BooksBarbecue
Back The City Save as PDF
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

‘Push me!’ Crispinus was a short man, and even at the top of the ladder the wall loomed above him.

‘Sir?’

‘Push my arse!’ he shouted back at the centurion behind him, who obliged, shoving hard, and Crispinus managed to get his left arm over the wall, and hauled himself over. The cavalryman was on one knee, parrying and cutting to keep three enemies back, and another defender came at the legatus, head bare, mouth wide to howl at him as he hacked with a curved kopis sword. Crispinus parried, felt his arm numb as sparks flew from the blades. He stepped to the side, cutting wildly and with a dull crack the blade of the other man’s sword snapped and the gladius hit him on the head, drawing blood, without going deep. The Nicopolitan stared at his broken sword, and Crispinus had all the time in the world to raise his arm again and slash harder, cutting into the bone.

The cavalryman’s left arm hung limp, blood seeping from a gash, and there was another wound below his knee, but still he fought, and, with a sweep, cut through the leg of one of his opponents. Crispinus went to his side, droplets of blood flicking from his gladius as he swept in great arcs that would have caused apoplexy in any drillmaster. The centurion was over the wall, and another ladder was against the house, legionaries rushing up it. A slash sheared off the cavalryman’s right hand, which still clutched the handle of his spatha, and blood pumped over Crispinus as he stepped forward and put all his weight behind a lunge to spit the Nicopolitan. His blade stuck, but men were rushing forward on either side of him and the remaining defenders screamed as they were cut down or flung bodily off the roof. Letting the dying man sink down, Crispinus pressed hard with one boot and dragged the gladius free.

A legionary spun around, an arrow sticking from his eye. The wall joining on to this house was a little lower than the roof, and a man was trying to get up until the centurion went over and punched him in the face with his scutum. Another arrow came, this one slamming into the shield. There were already a dozen men on the rooftop, so with a bellow for them to follow him, the centurion vaulted over and started to fight his way along the wall. Legionaries followed.

Crispinus spotted the archer on the next house along, then saw a legionary who still had a pilum. ‘Kill him!’ The archer shot at him, and he dodged so that it skidded past, close enough to feel the air move.

The legionary took a couple of paces across the roof and flung the heavy javelin. As the archer was about to nock another arrow, the stubby, pyramid-shaped point struck him below the ribs, and the weight of the shaft drove the slim shank through his body.

‘Well done! I’ll buy you a drink when this is over!’ Crispinus called, then gasped because a hammer had struck him in the back and he was flung forward, the pain worse than anything he had ever known, and he barely felt it when he slammed into the wall. His hands clutched his chest, and the cuirass was dented. Something was in his back.