Marius' Mules: Prelude to War Read Online Free PDF Page A

know what to do. I’ll take the three windows and try to stop anyone getting up there in the first place.’
    Bennacos nodded, his eyes straying around the room. ‘There’s amphorae of pitch, here. We could have used that if we’d had time.
    Cita nodded. ‘With time there’s all sorts we could have done, but it doesn’t help us now. I daresay everything in here has its use, but sadly, we’re out of time.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Bennacos?’
    ‘Yes, Prefect?’
    ‘When things become untenable and all is lost, someone needs to get word of this to the army. The nearest garrison is the better part of a hundred miles from here at Agedincum, so it’s a hard task.’
    ‘You’ll be up to it, sir.’
    Cita laughed despite himself. ‘Bennacos, I get out of breath climbing out of bed. My leg weighs more than most legionaries. No, I would never make it. No Roman would at the moment, in fact. But a few miles from here is the territory of the Boii: your people. If you can make it those few short miles, you will be in allied lands - if such a thing still exists - and you should be able to reach Agedincum.’
    ‘I’ll not leave you here to die, Prefect.’
    ‘You’ll not have a choice, I fear. In fact, I cannot see a realistic way for you to get out either, but whatever happens, get out you must. This might be another isolated rising occasioned by Caesar’s punishment of their king, but there is every possibility that this is the start of what Priscus has been predicting for years, and my heart leans towards the latter. Caesar is back in Aquileia dealing with his own troubles. The only officer in the field in Gaul who has the experience and ability to keep control in his absence is Labienus, but even he will be unable to do so if he is taken by surprise by the whole of Gaul. Warn the army.’
    There was a long pause and finally Bennacos nodded and began to climb one of the newly-emptied weapon racks.
    ‘Just don’t die, Prefect.’
    ‘Not dying, Bennacos, is rather high on my list of priorities. Sadly, I suspect it’s not on theirs .’ He gestured with a pointed finger towards the seething mass of barbarians outside the narrow slits.
    As the Boii auxiliary climbed up to the rafters, Cita sighed, took a deep breath and drew his expensive, decorative gladius from its sheath. In five years of campaigning in Gaul he’d never had cause to bloody it, such was the safety of his role far behind the lines of combat. Today would be his test in so many ways, not least his courage.
    It seemed, as he approached the wall, that he might have overestimated the time they had before the enemy breached the defences, or possibly he’d underestimated the time it took to build the redoubt? Either way, men were already scaling the rear wall of the stone storeroom, raising their cupped hands to provide steps for the booted feet of their comrades above.
    With a heaved breath, Cita raised his blade and chose one of the three narrow windows at random - given the similar sight through each. Tensing, he rammed the sword into the gap and felt rather than saw it bite into a hard protective cover and punch through into flesh, grating off the rib bones and into the vital soft parts within. He was so unprepared for the ease of the blow that he almost lost the blade as the warrior fell away from the wall with a gurgling cry, and only managed to wrench the gladius free at the last possible moment.
    The man his victim had been supporting in his climb suddenly fell past the window with a shout - a simple blur of colours as he crashed to the ground, felling several of his fellows in the process. With an invigorating feeling of achievement, Cita stepped across to the next window and, seeing a similar tableau beyond, thrust his blade again. Once more the feeling of resistance gave way quickly to a soft sinking in of the sword and he felt something hot spray up his arm and wash across his knuckles. As the warrior yelped and fell back clutching his