Hannibal: Enemy of Rome

‘Agesandros was furious when he discovered that you were gone,’ Quintus said. ‘The arrogant bastard wouldn’t take it from me that I had freed you. He said only my father had the power to do that. Naturally, my mother agreed with him. She’s furious with me,’ he added glumly.

‘But your father won’t be back for months.’

Quintus gave him a grim nod. ‘Precisely. Which makes you a runaway, and hunting them down is something Agesandros is rather good at. I told him that you headed towards Capua, and I think he believed me. He started looking in that direction.’ He winked. ‘Fortunately, Aurelia made Elira drag an old tunic of yours all the way to the river, and then swim downstream to a ford where her tracks would be mixed up with plenty of others. She left the garment in the water, which should trick the hounds.’

‘Your sister is incredible,’ said Hanno in amazement.

Quintus grinned briefly. ‘It would still be best to get a head start now. Skirt around the farm to arrive at Capua tomorrow morning. Agesandros should have returned home by that stage, and you can catch a boat downriver to the coast.’

A knot formed in Hanno’s stomach. ‘I can’t desert Suniaton,’ he muttered. ‘He’s so near.’

‘And so far,’ Quintus replied harshly. ‘He might as well be in Hades for all you can do.’

‘That’s as maybe,’ Hanno retorted. ‘But you said the official’s son would talk again in a few weeks.’

Unsurprised, Quintus sighed. ‘Stay, then,’ he said. ‘I’ll bring you food every two or three days. I will try to keep an eye on Suniaton. We’ll work out some way of getting him out.’

Hanno could have cried with relief. ‘Thank you.’

Quintus pulled around his horse’s head. ‘Be vigilant. You never know when Agesandros might appear.’

Bostar’s phalanx was marching behind those of Sapho and his father, so the messenger reached him first. ‘Is there a Captain Bostar here?’ he cried.

‘Yes. What do you want?’

‘Hannibal wants to talk to you, sir. Now,’ he said, matching the Libyans’ pace easily.

Bostar stared at the strapping scutarius, who was one of the general’s bodyguard. ‘Do you know what it’s about?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Did he want to see my father or brother?’

‘Just you, sir,’ replied the Iberian stolidly. ‘What shall I say to the general? He’s pulled out of the column about a mile back.’

‘Tell him I will be there at once.’ Bostar thought for a moment. ‘Wait! I’ll come with you.’

The scutarius looked pleased. ‘Very good, sir.’

Bostar muttered instructions to his second-in-command, who was riding beside him, before turning his horse’s head and directing it out of his soldiers’ way. Few of the men looked up as he trotted by, but those who did grinned. Bostar nodded in acknowledgement, glad that his efforts in winning their trust had paid off. The Libyans’ large round shields knocked off their backs as they walked, and their short spears looked skywards in a forest of points. A junior officer was situated every fifty paces, and beside each marched a standard-bearer. Their wooden poles were decorated with sun discs, lunar crescents and red decorative ribbons.

Bostar eyed the long, winding column approaching from the southwest. ‘Feast your eyes on that,’ he said to the scutarius, who was trotting alongside. ‘It’s some spectacle.’

‘I suppose so, sir.’ The man cleared his throat and spat. ‘It would look a damn sight better with forty thousand more of my countrymen, though.’

‘Not all are as loyal as you and your comrades,’ replied Bostar. In his heart, he too was sorry that the host had shrunk by more than a third in little over three months. Much of the decrease could be accounted for by the casualties suffered thus far, and those who made up the garrisons along the route back to Iberia. In addition, plenty of men, perhaps ten thousand more, had been discharged by Hannibal before they could desert. To discuss the matter with an ordinary soldier was bad for morale, so Bostar kept his lips sealed. His spirits soon lifted, however. It was impossible not to be exhilarated by the sight of such a massive Carthaginian army, the first such to go on the offensive against Rome in more than a generation.

After the last of the spearmen had passed, there was a short delay until the next units reached them. These were massed ranks of fierce-looking, tattooed Libyan skirmishers in bare feet and red goatskin tunics. They were armed with small round shields and handfuls of javelins. Hundreds of Balearic slingers followed, wild half-dressed men from the Mediterranean islands, whose skill with their slings was legendary. Bostar wouldn’t have trusted a single man among them, but they were a supreme asset to Hannibal’s army.

After came the light Iberian infantry, the caetrati, with their round leather bucklers, javelins and falcata swords. Further down the track, Bostar made out Hannibal and his officers, surrounded by the mounted part of his bodyguard, local cavalry in crested bronze helmets and red cloaks. Behind the general marched the heavy Celtiberian foot, the scutarii.