Chapter 34

North Africa

The army was a bustling whirl of chaos around Ky and the other commanders. As they had every night for weeks, they stood in the center of the madness, in the open air, going over the day’s events and confirming the next day’s plan, not that there was much variety in their agonizingly slow march west toward Carthage.

As with Italy, they had been harassed the entire way, except these attacks had been more spread out, in the way of ambushes, than attacks on small garrisons. In fact, there hadn’t been much in the way of anything to garrison on their entire trip. Every town, village, and settlement between their landing and Carthage had been burned to the ground by the time they arrived at it. Ky was surprised that the Carthaginians were willing to go in for such a scorched earth policy, a term that wouldn’t arrive in history for almost two thousand years, but that described a tactic as old as civilizations.

If they did win, it would take the Carthaginians generations to repair the damage they were doing to themselves, not that Ky planned on letting that outcome get anywhere close to happening.

Worse than Italy, the attacks never let up, with small groups harassing the fortified works each day. Just to dig in, he had to surround the temporary works with three full cohorts, to keep the nomads that had been shadowing them far enough away to let the work progress. By the time they did reach the enemy, he was a little concerned the men might be too tired to actually fight.

“ ... another burned-out settlement, their wells spiked with salt and sulfur.”

“We still have enough supplies from the ships, right?” Ky asked.

“Yes, Consul,” Dexippus said. “Although our initial plan assumed we would be able to get some basic supplies from the locals. Having to keep completely supplied off the fleet is starting to severely tax the fleet’s capabilities. I’m told they had to pull fleets from Kalb to have enough boats to ferry the needed supplies.”

“Fine, whatever they have to do. We’re too close now, we can’t allow this campaign to fail for lack of water.”

“Yes, Consul.”

“We have other news,” Bomilcar said. “The scouts reported in just as we made a stop for the night. The Carthaginians have finally begun to move out of their city to meet us.”

“I wondered how long that would take them. With their number superiority, allowing themselves to be hemmed up behind walls with tens of thousands of mouths to feed would be suicide.”

“I think they were just buying as much time as possible to rally troops, which explains the harassing attacks. And it seems to have worked. The enemy greatly outnumbers us. This might be the largest army we’ve ever faced. Our men couldn’t get a good look at their force composition, but from rumors they’ve been able to pick up from refugees fleeing the burned-out cities, I’m told it is made of a very large number of new recruits, many of whom will be fighting with swords at their back.”

“That might actually work in their favor. The Carthaginians will certainly use them as human shields in front of their better-trained units, to absorb our bullets until they can get to melee range with us, after which it’s all over.”

“That was my thought. Still, it means while they may have a hundred thousand men to our ten thousand, two-thirds of those will be minimally effective once they close,” Bomilcar said.

“Which only leaves us thirty thousand trained soldiers to fight hand-to-hand three-to-one.”

“That about sums it up.”

“There’s more, actually,” Viridius, the seventy-fifth cohort tribune said. “I know the Legate didn’t want to bring up details not confirmed, but ... I thought this important.”

The look Bomilcar gave Viridius as he spoke suggested the two would be having a lengthy conversation later, but Ky wasn’t one for shutting down subordinates.

“Do tell,” Ky said.

“Some of the refugees coming east from Carthage say they are running from conscription gangs, who are pulling every able-bodied man on the street into their armies.”

“Which explains the size of their force,” Ky said, not sure why Bomilcar had an issue with something that seemed so obvious. “I’m not sure that’s particularly news.”

“No, I mention it just to say these people come from the capital itself. They also told us that it had been announced that the emperor himself was going to lead this army.”

“Really?” Ky said, eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

If the Carthaginian emperor was willing to lead this army, it would change things significantly. Carthaginian society was an absolute monarchy in the most brutal of terms. Civilizations like that did not usually hold up well to even the most prepared leadership change, let alone a sudden one in the middle of a war. Should he fall, it could cause the rest of Carthage to fall with him.

“We don’t know how accurate that information is,” Bomilcar said, giving another glance to Viridius.

“I understand, and it doesn’t change our plans one way or another. We’re going to have to face them if we want to bring this to an end, and whether in Carthage itself or at the head of an army. This doesn’t end until he does. Which leads us to the obvious question, what do we know now that we know what we’re facing?”

“There are really only two options, right?” Brangh, the Ulaid tribune in command of the 4th Cohort, said. “We either fortify and let them come to us, or we attack them in the field.”

