The Last Legion (40 page)

‘And more are coming from that direction,’ said Demetrius, pointing at another group closing in on the right. ‘We’re trapped.’

‘Wait, there’s still hope,’ interrupted Livia. ‘You still have your horse, Aurelius. Take Romulus with you; as soon as you are past the steepest part of the slope head towards the bridge at full speed. The barbarians are advancing through deep snow, which is slowing them down. You’ll take them unawares, and they won’t be able to catch up with you. We’ll find a place to hide and we’ll join up with you in the forest, later tonight, on foot.’

‘That won’t be possible,’ objected Ambrosinus. ‘They have certainly been ordered to garrison the bridge, and we’ll never get past them. We’ll be separated forever.’ He looked over at the mule and the shields still hanging from his saddle, and a sudden idea struck him. ‘Listen, I know what we can do. Six centuries ago, a group of Cimbrian warriors managed to avoid being encircled by the troops of consul Lutatius Catulus on the Alps. What they did took their opponents completely by surprise: they slid down the snowy slope on their shields.’

‘On their shields?’ repeated Vatrenus incredulously.

‘Yes, that’s right, holding on to the inside straps. Plutarch tells the stories in his
Lives
. We haven’t a moment to lose.’

A pause of uncertainty greeted his proposal, apparently so absurd. Then, one by one, they untied their shields and set them down on the ground.

‘That’s right,’ approved Ambrosinus. ‘Sit inside and hold tight to the straps, like this. By shifting the weight of your body to the right or to the left and by pulling on the straps you should be able to stay on route. Is that clear?’

They all nodded, even Batiatus, who was looking terrified at the steep descent that separated them from the bridge. Aurelius helped Romulus on to the saddle in front of him and began to cross the slope at oblique angles, first in one direction and then in the other. When he reached the level ground, he dug in his heels, urging Juba into a fast trot and then into a gallop, across the snowy plain. The barbarians on both sides soon realized what was happening and spurred on their horses, but they were hindered by the snow which had accumulated in the hollows on the sides of the hill, so that Aurelius managed to stay ahead of them.

‘Go, Juba!’ he pressed on his steed, as Romulus looked back and forth to measure the advance of their enemies, and then twisted around to see if Ambrosinus had succeeded in his mad plan. What he saw left him nearly speechless: ‘Look, Aurelius!’ he shouted. ‘They’re coming down!’

One after another, darting to the left and right, they shot down on their shields, each one driven by its occupant: Demetrius, Vatrenus, Orosius, Livia, Ambrosinus himself with his long white hair flying out behind him and finally Batiatus, who was struggling to keep his balance on that precarious nutshell.

Aurelius sped on and crossed the bridge at a gallop, proceeding straight to the edge of the forest. He turned to see how his comrades were faring and saw that the human avalanche had hit rough terrain on the level ground near the bank and concluded its descent with a ruinous fall. What happened next was a question of mere moments. Vatrenus got to his feet first and saw the barbarians converging on them, very close now, from both sides. He looked towards the bridge and realized that they had one last chance. ‘On the bridge, everyone!’ he shouted. ‘The bridge will take us down the river!’ The others stumbled to their feet as quickly as they could and ran after him on to the pontoons. Vatrenus ordered: ‘Batiatus, you and Demetrius, cut the ropes on that side, Orosius and I on this side. At my signal. Now!’

Aurelius tried to draw up on the other side, but their axes and swords were already coming down on the anchor ropes and the entire pontoon bridge, cut loose, slipped off on the current at great speed, leaving the furious barbarians at the shore. Wulfila himself had just arrived and he shouted at Aurelius: ‘I’ll find you, you coward! I’ll find you wherever you hide! I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth!’

Aurelius was seething: for the first time in his life he couldn’t react to such an arrogant challenge. He said not a word, but turned his horse and galloped away.

