wait for the rest of the landing force. Since there were only a couple suitable sites, the landing was taking longer than expected and Caesar deemed that it was better to wait than press the assault with only a part of our force.
Unfortunately, Ganymede was not waiting. Once he saw what we were doing, he ordered a scratch force assembled from the contingents of marines on the ships in the harbor, sending them to land on the southwestern end of the island, which had better landing sites than where we came ashore. Egyptians began streaming off the rocky beach and heading into the depths of the village to join the others already there. Looking over my shoulder, I cursed that we were still not disembarked, though it appeared that there were only three or four boats left. Calculating that it would be another few moments before they were finished, followed by the time it took to finish forming up, I knew that gave the enemy ample time to land a few thousand men and have them take up positions in the village that could make them difficult to dislodge. I could only hope that they would make the same mistake twice in not taking advantage of the high ground. While we waited, I called a conference of my Centurions.
“Have any of you or the men had any experience fighting house to house?”
They glanced at one another, but they all shook their heads.
“Have you, Primus Pilus?”
I thought back 14 years to the first town in Lusitania that we had assaulted when I had first drawn, and shed, blood. Looking at the square stone buildings that stood before us and comparing them to my memories of that town, and all the other towns and cities of Gaul we had assaulted, I shook my head.
“Not anything like this. In Gaul, most of the houses are made of mud and sticks. They’re solid enough, but only the main halls and barracks were made like even the smallest house here. No, I don’t.”
We regarded each other and I just shrugged. There was nothing to be done about it now; we would just have to do our best.
~ ~ ~ ~
Once the rest of the assault force joined up, we arrayed our lines along the first north-south street, shaking out into Century formation, three Centuries for each street running east and west, one following the other. Once the men got into position, we waited for a moment, and then Caesar, who had come ashore, dipped his standard as the cornu sounded the advance. The men began to march, moving only a few blocks when we ran into the first line of resistance and I saw that we would not be so lucky this time. The Egyptian marines had climbed back onto the roofs originally abandoned by the militia, arraying themselves on a north and south axis, where they began flinging their javelins at us. The windows and doors on the ground floor were full of men as well, some of them armed with bows, with the rest flinging rocks at us. The missiles started flying thick and furious, forcing me to give the command for the front Century to form a testudo. The racket of javelin, arrow, and rock striking the shields of the men of Clemens’ Century, who I had given the lead, was horrific, and I could barely make myself heard. The air seemed like every inch of it was filled with some sort of missile. I heard men crying out and cursing as they were hit or scared by a near miss, but I k
new that either there would come a moment where the enemy would stop, even if no signal were given, because their supply of missiles ran low or they had to grab a breath. This was the moment I was waiting for. It is a tricky business going from testudo to wedge formation under any circumstances and normally I would not have tried it, but I had confidence in these men, trusting that they would understand what I was doing and would perform the maneuver as quickly as it needed to be done. The order to charge would immediately follow the call to wedge, and I was going to aim the wedge directly for the door of the nearest building containing the enemy. Turning to yell to Felix, whose Century was following Clemens, I told him to form his own wedge, pointing towards the next building over as his target. I did not know what Valens was doing; he was one street over, but I could only be in one place at a time and I would have to trust him to do the right thing. The moment I was waiting for came, the sound of the missiles striking whatever was in their path subsiding, much in the same way when rain suddenly lets up, almost ceasing altogether, and I gave the command. I was pleased with how quickly the men moved, smoothly lowering their shields while shuffling into their assigned spots in the wedge.
Addressing the men in the rear ranks of the wedge, I commanded, “When we get halfway across the intersection, I want you to launch your javelins at those cunni on the roof. Keep their heads down while we go in the door.” Raising my arm, I yelled as loudly as I could, “Follow me!”
With a roar, we pounded across the intersection, pointing directly for the wide doorway in which a number of Egyptian marines stood waiting, their eyes wide over the rim of their wicker shields. There was a blur of our javelins flying past overhead, followed by a number of sharp screams and cries of alarm. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a body hurtle to the ground, hitting the stone street with a splatting thud. Clemens was next to me and we smashed into the men in the doorway side by side, knocking three of them off their feet, and staggering a couple more backwards. The blade of my sword quickly became wet as I pushed into the first room, filled with Egyptian marines who were yelling at us and each other in their native tongue. I felt our men pushing in behind Clemens and me, and very quickly, we killed every man who elected to stand and fight us. Stepping over the bodies, I was about to enter the next room, but a hand yanked at my leathers, pulling me back just as an enemy javelin sliced through the air where I had been standing, landing with a wet thud into the body of one of the Egyptians a few feet away.
I looked back and saw Clemens grinning at me. “I want to get promoted, but not like that.”
I grinned back, then turned to snap an order to some of the men who still had their javelins. “Throw a few of those in there. We’ll see how they like it.”
