Ian Miller - Legatus Legionis

"Slingers, throw when you think you can hit. Archers, steady. . steady. ." The horsemen were almost on the bridge when one fell off, struck by a stone. "Steady. ." Gaius raised his own bow. "Steady. . Fire!" Another man was struck by a stone, and fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder and swearing. Then three men fell, arrows in their chest. Gaius quickly took another arrow and let fly at the remaining horseman who was unsure of what to do. He watched with satisfaction as the target slid to the ground.

"Hold!" Gaius ordered.

The raiders were now unsure of what to do. They had clearly realized that the width of the bridge would permit no more than two horses at a time, or perhaps three foot-soldiers with room to wield weapons. While the raiders had clear numerical superiority, it was of no immediate value in a frontal charge. The obvious next step was to try to shoot the defenders with arrows, and a small group of archers were assembling.

"Timothy," Gaius said, "help the young lady put the wounded on the cart." He turned towards the young woman and asked, "Can you manage to drive a horse and cart?"

"Of course, but. ."

"No buts!" Gaius said firmly. "Take the wounded and get the hell out of here, but leave as many horses as you can. Take the cart to the legion base at Lussonium, and remember, it's my cart, and my belongings."

"There may be more wounded. I should stay and. ." she began.

"There will be more wounded," Gaius said harshly, "and more dead but that cart full of wounded can only go so fast. If it stays, we have to hold or die. But if we can buy you enough time, those remaining horses give the rest of us some chance. Now go, and don't argue!" He then turned his back on her, to survey the enemy.

She stared at him in anger, until Timothy took her hand. "There's not much point in fixing their wounds and leaving them to be butchered," he shrugged. "Once those archers come, there's no way to protect the wounded."

She looked at him, was about to say something, then thought better of it. Some of the larger objects were thrown from the cart to make way for the wounded, but she was surprised to see Timothy carefully put one box that she had taken off back onto the cart.

"If Gaius survives this," he grinned, "he won't thank you for throwing away his most valuable possessions!"

"It's interesting to know that he trusts me with them," she retorted.

"Take a look!" Timothy shrugged. "He's betting you're hardly interested."

Curiosity did get the better of her, and while Timothy was helping a wounded soldier up onto the cart, she opened the first box. There were a number of bits of metal, with really strange ridges carved on them, going around and around, with little or no artistic merit. An enormous amount of work for no point! Then there were these funny looking square things, with holes in the middle, and they had carvings too!

"You could try helping with the wounded," Gaius remarked. She looked around to see her watching her, with a look of amusement on his face.

"I'm not going to steal them," she said, her face going a slight red.

"I didn't think you would," he shrugged, "but the enemy are finally getting organized, and the sooner you lot are out of here, the better."

She nodded, and helped Timothy get another soldier onto the cart.

Eventually, she climbed onto the front of the cart and flicked the reins. As the cart began to move forwards, she looked over her shoulder. This stranger was organizing the men to form a shelter with the locked shields.

Gaius had noticed that the archers alone had marched forward. He and his men sheltered behind the shields in the approved legionary fashion as the arrows rained down, and as usual the shield wall offered almost total protection, and no damage was done. Then three of the braver ones could be heard mounting the barricade. A shield wall as wide as the bridge advanced, and the thrusting gladii quickly left three badly wounded draped on the top of the barricade. The Romans drew back, to let the enemy's moans fill the air.

The enemy's next move was to form a small file of foot soldiers. As they marched forward, the four Roman archers poured three volleys into them. Men began dropping, the file faltered, then they began to retreat.

The Roman soldiers were silent. They knew that by now the enemy must decide to launch a full attack, or withdraw. The enemy began to rearrange themselves into an attack formation, with foot soldiers at the front and archers to the rear. The cavalry were to the side. As the formation advanced Gaius watched, and then, just as the cavalry began to look as if it might offer a charge, he jumped up onto the barricade.

"You saw that cart go!" he yelled. "That contained all the valuables. You're going to die for nothing!"

"We'll kill you!"

"Maybe, but at what cost, for what? Go while you can!"

The enemy paused, there was some discussion, then the formation began to move forward again. Gaius jumped back down to safety.

The enemy had fired several volleys of arrows, none of which did any damage, before Gaius ordered the first response. The first four arrows went on expected trajectories, but when the enemy raised their shields for protection, another four arrows were loosed on low flat trajectories. Three men fell. Then the enemy began to charge.

Seven volleys were fired before the enemy reached the barricade. Now the enemy had to stop firing arrows, but they could still only get three to four men on the bridge at a time. Gaius had ordered three Romans to stand abreast, shield locked, at the barricade, and three more behind. Further back, and to the sides of the bridge, the four with bows sent every arrow they could find into the enemy.

The defence held. The men attacking the barricade could not stand up, for fear of offering an easy target for an arrow, but by crawling over the barricade they could get little force into any blow, and at the same time their shields were too clumsy to stop the thrusting blows of the stakes and gladii. Then, as those at the front became wounded, those behind had to help them back. Those pushing from the rear made it impossible to clear the wounded.

There were increasing screams of pain, swearing, and all the time the Romans kept thrusting, wounding, with the same efficiency of a team chopping trees.

By now the Iazygians were climbing a writhing screaming bloody ramp of their own wounded. Gaius had been watching this development, and realized that soon they would be leaping down onto them. At that point, the position became indefensible. The only possibility was to buy some more time. Gaius signalled Timothy to light the cart. He then turned to the Centurion. "When the flames get up, get the men who will not have horses to run as fast as they can towards Lussonium. Timothy, two archers, and I shall stay behind and hold them off with arrows for as long as we can."

"Sir, with respect, you should leave, and. ."

"There're four horses tied to that tree over there," Gaius remarked, "one of which is mine. There 's another couple over there for two others. We can ride, but those without horses need a start. Just do what I say."

The Centurion looked as if he was about to argue, then he had to turn and step into the line as one of the soldiers fell back, a spear through his throat.

The enemy were almost over as the flames began to reach up. Timothy had done a good job; within a minute the cart was a roaring inferno. Terrible screams of pain could be heard on the far side as the pressure from the rear was driving men into it. Men began to leap from the top, hair singed, faces burned. These were quickly killed. Then as the terrible smell of burning flesh drifted across, the Centurion nodded agreement, and four soldiers began to run towards Lussonium.

The two remaining archers took their positions with Gaius and Timothy on a small rise well back from the fire. For almost a quarter of an hour the fire was too intense for anyone to approach, then slowly it began to diminish. Then some men approached from the far side with a thin tree trunk, intending to try to push the burning cart away. Gaius fired one arrow, and although it missed, the men dropped the trunk and ran.