Chapter 1

Daramouda

Inside their temporary headquarters, in the same building where their adversary had commanded from a few weeks previous, Ky stood with his hands clasped behind his back, surveying the gathered legates. The large stone building still had damage from the battle for this city through which he could see the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean. The openings let in the chill of the southern Gaul winter, but it was still much better than their other choices.

The battle for Daramouda had been vicious, and they’d been forced to pound the city hard to force their enemy from behind its walls, and most buildings were damaged in one way or another. Of the choices large enough to house his headquarters, this was still the best one, even with the damage.

“First, I want to start this meeting by again commending each of you on your fine work this past year,” he said, now that all the legates had gathered. “We made amazing headway, and Carthage is within our grasp. We have a good chance of ending the war with this year’s campaign, but they aren’t out of the fight yet,”

“First, the north,” he said, his finger stabbing down on the large map laid out in front of them. “Ursinus will continue holding down the north, working with our allies there to both ensure we maintain supply lines through Gaul and to protect us from any remnant Carthaginian forces that may still be in the eastern end of Gaul. Meanwhile, our allies in Gaul will protect our rear, toward Hispania, which we have largely skipped so far, from any remaining Carthaginians in that direction.”

Tracing a finger from Germania down to Italy, “The rest of our forces will march on Italia, clearing the peninsula as we move south. The goal isn’t Italia exactly, since I don’t expect a large force to oppose us. The army we faced was just about every man they had under arms on this side of the Middle Sea. They still have territory to draw from, but unless they want to empty out more rebellious areas, like Persia, it’s going to take them time to train new men to send at us. But ... Italia is our pathway to Africa. We can maintain solid supply lines all the way down it and across to Sicily. That leaves a very small span of sea for us to cross to attack Carthage directly. I have full faith in Admiral Valdar to clear the Carthaginians out of the Middle Sea entirely, and keeping our ocean-borne supply line short will mean we can take this fight to them head-on.”

He looked up from the map to make sure the men were following him, and then said, “Once we cut the head off the snake, the rest of their forces in places like Greece and Persia should collapse. That might leave some instability for us to deal with, and remnants to clean up, as we figure out what the map looks like with Carthage finally gone, but we will deal with that when we get there.”

“The key is, we can’t let ourselves get bogged down. The Carthaginians have already shown a surprising ability to duplicate some of our new weapons, although now that we’ve examined their gunpowder close up, it’s clear how low quality it is. Still, I hadn’t expected them to be able to copy us this quickly, and I don’t want to give them a chance to figure out how muskets or rifles work. Right now, our technological advantage is what is letting us take on these much greater odds, and I’m not willing to give that up. They may be severely wounded, but they still have the balance in manpower. Questions?”

“I would caution against assuming our crossing of Italia will be easy, Consul,” Bomilcar said. “The people there will have been under Carthaginian rule far longer than other regions we have occupied, in some cases for centuries. There will be less existing resentment to take advantage of, and many who would either be transplants from Carthage or those who’ve found ways to profit from their overlords. The closer we get to their homeland, the more resistance we should start expecting.”

Ky dismissed the concern with a wave of his hand, “I agree it’s something we should pay attention to, but we’ve seen the brutal way the Carthaginians treat the people under their control. Their greed and cruelty will make it very hard for most citizens to remain loyal, especially once they’re given other options. In fact, the length of Carthage’s occupation will work in our favor. These people will have suffered under their oppressive rule for generations.”

Bomilcar still looked doubtful, “Perhaps, but...”

“But you’re right. We should prepare for opposition all the same. The key is; even if we encounter it, it should be unorganized, and our goal will remain the same. To quickly make our way to Sicily, and across to Carthage. Once defeated, there will be no one left for those people to be loyal to.”

Ky could read Bomilcar’s face well and knew the general did not agree with his logic. He’d shown himself to be overly cautious, but Ky also respected his experience and meant what he said. They would stay vigilant as they crossed Italy. He just didn’t want caution to slow them down. The introduction of Carthaginian gunpowder had taken him by surprise and shaken his belief that they’d technologically remain so far beyond Carthage that they’d be able to counter the empire’s larger manpower pool and defeat them. The fact that they managed the chemistry needed to reverse-engineer gunpowder meant he had to stop taking the threat of their catching up technologically so lightly.

“There are other issues as well,” Bomilcar said, not ready to give up that easily. “A large part of our force is now made up of men from Germania and Gaul. They’ve proven capable soldiers, but we’ve also taken the bulk of the available manpower those regions had to spare, especially with Carthaginian deserters turned brigands and Carthaginian field forces still scattered around Germania. Our own manpower resources are also pushed to their limit.”

“I’m aware of our current manpower problems,” Ky said, trying not to be annoyed with Bomilcar’s thoroughness. “What are you getting at?”

