Hannibal: The Patrol Read Online Free PDF

pursed his lips, recalling everything that Devorix and Aios had said. ‘I’d say they’re all right, sir. Gauls are renowned for being simple folk. Brave as you like; quick to anger; slow to forgive. Excepting the Vocontii and the Cenomani who had recently changed sides, they’re not known for their treachery. You can generally take them as you find them.’
    ‘Aye, that’s what I have heard too,’ said Hanno. ‘Devorix seems decent enough, and I like Aios.’ He cast a curious look at Mutt. ‘Who are the Vocontii?’
    ‘The motherless curs who led us astray in the Alps, sir. Hundreds of our men were killed in their ambush.’ Mutt could still hear the screams of the soldiers who had fallen to their deaths or who’d had limbs crushed by the falling rocks. ‘We paid them back in kind, though, your brother Sapho especially.’ A flash of emotion — anger? — flashed across Hanno’s face, but it was gone before Mutt could make sense of it.
    ‘Nonetheless, I want the camp prepared as normal. Build a defensive ditch outside it, and a rampart as tall as a man,’ ordered Hanno. ‘When that’s been done, half the phalanx can be allowed into the village. They can have the evening off. The rest are to remain in camp, with triple the normal number of sentries. If there is any treachery, we won’t be caught completely off guard.’
    This command wouldn’t be popular, thought Mutt. He’d take Bogu as extra muscle when delivering it. ‘How shall I pick those who stay and those who go, sir?’
    ‘Choosing them by lot is the fairest way, I suppose. To sweeten the medicine, tell them that I will make sure that plenty of the food comes their way. There’ll be wine too — just not in the same volume that the others will be swilling down.’
    ‘Very good, sir.’
    Mutt’s respect for Hanno grew a little further. It was shrewd not to deny half of his men the pleasure that their luckier comrades would enjoy that evening. It would have been nice to join in the revelries, but Hanno would want him to keep an eye on things while he went and got drunk. It was one of the privileges of being a commander, he thought.
    ‘You can go in this evening, after I’ve got back.’
    Surprise filled him. ‘Sir?’
    ‘Devorix will expect to see me at the start, naturally. I’ll stay for an hour or two, then make my excuses. You can go once I return.’
    Mutt felt an unaccustomed grin breaking out. ‘You’re sure, sir?’
    ‘I wouldn’t say so if I didn’t mean it, Mutt.’
    ‘Thank you, sir.’ He threw off a crisp salute. ‘I’d best get a move on, then. The camp won’t build itself.’
    Mutt could feel Hanno’s eyes on him as he walked off. The boy’s clever, he thought. It seemed that Hanno had learned his lessons from his father, Malchus well. The gods grant that he leads us for the rest of this war, Mutt prayed. Good commanders were even scarcer than Libyan spearmen, and to be treasured.
    He waited until the earthen perimeter had been thrown up before telling the men of the night’s arrangements. If he’d done so beforehand, the unlucky ones would have still been digging come nightfall. With the defences in place and the tents up, however, there was a natural window in the day’s duties. It was when his soldiers were normally left to themselves. Assembling them briefly, Mutt told them how it was going to be. To his relief, there was less complaining than he’d expected.
    This might have been to do with the merciless ribbing that he had given Ithobaal, one of the soldiers who was to be allowed into the village. Acutely aware that those who had to remain would be unhappy — to say the least — he made sure to go on and on about Ithobaal’s good fortune. He would, Mutt declared, have to drink himself stupid, but at the same time he must remember to carry back plenty of wine for his long-suffering comrades, who had to put up with his never-ending complaints. There were whoops of delight and gales of laughter at this.