*

After not even a mile, Romulus, who hadn’t lost sight of the river for an instant, spotted the convoy of boats gliding swiftly over the waters, and it looked to him as if everyone was there. They were gripping the ropes at the rail and holding fast to each other so they would not slip into the whirlpools of the impetuous current. Then the strange vessel disappeared behind a wooded thicket which cut them off from his view. He had barely had time to shout: ‘There they are,’ when they had already vanished.

Aurelius let his horse slow to a walk.

‘Now we’ll never catch up with them!’ complained Romulus.

‘There’s no horse that can keep pace with a mountain river. The slope is steep and the water rushes very swiftly downstream. Juba is tired, you know: he has to carry both of us, we can’t ask him for more than he can give. Don’t worry, Romulus, we’ll continue to follow the current; I wager that we soon find them run aground on some sandbank, you’ll see. Otherwise they’ll go to shore as soon as the river slows down, at a port down on the plain. They’ll wait for us there.’

‘But why did they do it?’ fretted Romulus. ‘They could have crossed the bridge and cut the ropes on this side.’

‘That’s true, but Vatrenus made the wisest decision, like the true strategist and great soldier that he is. Think about it a moment: if he had done as you suggest, we would have been all together again, true, but on foot. Our progress would have been so slow that the barbarians would have had plenty of time to improvise a makeshift footbridge, or ford the river upstream, and overtake us easily within our first day’s march. Instead, our companions now have the possibility of putting a considerable distance between themselves and their pursuers, and the two of us are free to move along much more rapidly. We can hide if need be, change itinerary or even perhaps find another horse on our way, which would allow us to move even faster.’

Romulus pondered over his words, then said: ‘I’m sure you’re right, but I’m just wondering what Ambrosinus can be thinking, and what he’s feeling now that we’re separated.’

‘Ambrosinus can take good care of himself, and his advice will be precious for our comrades.’

‘That’s true, but this is the first time we’ve been separated since I was five years old’

‘Do you mean that he’s always been at your side in all the years you’ve known him?’

‘Oh, yes. Much more than my mother and father. More than anyone else. He is the wisest and the most clever person that I know. He never ceases to surprise me: I’ve seen him do things, in this time since Odoacer imprisoned me, that I could never have imagined. Who knows how many other secrets he has in store!’

‘You must care for him deeply,’ said Aurelius.

The boy smiled, recalling certain moments they’d lived through together. ‘He’s a little crazy at times,’ he said, ‘but he’s the dearest person in the world to me.’

Aurelius fell silent. He spurred his horse into a faster gait again so as not to put too much distance between them and the boats, which he imagined must be travelling swiftly down the river. Nor did he want their pursuers to gain an advantage; he was convinced that they hadn’t given up the chase and were trying somehow to cross over. Their journey continued without difficulty through an enchanting landscape of rocky peaks coloured purple by the sun as it descended towards the horizon. The mountain lakes were incredibly translucent, shiny as mirrors as they reflected the deep green of the forests, the blinding white of the snow and the intense blue of the sky. Romulus was struck by such beauty, breathlessly taking in every change of perspective, every variation of light.

Aurelius once again gave Juba a rest and let him walk for a while.

‘I’ve never seen anything like this!’ said Romulus. ‘Whose land is it?’

‘It was once the land of the Helvetians, a people belonging to the Celtic nation who dared to challenge the great Caesar.’

‘I know about that episode,’ replied Romulus. ‘I’ve read
De Bello Gallico
several times. Why would they ever choose to leave such a delightful place?’

‘Men are never happy with what they have,’ replied Aurelius. ‘We are always condemned to seek new lands, new horizons, new riches. Just as individuals want to emerge over others, and excel in terms of wealth or bravery or wisdom, so do peoples and nations. On the one hand, this means continuous progress in research, exploration, the trades and other human activities, while on the other it produces conflicts which are often bloody. Huge efforts are demanded, but they are often futile, I’m afraid, and we have to pay dearly for everything that we’ve attained at the cost of such exertion. In the end, the losses suffered are greater than the advantages won. The Helvetians had the mountains but perhaps they desired the vast, fertile plains. Or perhaps their numbers had multiplied so that these narrow valleys could no longer contain them. They imagined that by expanding into the plains they would become a stronger, more populous nation and thus more powerful. What they obtained, instead, was their own annihilation.’

