Marius' Mules II: The Belgae (28 page)

“
Quintus, you crazy bastard. Why are you at the
front?”

“
Why are you?” the older man shouted back, laughing. Leaving
command of the push to the centurions, Fronto and his fellow legate
fell out of the line to the rear and stretched.

“
I saw Sabinus at the fort. He’s alright. I left Plancus with
him, so the prat can’t do much harm.”

Again, Balbus
laughed.

“
I loved your swinging gate manoeuvre. My lads laughed like
Bacchus when they saw all those flailing barbarians washing away
underneath. I even saw one of the men pissing over the side of the
bridge on them as they went past. Should have disciplined him,
really, but to be honest, it was just too amusing!”

Fronto
grinned.

“
Let’s just hope this panic keeps up. If they realise they’re
still more than five to our one, things could go very badly for
us.”

Balbus nodded,
sobering up.

“
Best keep them running then.”

Fronto
smiled.

“
Where’s your helmet?”

“
Bottom of the river, I think. Ah well. Cita owes me a few
favours. I’ll get another one without going through the
rigmarole.”

“
Sir?”

Fronto and
Balbus both instinctively turned. Behind them, Decius stood with
three of his auxiliary officers.

“
I beg to report, sirs, that we are now out of range of the
cowardly, spineless, piss-poor barbarians. I’ve ordered the
auxiliaries across to the fort where we can keep up the good work
from the walls and free up legate Sabinus to bring his legionaries
into the fight.”

Fronto’s grin
widened.

“
Very good, Decius.” He turned to his fellow legate. “Balbus?
You know Decius? He’s one of yours.”

Balbus nodded
uncertainly.

“
I’ve seen you around, prefect, yes. That’s some fine work
today.”

“
Thank you, sir.”

He smiled and
stretched wearily.

“
There’s more, though. From the hill we saw the standards of
the legions behind the woodland to the left over there. Caesar
should be here in about an hour and a half with the rest of the
legions, but it looks like the rear of the Belgic army is already
on the run. I doubt there’ll be many left here by the time the
general arrives.”

Balbus
frowned.

“
Caesar wanted us to hold them here. Could be trouble in
store.”

Fronto ground
his teeth.

“
I’m here to fight and to win. The only way they’ll stick with
this now is if we start to pull back and hand them the advantage.
I’m not going to do that, Balbus.”

Smiling
grimly, he took a firmer grip of his sword.

“
Coming?”

The older
legate flexed his hand several times. That finger he broke on
Fronto’s nose still locked up painfully occasionally. He sighed,
which turned into a smile, and then gripped his own blade.

“
Why not?”

Chapter 10

(Battlefield
on the south bank of the Aisne River.)

“
Aurora: Roman Goddess of the dawn, sister of Sol and
Luna.”

“
Cloaca Maxima: The great sewer of republican Rome that drained
the forum into the Tiber.”

Caesar, pale
faced once again, pulled his horse ahead of the vanguard of
officers.

“
Fronto? Where, pray, are the Belgae?”

The
blood-spattered legate, still gripping his sword, his helmet crest
in disarray, smiled grimly and gestured all around him with a sweep
of his arm. The general’s colour drained a little further.

“
Fronto! I wanted the Belgae trapped here. I wanted to wipe
them out, for good.”

Fronto
shrugged.

“
With respect general, the only way we could have kept that
many here is to let them carve us into new shapes. We were
teetering on the edge of complete disaster and, frankly, I think
it’s quite impressive, given the odds, that we pulled this
off.”

The general
shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “And now they’re
south of the river, they’ve got free reign to attack our supply
lines and destroy Remi lands!”

Balbus shook
his head.

“
I don’t believe so, Caesar. As they fled, they went west. They
were trying to get far away from us and yourself. I think they’re
following the river and trying to find a way to get back across and
head north again.”

Caesar
grumbled.

“
And then the Belgae will fall back and regroup to face us
again.”

Fronto
grinned.

“
A lot less of them, though. We won you a solid victory here,
Caesar.”

The general
ground his teeth.

“
Trying to give you orders, Fronto, is like trying to nail a
shadow to a wall!”

The legate’s
grin widened.

“
That was not meant to be funny!”

Behind the
general, Labienus cleared his throat and leaned forward over his
horse’s neck.

“
Apologies for interrupting, Caesar, but I think we need to
decide on a course of action quickly and worry about recriminations
later. The Belgae are getting further away all the time, but they
could stop and reform damned quickly.”

The general
let his stare of disapproval linger on Fronto a moment longer, and
then straightened.

“
Quite right, Labienus. Send for my Belgic scouts. We need to
infiltrate the fleeing mass and try to determine what their next
move will be. But as soon as our scouts are with them, we’ll need
to follow on and harry them. We certainly don’t want to give them
time to reorganise themselves.”

He climbed
down from his steed and handed the reins to the nearest
legionary.

“
For now, I shall return to my headquarters. Fronto? This is
your mess. Kindly sort it out.”

Fronto rolled
his eyes and sighed as the general, with Labienus at his shoulder,
made his way among the bodies to the bridge and back toward the
huge camp on the hill.

“
Alright then.” Fronto gestured to a centurion he spotted
nearby, who looked up in surprise.

“
I want those three temporary sling-bridges to be supported,
strengthened and secured. We can’t guarantee that the Belgae won’t
change their mind and come back for more, so I want movement of
troops easy. Find some engineers and get it done.”

Scanning the
nearby ranks, he singled out another centurion.

“
We need to get these dead piled up and cremated. Two piles.
One for Romans; one for the Belgae. No disrespect though; they may
be barbarians, but they’re warriors who fought well and died in
battle. Give everyone the same send-off. You’ll need to co-opt
another century for the detail. There’s a lot of
bodies.”

