The remaining Romans in their centuries threw down their weapons and held their hands up to beg for mercy. Our troops, mostly Thracians and Germans who had fought them all day long, were exhausted and were probably glad to stop hacking and thrusting. The Romans were marched to the rear, to await Spartacus’ decision as to their fate. Afranius was not so merciful. When the Gauls facing him, who had been subjected to a withering hailstorm of arrows all day, broke and fled, he ordered his men to pull down the stakes between him and his adversaries. And when it was done he threw them forward. The only resistance they faced was a thin line of Gauls who were trying to cover the retreat of their comrades. They died in a matter of minutes as all the cohorts of Spaniards raced forward and butchered everything in their path. Within fifteen minutes they had linked up with Castus’ men and the battle was over. But not the slaughter.
I ordered my cavalry to mount their horses once more and form into companies, and then we rode forward to lend what assistance we could. I found Cannicus, bloody and tired, holding an impromptu conference with some of his cohort commanders. He raised a hand when he saw me.
‘You live, Cannicus. Where is Castus?’
He slapped one of his officers on the back and then ordered them away. ‘He also lives. He is with Spartacus escorting the prisoners.’
‘We have prisoners?’
‘Once we had broken their left wing and surrounded them, the fight went out of them, especially as their commander was cut down. We cut his head off and threw it into their ranks. I reckon there must be about four or five thousand of them, all Roman.’
So the governor of Mutina was dead. I hoped that King Ambiorix also lay dead on the battlefield.
The sounds of battle were still coming from the direction of the ditch, about half a mile away. Cannicus took off his helmet and wiped his brow with a rag. ‘There’s still some fighting going on over there. Some of the Gauls must have been cornered.’
‘I will see if we can be of assistance. Take care of yourself, Cannicus.’
He smiled wearily. ‘You too, Pacorus.’
I rode at the head of my horse to where the last remnants of the Gauls were being destroyed by the soldiers of Afranius. A great group of Gallic warriors had been surrounded by his men about three hundred yards from the ditch. They stood now, packed shoulder to shoulder with their shields locked together and their spears pointing outwards. They had formed into a large square, within which there was no room, just a mass of mostly bare-headed warriors standing in mute defiance. On each side of the square, a cohort of Afranius’ men faced the Gauls, while behind these cohorts were companies of my archers. I saw Godarz and rode over to where he was standing. I dismounted and embraced him, while his archers cheered when they saw their fellow cavalrymen ride into view.
‘Good to see you, highness.’
I released him. ‘You too, Godarz. It has been a hard day.’
‘It has indeed.’
‘Where is Nergal?’
Godarz gestured to the north. ‘Afranius sent him and his men along the ditch. It is full of fleeing Gauls. Dead Gauls by now, I should imagine.’
I looked towards the square of Gauls. ‘What’s going on here?’
Godarz spat on the ground. ‘We managed to trap this lot and now Afranius is deciding what to do with them. Look’s like there’s around three or four thousand.’
Afranius suddenly appeared, smiling when he saw me. ‘A great victory, Pacorus.’ He bowed his head to me. ‘I dispatched Nergal north to kill as many Gauls as he could who were in the ditch. Your men are fine archers.’
‘Of course,’ I said, ‘they have been taught by Parthians.’ I jerked my head towards the Gauls. ‘Are you trying to persuade them to give themselves up?’
Afranius looked horrified. ‘No. We sent an emissary under a banner of truce but they cut him down. They stood behind those wretched stakes all day. It was only when the rest of their army had been surrounded id they beat a retreat. And then we were knocking down those posts as fast as we could. They thought that we would be delayed long enough to make their escape. But they were wrong.’
I looked towards the Gauls. Indeed they were. Did you see a king among them?’
‘A king?’
‘It doesn’t matter. He pays others to do his handiwork.’
‘As soon as my men are in position we will kill them all,’ said Afranius.
I turned to Godarz. ‘How many arrows do your men have left.’
He shrugged. ‘Down to our last ten each, or thereabouts. We did a lot of shooting today.’
I looked at Afranius. ‘Let Godarz soften them up first.’
‘Use all the arrows you have left,’ I said to Godarz, ‘we can always make new ones.’
I put a hand on Afranius’ shoulder. ‘Well done.’
He beamed with delight as I remounted Remus. ‘Godarz, when it’s over stay here. I am going to find Nergal.’ I looked up at the sky; it was early evening by now. ‘I should be back before nightfall.’
We rode north parallel to the ditch, as behind me I heard the hiss of hundreds of arrows slicing through the air, followed by shouts and screams as their metal heads hit flesh and bone. There was no hurry now, so we adopted a gentle trot as we followed the route of the ditch. Like most things the Romans built, it was perfectly straight. I rode a few feet from the edge of it, with Gallia beside me and her women, Gafarn and Burebista behind us, followed by his companies. The ditch itself was filled with dead Gauls, the victims of Nergal’s archers. We travelled for at least a mile before we came across the first group of his men, a company of his dragon riding back towards the battlefield. They cheered as we approached. I spoke to their leader, a tall Parthian with a dark-skinned face and long arms.
‘Where is Commander Nergal?’
‘Half a mile ahead, highness. We have no more arrows left, so he sent us back.’
I looked at him. ‘Where are you from?’
‘Hatra, highness, ten years in your father’s army.’
‘Excellent. You and I will see Hatra again. You have done well today.’
He bowed his head. ‘Thank you, highness.’
We at last found Nergal a mile further north, marching back on foot at the head of his companies and leading his horse. He looked tired and was covered in dust, but he beamed with delight when he saw us and halted his column. He bowed his head to me and then we embraced. It was good to see him. When we separated Praxima raced up and threw her arms around him, which brought a mighty cheer from his men.
‘Are you too out of arrows?’ I asked him.
He held up his empty quiver. ‘Not one left among us, highness.’
‘I have arrows left, my love,’ said Praxima. ‘We can go back and kill some more.’
Nergal and those men within earshot laughed. ‘I think there has been enough killing today, my sweet.’
And so there had been, for the stretch of ground that some call the field of honour had today been seeded with the dead. They lay in heaps where the fighting had been the fiercest and where men had been unable to escape the rain of arrows that had been showered upon them. Dead Gauls lay piled around their knights, while scores surrounded their dead chiefs, cut down trying to protect their lords. The ditch was filled with a great mound of dead and dying Gauls where they had thrown themselves in, while along its bottom for a distance of at least three miles lay a carpet of corpses.
‘A great victory, highness, my congratulations,’ said Rhesus.
‘Thank you, Rhesus.’
I looked at him and suddenly realised that he was very pale. Then he tumbled from his saddle onto the ground. I leaped down from Remus and crouched by his side, as others also dismounted and crowded round.