‘What about you, Aurelius?’ asked Romulus. ‘What do you want for yourself ? What do you aspire to?’

‘I want . . . peace.’

‘Peace! I can’t believe that: you’re a warrior, the strongest and bravest that I’ve ever met.’

‘I’m not a warrior, I’m a soldier. It’s different. I only fight when fighting becomes necessary to defend what I believe in. No one knows how horrible war is more than a
miles
, a combatant. Do you know what I’d really like? I would like, one day, to live in a secluded, tranquil place, cultivating the fields and raising animals. I’d like to sleep without having to jump to my feet at any moment of the night, at any sudden sound, my sword already in fist. I’d like to awaken to the cock’s crow and not to a trumpet sounding an alarm. But what I’d really like is the peace of mind that I’ve never had. That doesn’t seem all that difficult, now does it Romulus? Yet it’s impossible. We live in a world where no one is sure of anything any more.’

The sun was sinking below the horizon, spreading its last rosy glow on the majestic peaks that crowned the immense range. Aurelius was eager not to lose contact with his only link to his companions, and had tried to get as close as possible to the river, but he was also afraid of running the risk of being spotted by Wulfila’s men, who couldn’t be far away now.

‘We’ll rest just a little,’ he said, ‘and then we’ll resume our journey.’

‘Where will they be now?’ asked Romulus.

‘Ahead of us, certainly, by at least a day’s journey I’d guess. The river never rests, it flows day and night, and they’ll flow with the river. We have steep, narrow, rocky paths to contend with, we’ll have to cross forests and ford streams.’

Romulus took the blankets from the saddle and prepared a resting place for the night in a niche in the rock, which would do fine as a look-out as well, as Aurelius removed the horse’s bit and put on his halter.

‘Aurelius?’

‘Yes, Caesar.’

Romulus broke off a moment, peeved by Aurelius’s use of that title, then asked: ‘Is there a chance we’ll never see them again?’

‘I think you know the answer to that question: yes. There may be rapids on the river, waterfalls or sharp rocks that could break the boats to pieces. There’s nothing but ice and snow all around, and the water is freezing; if they fall in they won’t be able to last more than a few moments. No environment is more hostile than the mountains in the wintertime. They may be attacked by bands of brigands, derelict soldiers looking to plunder them. Dangers never end in this world of ours.’

Romulus lay down in silence, pulling the blanket up over his shoulders.

‘Sleep now,’ said Aurelius. ‘Juba is a good guard. He’ll let us know if anyone approaches and we’ll be able to slip away in time. I always sleep with one eye open anyway.’

‘What about them? How close might they be?’

‘Our pursuers? I don’t know. A couple of hours, maybe half a day or more. I don’t think they’re too far away, and the traces we’re leaving in the snow are so evident that even a child could follow them.’

Romulus was quiet for a little while, then asked: ‘What happens if they catch up with us?’

Aurelius hesitated for a moment before answering. ‘Danger is something that must be faced when it comes. Imagining it ahead of time can only make the situation worse. Fear can only magnify what threatens us. When you do find yourself suddenly faced with a dangerous situation, your mind calls up all its resources and your body is flooded with a powerful flow of energy. Your heart beats faster, your muscles expand and become harder, the enemy becomes a target to bring down, to crush, to annihilate . . .’

Romulus looked at him in admiration. ‘You’re not just a soldier, Aurelius. You are a warrior.’

‘That happens when you’ve had to live in the midst of horror and destruction for years. There’s a beast slumbering in each one of us: war awakens him.’

‘Can I ask you one last thing?’

‘Certainly.’

‘What are you thinking about when you are silent for hours and hours, and you don’t even hear me when I say something to you?’

‘Do I do that?’

‘Yes. Maybe my conversation annoys you or bothers you.’