by Ben Kane
‘Tribal scum! Most of them would turn on their own mothers if they thought there was any gain to it.’ The officer paced up and down, brooding. ‘Hannibal wants our grain, I take it?’
‘Yes.’
‘And if we give it to him?’
Hanno doubted the officer had the authority to open the gates. He was asking because he was scared. That gave him a little satisfaction. Hanno had no idea how many of the inhabitants of Victumulae were citizens. Most, he supposed. Non-citizens had no need to live behind the protection of high walls. Did they know what lay in store for them when the town fell? Hannibal had begun using a clever new tactic, exploiting the fact that Cisalpine Gaul was not fully under the Republic’s control. All non-Romans who surrendered to his forces were being spared. They were told that Carthage had no quarrel with them, and sent on their way. Captured Romans, on the other hand, were executed or enslaved. The policy was designed to foment unrest among Rome’s allies. The strategy was in its early stages, but Hannibal had high hopes for its success.
The officer would know, or at least suspect, what might happen when Hannibal’s army stormed in, Hanno decided. That knowledge alone would ensure him an agonising death. He might as well put the fear of Hades into the whoreson. ‘Most of the citizens here will be enslaved; some will be executed. Their properties will be confiscated or destroyed.’
His tormentor’s lips pinched white; behind him, the triarii growled with anger. ‘And the non-citizens?’ asked the officer.
‘They will not be harmed. Carthage wishes them no ill.’ Hannibal’s concept was a bloody clever one, Hanno thought.
‘D’you hear this whoreson?’ cried the officer. ‘He’s got some nerve, eh?’
‘Let me have a turn with him, sir,’ pleaded the wall-eyed soldier.
‘And me!’ added his companion.
The officer studied Hanno’s face. Although his fear was rising to new heights, Hanno managed to glare back. A long moment passed, but neither would look down first.
‘I know a better way of making the dog suffer,’ said the officer. ‘What made him most angry was when I called him a slave.’
Sheer terror convulsed Hanno as the Roman pulled the iron with the ‘F’ on the end of it from the fire. Not that, Eshmoun, please! Baal Hammon, save me! Melqart, do something!
His pleas were in vain.
‘This is what stings your gugga pride, isn’t it?’ The officer brandished the iron as he approached. ‘The fact that you’ll be marked as a slave for the rest of your miserable life!’
More than anything, Hanno longed to have a sword in his hand, so he could run his tormentor through. But his reality could not have been more different. Gritting his teeth, he steeled himself for the worst pain of all.
The officer glanced at the triarii. ‘Of course he’ll be halfway to Hades in a few hours, but who’s counting?’
The soldiers’ roars of laughter rang in Hanno’s ears as the ‘F’ moved up towards his face.
His fear got the better of him. ‘Don’t do it. I spared your life.’
‘What are you talking about? Have you gone mad?’ cried the officer, but he stayed his arm.
‘About a week ago, you and your men were ambushed in your camp. The fighting was vicious and many of your men were slain. You were retreating when I got the better of you. I let you go, when I could have killed you.’ As shock filled the officer’s face, Hanno prayed that he didn’t know the real reason that he yet lived. All he, Hanno, had been trying to do was save Mutt’s life.
His prayer seemed to have been answered, as the officer smiled. ‘By Jupiter, you were there! How else could you know those details?’
‘I ask for a quick end, that’s all,’ said Hanno quickly.
Silence fell.
Let him just kill me. Please.
‘You should have slain me. It’s what I would have done to you,’ said the officer with a cruel smile. ‘It changes nothing. For invading our land, you guggas deserve everything that comes your way. Hold him,’ he ordered. ‘He’ll buck like a mule.’
Hanno bit down on his disappointment and terror, and gambled all on something utterly crazy. ‘There’s no need,’ he said. ‘I can take the pain.’
The officer’s eyebrows rose. ‘The gugga reconciles himself to his fate.’
His tormentor took great care to aim the iron right at the centre of Hanno’s forehead. The heat radiating from it was unbearable, but Hanno waited until the last moment before he jerked his head up and to the left. The officer swore, but was unable to stop himself planting the ‘F’ on the right side of Hanno’s neck, just below the angle of his jaw.
