Athene's Prophecy (Gaius Claudius Scaevola Trilogy) (37 page)

The problem was at first glance straightforward. Three hundred raiders had sacked a village, somewhere in the zone between Parthian and Roman control. This village had previously been supportive of Rome, and unless something was done, Rome's reputation would suffer. The trouble was, the village was three to four days march to the northeast, and by the time they got there, the raiders would have left long before.

The march was through more or less unrelenting desert, brownish dust, brownish rocks, and little in the way of vegetation, except for the isolated spot where water could be found, either in rock cisterns or underground and drawn from wells. In these places, green flourished, and villages built of the desert stone stood in an uncompromising fashion. The cohort marched through these, drawing only additional water. As each camp was struck on each morning, Gaius' mood became less jubilant. Yes, he was leading an expedition, but it was increasingly looking as if the best that could happen was that it would be fruitless. Not only would the raiders have left, but they would probably be in Parthia, where he could not follow. His report would look silly.

As he led the cohort into the village, he received sullen stares. The villagers had already rounded up those animals that had survived and had restored some sort of order to their lives and now they were both angry and fearful; the raiders had gone long ago, but they could return. If this was the Roman response, they were effectively defenceless. These Romans would take what little food was left, march around, then return to barracks.

Gaius duly took details, and then took the village elders to one side and got them to describe the local geography. He smiled wryly as he noted that either his map was grossly wrong, or they were lying. It did not take much imagination to guess which. It was then that he remembered the first military problem Timothy had given him. He probed deeper, and made sure he was aware of every source of drinkable water. He then assured the locals that apart from refilling with water, the cohort would not require any food or supplies, although the horses would require more forage. He would pay for that now.

The situation was not promising. There were few clues as to where the raiders might have gone, or, for that matter, where they might have come from. Still, he had clear orders. Even though the prospect of catching the raiders was remote, he was ordered to at least give the impression that he had tried. It had to be clear that the raiders had fled from the might of Rome. It had to be clear that Rome had not merely turned up, took some details, shrugged, and gone home.

He ordered the cohort to march east, further into the desert. He refused his Centurions' wishes to split up, and search in several directions; the raiders would have long made their escape, and the last thing he needed was a century to get lost in the desert.

Vague clues of the raider's camp sites were found, but the trail seemed distinctly cold, until one evening, a camp site was found that had been used more than once, and the last time had been very recent. Where to next? To the northwest was a small oasis, while to the northeast there was the road through the hills that was the obvious route back to Parthia. Apart from that, there were some of what seemed like dried riverbeds, some rounded barren hills, and flat desert. According to the villagers there was virtually nothing at the oasis, and it was not even on his map, so the following morning the cohort marched towards the pass.

They had marched for three hours and the cohort was about to enter a small gully when a scout reported. "We've found the raiders, sir, and there's a camp of about three hundred men near the mouth of the pass."

"A camp?" Gaius asked dubiously. "There? That doesn't sound right. Are you sure?"

"Oh, it's there," the man said, "and it's obvious. We're expected to see it."

"So, what else's there?" Gaius mused, more to himself than to the scout.

"Another five thousand," the scout replied. "That's rough, of course, but I counted them last night by the fires."

"And they're in the pass, waiting to ambush us?" Gaius asked.

"No sir. If you climb this little hill and look over to the east, you'll see about half of them have headed south."

"Hmmm," Gaius mused. "Then they're either going back to raid the village we just left, or they're trying to encircle us."

"They're mainly infantry, sir. They're trying to encircle us."

"Infantry?" Gaius asked in shock. "You mean they're soldiers?"

"Yes sir."

Gaius looked at the scout, then mused, "If there's that many of them, I suppose they would be, wouldn't they." The scout stood there, unsure of what to do, then Gaius asked, "Are there any horsemen at this camp?"

"No horses sir. The camp is supposed to look an easy target."

