The Dancing Floor of War: Throne of Darius 6 by Mark G. McLaughlin

Author:Mark G. McLaughlin [McLaughlin, Mark G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

PART III

Gaugamela

Year Five of the Reign of Alexander of Macedonia

21

Arbela

NORTH OF THE TIGRIS

Mazaeus gathered a force of some one thousand light cavalry to shadow Alexander's army – and to lay waste to every farm, field, house, village, and orchard in the Macedonian army’s path. They set fires in rooftops and haystacks, burned and ravaged the land, poisoned wells, killed or drove off cattle and game, and set alight storehouses of grain – often in sight of Alexander's scouts. As the general explained to one of the nobles, “without food, no army is brave.”

This effort by Mazaeus, however, was not entirely successful. Protomachos and his prodromoi were not merely the eyes of the army – but also the tip of its spear. Aggressive to a fault, the prince and his men chased off many a party of arsonists and put out a good number of the fires before they could completely consume the stores of food and fodder the Persians had sought to destroy. Protomachos nipped at Mazaeus's heels every step of the way, and gave the Persian no rest and precious little time to complete his scorched earth tactic. Nor could Mazaeus' irregulars fully perform their task of screening the advance of the imperial army. Despite their best efforts, the Persians could not prevent all of the prodromoi patrols from penetrating that screen, especially the patrol led by Protomachos himself, which parted the veil of cavalry to get a glimpse behind the curtain – a glimpse that chilled him to the very core.

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