“If we meet them in the field,” Bomilcar said, “we risk being overwhelmed by sheer numbers. The Carthaginians may be willing to sacrifice their conscripts to secure victory. Our rifles and cannons can only do so much against a tide of bodies. If they are willing to accept the casualties, I’m not sure we can stop them.”

“Wouldn’t the same be true if we built up fortifications?” Dexippus asked. “Anything we could build would be hasty at best. There are no settlements we could build up, so we’d only have the supplies we’ve been fortifying with every night, much of which is starting to see significant wear. I’m not sure it would stand up to a sustained attack. Even if it does, they also have well more than enough men to surround us. We’ve been almost completely supplied by our fleet, which we would be cut off from. They could just sit out there and wait until we all die of thirst. It would be a death sentence.”

“We could do both,” Viridius suggested. “Fortify our position here, or wherever, as best we can and then send out smaller units to harass the enemy, disrupt their supply lines, whatever.”

“No. That would be the worst opinion we could choose,” Bomilcar said. “We would do little damage to them and would lose men on every outing. When we do end up behind our fortifications, we would be in the same place as Dexippus just described.”

“Okay,” Ky said, ending the conversation. “I think our options are clear. There’s nothing for us to fall back on out here, and if we try to fortify, we’ll just be surrounded. With their cannon, that could be fatal. At least in open battle, we’ll have room to maneuver. We should reach the enemy army in a few days. Prepare your units. Make sure if you need additional supplies, ammunition, gunpowder, whatever, you request it now so we can get it from the supply ships. I should have a more detailed breakdown of our battle strategy and your assignments before we make contact.”

The meeting broke up, and the commanders headed off to their various duties, leaving Ky standing alone in the middle of the camp. His tent almost set up, so he’d turned to head toward it when he saw a figure moving through the bustling activity towards him. When she broke through the crowd of soldiers and he saw who it was, Ky stopped dead in his tracks, shocked.

Lucilla had acquired a small crowd following her as she made her way through the camp, soldiers dropping what they were doing to find out why their Empress had suddenly appeared in their midst.

“Lucilla,” Ky said, grabbing her by the elbows and stopping her as she ran up to him and started to throw her arms around him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to support our legions in this final push against the enemy.”

Ky looked past her, glaring at the men gathering around, watching them, all of whom seemed to collectively realize they had work to do at the same moment. As they started to disperse back across the camp, Ky took Lucilla by the elbow and led her a little away, to the emptiest spot he could find.

They weren’t alone, but it was as good as he was going to get in a bustling military encampment.

“You shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous.”

“It’s dangerous no matter where I go. If the legions fall now, Carthage will be on Britannia’s shores within a year. It would be the end of me and the empire either way. At least now, the men know their empress stands with them.”

“Battle is a chaotic place, Lucilla. We could win, but a stray bullet or arrow or even a wrong step could cause us to lose you. The empire couldn’t survive that. I couldn’t.”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve been in the field with the legions, Ky. And now, at the end of it, I have to be here. These people are fighting for me. For my family. I will not let them do it alone.”

“Why didn’t you even tell me you were coming.”

“Because I knew how you would react exactly like this. I’m pretty sure, had you known I was coming, you would have sent half the ships in the fleet to intercept me, tie me up, and cart me back to Devnum under guard.”

Ky was considering doing exactly that, except he knew as much as his men were loyal to him, they loved their empress more. All she had to do was counter his command, and they would cheer as they untied her.

“Sophus should have...”

“I told Sophus to keep its mouth shut, and if it did say anything, I would take this thing out of my ear and crush it.”

“She left me little choice, Commander,” Sophus’s voice rang out.

Ky didn’t blame the AI. It had been showing more and more attachment-like behavior, and he knew it also had a special preference for Lucilla. It seemed everyone in his life loved her the most. Not that he blamed them, as he felt the same himself.

“I don’t like this, Lucilla. The battlefield is no place for an empress.”

“The battlefield is wherever I need to be,” Lucilla said. She stepped closer, placing a hand on Ky’s chest. “I’m not some delicate flower, Ky. I’m the Empress of Britannia. If my empire is at war, then so am I.”

Ky covered her hand with his own, feeling the warmth of her skin. He knew her. The most stubborn woman in the world. Once she made her mind up, there was no arguing with her.

“Very well, you can stay. But, you will remain in the rear, with the reserve cohorts. I will not have you on the front lines.”

“Of course,” Lucilla said. “I’m here to inspire the men, not lead a charge. It’s your legion, you’re in charge.”

“We both know that isn’t true,” Ky said, putting his hands on his hips.

“Maybe,” she said, stepping close to him on her tiptoes, and kissing him.