“Praetor, it’s not just a matter of diggingthe ditch and piling up the spoil. There’s also the amount oftimber that we would need to construct the proper fortificationsand, as you can plainly see, the nearby hills have been denuded oftrees already, at least of a sufficient size that we’d need.”
Primus opened his mouth to interrupt and Ihurried on, determined to make every point I needed to get acrossto him that this was just not a possibility.
“Finally, even if we did construct thecircumvallation, we need twice the men that we currently have toman the forts that we’d have to construct at points all along thewall. We simply don’t have enough men, materials, or time.”“Soyou’re saying that it’s impossible,” Primus muttered grumpily.
“No,” I replied carefully, because I wassuspicious that he had given in so easily, and I saw his face lightup as he prepared to pounce. “I didn’t say that it’s impossible. Wehave several options to make it happen. First, we could create acircumvallation, if you were willing to stay here for more than oneseason. Flavianus, what’s your estimate of the time we would needto complete this if we do that?”
The engineering officer thought for a momentbefore replying, “I’d say at least four months of solid work, andthat’s not counting interruptions because of weather. Then, howeverlong it would take the garrison and people inside to succumb. Thatcould be days, weeks, or months.”
“Which means that we’d have to find a way tosupply the army for that period of time, and hope that anotherconfederation of Thracian tribes doesn’t show up and attackus.”
“And what’s the other choice?” Primus askedsourly, and I knew that he would like this even less.
“Send for the rest of the army in Pannonia,”I replied. “Or from somewhere else in the Republic.”
The Praetor shifted his dumpy body, sittingup quickly with an alarmed expression.
“Oh, we can’t do that. It’s out of thequestion,” he said immediately, a reaction I thought was veryinteresting.
He and Masala exchanged a quick glance,communicating something to each other without words. I decided Iwould try and find out from Masala what that was about. Primusslumped back in his seat, watching his dream of glory on a scaleworthy of Caesar dissolve in front of his eyes.
“So what are you suggesting?” he asked, histone listless now, like he was no longer interested, which wasprobably the case.
I had noticed with Primus that he could notseem to pay attention to anything for very long, no matter howimportant the subject.
“The only option, as I see it, is to buildat least two siege towers,” Flavianus took it upon himself toreply, and while we had certainly discussed this on the ride back,I did not remember agreeing to present this as the best option. Hecontinued talking, oblivious to my thoughts as I stood silently,racking my brain, going on to describe what would be needed, wherethe towers should be placed, and how long it would take toconstruct both of them. His estimate was at least two months,putting us at the end of the month now known as Augustus, it beingthe end of June by this point. Flavianus finished by saying, “Itwill be a bloody assault, and we’ll take heavy casualties, butthat’s our only choice.”
“Not necessarily,” I interrupted, andFlavianus turned to look at me in surprise and not a littleirritation.
“Prefect, we did discuss this,” he remindedme.
“Yes, but that was before I had anidea.”
I could feel all eyes turn on me, and I feltan unwelcome trickle of cold sweat roll down between my shoulderblades.
“Well, Prefect? What’s this grand idea ofyours?” Primus asked in anything but a positive tone.
While Flavianus had been talking, I had beentrying to think of a more subtle and less costly way to reduceSerdica, and I thought I might have found one.
“What we’re trying to accomplish is takingthe city,” I began. “And what’s standing in our way?”
“The walls,” Primus said quickly, pleasedwith himself, looking around at the others like the star pupilbeating the others in answering his tutor.
“No,” I shook my head, instantly deflatingthe man. “The walls, by themselves, don’t pose a huge problem. Wehave a battering ram large enough to make that gate into kindling.Or if we opted to go over the wall, we could build a single tower,without fortifying it and covering it in green hides, which woulddrastically reduce the time it would take to build. What’s standingin our way is the garrison. If we can substantially reduce thegarrison in Serdica, then it becomes a much simpler problem. Infact, I think if we can halve the size of the garrison insideSerdica, they would surrender, if we offer terms.”
“Terms?” Primus scoffed. “I didn’t come allthis way to offer these scum terms.”
I tried to hide my impatience. “Whether ornot we honor those terms is up to you, of course, but if itsucceeds in convincing them to surrender without a fight, does itreally matter?”
Primus chewed on his lip, knowing that it infact did not matter in the slightest, if his goal was indeed tocapture the city, for whatever reason.
“So how do you propose we reduce thegarrison?” Flavianus asked, clearly curious.
“We leave,” I said simply.
They stared at me for a long moment, and Iam sure they thought I had gone quite mad.
“Or we pretend to. If the Thracians wereconvinced we were gone, what do you think the first thing theywould do would be?”
“Retake the fortress,” Flavianus saidslowly. “And as it’s the first and best line of defense from usapproaching from the south, they’re likely to put as many men asthey can spare on those walls.”
“Exactly. So we have to determine a way toconvince the Thracians that we’ve left.”
“How do we do that?” Primus askedcautiously, like he expected me to rap his knuckles.
“With the help of the prisoners, and thebaggage train,” I explained. “When a large body of men are on themarch, it’s impossible to tell if the dust being raised is fromThracian feet, or Roman. We send a force large enough to guard theprisoners, and they march back to the south. Meanwhile, we
