Nervous, the man beside him shoved his spear forward too soon, and Hanno’s attention snapped back to the present. ‘Hold!’ he ordered. ‘Your first thrust has to kill a man!’
One heartbeat. Two heartbeats.
‘Now!’ Hanno roared at the top of his voice. In the same moment, he thrust forward with his weapon, aiming it at the face of the nearest hastatus. On either side, hundreds of Libyans did the same. Hanno’s speed caught the legionary off guard, and his spear tip skidded over the top of the other’s scutum to take him through the left eye. Aqueous fluid spattered everywhere and an agonising scream ripped free of the hastatus’ throat. Hanno’s instinct was to shove his spear even deeper, making the blow mortal, but he stopped himself. The man would probably die of his injury. More importantly, he would not take any further part in the battle. With a powerful twist, Hanno pulled the blade free. Iron grated off bone as he did so and the bellowing hastatus collapsed.
Hanno barely had time to breathe before another legionary came trampling over his first opponent and deliberately barged straight into him. If it hadn’t been for the fact that his shield was locked with that of the man on either side, Hanno would have fallen over. As it was, he was knocked off balance and struggled to regain his footing. This was precisely what the hastatus had intended. Bending his right elbow, he stabbed his gladius over the top of Hanno’s shield. Frantically, Hanno twisted his head to one side, and the blade gouged a deep line across the cheekpiece of his bronze helmet before skimming through the hair on the side of his head. The hastatus snarled with anger and pulled back his weapon to deliver another blow. Hanno struggled to use his spear, but his opponent was too close to reach him easily. Panic bubbled in the back of his throat. The battle had hardly started, and already he was a dead man.
Then, out of the blue, a spear took the hastatus through the throat, making his eyes bulge in shock. He made a choking gasp as the blade slid out of his flesh, and dropped like a stone, sending gouts of blood all over Hanno’s shield and lower legs. ‘My thanks!’ Hanno shouted at the soldier behind him. He couldn’t turn around to express his gratitude, because another hastatus was already trying to kill him. This time, Hanno managed to fend off his attacker with his spear. Cursing loudly, they traded blows back and forth, but neither could gain an advantage over the other. Things were taken out of both their hands a moment later when a man a few steps to Hanno’s right, who had discarded his pilum-riddled shield, was killed. Two hastati forced their way into the space at once, shouting at their comrades to follow them. Hanno’s opponent knew that this was too good a chance to pass up. In the blink of an eye, he had shoved his way after his fellows. To Hanno’s relief, he was granted a brief respite.
Panting heavily, he glanced to either side. Claws of worry raked at his insides. The phalanxes were holding their own, but only just. To his left, the Gauls were struggling to contain the same intense assault. Worryingly, the hastati there had already been joined by the principes. The Gauls had even less prospect of holding back these legionaries, thought Hanno sourly. Most of the principes wore mail shirts, making them much harder to kill. Thus far, however, the tribesmen were not retreating. Despite their lack of armour, they persisted in fighting to the death. Already the ground beneath their feet was a churned-up morass of corpses, discarded weapons, mud and blood.
Desperately, Hanno cast his eyes to the Roman left flank. His heart lifted. Thanks to the Iberians and Gauls, it had been shorn of its cavalry protection. There was no sign of Hannibal’s heavy cavalry, however, which meant it was still pursuing the Roman horse. Hanno’s worry increased tenfold. If that battle hadn’t been won, they might as well all give up now. Then his attention was drawn by hundreds of figures who were swarming towards the enemy’s left flank. To his delight, he saw that they were hurling javelins and firing sling stones. It was the Carthaginian skirmishers!
A yelling hastatus jumped into the attack, preventing Hanno from any further thought. He fought back with renewed determination, using the greater length of his spear to stab at the Roman’s face. The fight wasn’t over by any means. There was hope yet.
As they rode towards the Carthaginians, Quintus forgot his father’s reassuring words. He felt sick to the stomach. How could a thousand men prevail against what looked like more than five times that number? It simply wasn’t possible.
Calatinus also looked unhappy. ‘Longus should have split our horsemen equally,’ he muttered. ‘There are nearly three thousand allied riders on the other flank.’
‘It’s not fair,’ moaned Cincius.
‘The figures still don’t equate,’ Quintus replied wearily.
‘I suppose. It’s not even as if the bastards coming towards us will be scared. They’ve already tasted victory over us.’ Calatinus cursed the consul heartily.
‘Come on! We should be able to stall the enemy attack,’ encouraged Quintus. ‘Hold the line, and stop the enemy from having free rein over the battlefield.’
Calatinus’ grunt conveyed all types of disbelief. Cincius didn’t seem convinced either.
‘Listen to our infantry,’ cried Quintus. The noise of their tread was deafening. ‘There are more than thirty-five thousand of them. How can Hannibal with his little army, made up of a hodgepodge of different nationalities, prevail against that type of might? He can’t!’
His comrades looked a trifle more confident.
Wishing that he felt as certain as he sounded, Quintus again fixed his gaze to the front.
The first of the enemy riders were now very close. Quintus recognised them as Gauls by their mail shirts, round shields and long spears. He squinted at the small, bouncing objects tied to their horses’ harnesses. To his horror, he realised they were severed human heads. These warriors could be some of their so-called allies, and the heads those of his former comrades. Of Licinius, perhaps.
Calatinus had seen the same thing. ‘The fucking dogs!’ he screamed.
‘Yellow-livered sons of whores!’ Cincius bellowed.
A towering rage also filled Quintus. He wasn’t going to flee from cowards like these. Men who would kill others as they slept. I would rather die, he thought. Quintus raised his spear and chose a target, a warrior on a sturdy grey horse. The magnificent gold torc visible over the top of the Gaul’s mail shirt revealed him to be an important individual. So did the three human heads bouncing off his mount’s chest. He would be a good start, Quintus decided.
However, the tide of battle swept Quintus away from the Gaul he’d aimed for. In hindsight, it was a good thing. The tribesman was immensely skilled. Quintus watched in horror as a Roman rider fewer than twenty paces away was skewered through the chest by the Gaul’s weapon. The force of the impact punched the man off his saddle blanket, dropping him dead to the dirt below. The horse behind stumbled over the corpse, unbalancing its rider, and rendering him easy prey for the Gaul, who was now swinging a long sword. He took off the cavalryman’s head with a great sideways lop. Quintus had never seen blood spray so high in the air. Gouts of it went everywhere as the panicked horse galloped off. It was perhaps a dozen steps before its dead rider toppled off.
At once the Gaul sawed on his mount’s reins and jumped down. Quintus’ amazement turned to disgust. The warrior was after another head. He would have given anything just then to be able to reach the Gaul, but it was not to be. He nearly lost his own head to a swinging sword, managing to dodge it only because its bearer uttered a loud war cry as his killing stroke came down. As it was, Quintus nearly fell off his horse. With a speed born of utter desperation, he managed to regain his seat in time to parry his opponent’s next powerful blow.