Chapter 4: The Preliminaries Ravenna, Western Roman Empire, 478

"Now it is time for the final part of the campaign," Narius spoke as he unfurled a crudely drawn map of the Italian peninsula, which was pretty much the Western Roman Empire that he ruled, "We have two northern borders to be concerned with and we're beginning to run out of time to trap Odoacer and secure the Imperial Throne in Roman hands."

"Two, sire?" Urses asked, "I'm afraid this may make things rather difficult. Odoacer already has us outnumbered, if we were to move away from a position where we could draw him into a fight where his numbers will be meaningless while protecting Rome at the same time we could be inviting disaster."

"A agree, sire," Flavius Sextus sighed, "We can not leave Rome unguarded. If Odoacer were to capture the city, the people there would instantly switch to supporting him rather then you to preserve their lives."

"But there are also the Ostrogoths approaching from Dalmatia," Narius reminded them, "We must insure that they will agree to the bargain they made with the Emperor Zeno."

"Theodoric and Theodoric Strabo both promised to let you keep Italia if Zeno found out the truths of the rumors of your existence," Illus spoke, "And since you obviously exist and that the Eastern Empire has forged a bargain with you, they will honor their word."

"You would trust barbarian leaders with a promise when you know that the Eastern Empire will not send troops to enforce its decisions?" Narius asked back, "I do not trust either man and I will put Roman troops on the border to insure that they stop. Once that is taken care of, we will move after Odoacer."

"But what if Odoacer moves on Rome first?" Urses asked, "I can agree that the Ostrogoths are not to be trusted to keep their promises, but we ought to only fight one war at a time."

"Odoacer is likely to be consumed with punishing Orestes's Burgundian allies," Narius replied, "and is likely to march against them, judging that they are the stronger foe then we are."

"We can beat Odoacer, sire," Flavius Sextus said firmly.

"Of that I have no doubt," Narius replied, "but Odoacer is likely to be just as confident in his own skills. And considering that he knows he has more legions then I do, and plenty more, he is going to be more concerned with who has the larger army."

"Are the Burgundians to be our allies now?" Flavius Sextus asked.

"More like a distraction," Narius answered, "dealing with Odoacer in that region will be fairly messy, and I fear we may end up in a far larger battle then what we already have to fight."

"Who do you think will win then?" Urses asked.

"Considering that Odoacer has already won at least a few battles, I would actually prefer it be him who wins," Narius sighed, "His troops will be tired afterward. If he loses, the Burgundians will invade Roman territory to claim what Orestes would have given to the Burgundians to get them to help that usurper in the first pace. And they will invade with largely fresh troops."

There was a brief silence for a moment before Narius continued.

"Our goal should be to reach the town of Aquieleia at least," Narius continued, "I would actually prefer the town of Tergeste, but we are likely to face scattered resistance along the way, we might only be able to get as far as Aquieleia."

"I still believe we ought to leave some force to watch Odoacer directly and to at least shield Rome," Urses urged, "We can never be too careful."

"Of course," Narius responded, "Urses do you think your legion can survive without your horse archers?"

"They will have to only run small raiding missions against Odoacer if he moves against them, but I believe we can if we do not get into any major battles before we can rejoin them," Urses answered.

"Good," Narius responded, "I will leave the two of you to preparing the men to advance north. Flavius Sextus, your legion will take he lead as Urses's legion will be without half its cavalry."

"Of course, sire," Flavius Sextus answered.

Genua, Kingdom of Odoacer Odoacer meanwhile sat in a different intelligence gathering session. He sat at the end of a rather long table with tribal leaders, acting as legionary commanders and as other officers of his government as a small group of men delivered a brief report on what was to be facing them soon.

"The Kingdom of the Burgundians is in a rather sorry state, sire," the man speaking reported to Odoacer, "There is no set King, actually, but the most powerful noble is a man named Gundobad."

"He was likely their leader at Mediolanum," Odoacer answered, "But you say the kingdom is divided?"

"Yes," another man spoke up, "We rode throughout the country and it appears that Gundobad is in the middle of a war against his brothers. One person also told us that he has already murdered one."

"This could actually play to my advantage," Odoacer commented, "If Gundobad has enemies fighting him among his own people, I will not need to risk as many troops to fight him, which will be a good thing, considering that we must still deal with Narius and the possibility of a Ostrogoth invasion."