The centurion
saluted and cleared his throat. “And survivors and wounded among
the enemy, sir?”

Fronto nodded
thoughtfully.

“
Medical care for those who can be saved. Round up the
prisoners and put a guard on them… and do the same for any that are
caught in the vicinity afterwards. At the very least, they’ll fetch
a few coins for us in Rome.”

Scratching his
head, he looked up toward the legions that Caesar had led by his
circuitous route and who, abandoned by their general and no longer
required for battle, were standing awaiting further orders from the
staff officers at their head. The familiar face of Gnaeus Priscus,
primus pilus of the Tenth, grinned back at him from the ranks.
Fronto raised his voice and pointed at his second in command.

“
Priscus! Get Pomponius out here.”

There was a
brief ruckus in the ranks of the tenth, and the young centurion and
chief engineer of Fronto’s legion strode out to meet him.

“
Sir?”

“
Just on the offchance that the Belgae come back for more, I
want the fort defences on this side of the river extended to form a
long boundary. I’ll leave the details to you. Take as many men as
you need.”

Frowning at
the assembled legions, standing quietly, he cleared his throat.

“
I want the Tenth to remain on this side of the river with the
Thirteenth and Fourteenth and make camp once the bodies have been
moved and the new defences built. While that’s happening, those of
you who aren’t needed can go and break camp near Tetricus’ ditch
and haul the gear back here. Priscus? When I’m not around, you come
under Sabinus’ command.”

The primus
pilus nodded, eying the battle-worn Gaulish legions warily.

Fronto turned
and waved his arm at the assembled work parties.

“
Oh, and if you find a posh and probably dented officer’s
helmet in the river, have it sent to legate Balbus!”

There was a
ripple of laughter and Fronto turned to his counterpart from the
Eighth Legion.

“
Let’s go see if we can console the general. Our victory seems
to have pissed him off a little.”

Balbus nodded,
but before turning to leave, he glanced across to see the Tenth
legion going about their business, while Rufus and Crispus started
moving the Ninth and Eleventh back toward the river crossings.

“
Balventius?”

The primus
pilus of the Eighth stepped out of the mass of officers.

“
Sir?”

“
Get the men back to camp. I have a feeling we’ll need to be
rested shortly.”

The scarred
veteran barked out a harsh laugh.

“
I bloody hope so, sir. All this action and the veterans
haven’t seen an inch of it yet!”

Balbus grinned
at his friend and second-in-command, before turning to leave the
field with Fronto. As they approached the sturdy bridge, so
recently a scene of such carnage, they spotted Sabinus leaning over
the parapet and staring down into the water.

“
Mortal thoughts or some such?”

The senior
officer looked up in surprise.

“
Oh, hello, Fronto… Balbus. Just taking a moment to relax and
breathe the air. Above the water’s the only place around here that
doesn’t smell like dead meat. I don’t suppose either of you has a
stock of wine with you?”

Fronto
grinned.

“
I can always find wine.”

“
It’s true,” Balbus laughed. “He can feel when it’s
nearby!”

Fronto turned
for a moment.

“
Hmm. I told Priscus he was under your command while I’m not
there.” He shrugged. “Ah well. He knows what to do without us
interfering.”

He smiled at
Sabinus.

“
When you roll down the hill later tonight back to your
quarters, you’ll find I’ve left the Tenth, Thirteenth and
Fourteenth all assigned to you. Don’t want a repeat performance,
eh?”

As the three
men continued on along the bridge, Fronto spotted the Gaulish
engineer, directing a small party of men strengthening the slung
bridge supports.

“
Biorix?”

The legionary
saluted as he saw the three senior officers. Fronto fished in his
pocket and placed half a dozen silver coins on the flat top of the
end bridge pile.

“
When you’re done, use this to get wine for you and your lads.
Well done.”

Sabinus raised
an eyebrow.

“
A Gaul? What did he do?”

Fronto
laughed.

“
He’s the one that managed to get us across the river in time
to save your arse!”

Sabinus smiled
and, fishing in his own pocket, added another pile of coins to the
top.

“
And when you’ve got drunk on Fronto,” he called out, “get
drunk on me, my friend!”

Biorix grinned
and saluted once more before getting back to work. The officers
strode on up the hill toward the camp.

“
At least you’ve given us an easy rear entrance now!” Sabinus
laughed, pointing at the demolished camp rampart.

The three men
reached the top of the hill, climbed across the rampart amid the
torn chunks of palisade and walked through the camp towards the
officer’s section. Fronto patted Sabinus on the shoulder.

“
Go find my tent. There’s a jar in there and some of that
bloody awful beer that Crispus likes. I’ve got to go and see
Caesar, and then I’ll find more wine and join you.”

Balbus
frowned.

“
Want some moral support?”

Fronto shook
his head.

“
I’ll be fine. See you shortly.”

The other two
officers waved at him and disappeared off through the ranks of
tents, but Fronto made for the large headquarters in the centre.
For a moment he dithered, unsure whether to knock or just stride
inside confidently, but his plans disintegrated at the call from
within.

“
Come in Fronto, and close the flap.”

He stepped
inside to see Caesar lying on his bed in the shade, no lamp lit to
banish the dark.

“
Caesar?”

“
Headache” the general said, by way of explanation. Fronto
stared into the dark as he let the leather flap drop into place,
plunging them into stygian gloom. He blinked a couple of times and
then slowly felt his way round the tent until he found the seat he
knew to be there and sat down.

“
You do know that this is actually a lot less of a problem than
you made out, Caesar, yes?”

There was a
moment of silence and then a tired voice said “go on…”