Read In the Shadow of the Wall for Free Online Page A

clearly ready for use. They stopped, standing still watching the tribesmen.
    Then the horsemen reappeared, this time on the other side of the ditch. They rode past at a swift canter, soon disappearing behind the high turf wall, which hid the ditch from view. Brude wondered what Nechtan would do. The Roman infantrymen were blocking the road ahead while the horsemen were obviously aiming to get round behind the Boresti. They could cross the ditch at the watchtower where Gartnait had been hurt, then come up behind the tribesmen. It was as Brude had feared. The Boresti were trapped between the Wall and the ditch.
    There were really only two choices; attack or retreat. To Brude, there was only one choice. To go back now would be a disgrace.
    Nechtan obviously agreed. He raised his voice so that all could hear him. “There are only one hundred of them! We have half as many again! And we are Boresti!” The Boresti cheered, waving their spears aggressively. One of the women, bare-breasted, her upper body almost entirely blue with war dye, ran forwards, shaking her spear at the Romans. Nechtan yelled, “Belatucadros is with us, so let us show these Romans what it is to fight real warriors. They have the high ground, but we shall soon take it from them!”
    Brude, despite his misgivings, was caught up in the excitement. He felt no fear, for his friends were with him. He saw Colm’s eyes shining, heard his cheering and knew that he was doing the same himself. Nechtan was right. No matter how impressively the Romans might march, they were outnumbered and could not hope to stop the Boresti.
    Then the cheering subsided as it became clear that the Romans had other ideas.
    There was another shouted order from the neat ranks. The first Roman line began marching down towards the Boresti, moving in unison at a slow, steady pace, forsaking the slight advantage afforded by the shallow slope. The second rank followed a few paces behind. Brude suddenly felt doubt grip him. Why were they attacking? They were outnumbered and had the advantage of the high ground yet they were marching down to meet the Boresti. They made no sound. There were no war cries, no waving of spears, no yells or taunts. The silence of their steady advance was unnerving.
    Nechtan bellowed his war-cry and the tribesmen answered it, yelling at the top of their voices, banging spears against their shields, letting the Romans know they were ready. The Romans paid no attention, simply marching on, not a sound coming from them in reply.
    Deciding to seize back the initiative, Nechtan yelled the order to charge. The tribesmen responded eagerly, cheering as they ran towards the enemy, racing to be the first to kill a Roman. Brude, although he was fast and knew he could have outstripped most of his neighbours, obeyed his father’s shouted reminder to stay close to him on his left side. Colm was to Brude’s left, screaming like a madman while others ran ahead, jostling and barging each other in their eagerness. Mairead’s father Fionnlagh, normally a placid man who tended the village’s sheep, was just ahead of Brude, yelling as fiercely as any of them.
    They got to within fifty paces of the Roman front rank when the Romans stopped, drew back their right arms and hurled their javelins. In the time it took them to do that, the first tribesmen had closed the gap to within forty paces. The javelins struck home with awesome power. Men fell, screaming, or tried to catch the javelins on their shields, only to find that the long iron spikes pierced the wicker and hide with frightening ease to strike at the unprotected flesh beneath. Still running, Brude watched in horror as any men who had escaped injury when they managed to catch the spears on their shields, found they had no choice but to drop their shields to the ground because the Roman javelins had bent on impact, the long iron tip protruding through the shield while the wooden haft bent at a right angle, dragging the shield down,