‘Two companies will clear the walls south of the gatehouse,’ I ordered. ‘The rest will sweep the walls to the north.’
They nodded and stood up just as Domitus’ men hit the spearmen. They did not have their javelins and a few were felled by the archers on the walls as they charged to reached the spearmen, but their initial impact was still devastating and buckled the enemy’s formation. There was no space to manoeuvre on the left flank that was crowded with houses, but the open space to the north allowed the rear centuries to sweep around the right flank of those in front and then wheel left to hit the spearmen’s right flank. Within minutes high-pitched screams were drowning out the roaring of the flames as the legionaries scythed into the enemy.
The archers on the walls tried to shoot legionaries in the rear of their centuries as those in the front ranks were too close to their own spearmen in the mêlée. They stood on the walkway on top of the walls with the battlements behind them. But from the city side they were totally exposed as they stood shooting their bows. There must have been at least a hundred archers either side of the gatehouse loosing arrows.
I released my bowstring and saw the arrow strike my target in his stomach as he went to retrieve an arrow from his quiver. He dropped his bow and then fell from the walkway onto the ground below as my men swept the walls with arrows. It took less than two minutes to clear the walls either side of the gatehouse, most of the enemy being felled by arrows. Just a handful escaped into the two towers that flanked the gatehouse, while below the spearmen’s ranks dissolved.
Assaulted in the front and on the flank and with an inferno behind them, the rear ranks tried to flee as their comrades in front were cut down. Having no helmets or armour they were easy targets for gladius points and their thin wicker shields were next to useless in the close-quarters fight. As their ranks disintegrated I walked back to the main street to find Domitus. The flames from the gatehouse were gradually dying down as he left two of his centurions and ambled over to me.
‘That was easy enough,’ he reported with satisfaction.
Suddenly there was loud crash and a large piece of masonry was dislodged from the top of the wall to our right, showering debris over dead archers on the walkway.
‘Looks like Marcus is having fun with his engines,’ remarked Domitus as a missile shattered another chunk of wall.
‘Get the men back before the gatehouse collapses,’ I ordered.
But the gatehouse did not collapse and as dawn approached the fires died down and the walls of the charred gatehouse still stood. Domitus sent out patrols to ensure we were not surprised but they reported no signs of any enemy. And all the while Marcus’ great ballista threw stone and iron at the walls and towers. Legionaries were sent back to Thumelicus at the bridge to keep him abreast of developments as the majority of the men fell back to a safe distance from the walls and sat down by the side of the street to rest. It had been a long night and as muscles began to ease, arms, legs and shoulders started to ache. I received a report from those men guarding the palace that the garrison was hiding behind the shut gates. Those men still manning the walls further along the perimeter would have no idea what was happening at the gatehouse, but it would be only a matter of time before their officers tried to make contact with either them or the garrison commander, so I ordered Domitus to send a party forward to signal to the army that the city was ours, and then after the ballistae had ceased shooting to clear the smouldering debris at the gatehouse to allow our forces to enter.
Another chunk of masonry was splintered from the walls by a ballista missile.
‘At least Marcus is keeping the citizens cowering in their homes,’ remarked Domitus as a hundred of his men trotted forward to clear the city entrance.
‘I had forgotten about them,’ I admitted.
‘Better rouse them to let them know they have a new governor.’
‘Tell your men to keep their swords in their scabbards. Use a minimum of force.’
He smiled grimly. ‘You know my boys; gentle as lambs.’
I decided to leave the priests in their temple compounds alone while Domitus despatched half our number to bang on doors to assemble the citizenry on the great square located just south of the main street. Very soon the early morning was filled with the shrieks and wails of frightened women and children as the inhabitants were herded into the square, and then I heard a more familiar sound — a blast of trumpets. I turned to the gatehouse to see the figure of Kronos marching at the head of the Exiles as they entered the city to the cheers of the Durans who stood up to welcome their comrades. He stopped when he reached where Domitus and I were standing and clasped our forearms, his men continuing their march towards the bridge.
‘Good to see you Kronos,’ I said to him.
‘Best get your boys to the bridge and secure it,’ added Domitus. ‘When the rest of the Durans enter I can use them to secure the city.’
‘Is the garrison destroyed?’ asked Kronos, looking back at the corpses in front of the gatehouse.
‘No,’ I replied. ‘Half of it has shut itself in the palace and the rest is still manning the walls or in the towers. They will surrender once they realise the city has fallen.’
A part of a tower on the wall behind us suddenly collapsed in a great cloud of dust as a result of it being battered by the ballistae.
‘Not anyone in that tower,’ commented Kronos.
The Exiles pushed on to secure the bridge and relieve Thumelicus’ men, who fell back to our location, while the rest of the Durans filed into the city to assist in the roundup of the citizens and reinforce the men guarding the palace. I was sitting on the stone pavement propped up against the wall of a bakery, whose owner had been ‘persuaded’ to make us some fresh bread, when the kings rode into the city. Domitus sat himself down beside me and rested his helmet on the ground. I handed him a chunk of freshly baked bread. The baker, a short fat man with oversized arms and his family, his wife who had scars on her arms from years working near the brick ovens and a teenage girl and younger boy, worked frantically to provide a constant supply of loaves. The father snapped at his wife and children to toil harder, no doubt fearing that he and his family would be killed if they invoked our displeasure.
As we lounged by the entrance to the bakery a company of the Babylonian royal guard trotted past us, their dragon-skin armour glistening in the early morning sunlight. Then came another company and another, and then Orodes appeared on his brown mare in the company of my father, Gafarn, Gallia who had Remus in tow, Atrax, Surena and Viper. Behind them were grouped Vistaspa and my father’s bodyguard, and behind them the purple ranks of Babylon’s spearmen.
I raised my chunk of bread. ‘Greetings ladies, my lords, welcome to Seleucia.’
‘Congratulations on the success of your plan, Pacorus,’ said Orodes.
‘A masterstroke,’ added Surena.
‘You have saved us much time, Pacorus,’ commented Atrax.
‘The first of the enemy’s cities to fall,’ I said.
‘Seleucia will be Babylonian from now on,’ remarked Orodes.
‘Good idea, Orodes,’ I agreed. ‘Won’t you all have some bread, it is most excellent?’
My father shook his head. ‘We have other things to do besides eat, Pacorus. To secure Ctesiphon for one.’
I got to my feet and helped Domitus to his.
‘I would not worry about that, father. I think you will find that Mithridates has fled back to Susa or further east by now.’
I knew that Ctesiphon’s walls were in no state to withstand an assault and that its garrison was small — no more than two thousand men. It would take a man with an iron will and great ability to hold its dilapidated defences and Mithridates possessed neither.