Dionysus was a ship’s-length ahead of me. We were under oars, the wind heading us as it had for ten days. There was a commotion aboard my ship, and Doola came aft to tell me that Dionysus was standing on his stern platform and asking for me.
I ran forward along the gangway. I ordered the marines into their armour as I went. My heart beat fast, and my old — well, let’s call it what it is, eh? — my old greed for glory was suddenly there.
So much for maturity.
I ran onto the bow platform. Dionysus hailed me from his stern and bellowed, ‘Let’s take them!’
Even as he called, he was turning his ship.
Megakles was following him, and the oars were in perfect order, with Doola sounding the time as Seckla put him in his thorax.
I stood on tiptoe on the bow rail for a long breath.
The enemy ships were not in supporting range. Why would they be? They were a day out from home in a Carthaginian port, not in the face of the enemy. And who had ten warships to come after their fleet?
We had five.
Their warships were mostly clustered at the western end of the crescent. The seven big tin freighters were three stades farther east, opposite the agora. It was early morning, well before the hour when a gentleman puts on his chlamys and wanders down to the agora. Only slaves are awake at such an hour.
And pirates.
I scratched my beard, took another breath and raised my fist.
‘Let’s take them!’ I roared back.
Behind me, on my own deck, the rowers grunted in unison and there was a rumbling — of approval, I hoped.
I’m not usually one for speaking when going into action, but I ran amidships and stood by the mainmast.
‘Listen, philoi! The whole treasure of Carthage lies under our rams, and all we have to do is take it. Some of you have your own quarrel with Carthage. Some of you would like to be rich. There’s five hundred ingots of tin over there, maybe more. Enough for every man here to buy a farm and twenty slaves to work it for him.’
My maths may have been weak. But they cheered.
‘But they aren’t weak, the men of Carthage. So listen carefully for orders, and when we board, I want every man coming with a roar. Right? Here we go.’
It was something like that. They roared, and on the ships behind, Gaius and Neoptolymos probably said something similar.
We rowed. I was not willing to use my rower’s energy yet, and Dionysus must have been of a similar mind, so we rowed at a walking pace in line ahead. Dionysus was first, and I was second; Neoptolymos third, Teukes fourth. Vasileos had our round ship, and Daud, who had seen plenty of sea time, had asked to be placed in command of Hasdrubal’s pentekonter. He had a difficult job. We put two-dozen good oarsmen into his ship and took the hardest cases out, but the pentekonter was always sagging behind — a slow, old ship. That’s how Hasdrubal had ended up, and well deserved, too.
At any rate, we pulled into the east wind, and as we closed with the westernmost part of the convoy — the tin ships — we saw men waking up, running down the beach, pointing at us, and so on.
I had all the time in the world to put on my gleaming, magnificent new panoply. I walked along my catwalk, feeling rather like Ares come to life. Men reached out to touch me. That’s praise.
The enemy warships were coming awake.
Men were pouring down the sand, working like Titans to get those ships off. The round merchantmen were anchored out, with their round stone anchors holding them near the beach.
I watched them all. As usual with a fight, everything seemed to be moving very slowly — right up until the moment when everything would suddenly go very fast. Our surprise was slipping away, and I began to wonder if we’d have been better to come in at ramming speed and try to crush the enemy triremes where they lay. But it was too late for that, now.
Doola came up next to me, bow in hand. He looked under his hand at the merchantmen.
‘I want you and Seckla and ten men of your choosing to go into that one,’ I said, choosing the third ship out from the beach. ‘Put her sails up and get into the offing. And then run for Massalia.’
He looked at the warships. ‘You might need every man,’ he said.
‘I might. But I’m not aiming for a heroic last stand,’ I grinned. ‘Just take it and run. Pick up Vasileos and Daud as you go.’
He nodded. ‘You think it is a trap?’
‘Nope,’ I said. I could feel the strength in my sword arm. ‘I think we’ve bitten off more than we could possibly chew.’
We didn’t bother to ram the merchants — we wanted them intact. My Lydia shaved alongside my chosen victim, my starboard side oars in and across in perfect order, and my archers watched their rigging while my marines went up a ladder and across from our standing mainmast to theirs. Boarding from the mast was one of Dionysus’ tricks. It had a number of advantages, and in this case, where we really had reason to fear a trap, even a handful of men well above the enemy deck allowed us some security. A merchant’s sides are much higher than a trireme’s, which makes boarding difficult and dangerous. A merchantman packed with soldiers would make a tough target and a perfect trap.
But not that day.
Our men stormed aboard as cleanly as they might have in a drill — better, because their blood was up. The ship’s keeper — the only man aboard — jumped over the side and swam for shore.
Doola crossed over with his chosen volunteers. Too late, I realized that Seckla was taking Geaeta. I saw her run up the boarding plank, long shins flashing in the early summer sun.
Well, she was or she wasn’t a spy. I doubted she could kill Doola.
I got my marines back as the first of the Carthaginian triremes came off the beach, six stades away.
These things have a life of their own. You might ask why we didn’t make a plan, and I’ll say that had we hung off the coast to make a plan, we’d have found them in a defensive circle, or their triremes coming out after us. Dionysus was confident, and so were all the rest of us.
That said, my plan depended on the others following me. Because I took my marines aboard, got them into the bow and headed due east into the oncoming enemy. I hoped that my consorts were coming with me.
Leukas, my Alban, had the deck with the sailors. He was acting as oar-master in Doola’s absence. I gave him the nod to go to ramming speed. He gave me a thumb’s-up.
Anchises and Darius led the marines, and I joined them. They were big men, and all my marines were now bigger men than I–I’d had a year to pick and choose the best, and arm them like heroes, too.
I pointed to the lead enemy ship off the beach. ‘We’re going to go aboard her and take her,’ I said. ‘Anchises, kill your way aft and take command. The rowers ought to obey you. If they don’t, Darius, you kill a few. Until they obey. Understand?’
Both men grunted.
‘Row clear and run north. Look for Doola. Got it?’
Both men nodded. The other marines nodded.
Across the narrowing strip of water that separated us, the Carthaginian trierarch had just realized that I meant business and that his friends were coming to help him. He had the best ship and the best crew, and like such men, he thought he could do everything himself. Of course he did. I was another such man. But now he was coming to ramming speed, and he realized that win or lose, he was alone.
The next best Carthaginian was just getting his hull in the water.
I looked aft at Megakles. He waved.
Both ships went for an oar-rake, and both ships got their oars in. They were fine sailors with superb helmsmen, for the most part. We raced down their starboard side, and the grapnels flew in both directions. We were going so fast that some of the grapnels ripped free, and I saw a rope snap as the whole weight of two racing ships came to bear on it. The flying end of the rope struck my pais and ripped his face off the skull beneath, and the poor boy screamed and screamed. It was one of the most horrific wounds I’ve ever witnessed.
I had to put him down. That felt bad.
I’d planned to free him. He’d served me so well.
