I have been tagged by David Cook to do the 7 x 7 x 7 challenge. Thats the 7th chapter, 7th sentence and the next seven sentences after that. This, then, from chapter 7 of Marius Mules 7. (perhaps making it the 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 challenge!) Not the most exciting in the novel by a long stretch, and taken from the penultimate edit, so something may yet be cut or added: Likely in their centuries-long disputes with their neighbouring tribes, the water and the fence had been more than adequate to keep them safe until other Bituriges could come to their aid. But then their ancient tribal enemies had not been armed with scorpions, ballistae, onagers and all the paraphernalia of the Roman army. As the Roman column had appeared over the horizon, the inhabitants had made a spirited attempt to seal themselves off, succeeding in bringing down the bridge over the narrow northern river and turning the only method of access there into a pile of kindling – a move that had clarified the tribe’s true allegiance as far as the Roman command were concerned. Their attempts on the southern bridge, however, had been less successful, being interrupted by the cavalry vanguard of Caesar’s army before the bridge fell and being forced to retreat within the walls. There had been a brief confab between the officers and the consensus had been that full siege works would be a waste of time and resources, given the meagre defences of the place. And so the Romans had crossed the twin rivers with ease some half mile upstream where they had become narrow and easily fordable, leaving three legions on the northern bank and one between the two channels, taking four more to the south where the remaining bridge stood. It had been argued that a single cohort could rush the gate across the bridge and crack open Novioduno like a nut, but the risk of significant losses had decided the matter. As the army set up its cordon around the town, not even bothering to raise a mound or dig a ditch, the four southern legions brought their siege engines across the fords, positioned them on appropriate flat areas of ground and, without pause, began to loose their missiles across the river and over the low palisade into the narrow streets of Novioduno. I tag Gordon Doherty, Debby Foulkes, Andy Millen, Paul Bennett, Fred Nath, Prue Batten & Louise Rule. Go for it, guys. :-)
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 20:20:28 +0000
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