Marius' Mules Anthology Volume 1

by S. J. A. Turney

  His doubts were assuaged, however, as the cavalryman at the front of his small force was suddenly plucked from his saddle and thrown with a shriek against the squat, timber wall of the house behind him.

  Before the cry of alarm went up, more arrows struck, peppering the mixed force. Half a dozen men had fallen before the legionaries filtered through the mass to the front, raising their heavy shields and forming a barrier to the deadly hail.

  Galronus ran forward, waving a signal to the cavalry officer ahead. While the mounted troops were good for searching the streets and chasing down survivors, they would be of precious little use in harsh fighting at street level. Responding instantly to his orders, the officer called to his men, and they raced on past the side street from which the arrows had issued before dismounting and hurriedly finding something to which to tie their reins so they could fall in on foot and join the fight.

  Arrows continued to pound the shields of the legionaries as Galronus appeared between the dismounted cavalry and peered round the corner.

  The street was seething with men. The Remi commander’s sharp eyes picked out the four important facets of the enemy force in moments. The near side was formed of perhaps a hundred men with spears and bows, defending the rear of Adcantuannus’ soldurii. Far ahead, he could see another smaller group of perhaps fifty or so men making for the postern gate at the end of the road, a plausible route to escape the city. The leader himself was clearly distinguishable, gleaming in bronze and gold, toward the far end of the street with half a dozen burly men around him. The last group that made up the force were the bulk of the ‘soldurii’ gathered at the centre, close by their leader and ready to fight or flee depending upon the circumstances.

  Galronus frowned.

  This street was a side street that shouldn’t lead to a gate. He’d been round the periphery of the oppidum earlier and marked the location of all the gates with his forces. This gate shouldn’t exist, damn it.

  Gritting his teeth, he turned to one of the legionaries, crouching behind his large shield in the third row.

  ‘Give me that!’

  The soldier relinquished his shield unhappily and shuffled closer to the man beside him, and Galronus mimicked the stance of a defending legionary, hunkering down behind his shield as he squeezed his way through the crowd and out to the front.

  As he reached open space, he risked glancing over the rim and immediately ducked back as two arrows thudded into the wood and leather.

  ‘Adcantuannus!’

  There was a pause during which the only sound was the occasional thud of arrows against shields and then slowly the firing stopped. Galronus risked another look. The archers stood ready with their arrows nocked, tensing.

  ‘What is it, Roman?’

  With a smile, Galronus switched to his native tongue.

  ‘There is nowhere to go, Adcantuannus. The cavalry has you penned in outside. I have more than twice your number here…’ a lie, though the man could not know, ‘and your countrymen are being treated with honour and care. Stop this madness while you can.’

  The warrior with the gleaming bronze helm appeared above the crowd, standing high on something unseen. He stood silent for a long moment as, not far behind him, the advance group of warriors had unbarred the gate and were heaving it open.

  Adcantuannus turned, gesturing expansively with his outstretched arm. Galronus could not see too much detail but would be willing to bet that the man was grinning.

  ‘See, Roman, how we have a secret exit, unseen from without. Your troops will not be on us before we melt into the landscape and disappear. You will see us again, though, soon enough.’

  Galronus smiled.

  ‘I fear you are mistaken, my chief.’

  As the gate swung open, a roar erupted outside. The Remi officer could not see past the occupants of the street, but that battle cry from the unseen force beyond the gate was all too familiar to the man who had taught it to the auxilia. Somehow, though he’d not seen the gate on their earlier foray, someone had.

  The roar died away, but not the noise, as the cavalry’s voices were replaced by the ground-shaking thunder of their hooves. Galronus almost chuckled as he could see, at the far end of the street, the warriors desperately forcing the gate shut once again, panicked urgency gripping them.

  Adcantuannus turned back to him.

  ‘We will still take the head of every man here before we fall.’