Many of the men nodded around the table. They couldn't argue with the man that had not only lead them but made them the most powerful force in the region. They were completely confident that Odoacer would crush Narius. It was the Burgundians and the Ostrogoths that raised concerns for them.

"What can your cavalry report on Narius?" Odoacer then asked, "Still around Rome I presume?"

"We do not know," one of the present cavalry officers reported, "We rode south, and while there wasn't much activity along Mare Ligusticum, by the time we reached the town of Narnia, we ran into prepared defenses and militia."

"You were beaten by militia?" Odoacer asked, "Many small town garrisons could not hope to repel cavalry attacks, even from the small scouting force that I sent you at the head of."

"They were very determined to hold, and advanced with long spears," the cavalry officer reported, "We couldn't get close and we didn't have archers."

"Were you able to at least determine if Narius was still in Rome?" Odoacer sighed.

"No," the cavalry officer answered nervously, "The determination that the town militias put up to force us out might indicate that he is in Rome and is training the militia commanders and their troops, but I will also report that from Bononia south, there were a lot of people, particularly of our tribes who were very uneasy. Almost as if they were in serious danger."

"Narius has moved north," one of Odoacer's tribal leaders spoke up, "That can be the only explanation."

"We can not be certain," Odoacer sighed.

"The Ostrogoths wouldn't create such an atmosphere of fear among our people from Bononia to Narnia," the tribal leader spoke, "And given the anti-Germanic attitude that Narius holds, he can be the only one to have created such an atmosphere. Perhaps fighting the Burgundians first isn't the best idea."

"Where do you suppose Narius is, if he has marched?" Odoacer asked.

"If he's created an atmosphere of fear as far north as Bononia, my only guess is that he has marched on Ravenna to lay claim to both the historical capital of Italy, Rome, and the functional capital of Italy, Ravenna."

"Then he is likely still consolidating power and can not afford to fight us," Odoacer sighed, "Or will be forced to deal with the Ostrogoths first as they are closer too him then they are to us."

There was a brief silence for a few moments, before Odoacer continued speaking.

"However, as the Burgundians are not in a major position to fight a large or long war, I will lead only two legions into their kingdom to deal with Gundobad," Odoacer continued, "Grene and Horz, your legions are advance to Bononia and make sure that Narius doesn't march on Genua."

Patavium, Western Roman Empire Narius sat peacefully on his horse as his men secured Patavium for his control. Once his troops had left Ravenna behind, the campaign against the Sciri and Heruli resumed as there were still many of these peoples encamped along Narius's planned route to Aquileia. Many were now openly professing allegiance to Rome as they had heard from refugees coming from the south. There were some who were holdouts against him, but as had been the case, many of these were few and isolated cases.

"Things seem to be going well," Flavius Sextus commented, "More and more people are backing you. We might be able to even recruit an army that can directly challenge Odoacer."

"Most are backing us because our army is here, while Odoacer is in no direct way able to immediately help them," Narius answered, "He has been continually distracted. First by Orestes and now by the Burgundians. It is imperative that the possible Ostrogoth invasion is halted before it is we who become distracted."

Flavius Sextus sighed, "With two legions, I'd hope that Illus's presence makes them agree to agree to the deal they made with Zeno. That would stop any concerns about an invasion."

"I'm counting on that," Narius sighed, "Considering that Odoacer has us outnumbered already, we can not afford to become embroiled in another war."

Shortly after this, Flavius Sextus's cavalry commander came riding up to their position. He gave a quick salute and then began an urgent report.

"What is it?" Flavius Sextus asked his cavalry commander.

"General, Caesar, I believe we have found a small portion of Odoacer's army," the cavalry commander spoke, "About three miles north of this town there is a large body of men of warrior age moving in the general direction of Dalmatia."

"They are Odoacer's troops?" Narius asked, "Why would they be marching to Dalmatia?"

"There were a few horsemen carrying Odoacer's banners, but they appeared to be officers," the cavalry commander reported, "the rest were on foot and had no order to their marching."

"Dalmatian militia and auxiliaries, probably picked up when Odoacer finished of Nepos," Narius commented, "How many are they?"

"My men could approximate about three legions worth," the cavalry commander answered, "Although with no order and little in the way of artillery we could probably destroy them through raiding missions."

