Swords of Rome (45 page)

Gaius instantly forgot about his search for Calfax’s body as he walked past Brutus, demanding, “Take me to him.”

A temporary
camp had been established to gather the wounded, prisoners and the survivors before they were to march and link up with the main body of the legion. Gaius worked his way through the collection of bodies that stood, most cheerful and bolstering about the victory. His men stood shoulder to shoulder with the survivors, sharing stories, offering water, wine, food and clothing, while doctors and orderlies took care of those who had been wounded during their imprisonment, torture and then battle. Those that could not walk were loaded onto wagons, while the prisoners were chained together, and waited for the long march back to Rome. A number of men, his fellow Wolves and the survivors cheered and patted him on his back as he walked threw them. He had freed them, and all were eternally grateful for his efforts. His thoughts were, however, only on where he needed to go.

Every possible horrific image filled his mind as he walked towards the small tent that had been erected to keep Valerius safe and away from prying eyes. When he finally neared, two men stood guard. They quickly stepped aside and opened a path for Gaius to enter. He was
hesitant. However, as he stood before the tent flap, glancing over at one of the two men with a worried look. The man lowered his eyes, which too were filled with dread. Gaius then stepped forward.

Inside, Valerius was thankfully awake and alert. He was laid down on a
cot. His armor stripped from his body, his chest and arms covered with dried blood and sweat as a doctor was knelt next to the general, examining the wound.

Valerius
cursed the doctor as the man dug into the wound, which had to be cut wider so that the arrow head and splinters of wood could be extracted. The whole process was worse than the arrow tearing through his flesh in the first place.

“Dammit man! Is it too much to ask that you hu
rry up?!" Valerius bellowed as the doctor, knife in one hand, tweezers in another dug through the open wound. Now and again, the old Greek would drop a bloody piece of wood into a cooper bowl that lay near him.  

“If you
held still, general, I could finish faster,” the doctor grumbled as he grabbed another piece and dropped it into a bowl. “It serves you right for falling off of the horse and shattering the arrow like you did. Next time, you need to be more careful.”

Gaius’ tensions lifted as he watched and listened to the banter between Valerius and the doctor.

“Yes, yes, I shall take your advice,” Valerius muttered between long swings of wine, which did little to ease the pain.

The doctor turned and looked up at Gaius as he walked over towards him. Before he left, he leaned in close and spoke low, so not to allow Valerius to hear.

“When you are done with the general, I would like to speak to you outside. However, do not be too long. I have to get him ready to be moved.”

“Understood, doctor, and thank you,” Gaius replied as the doctor stepped past him and exited.

“I want a status report. How did the rescue go?” Valerius asked as he forcefully tried to lift himself, so he could see Gaius more clearly.

Gaius took a deep breath before he dared to speak. Seeing his mentor like this, lying down on a bed, bloodied and in obvious pain was a serious blow to his perceived images of the man. His own father, he had remembered being frail and weak as his sickness was slowly eating
away at his youth. However, Valerius, he was always strong, as powerful as an ox. He seemed invincible – a steward of Rome’s unlimited power. Nevertheless, it pained him more than anything he could recall seeing that image shaken as it was at the moment.

“Ah,” Gaius struggled to begin as he stepped over towards Valerius and stood at attention. “We killed or wounded at least
two hundred of the slaves, while sustaining twenty-eight casualties on our end... ah, twenty-nine, including you. Seven dead and four more we aren’t sure will survive the day. We have over sixty prisoners, most runaway slaves, a few of the gladiators.”

“Which means some of them escaped, I assume?” Valerius grumbled, annoyed that he wasn’t able to kill or capture all the gladiators as he had hoped.

“Yes. I believe so. I thought it best to not order a pursuit.”

“Good, I don’t won’t our ranks to be thinned more than it is.
And, what about the men we rescued? How many did we manage to save?”

“We freed forty-four. Nine were killed during the battle; five more have died since from wounds. Almost all of them are
wounded, in one way or another.”

“And those already dead before we arrived?”

Gaius hesitated again, but quickly answered.

“As far as I can tell, they tortured and killed around four hundred, perhaps more. We can’t really tell in some cases, since t
here isn’t much left of them.” Gaius sighed heavily before he spoke again, “If only we could have been quicker.”

“We did what we could, lad. Don’t blame yourself for not being able to change what couldn’t be
.”

“I...” Gaius stopped himself from speaking further, but Valerius, even in his barely audible state could see that something else was bothering his pupil.

“What is it?”

“Their leader – the leader of the gladiators, his name is Calfax. I knew him...well, not personally, but I knew of him...He killed
Antony.”

“You friend?”

“Yes. He killed him at Cannae, and when I found out that it was Calfax that had done it, I acted without thinking, putting not just my life at risk, but everyone’s – the whole mission. It was my fault. I fought him when I should not have, and lost. Calfax is not among the dead or captive. He is still out there - somewhere...I should have -”

“Enough!” Valerius blurted out, not angrily, but loud enough that it forced Gaius to snap back to the here and now, and not dwell in the memories of what happened hours ago.

“You made a mistake. You allowed your emotions to get the better of you, and
yes you could have cost us our victory.” Valerius smiled even though it hurt him to do so. He knew he was just as reckless, last night, and in his youth, and it had cost him a great deal. “But we did not fail and there are men out there that are alive because you acted when you did. The slaves are broken, and even if this Calfax is still breathing, he is no longer a threat to Rome or its people.”

“We do not know that,” Gaius added.

