Augustus Road

The wrinkles on Malcha's young face were squeezed into a ball. He smiled and raised his hands, probably preparing to accept his father's pardon. Two Pontus warriors quickly approached him, cut his hands behind his back, and pressed them on his face. Burnt bark continued to fall off the tree trunk. Philip pulled out his sword and stabbed Malca in the chest and abdomen several times. Malca opened his mouth, covered the wound and sat down slumped, "I want to die." Yes, you killed me...this, is this the father’s order?”

Philip, who wiped the blood on his sword with a silk cloth, shrugged and said, "I have to tell you, Your Majesty the Governor, that your father pardoned you in the palace, but this Roman legionnaire refused to surrender to Pontus and kidnapped and killed you. Do you understand?"

On the opposite side, Malcha could no longer answer the young officer of the Bronze Shield Army. He tilted his neck and half-opened his eyes, with a tired expression on his face. His eyebrows were completely drooped. He was sitting with his legs crossed and he was not breathing.

"Execute the Roman murderer of the Bosporus governor on the spot." Philip turned and pointed at Claudius and shouted.

Unexpectedly, the bearded Claudius smiled and said, "I can't die here." As he said that, he hit a Pontic warrior behind him on the chin with his elbow. The warrior's nosebleed and he fell on his back. Instead, Claudius passed over the man, dodged several javelins and arrows, swiped his hand on the warrior's sword, broke the rope, and flew onto his mount, "Catch him! Or Kill him!" Philip ordered loudly.

The light cavalry of Pontus all drew their bows and strung their bows. Claudius's horse was as fast as lightning. He leaned forward, picked up the Celtic sword that had just been inserted on the ground, shouted angrily and broke up the blocking formation of the light cavalry, and also left and right. With a swing, he knocked down two Pontus people, and then jumped over the low wall of the ruins. Javelins flew from behind him, but he leaned on his saddle to dodge them. After a while, he turned over to the other side of the hillside, and Juechen left. go.

Several Bronze Shield officers looked at Philip. He pointed to Malza's body and said: "When it is brought back to the palace in Ponticabion, it will be said that the murderer of the governor has escaped." So the bloody corpse of the governor was He was carried on a shabby mule cart. Sparks and black chips from burning villages and tree branches were floating around. The dull sound of spring thunder came from the distance. The cavalry of Pontus raised their spears and guarded the body on the mule cart. On both sides, a long column formed, meandering towards the city of Pontica Biang under the leadership of Philip. By the time the ewe walked out from behind the low wall in shock, the mule cart was already far away, and cold raindrops were falling.

In the acropolis, Karabis and a group of soldiers were using rivets to build a simple aqueduct to draw rainwater - just using wood spliced ​​together to send water section by section to the stone trough reservoir. Pope was letting his hair be The spring rain made it wet, and he led several craftsmen to carefully apply mud to the bottom of the aqueduct. "This has the function of preventing leakage and filtering."

The siege had entered its fifth day, and the food in the acropolis was being consumed rapidly. Calabis could only order the wheat porridge to be boiled thinner with water to alleviate the famine. As a result, the water in the reservoir quickly bottomed out, so only Aqueducts can be built to divert rainwater, but this is not a long-term solution. Groups of soldiers wrapped in cloaks are lying on the back of the covered battlements, very weak. The scene of wounded soldiers in the Temple of Minerva is even worse. It was miserable, and there was a lack of medical treatment. Many people died on their bed frames due to infected wounds or excessive weakness. Flies in early spring soon multiplied and flew around their bodies.

Helenoptina didn't want Nicole to see this scene, so she took her daughter and sat on the colonnade of the Acropolis, watching Calabis and the soldiers busy, but Nicole couldn't stay idle at all, so she grabbed the aqueduct shelf. Up and down, Calabis looked at his lively daughter, grinned with a stubble, picked up some hay and reeds, and woven it into a "small sailing boat" for Neeko to sail along the aqueduct. Back and forth, the Amazon Queen sitting on the steps over there looked at the scene between her daughter and her father and also laughed.

"Are you hungry?"

Nicole shook her head, and Karabis smiled. In fact, he was very hungry, and he was so dizzy that he couldn't stand up. He didn't know how long he could last like this, because the successors of the Thirteenth Army in Philiplon must have forgotten him! Damn it, even if Pompey comes to save us at this time, I will bow down and bow.

Finally in the evening, the Roman soldiers in the Acropolis began to kill the horses, first killing the pack horses and mules used for transportation. "Hey, divide the meat evenly, each person will get two portions a day." In front of the meat case, several butchers accompanying the army stretched out their arms. Finger stood in the rain puddle and shouted. The soldiers first set up a large pot and cooked the horse meat in boiling water. The stench that came out could not stop their hungry stomachs. Then they put most of the cooked horse meat into The cistern was pressed with stones to prevent it from spoiling, and then the rationed meat was roasted on a fire using a barbecue spit - this Scythian eating method is also enjoyed by the Romans today. .

In the drizzle, Calabis walked to the steps of the colonnade. Under the small statue of the goddess Minerva, he delivered the roasted horse meat to Neeko and Helenputina. Neeko took a bite and sighed. Her teeth grinned, obviously not very used to this weird taste. Helenputina looked at Karabis who was sitting hunched over, and brought the barbecue back, "I noticed that you haven't eaten for a day and a half. ”

"It's okay, officers have extra rations." Karabis said with a smile.

"You don't have to lie to me, Calabis. There has never been such a thing. Maybe there is it in other Roman teams, but you don't have it here." Helenputina bit into half of the horse meat, "How about, I will give you half of it." Okay, it doesn’t matter, I don’t dislike you.”

Carabis nodded, took the remaining half of the horse meat from the queen, and suddenly asked: "You said, if the reinforcements don't come after another market day, should I surrender to Adiana?"

"You want to save the lives of your men? This is a gamble, especially for that cunning princess." Helenputina said while biting the horse meat gently.

"Yes, maybe three years ago, I might have followed you and ran to the dense forests of the Caucasus, even as a male slave of the Amazon tribe. But now, I have a lot of responsibilities. The responsibilities drive me not to die easily, and on the other hand, they keep pushing me to death."

Helenputina smiled mischievously, which was a rare expression on her, "Are Nicole and I also your responsibilities?"

"Yes."

"Then you can go to our kingdom as a male slave after the war." Seeing that the man didn't answer, Helenputina turned her head and asked: "Yes, you also have your responsibilities in Rome, right, Calapis?" (To be continued.)