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.Narses, watching the whole scene, now turned to his trumpeter and nodded slowly.Now was the time! The notes of the trumpet echoed out and the Goths looked about.Something was about to happen and they knew whatever it was, it wouldn’t be anything good.Casca and his comrades paused and waited, wondering what was going to happen.A mass of Byzantine cavalry burst out from behind the archers and arced round the flanks of the Gothic cavalry.Isolated and away from their own infantry, the Gothic cavalry were trapped.Totila screamed to retreat but their way was cut off.Leading the charge, the king hacked at the closing enemy cavalry, cutting the first two down as they reached him.Two more, led by a colorfully dressed officer, headed his way.The lesser Byzantine cavalryman attacked first but was impaled by Totila’s bodyguard.Even as the Goth bared his teeth in triumph, the officer cut across the bodyguard on the shield side and closed in on Totila, his sword flashing in the sun.Totila was caught across the side and reared up in pain, lashing out in a reflex action with his own blade, catching the Byzantine officer across the face.Two of Totila’s bodyguard came to his aid, guiding the horse away from the melee and riding off down the hill to the valley bottom.The rest of the cavalry, seeing their king leaving the field, broke and fled, pursued by the cavalry of the imperial forces.It was then that Narses gave the order for the infantry to take up the chase, and with a wild roar eight thousand Lombards and Herulians went running down towards the Gothic foot soldiers.Casca joined in the charge, yelling wildly, and his strength was such that he outpaced many of his compatriots and reached the horror stricken Gothic infantry with the first wave.Most of the Goths took one look at what was heading for them and broke.Casca caught up with a knot of the enemy and slashed at their backs, chests and throats, cutting down half a dozen in as many seconds while his comrades were engaged in similar butchery.Although he didn’t know it he was screaming madly the names of the old gods as he cut, thrust and slashed, terrifying the enemy as he came towards them.All ran as fast as they could from him although many were killed by his compatriots, and by sundown the field was clear of Goths save the six thousand or so who had fallen.* * *Totila was taken to a nearby village and laid down in a straw bed, tended by his faithful men, but the wound was too severe and he knew he had little time left.Looking up at the strained faces around him he smiled and rested his right arm on the shoulder of Teias.“Brave and honorable Teias,” he breathed hoarsely, “you will have to carry on the fight without me as my time with you is now at an end.Be brave and steadfast in the fight and surely victory will come.” He smiled, coughed once, twice, then his arm fell to his side and the king was dead.* * *Casca trudged along with the rest of the Lombard contingent towards the foothills of the Alps, released by Narses after the battle as he had little use for barely controllable barbarians now the Goths had been crushed.Casca knew it was the end of the Ostrogoths and wondered how long the enlarged Eastern Roman Empire would hold.He stopped, looked back on the fertile plains now ravaged by two decades of war, and sadly shook his head.Italy was hardly a prize worth taking.He heaved his meager possessions higher onto his back, turned towards the mountains and followed the footsteps of the others, bound for the Lombard lands across the Danube.He was retracing his steps made a century ago, before Ireina had found him and taken him as her man, and he had lived amongst the civilized world which had taken her and his adopted son away from him.Well, the civilized world could do its own thing now, he was going to live, at least for a while, amongst the barbarians.EPILOGUEJulius Goldman shook his head, coming out of the trance.Casey had gone again, leaving him in that strange ethereal world he always took him until the spell broke of its own accord.He knew he wasn’t far but would be en route to God knows where, and he was welcome to it.He saw a small object on the bed and picked it up, smiling as he recognized the symbol of a bronze arrow head on a neat white card.There was no name, no number, no address.Nicely anonymous, he thought.He pocketed the card and heaved himself up, making his way to the door, hoping he’d be able to find his Buick in the parking lot of the nondescript roadside motel before thieves could spot it.Who knows when he would next hear from the mercenary? In time, he thought, in time.* * *The blustery, cold rain fell from the New York sky, driving the people into JFK International Airport from the taxis doubly quick.At the departure lounge many of them tried to dry out, but one sat on his own oblivious of the dampness of his clothes.He made sure the air ticket in his hand was free from the ravages of the rain, however, making sure the destination was legible.Zagreb, Lufthansa flight 407 via Frankfurt.A one-way ticket.Casey grunted, opening a Croatian passport and sliding the ticket inside, eyed the name once more before snapping the document shut.Casimir Lonjic.Another name, another place.Funny, he mused, Croatia was approximately the same area he had gone to with the Lombards.Same place, different name.Continuing Casca’s adventures, book 30 Napoleon’s SoldierNapoleon prepares to invade Russia and so Casca answers the call to war and to fight for the eagles of Imperial France.But Casca knows that the Russian armies won’t be the only opponent to face on the long difficult march to Moscow.The extreme cold of the winter will be a more deadly enemy than any soldier to the invaders.Andnot only these two known enemies plague Casca’s mind; he had to deal with an unknown murderer lurking close by with a mission of his own, linked to the woman Casca has vowed to protect.And then there’s the mystery of who raped, murdered and stole a valuable icon from a helpless Polish village, someone within the ranks close to Casca.The Eternal Mercenary must find the icon and the killer to fulfil a vow to a dying girl.For more information on the entire Casca series see www.casca.netThe Barry Sadler website www.barrysadler.com [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]