Gunderic hunched his shoulders. “You cannot refuse what we ask.”
“It is not you who asks,” I said. “I can refuse anything.”
The Aleman said politely, “You have a great army, no doubt.”
I said quietly, “I would not advise you to find out.”
“I have,” he said. “We have many friends on your bank. You have only a small force. You could not stand out against one of our peoples even.” He paused, Gunderic glanced at him, and said quickly, “It would be wiser to make terms as Stilicho did.” He added harshly, “Stilicho is a Vandal. He has wisdom in this matter.”
“And I am a Roman.” I stood up and Quintus stood up with me. “You, who are a wise man with much experience, will know by now that spies so often tell their masters only what they wish to hear, especially when they receive silver from both sides.” I saw his mouth tighten as I spoke. “Besides, you forget, I came from Britannia,” I said. “I brought my legion with me but I have more on the way.” I smiled. “Nanienus who beat your father in battle at Argentaria was my countryman.” Rando gave a little hissing breath. “One horseman is worth three men on foot,” I added gently.
Gunderic said insolently, “That is what my father told me and he fought at Adrianopolis. I forget how many Roman soldiers were killed there. The plain was white with their bones.”
“Precisely. My cavalry is anxious to see if they can do the same.”
“You have not enough men.”
“Try me,” I said. “It is your wives and your children who will be sorry. Did I not tell you that the Burgundian king stands on my left side in this matter. And that is the side that matters: the side of loyalty.”
The Aleman king rose to his feet. “Remember that we asked to come in peace,” he said.
“Share your lands in peace with each other and be content with what you have.”
Gunderic glared at me. “If you offered silver as Stilicho did I would not accept it.”
“Do not worry,” I replied. “That offer was never in my mind.”
Gunderic clenched his fist. “When the spring comes—” he said, threateningly.
“Yes, when the spring comes I may decide to hold the right bank of this river instead of the left, as we did in the old days. I await only my other legions. But by that time you may be hungry. I will pray that the winter is a mild one.” I turned to the Aleman king. “I hope that your harvest was good so that you may feed your guests with true hospitality. It would be cruel if they were to be a burden to you.”
Rando said stiffly, “My friends are my friends.”
Quintus laughed, and his sudden laughter startled them. “Of course. Why not? For myself I never let my friends stay too long lest they come to think of my home as their own. Guests are thoughtless people.”
As they turned to go I said, “Remember, King of the Alemanni, there is peace so long as the river is between us. But let one of your people set foot on my bank without permission and he will be killed before he has time to dry himself.”
They left, discomfited, and we returned to Moguntiacum.
Lucillius, my senior tribune, unlaced his helmet. “I’m glad that’s over,” he said. “They scared me.”
“The question is,” said Quintus, “whether they believe our bluff.”
“They have to,” I said.
Lucillius said, “They were worried at the start when you mentioned the cavalry.”
“That was what I intended.”
Quintus raised an eyebrow. “I hesitate to criticise but—was it wise to put our dice on the table.”
“Why not? If we were strong enough I would be happy to encourage them to do battle, and beat them. But we are not, so I must discourage them from attempting to cross in any way I can.”
“But if they know how many men we have—”
“They don’t. They suspect we are a small force. Their spies told them as much. Remember, I kept the cavalry this summer always apart in small detachments. They thought us a legion in the old formation. As Lucillius says, they were alarmed at my having a master general of horse.”
“Fifteen hundred cavalry,” said Quintus softly. “Oh, Mithras.”
Lucillius said, “If only the Vandals want to cross—well, surely, there aren’t many of them, sir. Wouldn’t it be better to come to terms? We could absorb them easily.”
“Is that what you think?” I said. “Why did the Aleman king say—and he did not mean to let it slip—that we could not hold out against even one of them? Because the Vandals aren’t the only tribe who wish to make the crossing.”
Quintus looked at me sharply. “Are you sure?”
“I am certain of it. Radagaisus’ men included Ostrogoths and Quadi. They were the advance guard. If their Italian raid had been successful the rest would have followed. But they failed, their retreat home was cut off and they were forced to take refuge in the Aleman country. The Aleman are too strong to be pushed out but not rich enough to feed their unwilling guests for ever.”
“If the Aleman are so strong why don’t they do the pushing?”
“Probably because the Quadi, for one, provide a fine buffer state between them and—” I hesitated. I said slowly, “You heard what Gunderic said. They have the sea to the north as a barrier, and we are the barrier to the west and the south. The barrier in the east is not the desert—it is the Huns.”
Lucillius shivered and crossed himself.
Quintus said, “Will they fight each other? That is what you want them to do.”
“Yes.”
“And if they try to cross now?”
“They won’t. They are afraid of my cavalry and they think I have reinforcements coming.”
“And just how long will they continue to think that when the west bank is riddled with their spies?”
I said hopefully, “There are other ways of winning battles than by fighting them.”
That afternoon I called a council of my cohort commanders. They had all come in from their forts to witness the meeting on the island but, upon my orders and much to their disappointment, had remained in camp. Briefly I told them what had happened. Even more briefly I told them what we must do. I shouted an order and one of the centurions in gilded armour came in and saluted. “They thought this man a general,” I said. “And there were nine others dressed alike.” There was a roar of laughter. “Now,” I said. “They must go on believing that we have the men to serve these generals. It will not be easy but it can be done.”
A week later the six ships of the Rhenus fleet made their appearance on the river and I spent a day on board Gallus’ flag-ship, Athena, testing their efficiency. The rowing was competent but not first class. I did not worry about that. It would improve, inevitably, with practice. The archery of the marines was accurate but too slow and the ballistae crew were below standard. The fire tubes were handled efficiently enough, but as weapons they were useless except against other boats at extremely close range. Gallus said he would try to do something to improve this. It was agreed that one ship each should be stationed at Confluentes, Borbetomagus and Moguntiacum, and the remainder should operate from Bingium which Gallus would make his headquarters.
Before he moved downstream I said, “I shall hold you responsible for sinking any boat that tries to cross from the east bank.”
“Don’t worry, sir,” he said cheerfully.
“It is you who will do the worrying,” I said shortly.
They were famous night fighters and they came with blackened faces and arms on a night when there was no moon because of the heavy skies. Exactly how many there were, I do not know, but I judged a thousand when all the evidence had been collected afterwards. They came in two groups from up river, one trying to land a little above Moguntiacum, the other a little below it, and there were twenty men to each boat. Fortunately for us they were seen by the night patrols I had left on the islands and by a boat of my own that was moored in a concealed position high up the river. This boat let them pass and then followed them down.
Fired on from the warship, fired on from the island and fired on from the camp they suffered terribly. Many had never met liquid fire before—the fire that cannot be put out—and their screams tortured the sky. Those who tried to land were killed in the shallows, cut down while still wet by Quintus’ cavalry. Afterwards, the troops on the islands reported that only six boats of wounded and dying men made the journey back to the east shore. The bodies were still floating past Confluentes ten days later.
Just after dawn, while the troops from the camp were clearing up, pushing the dead back into the water, finishing off the wounded with a clean stroke and piling up the weapons for my inspection, I crossed to the east
