‘You are pleased Crixus is leaving us?’
‘Ecstatic.’
‘You dislike him, don’t you?’
‘I think it is more a case of him disliking me,’ I said.
‘He can be prickly.’
‘That’s putting it mildly.’
‘I think he’s lonely,’ said reflected.
‘Lonely?’ I was astounded. ‘We are talking about the same Crixus, I assume?’
‘He wants a good woman like Claudia.’
‘Or you,’ I said, mischievously. She slapped my arm.
‘Be serious. Because he is a fighter everyone expects him to be cruel and vicious, but he was always good to me in the ludus, and was the first to spring to my defence when I was struck.’
Anger grew within me at the thought of someone striking her. ‘I thought it was Spartacus who defended you.’
‘It was Spartacus who defended his wife and it was Crixus who stopped me from being hurt.’ She sighed. ‘It seems another life away now.’
‘A better life now, I hope,’ I said, slipping my hand in hers.
She turned and smiled. ‘Yes. But you should not be too hard on Crixus. He was born with nothing and has had to fight all of his life. He was not born a prince like you.’
‘Or a princess like you,’ I retorted.
‘We have no say in the circumstances of our birth, Pacorus, only how we live our lives.’
Crixus and his Gauls left army and we followed them ten days later. Everything that could not be carried was burned. Log shelters, sheds, cattle and pig pens, foundries, stable blocks, everything. The palisade that had been erected on the earth rampart to surround Thurri was also torched, along with the wood buildings at the silver mine. The mine itself was allowed to flood, though we had little doubt that the Romans would get it working again as the seams were too rich to be allowed to lie undisturbed. The cattle and oxen would accompany the army on the march, the oxen to pull the heavy carts, the cattle to provide milk, then food, and finally leather. The pigs were slaughtered before the journey, the pork being salted down for rations for the march. The pathetic squeals of the pigs filled the air for days as they were herded together and slaughtered. Spartacus gave orders for everyone to gorge themselves on the abundant food supplies we had, for we could not take fruit or vegetables with us as they would decay very quickly, and once on the march food would be strictly rationed. We would take supplies wherever we found them, but it was better to start out well-fed and thus able to shed a few pounds if conditions got worse. Godarz hardly slept during this period, as it was his task to allocate rations to the various contingents. Working with a score of clerks, he ensured that each century had its allotted portions of grain, olive oil, bacon, lard, salt and cheese. Akmon’s camp was dismantled and its wooden palisade distributed among the Thracians and the tents loaded onto carts. We had no shortage of the latter, having defeated a Roman army and looted two cities and one town.
Our plan of campaign was simple enough: a march along the coast to Metapontum and then a journey to northern Italy along its eastern coast, keeping the Apennine Mountains, which ran through the centre of the whole country, between us and Rome and hopefully any Roman armies sent south against us. Having reached the north of the country, we would cross another chain of mountains, the Alps, and then head for our homelands. I had asked Spartacus if the Alps were high and he told me that they were, but that Hannibal had crossed then to bring his army into Italy over a hundred years before. ‘If he can do it, so can we.’ And so it was that on a warm spring day, the army began its march.
It took most of the morning for the army to form into the column of march we would use to travel through Italy. The first part of the army, who would be far ahead of the main boy of troops, were Byrd’s scouts, who left their camp before dawn and rode far and wide to be our eyes and ears. Operating in groups of no more than half a dozen, they checked the roads, woodlands and hills for signs of the enemy and possible ambush sites. Next came two companies of horse archers as a covering force, who could either reinforce any scouts that encountered trouble, or fight off an enemy long enough for the army to be alerted and give it time to deploy in battle order. Two more companies of horse archers were also deployed as flank guards for the army’s baggage train, which consisted of hundreds of wagons that carried everything we needed to exist as a fighting force, its tents, tools, spare weapons, food and other supplies. Behind the baggage train marched Spartacus, Claudia, Akmon and various messengers and Godarz’s clerks. Godarz himself walked alongside Spartacus, and I think he liked his position of quartermaster general as it was a role of great importance, and after many years of being a slave the experience of being asked for his opinion as an equal was both novel and invigorating. Behind the general’s entourage came the foot soldiers, marching along at a leisurely pace six abreast, preceded by their trumpeters, standards and flags, with each national contingent followed by its own mules carrying personal baggage and tents. Then came my cavalry, those that were not undertaking scouting and flank duties. The men walked beside their horses, usually three abreast, with the carts carrying supplies for both men and horses. The cavalry’s supply train included two hundred mules that were loaded with spare arrows, for my father had always impressed upon me the necessity of having an abundant supply of ammunition. The rearguard, made up of two companies of horse archers, was the last part of the army, which stretched out for nearly ten miles and covered around twenty miles a day.
At first I rode with the covering force, but as the days passed and we encountered no resistance I marched alternately with Spartacus and my cavalry. Gallia’s unit of women I ordered to march with Spartacus, as it would be company for Claudia and if we were attacked she would be in the best-protected position. Each night the Thracians, Spaniards and Germans erected a huge Roman camp and locked themselves inside, but I deployed my cavalry in dozens of separate camps around these locations. I insisted that Gallia and her company stayed in the main camp each night with Spartacus and Claudia, and on occasion I would also eat with my general.
After nearly a month of marching we had passed through Lucania, Puglia, Samniun and were just entering the province of Picenum. As the spring was reaching its height the weather was getting hotter, and the feet of nearly forty thousand soldiers and an equal number of animals kicked up a fine dust that covered us all and got into our throats. Picenum was a wild place, with silent valleys, wild mountain plains and a coastal plain that hugged the blue waters of the Adriatic. There were many herds of sheep in this region and consequently we gained many new recruits, hardy shepherds who brought their flocks and also their women, so soon the army had a sizeable contingent of females in the army. Claudia and Gallia were delighted, but Akmon did nothing but grumble about it.