by Griff Hosker
The ala was now inextricably entwined with the Caledonii but they had the advantage of height, training and the belief that they could defeat any enemy. The decurions and Marcus led the line; they were the first to strike blows. The sword of Cartimandua ran red with blood and seemed to sing in the prefect’s hand. Behind him guarding his flanks rode Decius and Gaius. They became a wedge driving deeper into the shrinking mass that had been Lulach’s war band. A huge warrior ran towards Marcus’ left side for the prefect was fighting a war chief on his right. Even as the warrior lifted his war hammer above his head to strike a fatal blow Decius had hurled his spatha, striking the warrior in his throat. He fell dead in an instant. Decius reached down to retrieve his spare gladius from its scabbard. “Who is next?”
Agricola was regretting not joining one of his forward cohorts as he saw the mêlée developing. Both of his cavalry units were engaged and he had no doubt that they would win for already warriors were streaming back from the flanks. In the centre the Batavians and Tungrians were still making progress albeit slower than hitherto. To no one in particular the general said, “One more ala and I could ride around their rear and we would destroy them all.”
Marcus was tiring but he suddenly saw a red horsehair crest a few paces from him; a centurion! “Come on Marcus’ Horse we have nearly done it!”
The sound of the exultant prefect’s voice spurred them on and gave each trooper extra energy. Suddenly the resistance seemed to crumble as the ala and the Batavians met in the bloody, battlefield littered with barbarian bodies. “Well done First Spear.”
“Well done yourself. That was as neatly timed a charge as I can remember.”
“My compliments to your prefect. Sound the recall!”
As the strident sound of the horn echoed on the battlefield the ala began to form lines and decurions quickly checked casualties. “Not many missing sir.”
“Thank you Decius. Marcus’ Horse, pursue the enemy.”
Every decurion grinned and the troopers all whooped. The turmae would all fight any enemy they found. Like huntsmen chasing their quarry they raced up the hill after the fleeing warriors. In the centre the Caledonii saw that they had been outflanked, not the enemy and they began to stream back with the cohorts in hot pursuit.”They are heading for the woods.”
“Macro, Gaius cut them off from the woods.”
It was a difficult task he had given his two best officers. They had to negotiate bodies, pockets of warriors still fighting and the fleeing remnants of the thirty thousand warrior army. The two decurions formed the tip of an arrow formation as their troopers steamed behind them. The edge of the woods was less than two hundred paces from them but there still thousands of men in their path. Somehow they cleared a path and reined their mounts in under the eaves of the trees. “Dismount! Horse holders.” In a well practised manoeuvre they dismounted and stood in a line facing the enemy. The training they had received from Macro now came into its own. The Caledonii had fled for the safety of the woods and now they were barred by the heavily armed and armoured Romans. Worse some of the Caledonii had flung their shields away and faced them with only a sword or dagger. The two turmae were like a rock upon which the sea of warriors crashed and died. The ones following ran further north to enter the woods at some point past this deadly obstruction. This brought them within the range of the rest of the ala and soon the bodies began to pile up. By the time Marcus arrived the majority of the barbarians had either died or entered the woods.
“Well done Gaius, well done Macro. Decius we will need to rest the horses.”
“But sir they are getting away.”
“I know but look at the horses; they have charged and then run up the hill they will need to rest.”
“Sir our horses have had a rest we can pursue.”
“Very well Gaius and Macro take your men and follow. We will join you shortly.”
“Sir the enemy are on foot can I take my turma on foot.”
“On foot Julius?”
“Yes sir, my turma is fit we can do it. We can seek out those who are hiding from our horsemen.”
Very well.”
Roaring with delight the turma of the popular young decurion spread out through the woods.”Keen isn’t he?”
“I think we all were when we were young.”
In the woods the horses of the ala had to read carefully along the trackless woodland. Julius and his men soon began to catch them. “Keep your eyes open and look up as well.”
“Look up sir?”
“They can climb trees.”
It was only moments later that there caution was rewarded. Gaius and his men had just past a thick patch of trees when warriors began to drop on top of the warriors whose eyes were looking downward. “Come on!” With a roar the men of the tenth turma raced forward to assist their fellow troopers. The shock and surprise now changed and the warriors tried to disengage. As the troopers finished off the odd survivor Gaius came over to Julius. “Thank you decurion. A timely attack. I think we will look up and not just down from now on.”
As Marcus and the rest of the ala began to sweep though the woods little knots of warriors were found and despatched. It was slow going as the exhausted Caledonii tried to catch their breath and still avoid the pursuing Romans. By the time the recall had sounded the ala were deep in the woods and reluctant to return. “Sir we could have them all.”
“The general knows what he is about besides I am worried about the horses.” He gestured at the limping and lame horses littered around the trees. “There will be another day.”
Chapter 17
“Well gentlemen that nearly worked perfectly. How many men did we lose?”
His aide had spent the last three hours talking to prefects, counting the wounded and counting the corpses. “Five hundred and thirty seven dead and five hundred and ten wounded forty of them seriously.”
“And the enemy?”