“No, I suppose we do not. Nevertheless, what is done is done. Learn from your mistakes and pray to the gods that they might look after the souls lost because of it. All you –
we
, can do is move on. Rome is in need of us. And right now, you have to get these men back to our city, if we are going to defend her while we still have a city to get back to. Do you understand?”

Gaius stood taller.

“You’re orders, General?”

“Break camp and regroup with the column. We have to reach Rome before Hannibal does, or both the
city, and we will be caught out in the cold with our asses hanging in the air.”

“I won’t allow that to happen. Not ever.” Gaius saluted Valerius, who just grinned as his young officer turned and left him.

Outside, the doctor was waiting. Right away, Gaius recognized the grim look on his face. He knew he was going to bear bad news.

“How bad is he?” Gaius asked, speaking first. The silence would have just killed him.

“Not good, I’m afraid. I’ve removed the majority of the splinters, but more than a few fragments are still lodged. They aren’t what concern me, however. I was unable to remove a large piece of the arrow head.”

Gaius gasp as the doctor paused and allowed his words to sink in.

“I’m sorry. But when he fell from his horse during the battle, he accidentally pushed the arrow deeper into his chest, too far for me to remove it without killing him.”

“What, will happen to him?”

“Infection will set. His blood will be poisoned, and then he will run a temperature. Eventually, the fever will kill him.”

“How long before that happens?”

“It is hard to say. I’ve seen men live days, even weeks. It will depend on how strong he is.
Nevertheless, in the end, it will kill him. I’m sorry. I know how close you two are.”

Gaius was silent for a moment as the doctor’s words sank in.
Again, he found himself forced to hold back his emotions, but every fiber of his being wanted to break down. First his father, then Antony, and now Valerius; he just didn’t know how much more he could take.

“Does he know?”

“Of course, but he won’t show how it is affecting him. He’s as tough as they come. I will do what I can to keep him comfortable, but his fate is in the hands of the gods now, and I don’t think they have much mercy for our people, not these days, any ways."”

“Thank you, d
octor. I won’t keep you any longer from your duties. Prepare your patients. We will be moving within the hour.”

“Yes, sir.”

As the doctor left, Gaius had to rest against one of the poles that supported Valerius’ tent, to collect his thoughts. He couldn’t, not now, not when there was too much to do, allow his emotions to get the better of him. So, he took a deep breath, straightened himself, and continued onward. His work in the coming days would have to sustain him. When it was done, perhaps afterwards, and only then, would he allow himself the time he needed to grieve.       

There was a
heavy fog that hung over the city as Gaius looked upon Rome and its outer walls. He stood along one of the many hills that dominated the surrounding countryside, staring with interest through the solid haze, trying to catch sight of anything that might seem out of the ordinary. He half expected to see the city surrounded by Hannibal’s army when the high walls first came into view. However, here and now, four days since the battle with the gladiator army, and nearly two full weeks since Cannae, he saw nothing, or no one, literally. 

Typ
ically, during this time of the year, the roads that led into the city would have been packed with people, carts and wagons bringing with them all sorts of good from around the Republic. Despite the war, commerce continued, but Gaius saw nothing, save for the wet and empty roads in all directions. Even the river and ports were devoid of any traffic.

He
sent scouts in all directions, and when they first reported back to him hours ago that they saw no sign of Hannibal’s army, he sent out more and told them to go further, and find any signs that his army was here, or had been.

He simply couldn’t trust his eyes.
The banners of the city-watch were still hung high over the walls, indicating Rome controlled its own walls. However, he couldn’t trust that either. As far as he knew, with no army, save for the city guards, which were only good at keeping the peace on the streets, not fighting wars, the city fathers could have turned Rome over to Hannibal instead of waiting out a prolonged siege. He found that hard to accept, but anything was possible, and the
all clear
signs on the walls could merely be a trap to lure in what remained of Rome’s armies.

Finally, after nearly an hour
one of the riders he had sent to the city came racing back towards his direction. It was Avitus, Gaius could see. A few minutes later he was with him and quickly began to relay what the city guards had told him.

“The city is clear and still in our hands,” Avitus began to say the second his horse stopped. “We still control the city from what I’ve been told, but there are only a few thousand guards along the walls. They are stretched to the limit. And were they glad to see us.”

“What of Hannibal?” Gaius asked. He was still concerned about marching his men into Rome. With thousands of soldiers, wagons, supplies, and hundreds more wounded men from Cannae and the gladiator camp, it would take him hours to get the whole column into city. The last thing he wanted was to be caught between an approaching Carthaginian army and Rome’s outer walls.

“They said
they've seen nothing of him. A few scouts here and there, but no army within miles of Rome.”

“Nothing?”
Gaius asked shockingly.

“Yes, sir, nothing - i
n fact, no one seems to know where Hannibal is right now.”

“Gene
ral!” Another soldier called from behind Gaius. It took him a moment to realize that it was he that was being addressed. With Valerius off of his feet, the legion and its survivors fell to him, so his men addressed him accordingly. He wondered if the title, if he should be allowed to keep it, would ever fit right on him.

“Soldier?”

“Consul Paullus, he would like to speak with you, sir.”

“Very well. Tell him I will be with him momentarily.”

The trooper
nodded and saluted, then turned and raced back towards the main column.

“Return to the city and inform the watch captain that I will be brining in our men, through the east gate. Tell him to have a list of needed
watch-posts, so I can get our men on the walls the second we are in the city,” Gaius commanded Avitus, who too saluted with a quick and eager, “Yes, sir, General,” before he turned his horse and trotted back down the paved road and disappeared a moment later into the thick haze.