Hiss. Stars of white-hot agony burst across Hanno’s vision. Waves of it tore from his neck and down into his chest. They shot up into his very brain. He screeched at the top of his voice. He cursed. His bladder emptied itself again. As his legs gave way beneath him, his shoulders took all of his body weight. Yet the pain of that was as nothing compared to the excruciating hurt where the iron had met his flesh. The smell of burned meat filled his nostrils, caught in the back of his throat. He retched; up came a few mouthfuls of bile. And then he was falling, falling, down a bottomless well. At the mouth of the well, he could dimly make out the officer’s face, which was twisted with fury. The Roman was shouting something, but Hanno could not make out the words. He wanted to reply, to say, ‘I’m no slave,’ but his throat wouldn’t work. A door slammed; other voices were raised. They too were unintelligible.
Confusion filled Hanno as he slipped away into the blackness.
Bostar burned with anger as he gazed at Victumulae, which lay a quarter of a mile distant. It was entirely surrounded by the antlike figures of thousands of men. The air was filled with the tramp of feet on the hard ground and shouted orders as the units designated for the attack marched into position. There were regular twangs from the light ballistae as they shot at the ramparts. The stones landed with dull thumps, which were often followed by screams. Bands of Balearic slingers in light tunics whirled and spun before the walls, adding their slingshots to the showers of missiles. Large formations of Gauls advanced, chanting war songs and blowing their carnyxes in a deafening crescendo of sound. Ringed by his senior officers and a group of scutarii, his best Iberian infantry, Hannibal watched the operation from the back of his horse, some two hundred paces away. The remaining elephants stood nearby, their mere presence designed to intimidate the defenders.
After the rousing speech that Hannibal had just given, Bostar longed to be with the Gauls who were advancing with ladders to the foot of the walls, or with those who were already battering at the main gate with a ram fashioned from the trunk of a massive oak. Hannibal had praised every man in his army. Told them that he was proud of how they had overcome all obstacles in their path. He was impressed by their discipline, their bravery and fortitude. He’d said that their loyalty to him could be repaid in only one way — with a deep loyalty of his own. ‘I will do anything for you, my men,’ Hannibal had cried. ‘I will endure the same hardships. Sleep on the same rough ground. Fight the same enemies. Shed my blood. And if I have to, I will lay down my life for you!’ Those last words had stirred Bostar’s passions deeply, and from the mighty roar that had followed, he judged it to have had the same effect on every soldier within earshot. All he’d wanted to do after that was to attack. Yet he and his spearmen had been ordered to stay put. As at the Trebia, Hannibal was conserving his veterans. They had seen some action during a vicious mêlée on the road the previous day, but that was it. Bostar’s fist clenched on the hilt of his sword. There had better be some Romans for me to kill when we get into the town. His desire to shed blood wasn’t just because of Hannibal’s rallying call. Hanno’s presumed death by drowning had been hard enough to bear. The grief of it had scourged Bostar for many months. Why couldn’t the gods have taken Sapho, his other brother, with whom he had a fractious relationship? To have been reunited with Hanno out of the blue had seemed the most incredible of divine gifts, but to lose
him again so soon was too cruel. It wasn’t as if he could even blame Hanno’s second-in-command. Mutt had asked to be punished, but, as Hannibal had said, it was clear that, misguided or not, Hanno had brought his own fate down on his head. Why did he act so rashly? wondered Bostar yet again.
‘A shekel for your thoughts,’ said a deep, gravelly voice.
Bostar’s head turned. A short but distinguished-looking officer in a pilos helmet with a scarlet horsehair crest stood before him. An iron cuirass decorated with gold and silver inlay protected his midriff; layered pteryges concealed his groin. Under his armour, he wore a red short-sleeved tunic and a padded jerkin, and he was armed with a stabbing sword that hung in its sheath from a baldric over his right shoulder. To either side, Bostar’s men were grinning and saluting. ‘Father,’ he said, dipping his head in respect.
‘You were a world away as I walked up,’ declared Malchus. ‘Thinking about Hanno, I’d wager.’
‘Of course.’
‘My thoughts are full of him too.’ Malchus scratched at a tight grey curl that had escaped from under his felt liner. ‘The best we can hope for is that he died bravely.’