“Stretched as thin as they are, I’m not sure how much help our allies in Gaul will be if even a portion of the tribes in that region stay loyal to Carthage and attempt to attack us as we march. I’m sure the port Valdar set up at the mouth of the Middle Sea is set up to prevent further Carthaginian landings, but there is a lot of coastline, and he is going to have to take a large number of his ships into the Middle Sea itself if we’re going to completely clear it of Carthaginian shipping, ferry our men from Sicily to Africa, and keep us supplied. It is not out of the question that the Carthaginians will try and come around us, landing men there. They’ve tried it before.”

Ky started to respond, but Bomilcar wasn’t done.

“Furthermore,” he said, continuing before Ky could counter his point. “Sending our allies from Gaul to deal with Hispania will have its own difficulties. While Britannia is generally seen as a neutral party, or at least preferable to the Carthaginians, Gaul, however, is seen as an enemy. The people in those two regions have often been at odds, with raids back and forth across the mountains that separate them over the years, each seeing the other as an opponent in either the Middle Sea or Oceanus. The tribes would see any forces from Gaul entering their land as invaders, regardless of what’s happening in their own lands. Using the Gauls for this will create a problem at our rear ... not solve it.”

“A valid issue. And one we don’t have the manpower to meet either,” Ky agreed, cupping his chin in his hand, thinking. “I will send word to the Empress. I know our people are stretched thin, but if we can send a force, not even a large one, to Hispania, they can begin negotiating with the tribes there. If we can get some of them on our side, we’ll have enough support to counter anything the Carthaginians might do. We already have a few centuries and the Port of Kalb to begin with. It’s not a lot, but we’re not talking about battle here, only negotiation and diplomacy. If that fails, then we’ll have to reevaluate. Will that work?”

“We’re at your service, Consul,” Bomilcar said with a sarcastic bow of his head.

How a bow could be sarcastic, Ky didn’t really know, but he knew the general was tweaking his nose.

“And I appreciate that service,” Ky said, giving the general a slight nod in return. “In the meantime, we should begin training any new recruits or volunteers from Germania and Gaul that joined us during the last days of the campaign. We didn’t have time for more than the most rudimentary training then, but now that winter has set in, we need to make up for that deficiency. We need to ensure everyone is outfitted and begin drilling them as soon as possible.”

“We have a few months to catch our breath, but as the ground thaws, I want our men ready to march,” Ky said, looking at each of his legates in turn. “This is the year, gentlemen. We will take Carthage and end this war by the fall. Understood?”

To lesser or greater degrees, the assembled men all vocalized their agreement. They were good leaders and good men. Ky was confident that they were close to ending this war this year and finally having peace.

That evening, once the legates had been seen off and he finished the more routine responsibilities of leading such a large group of men, he shut himself off in his temporary quarters in the now-deceased Carthaginian commander’s quarters. While he could have reached out to her at any time to ask about the options for dealing with Hispania, since she could not subvocalize like he could, and because an Empress holding conversations to thin air might be a bad idea, he held off until Sophus notified him that she was alone in her chambers.

“Are you alone?” he asked, after activating the link.

“Since Sophus already told you I was, that’s a silly question to ask,” she said, with a little more heat than he’d expected.

“It just seemed like a way to start the conversation. Is everything all right?”

“Yes,” she sighed, sounding like she’d just flopped down on her bed. “It was just ... a long day.”

“The senators?”

“They’re absolutely impossible. We’ve been debating the tariffs on foreign shipping we put in last year, to get more of the Scandi captains to become citizens and move here, instead of just traveling back and forth. A group of senators, mostly Caledonian, have decided this is bad policy and want it lifted.”

“You don’t think they’re doing this of their own accord, do you?”

“No. Well, Roti may be for real. He’s made his name by being a middleman between the captains and villages further inland, but the rest? No. This smells like Scandi captains paying senators to push their own agendas.”

“You’re going to put a stop to that, I hope?”

“I’m working on it. So, what’s going on?”

“I met with my legates today to begin planning our advance into Italy and eventually Africa. Overall, things are progressing well. The legions are in good spirits, and I think everyone can feel the war starting to wind down.”

“But...?” she prompted when he paused.

“But ... Bomilcar made an excellent point about Hispania and our supply lines. He fears that relying solely on our Gallic allies to safeguard our shipments of arms, food, and other materials could be a problem. Our supply lines are going to run right to the edge of Hispania, and the tribes of Gaul have never gotten along well with the tribes there. Both sides have raided the other for ... well, forever. He pointed out, rightfully, that if something happens and, in order to keep their word to us and protect our supply lines, they were forced to cross into Hispania to deal with a threat, the Hispanian tribes there would see it as an invasion. Since we’ve already sided with the tribes in Gaul, they could read it as us siding against them, and it would push the tribes in Hispania into the arms of the Carthaginians, which we very much don’t want now that we’re so close.”