The Blood of Rome by Simon Scarrow

Author:Simon Scarrow [Scarrow, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781472258342
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2018-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

An hour after dawn, once the wounded had been loaded on to the wagons, the column continued its advance into the mountainous heart of Armenia. Behind them the Romans and Iberians left two blazing funeral pyres. The first consumed the bodies of their fallen comrades, and thick greasy smoke billowed into the air and the morning breeze blew the smoke after the column so they choked on the acrid tang of woodsmoke and roast meat, and it clung to their clothes for many hours afterwards. The second pyre was the town of Ligea, which had perished in all but name the day before. Fires had been set in every street and the flames, fanned by the breeze, had spread rapidly. Looking back, Macro could see that the blaze was almost continuous, bounded by the walls so that the town looked like a vast fire pit. Tongues of flame lashed the morning sky and the roar and sharp reports of bursting timbers carried clearly for the first mile of the march. When the column halted briefly at noon, the soldiers looked back in hushed awe at the thick pillar of smoke that rose into the heavens.

Macro regarded the spectacle as he took out his canteen and took a swig of water. That smoke, he knew, was going to announce their presence for a considerable distance and soon the curious would be coming to investigate. When word of the devastation of Ligea spread across Armenia, they would discover if the act had chastened the people Rhadamistus aimed to rule once again, or so inflamed their passion that they would rise in arms against him. That remained to be seen, Macro reflected. Besides, he was concerned with more immediate matters.

The Iberians had broken camp first and, disdaining the routine of shovelling the rampart back into the ditch, they packed their tents and marched away. The Romans regarded the departure in silence as they formed up for the funeral rites. The Iberian dead had already been buried during the night, but their refusal to stand with the Romans and honour the dead of their ally was taken as a calculated insult by every man of the Praetorian and auxiliary cohorts. Macro had considered challenging Rhadamistus directly and demanding that he halt his men, but such a confrontation could have escalated out of control very easily, given the previous evening’s fraught encounter. So he had let them march off, and then concluded the funeral rites as swiftly as possible before setting off in their wake.

The Iberians had a two-mile start on the Romans and as the distance between them grew, thanks to the slow progress of the baggage and siege trains, Macro sent the slingers ahead with orders to bridge the gap between the two forces and keep both in sight. It was a highly unsatisfactory state of affairs for the column to be divided on a march through what it was prudent to regard as hostile territory. But it was better to march divided than be at each other’s throats, Macro reflected.

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