Free Flame of the West by David Pilling

opposite bank. He said nothing more until we passed through the gates of the city. John, I noticed, had pulled most of his soldiers back to the fortress, leaving the city walls lightly defended.
       “ I think I can trust you, Coel,” he said as we jogged back towards camp, “so I shall speak treason in your hearing. Justinian is an idiot. Belisarius is the greatest living Roman general, the greatest since Aetius, and unshakeably loyal. If he had been properly supported, with money and men and provisions, Italy would already be under our heel. We might be contemplating the invasion of Germania by now, or the recovery of Gaul. Instead Justinian chooses to undermine him, and sends rats to chew at the lion’s mane.”
       Your homeland might yet be saved.
       Belisarius’ words sounded even more hollow now. The re-conquest of Italy was far from complete, and already the shadows of treachery and civil war loomed over the Roman cause.
     
    10.
       
    Having failed to persuade John the Sanguinary to give up Rimini, we returned to Rome via the mountain passes, avoiding the Gothic host as it streamed up the Via Flaminia.
       As Hildiger predicted, Vitiges could not afford to leave Rimini in Roman hands, and laid siege to the city. The King of the Goths took personal command of the siege, perhaps to restore his tarnished military reputation in the eyes of his countrymen. He sent half of his army on to Ravenna, where his energetic Queen, Matasuntha, was refortifying the city walls. 
       Belisarius had not sat idle at Rome. Unaware of the presence of Narses in Italy, he marched north on what he hoped would be a final push, to break the back of Gothic resistance.
       For once, he persuaded his wife to remain behind out of danger, and left her in Rome, where she continued her flagrant affair with Theodosius. Somehow Belisarius remained ignorant of her betrayal, or pretended to, though it swiftly became the scandal of the age.
       At first all went well for him.  Awed by the terror of his name, the cities of Tudertia and Clusium surrendered as soon as his banners appeared outside their gates. The whole of the central Italian mainland was now in his grasp, and the Goths were in full retreat, abandoning their outposts and pulling back north, to try and regroup in the face of Belisarius’ remorseless advance.
       We found Belisarius at Clusium, where he had halted to plan the ne xt stage of the campaign. He made the basilica in the centre of the city his headquarters, and was busy poring over maps when we arrived, weary and soiled from the road.
       “Coel,” he snapped, frowning when he saw me, “what are you doing here? Your orders were to stay in Rimini and hold it against Vitiges.”
       “Christ ’s death,” he exclaimed before I could speak, throwing down the roll of parchment he had been studying, “has the city fallen?”
       “No, sir,” I replied, saluting, “ Rimini is still in our hands. John refused to give it up.”
       “We tried to remind him of his duty, sir,” put in Hildiger, “and he threatened to shoot us down. The majority of his troops were inside the fortress. We had no means of forcing him to relinquish it.”
       I thought Belisarius would explode with anger, but instead a great weariness came over him. He sighed, and blew out his sallow cheeks, and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was not the first time he had been failed by a subordinate , but outright refusal to obey orders was something new. 
       “Is it mutiny, then?” he asked quietly, “has John betrayed Rome, and offered his sword to Vitiges?”
       “No, sir,” replied Hildiger, “at least, I don’t think so. He claims to still serve the Empire, but not you. ”
       “What the hell does that mean?”
       Hildiger looked meaningfully at me. He didn’t care to tell the full story, an d so loaded the responsibility (and the risk) onto my shoulders.
       I cleared my throat, which was dry as