"I see. Then describe what you know about the land ahead."

"You come out of this gully, march about an hour ahead and there's another, which would take a man about half an hour to get through, then after that it's flat land towards the pass. Good cavalry land, and no possibility of a surprise attack."

"Thank you," Gaius said. "I want you to go ahead, and when you get to the second gully, find a route which will keep us under cover for as long as possible towards the oasis to the north-west."

"Yes, sir."

The situation seemed reasonably clear. Three hundred men attack a village, a cohort pursues, finds the three hundred who then flee into the pass, the cohort marches towards the pass then pursues the raiders into the pass, whereupon five thousand soldiers close from the rear. The cohort would be driven through the pass into land the Parthians claimed, then the Romans would be killed on Parthian land, an invasion of land denied to Rome by treaty. Either that, or the cohort would be killed and somewhere else would be sacked. Possibly Palmyra! If another few cohorts came out and were destroyed, a legion would have been picked off in parts. For some reason, at least some Parthians wished to resume war, and this was a fair way to start one.

His options were to advance or retreat, but if he chose the latter, the Parthian cavalry and light infantry would always catch him. There was no real escape, and he appeared to be outnumbered approximately five to one. He was certain the Parthians would pursue him as there was no point in having five thousand soldiers marching around in the Roman desert doing nothing. Therefore what he had to do was to select the best place to fight.

He could march towards the camp, and if possible defeat the three hundred or so before help could arrive. However, they would see him coming, then they would retreat into the pass, where he could either follow or not follow. Once in the pass, if he caught the raiders he could despatch them, then climb the hills to gain the advantage of height. The problem with that plan was that if the enemy did not pursue, he would be stuck in this pass, without water or supply, and able to be attacked by additional forces from Parthia.

The next not very attractive option was to take advantage of the enemy's decision to split his forces and to set off after the infantry, to fight a bit under three to one against in open terrain at the most inconvenient spot, for the choice of spot lay with the opposition.

The alternative was to defend at the oasis. He would look silly if the enemy did not attack, but no worse than if he marched all around the desert and the Parthians declined combat. And if he did march across the desert and was surrounded by a force almost five times as large at an indefensible spot, they would all be killed. Of course he had the best soldiers in the world, and Alexander would have ignored the odds and set off and destroyed the opposition. The trouble was, he was not Alexander. The words of the old General came back to him: fight your battles, not someone else's. He would defend at the oasis.

He rode to the front of the cohort and gave his orders to the Chief Centurion. Gaius noted that the idea of marching away from the raiders was viewed with only moderate enthusiasm. That, he would have to live with. Gaius then waited as the remaining soldiers marched past, and issued similar orders to each Centurion.

* * *

As the cohort marched across the plain between gullies, Gaius tried to give the impression that he was in control. He rode, head up, appearing as unconcerned as he could. Ignoring the heat and flies was his first problem. It was hot, it was dusty, but he had to look as if he was in control. Inwardly he was anything but unconcerned. This would be his first battle and if he lost, it would be his last, because he would be dead. On the other hand, if the enemy ignored him his report would be seen to read, 'He came, he saw, he fled.' That was hardly the way to commence a military career.

Yes, he had a good plan. At least he thought he did. The question was, did he have enough operational knowledge to pull it off? Would his first move work? How much did the enemy know? Did they realize that not all his cavalry would be accounted for? Worse, would they accidentally blunder into the small detachment left behind in the first gully?

He had to pull himself together! The small force left behind had eyes and could make their escape. Then he remembered Libo's advice. He might doubt, but he must not show it. The men would know he was young and this was his first battle, but at least they had to believe he thought he knew what he was doing. Accordingly, he rode unconcernedly along the line of troops. As he looked out to the northeast, there was no sign of the enemy. Good! The harder they were to see, the harder it would be for them to see him, and the less sure they would be of what was to happen. Every half-hour was so valuable.

