By dawn, the ridgelines of northern Ethiopia were dry and ash settled in every part of the land.
But the quiet was an illusion.
Below the smoke, under the dust, the war was moving.
In a forward command pit dug along the Eritrean side of the Mareb River, General Emilio De Bono stood hunched over a canvas-draped table, his gloved finger tracing the spine of a ridgeline on the latest field map.
Officers stood at attention, waiting.
"We drive past Adwa. Secure Axum by nightfall. Trail expansion begins immediately. Push to the Tekezé in seventy-two hours," he said. "The Ethiopian highlands will not outlast the machinery of Rome."
A signalman stepped forward. "Engineering teams at Adigrat report the airfield is now usable for Caproni rotations, sir."
"Good. Get the bombers airborne. Scout the Tekezé crossings. Flush the hill dogs out of their rocks."
The second day of invasion began.
