‘Varus, it is heartening to see you. I had begun to fear for you and your men, since I had rather expected you to be here when we arrived.’
‘And we would have been, general, but we happened across these two sorry specimens at our furthest extent and, after a few exchanges with them, I thought it worth checking out their information while we were there.’
At last. Caesar smiled. Good news?
‘They were very talkative, after the first few moments. I have a small contingent of Remi and Suessione riders and, since it is their lands that are under threat from these rebels, I thought it appropriate to give them the job of initial interrogation. I watched for the first part, but when they started using the splinters from a broken spear shaft, I must admit I had to leave the scene. Yet whatever they did, they extracted a lot of information as we travelled, and all of it useful. I doubt the best interrogators here will get anything more from them, though you will want to try, of course, sir.’
Caesar, still smiling, nodded. ‘And their information?’
‘It is no good seeking Commius here, sir. The traitor has left, crossing the Rhenus in an attempt to raise the Germans to their cause.’
Caesar sucked on his lip for a moment. ‘He will not be so successful, I think. The tribes across the Rhenus have tangled with us several times and have always lost. Their own lands are under no threat, so they will be unwilling, I suspect, to enter battle with us to help people who have nothing to offer in return. We can ignore Commius. If he crosses back in the north we will have him, and if he tries it further south, he will find himself facing Labienus. I will send a message to the commander to warn him of the possibility. What then of the rebel force and this Correus who leads them?’
‘He seems to have put together a sizeable army, sir. Looks like we face not just the Bellovaci, but the Velocassi, the Caletes, the Atrebates, the Aulerci and even the Ambiani. Estimates of their numbers seem vague. Neither of these two is particularly high in their chain of command, but they both seem to think it will be the match of four legions.’
Caesar’s brow furrowed in surprise. ‘I had not anticipated such a strength. Even with the Belgae having largely escaped last year’s horrors, I had anticipated more or less half that number.’
Varus huffed in the cold air. ‘We approached the position of the enemy force as revealed by these two, general. I couldn’t estimate their numbers myself without getting too close and alerting their sentries. But judging from the smoke columns rising from their camp there are many thousand.’
‘And where are they?’
‘They took every member of every tribe and all their belongings, so that there would be nothing left for us to take. Their civilian population have been secreted somewhere in the endless woods in the heart of the region, but every man of the tribes who can bear arms has encamped on a high place, surrounded by a filthy and dangerous quagmire. Winkling them out is going to be a mighty tricky proposition, sir.’
‘Then we must draw them out to us; make them fight us on ground of our choosing.’
‘Might be trouble there, sir. Apparently the enemy are labouring under the impression that only three legions march on them – fortunately their intelligence on us seems to be poorer than ours on them. They are watching out to make sure none of the other regional forces are joining us, hence these living shadows that followed my cavalry around. If there are no other Roman forces imminent, and Correus believes he is facing three legions, then he thinks he outnumbers us and will probably come out to take us. But if he sees we are more numerous than that he will likely just sit in his camp and taunt us.’
Caesar nodded. ‘Definitely troubling. Either we face superior numbers and they will come to assail us, or we match their numbers but end up laying siege to what sounds like a perfect fortress.’
Varus huffed again and rubbed his hands. ‘And with the weather like this and no real baggage train with us, general, we can’t maintain a siege. They would only have to disrupt our foraging and we’d collapse.’
The general was still nodding, but now his eyes narrowed and sparkled with fierce intelligence. ‘Then let us play a ruse. We may not have a full baggage train, but we have the various carts and wagons we picked up at the last supply depot. We send the most experienced veterans – the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth in front in our usual formation, with one ala of your old-timers. The Eleventh will arm light and travel behind the baggage, out of sight until the last minute, along with the bulk of your cavalry. Then, with luck, the enemy will commit on sight of the three legions and they will be too late to pull back when the fast-moving, light-armed Eleventh and your other cavalry rush to take the field in support.’
Varus rubbed his forehead. ‘It’s a workable plan, general. Better than I could come up with.’
‘Best get your boys in and rested then, commander. Tomorrow might be a busy day.’
The general straightened and felt a familiar throb in the temple. ‘And now I must retire to my tent.’ He turned to the ever-present praetorians of Aulus Ingenuus, and gestured to the nearest. ‘Be a good chap and send for my body slave. I find I might have need of him.’
* * * * *
The vanguard of the main force followed the scouts, who waved them on from the trees ahead. Caesar’s army had moved at its maximum maintainable speed since leaving the camp that morning, but for the last hour the pace had been by necessity considerably slower. The terrain had become more rolling with occasional higher domes of greenery, though it was hard to tell from the soldiers’ point of view, since the entire area was so thickly wooded. The rain, which seemed endemic of the darkness at this time of year, had at least held off during the day, improving morale noticeably.
The scouts, who had accompanied Varus the previous day and had carried out a very tentative reconnaissance excursion to this location, roved ahead, finding the best avenues through the trees where the legions could march relatively uninhibited. In the process, they also kept a close watch on the forests through which the legions moved, wary of the potential for ambushes. None had come. It seemed that the approach of the Roman army had remained blessedly unnoticed by the enemy. Perhaps those scouts they’d captured had been the only ones in this area and had not yet been missed? Whatever the reason, the enemy’s ignorance was a blessing.
Then, as they’d closed on the location, the scouts had started coming across the enemy pickets. Prepared as they were from the previous visit, they began to move stealthily forward, very quiet and effective, removing the enemy sentries with brutal speed before any warning could be given. Varus wished the Suessione scouts would stop bringing their heads to show him, but he’d not the heart to argue. Their victims were, after all, an army mustered ostensibly to invade Suessione lands.
‘Seems we’ll have the advantage of surprise,’ Brutus muttered as he pulled alongside.
‘Indeed. Not that we’ll be rushing them,’ Varus reminded him. ‘After all, we want them to come out and meet us. We just want it to be enough of a surprise that they will react quickly without too much thought.’
‘This terrain is going to be dreadful for the legions.’
‘And render my cavalry more or less ineffective. But the scouts say the trees thin out as we near the enemy camp. I never got that close yesterday for fear of alerting sentries too soon, but it seems reasonable. You couldn’t encamp a force of thousands of Gauls in the middle of a forest. They’re on a hill that’s more or less surrounded by marsh, so trees shouldn’t be an issue. Sinking into a mire might be, of course.’
‘Fewer negative comments made in front of the men might be preferable, gentlemen,’ Caesar muttered quietly as he appeared on Varus’ other side, the rest of the staff officers in a knot close behind. ‘We’re not entirely sure what we’re up against, but the men are in high spirits and, since such minutiae can make or break an engagement, I’d like to keep it that way.’