"That would take too long," Narius spoke up, "We will engage them in battle. If they are only auxiliaries and militia, they will be a warm up for the main battles against Odoacer's main legions."

"Can we catch them?" Flavius Sextus asked.

"I can keep them distracted while you move out from the town here," the cavalry commander answered, "They aren't that far away from us, and I don't believe they know we're here."

Flavius Sextus looked at Narius for a moment and then returned his attention to his cavalry commander.

"Do so," Flavius Sextus ordered, "We'll meet up with you once we are ready to march on them."

"Of course, General," the cavalry commander saluted and galloped of in the direction from which he came.

Flavius Sextus then turned to Narius and spoke, "I had best get my men moving, sire."

"Of course," Narius responded, "Do not engage until I catch up with General Urses."

It was a day later when Narius's full army was ready to engage the gathered Dalmatian militia and auxiliaries. Flavius Sextus's cavalry had harassed them continually and ended up pinning them near a river northeast of Patavium. Narius rode as far forward as he could to observe their position as they seemed to be trying to prepare some sort of defense, although it appeared that they were in fact at best auxiliary troops and most likely just slaves that Odoacer had freed and kept with his army.

"Your cavalry commander did a very good job," Narius commented to Flavius Sextus, "The ground here is rather flat, and we're not close enough to a walled city that they can retreat behind the walls."

"Will they fight though?" Urses asked, "They look like they have a little more then two legions worth of troops there and from what I've been told they seem to be more interested in getting to Dalmatia."

"They might fight to continue their flight," Narius answered, "Either way, we will fight and we will win."

"In this battle, that would be a given, sire," Urses commented, "But if they are determined to fight the Ostrogoths in Dalmatia, perhaps we ought to let them go."

"No," Narius answered, "If they attack the Ostrogoths, the Ostrogoths will believe Odoacer has won our war and will invade regardless of whether or not we appear, and since our only hope to avoid war with them is that they respect the bargain they made with Zeno, we can allow an Ostrogoth invasion of Roman territory. If we can defeat these people easily with two legions, the Ostrogoths can wipe them out with a full army of warriors."

"Of course," Urses responded.

"Send a rider forward under a truce flag," Narius instructed to Flavius Sextus, "See if they wish to talk before the battle."

Flavius Sextus nodded and shortly thereafter, a rider was riding forward toward the lines of the Dalmatian militia and auxiliaries with his message. Fearing this was the prerequisite to an attack, the few officers that Odoacer had with them lost control of their men and auxiliaries attacked the rider, throwing spears after him. The rider avoided all of the thrown projectiles, but he made no further attempt to make vocal contact with Odoacer's officers.

"They do not appear to want to talk," Urses commented.

"Fire all ballistas and onagers," Narius commanded, "Make sure they can not retreat across the river, and bring all archers to the ready."

Urses and Flavius Sextus relayed the command and nearby trumpeters and drummers soon gave the loud blasts and drum beats that relayed the order to Roman artillery units. Narius then calmly watched as thrown stones and flaming ceramic pots filled with tar and ballista bolts wrecked havoc on the Dalmatian militia and auxiliaries. Several began to pull back toward the river while others began to rush toward the Roman troops.

"Order the infantry to repel infantry attack and archers to fire," Narius ordered.

Again, Narius's orders were relayed. Again Narius and his generals watched as the first volley of arrows decimated the charging warriors.

"Flavius, send your cavalry through the flank opposite them," Narius ordered, "See if we can get them on two sides."

"Of course, sire," Flavius Sextus nodded and relayed the command to the nearby signalers.

Narius then watched a series of events go. His foot archers fired a second round of arrows. Shortly after they landed, creating more chaos, Flavius Sextus's cavalry charged the Dalmatian militia and auxiliaries on the flank opposite them. The heavy cavalry crashed through their lines, running several through with their lances and hacking their way through the rest of them. Flavius Sextus's horse archers then followed through, picking off those that the heavy cavalry missed.

Narius watched with a smile as that flank of the Dalmatian militia and auxiliaries collapsed under the attack. By this time, their main body had reached Narius's line of infantry while Flavius Sextus's horse archers began to set up on their flank and began bombarding the rear of their lines with arrows. After a few minutes, the barrage of arrows on their rear broke the resistance that the Dalmatian militia and auxiliaries could muster, and they began a headlong run for the river.

"Infantry advance in good order and take them prisoner," Narius ordered, "I want the heavy cavalry to support them."

