Casca 7: The Damned by Barry Sadler Read Free Book Online Page A

eyes, partially from the knock on the head and partially from hunger. They were not fed until the tents of Alaric came into sight. They were hustled off to a separate pen where they were held with a number of other Goths, Vandals, Marcomanni, and Suevii that had been found bearing the arms of Rome. The rest of the captive legionnaires disappeared over a rise.
    In Rome, the daily dole of three pounds of bread was cut again and again, until there was nothing to be given out to the masses. The rich continued to feed themselves on delicacies and rare vintages for a time, believing that relief was sure to come soon, but the weeks rolled by and they too began to feel the gnawing fear of desperate hunger. Their wealth was spent on buying morsels to eat that they would have cast to their dogs before, and they bid over a piece of half decayed horse flesh as if it were a priceless work of art.
    Casca knew that some were even now feeding on the flesh of humans. And with starvation came disease and corpses filled the streets; the pungent odor of death hung over the city, heavy and nauseating.
    Pomiamus, Prefect of Rome, even considered resorting to spells and sacrifices that would bring down the barbarians, but the religious wail of the Christians claimed this was too close to profanation and the sacrifices never took place. Instead, when faith in the Emperor's promises failed, Pomiamus had no choice but to ask for mercy from the Gothic prince. When Pomiamus's delegation, led by Basilius, a Senator of ancient origin, was admitted into the presence of Alaric, they tried to bluff their way by declaring that if Alaric didn't want to give them fair and easy terms, he would have to face an armed populace in all its righteous rage.
    Alaric, knowing the true state of the inhabitants of the now less than immortal city, replied, "The thicker the hay, the easier it's mowed." He then explained the degree of his knowledge of the city and its capabilities to defend itself. Alaric watched the Romans, knowing he had them by the short hairs.
    He smiled as he told them that in exchange for not leveling the walls of Rome, all he wanted was all the gold and silver in the city, no matter who it belonged to, and everything of value that could be moved or torn down.
    The senator asked in despair, "Then what do you plan on leaving us?"
    Alaric laughed harshly. "Your lives."
    Alaric knew that he couldn't get everything he wanted, as much would be hidden that he could never recover and the time it would take to do a complete job of pillaging the city was more than he wanted to stay in the region. He needed new grounds to forage from. So he made his final offer and accepted a payment of five thousand pounds of gold, thirty of silver, four thousand robes of silk which were worth their weight in gold and three thousand pounds of pepper from India.
    Alaric was content for the moment, and as agreed, he gave the orders for his tribes to form, leaving the city walls, moving into the more prosperous countryside of Tuscany where he could set up his winter camp with the assurance there would be no starvation among his own people, which had grown by another forty thousand' barbarian slaves that had broken free from their masters and joined his standard. Also from the north, he received a reinforcement of Goths and Huns brought to him by Ataulf, the brother of his wife. Alaric had the spirit of a barbarian chieftain and the discipline of a Roman general of Caesar and his name was enough to cause fear the length of Italia, for none knew when he might choose to move again.
    Alaric was kept well informed in intelligence matters. When he received word that two tribesmen wearing the armor of the praetorians had been captured, he ordered them into his presence. Praetorians could tell him much about the inner workings of Honorius's court.
    Casca and Vergix were herded into Alaric's tent and forced to their knees until they were given permission to rise. Casca stood, still wearing