"It's always the innocent who suffer,Charax." I said this so softly that only he could hear, and asquickly as the blood had rushed to his face, now it drained away asthe import of what I was saying hit him. "And this time won't beany different. So go back into your city, make your preparations,and pray to your gods. Because we are coming."
With the help of a spoonful of poppy syrup,I was able to get some sleep that night, but it was a fitful,restless sleep that saw me arise dank with cold sweat, and in abitter mood. My leg had stiffened considerably in the night, to thepoint that I needed Diocles to gently lift my leg and swing it offof the cot, placing my foot very carefully on the ground. Even so,I could not stifle the groan that the motion caused, and I wonderedhow I was going to do what needed to be done this day. The onesmall grace was that, since I was in command of the army, Ioccupied the Praetorium, meaning that Flavianus and theTribunes had to come to me. At least most of the way; my pridewould not allow me to stay in the private quarters of thecommander, but when I tried to hobble into the next room thatserves as the meeting room, my leg collapsed from under me.Finally, Diocles was sent to fetch a pair of crutches from themedical tent, and only then was I able to hop about. It wassupremely ungraceful, and my pride was stung, but it was betterthan the alternative of lying in a bed while giving the orders forthe coming siege. Flavianus was the first to arrive, and wasted notime.
"I've selected four different spots in themile and couple of furlongs of space that we have that I think willbe safe to dig," he announced, showing me on a wax tablet where hehad sketched a crude map of the layout of the town, our camp, andthe area in between.
"How far?"
"That," he admitted, "will be the challenge.We're going to need to extend our lines so that the men won't haveto dig more than two hundred paces until we're under the wall."
I considered this; while not unexpected, itraised a number of questions and challenges that we did not have toface when we used the siege towers. Undermining the walls meantthat the men involved in the task would be exposed to constant firewhenever they were not actually underground, even after weconstructed the mantlets that we would roll over the holes beingdug. We would have plutei, the large wooden shields, andfascines, along with the large wicker baskets that, oncethey were filled from the spoil of the initial holes, would offerprotection.
"We're still going to need a lot of wood," Ipointed out to Flavianus.
"Yes and no," he said. "If you're willing todo what we did at the fortress at Serdica, we could speed this upconsiderably.”
I thought about that. In a very similarcircumstance, when we had assaulted the fortress that stood betweenus and Serdica, we had compensated for the lack of wood by usingthe wood from the wagons by creating plutei from the planks.When we were finished, the planks were simply reassembled, althoughwe did lose a total of one wagon because of the damage done to anumber of the boards.
"How much?"
"More than a day," he replied instantly."Two, if we use the wagons that are carrying the money."
"No." I was adamant about that. "Having thatmuch money just sitting in a big pile will cause more trouble thanit's worth. I'd rather lose part of a day than lose any of thatmoney."
Perhaps it is surprising, although it shouldnot be, but I held no illusions that there was not a sizable numberof the men in the army who whiled away the time by trying to thinkup creative ways to steal as much of that money as they could carryaway. More importantly, I knew that if they were given theopportunity, men of every rank would be sorely tempted to taketheir chances. With the money in the wagons and right next to thePraetorium, I could exert at least a bit more control. Thiswas the topic we were discussing when Macrinus, Flaminius, and theTribunes arrived, each of them coming from their morningduties.
Eying them coldly, I said, "I hope youweren't pulled away from anything important."
The bunch of them mumbled something, and Iknew I was being ungracious, but my leg was throbbing by thispoint, except I was too proud to sit down and prop my leg up.Recognizing I was not going to get anywhere with this line ofconversation, I changed the subject.
"Since we're going to undermine the walls, Ineed each of you," I indicated Macrinus and Flaminius, "to pull themen who have mining experience, and split them up between twomines. Each Legion will be responsible for digging two mines, butas you know, it's highly unlikely that all four will besuccessful." Both men were experienced, and nodded theirunderstanding. "Once we get to a point where we can decide whichtwo of the mines are the best bets to get under the walls, thenwe'll combine the forces and work around the watches, day andnight."
The Primi Pili nodded again, but neither ofthem looked happy about the prospect of telling their men that notonly were they going to be dirty, they were going to be tired.
While I understood this, I felt compelled topoint out, "You need to remind them that this is the bonus for thiscampaign, and the sooner we bring those walls down, the faster weget back to Siscia so they can spend their money." Turning to theTribunes, I nodded to Capito. "You're going to continue runningyour mounted patrols. I don't want to be surprised if Charax sentfor help. Lucullus," I continued, "you're in command of the workingparties that will be
