Legio XVII: Battle of Zama (34 page)

The dissenter from earlier called out, “I disagree!  I think we should head to Munich; that’s where the other people went.”

Alina looked silently at everyone in the room.  She didn’t answer the man, but took a deep breath and said determinedly, “I am going to look for a hand cart.  There’s lot of them in the fort.  When I find one I can easily pull, I’m going to load it with water, grain, a blanket, some cookware, a few souvenirs of my husband, and park it by the south gate.  Tomorrow, I’m walking to Innsbruck.  If you want to follow me, put your hand cart behind mine.”

The three women who had taken over the cooking, said, “We’ll go with you.”  One by one, the rest said the same.  “What about us?” asked one of the five men who was severely wounded and unable to walk.

“We have to leave you here,” said Alina with a pained expression.  “We can’t pull a large wagon without horses.  We will leave you with food and water, and we’ll send help as soon as we reach Innsbruck.”  Everyone expected that those with critical injuries would certainly die.  It was a difficult decision to leave them, but there was no other choice.

As the people went about loading their carts, the smell in the air passed from sickeningly sweet to utterly foul.

Alina found time at last to return to the hut she had shared with her husband these last couple of years.  When she walked through the door, she met with an overwhelming odor.  Holding her breath, she found a blanket and covered Kuno’s body.  Then she looked over at the man she had killed.  She guessed he was no more than 19 years old.  She bent sown to look at his face, and noticed her filthy dress.  She ran to the bedroom to fetch another. 
I can finally clean this soot off myself.

As she prepared to leave the hut, she glimpsed the dagger that Kuno had given to her lying on the floor.  She stared at it for a moment, then bent down, picked it up, and stuck it in her belt. 
I may need this again.

By mid-afternoon on June 23rd, the carts were lined up, and everyone wanted to depart immediately.  They hated to leave their homes, but the stench was overpowering and would likely linger on them for days.  Alina surveyed at the carts, and the little ragtag troop of people, and said, “Let’s go!”  She noticed that even the disagreeable man who wanted to go to Munich was following her.

After two long days of walking, she began to experience severe cramping in her lower abdomen.  She continued on, but the cramping grew more intense.  She finally stopped when she felt wetness down her leg.  Bending over, she could see blood seeping into her sandals.  The women closest to her came over and seeing the blood, one asked, “Are you pregnant?”

“Yes, about three months,” she responded.

“I think you’re losing the baby.  Sit down and rest.”  The woman went to a nearby creek and wet a towel to clean the blood.

The group remained there for the rest of the day.  Undoubtedly, the stress of the last few days and the endless walking had been too much, and Alina miscarried.  Kuno, and now her baby, the last link to her husband, were gone.

Jenbach came into view on June 26.  Here, they rested for two days, and then continued their journey.  Innsbruck was still two days away, and Alina estimated they would arrive on June 30th.

As they entered the outskirts of Innsbruck, a Suevi cavalry detachment approached them.  One of the riders asked, “Where are you coming from?”

“Bad Tolz,” replied Alina dusty and exhausted.  “We’re all that’s left.”

The riders looked at each other in disbelief.  “Are you saying that the fort was attacked?”

“Yes, and everyone is dead.  We’re all that’s left except for five wounded men still back there who are probably dead by now.  Where should we go?” she asked as seh resumed her role as leader.

“Wait here.  I’ll get some wagons and horses.  It won’t be long.”

One of the cavalrymen mounted his horse and rode off at a gallop to the meeting Hall where the Council and the Queen were located.

*******

Bethica, Nasua, her other Commanders, and several Council members rode out of Fort Seefeld on June 30th. They could see that the mercenaries had crossed the Innsbruck Bridge and were ascending the long hill to the Brenner Pass.  Most of the smoke from the burning huts in Innsbruck and the Valley had already dissipated.  She was now curious to learn the extent of the damage.

“Nasua,” she ordered, “send the cavalry throughout the Valley.  Look for survivors and tally the extent of the damage.  Send riders to follow the mercenaries.  Follow them to Bolzano, Trento, all the way to the south end of Lake Benacus.  Watch them until you know what happens when they meet up with the Romans at the Mincio River.  I don’t want to recall the population until I know for sure that they will not be coming back this way.  I also want to post a strong guard at this end of the Brenner Pass.  Andreas mentioned that by placing a barricade on the road and men on the hills, we could delay an army for some time.  If the mercenaries decide to come back, I want to do just that.”

One of the Councilman, who had travelled to Bad Tolz to speak with the leaders before the attack, interjected, “Nasua, also send some men to Bad Tolz to make sure they’re still safe.  I’m worried about them.”

“That’s a good idea Councilman,” Bethica concurred.  “Bad Tolz is a long way off the road to Innsbruck, but an army desperate for supplies may see it as an easy target.  Nasua, tend to these tasks while I meet with the Council.  Join us when you’re finished.  If our meeting Hall is still standing, that’s where we’ll be.”  Within an hour, Nasua dispatched the cavalry.

Thirty minutes later, the Queen and the Council entered the Hall.  While a few nearby huts had been torched, the Hall was thankfully undamaged.  It had been ransacked, and it was obvious that men had stayed there for a few days.  Their noses told them that one of the adjoining rooms had been used as a latrine.

After rearranging the table and chairs, the Queen and council sat down to talk.  The Chairman of the Council started things off, “Queen Bethica, on behalf of the entire Council, we want to compliment you on the way you handled this entire matter.  Our people and their goods were evacuated in a timely manner and with minimum confusion.  We agree that not fighting the mercenaries was the best course of action and spared numerous lives.  Councilmen, please join me in giving the Queen a round of applause.”  The Council rose to their feet and applauded the Queen while offering her their congratulations.

