At first, Hanno and Aurelia had made good progress. His plan was to follow the southern city wall as it snaked its way along a ridge from the Euryalus fortress towards the sea. After perhaps fifteen stadia, they would have to negotiate the slope down into the walled suburb of Neapolis, where he hoped to find refuge. If it had fallen, however, Achradina and its strong defences were not far away. The idea had seemed excellent, but to Hanno’s rising frustration, he had not been the only person to have it.
Within three stadia, the narrow, unpaved street that ran along in the shadow of the high wall became clogged with humanity. Entire families — grandparents, mothers, fathers and terrified-looking children — walked together, the adults carrying their most prized possessions on their backs. Dogs — their family pets — ran up and down between the groupings, sniffing noses and barking incessantly. One optimist had decided to take his fattening pig with him, on a lead. It snorted and grunted its unhappiness at being in such a crowd. Hanno laughed when, after not long at all, it decided that it had had enough and charged off up an alley, leaving its cursing owner with nothing more than a length of rope. Shopkeepers and craftsmen laboured along, bent under the weight of goods, tools and, from the chinking sound, bags of money. There were even a couple of merchants with overloaded ox-drawn carts, which almost blocked the street.
‘They’re fools,’ he complained to Aurelia. ‘At times like this, what’s important is your own skin. But none of them can see it!’
‘You’re a soldier, Hanno. You intuitively know what to do in situations like this. These people don’t.’
‘It’ll be the death of them,’ declared Hanno more harshly than he might have if they hadn’t been in such danger. If he hadn’t forbidden Aurelia to look for Elira, hadn’t insisted that she leave her cat behind. ‘We’ll never reach safety at this rate.’
‘Where are you taking us?’ asked Aurelia as they ducked into a lane so narrow that a fat man would have to walk sideways in it.
‘I’ve no idea. It doesn’t matter, really, as long as it’s away from where we were.’ Hanno could picture the slaughter that would happen if — when — the legionaries arrived. ‘We need another street that runs southeast, towards Neapolis and Achradina.’
Her answering smile wasn’t convincing, but Hanno didn’t have the time to reassure her. Never had time been more of the essence.
It didn’t take long to find a thoroughfare that led where they wanted, but it was even more crowded than the street by the wall. Against his better judgement, but gambling that there would be fewer people about, Hanno led them further north, closer to the city centre — and the Romans. His ploy worked for a while. They made their way through an abandoned market surrounded by shops and temples, and into an affluent residential area full of apartment blocks that rose three and four storeys high. Most of the residents had already fled; only the stubborn, old and criminal remained. A number of the latter eyed Aurelia with lustful eyes. At first, Hanno’s drawn sword and fierce demeanour were enough to intimidate such lowlifes, but when five ganged up together, their courage suddenly soared. It vanished as fast when two of their number were choking to death on their own blood. Hanno left the shocked survivors to their own devices, shoving Aurelia away. ‘They’re cowards. Once we’re out of sight, we’ll be safe.’ From those ones, perhaps, his worried side retorted. What about the thousands of Romans?
They saw no legionaries for some time, however, and Hanno began to hope that they might reach Achradina, their new objective. What he hadn’t gambled on was getting lost. Smoke from burning buildings filled the sky, preventing him from using the sun as a guide. He wasn’t familiar with many of the streets off the main avenues and had been using the noise of fighting as an approximate pointer to keep them heading in an easterly direction. Too late, he realised his error. Battles were raging in whole swathes of Syracuse. Nor had all the defenders fled. When they stumbled upon a group of Syracusan troops under the command of a determined-looking officer, Hanno was forced to join them. It was only the arrival of large numbers of Romans at the other end of the street that gave him and Aurelia the opportunity to run. Curses followed the pair as they charged down an alley. Hanno took the rear, in case they were pursued. After fifty paces, the lane gave on to a triangular-shaped area lined by shops and with a central fountain. Aurelia halted abruptly. Hanno peered over her shoulder and cursed. It was full of legionaries. Some were ransacking the businesses, while others were busy with several wailing women and girls whom they’d captured. The bodies of those they’d already slain — a couple of middle-aged men and a boy — lay like bloody, discarded puppets on the ground.
Shouts and the sound of fighting came from behind them. They couldn’t go back, or forward. ‘What should we do?’ whispered Aurelia.
‘Stay where we are,’ replied Hanno grimly.
‘And if we’re seen?’
‘I’ll protect you.’ It sounded as stupid as Hanno had thought it would. He wasn’t Achilles, and she knew it too.
‘I don’t want to be taken alive.’
‘It won’t come to that.’
‘I know how this might go, Hanno. Promise that you’ll kill me if you have to.’
He flinched before her steady gaze. He wanted to rant and rail at the gods, but instead offered up a silent prayer to Tanit, the mother goddess so revered by Carthaginians.
Protect us, please. Do not ask me to slay the woman I love.
She didn’t press him further, and they settled down to wait until it was safe either to retreat or to proceed. It felt like Hades on earth, with the screams of women and men’s laughter assaulting their ears from one side, and the din of soldiers killing each other doing the same from the other. There was no way to avoid hearing any of it: each of them had to keep watch on an end of the alley.
Hanno had hoped that things might grow a little better when the fighting to their rear died down. What he hadn’t gambled upon was for the Syracusans to have gained the upper hand and that the officer would remember where they’d gone. The first he knew of it was when three Syracusan soldiers entered the far end of the alley. They spotted him and Aurelia at once. With eager cries, they broke into a run.
Hanno’s stomach turned a neat loop. We are fucked. If he fought the men, the Romans in the street beyond would hear. If they exited the alley, they’d be seen. Which fate was worse?
‘I’ve been looking. There’s a shop around the corner,’ hissed Aurelia. ‘I don’t think there’s anyone inside.’
‘Go, then!’ replied Hanno. The trio of Syracusans were thirty paces away.
‘Wait. There’s a legionary facing our way.’ Aurelia’s calm stunned him, but he obeyed.
Six heartbeats later — it felt like six hundred — she tapped his arm. Crouched down, they sloped out into the open with Aurelia in the lead. Hanno didn’t look beyond the door of the shop, which was ajar. It would become obvious if they were seen. No shouts filled their ears, however, as they slipped inside and pushed the door to. It seemed to be an apothecary’s — the air was thick with the smell of aromatic herbs and more exotic substances. Two large mortars and pestles occupied a prominent space on the counter, and the shelves on the walls were lined with pots and small glass jars. Hanno scanned the room, but there was no locking bar visible for the door. Heart racing, he leaned against it and pressed his ear to the timbers. Aurelia watched him, her face taut with fear.
‘Where have they gone?’ shouted a man in Greek.
‘Shut your mouth,’ growled a second voice.
‘Why?’
‘Ho, Julius, you’d better finish quick!’ roared a man in Latin. ‘We’ve got company. It’s some Syracusan whoresons, come to save their womenfolk.’
‘Shit! Go back!’ cried the first Greek speaker, and Hanno exulted.