That’s not much consolation, thought Bostar sadly, but he didn’t say it. Instead, he nodded. ‘It would be good to discover what happened to him.’
A grimace. ‘With the mood the Gauls are in after Hannibal’s speech, I wouldn’t bank on finding many Romans alive after the town falls.’
‘That was partly why I wanted to take part in the initial assault,’ whispered Bostar.
Malchus sighed. ‘You know why Hannibal sent in the Gauls first. Disobeying his orders again would not be advisable, however good your reason. The needs of the army come before our own.’
Although the sentiment was true, it was hard to accept. Bostar did his best. He was sure now that Hanno had been attempting to discover information of potential use to Hannibal. If he’d succeeded, it would have been a first step in restoring himself to favour. Instead, it was a move that had ended with his death. Now Bostar was about to lose the only chance of finding out what had happened to his younger brother. He swallowed his anger. Hannibal was their leader. He knew best. ‘Yes, Father.’
‘The gods give, and the gods take away. But at least we will have our vengeance this day.’ Malchus’ lips peeled into a snarl, and he raised his voice. ‘In order that the surrounding towns understand that resistance is futile, Hannibal has ordered that the Romans’ attempt to surrender this morning is to be ignored. Every citizen within the walls is to be killed.’
That set Bostar’s spearmen to cheering.
It wasn’t Bostar’s way to find commands of this type appealing — as Sapho did — but the thought of what Hanno might have been put through made his blood boil. He spun to regard his men. ‘The Gauls had best leave some alive for us, eh?’
‘Yes!’ They bellowed their enthusiasm. ‘Kill! Kill! Kill!’
The chant was taken up from the phalanx that stood a short distance to their right. Bostar raised a hand to the figure who stood at its head. Mutt returned the gesture. With Hanno gone, he had been given temporary command of the unit.
‘Those lads will fight you for a position on the ladders,’ said Malchus. ‘The Romans have to learn the harshest of lessons for there to be any chance of us succeeding in our mission. They won’t be won over by lenient treatment of their towns and of the prisoners we take.’
Malchus took no joy in killing civilians. Nor did Bostar, yet it had to be done. Why did Sapho have to enjoy it? he wondered.
‘That’s why Hannibal is sending in a man like Sapho in the first wave,’ said Malchus, as if reading his mind.
Bostar said nothing.
Malchus gave him a sharp look. ‘You two, eh? Always quarrelling. Hannibal knows that your skills lie elsewhere. Nor will he have forgotten how you saved his life at Saguntum. He will call on you again in the future. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t need Sapho too.’
‘I understand.’ Secretly, Bostar wished that things were different. That Sapho had been the one to have been captured and killed, not Hanno. He’d thought it at other times, but never so strongly and with so little guilt.
‘Maybe you two can see this as a way to move on. To come together a little.’
Their father had no idea of the depth of bitterness between him and Sapho, thought Bostar. Their feud had been going on since they had left Hannibal’s base in southern Iberia more than a year and a half previously. It had alleviated somewhat during the elation after the victory at the Trebia, but it had soon returned. Sapho would stop at nothing to become one of Hannibal’s favoured officers. His desire for Roman blood seemed unquenchable. But Bostar’s conscience nagged at him. Sapho was still his brother. His only living brother, who had saved his life in the Alps — despite not really wanting to. Bostar had sworn to repay the debt. Until that had been achieved, he’d have to make a pretence for his father’s sake. Maybe their relationship would improve as a consequence. He pulled a weary smile. ‘I’ll talk to him, Father, I promise.’
‘Hanno would approve.’
‘He’d also like to know that we sent him on his way with a fitting sacrifice,’ said Bostar, giving the walls of Victumulae a pitiless stare.
‘I think we can guarantee him that,’ growled Malchus.
Hanno woke, lying on the floor, screaming. The pain was even worse than before. A constant thrumming sensation centred in his neck. It made all his other hurts disappear. It consumed Hanno as flames eat away at dry tinder. All he wanted was for it to end. ‘Help,’ he mumbled. ‘Help.’
A soft voice answered.
