Steven Saylor - Last seen in Massilia

A breach-any breach, no matter how small-in the walls of a city under siege is a disaster. Once a breach is made, it can always be widened. When it becomes wide enough, it can no longer be defended. If the besieger's forces are numerous enough-and those of Trebonius seemed to me more than sufficient-a besieged city with a breached wall must ultimately capitulate.

The great irony was that this breach had not been caused by the besiegers. Trebonius had dug the tunnel, to be sure, but the tunnel itself was much too small to undermine the wall; nor was that its purpose. It was Apollonides who had caused the wall to collapse by flooding the tunnel beneath the foundation. Even so, if after the flooding he had drained the moat and filled the mouth of the tunnel with debris, the sinkhole might have been prevented. But Apollonides had left the moat in place, and in fact had refilled it day by day as the water level continually dropped. He and his engineers had created the sinkhole themselves, and the collapsed foundation was the result.

Apollonides's response was to fill in as much of the breach as he could, as quickly as possible. While the engineers and their workers gathered the scattered debris, archers on the wall stood ready to protect them should Trebonius mount an assault. So far, no assault had materialized, possibly because Apollonides had flown a white flag from the battlements above the breach, a signal that he was willing to parley.

Davus tugged at my elbow and pointed. Two figures had emerged from the mass of soldiers gathered around the breach and were walking toward us. It was the First Timouchos himself with his son-in-law following behind. Both were in full battle armor. Both were covered with mud from the waist down, and from the waist up with white, chalky dust. Apollonides apparently wished to view the breach from a greater distance and walked all the way to the cordon of soldiers, only a few feet away from us, before he stopped and turned back to have a look. Zeno followed after him, badgering him.

"We'll never be able to fill the gap sufficiently," Zeno said, "not with material strong enough to keep out a battering ram. It can't be done. If Trebonius mounts a full-scale assault-"

"He won't!" snapped Apollonides. "Not as long as we fly the white flag. He's held back so far."

"Why should he hurry? He can mount his assault tomorrow or the next day. That breach isn't going away."

"It's a breach, yes, but only a narrow one; narrow enough to be… defensible." Apollonides spoke through gritted teeth and kept his eyes on the activity by the wall, refusing to look at Zeno. "Even if Trebonius lined up his entire army to rush the breach, he'd never push enough men through to take the gate. Our archers would pick them off one by one until Roman corpses filled the gap. Any of them who did get through the breach and over the hurdle of debris would be trapped in that lake of mud, like flies in honey, made into even easier targets for our archers."

"And if the breach becomes wider?"

"It won't!"

"Why not? Some of those overhanging blocks on either side look ready to fall at any moment."

"The engineers will shore up the damage. They know what they're doing."

"Just as they knew what they were doing when they filled the moat?"

Apollonides gritted his teeth and made no answer.

Zeno pressed him. "And what happens if Trebonius brings up a battering-ram? The broken edges of the walls on either side will crumble like chalk."

"He won't. I won't let him!"

Zeno laughed derisively. "And how do you intend to stop him?"

Apollonides at last turned to meet his gaze. "You'll see, son-in-law."

"What do you mean?"

Apollonides smiled. He licked a finger and held it aloft. "There's a stiff wind rising-from the south, thank Artemis! We shall use it to our advantage."

"How?"

"Wind carries fire. Fire burns wood. And what are the Romans' ramparts and siege towers and battering-rams made of, but wood?"

Zeno gasped. "What are you planning?"

"Why should I tell you, son-in-law? If it was up to you, we'd have surrendered and thrown the gates open hours ago. I half suspect you of being a spy for the Romans, the way you're always advising me to give up the city to Caesar."

"How dare you! I've fought the Romans as bravely as any Massilian. From the battlements, on the sea-"

"And yet you did manage to come back alive yesterday, when so many did not."

Zeno turned livid with rage. I thought he might strike his father-in-law, but he kept his fists clenched tightly at his sides. "We're flying a white flag of parley. Trebonius has respected it; he's held back from assaulting the breach. As long as you fly that flag, you can't send out men to burn the Romans' siegeworks. Caesar will never forgive such treachery."

Beside me, Davus huffed and whispered, "He's got some nerve, to talk about treachery!"

"Why do you think I've called up every archer to man the battlements?" said Apollonides. "To protect the engineers repairing the breach from a Roman attack, of course; but they'll also provide covering fire to our soldiers when they make their foray against the siegeworks."

"This is madness, father-in-law! The wall is breached. The siege is over. Caesar himself will arrive any day now-"

I pricked up my ears. This was new information.

"We don't know that for a fact," said Apollonides. "A mere rumor-"

"It was Lucius Nasidius who told me so, aboard his ship yesterday. The commander of the Pompeian fleet-"

"A fleet that sailed away without sustaining a single casualty! A fleet of cowards, with a coward for commander!"

"Even so, Nasidius told me that Caesar is said to be already on his way back from Spain. He heard the news from our own soldiers manning the garrison at Taurois, where the Pompeian ships had anchored for the night. Caesar has defeated Pompey's legions in Spain and taken die survivors into his own army. He's heading back to Massilia at great speed with a huge force of men. He may arrive any day now-tomorrow, even! We can't possibly resist him. It's over, father-in-law."

"Shut up! Do you want the common rabble to overhear you and go spreading these mad rumors?" Apollonides looked over his shoulder, past the cordon of soldiers. His eyes, scanning the crowd, fell on me. For a moment his face went blank, then he yelled at the soldiers nearest to him and pointed at us. "Bring me those two men!"

Davus and I were roughly seized, dragged inside the cordon, and thrust before Apollonides.

"Gordianus! What are you doing, loitering there? Eavesdropping? You are a spy, aren't you? In league with my spying son-in-law, no doubt."

Zeno shook with fury.

"An eavesdropper perhaps, First Timouchos, but not a spy," I said, rearranging my tunic where the soldiers had gripped me. "I should have you and your son-in-law beheaded on the spot, like those looters at the scapegoat's house. Yes, and then catapult your heads over the walls to Trebonius!"

"Don't be stupid, father-in-law!" protested Zeno. "This man is a Roman citizen, acquainted with Caesar himself-and Caesar's mercy is the only hope we have left! Even if this man is a spy, you'd be a fool to kill him now and flaunt his death. You'll only offend Caesar."

"To Hades with Caesar! Look, here comes the assault force." Marching into the market square, pushing back the crowd with their presence, came a large body of soldiers clad in battle gear, armed with swords and pikes, but also carrying torches and bundles of pitch. The flames of their torches snapped and whipped in the rising wind.

Zeno shook his head. "Father-in-law, don't do this. Not while we're flying a flag of parley. Not before Trebonius can send an officer to negotiate-"

"There is nothing to be negotiated!" snapped Apollonides.

He stepped away from us in order to address the assault force, which now filled the market square in ranked assembly. His voice was ringing, his presence riveting as he strode back and forth with his blue cape snapping in the wind. I could see how he had risen to make himself first among the Timouchoi.