"Caesar!" he yelled again.

He watched. There was no sound, no motion, from the walls. He looked up at the twin towers then brought his eyes back down as the large wooden gates creaked open. A score of legionaries filed out and took up positions. The crowd shuffled nervously. For most of them this was the first time in their lives that they had seen professional, fighting soldiers.

The legionaries covered the side streets. Now archers came out into the street and watched the rooftops. The front ranks of the mob took a step back in uncertainty. The single man waited unafraid. Then as everyone watched the gate Julius Caesar, supreme military dictator of Rome, stepped out. Dolabella right behind. Personal bodyguards formed a circle around them and slowly they advanced on the lone figure. Halfway they stopped. The lone man now felt naked without guards but even so he stood his ground.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Caesar called across the gap.

"My name is unimportant Caesar."

A flush of anger went through the Romans. Bow strings tightened still further.

"How dare you be so insulting!" Dolabella shouted.

"I will ask you again for your name."

"As I said Caesar my name is unimportant. For now it is sufficient for you to know that I am a Captain in the Egyptian Royal army serving under General Achillas."

"Where is Achillas?"

"He is with his army Caesar."

"Let me kill this insolent bastard now sir."

"Not Yet. There are twenty archers with arrows aiming at your heart as we speak. It is only with a morbid curiosity to hear what you have to say that prevents me from giving them the order to fire. Now unknown Captain what do you want?"

"It is my master's, the General Achillas, wish that you surrender your position and leave Alexandria immediately."

The Romans on the walls erupted into laughter. Caesar himself smiled.

"And if I choose not to?"

"Oh I think you can be persuaded Caesar."

The Captain turned and beckoned to the mob. Three men were brought forward, gagged and bound. They were forced onto their knees. The Captain turned back to Julius who was staring past him.

"What's the meaning of this? Who are these men?"

The Captain turned back and nodded. The man on the left had his gag removed roughly.

"State your name and rank."

The man remained quiet. A knife was suddenly placed at his jugular.

"Name and rank."

"Gaius Livinius. Legionary."

Anger swept through the Romans. He was one of theirs.

"You expect him to beg for his life."

"No Caesar. Just for you to leave."

Caesar smirked. The man's fate had already been chosen.

"Never."

"Very well."

The Captain once again turned and nodded and the Romans watched in anguish as the knife was drawn across the throat. The bound legionary screamed once and pitched forward onto his face.

"Will you not reconsider now Caesar?"

Julius was livid but even so he tried to buy some time.

"How do I know those are my men?"

"You heard his name."

"It could be a bluff."

"It's not. These men are messengers from Agrippa. They were unfortunate to be caught and now they are pawns in a game of chess. You can save the next two."

Caesar just stared back coldly.

"Very well you wish another test."

The next man was made to give his name and number. He was killed like Livinius. The last man was searching the walls. His brother was also a messenger. He was sure he would have got through.

"Quintus Taquinius, legionary."

"Do you have something to ask of your commander?"

Quintus took a deep breath and shouted.

"I have nothing to ask."

Julius was furious. He raised his finger.

"You let this man go now."

The Captain smiled and turned to give the order to kill the last man.

"FIRE!" Julius shouted.

A dozen arrows flew and thudded into the Captain's chest. He went down without a sound. The mob were silent, stunned by the quickness of the Roman attack. The man with the knife wasn't sure of what to do. Quintus suddenly and awkwardly got to his feet and began running towards his own lines. Not easy when your hands are tied behind your back. The man with the knife taken unawares, then he gave chase, ten paces behind. A rain of Roman arrows brought him down. Now the legionaries were cheering their man on. The Romans covering the street were sent by Dolabella to get him and bring him back to safety. The mob, now angry, turned on the corpses of the two Romans until arrows began to fall on them too. Amidst the screams of the dying and wounded they fell back, leaving heaps of dead. The two Romans were unrecognisable among the bodies of the Alexandrians.

