Raising Steam

by Peter Rhodan

  The Romulus proved her worth by catching a group of Scotti raiding vessels heading for the coast north of Alauna and sinking the lot with her catapult artillery. The slow coracle type boats the Scotti were using were no match for the much faster Romulus. The bedraggled survivors were brought ashore and given the usual choice between work gang or army and the First Legion gained fifteen more recruits while a similar number were added to the gang building the docks at Glannoventa.

  Another force of Scotti did successfully raid the coast north of Glannoventa but the approach of the century in garrison there caused them to decamp back aboard their boats without causing too much mayhem. The Romulus was at sea further north so missed these raiders. Arturo considered sending her for a cruise down the Hibernia coast as an intimidation message but had to put that plan off when a large period of stormy weather settled in. All the ships in the area sat in port for several weeks till the winter storms finally eased. The pool at Wern with the lock gate proved its worth as the ships moored inside there were completely safe.

  The last storm front dumped a large snow fall just as the ground was clearing and things were clogged up for a week or more afterward. Everything was barely getting back to normal when a rider came in with the news that Combrosius was marching north with his own army and a host of Saxoni.

  Immediately the First Legion was put in motion and the advantages of the rail lines became instantly apparent. By the end of the second day after the news arrived the entire First Legion had been transported to a point a few miles west of Epiacum and joining with the Second Legion, the whole army would be at Vindolanda several of days before Combrosius could hope to get even a scouting force there. The Republican scouting force was augmented with the scout Century from the First and kept a close watch on the slow northwards march of the Comes and his army.

  As far as the Republicans could tell, Combrosius was unaware they had moved east so rapidly and he marched as if his clever to move of marching as soon as the storm cleared meant he would surprise the Republicans still in their winter quarters. His scouts ranged barely a half days march ahead of his column, much to the amusement of Arturo’s senior staff who had all seen the benefits of Arturo’s long range scouting.

  Chapter 19

  1166: The Comes cometh

  Sejanus Maximius struggled to keep his lunch down as he marched alongside the stinking heathen horde of Frisians he had been placed in command of. Whilst it was gratifying of Combrosius to promote him to Tribune, being given the command of a bunch of Frisians and God knew what else that were fresh off the boat from the wilds of Germania, was not quite the same as commanding a crack unit of Auxilia Palatina. Not that there were any of them left in Britannia, despite the title Combrosius had given his senior unit.

  Still the idea of a surprise attack on this upstart Dux, Sandus, appealed to Sejanus. Combrosius had hired about a thousand of the barbarians last year to compensate for his lack of regulars compared to the number of troops this new Dux had apparently been able to raise and train. Combrosius, and Licinius his chief lieutenant, could not understand how the fellow was able to pay his men with real coins. Enough examples had spread south to Eboracum to make it clear that he was though.

  Coinage was rare in Britannia since the main army had left with Constantius and with Honorius refusing to send any money to the island for years now most currency was being horded. The Emperor’s letter a few years back telling cities of the island they were on their own had only reinforced the idea that Britannia had been divorced from the Empire. Yet this Sandus fellow had got coins back into circulation, at least up north in the area he controlled. Initially this had been with new minted versions of Imperial coins but lately he had apparently introduced new coins for this self-proclaimed Republic of his.

  Combrosius on the other hand was largely dependent on taxes raised in kind, mostly food stuffs, with which to pay his men and Sejanus knew that their dissatisfaction was growing, particularly as friends who now served in the Dux’s army confirmed they were being paid in coin. And not just coin but good coins too. None of this silver plated rubbish that had percolated through the Empire in recent times. No, these Republican coins were all good metal and starting to be used in areas outside the so-called Republic although not in Eboracum as Combrosius confiscated any Republican coins that turned up. That in turn upset local merchants and traders who had begun avoiding Eboracum. Trade was falling again after a brief period of resurgence as a result of the apparent boom going on in the north.

  Over the winter many of the more promising Saxoni from the thousand he had hired last year elected stay behind and be included in the regular Auxilia that Combrosius had been able to raise from the training cadre left behind by Constantius. These men brought his total regular force up to three Auxilia cohorts, roughly twelve hundred men and he had three different cavalry forces. There was a numerus of light cavalry for screening and flanking numbering a little over one hundred and fifty, a vexillation of heavy cavalry numbering nearly three hundred and the nearly two hundred strong numerus of Catafractii he had raised from the descendants of the Sarmatian settlers.

  These last were his main strike weapon, or so Combrosius regarded them. They were cosseted and looked after far better than the other cavalry, much to the latter’s disgust. According to all reports this Dux Sandus only had regular spear and shield cavalry so Combrosius thought the Catafractii should come as a nasty shock. Sejanus was not so sure having heard of the powerful manuballista this Sandus fellow had armed his troops with. The slow charging Catafractii would endure considerably more fire at them before reaching the enemy line than would the faster regular cavalry and even with their fancy armour they would take a lot of casualties Sejanus surmised.

