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Contents ( 111)
  1. BY ADRIAN GOLDSWORTHY
  2. CONTENTS
  3. MAP
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. I
  6. In the hill country
  7. Nearer the Euphrates
  8. The same night
  9. II
  10. The temporary camp of Legio VIIII Hispana, Fifty-five miles east of Cyrrhus
  11. Fifteen days before the Kalends of March
  12. III
  13. On the training grounds outside Zeugma
  14. Fifth day before the Nones of March
  15. In the house of Simon the merchant, Nicopolis
  16. The next day
  17. IV
  18. The temporary camp of Legio VIIII Hispana
  19. V
  20. Outside Nicopolis
  21. Eleventh day before the Kalends of April
  22. Nicopolis
  23. The same day
  24. VI
  25. On the road to the crossing at Zeugma
  26. Tenth day before the Kalends of April
  27. VII
  28. Zeugma
  29. Seventh day before the Kalends of April
  30. VIII
  31. The camp of VIIII Hispana
  32. One day before the Nones of April
  33. Nicopolis
  34. The same day, late afternoon
  35. IX
  36. Outside Nicopolis
  37. Eighth Day before the Ides of April
  38. X
  39. Near Nicopolis
  40. A little later
  41. XI
  42. In the plain in front of Nicopolis
  43. The Ides of April
  44. Nicopolis
  45. The same night
  46. XII
  47. In front of Nicopolis
  48. Eighteenth day before the Kalends of May First day of the siege
  49. XIII
  50. Outside Nicopolis
  51. Seventeenth day before the Kalends of May Second day of the siege
  52. XIV
  53. Outside Nicopolis
  54. Fifteenth day before the Kalends of May The fourth day of the siege
  55. Nicopolis
  56. The sixth day of the siege
  57. XV
  58. Up country
  59. Thirteenth day before the Kalends of May The eighth day of the siege
  60. XVI
  61. Zeugma
  62. That same night
  63. XVII
  64. The siege lines outside Nicopolis
  65. Eleventh day before the Kalends of May The tenth day of the siege
  66. XVIII
  67. The large camp to the east of Nicopolis
  68. Tenth day before the Kalends of May The eleventh day of the siege
  69. Nicopolis
  70. Late on the fourteenth night of the siege
  71. XIX
  72. Before Nicopolis
  73. Fifth day before the Kalends of April Sixteenth day of the siege
  74. XX
  75. Outside Nicopolis
  76. The Kalends of May The twenty-first day of the siege
  77. XXI
  78. Before Nicopolis
  79. The day before the Nones of May The twenty-sixth day of the siege
  80. Nicopolis
  81. The next day The twenty-seventh day of the siege
  82. XXII
  83. North west of Nicopolis, some miles from the road
  84. Fifth day before the Ides of May The thirty-second day of the siege
  85. XXIII
  86. In front of Nicopolis
  87. The day before the Ides of May The thirty-fifth day of the siege
  88. XXIV
  89. Outside Nicopolis
  90. The Ides of May
  91. The thirty-sixth day of the siege
  92. XXV
  93. The breach in the western wall
  94. XXVI
  95. Outside Nicopolis
  96. Seventeenth day before the Kalends of June The thirty-seventh day of the siege
  97. The prison at Nicopolis
  98. Three days later
  99. The forty-first day of the siege
  100. XXVII
  101. The citadel at Nicopolis
  102. The last hours of the fourteenth day before the Kalends of June
  103. The forty-first day of the siege
  104. XXVIII
  105. Nicopolis
  106. The same night
  107. EPILOGUE
  108. The next morning
  109. HISTORICAL NOTE
  110. GLOSSARY
  111. CAST OF CHARACTERS

‘At least he seems to know the way,’ Arrian muttered. The tribune sheathed his sword, having to force the blade into the scabbard. ‘Come on then. Let’s hope we don’t fall on our arses on the way down that hill.’

Nearer the Euphrates

The same night

DOMITIUS HAD GOT lost before the storm came in, his fever now so bad that he could not concentrate and did not notice for a long time that he had strayed. A bolt of lightning struck a tree close by, splitting the trunk, and this and the deep roll of thunder panicked his horse which bolted, wild eyed and ears twitching. The young mare ran on and on, mile after mile, starting each time there was another flash even though the worst was moving away from them. Somehow Domitius stayed in the saddle, and that was a minor miracle for he was no horseman, even by army standards. One hand gripped the reins and his other wound itself around the beast’s mane. Soon the horse was gasping, but still she pelted along in terror, and when she came to a gully filled with rainwater, she did not stop. Domitius was never sure whether he jumped or simply lost his seat at last and fell sideways out of the saddle, hitting the ground hard. The mare leaped and screamed as she splashed into the torrent and was swept away. Domitius never saw her again and had never even known what the horse was called.

His shoulder hurt and his left arm did not work, so Domitius had to roll onto the other side before he could get up. The rain stopped very suddenly, unless that was simply because his clouded mind took a while to realise. He had little sense of where he was or of where he should go. The remaining food had been in the packs tied to the rear horns of the saddle so had vanished with the horse. A soldier for ten years, and before that the son and grandson of soldiers living surrounded by old soldiers in the colonia at Berytus, there had always been a pattern and an order to his life, with regulations or traditions to follow. That was all gone, and it was not simply the fever that made the change so hard to understand. It had all happened so quickly, and now he was a deserter and fugitive and nowhere would he be truly safe within the empire. Even if the truth came out, his crime was public and could not be forgotten.

Were they still after him? Domitius could not imagine anyone being able to follow his track through that storm. Still, he had heard stories about Ferox that made a man wonder. The centurion could be out there, getting ever closer. Better to be caught by him than the others, for Ferox might listen and understand. The others would simply kill him to make sure that the truth was hidden. Domitius had no armour, but had managed to grab a belt as he escaped, so had a pugio dagger on his left hip and an issue gladius on his right. At least he could make it difficult for them.