CARAUSIUS!’ NEWS met them on the march, news brought in by the scouts, by native hunters, by deserters from the usurper’s army; and some of it was not good. The transports of the Eastern Force had failed to make contact with Constantius in the foul weather; and knowing that the young Caesar could not force a landing without his troops, Allectus was staking everything on a wild attempt to finish with Asklepiodotus before the moment came to turn at bay against the other. He was hurrying westward along the ancient track from Durovernum under the scarp of the North Chalk, straining every nerve to reach the pass in the downs before the avenging forces of Rome could do so, and with him every fighting man that he could lay hands on. Twelve thousand men or more, said the reports: mercenaries and marines for the most part. Not more than six or seven Cohorts of the regular Legions. The Cohorts of the Wall had not reached him yet, and even if they did so in time, there was so much disaffection among the Legions that it seemed very doubtful if he would dare to use them.
What do You think about The Silver Branch [book II]?