  Last summer had been spent anticipating an attack by this Sandus fellow but no attack had come. Apparently the Scotti invasion north of the wall had kept him tied to Lugowalion and everyone had been very relieved. And then over the winter Combrosius had received a lump sum of gold, several pounds in fact, from where no one knew, although Licinius seemed to be involved somehow, which meant it was maybe from the Imperial Government.

  Wherever it had come from, Combrosius had used it to hire a massive horde of Saxoni, Frisians and God knew what else. Nearly six thousand had arrived once the weather had eased enough for them to cross the ocean from the mainland. They had been broken up into groups of roughly a thousand each under their own leaders and a Roman Tribune placed in command of each thousand strong block.

  Sejanus had been given the Frisians and a few of the blond northern types, Jutae or something. They were all big men in strange padded coats but were very fierce and respected by the Frisians. There was also a smattering of other Germans, Seubi and Franconi mostly. The whole mass of close to nine hundred swaggered along in a disorganised mess and it required constant efforts on Sejanus’ part to stop the horde from completely ravaging the countryside they marched through.

  With nearly eight thousand men at his command Combrosius had decided to launch a surprise attack on Lugowalion before this Sandus chap even realised they were coming. There was still snow on the ground in the higher areas as they straggled up the road towards Vindolanda. Word of the army’s march flew before them and the farmers near the road had all taken what they could and fled into the hills with their livestock and families, or at least as much they could manage. Given the predatory nature of the barbarians Combrosius had hired it was little wonder the locals all fled before the army arrived. Given the way word spread quickly through the countryside and the slow rambling pace of the army Sejanus rather thought they were not going to achieve much of a surprise, but then no one had asked his opinion. Combrosius was not the type one offered their opinions too, either.

  The rate of march was slow due in large part to the ill-disciplined Germani but Combrosius did not try and push the pace either. Sejanus could not decide if this was because he was confident of his numerical superiority or whether he felt it was too much of an effort try
ing to get the wild tribesmen to march faster. Maybe it was a combination of both reasons. Perhaps he didn’t care at all. Who knew?

  Caractorum was reached eventually and camp made outside. The place was a shell of the formerly bustling little town he had known as a child although looking back he suspected that even then it had been declining. The place had made its main income from the continual stream of mostly military travellers on the road back in the old days when there had been a real garrison on the Wall. The constant stream of troops to and from the wall, officers being transferred back and forth, Imperial messengers and just a constant flow of traders had all combined to give the town a steady income and make it one of the more Romanised looking towns north of Eboracum.

  There was an overgrown and largely out of use set of public baths that were large enough to hold nearly the whole population of the place now. Numerous disused temples dotted the main road leading through the town. Even the Christian church looked run down. The graves lining the road into the town were unkempt and overgrown showing that they received little or no care these days. All in all, it was just another depressing reminder of how the Empire was in decline here in Britannia.

  The next day dawned overcast with low leaden skies that barely cleared the tops of the mountains to their west. The temperature had dropped from the previous few days and parts of the army at the rear had barely started their slow crawl north once more when the whole column came to a crunching halt barely three hours after the lead unit had set out with the totally unexpected news that the Republican army was sitting astride their line of advance. The complete shock this unexpected event produced in the leadership from Combrosius down was palpable. How this Dux Sandus had found out they were coming in time to get his own army across from Lugowalion and south to a position above Caractorum was impossible to fathom. As the army rumbled to a halt rumours of magic and satanic help spread through force and Sejanus was unable to stamp it out.

  The Germani were superstitious enough but this surprise engendered a nervousness among even the steadier men that Sejanus could feel their unease. Even the regular Auxilia were nervous. He felt that the whole army had suddenly gone from a force confident in its own superiority to something that was a whole lot much more brittle. He rode forward to see what was going on and soon got a good view of the enemy from a small rise off to one side of the road.

  The Republican army was drawn up on sloping ground to the east of the road. The grassy, untilled as yet, paddocks formed a nice area for a battle to be fought. The far right of the Republican force rested on a small sharp rocky rise atop which Sejanus could see men manoeuvring what looked to be ballista of some sort. Oh well, they were used in the field often enough that not even the hick Germani would be surprised. On the left wing of the Republican infantry was some scrubby ground behind which Sejanus could just make out a force of cavalry. Presumably they were positioned to protect the infantry line’s flank although it seemed an odd position to Sejanus given the scrub was in front of them and that terrain would make hard for them to charge effectively.

  Combrosius and his aide came galloping over. “Sejanus. We are going to assault up the slope with the Germani so I want your lot in the centre. The Auxilia will follow as a reserve and I will lead the cavalry against their left flank and hopefully break through and take their line in the rear. First trumpet will be the signal to advance. You got all that?”

  Sejanus nodded. “Yes Comes. Advance on first trumpet.”

  “Good.” And the Comes galloped on towards the next officer. Sejanus looked up the slope to the Republican force. He suddenly realised that most of the men over there were sitting around relaxing, rather than standing to arms. They were that confident? Somehow that was more unsettling than anything else so far. He contemplated their indifference to the approach of Combrosius and his army and decided he would not be intimidated!

