Domina Victrix

Chapter 68: 30 AD, Tagaste, Capri, Jerusalem, Caesarea, Rome, and Antioch

Artos clutched a bronze carnyx or war horn and hurried behind Anerin and Bran to a small hillock above the positions of II Matrona, and four other Gaulish, Iberian, and Carthaginian cavalry auxillia. These men had a strong horsemanship tradition, and had once been Juba's pride. He would have been thrilled to see this day. Now, Bolt would command them and carry his mentor's spirit. He joined Artos and the two other Celts on the hilltop, along with Beaky and Barca. Anerin took a goat kid and slashed its throat, letting the blood pour onto the ground. Bran dipped a cloth in the blood, and held it over a fire to char the fabric, before afixing the makeshift banner to a pole. The message was clear. Blood and fire, no mercy.

Anerin and Bran poured libations of wine on the fire, invoking not only Juba, but also Beluctacadros/Mars, and Andraste/Artemis, the Great Mother and Father, Matrona and Dagda, as well as Epona. Bolt made offerings of oil and wine to Gerzil, the Numidian war god, as well as Osiris, Anubis, Bacchus, and Heracles, while Beaky invoked both Mark Antony and Divine Augustus. With the gods and ancestors appeased, Anerin nodded to Artos. He lifted the mouthpiece of the carnyx to his lips. The body of the horn towered almost 6 feet over his head, culminating in the fanged, gaping mouth of a boar. Artos blew into it, sending an eerie call over the river valley in which the town lay. This, too, was a warning to Tacfarinas and his rebels. It would end here, today, and not the way they hoped.

"Thank you, Chieftain," Bolt said. "You're with me."

Artos gave the horn to an orderly and vaulted onto a general issue horse. Anerin handed him the banner. He followed Bolt to another hillside where the cavalry was staging. Tagaste lay in a valley formed by several mountains and bisected by a river. The object was to force Tacfarinas to give battle outside the town and back him against the river. The cavalry units were vital to Lucius' planning in that regard.

"Just stay with me," Bolt said. "Don't try to mix it up. You're by no means trained for it. As a standard-bearer, you shouldn't be fighting, anyway. It's your presence and your lungs I need."

"Yes, Sir," Artos said.

...

Tiberius sat down to the never-ending headaches piled on the tablinum in his office. Lucius and Bolt were working their way along the Numidian coastline, pushing Tacfarinas back against his hometown base of Tagaste. Meanwhile Ptolemy was trying to reconcile more Berber tribes to his rule and Rome's oversight. Elsewhere, the Nabateans had backed off. It was Phaesilla who begged her brother not to kick Antipas' ass. She just wanted a divorce, her dowry, and to spend her final years at home. Antipas agreed and the two sides called it even. The Vascons named their price for Urracca's death, and demanded otherwise to be left alone. Knowing the blood and treasure it would take to send an expedition into those mountains, Tiberius agreed.

That left Germania and Gaul. Arminius' family and tribe, the Cheruscii, still held sway in the lands beyond the Roman Limes or border fixed on the Danubius. Across this River lay dozens of Germanic tribes, who had proven they could match Rome's might. Holding them in check were a string of fortresses anchored at the double castrum of Magontiacum, on the River of that name. Old Aetius' eldest son, Crispus, Sr., was regional commander and military governor of Germania Superior. A skilled lawyer and diplomat as well as a general, he knew the Germanic peoples better than anyone. So far, Sejanus was not meddling with him any further.

That left Gaul. Contrary to what most Romans believed, it was not just a misty place of tree-worshipping herders living in hovels, though there were plenty of areas where that was true. Large cities such as Gergovia, Alesia, and Lutetia were on the same scale as Jerusalem or Caesarensis. The port at Masillia handled timber, livestock, wool, wines, salt, silver, and gold, as it always had before the Romans came. Both Masillia and Lugdunum, where Tiberius' brother Drusus had last posted and where Claudius was born, were university towns attracting scholars from around the Empire. Gaul provided vital links with Britannia and Hibernia, as well as peoples further north. such as Scania. Overseeing all of this was the combined Bricius-Appius family, both branches of which held lines of descent from Vercingetorix, as well as intermarriages with other tribes. Their leaders were Artos' grandfathers, Castus Artorius Bricius and Quintillius Nervius Appius. These two men ran Gaul, tamped down any coals of rebellion, kept tabs on the druids, and ensured that the populace stayed loyal to Rome. Old Bricius' son Castillus, who had transferred as military governor from North Africa, wrote to his father, passing on a letter from Junior.