“Sir, a rider approaches.” Just then his attention was caught by the sound of cantering hooves. He got to his feet and walked to greet the man who had been sent out to spy on the Roman’s progress.
“Sire,” he shouted, coming to an abrupt halt, mud being thrown up by the animal’s feet, Caratacus caught the horse’s reins, “What did you see, what of the Romans?”
The rider jumped off the horse and landed heavily on the ground almost stumbling over in his eagerness to report.
“They have divided their force into three columns one of them is now marching west, one north and the remainder north west. It looks like they mean to cover all areas of the country. Each army is about five to six thousand strong and has cavalry, light and heavy infantry and their auxiliaries. They have wagons full of equipment to the rear containing food, more weapons, spare horses, oxen, cattle even mules for pulling the carts. At the shore, above the cliffs it looks like they are beginning to build some kind of large palisade, there are thousands of them there still. Some of the ships that delivered them to us have already begun to return to Gaul but others are still at anchor and haven’t been unloaded. I would say that they have left a full legion guarding the shoreline.”
Caratacus thought briefly for a few moments and then announced to his plan to the war council. “We will attack on two fronts; firstly I will take four thousand men and ambush the column heading west. If the gods are with us and I’m careful, we will then track and attack the other columns. Deganus my brother, I want you to stay in this general area and harass their supply lines.” He looked at Caratacus with a bemused expression but didn’t respond.
“You will attack the base on the shore but I don’t want you to go head to head with them brother. You will be too few, so you are to use guile and the cunning of a wolf and only take them on when you are certain, absolutely certain of victory. These men from Rome won’t last long on our soil if their supplies are destroyed, they’ll starve and won’t have replacement weapons or food. Remember they are the ones far from home, I want you to concentrate on those fat swollen ships at anchor. If they were lost with their goods on board, it would be a major blow for them.
I don’t know when we’ll see each other again but we have no choice in this, we have to destroy or at least cripple their army.’ He paused thinking. ‘Togodumnus will arrive soon with thousands of warriors under his banner but we can’t wait until then to act. I will take all the chariots as you won’t need them but you’ll have enough horse.”
He grabbed his brother’s arm and they hugged. “May the gods protect you brother.” He turned, called for his horse, mounted it and rode away.
Sometime later with the light beginning to fade, Caratacus watched from high above on a ridgeline as the wagons making up the rear of the westerly column, limped along what was left of the path, worn away by those who had gone before them. Although it was the middle of the campaigning season for the Romans and early summer, the ground had been churned and worn by the leading troops and great ruts now scarred the land. Their boots, horses and wagons had proven too much for a track that had never witnessed so much travel on its surface previously.
A small group of five wagons had become isolated by the ruined ground and now struggled to keep up with the rest of the army. They had tried and failed to use the path so had finally given up when the wheels kept getting stuck. Men were now pushing the wagons that were pulled by thickset mules along the side of the ravaged route.
“This will be a taste of what is to come.” Caratacus said looking into the valley below them. “Once the other wagons have gone beyond that curve,” he pointed, “these five will be all alone. No doubt the leading group will be looking for somewhere suitable to camp for the night before dark, so we have to move quickly. If we skirt the tree line and wait a few hundred feet this side of that natural bend up there, we should be safe to attack them without the others being aware of it.”
His tribal chieftains nodded in agreement. “Once they have been taken care of we’ll see about the rest of the column who won’t have the protection of any natural defences and we’ll destroy them.”
It took little time for Caratacus and his war party to get into position and they didn’t have long to wait before the enemy began to get close. From the safety of a thick tree line, the Britons watched eagerly for their prey to arrive. Here he had female warriors with the men, their hair limed and their skin blue. He had seen them fight before and knew what they lacked in strength they made up in ferocity, although a few he saw were well muscled and larger than the men.
“Wait, wait, wait…..NOW.” Caratacus ordered as spears flew towards the struggling Romans and their animals. His plan was to try and incapacitate them before destroying each and every one of them. As warriors ran into full view of the startled soldiers, the first animal was speared through the back and screamed out in agony and began to bolt forward, its wagon bucking and twisting in its plight behind it.
One trooper was hit at the base of his throat, just above his armour, his eyes wide with shock as realisation hit him, Britons swarmed all around them. A female shrieking like a banshee swung her long sword as she grew level with him. She was rewarded with a sickening wet clunk as her weapon cut through the jaw of the man biting into the cheek guards either side of his helmet. As far as she was concerned, he had come to take her children, kill her husband and to rape her and so deserved such a death. He died almost instantly but couldn’t fall flat because of the spear, so the woman now splashed with fresh blood, twisted him to one side and used her foot to pry her blade free.
Separate attacks were taking place all around as the small wagon train was assaulted and men were butchered. They were outnumbered and at a tactical disadvantage and didn’t have the numbers to form up in their traditional battle lines. Caratacus now in the thick of the fight, saw one legionnaire ripping free a horn from the rear of a covered wagon, intent on warning the others of the ambush.
Caratacus ran, sprinting towards him, running past others, his large sword in his right hand as he tugged on his knife on his belt and pulled it free of its sheath. Screaming as loud as he could, he caught the attention of the soldier, who whirled around in panic, hatred in his eyes as he leapt towards him. Caratacus was so quick that the soldier only had time to jerk backwards slightly as his attacker landed his sword and knife together finding their marks as they were embedded into his chest and forced inward and upward under his armour. The eyes were dead before the knife reached its hilt as the sword had done its work and the man fell backward, silent. In a very short time, the Britons were rifling through the contents of the five wagons, the enemy slain and scattered on the ground all around them.
“Sire.” One of his warriors shouted and pointed at the contents of the wagon he was searching.
“What have you found?” Caratacus asked. Looking under the sheeting he saw what looked like giant bows in pieces, pulleys and wooden frames.
“What are these?” He tried picking one of the bows up but it was attached at one side to a frame and wouldn’t move. He ran over to the other wagons and found the same equipment in all but one that contained large arrows.
“I don’t know what these are but they were intended to be used against us in some way I’m sure, take them north,” he said to one of his men a dark smile across his face. “Once we’ve found out how to use them we’ll turn them on their former owners.”
Twenty five men, five to each cart began to prepare to take the wagons away as Caratacus gathered the rest to move forward. He had deliberately left the corpses of the enemy where they had fallen. If he had more time, he would have had them disembowelled or had their heads removed to put fear into others but that could wait, he knew they had to move quickly. As the first of the carts began to be towed away, Caratacus kicked his horse and led his warriors up into the trees. The sight of the destruction below them as they looked down onto the former column was something that none of them had ever seen before and it encouraged them and gave them heart for what was to come.