His jaw clenched. That will soon change.
At dawn, Spartacus had spoken to the other leaders about the need for restraint. The need to limit the amount of rape and killing that would go on once their attack on Forum Annii began. His words had fallen if not on deaf ears, then on ears that would no longer listen.
‘My men have been marching for more than three stinking weeks,’ Crixus had snarled. ‘It’s been cold and damp and miserable. All they’ve had to fill their bellies is porridge and bread that’s been burned over a fire. Now we’ve reached somewhere that is completely undefended. There isn’t a legionary for fifty miles. My lads want meat and wine. They want beds and women to fuck in them. All of those things are lying down there in Forum Annii, and I’m not going to deny them the pleasure of having the lot. No one is.’ A tiny, challenging smile had traced its way across Crixus’ lips.
Castus had whooped with excitement. Even Gannicus had looked pleased at the prospect of uncontrolled pillaging.
I had to bite my tongue, or the army would have split up then and there. Spartacus closed his eyes for a moment. May the gods have mercy on the people down there. Let them die easily.
He knew that his prayer was in vain.
Hell was about to be unleashed on Forum Annii.
Chapter XVII
Waking long before dawn, Carbo had risen from his blankets full of excitement. The raid on Nola had been an unparalleled success, yielding huge amounts of grain and clothing. Nuceria had been similar. No doubt Forum Annii would be the same. Carbo had drunk some water, wolfed down some of yesterday’s bread smeared with honey, and looked to his weapons. By this stage, checking that his sword blade was sharp, his pilum heads securely attached and that the chinstrap of his bronze helmet was in place had become second nature. Navio, whose tent was beside Carbo’s, was doing the same.
Carbo felt the first tickle of unease when he overheard a group of former farm slaves bragging about who would kill the most citizens in Forum Annii. When he’d rebuked them, they had laughed in his face. Carbo had confided in Navio, whose answer had been a simple shrug. ‘Some of that will go on. It always does when a town is sacked. Doesn’t mean you have to be part of it, but there’s nothing to be done about it. These things happen in war.’
War, thought Carbo with a trace of unease. It seemed surreal, but that’s what Spartacus’ uprising felt like now. It’s inevitable that some innocent blood will be shed. He was doubly glad that Chloris was staying behind in the camp.
Carbo would have preferred to go in with Spartacus, but that wasn’t going to happen. During the march south, he and Navio had each been appointed to serve with one of the newly formed cohorts. Naturally enough, Navio was in charge of one, while Carbo served as second-in-command in another. His senior officer was Egbeo, a man who would obey Spartacus’ order not to allow widespread killing.
Naively, Carbo had assumed that the same command would have been given to everyone in the army. The farm slaves’ boasts had made it patently clear that this was not the case, and as he’d moved into place on the tree line above Forum Annii, he had heard plenty of similar threats being made. He struggled to accept the depth of hatred some of the slaves felt towards their former masters and all Romans in general. Had Paccius harboured such emotion? Surely not. What about the other domestic slaves that he’d grown up knowing? Carbo couldn’t believe that they had also felt such loathing. For all his father’s faults, he hadn’t been a cruel master. Chloris seemed equable about what had happened to her.
Yet if he were honest it wasn’t hard to realise why some slaves might feel bitter. Carbo thought of those who had belonged to his former friends in Capua. For them, life had been entirely different. Beatings were the daily norm. Rape was commonplace. If a slave was judged to have stolen, or committed other serious crimes, so too was torture. Carbo had seen the branded letter ‘F’ — for fugitivus — on more than one man’s forehead. This was the punishment meted out to those caught after they’d run away. While rare, execution was also not unknown.
If I had lived by such rules, how might I feel if the tables were turned?
Carbo’s stomach twisted uncomfortably. He had only one answer, but he didn’t want to admit to it. For some, life as a slave was a living torment, and any opportunity for revenge would be seized with both hands. What would inevitably happen when they descended on the town was chilling. Carbo didn’t want to be part of it, but he had to be. He was Spartacus’ man for good or ill. Whether they were fighting against a legion, or about to sack a town.
‘Advance!’ called Spartacus in a low voice. ‘But stay together. I want a solid line as we approach.’
Carbo licked his dry lips. ‘You heard him,’ he hissed at the men to either side. ‘Forward, at the slow march.’
As the order spread, thousands of men emerged from the trees. They were armed with spears, swords and sharpened stakes. Spartacus could see the occasional scythe and mattock. One figure was even bearing a smith’s hammer. Was it Pulcher? He couldn’t be sure. The tatters of mist on the fields gave the slaves some cover as their leaders forced them into line. The discipline is holding for now. Let it continue to do so.
It was a faint hope.
They hadn’t gone more than a couple of hundred paces before a bunch of Crixus’ Gauls broke free of the ranks. Raising their weapons, they charged towards Forum Annii like a pack of hunting wolves. Curse them, thought Spartacus. He lifted a hand, stalling his men. ‘Steady. Steady. Let the fools go.’
But already Crixus was pounding after his followers, laughing like a lunatic.
What happened next was as if a logjam of winter debris blocking a river had been freed. In a seething mass, virtually the entire army swarmed forward across the ploughed earth. Whoops and shrieks filled the air in a deafening and bloodcurdling cacophony. The men following Spartacus, Navio and Egbeo were the only ones to hold back.
Despite the fact that surprise was of little or no importance, Spartacus scowled at the men’s indiscipline. He didn’t want to miss out on the action, however. There could be large quantities of money in some houses. Perhaps even letters from Rome in the local politicians’ offices. ‘After them,’ he roared. ‘We don’t want to be last to the party.’
It was all the permission the rest of the slaves needed.
With a great, inarticulate roar, they charged.
By the time a quarter of an hour had passed, Carbo had given up trying to control his troops. It was like trying to call off a pack of dogs after they’d caught a hare. Only when the prey was dead would they listen. He’d lost count of the number of times he had screamed at a man not to chop the limb off a screaming greybeard, or to rip the clothes from a woman’s back before throwing her to the ground. When the deed was done, they finally seemed to hear his voice, turning to look at him with surprised, crazed faces. The moment he’d moved on, Carbo was sure it all began again.
Forum Annii had become how Carbo envisioned Hades. The streets were full of manically laughing, dead-eyed men with bloodied sword arms, mutilated corpses and screaming women and children. Here and there an occasional armed householder was being hacked to pieces. Some houses were on fire; the roof of one had already collapsed inwards. The air was laced with the thick, choking smell of their burning, as well as the harsh tang of blood and shit. Carbo didn’t know what to do. In frustration, he had even clubbed one of his men unconscious. While it had prevented the murder of a girl of no more than ten, the slave’s companions had turned on him, waving their weapons threateningly. Seeing his death at their hands, Carbo had simply dropped his shield and dragged the girl away. This was no time to try and assert his authority. If he could save a child’s life, that would at least be something.