Ferox could see the faces of the men over their shields, and most were fair haired, but their skin was lined and he guessed that these men were Harii and Usipi from the days of the mutiny. There were none of the young boys who had grown up or been captured and raised by these pirates.
The former auxiliaries and mutineers did not flinch. One of his young lads threw himself at the enemy and was impaled through the head on a spear, but the others sensed their determination and stopped a little short. A spear point jabbed at Ferox and he caught it on his little shield, then gave way as the man punched at him with his own, bigger shield. Beside him, the mother had found a shield from somewhere, presumably from one of the boys who had fallen, and she twisted it, so that the edge half spun as she flicked it over the top of her adversary’s shield and smashed his nose. The pirate reeled and her sword darted upwards, taking him in the chin just where his cheek pieces tied together. The man’s eyes rolled up, so that only the whites were visible, and when she drew the blade out with a sucking sound he slumped forward. The woman jumped back, then came forward again before the warrior in the second rank could take the dead man’s place. She ducked, going under his spear, and he panicked, dropping it and reaching for his sword, a movement that opened him to a thrust into his side. The mail was strong enough to stop it being fatal, but he yelped and let go of his shield. The next attack was a thrust to the face and the man stepped back to avoid it.
Ferox’s opponent’s eyes flicked to the side when the man next to him died. The Roman jabbed at the pirate’s face, stopping the blow as the black shield came up to block it, and instead whipped the beautifully balanced sword down to strike the man’s thigh. It was a light blow, but the spear thrust that came back at him was weak and ill aimed. Ferox had his sword up again, point ready to lance forward.
The mother spun around as she slashed the man in the leg and he fell. She was through the formation, heading for Cniva, and some of the men in the second rank were turning around to reach her, breaking the line apart. There was an appalling scream as a spear drove deep into the redhead’s upper thigh. As the pirate wrenched it free a fountain of blood pumped all over him from the ruptured artery and drenched his legs and shield. He stepped over her, coming up on the unprotected side of the blonde, who went backwards, feinting against each of her opponents in turn. The neat lines had gone, but numbers were starting to tell. One of the boys, bleeding from a graze on his leg, desperately blocked cuts from a sword, and each time less of his shield was left. He slashed back at the pirate, but the man was bigger and had a longer reach.
Ferox looped his own shield over the top of his opponent’s bigger, oval shield, yanking it down so that he could stab the man in the face. An instant before the point speared through the man’s eye, the pirate’s spearhead struck him on the right side and drove through one of the plates. The pirate fell, and Ferox was gasping for breath, feeling the pain but not yet weakened.
A pirate came from behind the mother, and she somehow sensed and spun almost like a dancer, going towards him and slashing her blade across his throat. Cniva drove his horse at her, and the animal’s shoulder knocked the woman over. She rolled away and was up in a moment, but a spear took her in the side. Cniva slashed down, cutting into her shoulder so that she dropped her shield.
Brigita saw her plight and screamed as she hacked lumps out of her opponent’s shield, her sheer fury forcing him back. The rest of her warriors were too hard pressed to see what was happening, but the queen shattered the man’s shield and then sliced into his arm. The pirate’s sword grazed her leg, but she ignored it, stamping forward, right arm out and most of her body unprotected by her shield as she drove the blade through the man’s armour and into his heart.
Ferox was sure that the mother looked at him for an instant, then she dived under Cniva’s horse, stabbing its belly with her sword. The animal screamed, rearing, and its hind feet trampled on her before it threw its rider and fell. A pirate had his spear in both hands as he ran it into the woman’s body. Cniva was up, helmet gone but sword still in his hands. His horse sank down on its front knees, steaming entrails spilling onto the grass.
‘Bastard!’ Ferox yelled, his voice croaking because his mouth was so dry, and his side aching. He lifted his shield, saw the pirate meet it by raising his own, and instead twisted his wrist to thrust down, missing the man’s face but digging into his neck. Cniva was not paying any attention to him but was looking over to the right and suddenly there was a shout and men were coming at the pirates from behind. He saw Vindex, and one-eyed Longinus, but out in front was Probus, his face very pale.
The merchant’s brother said nothing, but waited, and at the last minute dodged the attack, and cut at Probus as his momentum carried him past. Blood pulsed from where the shoulder of his mail split. The merchant turned, thrusting with his sword. Cniva was too fast, ducked down and then grabbed the other man’s arm, pulling him into the stab of his own sword.
Ferox tried to push through. A pirate appeared, his beard more grey than brown and speckled blood on his face. The man had a spear down low and although Ferox pushed at the shaft with his shield it gouged a line across his calf. He punched the man with his fist, then hammered his face with the pommel of his sword. A horn sounded from the buildings ahead of them, the distinctive brazen challenge of the army’s cornu.
The pirates were breaking. They ran, hoping to escape, and a few threw down weapons and begged for mercy. There was none. Vindex killed two men as they turned and ran, and Longinus beheaded another pirate who kneeled in supplication. The Brigantian stared for a moment as the bare-chested young woman hacked again and again at a body lying on the ground, and Ferox could not tell whether it was the savagery or her nakedness that drew his interest.
Cniva stood in a circle of enemies. Segovax was there, and the Red Cat, and Brigita and two of the Batavians who had held the tower. Already the pirate chief was bleeding from cuts to the legs and arms, not knowing which way to turn as the spears and swords came at him.
Ferox was about to force his way through when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Vindex grinned. ‘Leave ’em. They’ve earned it.’
Segovax drove a spear into Cniva’s thigh and twisted it free. Then he swung the shaft, making his brother duck and one of the Batavians swear in alarm, and the wooden pole hit the leader on the side of the head. The northerner dropped his shield from his bandaged hand. He swung the spear again, two-handed this time, battering the pirate chief on the head. Cniva fell. Brigita and the Red Cat leaped at the same moment and their blades punched through the man’s armour and through his ribs. Cniva gasped, blood bubbling at his mouth, and if he was trying to speak no words could be made out. The Red Cat stared at him for a moment, and then began hacking at his neck to take the head as a trophy.
Probus had managed to sit up. Blood pooled around him, so fast was the flow from the great gash in his body that it could not seep into the ground fast enough. Pale before, he was now white as the bleached toga of a political candidate. His face twitched when the northerners raised the severed head of his brother. Then he began to laugh, a bitter, haunting sound racked with sorrow as well as pain. It turned into a cough, and blood spewed from his lips before he fell back.