But the fight was over: as Alboin and the Prefect discovered, to their
great disgust, when they again reached Taginae.
The Prefect, just as he had entered the pine-wood and was about to
follow the King's track, had been overtaken by a messenger from
Liberius, who sent word for him to return immediately. Narses was
insensible, and the peril of the situation necessitated immediate
counsel.
Narses insensible--Liberius perplexed--the victory they had thought
certain, endangered--these circumstances weighed more with the Prefect
than the doubtful expectation of dealing the death-stroke to the
half-dead King.
In haste Cethegus galloped back to Taginae the way that he had come.
When he reached the town he found Liberius, who cried:
"Too late! I have already settled and agreed to everything. A truce!
The rest of the Goths march off!"
"What?" thundered Cethegus--he would gladly have poured all the blood
of the Goths upon the grave of his darling as a sacrifice. "They march?
A truce? Where is Narses?"
"He lies insensible in his litter; he has been taken with severe
convulsions. The fright, the surprise--it prostrated him, and no
wonder."
"What surprise? Speak, man!"
And Liberius briefly related how they had forced their way into Taginae
with fearful loss of blood, "for the Goths stood like a wall"--had been
obliged to storm house by house, even room by room--"we were obliged to
hack to pieces by inches one of their leaders, who ran Anzalas through
as he leaped into the first breach, before we could force our way into
the town over his body."
"Who was he?" asked Cethegus earnestly. "I hope Earl Teja?"
"No; Earl Thorismuth. When we had finished our bloody work, and Narses
was about to let himself be carried into the town, he met in the gate a
messenger from our left wing--which no more exists! It was Zeuxippos,
wounded, and accompanied by Gothic heralds."
"Who has----?"
"He whom you just named--Earl Teja! He guessed or learned that
Zeuxippos was threatening his centre, that the King was wounded--and,
well knowing that he would arrive too late to turn the course of events
at Taginae, he came to a bold and desperate resolution. He suddenly gave
up his post of expectation on the hills, threw himself upon our left
wing, which was slowly advancing up the hill opposite to him, beat it
at the first onset, pursued the fugitives into their camp, and there
made prisoners of ten thousand of our men, and all the captains,
amongst them my Orestes and Zeuxippos. He sent Gothic heralds to
Narses, who took Zeuxippos with them to witness to the truth of what
they said, and demanded an immediate truce of twenty-four hours."
"Impossible!"
"Otherwise he swore to slay all his ten thousand prisoners---together
with the captains."
"That is no matter," observed Cethegus.
"It may be no matter to you, Roman--what matters to you a myriad of our
troops?--but not so to Narses. The terrible surprise, the still more
terrible necessity of making a choice, quite prostrated him. A severe
attack of his malady came on, and as he sank down, he gave me his
commander's staff, and I, of course, accepted the conditions----"
"Of course, Pylades must save Orestes!" said Cethegus in a rage.
"And, besides, ten thousand men of the imperial army!"
"I am not bound by this agreement," cried Cethegus; "I shall again
attack."
"You dare not! Teja has taken most of his prisoners and all the
captains with him as hostages--he will slay them if another arrow be
shot?"
"Let him slay them! I shall attack."
"See whether the Byzantines will follow you! I at once communicated the
order of Narses to your troops: for now _I_ am Narses."
"You shall die, as soon as Narses has recovered his senses!"
But Cethegus perceived that he could do nothing against the Goths with
his mercenaries alone. For when Teja had retreated to the cloister and
chapel hill and the Flaminian Way with his prisoners, and Hildebrand's
wing had also reached the road with little loss of life--for the two
rivers, and then the news of the truce, had checked the pursuit
attempted by Johannes--the Goths had gathered the rest of their troops
together and taken up a safe position.
Cethegus waited with impatience for the recovery of Narses, who he
hoped would never acknowledge the agreement concluded by his
representative.