The Armenian swordsmen did not follow the legionaries as they withdrew, having lost a not inconsiderable numbers of men to gladius strikes. The Durans held the top and right-hand sides of the square, the Exiles its left-hand side and rear, as all round it enemy troops deployed into position.
I slid off Remus’ back as I saw the white-crested helmet of Domitus coming towards me. Gallia ordered Zenobia to dismount the Amazons as the rest of Dura’s horse archers also jumped down from their horses. A curious quiet engulfed the square as the officers of both sides worked feverishly to rearrange their men and ignored their opponents. Quartermasters issued fresh javelins, shields and swords to battered and bruised legionaries who formed orderly lines at the wagons while Alcaeus and his physicians ran around patching wounds and carrying the seriously wounded into the centre of the square.
Domitus had taken off his helmet and was wiping his sweaty forehead when he reached me. ‘Bit careless of you to lose both of your wings.’
I too took off my helmet and wiped my brow on my sleeve. ‘There are too many of them, I realise that now.’
‘What do you want to do?’
Chrestus ran over as Gallia began counting the arrows left in her quiver.
‘We are only half a mile from Hatra,’ I said. ‘Gafarn has most likely withdrawn to the city and Vistaspa is too good a soldier to allow his heavy horsemen to be trapped and destroyed, so I must deduct that he too has sought refuge in Hatra. We should do the same.’
Gallia was unimpressed. ‘You will give victory to the enemy?’
‘Either that or stay here and be slaughtered,’ said Domitus flatly.
‘We take the wounded with us,’ I said. ‘Those who are seriously injured can be loaded on the wagons, the others can walk back to the city.’
I smiled at Gallia. ‘Take command of the horse archers. Divide them between the four sides of the square and tell them to kill any slingers or archers they see. The enemy will try to soften us up with missiles before they launch a fresh assault.’
She nodded curtly and then went off with Zenobia to organise our archers.
‘It is best that the queen has something to occupy herself,’ I said to Domitus and Chrestus.
Domitus winked at Chrestus. ‘To stop her bending your ear, more like. Reminds me of that time when we were surrounded by Narses and Mithridates. The horsemen buggered off then as well.’
‘I sent them away,’ I corrected him. ‘Besides, it is not quite the same: at least we are within walking distance of safety.’
‘If we can break out of the position we are in,’ Chrestus reminded us both.
A roll call revealed that the legions had lost a hundred and fifty dead and nearly four hundred wounded, most of the casualties being inflicted in the mêlée with the Armenian swordsmen. The latter now stood facing the Durans in front of the top of the square, retreating fifty paces when the archers Gallia posted among the legionaries began shooting at them with great accuracy. The Durans on the right side of the square faced thousands of levy spearmen, our archers having great sport against these men who had already been badly mauled by the legions, shooting arrows that pierced thin wicker shields and struck unarmoured torsos, necks and faces. They were quickly withdrawn out of range. The Armenian slingers and archers took up position in front of the spearmen and attempted to counteract our missile fire, but our recurve bows had greater range than the Armenian ones and after a short while their archers also withdrew, leaving only the slingers to duel with our bowmen before they too were pulled back.
It was the same on the other side of the square where the Armenian commander also placed a great number of levy spearmen, who were very effectively culled by Dura’s expert archers before being pulled back. But it was a different story at the foot of the square where we would have to make our breakout attempt. Here the enemy placed his professional spearmen: soldiers wearing leather cuirasses and helmets and carrying large, rectangular wicker shields of almost shoulder height that were faced with leather. Our arrows were unable to penetrate them and so the archers were reduced to trying to hit the Armenian horsemen who were arrayed behind the spearmen, to no avail. I received a report from Chrestus whose Exiles faced these heavy spearmen that they numbered at least twenty thousand men. The Armenian general knew that this was the direction any breakout attempt would come from and had deployed his men accordingly. Smashing through such a barrier would be an epic struggle indeed.
The ordered calm was suddenly shattered by the sound of hundreds of kettledrums, trumpets and horns as the Armenian ring around us sprang into life and thousands of spearmen and swordsmen charged our square. The charges against the right and left sides of the square were disordered and half-hearted as hundreds of levy spearmen, their morale already fragile, were cut down by dozens of archers standing among the ranks of the legionaries. But at the top and bottom of the square it was a different story. The Armenian swordsmen, now without their javelins, locked shields and ran at the Durans with swords drawn. The latter, having been resupplied with javelins, hurled two volleys to cut down the first ranks of the Armenians and temporarily disrupt their momentum. But there were still many thousands of Armenians left and the two lines smashed into each other to recommence their grim close-quarters battle. At the bottom of the square the locked shields of the Armenian heavy spearmen advanced steadily and methodically but were stopped as the first five ranks of the Exiles hurled fifteen hundreds javelins at them. The thin, soft iron points embedded themselves in shields and bodies, chopping down hundreds of men in the front ranks and halting those behind. Then the Exiles charged, clambering over dead and injured spearmen to get to grips with those behind. The Armenians began to fall back slowly as gladius points stabbed groins, necks and faces. But the truth was that the enemy was keeping us fixed where we were and he had greater numbers to grind us down with relentless attacks against all sides of the square, trading lives for time.
And then I heard a new sound to the northeast and heard the telltale low rumble created by thousands of hooves pounding the earth and knew that we were finished, for a new army had arrived on the battlefield.
It was then that I saw in the distance the Armenian commander; a figure wearing a tall white conical hat with a cuirass of shimmering steel plates, riding a huge black horse up and down behind his swordsmen, no doubt urging them on.
All thoughts of a breakout disappeared as I ran to where the Durans were having difficulty holding back the masses of swordsmen who were hacking at their front ranks. Behind the tiring cohorts dismounted horse archers and Amazons were still loosing arrows over the heads of the Durans and were undoubtedly finding targets, but their missiles were cutting down only a few of the tens of thousands of Armenians who were attacking the legionaries.
Gallia and Zenobia stood beside their female companions as others rushed off to bring fresh quivers from the camel train. Inside the square it was chaos as drivers struggled to retain control of camels and mules and horse archers tried to calm horses frightened by the screams, shrieks and war cries of tens of thousands of men.
I ran past Gallia to the rear of the line of cohorts where a steady stream of wounded men were either hobbling from the ranks or being dragged by medical orderlies and then unceremoniously dumped on the ground before being worked on. I saw one legionary, his mail shirt torn and bloody, stagger from the rear of a century. I ran over to him, put his arm over my shoulder and assisted him to where Alcaeus was binding the wounded arm of another soldier.