“A little harder sir as there are many bodies in the woods and it is now dark. We estimate ten thousand.”
“That is disappointing.”
“Disappointing?”
“Yes Prefect Bassus for it means that there are still twenty thousand Caledonii out there. The war could have ended today but I feat it will continue and without me. Had I had another ala of cavalry we could have ended it today.”
“Or more infantry sir. We found it hard to pursue on horse in those woods. One of my decurions took his men on foot and they were just as effective as those mounted.”
“And our men were exhausted.”
“I know Prefect Sura.”
Decius Brutus had an ‘I told you so’ look on his face. “With respect sir had you used the Ninth the Batavians would have been free to pursue.”
There was an awkward silence and the general reddened slightly. “Quite. Well at least you can spend the rest of the year proving that you were right Decurion as you and the auxiliaries hunt down Calgathus.” There was almost a sigh of relief as the prefects realised that Decius, a very popular man, was not to be censured for saying what all of them had thought. In saving the Ninth from involvement to use later on he had in effect lost the opportunity to win the war in one last battle. At the end the gambler had played cautiously.
“I can understand it Decius. Our lines of supply are over extended. We have not secured the lands through which we came and the north and Wales are barely settled.”
Decius nodded but Gaius said, “The thing is sir we still have all of that to do and we have a powerful enemy up here to defeat. I would have gambled.” He looked at the prefect. “And I think you would have too.”
“Well I am not the general so we will never know.”
“I will tell you one thing, that king of theirs won’t risk a battle again. It will be back to night attacks, ambushes and murders. It is going to be a bloody war.”
Deep in the forests to the north Calgathus and his army were licking their wounds. “It seems that an open battle is not the way forward. Perhaps we
should now listen to the wise words of the witch eh?”
“Women!”
“I know Lulach. I know. Your men fought as well as any but how many Romans did your men kill?” Lulach angrily turned his head away. It was not for want of trying. His men had bled and died but the Romans seemed impervious to the blows landed by his men. “We have to accept that although any of our warriors could defeat a single warrior of theirs when they fight together, no matter how many more men we have, they will defeat us. We have to find a way. I think we killed more when we attacked their camp than we did on the field of battle.”
“Then that is what we must do oh king. Night attacks.”
“There are many things we must do but first we must head north east away from them so that we can plan in safety for they will follow us and we have our families with us.”
“And as long as their fleet is there we cannot go near to the coast.”
“I will seek out the witch and ask her advice.”
“But King Calgathus she is a witch!”
“I will use anybody to rid my land of these Romans.”
At least one Roman was leaving. Gnaeus Julius Agricola stood on the beach saying his goodbyes. “Well Prefects, and First Spear, we have travelled a long journey since first we fought at Stanwyck. We have travelled to the westernmost extremities and now the northern most and we have done it together. I cannot think of any other men who could have done better than you and your soldiers. There are now among you greybeards where first I saw the lean and callow youths. We have fought and defeated every enemy Rome who has dared to challenge us. It is sad that we have not, as I had hoped, completed the task but that will be your duty and honour to complete. I truly believe that we have broken the back of these barbarians. It is forty one years since the first Roman stepped ashore and in a mere eight years we have conquered more than all of our predecessors in thirty three years. That is something to tell your grandchildren as I will tell mine.” He clasped each man’s arm in a soldier’s salute; he spoke not a word for there tears in his throat. When he came to Marcus he clasped his arm and then embraced him. In a quiet voice he said, “Marcus Aurelius Maximunius your embody Britannia. Keep it safe and finish my work.”
Barely able to speak he said, “I will my general.”
The impatient captain pulled up the gangplank and ordered the rowers to back water as soon as Agricola stepped on board. The prefects watched the sail become an indistinct blur and disappear south around the headland.
They walked silently back to the camp until Decius said, to no-one in particular, “Isn’t it typical? You get one general trained up so you know what the hell he is thinking and they take him away and give you a new one.”
The tension broken the senior officers all laughed. Furius said, “Anyone know who the new Governor is then?”
“Sallustius Lucullus.”
They all looked at each other blankly. “Well we will have to wait and see then. I suppose until then we carry on with the general’s orders. I daresay the new governor will make himself known to us before too long.”
The new Governor was indeed landing, even as they spoke at Rutupiae. He had looked forward to this posting his whole life. For he was returning to his homeland. He was Lucullus son of Prince Arminius who had fled to Rome with his father King Cunobelinus, the only true King of Britannia and now his grandson was returning to rule a land even greater than that of his grandfather. Admittedly he was not a king but he wielded more power than a king. The petty princes and kings who had driven his family from their land would pay for their past treacheries and insults. The first thing he would do was to finally destroy the Caledonii and complete the work of Agricola.
The Caledonii themselves were not idle. Long into the night the king sat with Fainch as they discussed strategies which would evict the Romans from their newly won land. “Now is the time to strike King Calgathus. The general who led these men has departed. They are leaderless. Believe me I have fought the Romans since I was a young girl I know how they fight. They had order and discipline but it all comes from one man. The Romans will patrol and build but they will not attack. We have a free hand until a new general comes.”