Hanno didn’t recognise it. He opened his eyes, puzzled. Instead of the Roman officer, he saw a dark-skinned figure crouched over him, a man he vaguely recognised. He licked dry lips. ‘W-who are you?’
‘I’m called Bomilcar.’
‘Bomilcar?’ As confusion filled Hanno, the darkness took him again.
When he awoke, he could feel something cool trickling into his mouth. Water. His eyes blinked open. Bomilcar was leaning over him, holding a cup to his lips. Hanno’s thirst was overwhelming, but terror consumed him at the thought of the agony that swallowing would cause.
‘You must drink,’ urged Bomilcar.
Hanno had seen men drop from lack of water during the summers in Carthage. Since his capture, all he’d had was the few mouthfuls the officer had given him. He forced himself to take a tiny sip. The pain in his throat was extreme, but the pleasure as the liquid hit his stomach was worth it. He kept swallowing until he could take no more. The effort used up a lot of his strength. Hanno lay back on the cold stone, wondering where the officer and his two men were, but feeling too tired to care. His eyelids fluttered and closed.
‘Wake up! You can’t sleep. Not now.’
Hanno felt a hand take his arm. The movement set off a fresh wave of pain in his neck. ‘Gods, that hurts! Leave me alone,’ he snarled.
‘If you want to live, you need to get up.’
Bomilcar’s urgent tone sank in. Hanno eyed him askance. ‘You have a Carthaginian name.’
‘That’s right. I was brought here to translate what your comrade said, remember?’
Slowly, it came back to Hanno. ‘You’re the slave?’
A flicker of emotion. ‘Yes.’
Suspicion filled Hanno. ‘Have they sent you to see what you can find out from me on your own?’
Sounds from beyond the cell. A man shouting.
Bomilcar’s gaze shot to the door. After a few heartbeats, the noise died away and he relaxed a fraction. ‘No. I’m here to get you out.’
‘I–I don’t understand.’
‘Can you sit up?’ Bomilcar extended both his hands.
Struggling to understand, Hanno let the other help him to a sitting position. The first thing he saw was Bogu, hanging limp from his bonds. A fool could tell he was dead. Go well, thought Hanno dully. I will see you in the afterlife. His eyes flickered to the brazier, which had gone cold. Hours, maybe m
ore must have passed. ‘Where are the Romans?’
‘Gone to defend the town.’
Shock filled Hanno before a stab of hope struck home. ‘Hannibal’s army has arrived?’
‘Yes. The Romans marched out to meet him, but he routed them on the road. Hundreds of legionaries were killed, many of them within sight of the town. Hannibal’s troops are attacking from all sides as we speak. The garrison is massively outnumbered. It won’t be long before our men get a foothold on the ramparts.’
Our men. Hanno’s head swirled. He had no doubt that Bostar and Sapho, his brothers, would be among those in the assault’s vanguard. ‘How long have I been here?’
‘A day and two nights. We need to move. Pera swore to come back and kill you once the end was near.’
‘Pera?’
‘The officer who tortured you.’
‘You’re really here to free me?’ whispered Hanno.
‘Of course. You’re a Carthaginian, like me. But if we don’t move fast, it won’t happen at all.’
Hanno’s heart filled. ‘Thank you.’
‘It’s nothing.’ Bomilcar offered his hand. ‘Can you stand?’
Hanno was lightheaded with pain, but his desire to live was still strong. He took the grip and let the other haul him upright. That was when he saw the gladius in Bomilcar’s other fist. ‘Where did you get that?’
A conspiratorial wink. ‘I took it from the guard outside — after I’d smashed an amphora over his head and cut his throat with his own dagger.’ He proffered the sword. ‘The knife’s enough of a weapon for me. Can you use this?’
Hanno reached out eagerly. His fingers closed on the hilt. He hefted the blade, which was heavier than his own sword. Gods, but it felt good to be armed again, although he knew in his bones that he was no real match for a legionary right now. Hanno was about to hand it back when he saw the admiration in Bomilcar’s eyes. To him, Hannibal’s arrival outside the town must seem like an intervention by the gods. Hanno’s protest died in his throat. Despite his weakened condition, he had more chance in a fight than Bomilcar, who had probably never handled an edged weapon until a few moments before. ‘Just show me a bastard Roman,’ he muttered.