Anthony Riches - Onslaught: The Centurions II

www.hodder.co.uk

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As ever, I am indebted to the patience of my editor Carolyn and the smooth facilitation of her assistants, Abby and now Thorne, the indefatigable publicity efforts of Kerry and Rosie and the constant encouragement only occasionally backed up with the use of force of my wife Helen. My thanks to all of you who encouraged, cajoled and generally helped me to deliver a readable book.

Jona Lendering, owner of the fantastic Livius website ( livius.org ) very kindly agreed to cast an eye over the manuscript and point out any gross errors. His comments have proven immensely valuable in more than one respect (there were no trees there so your character cant run off and hide in them, for example), and I am hugely indebted. Thank you, Jona.

And thank you, the reader, for continuing to read these stories. Please keep reading. Were only taking a temporary break from the Empire series, by the way, and once this story of the Batavian revolt as seen through the eyes of the men Ive imagined fighting on both sides is done Marcus and his familia will return.

One last thing. Theres a gold aureus from the time of Vespasian yes, a real Roman gold coin to be won by one lucky reader in my Centurions competition. All you have to do is go to my website and enter the answers to three questions that youll find there, the answers to which are contained in Betrayal , Onslaught and Retribution as each book is published. Theres no restriction on when you enter each answer, multiple entries are allowed; but the last answer given will be taken as your definitive entry, and all answers will be invisible to everyone except myself and my trusted webmaster (whos not allowed to enter). Ill be offering separate raffle prizes shortly after this book is published for entries received for each question details on the website. Dont hold back: get your entries in early to win unique Centurions artwork and other goodies. Please do get puzzling, think cryptically, and the very best of luck someones got to win it, so why not you?

LIST OF CHARACTERS

AD43

In Britannia

Titus Flavius Vespasianus legatus, imperial 2nd legion Augustan

Gaius Hosidius Geta legatus, imperial 14th legion Gemina

Sextus senior centurion, imperial 14th legion Gemina

Julius Civilis centurion, allied Batavian cohorts

Draco prefect and commander, allied Batavian cohorts

AD69

In Rome

Aulus Vitellius emperor

Aulus Caecina Alienus consul and army commander

Fabius Valens consul and army commander

Alfenius Varus praetorian prefect

In the Old Camp (modern day Vetera)

Marius senior centurion, imperial 5th legion Alaudae

Munius Lupercus legatus commanding imperial legions 5th Alaudae and 15th Primigenia

Marcus Hordeonius Flaccus legatus augusti commanding all Roman forces in Germania

Claudius Labeo prefect commanding the 1st cohort Batavian Horse

In the Winter Camp (modern day Mainz)

Dillius Vocula legatus commanding imperial legion 22nd Primigenia

Antonius senior centurion, imperial legion 22nd Primigenia

In Bonna (modern day Bonn)

Herrenius Gallus legatus commanding imperial legion 1st Germanica

With the Batavian cohorts in Germania Superior

Scar prefect, commanding the eight Batavian cohorts

Aelius Verus tribune, sent to order the Batavian cohorts to return to Italy

Alcaeus centurion, 2nd century of the 1st Batavian cohort

Banon chosen man, 2nd century

Grimmaz leading man

Egilhard (Achilles) soldier

Andreios (The First One) soldier

Andronicus (The Other One) soldier

Adalwin (Beaky) soldier

Levonhard (Ugly) soldier

Lanzo (Dancer) soldier

Wigbrand (Tiny) soldier

On the Island (the Batavi homeland)

Aquillius former senior centurion, imperial legion 8th Augusta, defeated commander of detached auxiliary forces

Kivilaz (known as Julius Civilis by Rome) prince of the Batavi, commander of the tribes revolt against Rome

Hramn decurion, commander of the Batavi Guard (formerly the Emperors German Bodyguard)

Draco former prefect of the Batavian cohorts, tribal elder

Brinno king of the Cananefates tribe, allies of the Batavi

Lataz retired veteran and father of Egilhard

Frijaz retired veteran and brother of Lataz

Preface

It is August of AD 69, and the Roman Empire is staring disaster in the face. A period of little more than twelve months has already seen three emperors: Nero, hounded to suicide by an enraged senate; his successor Galba murdered on the streets of Rome by praetorians in the pay of the usurper Otho; and Vitellius, his path to the throne cut by the bloody swords of the German legions. In the east, Vespasianus, the only potential challenger for imperial power left alive is gathering legions to himself, preparing for an invasion of Italy that must result in yet another climactic battle for domination.

And at the lowest point of Roman rule for a hundred years, just as things could apparently be no worse, the Batavi tribe of Germania Inferior and their German tribal allies have risen in revolt, driven both by Roman duplicity and the ambitions of their war leader Kivilaz, Civilis to his former allies. Through a combination of cunning, ferocity, betrayal and the duplicity of officers with loyalty to Vespasianus, eager to foster an uprising to deny his rival critical reinforcements from Germania, the revolts first engagements have ended in comprehensive defeat for Romes overstretched frontier army. The Batavi are seemingly poised to take their war onto imperial territory and attack the legionary fortress that watches their homeland, the Old Camp, if they can be assured of the support of their powerful cohorts.