“They don’t have any ladders,” Ipointed out to Ivomagus.
It should not have surprised me that hisreaction was an indifferent shrug.
Seeing I was expecting some sort ofresponse, he finally said, “I take it that is a good thing,Centurion.”
“It means,” I forced myself to bepatient, “that they’re not going to be able to goover the wall, Ivomagus. They’regoing to have to pick some of those weak spots and try to breakthrough them. Now, it’s true that won’t be difficult given thenature of your wall,” I granted. “But they’re also going to have todo it with some of our men sticking a fucking spear in their facewhile they’re working.” This seemed to encourage Ivomagus, whonodded thoughtfully, returning his attention back to the Brigantes,but then he said nothing, and it was with the last shred of myself-control that I suggested, “Perhaps letting the men know this,it might raise their spirits a bit.”
To his credit, his immediate reaction wasone of embarrassment, and he muttered, “Yes, of course. You arecorrect, Centurion.”
Raising his voice, he spoke in his nativetongue while I watched not him but the men, trying to gaugeIvomagus’ effectiveness by their collective reaction. He swept hisarm in an encompassing gesture, but I knew when he pointed out thelack of ladders by the looks of surprise, with the men standing onthe parapet craning their necks to peer down the length of thewall, their eyes lingering on each fire and the Brigantes warriorsclustered around them. Their reaction was not overwhelming, but Icould see a few heads nodding, followed by their presumablyrelaying the information to the men who were behind the parapet andcould not see. I was thinking about suggesting to Ivomagus that hemount his horse and relay this information to the men spread aroundthe wall, but then the Brigantes took matters out of my hands.
One thing that was brought home to me duringthe fight for Petuar was something that my real father once toldme.
“Never forget that our enemy has a sayin everything we do,” he had told me during a meal we shared onwhat would turn out to be his last campaign. “We can make the bestplan of attack possible, and it can be shredded faster than a whorecan cut your purse strings by our enemy.”
That conversation was in my mind when,this time without any audible signal, the chariots came thunderingout of the darkness, catching us completely by surprise. Thosefires were a diversion, I thought; that cunnus wanted us looking at them while hebrought those chariots up. I also realized that, Diviciacuspresumably, had used the growing darkness to his advantage bykeeping those chariots just beyond our range of vision, althoughthey were fully visible now because there was a bouncing, swayingpoint of light above every one of them, the sign that a passengerwas holding a torch. Not that it mattered in the moment, and once Ihad seen enough to determine they were heading more or lessdirectly for the eastern gate, I looked to Ivomagus to give theorder for the group of archers we had designated to support thatgate to make ready. When he did not, I turned about and bellowed atthe top of my lungs, nothing intelligible, but I wanted to gettheir attention, and I mimed drawing a bow then beckoned them witha gesture. They reacted quickly, but the chariots were now at afull gallop, and when I turned my attention back to beyond thegate, the leading chariot was close enough that I saw that it wascarrying three men and not two.
“Is that unusual?” I asked Ivomagus.“To have three men?”
“It is not done that often,” heanswered, never taking his eyes off the leading chariot, “but it isnot unheard of.”
He was so intent on the chariot leading thecharge that he did not even glance in my direction, prompting me toask, “What’s special about that chariot? Why are you watchingit?”
“I am,” he answered, but he never tookhis eyes off it, “trying to see if that is Diviciacus.”
Naturally, this turned my own attention tothe leading chariot, but before I could get a good look at thethree men, the driver suddenly veered away at such a sharp anglethat the wheel closest to us lifted a couple of feet off theground, yet his two passengers did not even reach for the wickersides, and once again I could not help being impressed. Now theleading chariot was parallel to the wall, still running at agallop, and while his initial turn had him about fifty paces fromthe wall, very quickly, he veered closer, so close that the man onhis right could have reached out to touch the wall. That was whenwe found out what