  Galronus ground his teeth. What was it with these lunatics? There was everything to be said for pride, bravery and honour, but to throw oneself away in the face in hopeless odds was far more suicidal than brave.

  Taking a deep breath, he dropped the shield.

  He could almost hear the strain of the bows as the archers fought their own instincts to loose.

  ‘Adcantuannus? Don’t be wasteful and short sighted. If Rome is destined to take Aquitania, then the sacrifice of your soldurii will do little to prevent it, other than leaving your wives alone, and your children fatherless. If this gathering of warriors in the mountains is destined to stop us, then they can do it without you and the soldurii will still be here when we are gone.’

  He sighed.

  ‘Use your head, man!’

  There was a thickness to the atmosphere that one could almost cut with a sword.

  ‘There can be no going back for us now. We have denied your terms and your commander will not be lenient. The name of Crassus, the hammer of Armorica, is known to us.’

  Galronus took a relieved breath. The tone of the man had shifted barely perceptibly from defiance to defeat. A Roman would not have been able to pick up on it, but a native speaker could spot it in the language, and if they felt defeated, he had them.

  With a smile, he looked back down at the shield he had discarded and threw his sword down to join it.

  ‘I give you my word as both a commander in the army of Rome under the praetor Julius Caesar, and as Galronus, a chieftain of the Remi tribe in the lands of the Belgae. I will speak to the legate on your behalf, and I promise to secure you the same terms as your brethren who you have spurned, if you will halt this violence and join the other townsfolk in their disarming.’

  Adcantuannus paused again, and Galronus could still hear the strain of the bow strings.

  ‘You are of the Belgae? It is said the Belgae surpass all the northern peoples in battle?’

  ‘We do’ Galronus said in a matter-of-fact voice. ‘Now give me your word and I won’t have to tear your men limb from limb with my bare hands!’

  The enemy chief barked out a genuine laugh.

  ‘Very well. You secure those terms for us, and we will march out and take your oath. If the Belgae can live with the shame, then I suppose we can.’

  The creaking stopped as the arrows were removed and the bows lowered. Galronus sighed again.

  ‘Thank you Adcantuannus.’

  Turning his back and sauntering away in a deliberate show of trust, the Remi officer collected the fallen sword and shield and returned to his men, passing the shield to its owner.

  ‘Thank you sir. Thought you was a goner for a moment.’

  Galronus smiled.

  ‘Me too, soldier. Me too. I must find the man who located that gate outside and buy him a shipload of wine!’

  The centurion close by smiled at him.

  ‘I suppose that’s it for now then, sir. We’ll be making camp and securing the land for a few days before we move on?’

  Galronus shook his head and clapped a hand on the man’s shoulder, causing the harness full of phalerae to jingle and clink against the mail beneath.

  ‘Hardly, centurion. We are now in a race against possibly the entire population of Hispania. I suspect the preparations to march are already underway.’

  He glanced past the disarming rebels in the street, on past the low town wall and to the distant, hazy, blue-grey peaks of the mountains that separated the Celts of Gaul from their brothers in Spain.

  ‘Mountains full of howling
defiance await us yet.’

  Chapter 17

  (Quintilis: The foothills of the Pyrenees.)

  Crassus strode through the tent’s doorway, brushing the leather flap aside without taking his eyes from the fortification ahead.

  ‘Well, commander? What have the scouts found?’

  The army had arrived at the foothills of the mighty mountain range that separated the tribes of Spain and Gaul two days ago, following rumours and reports of the massing of tribes gathered from scattered farmers by the scouts. Then, yesterday afternoon, as the Seventh and their support entered the lowest channels of the passes into the peaks, they had made a disquieting discovery.

  The confederation of tribes, or at least a part of it, had constructed a camp on a high ridge that stood above a fork in the valleys and commanded a powerful position. This in itself was hardly a surprise, but the form of the camp and its defenders was startlingly familiar.

