“Man’s been as silent as a tomb, general,” averred Anastasius. “Although I doubt he’s been thinking philosophical thoughts, as I have. I always contemplate before a battle, you know. I find the words of Marcus Aurelius particularly—”
Valentinian muttered. Anastasius cocked an eye.
“What was that? I didn’t catch it.”
Belisarius grinned.
“I think he said ‘sodomize philosophy.’ But, maybe not. Maybe he said ‘sod of my patrimony.’ Praying to the ancestral spirits of Thrace, you understand, for their protection in the coming fray.”
Mutter, mutter, mutter.
Mutter, mutter, mutter.
Chapter 18
Belisarius ordered the charge as soon as he saw the first units of the Syrian light cavalry pouring back from the battlefield.
The battlefield itself, directly to the east, was too distant to make out clearly. From a mile away, it was just a cloud of dust on a level plain—fertile fields, once—further obscured by the little copses of trees which were the outposts of the imperial hunting park. But the general, from experience, had been able to gauge the tempo of the battle by sound alone.
Based on what he had heard, he thought the situation was progressing very nicely. He was particularly pleased—if he had interpreted the sounds correctly—by the situation on his right. There, Abbu and his men had concentrated their attentions on their Arab counterparts.
Abbu’s scouts were bedouin tribesmen, pledged to the service of the Ghassanid dynasty. The Ghassanids were Rome’s traditional allies in northwest Arabia. More in the way of vassals, actually, but Rome had always been careful to tread lightly on their prickly Arab sensibilities. The Lakhmids had served Persia in the same capacity, in northeast Arabia, until switching their allegiance to the Malwa.
The Malwa were a new enemy, for Rome and its Ghassanid allies. But their Arab skirmishers were same Lakhmids that Abbu and his men—and their ancestors—had been fighting for centuries. That conflict had ancient, bitter roots.
Both sides in that fray ululated in the Arab manner, but there were subtleties which were quite distinct to the general’s educated ear. For a time, the ululations had swelled and swayed, back and forth. Now, there was a different pattern to the chanting rhythm of that battle.
Unless Belisarius missed his guess badly, Abbu and his men had fairly routed the Lakhmids—and with them, the only competent scouts in the enemy’s army besides the Kushans.
He was pleased—no, delighted. Many things Maurice had taught him until the general, finally, outstripped his tutor, but one of the earliest lessons had been simple and brutal:
First thing you do, you blind the bastards.
The “charge” which Belisarius ordered was more in the nature of a vigorous trot. The enemy was still almost a mile away, even if, as he expected, they were advancing toward him. A mile, especially in the heat of a Syrian summer, was much too far to race a warhorse carrying its own armor and an armored man.
So he simply trotted forward. At first, he kept a vigilant eye on the garrison troopers, making sure that the hotheads among them didn’t spur the rest into a faster pace. His vigilance eased, after a bit, once it became obvious that Agathius’ sub-officers were a steady and capable lot. Veterans all, they did an excellent job of restraining the overeager.
Even in a trot, two thousand cataphracts—along with Persian dehgans, the heaviest cavalry in the world—sounded like distant thunder. The Syrian light horsemen, scampering away from the enemy they had goaded into a furious charge, heard that sound and knew its meaning. Knew that their mightier brothers were coming to their aid. Knew, most of all, that their general—once again—had not failed them.
The first Syrians who galloped through the gaps left for them by the oncoming cataphracts were whooping and grinning ear to ear. Shouting their cheerful cries.
Belisarius! Belisarius!
Some—then more and more, as the battlecry gained favor: Constantinople! Constantinople!
Throughout, as the retreating Syrians poured through their ranks, chanting and hollering, the capital troopers maintained a dignified silence. But Belisarius could sense the hidden satisfaction lurking beneath those helmeted faces. All memories of town brawls and executed comrades vanished; all resentments of sharp-tongued borderers fled; all bitterness at aristocratic units lounging in Constantinople while they sweated in the desert were forgotten.