He motioned with his head towards Decaeneus, the enaree. “Look who I ran into, Domitius. It’s ‘the one who knows’.” Hostilius jerked the rope, causing the shaman to stumble.
“He sang like a newsgiver in the forum. Even before the Goths started working on him”, he said, grinning wickedly.
Ostrogotha nudged his horse until he was but two paces away from me.
The high king of the Greuthungi turned his gaze of iron on Tarbus, who visibly recoiled.
“Prince Eochar has challenged me to single combat”, Tarbus wailed. “I will accept, if you grant me my freedom when I defeat him.”
“Eochar cannot fight a man who is dead already”, the Goth king growled. He gestured to his burly guards who dragged Tarbus from his saddle.
The Greuthungi king spoke: “Your man from Serica divined that you would require our assistance and my son Kniva owes you a life. That debt is now paid. We fell upon your ambushers and killed many.”
I inclined my head in thanks towards Ostrogotha and Kniva. “I would ask that you grant me a boon, lords.”
Ostrogotha raised his eyebrows and gave me a slight nod, allowing me to state my request.
I pointed to Adherbal and his Numidians. “I know this man. He is from the land of the Moors across the Middle Sea. He has honour. I beg that you allow them to leave this place unharmed.”
Kniva nodded and Ostrogotha turned to one of his warleaders. “You have heard the words of the prince. Let it be as he says.”
I walked my horse alongside the Numidian tribune’s mount. “You and your men are free to go, my friend”, I said and clasped his arm.
He eyed me with disbelief, but nodded in acceptance. “The one you call Bradakos has been taken to Rome. He is not badly injured. Soon the celebrations of a thousand years will commence. The emperor will parade him through the streets and he will die in the arena. That much I have heard.”
I clasped his arm. “Look after the son of Simsek”, I said, and slapped the Hun horse on its muscled rump.
Kniva took the rope attached to the shaman from Hostilius. “My father-in-law and I will deal with the Carpiani, Eochar.”
The Thervingi iudex turned to the enaree, pulling on the rope. “Come Decaeneus, you have to tell your tale once more. Be helpful and your death will be quick. Lie, and I will give you to the Urugundi. Did you know that unlike the Goths, they do not have a word in their tongue for ‘mercy’?”
“Tonight, Eochar, we will sup together and talk about the future”, he said and rode away.
* * *
I later heard that the enaree had told all.
Enraged by their treachery, the Carpiani nobles demanded that Tarbus and Decaeneus be handed over to them.
Ostrogotha conceded, but to honour his oath, he opened the shaman’s throat before he fell into the hands of his own people.
Tarbus, on the other hand, was not as fortunate.
Chapter 38 – Cleansing
I returned to my tent with a heavy heart. Bradakos, my friend and mentor, was on his way to Rome in chains. He would be kept alive for many moons before Philip the Arab displays him as a trophy of war. Ultimately his life would end to entertain the masses in Rome. An unfitting demise for a man such as the king of the Roxolani.
I was permeated with dust and sweat so I walked to a nearby meltwater stream to rid myself of the grime.
Back at my tent I stripped my armour and meticulously cleaned and polished every hoof scale.
I rubbed all the leather parts using the oil that the Scythians rendered from the shinbones of cattle. Then I spent forever putting a shine on my helmet, meticulously polishing it with the fine wood ash left in the firepit.
None came to visit, as I had demanded to be left alone.
When I was done, I dressed in my best tunic and donned my full armour.
I closed the flap of the tent, and placed hemp seeds on the red-hot stones. I sat down in the middle of the tent cross-legged, and breathed the way that Cai had taught me.
Then I prayed to the god of war and fire.
I mounted the dreamhorse and ascended to the abode of the gods.
The fog in my mind slowly dissipated, and my path became clear as daylight.
I was brought back to the present by a familiar voice. “Domitius, are you still on this side of the river?”
I opened the flap and stepped outside, the cold evening air reviving me.
I smiled, suddenly hungry, my vigour restored. “Let us go and enjoy the hospitality of the kings, Primus Pilus”, I said.
Hostilius eyed me suspiciously.
“Gordas tells me that you were ready to die in battle this morning. Then you skulk off, looking like you are going to open your veins or fall on your bloody sword. You hide in the tent all afternoon inhaling the shaman smoke and we hear you scream like a stuck pig.” He shook his head from side to side, emphasizing his point.
“Then you walk from the tent two watches later, all polished up like the god of war himself. And suddenly you’re chirpy and all smiles.”
“It is because tonight, Primus Pilus, the war god has gifted me something I did not possess this morning”, I said.
“Show me”, he said.
“That I cannot do”, I replied.
A frown crossed his brow.
I slapped him on the shoulder.
“But I can tell you”, I grinned, and I shared Arash’s plan.
Historical Note
I do not elaborate where I believe that it might be a spoiler for future books.
Characters
Eochar - Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, or Aurelian as he is better known, I believe, was the most accomplished Roman to ever walk this earth. Some would disagree, which is their right. Little is known about his whereabouts during the period covered by this book.
In time, all will be revealed, but for now I will leave you with a few quotes from the surviving records.
From the English Translation of the (much-disputed) Historia Augusta Volume III:
“Aurelian, born of humble parents and from his earliest years very quick of mind and famous for his strength, never let a day go by, even though a feast-day or a day of leisure, on which he did not practise with the spear, the bow and arrow, and other exercises in arms.”