"Of course, sire," Flavius Sextus replied and then relayed the orders.

It took the rest of the day for the fleeing men to be rounded up and captured. With the battle won and prisoners gathered, Narius allowed Urses to deal with the guarding of their prisoners, as they could be useful later had the army set camp. Their dead were being gathered and prepared to be sent back to Rome for a proper burial, hopefully, and tomorrow, Narius would prepare his legions to continue on their way to Aquileia.

Genava, Kingdom of Burgundians Odoacer looked up at the walls of the major city that he had come to. The march into the Burgundian Kingdom had been a difficult one. Gundobad had evidently recovered much of the strength that he had lost at Mediolanum and had steadily launched small raids against his army. They didn't stop him, but they had definitely slowed him down. He had not yet had any contact with any of Gundobad's enemies among his own people, but if Gundobad was in Genava, that wouldn't matter.

"Prepare the army to lay siege to Genava," Odoacer ordered to one of chieftains, "We will draw Gundobad or his army out, so be prepared for a counterattack."

"Of course, sire," Odoacer's chieftain nodded and set about preparing to lay siege to the city.

From the walls of Genava, Gundobad watched the arrival of Odoacer's army with some concern. He had expected Odoacer's arrival as part of Odoacer's attempt to make sure that he couldn't collect on Orestes's debt from the Burgundian king's alliance with the man whom he thought that Odoacer had murdered. He was thankful that after the battle in Mediolanum, which could gone much worse for him, that his army was able to recover and limp back to the Burgundian kingdom. What made the situation for him to be the most difficult was that his brothers in their own bids to become the unified Burgundian king had stepped up their efforts to try and defeat him. Most of his warriors were out dealing with his brothers, and now Odoacer had arrived.

"None of our troops are to go outside the walls," Gundobad spoke to one of his nearby commanders, "Make him come to us."

"Of course, sire," the soldier answered him.

"Get archers up here and prepare to repel a siege," Gundobad commanded and then began to descend a flight of stairs to converse with the local vassals that were loyal to him.

Aquileia, Western Roman Empire Theodoric Strabo and the younger Ostrogothic chieftain, named only Theodoric rode along an old road running largely east and west toward the coastal city of Aquileia, which Theodoric Strabo hoped would be the gateway to the declining west.

"I see it now, control over the Western Roman Empire, soon to be the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths," Theodoric Strabo spoke confidently.

"I still warn you that if this Roman that Zeno has heard of exists, we ought to honor our word," Theodoric spoke in a more subdued tone, "The Eastern Roman Empire is not declining the way the west is."

"That is why we can advance regardless," Theodoric Strabo spoke, "The East can not watch and the West is declining. Even if there is a man in the West who has defeated the Vandals, he is likely to be a German anyway, and if he isn't the East will only know what we tell them."

They rode on a few more paces before Theodoric Strabo began speaking again.

"I believe you will become the next real 'King' for our people," Theodoric Strabo spoke, "but to be a strong king, young Theodoric, you must be willing to take strength and opportunity. Show them that it is only the Goths who can defend these weak Romans from their own nightmares."

"The Romans are stronger then you give them credit," Theodoric answered, "What I learned as Consul in the Eastern Roman Empire is that one does not gain what the Romans gained before the Goths came to even the Balkans through weakness. Our people and Zeno's are already under an uneasy alliance and I do not wish to embroil our peoples in an unnecessary war."

Theodoric Strabo only chuckled in response and was about to say something when a rider approached their position.

"How goes the march?" Theodoric Strabo asked the rider as he had obviously come from the advanced units.

"Our warriors have reached the exterior wall of the town Aquileia," the rider answered, "It is controlled by the Romans. Imperial banners fly in the city."

"Odoacer is likely flying them as a deception for now," Theodoric Stabo answered.

"I do not know if he is there, but I was told that the Western Caesar wishes to speak with you both," the rider answered.

"Western Caesar?" Theodoric answered, "who is this?"

"They did not give me a name," the rider answered, "I was simply told that the Western Caesar wishes to speak with both of you."

"Very well, lead us to the city," Theodoric answered, "I assume he wants us to meet inside the city and away from our warriors?"

"The messenger didn't say," the rider answered, "I was merely told that the Western Caesar wished to speak with you."

Theodoric Strabo gave his relative a rather disgruntled look.