The Sword of Attila Read Online Free PDF

the way from the Pillars of Hercules. Macrobius came up beside him, his grey stubble glinting in the dawn light and his Pannonian felt cap compressed in the shape of his helmet, solidified from years of wearing it beneath. Together they scanned the horizon to the west, the folds and valleys still obscured by the early-morning shadows. Macrobius squinted and pointed. ‘Over there, about two miles away, to the south-west. Coming from that direction marks them out from the other refugees, as anyone wanting to evade capture would have swung south from the western cities and made their way east towards us along the edge of the desert – harsh terrain where they’d be less likely to be pursued. They might be escaped citizens rather than spared slaves like those Numidians. Three, maybe four people, and two animals.’
    Flavius followed his gaze, seeing nothing. ‘Your eyesight is better than mine, centurion.’
    â€˜I’ve served for twenty-two years in the
limitanei
frontier army, ten of them out here in Africa on the edge of the great desert. You get good at spotting distant smudges in the dust.’
    A half-asleep-sounding voice grumbled from among the recumbent forms lying behind them in the trench, most of them now awake, ‘Join the
limitanei,
they said. See the frontiers of the empire, they said. Eat boar and venison every day, take your choice of local women and select a hundred
iugera
of prime land as a retirement present. Never have to raise your spear in anger. Meet fascinating barbarian tribesmen.’
    â€˜Too right,’ another growled. ‘Fascinating, that is, in the few moments you get to see them in a blur of warpaint and screaming as they hurtle out of the forest towards you. Then, if you’re lucky enough to survive, you get shipped to the other side of the empire to this place and told to dig a trench and wait for the same thing to happen again.’
    â€˜And meanwhile, the
comitatenses
field army are skulking in the towns and around the emperor, growing fat and rich at our expense.’
    Macrobius cocked an eye at Flavius. ‘Have you heard that one before?’
    â€˜About the
comitatenses
? It’s all I ever hear,’ Flavius said.
    â€˜The
comitatenses
say the same thing about the
limitanei.
Each one thinks the other is second-rate. If it isn’t a grumble about that, it’d be something else. It’s the same with soldiers the world over. Gripe, gripe, gripe.’ He turned to the men, speaking more loudly. ‘And looking at you lot, I might just agree with the
comitatenses.’
    â€˜And we never get paid,’ the first man added, blearily getting up.
    â€˜We haven’t been paid since my father’s day,’ the other one complained. ‘If it wasn’t for the bounties given by the emperors or the odd generous-minded commander wanting us actually to fight for them, we’d be no better off than slaves.’
    â€˜You’ll get yours, Maximus Cunobelinus,’ Flavius said. ‘I was true to my word and gave you each a bonus of five
solidi
when you passed inspection as a unit, and you or your families will get five more when this is over. That’s equal to two years’ pay. I sent instructions to the chief accountant of my uncle Aetius in Milan to receive entreaties from any woman or child whose name accords with the list that I sent him two weeks ago from Carthage. Your families will be well looked after.’
    â€˜What about yours, tribune? Who gets your bounty?’
    Flavius cleared his throat. They knew perfectly well that he received no pay, that his income came from the wealth of his family. ‘A tenth of my gold goes to the Basilica of St Peter in Rome, for the glory of God.’
    The soldier blew his nose messily on the ground. ‘The Church has too much money, in my opinion. Jesus was a poor man like us, and he had no need of priests with fancy vestments or towering marble basilicas.