About a half dozen men stepped forward to fling their javelins into the room, leaping into the doorway just long enough to throw before jumping out of the way. Even so, one of the men was not quite quick enough, an enemy javelin striking him in the bicep, the point going out the other side several inches. We pulled him out of the way as he cursed bitterly, trying not to jostle his arm. Immediately after the last man had thrown, Clemens and I burst through the door, him to the left and me to the right, and I ran directly into an Egyptian, my size once again serving me well by knocking him backwards, giving me enough space to gut him. Immediately, I parried a panicked thrust by another man, our blades striking sparks as they clashed, then lashed out with my fist, catching him on the side of the head and knocking him down. I gave him a thrust through the chest; the room was now filled with my men, again making short work of those brave or stupid enough to stand and fight. Within moments, we cleared the ground floor, whereupon I sent three sections to the roof, where they were finished moments later. Going back out the front of the building, I went to check the progress of the rest of the Cohort. Felix’s Century was finished clearing their house, so I walked down the block to the next street. Valens was not using the same tactics, preferring instead for his men to stand away, picking off as many men as they could with their javelins before assaulting the house. While it was not how I would have done it, his way seemed to be as effective, because he had cleared his house as well. Annius was another story altogether; his Century was still outside the building assigned to his Century by Valens, the men milling around, some of them scrounging around for more javelins, whether ours or theirs appeared to make no difference, while the others were flinging them whenever an Egyptian presented a target. Naturally, once the Egyptians determined that Annius had no intention of actually entering the building until he first picked off everyone inside from a distance, they scrupulously avoided presenting Annius’ men with a target. Every once in a while, a brave soul on the Egyptian side would leap to his feet, and hurl his own missile at Annius’ men. In fact, from what I could tell, Annius’ Century was getting the worst of it, if the small group of men who was huddled around the corner either nursing their wounds or lying prone on the street was any sign. Enraged, I ran up to Annius, who had positioned himself well to the rear of the front rank of his Century.
“What in the name of Pluto’s thorny cock are you doing just standing here?” I roared at him, gratified to see his chin quiver.
He licked his lips, his eyes shifting to his men, who were doing their best to watch without watching, and I saw some of them smile. “Primus Pilus, I'm clearing the building, as you ordered.”
“No,” I snapped, pointing back in the direction of Valens’ Century, whose men were now standing on the roof, flinging javelins across the street at the enemy on the roof across from them, “they’re clearing the building. In fact, they’ve already cleared it, and so have Felix and Clemens. You, on the other hand, are standing here looking very much like you have your head up your ass.”
“I’m just making sure that we’ve killed as many of the bastards as we can before we go in,” he protested.
“How about this?” I shot back. “How about actually going into the building, then killing whoever you find in there!” Without waiting for him to answer, I turned, once again shouting, “Follow me!”
To their credit, Annius’ men did not hesitate, following hot on my heels as we ran into the building, killing everyone we found. To be fair, there were quite a few Egyptians already dead when we entered, most of them on the roof, so it did not take long for us to clear it. When we were finished, I grabbed Annius by the arm and dragged him outside.
Leaning down, I made my tone as menacing as I could make it. “If I ever see you do something like that again, I'll have you busted back to Gregarius, but not before I flay the skin off your back. Do you understand?”
This time, his chin was clearly quivering, but his voice was firm enough. “Yes, Primus Pilus.”
“Centurions in Caesar’s army lead from the front, Annius,” I continued, in a calmer tone. “It’s what makes us so feared, and it’s the only real way your men will respect you, if you set an example.”
His eyes were locked above my head, his tone flat as he answered that he understood, telling me that I was having no impact on him at all. I sighed and shook my head, dismissing him to go back to his men. Maybe he will do everyone a favor and get killed, I thought.
~ ~ ~ ~
This was the manner in which we secured the island; house by house, floor by floor. Methodical, professional, and completely without mercy, we killed every Egyptian who chose to fight. Finally, after several blocks of buildings fell in this manner, the remaining Egyptians finally lost their nerve, and on some silent signal, most turned to run for their lives. Many of them simply doffed their gear before jumping into the water to begin swimming to safety; some of them even diving from the roofs of a series of buildings built up to the very edge of the harbor. Another portion, about 6,000 in all, chose to surrender, but we did not put these to the sword, being ordered by Caesar that they would be sold as slaves and we would share in the proceeds.
As further reward, we were given a full watch to ransack the village, the men stripping it clean of anything remo
tely valuable, and even of things that held value only to the man who took it. It always amused me to see what some of the men thought of as worthy of being taken. Usually it is a statue of one of the local gods, which the man who took it would somehow convince himself is incredibly valuable in and of itself, or that it had some magic power that made it so. Sometimes, however, it was little more than an old brass coin or an amulet made of hair or something similar, but the man who took it would consider it his most prized possession and would kill anyone who tried to take it. I saw men kill each other over a comb, or a cloak clasp worth less than a sesterce. Now, we were in a somewhat unusual situation. Normally, there are merchants among the camp followers whose sole business it is to relieve the men of the items that they have looted, giving them cash money in exchange, but none of these merchants had come with us. Additionally, it was doubtful that any of the Alexandrians would be willing to serve in this function, since their neighbors would probably take a dim view of them profiting from fellow Alexandrians’ misfortune. Therefore, the men were now stuck with their pile of possessions, and I knew from bitter experience that over the next few days there would be a number of disagreements about combs, amulets, and cloak clasps.