Daniel Ottalini - Antioch Burns

Antioch cannot fall.

He fled the tower room, taking the steps two at a time. He had to get away, away from the weight of responsibility threatening to break him. Panic .

Regillus tripped and stumbled into a small alcove. In the darkness, he had a moment to recover. Several deep breaths later, he felt better. I must be strong, for me, for my men, for my family . The weight on his shoulders had somehow shifted, becoming a familiar burden. Gathering himself, he took a steadying swig from his canteen. At least my hands are not shaking, he thought with a grin. Feeling better, he exited the tower, walking toward his small command party and couriers that awaited him.

“Get a message off to the airfield. Tell Engineer Monventus that he must rearm the skimmers and send them back out. Those things were deadly against the enemy artillery, and we must prevent the Mongols from breaching the city walls.” One of the armored couriers saluted, fist to mailed chest, and galloped away. Regillus turned back to mount his horse.

And then the wall collapsed inwards, sending huge stone projectiles into the city.

The force blew out windows and crushed buildings. The horses bolted in all directions, one unlucky rider having the terrified beast collapse upon him as it tripped over a fallen beam.

A roar from outside the city could be heard as the last of the wall fragments came clattering down. In a daze, Regillus pushed himself up, vision blurry from the smoke and dust in his eyes. I thought we had destroyed most of those cannons! He manhandled another dazed messenger to his feet.

“Make your way south along the wall! I want every other man here at the breach. Everyone else is to fall back to the citadel. Do you understand?” The man blinked groggily. Regillus shook him a few more times, and the man’s gaze locked onto his commanding officer. The officer repeated his orders, and the man nodded. With no horses around, he took off running through the streets. Another man he sent towards the nearest telegraph station, with orders to spread the same message to every station in the city.

I do not think they were ready for such a quick breach, thank the gods. Regillus prayed for small miracles. Of course, we will all be dead inside the day. Once a city wall was breached, the defenders traditionally surrendered, understanding that the enemy could attack at will and grind down the defenders through a war of attrition.

“Sir! Thank the gods you’re alive!” His voice dripping with relief, a sub-altern was picking his way through the debris, a mixed squad of legionnaires and garrison troopers following, scouring the wreckage for survivors.

Regillus coughed, then spat. He had to rally the men before the situation was lost.

“Yes, and we have got a breach to defend. We need to get up there and start building a barricade. More legionnaires will be joining us, but for now it is just us. We will make the Mongols bleed for every inch of ground!”

The men around him gave a strangled cheer. They moved at a half jog towards the breach. Regillus turned for a moment, unsure of what to do. Until sufficient reinforcements had arrived, all he had on hand were the shell-shocked troops who had survived the blast and the small band of reinforcements that had just arrived. At that moment, a flash of red caught his attention.

He reached down and tugged. From beneath a layer of fine dust and small stones came a ragged Roman standard. It had been blown from the wall by the force of the explosion. Spying a shattered spar nearby, Regillus scooped it up, combining spar and standard to create a makeshift flag. Carrying the flag up towards the breach, Regillus collected a few more dazed defenders, urging them to join him in defending the breach. As he clambered up the rocky, shifting slope, Regillus heard his name shouted from the wall.

“Commander! Sir!”

“Decanus Tito! What happened?”

“They have a bigger cannon further out. We did not notice it because it was hidden by those gods-damned screens.” The older man called back. Regillus cursed. We figure out a way to kill their cannon, they figure out a way to strike us from even further away .

“Send me every legionnaire you have without a repeater. The Mongols will not bother to attack elsewhere, now that they have a breach.” The man’s head disappeared over the broken parapet. A few minutes later, another two-dozen defenders joined the makeshift force. A ragged line was forming across the breach. Red-tuniced Syrian legionnaires piled stone next to yellow-tuniced garrison troops, hastily assembling a defensive barricade.

“Build it nice and high, men!” Now the engineering expertise of the Roman forces was revealed. In less than an hour, the legionnaires had managed to span the two hundred foot gap in the wall with a new stone barricade, complete with a rough parapet and shielded walkway. Planting his makeshift flag at the center of the lines, Regillus looked over his fellow defenders. By this time, the defensive forces assembled at the breach numbered over 2,000 men. Regillus divided them into cohorts in preparation for the Mongol attack.

He did not have long to wait. Spying movement behind the enemy lines, Regillus pulled out a borrowed pair of binoculars and pressed them to his face. His vision zoomed forward, in time to see the wicker screens pushed forward. An unbroken mass of Mongol infantry marched in line towards the vulnerable hole in Antioch’s defenses. Rhythmic pounding reached his ears as he lowered the binoculars.

“To your positions!” Legionnaires dropped entrenching equipment, scrambling for their weapons. Light artillery pieces were pushed into special positions just behind the main line. On the wall, Regillus could hear shouting as the war-machine crews began to open up on the enemy. Canisters of Greek fire splashed down amongst the endless ranks of enemy. The whistling click, click, click of the heavy repeaters sliced into the Mongols as well. The heavy bolts skewered ranks of men, tossing them into the air.

Horns trilled across the battlefield, urging the easterners forward.

“ Morindoo!!! ” screamed the Mongolians as they reached the embankment. Regillus shivered slightly, recalling the battle cry from the previous day’s battle. Steeling himself, Regillus turned his back on the advancing enemy, facing his men.

“Ready plumbatae! ” The heavy lead and steel darts appeared in gauntleted hands. The chanting Mongolians began picking their way up the treacherous slope. Heavy artillery fire from the ramparts could do little to stall their attack.

“Loose!” The heavy darts lanced downhill, striking right through the thin reed shields of the attackers. In an instant, the rubble was coated with blood and bodies, as enemy troops trampled over their injured and dead comrades in their push to gain the breach.

“Ready! Volley throw…. Release!” Another sheet of missiles hammered the attackers. Again and again the Mongolians pushed their way up the slope, and into the teeth of the Roman defense. The dust covered slope was caked in gore, but still the Mongolians fought on.

“Sir! The men have exhausted their plumbatae . Half the men are using rocks as missiles,” reported a wounded messenger, his arm swathed in dirty bandages. Regillus nodded grimly.

“Has there been any report from the citadel? Have our forces retreated?”

“No report yet, sir. Shall I send a runner?”

“Yes, right away, then check the telegraph station. We must withdraw to the safety of the citadel soon, before we are overwhelmed.” The man turned without a salute and raced for his horse. Regillus turned back to the battle. The volume of fire from the breach defenders was intermittent now, with only a spattering of iron darts and rocks striking the wave of attackers. The wall defenders continued to fight on as well, although they were exhausted from winding and loading the heavy artillery with skeleton crews.