Hosker, G [Sword of Cartimandua 03] Invasion- Caledonia (26 page)

“They should have charged down the hill.”

“You are right Decius although even then it would have taken a powerful body of men to crash through three lines of Batavians.”

“And don’t forget the Ninth; it looks like Decius Brutus is just itching to get to grips with them.”

The eight thousand auxiliaries made relentless and inevitable progress up the hill.  In their wake the ala could see the writhing bodies of the dead and dying and almost to a man they were Caledonii. “Looks like this will be over before noon.”

“Don’t be so confident Decius this Calgathus has shown himself to be a cunning commander. This battle has some way to go.”

At the top of the hill Calgathus and his war chiefs watched with dismay as the Romans cut down their warriors with impunity. “We have more men oh king but they cannot get to the enemy for our own warriors.”

“Send them around the side and we will attack them in the side and the rear.”

Within a few moments two warbands, with four thousand warriors in each began to move swiftly east and west to outflank and destroy the Romans. The attack on the hill had slowed down mainly because of the slope and the mass of bodies.  The hill was slick with blood and the auxiliaries were fighting the hill as much as their enemies.

“Prefect.”

Gaelwyn pointed to the north to where they could see warriors flooding west. ”I see them Gaelwyn. Ala form column!”

“What is the plan sir?”

“They plan to outflank our friends. We will go further west and outflank them.  They may be faster than us in those woods but in the open they stand no chance.  If we can catch them from the flank or rear we can drive them back into their own men.”

Standing on the small knoll the general was itching to be amongst the fighting.  He saw the outflanking barbarians and was gratified to see the two cavalry units respond. He turned to an aide, “Send a message to Decius Brutus and ask him to move forward a thousand paces.” When the man had gone he turned to one of the tribunes. “Just in case the cavalry fail to halt this attack. Actually I have no doubt that they will but the poor Ninth need something to do.”

The Caledonii to the west of the battle were totally oblivious of the cavalry threat.  Marcus had taken the ala below the skyline, confident in his men’s ability to make up any lost ground. The tribesman ran in a compact group; their leader Lulach determined to hit the Romans hard in their flank.  His warband was made up of huge warriors armed with long swords and war hammers; when they struck the whole battlefield would hear the sound.

Strabo’s First Spear was the first one to see the threat. “Prefect Strabo, look!” He pointed to their left where, in the distance they could see a dark shadow moving swiftly across the green hillside.

“I see it. Second and third centuries form a line to the left. First Spear take charge.”

“Sir.” Calmly and efficiently the one hundred and sixty men turned and formed two lines at an oblique angle to the main line. They still managed to march forward while keeping their attention on the approaching barbarians.

“Keep it steady lads.  I don’t want anyone falling over.”

“There’s a lot of them sir.” The voice came from one of the Usipi recently drafted in to the Batavians.  He had never stood in line before and was intimidated by the horde approaching at great speed.

“Quiet lad.  I know there are more of them but they are all piss and wind! Shield and sword, shield and sword.  Look for the weak point trust the man next to you and we’ll be on the top of the hill before you know it.”

Gaelwyn waved from the top of the ridge. “Halt. Right turn!” The column instantly turned into two lines. “Forward. Moving forward at a walk they rode to the top of the ridge. A thousand paces below them the warband was rapidly approaching the left flank of the Batavians. “Trot”

As soon as the ala began to trot down the hill the Caledonii became aware of their presences. “Do not worry about the horses we will be upon these foot warriors before they strike.”

“Gallop!” The hooves thundered, making the ground shake and some of those warriors on the extreme right began to glance nervously over their shoulders. They heard the buccina sound just as the warriors at the point struck home. The Batavian front line sagged under the pressure. First Spear yelled,” Third Century, put your backs into it and lock shields!”

The second rank did as they were ordered and the line bowed but did not give.  In the front rank the second century was fighting for its life. Their swords sought out the bare flesh of the enemy and hacked and slashed creating savage wounds if not deadly ones. The war hammers and swords beat hard upon the shields and helmets of the auxiliaries but for all their noise they were largely ineffective.

Marcus’ Horse thundered down the slope their swords and javelins a glittering sea of death sparkling in the early sun. Each trooper was leaning forward extending his sword or javelin. Marcus and Decius had decided to forego their bows as they need impact. The Caledonii began to turn to try to halt the avalanche that was descending upon them.  It was hopeless. The horses and riders rode over the front ranks as if they did not exist. The warriors behind the front ranks had their backs to the horsemen who took every advantage they could. Javelins and swords instantly created a corpse and soon the pressure on the front slackened. First Spear saw it and decided to go on the offensive. “Push! Heave! Send these barbarians to Hades!”

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.”