As the lead century marched into the second gully, Gaius met the scout. There was a left turning branch of the gully a few hundred meters ahead, Gaius gave the orders to the First Centurion, then he rode back to meet his auxiliaries.

His small group of cavalry had an important task. They would slowly ride ahead, and wait for up to an hour, then ride out, carrying a standard, followed by men and horses in very wide open file, dragging anything that would stir up a little dust. From a distance, it would appear that the cohort was continuing towards the pass and the most likely outcome would be that the men camped there would simply retreat into the pass, to draw the Romans in. At the same time, the main Parthian force would believe their trap was working, and they would stay put until the Romans entered the pass, so the Romans would not see what would close their escape route.

Chapter 31

Phase 1 was successful, so far. He was at the oasis; the legionnaires were busy digging defensive fortifications. When Gaius informed the troops that the Parthians were chasing them, but thanks to this manoeuvre, the enemy would have to fight from the desert without easy access to water, the men's spirits were raised.

He felt so alone. He would have so dearly liked to be able to discuss the situation with someone, but he could not. Not that he wanted to discuss this matter with his Centurions. When he gave the orders as to where the fortifications were to be dug, one of the Centurions had stood there, puzzled, and when he had the chance, had asked where could the Romans conceivably form their line. When Gaius had announced they were not going to form a line, he had received the bewildered response that forming a line was what the Roman army did. Gaius had remembered his advice; he tried to smile, and said slowly that this battle would be fought differently; it had to be fought differently because they had insufficient troops to avoid being outflanked. The Centurion's face showed he thought that Gaius was making a very big mistake, and should at least form a square, but the discipline of the Roman army cut in. A Centurion with clear orders ensured his men followed those orders without qualification or variation.

Had he made a mistake? He felt not. The oasis was situated in a broad, dead-end short valley bounded by steep rocky cliffs. Climbing up or down would be exceedingly slow. There were two small hillocks that would form an oblique line to advancing Parthians, and his men were busily making earthworks on top of them. The cavalry, reserves, and some of the limited artillery were stationed behind these hillocks. If the enemy tried to force their way around the hillocks, infantry from the rear would hold up their progress, while the archers and the two catapults on the hillocks would have a field day. If they tried to attack the hillocks, they would be charging up-hill against set fortifications that by then would be real obstacles. If they tried to come around the back of one hillock, that would leave the troops on the other hillock almost in a position to turn them before they started. If they tried to take both hillocks, his reserve infantry and cavalry could punch through the centre, or around either side.

He felt that the site was good. He could only be flanked provided the enemy accepted the penetration of the hillocks, he had room to manoeuvre in depth, he had forced the enemy to accept camping on a relatively featureless plain, and he controlled the readily available water. With anything like half decent luck, that would be important.

The plan had only one weakness. If the enemy sent in enough troops to engage those on the hillocks and keep them engaged, and sent masses around each of the flanks he would be in trouble. All he could hope for was that the earthworks his men were digging would at least slow them so that the catapults and ballistae could do some serious damage. In any event he felt he was doing the best he could. He was always going to be outnumbered, and there was nothing he could do about that.

It was quite dark when the enemy finally arrived, and at first Gaius could hear them rather than see them. That they had pressed on to arrive at night was a bonus, and one that he had hoped for and allowed for. He ordered his cavalry to advance very quietly on foot, and get as close as they dared to the camp without being seen.

It was almost midnight when the first move was made. By now the moon was well up, and providing enough light that troops could move slowly and quietly, but not that bright that the enemy would see them other than by carefully searching. He had left a small squad of auxiliaries at the first gully out in the desert, with orders to conceal themselves, allow the Parthians to advance on the oasis, and then follow up from the rear. They had clear instructions of what to do on the first night of the Parthians setting up camp. As Gaius reflected later, had the Parthians not set up camp, but attacked directly as Alexander did on more than one occasion, these orders would have been wasted.