Chapter 5: The Burial and the Ticinus River

When Astyanax awoke, everyone was gone.

He went down to the basement and found Bertha Jorkins' body. The sight terrified him. She was bound to a chair and her face had an expression of great terror.

"Those who do not fear death, do not die." Astyanax said sadly, referring to himself.

On a table nearby, he found all his belongings, including his sword. He didn't know why they would leave them here, but he supposed that the gods had a hand in it.

He cut the ropes that bound Bertha's body to the chair and took it outside. He found a shovel and, within 30 minutes, he had dug a hole large enough to hold the body. He then took the body and gently placed it in the grave.

"Bertha, I have failed you. I am sorry that I could not do more. I swear vengance for your death. Voldemort will pay. By my sword, he will pay."

After saying this, Astyanax filled the grave. Before he left, he said the prayers.

1 year and 6 months later. Illyria.

Astyanax had fought against the Serbs in the wildness of Illyria for 18 months and saved many families. He had recieved praise and gratitude from all parts of Bosnia. But now it was time to head for Gaul as Apollo instructed.

Astyanax marched up the Dalmatian coast to northern Italy and the teacherous Alps. Wishing to avoid the Alps until he had little choice but to cross them. He went south past Venice and then went west along the Po river.

One day, he rested at the junction of the Po and the river Ticinus. Astyanax sat under a tree and thought of how this mission could concern Apollo and the other gods. He then remembered another mission, one of his greatest, to defend the city of Rome from the might and hatred of the African city of Carthage, its mercenary army composed of troops from all over the ancient world, and its greatest general, Hannibal Barca, an ambitous man and a man of such military caliber that Astyanax had not seen since Alexander the Great.

Year: 218 BC

Conflict: The Second Punic War

Location: The Ticinus River

Astyanax had proven his military skill to the Roman consul Publius Cornelius Scipio and was made his bodyguard. They also become close friends and they trusted each other with their lives. Scipio, when he become consul, was given the task of stopping Hannibal from entering Italy. Among the Roman army was Scipio's son, also named Publius Cornelius Scipio. This was the boy who was later to win the glory of of bringing the war to a successful conclusion, and by his splendid victory over Hannibal and the Carthaginians to earn the title of Africanus, 'Conquerer of Africa'.

Scipio and the Roman army were the first to cross the Po. We took up a position on the river Ticinus, in sight of the Carthaginian army, and, before advancing to battle, he took Astyanax aside.

"My friend, I trust you. You have proven your valor and loyalty many times in the past and…"

"Yes, sir?" Asytanax asked.

"Alexander, I want you to do me a favor. If the battle goes ill and I fall, I want you to take my son and get him to safety, far away from here. Do you understand? Promise me you will do that and you will not worry about me. Promise me. Please." Scipio begged.

"Yes, sir. I will do anything that you ask."

"Thank you my friend. Come. Hannibal is waiting for us."

Scipio addressed his troops in the following hortatory words:

"If, soldiers, I were leading into battle the army that I had with me in Gaul, there would have been no need for me to address you. For what encouragement would those cavalry need who had won such a brilliant victory over the enemy's cavalry at the Rhone or those legions of infantry with whom I pursued this same enemy, who by his running away and shirking an engagement acknowledged that I was his conqueror? That army, raised for service in Spain, is campaigning under my brother, Gnaeus Scipio, who is acting as my deputy in the country which the senate and people of Rome have assigned to it. In order, therefore, that you might have a consul to lead you against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, I have volunteered to command in this battle, and as I am new to you and you to me I must say a few words to you. "Now as to the character of the enemy and the kind of warfare which awaits you. You have to fight, soldiers, with the men whom you defeated in the former war by land and sea, from whom you have exacted a war indemnity for the last twenty years, and from whom you wrested Sicily and Sardinia as the prizes of war. You, therefore, will go into this battle with the exultation of victors, they with the despondency of the vanquished. They are not going to fight now because they are impelled by courage but through sheer necessity; unless indeed you suppose that, after shirking a contest when their army was at its full strength, they have gained more confidence now that they have lost two-thirds of their infantry and cavalry in their passage over the Alps, now that those who survive are fewer than those who have perished. "'Yes,' it may be said, 'they are few in number, but they are strong in courage and physique, and possess a power of endurance and vigor in attack which very few can withstand.' No, they are only semblances or rather ghosts of men, worn out with starvation, cold, filth, and squalor, bruised and enfeebled amongst the rocks and precipices, and, what is more, their limbs are frostbitten, their thews and sinews cramped with cold, their frames shrunk and shriveled with frost, their weapons battered and shivered, their horses lame and out of condition. This is the cavalry, this the infantry with whom you are going to fight; you will not have an enemy but only the last vestiges of an enemy to meet. My only fear is that when you have fought it will appear to be the Alps that have conquered Hannibal. But perhaps it was right that it should be so, and that the gods, without any human aid, should begin and all but finish this war with a people and their general who have broken treaties, and that to us, who next to the gods have been sinned against, it should be left to complete what they began.

