Chapter 13

Outside Londinium

“I think we’re about ready,” Ky said to Ursinus and Auspex, as the three looked at a map showing Londinium, with the positions of their legions and the Carthaginians mapped out.

“So, we wait for Carus to take the wall, and then we attack? What happens if his men can’t take it?”

“Actually, no. The wall isn’t the target. The gate is.”

“What?” Ursinus said.

“We moved siege equipment across from the northern wall and we’ve been focusing our fire on that section. We’ve all but told them that’s where we’re going to attack, so they’ve done the most sensible thing. Stationed most of their men, and what looks like all of their actual soldiers there. The gate and wall around it are being manned mostly by conscripts. In practice, that makes sense. The wall is close to the water and extends into the river. The ground is less solid and won’t work well for ladders, and above the gate is solid, so there isn’t anywhere for soldiers to climb onto and fight their way down. They believe, probably rightly, that we can’t get through the gate. We even proved that when we backed away from our assault on it last month when they tried to rally, instead of trying to force our way through.”

“Was that always the plan?” Auspex asked.

“No, but the plan needs to change. One, we have information that the northern wall has been strengthened and fitted with structures to make attaching ladders to it harder, or at least easier to push over. Two, the shifting of forces to the northern wall has only just happened. It changes the math of what we’re up against. With the forces on the north wall, it would be tough for Carus and the men we have there to break through enough to make our assault successful, especially with going over the wall being harder.”

“If the plan is changing, how will Carus know?” Ursinus asked.

“I’ll be able to tell him. What we need to do is get ready for it. We need to shift troops to be able to throw the bulk of our forces against the gate as soon as it goes up. I want you to leave a few centuries spread thin to make sure no one goes over the wall in the other direction and escapes. Since they won’t do any good inside the city, I want the cavalry to operate as a mobile force to reinforce any part of our thinned-out line that gets assaulted. Once they push the defenders out of the way, Carus and his men will set up a line to keep the gate clear until our men get through. Unlike the last time, I want the Caledonians to push through first. Since Carus will already be there with a base of support to operate from, the Caledonians will be better suited for the street fighting. As they clear areas, I want the legions to push out from the gate, pushing up each avenue. The more Carthaginians we can trap against the wall, the better.”

“If we shift all but a few centuries across from the gate, won’t they see us and shift their troops again?”

“They would, which is why we need to obscure our assault. We still have the design for those smoke pots we used outside of Devnum to stop that first army. I want you to put together a bunch of them now. We should have the supplies on hand, if not, we need to send riders to get what we need quickly. I want to start laying down a thick layer of smoke in front of our line, starting with the north end and going all the way around. It’ll tell them the assault is coming soon, but they know it’s coming eventually, so that doesn’t matter so much. We’ll have to keep the smoke going for days, and I know it’s going to be a bad assignment for whoever you give it to, but it’s important we keep the pots burning until we’ve moved all the troops and begun the attack. I’ve already mapped out the placement of the pots, which should keep the layer of smoke solid enough even if we get some unexpected weather.”

Although he didn’t have satellites to access anymore, Sophus had been able to put together a forecast based on readings taken from the drone flying at its furthest range and what data it could get from Ky’s enhanced senses. It wasn’t a sure-fire forecast, but it was enough for him to feel confident there wasn’t going to be a sudden shift in the weather that would make the smoke ineffective. There were indications that a major system was building and there would be a weather front coming in sometime soon that would hamper the assault, which was one of the reasons Ky ordered the attack to start now.

They were sending the last shipment of soldiers into the city that evening, although Ky wasn’t planning on sending a message with them just in case they got captured. He had other thoughts on how to alert Carus to the change in plans.

Devnum

“My lady,” Faenius said, from outside the audience chamber.

She had just finished the last set of audiences for the day, continuing to deal with the growing pains of integrating Romans and Caledonians, with the added burden of problems created by the immigrants, as both the Roman and Caledonians were having issues with the mostly Germanic immigrants who had begun moving to Devnum and other cities looking for work.

“Faenius,” she said, standing from her seat. “I thought you were near Londinium?”

“The Consul asked me to come back and help investigate the destruction of the factory and Hortensius’s injury. Since the factory is a critical part of the war effort, he wanted me to make sure the investigation was thorough and for me to double check our security efforts around the other factories and warehouses.”

Lucilla sat back down and frowned as Faenius approached. Ky had been pretty insistent that the destruction wasn’t caused by saboteurs and was probably an accident, so she couldn’t figure out why he’d sent the head of the praetorians back to supervise the investigation.

“Did he tell you he thought it was sabotage?”

“No, my lady. He said that there had been a fire, Hortensius was injured, and that you had the local commander conducting an investigation of the scene. He wanted me to double-check the investigation and make sure all critical sites were secured, just as I said. Did he not send a messenger ahead of me?”

