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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

‘If we can, my lord.’ Rufus had been struggling to work out how ever since it had happened and had not cracked the problem so far. ‘Would you like to see?’

Hadrian’s smile was broader. ‘No harm in taking a look.’ They went inside the tower, empty for the moment apart from men shooting from the upper floors, and Hadrian discussed the problem with the young centurion, gently easing him towards a solution.

‘It’s a lot of work, my lord.’ The only way was to take out the ram, put new bolts in the framework, fit ropes, and hang it again. ‘Cannot do it quickly.’

‘Then do it well.’ Hadrian stood on his toes to peer through a crack in the timber front, one of the few not covered by the big iron plates. He stared at the damage done to the wall and could see that it was considerable, with more being done by the men working in covered gantries now that the ramp reached all the way to the far wall. ‘You are so close,’ he assured Rufus. ‘And it will be better now that they are threatened from two sides at once… And success would not taste so sweet if the task was easy. We should never forget that even enemies can think and surprise us.’

‘They have help,’ Rufus said with some bitterness. ‘There’s a deserter up there, I am sure. We have seen him a few times – slim fellow watching all that we do.’

‘You are smarter than he is, young Rufus,’ Hadrian assured him. ‘I can see that by the way you deal with this problem. All the good money is on you, not the terrified runaway up there.’

Crispinus added his encouragement, although it was oddly more difficult to feign enthusiasm and optimism when Hadrian was there, so that it was no longer his sole responsibility. Even the excellent reports from the men undermining the wall by hand failed to lift his spirits. Time was pouring away like the water in a clock, and there was so little he could do to speed things up.

As they rode to the northern camp, they caught the faint sound of a cheer, and then another much louder.

‘The tower,’ Hadrian said with some satisfaction. ‘Is that the ram?’ he asked, cupping a hand to his ear. ‘Hard to tell.’ By the time they approached the mineworks the steady pounding was unmistakeable. Crispinus waited nervously for an interruption, for surely the enemy would employ sacks and the other ploys used against the other tower. Yet the noise kept on, solid, determined and never missing a beat.

Hadrian was impressed with the mineworks. ‘And you are sure the defenders are not responding by digging their own?’

‘We have parties sitting and listening for any sound, my lord,’ the centurion in change assured him. ‘If they are countermining then they are a long way away or in the wrong place because we have not heard a thing.’