CHAPTER XVIII.
At last a Persian horseman, making his way through the ranks of the Goths, galloped up to the King, gave a message, and galloped back again at full speed.
"At last!" cried Totila. "Now enough of sport! Brave Alboin, son of Audoin," he loudly cried across to the enemy's ranks, "wilt thou really fight for the Greeks against us? Then come on, O King's son--it is a King who calls thee?"
Alboin could no longer restrain his impatience.
"Mine must he be with armour and horse!" he shouted, and spurred forward with his lance couched.
Totila, with a gentle pressure of his thigh, brought his horse to a sudden standstill. It seemed that he intended to stand the shock.
Alboin came on at a furious gallop.
Another slight pressure of Totila's thigh, a clever spring to one side, and the Longobardian, who could not check his horse, rushed far past his adversary.
But the next moment Totila was at Alboin's back; he could easily have bored him through with his spear.
The Longobardians, seeing the danger of their chief, uttered loud cries and hurried to his assistance.
But Totila whirled his lance round, and contented himself with giving his adversary such a thrust in the left side with the shaft end, that Alboin fell headlong out of his saddle on the right side of his horse. Totila quietly rode back to his troop, waving his spear over his head in triumph.
Alboin had remounted, and now led his troop against the thin ranks of the Goths.
But just before the shock of meeting, the King cried, "Fly! fly into the town!" turned his horse's head, and galloped away towards Capræ.
His horsemen followed him.
For one moment Alboin halted in perplexity. But the next he cried:
"It is nothing else; it is a pure flight! There they run into the gate! Yes, feats of horsemanship are one thing, and fighting is another. After them, my wolves! into the town!"
And the Longobardians galloped forwards to Capræ, burst open the northern gate--which had been closed, but not bolted, by the flying Goths--and rushed through the long street towards the southern gate, through which the last Goth was just disappearing.
Narses had till now stood upright in his litter with difficulty, observing all that passed.
"Halt!" he angrily cried. "Halt! Blow the trumpets! Sound the retreat! It is the most clumsy trap in the world! But this Alboin thinks that if any one runs away from him, it must be in earnest!"
But the trumpeters blew in vain.
The cries of victory uttered by the pursuing Longobardians, drowned the blast of the trumpets; or those that heard it disregarded it.
Narses groaned as he saw the last ranks of the Longobardians disappear into the Gate of Capræ.
"Oh!" he sighed; "those blockheads oblige me to commit a folly with open eyes. I cannot let them suffer for their stupidity as they deserve. I still need them. Therefore, forward, in the name of nonsense! Before we can overtake them, they may be already half destroyed! Forward, Cethegus, Anzalas, and Liberius! Take the Isaurians, Armenians, and Illyrians, and get into Capræ. But reflect that the town cannot be empty. It is a snare, into which we follow those blind bulls with open eyes. I will come after in my litter; but I can stand no more."
And he sank back into his seat, terribly fatigued. A slight convulsion, such as he often experienced when excited, shook his frame.
The footmen of Cethegus and Liberius advanced towards the town at a rapid march, the two leaders riding in front.
Meanwhile pursued and pursuers had rushed through the little town, and the last Longobardians had passed Capræ, while the first, with Alboin, had reached that part of the Flaminian Way where the two hills bounded and confined the road on the right and left.
The King galloped forward another horse's length; then he halted, turned, and gave a sign.
Adalgoth, who rode at his side, blew his horn, and out of the northern gate of Taginæ issued Thorismuth and his spear-bearers, while from the double ambush on the hills the Persian horsemen of the Corsican burst out with a yell and a blast of cornets.
"Now wheel about, my Goths! Forward to the charge! Woe to the befooled!" cried Totila.
Alboin looked helplessly round.
"We have never before trotted into anything so evil, my wolves!" he said.
He would have retreated, but now Gothic footmen issued likewise from the southern gate of Capræ, blocking the way back.
"There is nothing for it but to die merrily, Gisulf! Greet Rosimunda, if thou escapest!"
