Shouting a defiant cry in the face of the Helvetii and invoking the protection of Jupiter and of Mars, he pushed forward, painfully aware of wounds he was now receiving and the loss of another of his companions. Moments before he was unhorsed and disappeared under the press of the enemy, he saw the commander of the Third also disappear from sight.
On the crest of the hill, the senior of the four officers shook his head sadly, watching perhaps three hundred men make their painful way up the hill, leaving near seven hundred dead and dying in the valley. With the briefest of signals, he led the entire cavalry contingent back towards the legions.
* * * * *
News of the cavalry’s return had spread among the senior officers before the first ala appeared over the distant hills. Longinus had ridden out to the highest point close to the marching legions, and Fronto, Balbus and Crispus had joined him. Caesar had remained in the Vanguard, leaving cavalry matters to Longinus.
Fronto reined his horse in next to Balbus.
“What the hell d’you think’s happened? They’ve only been out for a couple of hours.”
Balbus shrugged.
“I really don’t know, but they had no senior officers out there, and only six regular soldiers altogether. Perhaps the auxiliaries panicked and fled. It’s been known to happen.”
As the four remaining cavalry alae formed up on the slope below their commander, the remnants of the Third and Fourth formed under their Gaulish officers, neither of the regulars having made it back. The two Aedui rode out proudly alongside the four Roman regulars to report to Longinus.
As a mark of respect, the other three legates sat astride their horses a few paces behind Longinus as he received the commanders.
The senior of the cavalry decurions stepped his horse slightly forward and saluted Longinus.
“I beg to report the loss of a number of cavalrymen, sir.”
Longinus frowned, his displeasure plastered across his face.
“You had strict orders to follow and watch and not to become involved, and yet you bring our forces back with the best part of a thousand men missing? This is not a ‘loss’, decurion. This is a debacle. Who is responsible?”
The Aedui officer in charge of the Third Ala stepped forward.
“Sir, the commander assigned to our unit came across the enemy and ordered a charge. The other units were not close enough to support us. By the time we were deep among the enemy, the commander ordered as many of us as possible to pull out and regroup with the others.”
A moment later the Aedui officer of the Fourth joined them.
“Sir, our commander ordered a charge to try and rescue the Third. When he realised it wouldn’t work, he tried to get us clear while he and a dozen others went on to try and reach the survivors.”
Longinus glared at the two Gauls for long moments while he mulled over the information.
“You are all dismissed. Fall in alongside the Ninth in your assigned positions. You.”
He pointed at the remains of the Third and Fourth Alae.
“You are now all assigned to the Fourth. Report to the prefect of the Fourth and form up with him. Find the prefect of the Third and send him to me.”
He turned to face the other legates as soon as the cavalry moved off.
“I’m going to have to send the regulars out under the circumstances. Could I prevail on you three for your opinions of that?” He stressed the last word with distaste and gestured in the direction of the disappearing cavalry alae.
The three looked at each other and, after several shrugs, Fronto sighed.
“I don’t like to think that one of our regulars would take such a stupid action in the face of the enemy, but they were all juniors, and juniors are capable of the most surprising strokes of genius and stupidity alike. You sort the cavalry out, Longinus. I’ll go and figure out how to report this to Caesar with the best possible angle. Don’t be too hard on the Fourth. Sounds like they tried to pull off a hell of a heroic rescue to me. It’s just a shame it didn’t work.”
Longinus sighed.
“There’s often a fine line between heroic and insane, Fronto, but I see your point.”
It was around an hour after sunset when Fronto was shaken awake by Priscus.
“Come on sir, get up.”
Blearily, Fronto grasped the scarf around the primus pilus’ neck by the knot and pulled the man down to within an inch of his face.
“This had better be important, Gnaeus.”
Priscus pulled his head back, wrenching the scarf out of Fronto’s grip.
“Oh, important like you wouldn’t believe, sir.”
As Fronto rose and struggled into his tunic and breeches, he rubbed his eyes and wearily questioned Priscus.
“What is it, then?”
“Let’s keep that as a surprise, sir. I’ve taken the liberty of having legate Balbus awakened too.”
Fronto stopped for a moment and frowned quizzically at his senior centurion.
“Alright then. Let’s go.”
Priscus led the two of them away from the command quarters of the Tenth and down the slope to the freshly-dug trenches that formed the outer ramparts of the marching camp.
A small knot of people stood near the corner of the ramp and ditch. As they got closer, Fronto identified Balbus. Others he didn’t know, but he spotted a couple of medical personnel there.
Arriving at the corner, he could see that the two medical officers and two tired-looking capsarii were tending five wounded cavalrymen. The men were under the guard of several of the Tenth’s legionaries who had been posted at the ditch.
Balbus hurried to join Fronto as he approached.
“What on Earth is going on? My adjutant woke me at this unreasonable hour on the authority of the legate of the Tenth.”
Fronto glanced at Priscus, who grinned back, smugly.
It irritated Fronto to see that Balbus was immaculately turned out in his full dress and armour, whereas he himself looked like an off-duty legionary who’d been hauled out of a trench. One of the guards approached the two legates and saluted.
“These five came through the picket line about a quarter of an hour ago, sir. They were creeping around and bumped into us. When we challenged them, they gave the correct password and asked for the legate of the Ninth before the leader passed out in the ditch.”
Balbus cupped his hand around his mouth and whispered to Fronto.
“That’s a cavalry officer’s uniform. Looks like one of the regulars got back from that attack alive after all.”
Priscus, standing close enough to listen in, said
“Look again, sir. Two cavalry officers.”
Sure enough, the second officer was there, lying drenched in blood and blessedly unconscious in the hole.
Fronto stepped to the edge of the ditch, gesturing at the officer who was on his feet.
“You! Name and unit.”
The officer staggered, trying to pull himself to attention, despite a number of wounds that obviously hampered his movement.
“Sir. I beg leave to report to legate Longinus.”
“You can speak to legate Longinus when you’ve finished here. As a staff officer, I represent Caesar himself. Now report.”
The officer sighed a weary sigh.
“Aulus Ingenuus, sir: decurion of the Ninth Legion, acting prefect of the Fourth Ala of auxiliary cavalry.”
Fronto barely blinked.
“And your fellow officer?”
“I don’t know his name sir, but he’s the acting prefect of the Third Ala sir.”
Fronto relaxed his shoulders and dropped to a crouch.
“Alright soldier, at ease. I think you’d better tell me everything.”
As the medics worked quietly and efficiently, Ingenuus retold the sad tale of the events of earlier that day. By the time he had reached the end of the engagement, the medics had finished with the criss-cross of vicious wounds he had received, and taken the mammoth task of saving the other officer out of the hands of the capsarius.