The Walls of Rome, Snippet by Robert M. Kidd

‘not only have we scaled the mighty Alps, I believe we have climbed the very walls of Rome’ – Hannibal

218 BC. Sphax is seventeen and haunted by the brutal murder of his parents at the hands of Rome. After ten years of miserable slavery he will make his last bid for freedom and go in search of Hannibal’s army and his birthright. He will have his revenge on the stinking cesspit that is Rome!

Destiny will see him taken under the wing of Maharbal, Hannibal’s brilliant general, and groomed to lead the finest horsemen in the world – the feared Numidian cavalry that would become the scourge of Rome.

From the crossing of the great Rhodanus River, Sphax’s epic journey takes him through the lands of the Gaul to the highest pass in the Alps. This is the story of the most famous march in history. A march against impossible odds, against savage mountain Gauls, a brutal winter and Sphax’s own demons.

This is more than a struggle for empire. This is the last great war to save the beauty of the old world, the civilized world of Carthage, Greece and Gaul. The world of art and philosophy – before it is ground into dust by the upstart barbarity of Rome.

Sphax’s first encounter with Hannibal does not go well …

Now beside himself with rage, Sphax violently swept wine cups and the remains of a meal from a nearby table, scattering the contents to the four corners of the pavilion. His enraged voice had attracted the attention of guards. Sphax pushed them aside as he turned on his heels and stormed out of the pavilion.

He hadn’t felt such rage since he’d sunk the blade into rat-face’s flesh. These were his most sacred and harrowing memories. No one who walked this earth would twist or trifle with these memories! Sphax had taken no more than ten strides before a voice from behind him commanded, ‘Wait!’ He stopped beside a blazing campfire, but did not dignify the command by turning around.

Hannibal strode past and faced him across the firelight, his face a dark brooding mask. ‘You were taken into slavery by Rome?’ Sphax didn’t trust himself to speak. He simply swept the sleeve of his tunic back to his shoulder, revealing the fugitivus scar burned into his flesh.

‘No one has ever called me a liar and lived.’ Hannibal’s voice was unnervingly calm, almost disembodied. ‘And before they died I had their tongues ripped out.’ His Libyan guards twitched nervously behind him, spears raised. ‘Do you hear me, boy?’

In answer, Sphax shifted his gaze from the flames to look defiantly into his uncle’s eyes, but still he said nothing.

‘Only the son of Navaras would have the brazen impudence to speak as you have. You will serve under Maharbal and do his bidding. Now get out of my sight.’ Without a word, Sphax strode off, leaving his uncle staring into the firelight.

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Meet Robert M. Kidd

When Cato the Censor demanded that ‘Carthage must be destroyed’, Rome did just that. In 146 BC, after a three year siege, Carthage was razed to the ground, its surviving citizens sold into slavery and the fields where this once magnificent city had stood, ploughed by oxen. Carthage was erased from history.

That’s why Robert is a novelist on a mission! He wants to set the historical record straight. Our entire history of Hannibal’s wars with Rome is nothing short of propaganda, written by Greeks and Romans for their Roman clients. It intrigues him that Hannibal took two Greek scholars and historians with him on campaign, yet their histories of Rome’s deadliest war have never seen the light of day.

The hero of The Histories of Sphax series tells a different story!

When Robert is not waging war with his pen, he likes to indulge in his passion for travel and hill walking, and like his hero, he also loves horses.

Robert lives in Pembrokeshire, West Wales.