Belisarius scowled fiercely. “For the sake of God! Why didn’t Justinian disband them?”
John winced. He understood Belisarius’ astonished outrage. Under Roman law, private armies—bucellarii—were illegal for anyone to maintain except serving generals like Belisarius and Sittas. That law had been enacted over fifty years earlier, by Emperor Leo, precisely in order to prevent public officials and landowners from becoming too powerful.
“Justinian gave John of Cappadocia an exemption,” he explained. Then, with a harsh laugh: “Not even that! He made the Cappadocian a general. Just a few months after you left for India.”
Belisarius rolled his eyes in disgust. “That stinking chiseler’s never been in a battle in his life,” he snarled. Suddenly, the snarl turned into a crooked smile. “Which, now that I think about it, isn’t such a bad thing.”
The general rubbed his chin, eyeing the transports.
“Have you got a count?” he asked John.
The naval officer nodded. “There are thirty-one ships in Aegidius’ fleet. Most of them—the bigger ones—are corbita.”
Seeing the blank look in Belisarius’ face, John elaborated.
“We seamen call them ‘basket ships.’ Corbita are freight haulers, general. They operate by sails alone, without rowers. They’re slow under the best of circumstances, and they’ll be even slower here in the Bosporus fighting against the northerly winds. But—they’ve got a big capacity. Each one can carry up to four hundred passengers, although I doubt they’re holding more than three hundred apiece. They’ve got to haul the arms and equipment, also.”
“And the cataphracts’ horses,” added Belisarius.
“That, too. But I’m pretty sure that the cataphracts themselves are being transported in the smaller ships. Aegidius has eight merchant galleys—akatoi—in that fleet. Just about right for a thousand cataphracts. Although—which is good for us—they’re having to use their sails alone. They’ll have no room for rowers on top of the cataphracts.”
Belisarius stared at the fleet. John fell silent, realizing that the general was coming to a decision.
“Right,” murmured Belisarius. He cocked an eye at the Rhodesman. “The immediate priority is to stop the Army of Bithynia from reaching Constantinople. You’re the naval officer, John. How would you do it—now that you have my galley as well as this ship?”
John frowned.
“You’ve got good rowers. But how fresh are they?”
Belisarius shrugged. “Fresh enough, I should think. We came most of the way from Egypt on a sailing ship. Ashot had the galley waiting for us in Abydos, and we crossed the Sea of Marmara using our sails. We only unshipped the oars a few minutes ago.”
“Good. We can wreak havoc among those plodding corbita with a dromon. The real problem’s the akatoi. Those merchants galleys are fast. And they’re full of cataphracts.” He grimaced. “I wouldn’t want to face that kind of archery, even in an armored galley. Not when you have to get close enough to ram.”
“You won’t have to,” said Belisarius. “I’ll take the akatoi with this ship, using the scorpions. You take the dromon and do as much damage as you can against the corbita.”
Seeing John’s hesitation, Belisarius pressed on.
“There’s no other way, John. I’m not a naval officer—you are. I wouldn’t know what to do with a dromon. Whereas here—”
He waved at the scorpions.
“I do know how to use artillery. Quite well.”
Belisarius almost laughed, seeing the look of near anguish on the Rhodesman’s face. John, he knew, wanted to finally try out his wonderful new artillery weapons.
John blew out his cheeks.
“You’re right, damn it.”
He eyed Belisarius skeptically.
“I assume you don’t know how to sail a ship, either?”
Belisarius answered with a smile.
The naval officer grunted. He gestured toward one of the sailors standing at the stern. The man trotted forward along the gangway.
“His name’s Honorius. Let him command the ship. Just tell him what you want. You can concentrate on the scorpions.”
He turned to his assistant.
“Eusebius! Show the general how to handle the firebombs. He’s going to command the artillery on this ship. I’m taking the dromon.”
John eyed Belisarius’ cataphracts. By now, all of them had boarded the pamphylos.
Seeing the avarice in John’s eyes, Belisarius chuckled.
“Leave me Valentinian,” he said. “I’ll want him to aim the other scorpion. You can take the rest.”