I am not afraid of any one thinking that I am saying this in a spirit of bravado for the sake of putting you in good heart, whilst my real feelings and convictions are far otherwise. I was at perfect liberty to go with my army to Spain, for which country I had actually started, and which was my assigned province. There I should have had my brother to share my plans and dangers; I should have had Hasdrubal rather than Hannibal as my foe, and undoubtedly a less serious war on my hands. But as I was sailing along the coast of Gaul I heard tidings of this enemy, and at once landed, and after sending on cavalry in advance moved up to the Rhone. A cavalry action was fought - that was the only arm I had the opportunity of employing - and I defeated the enemy. His infantry were hurrying away like an army in flight, and as I could not come up with them overland, I returned to my ships with all possible speed, and after making a wide circuit by sea and land have met this dreaded foe almost at the foot of the Alps. Does it seem to you that I have unexpectedly fallen in with him whilst I was anxious to decline a contest and not rather that I am meeting him actually on his track and challenging and dragging him into action? I shall be glad to learn whether the earth has suddenly within the last twenty years produced a different breed of Carthaginians, or whether they are the same as those who fought at the Aegates, and whom you allowed to depart from Eryx on payment of eighteen denarii a head, and whether this Hannibal is, as he gives out, the rival of Hercules in his journeys, or whether he has been left by his father to pay tax and tribute and to be the slave of the Roman people. If his crime at Saguntum were not driving him on, he would surely have some regard, if not for his conquered country, at all events for his house and his father, and the treaties signed by that Hamilcar who at the order of our consul withdrew his garrison from Eryx, who with sighs and groans accepted the hard conditions imposed on the conquered Carthaginians, and who agreed to evacuate Sicily and pay a war indemnity to Rome. And so I would have you, soldiers, fight not merely in the spirit which you are wont to show against other foes, but with feelings of indignant anger as though you saw your own slaves bearing arms against you. When they were shut up in Eryx we might have inflicted the most terrible of human punishments and starved them to death; we might have taken our victorious fleet across to Africa, and in a few days destroyed Carthage without a battle. We granted pardon to their prayers, we allowed them to escape from the blockade, we agreed to terms of peace with those whom we had conquered, and afterwards when they were in dire straits through the African war we took them under our protection, To requite us for these acts of kindness they are following the lead of a young madman and coming to attack our fatherland. I only wish this struggle were for honour alone and not for safety. It is not about the possession of Sicily and Sardinia, the old subjects of dispute, but for Italy that you have to fight. There is no second army at our back to oppose the enemy if we fall to win, there are no more Alps to delay his advance while a fresh army can be raised for defense. Here it is, soldiers, that we have to resist, just as though we were fighting before the walls of Rome. Every one of you must remember that he is using his arms to protect not himself only but also his wife and little children; nor must his anxiety be confined to his home, he must realize, too, that the senate and people of Rome are watching our exploits today. What our strength and courage are now here, such will be the fortune of our City yonder and of the empire of Rome."

After the necessary propitiation had been made Scipio, his son and Asytanax moved out with a force of cavalry and light-armed javelin men towards the enemy's camp to get a nearer view and to ascertain the number and nature of his force. They fell in with Hannibal who was also advancing with his cavalry to explore the neighbourhood. Neither body at first saw the other; the first indication of a hostile approach was given by the unusually dense cloud of dust that was raised by the tramp of so many men and horses. Each party halted and made ready for battle. Scipio placed the javelin men and the Gaulish cavalry in the front, the Roman horse and the heavy cavalry of the allies as reserves. Hannibal formed his centre with his regular cavalry, and posted the Numidians on the flanks. Scarcely had the battle shout been raised before the javelin men retired to the second line amongst the reserves. For some time the cavalry kept up an equal fight, but as the foot-soldiers became mixed up with the mounted men they made their horses unmanageable, many were thrown or else dismounted where they saw their comrades in difficulty, until the battle was mainly fought on foot. Then the Numidians on the flanks wheeled round and appeared on the rear of the Romans, creating dismay and panic amongst them.

Asytanax was attacked by a Numidian and was thrown off his horse.

"Scipio! Sir! Where are you!"

The Numidian, on horseback, attacked him. Asytanax chopped off two of the horse's legs with his sword and the Numidian fell to the ground. Before he could get up, Asytanax plunged his sword into his stomach.

"Alexander!"

It was young Publius, Scipio's son, who called him. He was under a tree (the very tree Asytanax was now sitting under).

"I can't find my father, Alexander!"

"I have to get you out of here, Publius!"

"Not without my father!"

"But I promised him, sir!"

"No!"

Alexander thought for a moment. "Very well, sir. Scipio!"

"Father!"

"Over here, Alexander!" cried the consul.

Publius Scipio was surrounded by Numidians and Spaniards. Asytanax and young Publius charged at them and began slicing into them but before the two could reach the consul, Scipio was hit by a javelin in the shoulder.

"Father!"

"Ahhh! Go, my son! The battle is lost! Go! Alexander will protect you!"

"I am not leaving without you, father," the distressed Publius said.

Something extradinary happened at that moment. Young Publius, barely at manhood yet, lifted his father onto his shoulders and carried him away from the battle, Asytanax following behind them.

The remainder of the force, the cavalry, closed round the consul and his son, shielding him as much by their persons as by their arms, and returned to camp in orderly retirement.

Asytanax returned from his flashback.

"It is time to move on."

He packed up his belongings and began to walk towards the west but before he was gone, he turned to take one last look at the tree.

"I miss you as always, my friend. Help me on my new mission and may the gods grant you a thousand blessings."

Author's Note: The speech and some of the battle details are from Livy's The War with Hannibal (Books 21-30 of The History of Rome from its Foundation). They are Livy's alone. Not mine or anyone elses.