With shrieks and yells the Kin retreated and left the battering ram a blazing bonfire in front of the gate.
“They won’t try that again,” Marius muttered to himself. Behind him the men were enjoying a welcome break and taking the opportunity to sit and gulp down the water being handed out by a young boy from the settlement.
“Do you think they’ve had enough?” Someone asked.
Marius glanced around. The questioner was Auticus, the new commander of Salinae and he was looking dishevelled and tired.
Marius shook his head. “They’ve only just started.”
The younger man joined Marius who was leaning against the railings surveying the view, which was illuminated by the bonfire at the gate and a few other smaller fires amongst the vicus. “But what else can they do?”
Marius sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “They place no value on life; well, they wouldn’t because they’re dead. So they’ll keep coming, no matter how many are lost. They won’t give up. We’ll be here all night, I’m afraid.”
The younger man was silent; he rubbed his face with his grubby hand leaving a black mark across it.
“How many have we lost?” Marius asked quietly.
“Not as many as them. About twenty so far. Maybe more, maybe less.”
Marius turned to look across the battlements and studied the men sprawled across the wooden walkway, which was lit by the orangey glow from the torches that had been placed every four metres. “We’ll lose more yet. But I think we’ll see the dawn and then we’ll get our revenge.”
Auticus smiled grimly and nodded. “You won’t have a shortage of volunteers to go to the mine and the caves tomorrow.”
“Good, the more the merrier.”
Marius waited, but the Kin didn’t seem in a hurry. Once again he wished that Junius was with him to give him some idea of what they were up to. They wouldn’t stop, he knew that, so they had to be planning something and Junius would have known what. Eventually, Marius decided that he had other things to do rather than sitting and worrying, so he took the opportunity to check the damage to the gate and to see how the rest of the men around the battlements and fort were holding up.
The main floor of the garrison had become a hive of industry as people worked hard to create new weapons and tend to the injured. They’d lost eighteen but another three weren’t expected to make the night. Marius talked with the few who were still conscious and thanked them for their service to Rome, then moved on to inspire and talk with the living. He was on the other side of the fort where they’d only seen a little action, when the news came of the next threat.
The Kin were moving closer to the walls again, making sure they were hidden by the buildings and using shields to cover themselves. The really strange thing though, was that they were dragging bits of wood with them.
Marius gave the order to fire at will, but because they were cautious very few were actually killed. Then suddenly, it became all too apparent what they were planning.
“But they burn? How are they going to light it?” Auticus asked as he stared down at the pile of wood that was building up around the wooden walls of the fort.
“I have no idea,” Marius replied. “But we need to think fast. Does this encampment have a water source?” The commander nodded. “Good, we’re going to set relay teams. Station a soldier every two metres on the wall and set up a chain from the fountain to each of these men. Use the residents: everyone needs to help with this.”
“But that won’t be enough,” Celer broke in. “We don’t have enough people.”
Marius ignored him. “Get all the containers and anything that’ll carry water. And…” He paused, thinking. “Get all the leather hides you can find, dunk them and totally saturate them in water, then we’ll hang them from the walls. Any other suggestions?” he asked gruffly. The men shook their heads. “Good, then let’s on with it.”
Whilst the Kin piled the bonfires higher around the walls, the men inside the fort scrambled around gathering every utensil they could find; soon they had working chains providing water to every section of the walls. It took a few false starts, but eventually everyone knew their place and function. Once that was achieved it was only a matter of time before the walls were moist with the freshly poured water.
Marius was still standing in his position next to the gatehouse, but now he was throwing water down the walls every few minutes, then handing the container back and waiting until the next one arrived. He saw the Kin approach and throw bottles of wine on to the branches. Then a cry went up around the garrison as each man on water duty realised what the Kin were going to do.
“They hate fire. How are they going to light it?” the man on water duty next to him shouted. But Marius already knew.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the Kin came racing down the street and launched themselves at the wet wall, avoiding the stacks of wood. Once again they threw off any pretence at humanity and clambered up the walls like skeletal hags, eyes blazing, hissing and snarling their defiance.
“Don’t fire,” Marius shouted. His command was echoed across the battlements. But it was no good; the men were terrified, they couldn’t and wouldn’t wait until the creatures had reached the top of the wall to thrust their spears at them.
Eventually one man broke and fired a flame arrow at the Kin. The creature went flaming down into the waiting wine-saturated wood. Like a living being the fire burst into life and swept around the fort reaching up and claiming the remaining Kin who fell back and were consumed by the new life that blazed with a fierce intensity.
“Water!” Marius yelled into the stunned silence and the cry was taken up all around the ramparts. Immediately, people sprang into action and thrust the containers they were carrying into the hand of the person next to them. It was a race against time now.