The battle waged almost indeterminably for some time. The Roman infantry now came back down from the hill, and pressed forward into Parthians now fighting in two directions, while the sounds of the cavalry attack at the rear could be heard. The Parthians at the very front remained brave and determined, perhaps because there was little option, but the soldiers in the middle could now sense that things were not going their way, and they began to waver.
It might have seemed that the battle was wavering, and the Parthians might yet win, for they still heavily outnumbered the Romans, but then the last century from the right hillock engaged the rear of the Parthians in wedge formation. Some of the Parthians, seeing this small force arrive from where it had no right to be assumed the front had collapsed elsewhere, and they turned and ran. As the Roman wedge struck into those remaining, their first strikes were effectively into soldiers quite unprepared for an attack from an area that was supposed to be occupied by their own reserves. The Parthians were reduced to confused chaos, and panic.
Screams from the front, screams from the back, nobody was quite sure what to do. Then, at the rear, more began to turn and run, until the whole rear began to peel away in layers. In less than a minute after the peeling began, the Parthian forces on the flat ceased to be an effective fighting unit. As the flight got underway, the horns of the first cavalry detachment could be heard, and the flight became a rout.
On the hillock, the fighting had reached a stalemate. Fighting an uphill opponent was always difficult, and these Parthian soldiers met this problem by employing soldiers with long spears at the front, and slingers and archers from the rear. From the Roman perspective, the Parthians were too close for the heavy weapons, and too far away for optimum use of the gladii. On hearing the cavalry charge, the senior Centurion decided to take advantage of the uncertainty and ordered the front line to advance. As the Parthians on the hillock saw the faltering right flank, they too began to falter, at which point the wall of Roman shields began an unstoppable advance. Men turned and ran, men fell over bodies, then to be backstabbed by the wall of gladii. The only way to survive seemed to be to run in a direction away from whomever the Romans were chasing. Accordingly the fleeing Parthians began to scatter, and now there was no defence to the Roman cavalry. The message was clear: surrender or be lanced.
Gaius sheathed his now bloody sword and could hardly believe the scene. There were bodies everywhere, men running in all directions, bleeding men hobbling in every direction, some braver men were trying to form a square, only to be pushed back by a charging wall of Roman shields as they cursed and swore at their cowardly compatriots, while other groups of Parthians, seeing no hope of escape, were laying down their arms and were pleading for mercy.
The cleanup took an hour, and by then the unhurt Parthians were being herded into a closed area, disarmed, and were given water. The wounded were gathered together, those with relatively minor wounds were the first to be treated, those who were clearly going to die were quickly dispatched, and those in between were brought to tents where treatment would be given eventually, based on the likelihood of success.
The Roman wounded were treated immediately. Gaius himself was dragged down onto a bench and made to sit still while his leg was washed, cleaned with a herbal infusion, a cream added, flesh was sewn together, then proper bandages were tied. Gaius' first action after that was to personally hobble to each of the wounded soldiers, ensure they were getting appropriate treatment, and to encourage them, and to talk with them, listening to their stories of their courage, what they did to the enemy, and then, how they got their wounds. Gaius was well aware many of the stories of heroism would be somewhat exaggerated but his view was, if a man was wounded for Rome in combat, he had a right to exaggerate his own heroism, at least to some extent. The worse the wound, the bigger the permitted exaggeration.
All the wounded were grateful to hear that they had won. The victory was not without cost; for a number of dead Roman soldiers had been brought to a central point, for identification and eventual cremation after the paper work was completed. But the casualties were rather fewer than any had expected when this fight had started, and this too brought gratitude from the troops. The feelings about Gaius' avoidance of initial combat were gone. They had a commander who had lured the enemy to fight on his terms, to beat a much larger enemy with few losses. That was the sort of commander they wanted.
The Parthian camp was demolished, and anything of value collected. There was a huge amount of loot, and quite a considerable amount of silver, to be used as pay for the troops. A useful contribution to Little Boots' treasury, Gaius thought wryly. It would hardly endear him to the Princeps, but it would at least keep the Princeps out of his hair.
Once this was done, the men had the opportunity to clean up. Almost every soldier had blood caked on them, often on the legs where they had trampled over the wounded enemy, and the blood, sweat and dust left everybody extraordinarily grimy. Today they would clean themselves their weapons and their armour, the following day they would clean their clothing.
Later, Gaius ordered extra rations and plenty of wine to be made available for his men. The Parthians watched from their enclosure as their victors celebrated. Gaius first made his way around the Centurions, the optiones and other principales to find the names of those who had fought particularly well. It was his intention to ensure that everyone worthy of a decoration should receive one at some later date, and it was important that his officers and NCOs knew that he required their nominations. Then he made his way around the groups of men. Some were noisy, and he listened to their bragging, their excitement, or however they expressed their relief to be alive and victorious. Others were much quieter, and they sat in groups, talking quietly, washing the horrors of the killing field from their mind, and Gaius made a point of thanking each of them for their efforts of the day, and making sure that there were no unresolved issues or problems. If a soldier had fought well, the slate of remaining fatigues could be wiped clean. He also made a point of speaking to every soldier who had been recommended by someone above him, to make sure that the soldiers knew their efforts were appreciated. Then he made his way around the watch guards. He made sure that the name of each was recorded, and he promised ample supplies of wine, or whatever else they fancied, would be theirs on return to a major city.
Chapter 32
A crowd gathered as the cohort marched towards the town so recently sacked. When the Romans had headed into the desert, bets had been placed. There had been two schools of thought: the Romans would be massacred by the far superior Parthian force, or secondly, the Romans would march around, come back, take more supplies and go home. Instead, here was the cohort with over three times their own number as prisoners. The cohort came to the edge of the town, where Gaius addressed the crowd. Everybody who had had goods stolen should describe their loss in detail to the quartermaster and his staff. If their goods were present, they would be returned. Anyone suspected of making grandiose or false claims would be investigated, and if false claims could be established, those false claimants would join the Parthians.