“What could we do against these Romans?”
“They are building roads and forts are they not? That is a perfect opportunity to attack. They cannot build and fight. Yes after the first few attacks they will increase their guards and we will have to try a different strategy. As Lulach said we could attack their forts at night. We lost fewer men in that attack than the battle.”
“But I do no not have the numbers I did have.”
“You know how you build a dam? You divert the water and then you put stones in the bed. You build up the big stones and then you fill in with smaller stones and finally very small stone. Then you allow the water to flow again.”
Impatiently he said, “This I know! I do not need a lesson from a woman.”
Ignoring the insult she said, “It takes much work to build a dam as it has taken many years to build their Empire but to destroy it you take out the small stones, one at a time, little by little eventually the whole thing becomes unstable and it collapses. Our attacks will be as the removal of the small stones, in themselves not powerful but, taken together, they will work.”
“I will order my warbands to target the road builders. There are many roads and forts being built it may have success. The attacks on the forts I will consider if the first attacks are successful.”
The vexillation from the Second Tungrian cohort hated road building. The two centuries were warriors first and foremost, it was their life. They enjoyed the benefits which roads brought but they believed there were many inferior cohorts to their own who could do such labour. At least building this road to Alavna meant that they were many miles south of the land where the Caledonii were hiding. The other advantage was that they did not need to wear the Lorica segmentata which was vital in war but heavy and uncomfortable in peace. Like every other soldier they too wished that they had finally seen off the threat of Calgathus. As long as he and his not insubstantial army remained it was like a toothache which won’t go away. It might calm down for a while but you know that eventually it will flare up.
Lulach had brought his warband south over the Vorlich mountain. It had been a hard trek but it had the beauty that it avoided all Roman patrols. They had only to cross one valley and Lulach had chosen the middle of the night at a spot two miles from each of the camps sited along the valley. His four hundred warriors were eager. They had had to draw lots to decide on the warband for so many had wanted revenge for the defeat at Mons Graupius. Even as Lulach and his men got into position other bands were doing the same further north on the road being built to Inchtuthil.
He peered over the mound behind which he squatted; twenty of the men were on sentry duty while the other one hundred and forty toiled on the road. He signalled his smallest warriors and they ran south and north to encircle the Romans. The other three hundred warriors began to filter down. The sentries had already been targeted and two warriors were approaching each one. It mattered not if they raised the alarm for Lulach was convinced his men could cover the distance before the Tungrians could arm themselves and, more importantly put on their armour.
Eight of the sentries had been killed before one made a sound. With a roar the warriors leapt over the ridge and raced down the slope. Although taken by surprise the Tungrians training took over and they quickly picked up swords and shields. By the time the Caledonii had reached them they had formed a shield wall. The Tungrians were angry and fought back ferociously but, without their armour and helmets they were more vulnerable to the blows of their opponents and for the first time almost fought them on an equal basis. The smaller warriors who had encircled them began to hurl slingshots at them and soon there were casualties. It would have turned into a disaster had not the signifier remembered his buccina and sounded a blast. A blast which caused him a crippling wound to his leg as a warrior threw a spear
at him but it had the desired effect. Lulach roared his command the Caledonii disengaged and fled back into the forest taking with them any swords and shields they could from the dead Tungrians. When the relief column made their way down from their section of road building most of the wounded had been made comfortable and those too severely wounded had been despatched. It was the Tungrian way.
The prefects met at Inchtuthil to plan their strategy. “Any word from the new governor?”
“He sent a message with the fleet. He is in the south, then he will visit Deva, across to Eboracum and finally to us.”
“No hurry then?”
“I think it is up to us. “
“You are right Cominius. We lost over a hundred Tungrian dead.”
“We lost the same,” added Strabo.
Bassus nodded, “Two hundred. No signal was given and two centuries perished. The bastards.”
“The first thing we do is an obvious one; we double the number of guards on the roads.”
“That slows down the building.”
“So does dead auxiliaries.”
Marcus looked at the map. “If the Gallic cavalry patrols from Alavna to Inchtuthil and my horse patrol the road from Inchtuthil to Marcus and nothing else then any attack can be thwarted because there should be a relief force of forty cavalry nearby.”
Metellus the prefect of the Gallic cavalry nodded, “It is a good plan but it means we cannot hunt the Caledonii.”
Cominius looked up, “It seems to me that we know where the Caledonii are, attacking my men. In the absence of any better plan we will try this.”
“To make it more efficient I would suggest that one turma camps with each cohort. That will mean less travelling. We can rotate the turma.”
Decius of course, was overjoyed. “Looking after the bleeding infantry again.”
Gaius smiled, “Yes Decius but think of the lovely road you will have to show for it.”
“We don’t need to patrol on the road. In fact it may be better if we patrol along the forest edge for that is where we are likely to find them. Use your scouts and keep your ears open. One of the Gallic cohorts was almost killed to a man because they didn’t get the chance to sound the alarm. I think we all know what the sound of battle is like. Gaius you take the road closest to Inchtuthil and Decius the one closest to Marcus.”