“… he was a comely man, good to look upon because of his manly grace, rather tall in stature, and very strong in his muscles; he was a little too fond of wine and food, but he indulged his passions rarely; he exercised the greatest severity and a discipline that had no equal, being extremely ready to draw his sword.”
“…"Aurelian Sword-in-hand," and so he would be identified.”
“… in the war against the Sarmatians Aurelian with his own hand slew forty-eight men in a single day and that in the course of several days he slew over nine hundred and fifty, so that the boys even composed in his honour the following jingles and dance-ditties, to which they would dance on holidays in soldier fashion:
"Thousand, thousand, thousand we've beheaded now.
One alone, a thousand we've beheaded now.
He shall drink a thousand who a thousand slew.
So much wine is owned by no one as the blood which he has shed."
Marcus - Marcus Aurelius Claudius was an actual person, famous in history, and I believe a close friend of Lucius Domitius.
Cai is a figment of my imagination. The Roman Empire had contact with China, or Serica, as it was called then. His origins, training methods and fighting style I have researched in detail. Cai, to me, represents the seldom written about influence of China on the Roman Empire.
Primus Pilus Hostilius Proculus is a fictional character. He represents the core of the legions. The hardened plebeian officer.
Gordas – The fictional Hun/Urugundi general. Otto J Maenschen-Helfen writes in his book, The World of the Huns, that he believed the Urugundi to be a Hunnic tribe. Zosimus, the ancient Byzantine writer, mentions the Urugundi in an alliance with the Goths and the Scythians during the mid-th
ird century AD. (Maenchen-Helfen’s book is fascinating. He could read Russian, Persian, Greek and Chinese, enabling him to interpret the original primary texts.)
Vibius Marcellinus was an actual person. He will feature more later.
Segelinde – the Gothic princess, is an invention. However, Ulpia Severina, the woman who was married to Aurelian, is not.
Lucius’s Contubernia – Ursa, Silentus, Pumilio and Felix. They were not actual people, but represent the common soldiers within the Roman Legions.
Bradakos – King Bradakos of the Roxolani never lived.
Ostrogotha the Patient – king of the Greuthungi. He was the son of Hisarna (the Iron One) the son of Amal (the Fortunate One), from there the Amaling Dynasty of the Goths. The reason why he was called ‘The Patient’, I have concocted.
Kniva - was the king of the Goths during the mid-third century AD. He was not the brother-in-law of Aurelian, but he is famous for his deeds. All will be revealed.
Tarbus – King of the Carpiani. The Carpiani must have had a king, who he was, I do not know.
Transsilvanian storyline
Herodotus wrote about the Venedi and the Fenni in 450 BC. I took the liberty to assume that these peoples were related to the later Slavs as described in Maurice’s Strategikon, which was written in the sixth century AD.
Philip the Arab ceased the payment of the subsidies to the tribes north of the Danube shortly after coming into power.
Resultantly the Carpiani/Scythians/Goths did invade Dacia and Moesia in 245 AD. They moved through Dacia, plundered Transsilvania, then crossed the Danube into Moesia.
Shortly after, the Limes Transalutanus was abandoned by Rome for many years.
The emperor at the time, Philip the Arab, sent Senator Decius to repel the Scythian invasion.
Decius was less than content with the performance of the legions, culminating in his dismissal of many legionaries, who ended up joining Ostrogotha.
Phillip did pursue the Scythians across the border of Dacia into the tribal lands, utilising African Berber cavalry. He trapped the Carpiani in a fortress, but eventually concluded a peace on lenient terms and rushed back to Rome. In all likeliness, he was fleeing from the allies of the Carpiani who had come to relieve the siege.
Were Philip the Arab and his brother Priscus really the bad guys? I quote from the English translation of the works of Zosimus:
“… Priscus, their governor, who was a man of an intolerably evil disposition… “
Make up your own mind.
Random items
The Chinese powdered Chrysanthemum flowers for the use as an insecticide as early as 1000 BC. Even today, Pyrethrin, the active ingredient, is still used to kill lice.
Scythicon was an evil poison brewed by the Scythians. The details in the book are near accurate.
“The one who tries”, is an ancient runic inscription found on a spear-blade.
The Paduroaia and the Strigoi are local legends of Transylvania. The same applies to the fog being a little girl.
The names of the woods like Mad Forest, Screaming Woods and Heinous Forest are real. The barrier created by the haunted, near impenetrable woods of old, is one theory explaining the lack of an outer ditch on a portion of the Limes Transalutanus, north of Izbasesti.
The Scythian enarees are real.
The route I have described through Transylvania (Roman Transsilvania) is geographically accurate. I did use modern place names where I was unable to determine the ancient name. The route taken by the invaders in 245 AD is not known, although the fort at Rucar was destroyed by fire during this time.
Author’s Note
I trust that you have enjoyed the fourth book in the series.
In many instances, written history relating to this period has either been lost in the fog of time, or it might never have been recorded. That is especially applicable to most of the tribes which Rome referred to as barbarians. These peoples did not record history by writing it down. They only appear in the written histories of the Greeks, Romans, Persians and Chinese, who often regarded them as enemies.
In any event, my aim is to be as historically accurate as possible, but I am sure that I inadvertently miss the target from time to time, in which case I apologise to the purists among my readers.
Kindly take the time to provide a rating and/or a review.
I will keep you updated via my blog with regards to the progress on the fifth book in the series.
Feel free to contact me any time via my website. I will respond.
www.HectorMillerBooks.com
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