  Now, as Galronus stood before the legate, his eyes turned to follow the man’s gaze, falling on the fortifications opposite. The tribes had constructed a camp of a perfectly Roman form, with ramparts, ditches, gatehouses and towers and even from this distance the two men could see the rows of ordered tents within, gathered around a central headquarters area. They might as well have been looking at their own camp.

  Galronus drew a deep breath.

  ‘It’s very much as you feared, legate. Their fort is well constructed on a perfect Roman model and sizeable enough to hold at least twice our number. As yet it seems to be half empty, so presumably they’re still expecting many more reinforcements from across the mountains, but my scouts have spotted nothing so far. I’ve set them keeping watch on every pass and valley for eight miles, so we’ll have plenty of warning before they arrive.’

  ‘And what of the fort’s defences? Anything I can use?’

  The Remi commander shrugged.

  ‘The rampart and palisade are perfectly Roman, so you know exactly what to expect. I would guess that any leader who has adopted your ways that far probably doesn’t stop at the walls. The camp seems to be laid out in Roman fashion and I heard calls being issued by a great horn. The only slight advantage we can identify is the southern side. The camp is surrounded by a triple ditch on all the other approaches, but only by one half-cut ditch on the south, due to the nature of the rocky ground there. Problem is that the approach to the south is a narrow spur with a frightening drop at either side; what Fronto calls a ‘killing ground’.’

  Crassus nodded.

  ‘They have very much adopted our ways. I have heard of this before in the northern reaches of Spain. The tribes there fought in the great war under Sertorius almost twenty years ago. They hailed him the ‘new Hannibal’ if you can believe it. Sertorius spent years in Spain teaching their tribes and leaders how to be more Roman. Now look how it turned out.’

  Galronus took another deep breath. Being the bearer of bad tidings was never a good thing, and Crassus hardly held him in high regard as it was.

  ‘There’s worse news.’

  The legate squared his shoulders and spoke without taking his eyes from the fortified position on the opposite spur.

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘They are sending forays out down into the valley. The supplies we brought with us up here are all we’re likely to get. Groups of enemies are scattered all over the countryside below, effectively sealing off the passes. No new supplies will reach us unless we send a sizeable escort for them.’

  Crassus nodded.

  ‘Which, of course, we cannot do without weakening ourselves too much here. We should have brought months’ worth of supplies, but haste was of the essence, sadly.’

  He turned to the tribunes, standing silent nearby.

  ‘What is the situation with our supplies?’

  ‘We have food supplies for a week. More if we stretch and ration it, but we risk weakening the men. Water is not an issue as there are streams and springs in the area.’

  Crassus shook his head.

  ‘Unless those springs are in sight of our current position, disregard them. If the enemy are setting small ambush groups up in the valleys below, be sure they are also sealing off any free supplies. If they haven’t found a way to poison the water against us, they will be watching it, ready to take us on. No. We rely on what we brought or what we can see from here.’

  Galronus nodded thoughtfully. Tertullus had told him that Crassus, for all his faults, was no fool tactically, and the ageing tribune appeared to be absolutely right. Galronus would be willing to bet that any source of food or drink within reach had already been dealt with.

  ‘Scouts have given a clear report of several passes a few miles to the east. Perhaps we can reroute the supply wagons to come to our position by a circuitous route? We could besiege them then and slowly force them to capitulate.’

  Crassus nodded.

  ‘It’s worth a try... the supplies, I mean. Have riders dispatched with the appropriate orders and have small units posted to keep a clear view on the route. But the supplies will be seriously delayed and may have trouble with the terrain, so we cannot rely on them.’

  He clapped his hands together in the misty mountain air.

  ‘No. No sieges. We have to move quickly and decisively. You may be able to give us half a day’s warning of approaching reinforcements, but we cannot be sure that the enemy do not have other, more secret, ways across the mountains. They know this land far better than any of us, and I can’t risk waking one morning to find they outnumber us ten to one.’