"That's got them on the run Sir," Dolabella said, noting that the street was almost empty already, "They've fallen back and moved into the buildings. They've not gone completely."

Caesar didn't answer. He was staring down the road. Dolabella followed his gaze. One man stood alone amongst the dead and injured, defiant.

It was Antonius.

The man who'd confronted Caesar before.

"You said you'd consider my words," Julius shouted across the gap to him.

"You said you came in peace."

"I did," Caesar replied quietly so that only those nearest him heard the words. Then to Antonius he shouted, "I will not stop until Egypt is mine!"

Antonius heard the words. He felt every emotion go through him. Then he shouted back, "So it begins!" before turning and disappearing down a side street.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

Dolabella stood in front of Caesar. He was battered, bruised and bloodied. They were back in Caesar's war room in the Royal palace. Julius stood with both hands clasped behind his back next to the wooden model of Alexandria.

He listened intently without interrupting as Dolabella made his report.

A servant arrived with a bowl of clean water and began sponging off the worst of Dolabella's blood and dirt. Another prepared bandages nearby in case they were needed. The worst cut wasn't that bad.

Caesar waited until Dolabella had finished before speaking.

"How much ground have you gained?"

"In all Sir hardly anything. The ground we have won measures in feet not miles as would be usual."

"That'd due to the difficulty of the narrow streets. That's why we cannot use cavalry effectively. The horses would be almost unusable and quite useless. This is the only way."

"Yes Sir."

A servant brought a chair for Dolabella to sit on while his wounds were tended but he waited for Caesar to invite him to sit first.

"Please do."

Dolabella sat gratefully.

"As soon as I gain any ground from the enemy they force me back. The fighting is like none I've ever known. The sheer numbers of the enemy are staggering. As soon as one falls another is pushed forward into the gap. It's also a mixture Caesar, professional soldiers, militia, peasants. But they all fight as if their very lives depended on it."

"And your losses?"

"Quite high."

Dolabella's shoulders suddenly began shaking at the enormity of what he'd said. He was a seasoned veteran but his lips trembled as he spoke.

"We're having to storm the buildings and houses through the front doors. This is where my heaviest losses are. As we batter the doors down and go in the first of my men are cut down, unable to move by the weight of the men behind pushing them forward. There is no other way of taking the buildings. If only the houses were like those of Gaul, wood and thatch, we could burn them out."

Though still listening Julius was studying the wooden model. The other General's seated nearby. Then a thought struck him.

"Do we have any battering rams in the armoury?"

"Yes Caesar."

"How solid are the walls of the houses and buildings here?"

The General's left their seats to join him.

"They're fairly strong," Germanicus answered," Mud brick, the roofs tiled. Virtually impossible to set fire to. The weight of the roofs devastating in earthquakes, causing the buildings to collapse and burying the occupants inside."

"Is that if all the walls collapse?"

"I would think so Sir."

"Ah but what about just one?"

"Sir?"

"The houses and buildings here have how many doors? One?"

"Most do Caesar. Some have two. The public buildings more."

"Let's suppose they all have just one door. Now behind every door are townsfolk waiting for unsuspecting legionaries and presumably they are also guarding the windows."

"Yes."

"Then what if we go in through the walls."

"Through the walls?"

Dolabella pushed aside the sponge that was mopping at his forehead. He got up and joined the others, all in a circle now around Caesar, giving him their undivided attention.

"Yes through the walls. Take the battering rams and assault the walls of the first house whilst still attacking the door and windows thus forcing the defenders to split their coverage further stretching their defence."

"That's ingenious Sir," Marcellus was excited, "Should we attack as many walls as is possible with each building?"

"No just the one for now. We don't want the buildings coming down on top of us. We will move on from house to house in this way."

"It's brilliant Sir," Marcellus again, "You are the wiliest, cleverest, wisest man in the whole world."

"Save your praise Marcellus until we have the victory."

"We will win Sir. With you in charge what could possibly go wrong."