  Throwing his doubts aside he rode back to his troops and rounded up the leaders of his force and got the men organised in some sort of manner and marched them forward and filled the gap between two other units in the approximate centre of the line. His friend Carmethyn, a local Brython from a military family, was in charge of the largely Saxoni force on his right and that drunken pig Honoratus had the mixed group of Saxoni, Franconi and others on his other side. Combrosius had put the Sali Franconi on the far right away from the Ripuri Franconi that Honoratus led to avoid fights between the two groups. The mixed bag of warriors Honoratus supposedly commanded actually took their orders from a tall, fair haired man named Aelfrid who led a tough force of about a hundred warriors personally loyal to him that were in the centre of the force Honoratus led. They were some sort of barbarian mercenary band who had served together for some time and were easily the best disciplined of the barbarian hirelings.

  It was over an hour before the army was organised as Combrosius wanted. Eventually he must have been satisfied because the trumpet sounded and the whole mass surged into motion. Up ahead he saw the Republican infantry casually pack up whatever they were doing and form up in their line although where they picked up their shields which were leaning against the spears they had driven vertically into the ground. These they slung on they slung backs then loaded their manuballista things and waited. At five hundred paces he saw the air shimmer and there was a whooshing sound and the first arrows came crashing to the front ranks. The barbarians did not lose many men from this first barrage, their shields were held up to guard them as the arrows arrived, but Sejanus could feel the surprise that at the range and force of the arrows.

  Up ahead he could see that the front rank of the Republicans, having fired, turned grabbed their spears and marched backward through the second rank behind them then stuck their spears in the ground and proceeded to reload. Very peculiar. This second rank then took aim and fired. Then they turned and retired through the now reloading former first rank who soon took aim and fired another volley before retreating again.

  With a start he realised that their movements were deliberately designed to prolong the engagement by causing his men to take much longer to reach the bastards than anticipated because of this falling back movement. Smart of them, he thought to himself, although without their spears and shields and only in two ranks, his tribesmen would cut them to bits once they caught them. He wanted to order the charge now but at nearly three hundred paces it was still too far for an uphill charge, particularly as it would be even further by the time they reached the retiring Republicans.

  He let himself fall a little behind his force so he could look around. Over on the right the advance seemed a bit disorganised. Presumably the ballistae were affecting the unit on that flank. Over on the left the cavalry force, led by the Catafractii were almost at the scrub and even as he watched he heard trumpets blare and the whole mass surged forward at the gallop, or at a fast canter in the case of the heavily armoured Catafractii. He could not clearly see what the Republican cavalry were doing but it appeared they had either fled or dismounted, which last he thought rather strange and decided could not be right. He had heard of the new stirrup things the Republican cavalry were supposed to be using but not seen a sample himself and none of the Imperial force had adopted them as far as he knew.

  The casualties from the Republican fire were mounting. Not just men down dead who their comrades had to walk over but also wounded men, often badly, who struggled to either continue the advance or fell out to the rear nursing their injuries. He must be down at least a couple of hundred men already, he thought, and they were still over a hundred paces from the slowly falling back Republicans.

  Over to his left there was a roar and the men that Honoratus led surged forward in the charge. He thought they were still too far away, but his men decided otherwise and letting out a roar followed suit. The charge spread along the line and soon the whole mixed tribal horde was barrelling forward yelling and screaming their war cries.

  Corotoc stood behind his company slowly falling back with the rest of the army. He had bee
n surprised by the organised speed of the response Arturo and his Republican forces had made to the news that Combrosius was on the march north. The First Legion was shipped north on the hastily organised trains within a couple of hours. The ride north in a dirty coal wagon had not been much fun but he could not complain as more senior officers than himself had endured the same form of travel.

  It had taken longer to move all the cavalry and artillery horses but the infantry had been quickly offloaded at Epiacum and were well on their way east to Vindolanda by the end of the day. From there they had turned south along the old main Roman supply road and around noon on the third day had reached the spot Arturo had chosen for the battle where the Second was already at work digging a ditch. The process was simple, carefully strip the grass top cover off, then dig a three to four pace deep ditch in the relatively soft soil and three paces wide. Over the top place tree branches stripped of their leaves then carefully lay the grass sods back over these flimsy supports.

  It took some careful manoeuvring to get the sods in the middle in place but eventually the task was done to Valerius’s satisfaction. The ditch would be invisible from down slope and take the Imperials by surprise. A constant stream of light cavalry scouts kept Arturo appraised of where the Imperial forces were and Corotoc made a special mental note to introduce the same sort of scout cavalry to his father’s army when he returned north. The advantage this constant updating on the enemy gave to Arturo was immense.

  The next morning the army was allowed to rest, have a large, cooked breakfast provided by the special cook wagons in the support cohort and then they took up position lining the trench where they were allowed to sit and take it easy awaiting the arrival of the enemy who had camped only a couple of hours march south. Choosing to use the same basic tactic against this Roman army as what he had used against the Selgovae was a risk, Corotoc thought. On the other hand, looking at the Roman, well almost barbarian force, they didn’t seem to be aware of what was waiting for them. Perhaps the Roman commanders was too arrogant to bother finding out what had happened to the Selgovae.