Chapter 50 - The Battle of the Hebrus

The third day of July broke clear, the sky hammered into a plate of bronze. Across the wide channel of the Hebrus, two Roman armies glared at each other, motionless as duelists at the turn of dawn. On the north bank, Licinius's host stretched in deep ranks along the ridge, red banners tight in the wind, palisades bristling, artillery clustered at measured intervals. On the south, Constantine's force lined the river for a mile: infantry in silent columns, cavalry feeding and currying horses, engineers stacking brushwood and timber for the day's work. The fields between them, blackened from weeks of skirmish, waited for a battle that would decide the fate of the world.