'You have killed us all.'
Then he dropped to his knees and began to pray.
'Your divinity will not Turn the barbarians into sheep, old man,'
Severus said sarcastically. 'Only the sword can provide deliverance.'
He turned and took Noricus by the arm and began issuing commands. 'Order the bugler to sound battle assembly. Tell Latinius Macer to arm the slaves. Form the men in a tight fighting square. We'll march in formation to the river.'
'Bugler!'
Noricus threw a taut salute and ran for the center of the camp.
The infantry unit of sixty soldiers quickly formed in a hollow square.
The Syrian archers took their place on the flanks between the armed slaves, facing outward, while the Romans formed on front and rear.
Screened in the center were Venator and his small staff of Egyptian and Greek aides and a three man medical unit.
The main infantry weapons of fourth-century Rome were the gladius, a double-edged pointed sword eighty-two centimeters long, and the pilum, a two-meter throwing and thrusting spear. for protection and armor, the soldiers wore an iron helmet with hinged cheek pieces that tied under the chin with a strap and looked like a jockey cap with the brim turned backward, a cuirass made up of overlapping metal plates encircling the body and covering the shoulders, and a guard worn over the shins called a greave-Their defensive tool was an oval shield made out of laminated wood.
Instead of rushing in to attack, the barbarians took their time and slowly encircled the column. At first they tried to draw the soldiers out of the solid lines by sending a few men up close who shouted strange words and made threatening gestures. But their heavily outnumbered foe did not panic and run as expected.
Centurion Severus was too much a veteran to feel fear. He stepped ahead of his front line and surveyed the terrain crawling with barbarians.
He waved derisively at them. This was not the first time he had faced overwhelming odds in a fight. Severus had volunteered for the legion when he was sixteen. He advanced from common soldier, winning several decorations for distinguished bravery in battles against the Goths along the Danube and the Franks at the Rhine. After his retirement, he had become a mercenary, hiring out to the highest bidder, in this case Junius Venator.
Severus had unswerving confidence in his legionaries. The sun gilded their helmets and unsheathed swords. They were strong fighters and battle-hardened men who knew victory without ever enduring defeat.
Most of the livestock, including his horse, had died on the grueling voyage from Egypt, so he walked at the head of the square, turning every few steps so as to keep a constant, wary eye on the enemy.
With a roar that rose and broke like crashing surf, the barbarians rushed down the sun-baked incline and fell on the Romans. The first wave was decimated, pierced by the long throwing spears of the soldiers and the arrows from the Syrian archers. The second wave burst forward, crashed into the thin ranks, and were cut down like wheat before a scythe. The gleaming swords dulled and turned red with barbarian blood.
Driven by a stream of salty oaths, and threatened by the scourging lash of Latinius Macer, the slaves gave a good account of themselves and stood firm.
The formation moved forward at a crawl as the barbarians pressed from all sides, fed by continuous reserves. Great red stains fanned on the dirt of the and slope. More and more naked bodies dropped and crumpled lifeless. Those who surged from behind fought on their comrades'
corpses, slicing bare feet on shattered weapons, throwing flesh against the terrible shafts of iron that thrust into breasts and stomachs, then falling on the death heap. At close quarters they were no match for Roman discipline.
The battle now took a different Turn. Realizing they could make no headway against the swords and spears of the foreigners, the barbarians pulled back and regrouped. Then they began shooting flights of arrows and throwing their crude spears while their women hurled rocks.
The Romans closed shields over their heads like large tortoise shells and stoutly maintained their march for the river and the safety of their ships. Only the Syrian archers were able to cause casualties among the barbarians. There were not enough shields to go around for the slaves, and they fought open and unprotected from the hail of missiles. They were weakened from the long, tiring voyage and the exhausting excavation of the cavern. Many fell and were left behind, their bodies immediately stripped and horribly mutilated.
Severus was an old hand at this style of fighting; he had experienced it against the Britons. Noting that his enemy was reckless and untrained, he called a halt and ordered all weapons be dropped on the ground. The barbarians, taking it as a gesture of surrender, were deceived into making a rash charge. Then, at Sevenis's order, the swords were snatched up and the Romans counterattacked.
Straddling two rocks, the centurion swung his sword in almost measured, metronomic strokes. Four barbarians dropped at his feet. He knocked another one sprawling with the flat of his sword and slashed the throat of one who lunged against his side. Then the frenzied tide receded and the naked horde retreated out of hand-to-hand range.
Severus took advantage of the breathing spell to count his casualties.
Out of sixty of his soldiers, twelve lay dead or were dying. Fourteen more sustained various wounds. The slaves had suffered the worst. More than half were killed or missing.
He approached Venator, who was binding up a gash on one arm with a torn piece of his tunic. The Greek wise man still carried his precious tally sheet securely under his sash.
'Still with us, old man?'
Venator looked up, his eyes brimming with fear mixed with determination'You'll die before me, Sevenis.'
'Is that a dream or a prophecy?'
'Does it matter? None of us will see the Empire again.'
Severus did not reply. The fight abruptly resumed as the barbarians unleashed another discharge of spears and
