Chapter 3

  The journey was long and arduous. Although Tiberius had significantly improved and expanded the road network, they had to take a new route more than once because the paths were unsuitable for an army to pass through due to mud, rubble, or overcrowding. The animals also had to be cared for or replaced every few hours. In addition, each soldier had to march with over forty kilograms of baggage, which, although they were accustomed to it, demanded a lot from them, especially since they were under significant time pressure that almost doubled their marching pace. The only good thing was that they had no fear of raids, as no one was foolish enough to attack an army.

  It took them almost two weeks to travel from Rome to Rhegium, where Livia hired more mercenaries, and one day from Rhegium by ship to Messana on the island of Sicily and then on to Syracus, where they stopped a few kilometres from the city.

  Livia sent out a scout. Even from a distance, they could hear the cries of the inhabitants and the roar of the Vandals. Fires had broken out all over the city, and the smoke rose into the sky, an unmistakable sign of the people's suffering.

  After an hour, the scout returned and reported what he had seen. At his descriptions, Livia had to swallow hard. This was no longer just like one of the stories she had read about wars, no, now it was real and so much more terrible than she could have imagined. Fear crept into her limbs, slow and viscous, until she was paralyzed by it, but she tried not to show her feelings.

  With a swift motion, she spurred her horse and dashed up one of the countless hills that covered Sicilia. From there, she had a good view of the destroyed city of Syracus without being discovered herself. With regret, she looked down at the once-beautiful city and saw out of the corner of her eye that the senators had ridden after her. She sighed as the three of them reined in their horses beside her.

  "Did you perhaps fear that I would do something foolish, esteemed senators?", she teased them.

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  "By no means, Mistress."

  "Yes," came the simultaneous reply from Servius and Brutus. Livia raised her eyebrows.

  "Well, I appreciate your trust," she said half-seriously, half-ironically.

  "We should set up camp," Servius quickly changed the subject. Livia nodded in agreement, her gaze still fixed on the city.

  "Yes, we should." Brutus turned his horse to give the soldiers the order, but she quickly grabbed his arm and stopped him.

  "Not here." Brutus looked at her annoyed.

  "And why not? Mistress," he asked sarcastically.

  "We can't stay here. We would be an easy target. It would be negligent to set up a camp here.”

  "Who says?" he pressed for more.

  "I say that," Livia replied coolly. "And if you had followed my brother's advice and read Sunzi, you would be able to explain it to yourselves. The first lesson is, namely, to always keep moving in difficult terrain. This area is too dangerous because it is much too close to Syracuse, our enemies expect us to come from the east, and if we camp in the valley, we could easily be overrun. So I don't care what objections you raise, Brutus, we will move on.” Brutus fell silent, whereupon Servius took the floor.

  "And where to, my lady?"

  "The Vandals are betting that we will come from the east, so we will come from the west. We march towards Gela and set up camp there.”

  Servius thought for a moment before nodding in agreement.

  "Forward!" Livia called down the hill and raised her hand, the signal to depart. Immediately, the column of soldiers began to gather their belongings and get into marching formation. Livia rode down the hill again and took her place at the head of the procession, then they began to travel further.

  After thirty kilometres, they finally reached a suitable spot, and she ordered them to set up camp. The soldiers, who were exhausted and had pain in their feet and backs, were all too happy to obey. Hardly had the camp been set up and a guard posted when they eagerly threw themselves at the now-prepared food. Livia also felt the fatigue in her bones, and as soon as she reached her tent, she fell onto the bed and was asleep.