We left Metapontum and advanced to north of Tarentum, crossed the Appian Way and then made a dash across country towards the coastline a few miles south of Gnatia. Sixteen days after we had left Rhegium, I stood on a long sandy beach looking at the gently lapping waves of the Adriatic. The cavalry was five miles inland, setting up camp for the night, and only Nergal and myself had ridden to the shore. The afternoon was giving way to early evening and a light sea breeze blew in our faces. I pointed out to sea.
‘In that direction, many miles away, is Hatra, beautiful, majestic Hatra.’
‘We will see it again, highness.’
‘You really think that?’
‘Of course, highness. Why would Shamash save our lives and give us all the great victories we have won without some purpose.’
I looked at him. Brave and loyal Nergal. He never complained or doubted that we were on the right course. I placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘When we get back to Hatra, I would like you to be an officer my father’s royal bodyguard.’
He flashed a smile. ‘I would be honoured, highness.’
‘No, Nergal, it is I who am honoured to have such an able commander by my side.’
But first we had to kill more Romans.
That night Byrd and his scouts returned from their reconnaissance of Brundisium. They had ridden right into the port and even to its harbour. But then, a group of scruffy individuals on untidy horses and carrying no weapons, dressed in dirty clothes and unshaven, would elicit more pity than concern. Now Byrd drew Brundisium’s layout on the earth using his dagger. I had gathered all the company commanders to attend his briefing, which he gave beside a wagon, as I had given orders that no tents were to be erected this night.
‘Port lies on one side of large bay. But before sea reaches port it goes through a narrow channel where land on either side is close, before widening at Brundisium. This means that Romani cannot send many ships in and out because channel is only wide enough for one ship.’
‘Are there pirate ships in the harbour?’ asked Burebista.
Byrd nodded. ‘Many ships lie out to sea as well.’
‘What about the city’s defences?’ I asked.
Byrd stood up and replaced his dagger in its scabbard. ‘Walls enclose port on all sides except where there is water. Big city, walls are all manned. You will not be able to storm it. But no need, for Romani are unloading troops on beaches north of the city. On way back we saw many ships anchored off beach, with troops camped on sand. No walls there.’
‘Are you sure?’ I said.
‘Of course. Romani think slave army is far away. Why should they worry?’
‘Why indeed?’ I replied.
We rested for three hours, during which time we fed and watered the horses, removed their saddles and checked the straps and fittings, and then groomed them. The veterinaries checked horseshoes and then we examined our weapons. It was dark by the time I once again assembled the company commanders and gave them their orders.
‘We ride in quick, hit them hard and then get out as fast as we can. Use flame arrows on any ships that are close enough to the shore, but don’t let your men wade into the water, tempting though it may be. They will merely make themselves slow-moving targets for any archers or slingers the enemy may have.’
‘What about the port, lord?’ asked one.
‘We leave it. We’re here to kill Roman soldiers, not capture cities.’
The full moon illuminated our route well enough as two and half thousand cavalry trotted in column towards the stretch of sandy beach where the Romans were landing. In many ways it made perfect sense. Why use a port that would quickly get congested when they could also take advantage of long beaches where the sea was shallow for at least a hundred yards out from the shore? Byrd led us, the redoubtable guide who had once been a seller of pots. How strange was fate.
The carts and the remaining five hundred men I had ordered south to just north of a small town called Caelia. Once we had made our assault, the carts would slow us down and I wasn’t sure how many horsemen the Romans had. Byrd and his men had seen no horses being unloaded from the ships, but that did not mean that Brundisium’s garrison did not have any. The landscape we moved through was largely flat, very dry and was punctuated by dry riverbeds, and the whole area was filled with olive groves and vineyards. We scattered flocks of sheep, the animals parting before us like a giant white blanket being torn in two. Fortunately the sheep outnumbered humans by around a thousand to one, for Calabria appeared to have few villages and villas. Aside from the towns, this was a sparsely populated region, and for that I was glad. Gallia rode beside me, her Amazons behind, followed by my dragon, then Nergal’s and finally Burebista’s. We had ridden for two hours when Byrd and one of his scouts galloped up to me and halted. By now our eyes had become accustomed to the moonlight and I could see the terrain around us with ease. I could also smell the salty air of the sea, and Byrd confirmed that we were less than a mile away from the beach.
I dismounted and gave the order for everyone else to do likewise, each man (and woman) conveying the command with a hushed voice. There was no sound and I was worried that the Romans would become aware of our presence, though as the wind was blowing off the sea, at least any noise we made would not be carried towards them. I knelt on the ground, one hand holding Remus’ reins. Byrd knelt opposite me. Nergal and Burebista joined us while Gallia and Praxima stood over us.
‘Romani guards every twenty paces just off the beach,’ said Byrd.
I stood up and looked ahead. I could not see the beach because the ground rose up slightly around four hundred yards in front of me, beyond which it sloped down to the beach. Byrd had told us that the beach itself was about three miles in length and that ships were anchored along its whole length.
‘Many ships anchored both at the shore and in sea. Dozens of ships.’
It was about an hour to dawn. Nothing stirred.
‘Very well,’ I told them. ‘Nergal and Burebista, get your men deployed into line, but keep them on foot for the moment. I will take the centre. Nergal, you will form the right wing and Burebista, you will be our left wing. Once we are in position, we will walk the horses to the top of that small rise ahead, and then we will mount up and attack. Ride straight through any screen of guards and onto the beach. And order everyone to be as quiet as the dead. Surprise must be total.’
It took half an hour, maybe more, for hundreds of men and their horses to move from column into line, and every minute that passed shredded my nerves a little more. I kept looking in the direction of the beach, straining my eyes for any sign of the enemy. My imagination taunted me, and any minute I expected to see the massed ranks of several Roman legions cresting the ground ahead of us. Gallia touched my arm and I jumped. She passed me a waterskin.
‘Are you unwell?’
I drank the lukewarm water. ‘No, just jumpy.’ It was curious how the burden of command bore down on me like a colossal weight just before battle.
Finally we were ready. I glanced left and right to see men holding their horses stretching into the distance. Each dragon was formed into two lines, and as I raised my hand and led Remus forward, twenty-five hundred others did likewise. It took us another fifteen minutes to traverse those four hundred yards to the crest, each rider carefully picking his way through wild grass, tussocks and rabbit holes. Some stumbled and fell, cursing as they did so, their noise increasing the thumping in my chest. I looked up and saw that the sky had changed, the eastern horizon was now turning a dark orange — dawn was breaking. We reached the crest at last and I vaulted onto Remus’ back, behind me my dragon did the same. For a few seconds I stood and looked ahead. I could see the orange sky and the yellow ball of the sun just creeping above the sea. In front of me the beach was littered with groups of Roman soldiers sleeping on the sand, their shields and javelins neatly stacked beside them. The sea, smooth as a mirror, was filled with ships, their sails stashed and their oars at rest. It was an impressive display of Roman might, and they were as vulnerable as a newborn lamb.