And he turned to meet one of the leaders of the Persian horsemen, who, distinguished by a richly-gilded open helm, had now reached the road, and was advancing straight upon him.
As he came up to Alboin, he of the gilded helmet cried:
"Turn, Longobardian! yonder stands our common foe! Down with the Goths!"
And he ran his sword through a Gothic horseman who was aiming a stroke at Alboin.
And now the Persian horsemen, galloping past the Longobardians, attacked the horrified Goths. For a moment the latter halted, taken by surprise. But when they saw that it was no mistake--that the ambush was against them, and not against the Longobardians--they cried, "Treachery, treachery! all is lost!" and, this time in unfeigned flight, rushed back to Taginæ, carrying everything along with them, even their own footmen, who were just issuing from the gate.
Even the King changed countenance when he saw the Corsican strike at the Goths at Alboin's side.
"Yes, it is treachery!" he cried. "Ha! the tiger! Down with him!"
And he rushed at the Corsican. But before he could reach him, Isdigerd the Persian had stormed into the road from the left between the King and Furius.
"Aim at the King!" he cried to his men. "All spears at the King! There he is, the white one! With the swan on his helmet! Down with him!"
A hail of spears whistled through the air. In a moment the King's shield bristled with darts.
By this time the Corsican had recognised the tall and glittering figure in the distance.
"It is he! I will have his heart's blood!"
And he forced his way through his own and Isdigerd's men.
The two enraged adversaries were now separated only by a few feet.
But Totila had turned against Isdigerd. Pierced in the neck by the King's spear, the chief fell dead to the ground.
And now Totila and Furius met.
The Corsican aimed his spear full at the King's unprotected face.
But suddenly the glittering helmet and the white mantle had disappeared.
Two spears had struck the white horse, and at the same time a third pierced the King's shield and wounded his left arm severely.
Horse and man fell.
Isdigerd's Persians raised a wild cry of exultation and pressed forward.
Furius and Alboin spurred their horses.
"Spare the King's life! take him prisoner! He spared me!" cried Alboin.
For he had been greatly touched when Gisulf told him that he distinctly saw the King change the point of his spear for the shaft.
"No! Down with Totila!" cried Furius.
And he hurled his spear at the wounded man, whom Aligern was trying to lift upon the Prefect's horse and lead out of the fight.
Julius caught the Corsican's first spear upon Teja's proven shield.
Furius called for a second, and aimed at the press around the King; Phaza, the Armenian, tried to parry the stroke and received the spear in his heart.
Then Furius, who had now spurred close up, raised his long and crooked scimetar against the King. But before the stroke could fall the Corsican fell backwards from his saddle.
The young Duke of Apulia had thrust the staff of his banner with such force against Ahalla's breast that the wood was shattered.
And now Totila's banner--the costly work of Valeria and her women--was in the greatest danger in Adalgoth's hands. For all the enemy's horse pressed upon the bold young standard-bearer; a stroke of Gisulf's axe struck the staff and broke it again--Adalgoth tore off the silken flag and tucked it into his sword-belt.
Alboin had now come up, and cried:
"Yield, thou King of the Goths--to me, a King's son!"
Aligern had just succeeded in lifting the King on to the Prefect's horse; he turned to the Longobardian, who, wishing to stay the King's flight but to save his life, aimed a stroke at the latter's horse with his spear. But the next moment Aligern had cleft Alboin's vulture-winged helmet, and, stunned, the latter wavered in his saddle.
Thus, the leaders of their enemies being for the moment repulsed, Adalgoth, Aligern, and Julius had time to lead the King out of the tumult as far as the northern gate of Taginæ. From this place the King would have conducted the battle, but he could scarcely hold himself upright in his saddle.
"Thorismuth," he said, "thou must defend Taginæ; for the present Capræ is lost. Let a mounted messenger fetch the whole of Hildebrand's wing here; the road to Rome must be kept open at all costs. Teja, as I learned, has already joined in the battle with his left wing.--To defend the retreat to the south--is our last hope!"
