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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

‘They might need my protection,’ Vindex announced.

‘And me to protect them from you, you randy old goat.’

They were behind the main camp, tending to their horses. Everywhere men were busy, sewing up sacks, packing them with straw and anything else they could find, and checking equipment. Some men made wills, for the law allowed one soldier to witness another’s provisions. Over everything else came the scraping sound as blades were honed to a fine edge.

XXV

The breach in the western wall

The eleventh hour of the night, the Ides of May
The thirty-sixth day of the siege

THE SOUND OF pick striking stone carried down from the city. There were other noises too: soft conversation, and the scraping of tools as the citizens laboured to make their new wall. Every once in a while, a ballista cracked and sent a missile into the darkness, and sometimes there was a thump or a scream to suggest that it had struck home.

Ferox and his party were where they should be. Kneeling down in one of the musculi, ready to rush out onto the ramp and use their sacks to fill up the remaining gaps in it. Brennus the Brigantian waited beside him, with another warrior beyond that, and behind each of them the fifteen men of each carrying party. The others waited in similar huts for the signal Caecilius would give when he was ready. The man was as surly as ever, his dislike of Ferox as obvious as it was unexplained, but he knew his job and it was reassuring to have him there.

Two legionaries waited to push aside the screen protecting the front of the hut, their faces hidden in the darkness. Someone tapped three times on the wall of the musculus.

‘Go!’ Ferox hissed, and the screen went down. He stood up and beckoned to the rest to follow. The air was fresher outside, the starlight bright, so that it felt as if everyone must see them. He went on, found the place, and pointed down. ‘There!’ The two Brigantes pulled off to the side, as the man at the head of each file came up and tipped his filled bag down. Beyond them the men from the second musculus were doing the same thing, and quickly the ground ahead was filled, so Ferox stepped forward. ‘Down there.’ The ground shifted only a little under his feet, which meant that the plan was working.

Caecilius appeared, jumping ahead. ‘Here and here!’ he called.

Something fell from the wall, something much like a straw-filled bag, but burning. A man shouted, another joined him and a horn sounded.

‘Come on!’ There was no point keeping quiet anymore. ‘Get this filled in!’ Ferox grabbed the next one and pushed it into place. Vindex was nearby, doing the same, and suddenly all the shouts were drowned out as massed cornu horns and the slim trumpets of the legion blared out in challenge. Thousands of men cheered.

‘Shit!’ Vindex spat the word. ‘We’re humped!’ The last sacks were dropped into place.