“Councilmen, I thank you for your vote of confidence.  We need to thank Nasua and the Army for pulling this all together.  Without the Army’s help, I think the wagons would still be backed up at the bridges.”  Everyone laughed.

“There’s not much we can do now other than to check on the evacuees that went up to Munich.  Once our men establish a defensive position at the Brenner Pass, I think we’ll all sleep better knowing exactly where they are and what they’re doing.  I estimate it will take about a week for the cavalry to assess the damage throughout the Valley and report back.  We’ll know what we have to do when we get their report.  Meanwhile, I suggest we continue living at Seefeld.”

The door of the Hall abruptly opened with a bang, and a cavalryman walked in.  “I have some devastating news concerning Bad Tolz,” he announced in a loud voice.  “I just spoke with a group of people on the outskirts of town led by a woman named Alina.  She said everyone at Bad Tolz is dead.  Her group of about 30 men, women, and children are the only survivors.”

The room was stunned into silence.  The Councilman who’d expressed concern earlier shook his head and groaned, “That’s what I was afraid of.”  The room quickly emptied as they all sought their horses, and twenty minutes later were talking to the survivors.  Alina explained what had happened, but each of the survivors had their own story to tell and was eager to do so.

Soon, wagons rolled up, and the survivors climbed aboard.  Soldiers transferred their merger possessions from the hand carts into the wagons with them.  “Accompany them to the fort and see to their welfare,” Bethica said to Davenhardt.  Nasua rode onto the scene at that moment and quickly dismounted.

“I just heard about Bad Tolz,” he said trying to catch his breath.

Bethica said to anyone within earshot, “I’m going to pack my gear and ride to Bad Tolz.  If you want to go to with me, be ready to leave in one hour. It’ll take us three days to ride there.  While I’m gone, Davenhardt is in charge.  Nasua, assemble a cavalry escort.  We’re going to have to search for the five men who were alive when the others left.  Bring along some extra horses, and have a few wagons follow us in case we find anyone alive.”

As Bethica prepared to ride to Bad Tolz, a cavalry scout rode across the Innsbruck Bridge. He was sent back to give a report to Nasua on the progress of the mercenaries.  Nasua took the report and went to see Bethica.  “A scout who was watching the enemy going towards the Brenner just reported that there are thousands of Suevi women in their column.  They are obviously slaves taken from Salzburg, Rosenheim, and Bad Tolz.”  Bethica’s sense of outrage and frustration grew that much deeper.  “There is nothing we can do about it now, maybe later.”

*******

The ride east to Jenbach was quiet and peaceful.  It felt good to leave the fort at Seefelt and its responsibilities behind.  Each night when they camped, the Queen and her Councilmen talked about how they could have prevented the disaster at Bad Tolz.  They all felt deep guilt, but by the time they reached the devastated fort, they were already learning to live with it.

From two miles away they could see thousands of carrion birds in the air.  The closer they got, the stronger the smell of death became.  They rode around the fort and stopped when they were upwind.  The mercenary dead all lie in the ditch; apparently thrown there when the army departed.  Through the open gates, they could see bodies strewn on the ramparts, the roads inside the fort, and around the huts.

The Queen turned to Nasua, “See if any of your men will volunteer to search for those who were left behind.  Alina said they were in the Meeting Hall in the southeast corner.”  Nasua gathered the cavalry around him and asked for volunteers.  All 25 men rode into the fort.  Bethica debated with herself whether to go in or not.  She was afraid she would throw up from the grizzly sight and smell.  Then, visibly angry with herself, she wheeled her horse around and announced, “I’m going in the fort.  Do what you want!”  She broke into a gallop and only slowed at the gate.  It was worse than she expected.  She rode among the birds; too full to take off, they merely stepped out of her way.  She rode along the familiar roads, between the huts, and alongside the ramparts now choked with dead and bloated bodies.  Then she spotted the cavalry who went in before her, and they were carrying two men.  The last two survivors!

When they were all back outside the fort, one of the Councilmen said, “I think this place is now a graveyard and should be treated as such.”  Everyone agreed.  “I worry about looters looking for anything salvageable, he continued.  “They need to be kept out until we can gather the bones and put them in the ground.”

“I’ll post guards around the fort,” Nasua assured him.  “It’ll be considered a post of honor by the Army.”

*******

Lake Benacus

At dawn on July 1st, eight Illyrian riders departed their camp, which was located three miles from the Mincio and the wall.  Half went north, and the other half went south.

The ones going north rode to the mountains that overlooked the lake.  They dismounted when it got too steep to ride and from there walked up the rocky hill.  The Roman signal detachment spotted them as soon as they had left camp and went into their hide position.  They doubted the Illyrians would climb up to their position high atop the mountain.

The men climbing the hill paused every so often to catch their breath and look in the direction of the wall, which appeared miniscule at this distance.  They spent more time just taking in the breathtaking view of the lake and mountains around them.

After an hour of climbing, they stopped and sat down on some rocks.  Sweating in the afternoon heat and out of breath, the leader of the group huffed, “I’m finished!  This is high enough.  Everyone look at the lake; now look south to the islands.  Shift your eyes and get on the land.  Now, tell me what you see.”

“I think I can make out the river coming out of the lake and going south,” observed one.

Another man commented, “I see something dark and straight.  That must be the wall.  Behind it is a jumble of something with more lines.”

The third only complained, “We’re too far away to see any detail.  This is a waste of time.”  He had poor vision and didn’t want to reveal it.