And, saying this, he swooned away.
But Earl Thorismuth said:
"I and my spearmen will defend Taginæ to the last man. Not a foe shall get in here; neither the Persians nor the Longobardians. I will protect the King's life as long as I can raise a finger. Take him farther back; into the mountain--into the cloister but make haste, for there, from the Gate of Capræ, come the enemy's foot--and, look there!--Cethegus the Prefect with his Isaurians! Capræ and our bowmen are lost!"
And so it was.
Wisand, obeying his orders, had not defended Capræ, but had allowed Cethegus and Liberius to enter, and only when they were fairly inside the town did he begin the fight in the streets, at the same time sending a thousand of his men out of the southern gate to attack the Longobardians.
But, as the ambuscades had fallen upon the Goths instead of the Longobardians; as Alboin and Furius united in dispersing or annihilating the few Gothic horsemen, and the attack intended by the spearmen from Taginæ did not take place; the Gothic bowmen, first in Capræ itself, and then on the Flaminian Way, between Capræ and Taginæ, were quickly crushed by superior force.
Wisand escaped as if by a miracle, and, though wounded, reached Taginæ and reported the annihilation of his troops.
Narses was carried into Capræ, and the Illyrians began to storm Taginæ. Earl Thorismuth resisted heroically. He fought his best in order to cover the retreat of his comrades.
He was presently reinforced by a few thousand men from Hildebrand's left wing, who now hurried up, while the old master-at-arms led the greater part of his troops southwards beyond Taginæ upon the high-road to Rome.
Just as the storming of Taginæ was about to commence, Cethegus met Furius and Alboin, who had recovered from the blows they had received.
Cethegus had heard of the course pursued by the Corsican, which had decided the fate of the battle. He shook him by the hand.
"Well done, friend Furius! At last on the right side, and against the barbarian King!"
"He must not escape alive!" growled the Corsican.
"What? How? He still lives! I thought that--he had fallen," said Cethegus hastily.
"No; they managed to rescue him after he was wounded."
"He must not live!" cried Cethegus. "Then you are right! It is of more importance than to win Taginæ. Narses can manage that heroic work from his litter. He has seventy to one. Up, Furius! Why do your horsemen stand idle here?"
"The animals cannot ride up the walls!"
"No; but they can swim. Up! take three hundred yourself, and give me three hundred. Two roads lead right and left from the little town over--no! they have broken down the bridges--they lead through the Clasius and the Sibola--let us take these roads. The wounded King is certainly--can he still fight?"
"Hardly."
"Then he has fled beyond Taginæ--to Rome or--"
"No; to his bride!" cried Furius. "Most certainly to Valeria in the cloister. Ha! I will stab him in her very arms! Up, Persians! follow me. Thanks, Prefect! Take as many horsemen as you like. And ride to the right--I will ride to the left round the town; for both roads lead to the cloister."
And, wheeling to the left, he disappeared.
Cethegus ordered the rest of the horsemen to follow him, speaking in the Persian language.
Then he rode up to Liberius and said:
"I will take the Gothic King prisoner."
"What? He still lives? Then make haste!"
"Meanwhile you can take this Taginæ," continued Cethegus; "I will leave you my Isaurians."
And he galloped away with Syphax and three hundred Persians.
Meantime the wounded King had been taken by his friends out of Taginæ into a little pine-wood near the road, where he drank from a spring and gradually revived.
"Julius," he said, "ride on to Valeria; tell her that the battle is lost, but not the kingdom. That I am alive and still hope. As soon as I feel a little stronger I shall ride up to the Spes Bonorum. I ordered Teja and Hildebrand there when they had finished their tasks. It is a high and safe position. Go, I beg thee; comfort Valeria and take her also from the cloister to Spes Bonorum. Thou wilt not? Then I must myself ride up the difficult road--surely thou wilt spare me that?"
Julius was reluctant to leave the wounded man.
"Oh, relieve me from my helmet and mantle! they are so heavy," said Totila.
Julius took them from him and gave him his own mantle.