  He turned to the tribunes.

  ‘What say you?’

  The men glanced at one another nervously until Tertullus shrugged.

  ‘We didn’t come this far to sit on our hands and watch the whole of Spain arrive across the mountains. Let’s go over there and give them a lesson in how a real Roman army works.’

  There was a murmur of assent from the others and Crassus nodded again.

  ‘Seems like there’s only one clear course of action. Have the senior centurions gather for a briefing. We move at dawn tomorrow.’

  * * * * *

  Galronus walked his horse slowly forward at the head of a detachment of auxiliary cavalry on the army’s left wing and glanced across the lines of advancing troops appreciatively. The organisation of the army seemed nonsensical unless one had listened to the legate explain it.

  Shunning the traditional formations, Crassus had placed his auxiliary spearmen and archers at the very centre of his force, the position usually reserved for the heavy infantry, with three cohorts of the Seventh flanking them on each side, the cavalry split into four groups at the two edges and following on behind and the remaining four cohorts guarding the Roman camp on the spur opposite.

  Presenting such a weak centre had stirred discontent among the veteran centurions, who considered it their job to hold the prime position, but the subtlety of the plan soon quietened them.

  The auxiliaries were a lure. Since the enemy knew Roman tactics well, they would expect a standard Roman advance and would be prepared to deal with it. This would perhaps throw them a little off guard, but would hopefully also lead them to believe their opposition to be tactically incompetent. After all, what general in his right mind fields his weakest troops in the centre?

  The Remi officer clenched his teeth. They were getting too close. The speed of the Roman march perhaps had not given the enemy enough time to draw the appropriate conclusions.

  Surely such a formation would be too tempting for the enemy to pass up?

  And as soon as they poured forth from the gate, even should they do so as a Roman style shield wall, and engaged the auxiliary spearmen, the centre would begin an orderly fall back, keeping a line of spears to their pursuers, as the two wings of legionaries would swing round and turn inward, flanking the enemy, effectively boxing them in until they were trapped and slaughtered. The cavalry, at this point, could create a cordon around the periphery to prevent any escapes and try to gain and hold the
fort’s gate.

  It was an ingenious move; a manoeuvre subtle and cunning in its formation.

  But something was wrong. The lure had not worked.

  By now the enemy should be rushing from the gate, or at least forming up. No horn blasts sounded, and no warriors appeared. The Roman forces were now no more than a quarter of a mile from the enemy fortifications, which stood proud on the crest of the long slope. They were not coming.

  Grinding his teeth, Galronus wheeled his horse and raced off past his men to the rear of the advancing Seventh Legion and toward the commanders who rode behind, shining silver and crimson in the early morning sun.

  His thoughts must have been shared by the legate and his tribunes since, just as he rounded the rear and made for the officers, the cornicen blew the call for the legion to halt. As the entire advancing force stopped in perfect unison, Galronus trotted up to the command group.

  ‘Clever fellow’ the legate was saying to the tribunes.

  ‘Clever, sir?’

  ‘He’s not been fooled by the weak formation. This leader we face knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s going to sit inside his fortifications and wait until he has enough men to squash us like a fly.’

  Rusca frowned.

  ‘Then what do we do, sir?’

  ‘Quite simple. We attack. What other choice do we have?’

  The legate turned to the cornicen, noting Galronus’ presence for the first time with a flick of his eyes.

  ‘Send out the calls’ he addressed the man. ‘I want the auxiliaries withdrawn to the rear, and the Seventh to form up in standard battle formation.’

  Dismissing the musician, he turned to Galronus.

  ‘Can’t see much use for the cavalry in a direct assault. I suggest that you just keep your men back and send them anywhere you think they might be useful as the opportunity arises.’

  Galronus shifted in his saddle. For his entire force to be so summarily dismissed was irritating, but there really was no way he could think of to fault the legate’s reasoning. He would just have to make sure that a situation that he could use arose.