“He did not. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to question you, I was just surprised to see you. I appreciate you being here and helping with this. Have you made any progress?”

“I have, my lady. I am pretty confident there was no sabotage. My men, both of whom have recovered from their injuries, had done several sweeps of the area and one of the city patrols had made a circuit of the outskirts of the city a little under an hour before the explosion. None of them saw anything out of place. The last shift of workers had left a little before that patrol’s circuit, so the area was all but empty. Your guards also reported seeing no one but Hortensius and the guards assigned to the building just before it caught fire, and no bodies were recovered from the scene. Furthermore, when Hortensius requested the local commander assign guards, he specifically cited how combustible the material he was working on was, which is why he wanted to move it out of the city in the first place. I’m confident that there was no sabotage. This was an accident, although until Hortensius regains consciousness, I’m not sure we’ll be able to say what the accident was.”

Ky had already convinced her that it wasn’t sabotage, which made sending Faenius to her confusing. Maybe he wanted her to have peace of mind or to be sure himself, but either way, no one seemed to think this was sabotage. If she had Faenius here, though, she might as well take advantage of him.

“Fine. Thank you for your thoroughness. While you’re here, I need you to double-check all the security arrangements on the places holding gunpowder and, when it’s rebuilt, the factory. We can all see now how volatile this stuff is and the damage it can cause. While this might not have been caused by saboteurs, it will give anyone paying attention an idea of what can be done. Whatever danger of sabotage there was has now increased exponentially with this accident.”

“At your command,” Faenius said, bowing.

Lucilla frowned as he left. Part of the reason she’d been so hesitant to accept this was just an accident was the extreme measures Hortensius had taken to ensure exactly this circumstance wouldn’t happen. If it was an accident, then all of those precautions had been for naught. It brought into question how they could ever use this stuff safely. Once it was in use, it would have to travel with the legions, where they’d have a lot less control over its storage than in a warehouse, where the barrels could be checked and where open flame near it could be controlled.

Ky seemed convinced this was the thing that would help them defeat the Carthaginians, but she had trouble being as sure.

Ériunia

Velius looked through the spyglass, as Hortensius had called it, and marveled at the invention. He knew Ky had the ability to see things at extreme distances and while he knew this wasn’t how Ky did it, he imagined this was how the Consul must also feel having this capability. The men cresting the far rise weren’t so clear that he could make out individuals, but he could work out the basic formations and get an idea of the numbers of men he was facing.

He knew most of this from his scouts, who’d been shadowing the Carthaginian army as it began its forward momentum after weeks of inactivity following the Ulaid’s last defeat. Seeing it for himself, and being able to make decisions immediately instead of waiting on messages and scouts to get back to him, would be a huge help in battle.

The manufacturer had apologized for this early crude version and promised there would be better versions as they refined the glass-making technique, but Velius was happy with what he had.

He was less happy with what he saw heading toward him. The army was larger than Llassar had indicated it would be, and the portion of local warriors to Carthaginian phalanxes was larger than he’d indicated too. Waiting for local fighters instead of marching to Emain Macha didn’t make sense, but it looked like that’s exactly what they had done. In comparison, Velius had three weakened legions, since there hadn’t been enough replacements to make up for their losses from the last battle, nor time to train or equip the new recruits they did have.

Although the locals were an x-factor, a larger army worked in Velius’s favor, since they tended to stack deeper than his own formations. The larger force meant there wasn’t going to be an envelopment, or any other tricky maneuvers. Worse, they knew he was there, and were holding on a rise and it didn’t look like they were going to move. It gave them the high ground, but he couldn’t ignore them or leave them at his rear as he marched on the Carthaginian allies.

He still had some surprises for them.

He slid the spyglass back into its case and turned to the other two legates saying, “Move the men forward, with the seventh in the center. Curl the line, but don’t overextend. Most of your legions will be facing locals. They won’t have the discipline to stand firm, but they’re going to press you hard. If they’re anything like the Caledonians, they’re going to be dangerous one-on-one. Remember, unit cohesion will be the thing that saves us. Keep your back centuries ready, listen for the call, and watch for signals from my command.”

Both men saluted and rode off to their forces. Turning to his current cavalry commander, Velius had a moment’s regret. Lartius had been moved to an independent command in charge of a new, entirely horse-mounted force that had remained with the Consul outside of Londinium. For what he wanted, he really needed a more experienced commander than Lartius’s replacement, but he had to use who he had.

“I need you to keep their mounted units hemmed in and the locals from getting around to our flanks. Press hard and then disengage. Remember your training exercises and how maneuverable you are. Use it to your advantage.”