‘Are you sure about this, Pacorus?’
I smiled at him. ‘Quite sure. Can I ask you a favour?’
‘Anything, my friend.’
I laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘If I fall, please take care of Gallia and my daughter. It would comfort me to know they will be in your safekeeping.’
He looked extremely solemn. ‘On my life, Pacorus, I shall do as you ask.’
‘Good. Now I must ask you to take charge of the cataphracts once more. If the enemy proves to be stronger than we thought we might be pushed back, in which case we will be looking to you and your horsemen to save us.’
It was unlikely that we would be pushed out of the city, but it focused Orodes’ mind and stopped him from offering to stand beside me in the cohort, which I knew was going through his mind. We shook hands and he left me to go his cavalry. I walked over to where Domitus was organising his men. The first century, ten men in the front rank and seven ranks behind them, stood at the head of the cohort of five centuries formed into a column. The front five ranks had no javelins — they would go in armed only with the gladius. In front of us stone and iron continued to smash the enemy gates and brickwork. I stood beside the legionary on the end of the front rank, on the right. Domitus stopped issuing orders and stomped over to where I was standing.
‘What are you doing?’
‘As I said, Domitus, I will be accompanying your men during the attack.’
He looked me and shook his head. ‘First of all, I command this cohort, so you do as I say. So take that helmet and cuirass off and we will find you a pot like the men wear and a mail shirt. And take that cavalry sword off, it will be bloody useless when we go in.’
I was going to protest but Domitus was wearing that iron-hard visage that struck terror into friend and foe alike, so I took off my helmet, cuirass and unbuckled my sword belt. An orderly took them away and a member of the commissary brought me my new fighting gear — mail shirt, shield, belt, gladius and scabbard and felt-lined helmet.
‘That’s better,’ said Domitus, ‘any enemy archer worth his salt would have seen your fancy helmet with its feathers and your expensive armour and would have dropped you first. Now you stand as much chance as any of us staying alive, which isn’t much.’
The legionaries around us started laughing at their commander’s black humour. Domitus bundled me to the centre of the formation and pointed at two of the men in the front rank, who saluted and made their way to the rear of the century. Domitus pushed me into one of the vacated places and then put himself on my right in the second spot. I drew the gladius and jabbed it forward.
‘Know how to use one of them?’ asked Domitus.
‘I think I can manage.’
‘Well,’ he said, ‘we are about to find out.’
At that moment there was a great crashing sound as the masonry above the gates collapsed on to them and caused them to fracture and then collapse onto the ground. There was a great cloud of dust, which cleared slowly to reveal a yawning gap where the gates had once been standing. The defences of Uruk had been breached.
Domitus raised his sword. ‘Advance!’
As one we marched forward towards the great pile of smashed wood and rubble standing four hundred paces away. The smaller ballista continued to shoot at the walls but the larger engines had ceased their barrage. We quickened our pace, breaking into a trot and then a run as we neared the rubble. The men maintained their formation, battling the urge to sprint ahead. Then we were at the rubble, which forced us to slow our pace as we scrambled up and over the smashed bricks and shattered and smouldering wood. Dust still hanging in the air caused us to cough and spit and got in our eyes as we scrambled down the other side of the debris and saw a great mass of the enemy coming towards us — spearmen with large oblong shields in a long line, and behind them I could see the sun glinting off more spear points.
‘Don’t stop, straight into them!’ screamed Domitus as he charged towards the enemy. The men gave a great cheer and followed him. My heart was pounding in my chest as I held the shield in front of me and ran at the enemy. Arrows hissed through the air and felled some of our men, but not enough to halt the momentum of our charge. I screamed my war cry as our rear ranks threw their javelins and I ran at a man who had his spear pointed at my chest. I barged the point away from me using the metal boss on my shield and then rammed my gladius over the top rim of the shield into his face. The sword point went through his mouth and out through the back of his neck. I shoved him back into the man behind, who staggered back. I lunged forward and thrust the gladius through his wicker shield and into his arm. I jerked back the blade and stabbed it into his thigh, then thrust it again, this time into his belly. I charged on, treading on men slain by javelins, smashing my shield boss into a man’s face and then driving the point of my gladius upwards into his guts. I was elated. I screamed and with all my strength pushed the entire blade into his body up to the handle. I could not extract it! I pulled and yanked but it was stuck fast! Out of the corner of my eye I saw an axe blade coming at me. I parried the blow with my shield and Domitus severed the hand that was holding it with one blow. I finally freed my blade, which was now covered in blood.
‘Stop being a hero and concentrate,’ shouted Domitus, bloodlust in his eyes.
On we went, stabbing at enemy bellies, thighs and groins. Around us more and more centuries were pouring into the city and forming into line, then charging the enemy ranks, which were being pushed back. We stepped on and over the bodies of the enemy dead and dying as we pushed them back away from the gates. Some were running now. Others were trying to give themselves up. One man threw away his sword and fell to his knees, clasping his hands in front of him as a sign of surrender, but just as at Surkh Domitus thrust his sword into the man’s chest and then kicked his body to the ground with his right foot. On we went. Suddenly a hail of javelins flew over our heads and hit the thinning ranks of the enemy, felling dozens. Trumpets sounded. We halted and reformed our ranks and charged once more. We were killing boys and old men now, the dregs of Chosroes’ army, but we killed them anyway. There was no mercy in Uruk this day.
The threadbare ranks of the enemy fell back. Now Nergal’s dismounted archers came forward and poured volley after volley into them as all around me men were suddenly gripped with a raging thirst and drank greedily from their water bottles. Domitus, his tunic and mail shirt splattered with enemy blood, shared his bottle with me as other legionaries brought full bottles forward for the men and took away empty ones to be refilled. The ground in front and behind us was covered with enemy dead. How many more Mesenians were there?
‘Thirsty work,’ said Domitus. He slapped me on the arm. ‘Not a scratch on you. Well done.’
‘Well done to you, my friend.’
Behind us the rest of the Duran Legion was filing into the city and forming up, followed by the Exiles.
Uruk is divided into four main areas, the palace quarter, the temple quarter, the royal gardens, called the Royal Orchard, and the working quarter. The latter is located in the southern part of the city, a vast collection of mud-brick homes and businesses not unlike those found in Dura, Hatra and a host of other towns and cities throughout the empire. These were now ransacked as the army moved through the city. The Exiles and the Duran Legion maintained their discipline and formation as they marched through the streets, searching for enemy soldiers. But after them came the Ma’adan led by Surena and they were looking for vengeance. They smashed anything that could be broken and killed any unfortunate enough to cross their path. Marcus and his men cleared away the rubble from the smashed gates to allow horsemen to enter the city. Nergal ordered his dismounted archers to get on the walls and in the towers to prevent any enemy archers or slingers shooting at us, but he and his men found no one on the walls. They had all fled to the north of the city. At the northern end of the working quarter I called a halt and retrieved my armour, helmet and sword, handing back my legionary’s kit that had served me so well. The legionaries took the opportunity to sit or lie on the ground as Nergal formed a screen of horse archers in front of the army and the Amazons joined me. Behind us I could hear screams and shouts as the Ma’adan slaughtered those who had failed to find refuge in the temple compound or the palace.