Legio-X

The battle of Yallia

The Cursed Tunnel

It’s been a while now. It’s been a while since the day of humiliation. It was the day I will remember for the rest of my life.

It all started at the tunnel. When our leader, nicknamed Spore, found it, he was curious. He asked the Imperator if he could send a team in to explore it. The Imperator granted it and I was sent with fellow legionaries into the dark tunnel. We were high on rations. We had many torches. We had the weapons and armour needed. We were confident that we would make it out alive. After a few days of preparing, Spore ordered us to march. My fellow legionaries and I obeyed like mindless zombies. Not caring what we might face at the end of the tunnel. It was then and there that we entered the tunnel that I will never go to, in the rest of my entire life.

The trouble started when the walls started getting narrower like those fabled gates of a kingdom far beyond our reaches. But we didn’t care, we just kept going. Then ahead of me, a man screamed. A spike had speared him in the heart. We all started being scared and then a man ran ahead of me screaming, “THIS TUNNEL IS CURSED!” I looked away as he was crushed by a giant mechanised wall. Spore ordered us to move so I looked. There was blood everywhere. I saw bits of flesh and felt sickened. Whatever was at the end of tunnel must be worth it.

I was now at the front and I knew it was a death sentence but I refused to disobey. If I disobeyed I would get flogged or worst, crucified. It was a death sentence either way. So I chose the one I could avoid. I obeyed. I used the senses that Lupa gave to me when I was younger. I heard something clicking and jumped back just before the space where I was standing opened up to show Vulcan’s furnace. Gradually, we made our way through the tunnel with me and my comrade at the front.

I was the first to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was beautiful, pure daylight after what seemed like days in a tunnel with torchlight guiding us. I ran to the light and only heard Spore, my comrades and I until the doorway slid shut behind us. There was only one way out and we took it.

The Different Barbarians

I emerged first, shielding my eyes from the bright sunlight. My brand new Legio armor already ragged and dirty. I could see the same effect on my comrades’ faces. We were all shocked. I saw a wall; it was wooden and made of logs. There were barbarians around us and we drew our swords. They cheered as we came out of the tunnel. Seeming happy even though they knew we were enemies. However, we realised that they were different types of barbarians that we saw at Aurelia or Strageath. Their swords were different for a start, some had swords that were flat at one end but curved at the other. Others had axes that were too blunt to cut limbs and some had bows that could be pulled back further than the bows at Strageath. Our swords were broken from the struggles in the tunnel so they gave us new swords. The swords they gave us were double bladed like a Gladius but long like a Spatha. We were also given bows to sling across our backs in case of emergencies and I got given a special blade. The blade was apparently made by a special race of men with long ears. It was short but powerful, like a Sica in Rome. I asked their leader “What are we waiting for?”

He replied “Night.” I should’ve seen it; all barbarians need the night to survive against large numbers. But then again, I didn’t know what the night was like here. In a few hours we would find out. One of the barbarians in the infirmary told Spore about a treasure, hidden in the castle, which was owned by the Barbarian’s enemies, that was of high value. I had seen the fortress from afar and it would be hard to defend because the walls were scalable. We had 15 warriors that were able to fight. We had 10 legionaries and 5 barbarians. This was including me. When night came, we knew our battle plan. “Stay in the shadows.

The Thismonians can’t see us in the fog, so they can’t shoot at us.” I kept this thought going in my head. I pulled out my sword. It would come in useful very soon. My comrade, nicknamed “The Spectrox”, and I would take a detour and take the flag. The others would distract. We were sure that we could win the day and we were sure that the Thismonians wouldn’t win.

That was until we heard a huge battle cry outside of our encampments wall. It was night but the Thiks knew where we were. They weren’t able to enter though. They weren’t able to scale our wooden walls. Their torches did nothing since the wood was still wet from the day’s rain. It felt like it was raining then because all our hope dropped.

Until we took out our bows and aimed at their torches…

Without their torches they were blind. Because us Romans and barbarians had got used to the dark we could see. Tactically, we snuck round hoping that they wouldn’t hear the stomps of our shoes. I finally felt like a barbarian and I’m willing to bet that the rest of our group did too.

The Beginning of the Battle

“THEY SNUCK OUT”. We all heard it. One of the Thismonians had heard us and looked our way. I knew that the bright red was bad for sneaking around in. We then decided to fight. We drew our swords in unison and charged. It was bloody. It was a miracle that none of us died but many of our barbarian friends did. It was then that we started gaining the smallest amount of hope in this cold dark place.

The Thismonians were being pushed back to their castle. One of their warriors had immense skill. I overheard one of the Thismonians call him Ezreal. I’m guessing they named him after the Archangel Ezreal that the Catholic priest always talks about. I never believed him. This soldier fought like a demon, or in better words, like an angel. He issued the order to fall back to the castle and we managed to win the battle on the fields surrounding the fortress. We rallied together and counted the groups. Our whole army (including the barbarians) had already suffered 100-200 losses. However, we think that we managed to defeat at least 200 of the Thismonians.

It was a shame that they decided to ask me to scout the fort for any weak spots. It was practically a death sentence. However, I managed to survive by rubbing mud against my uniform. I found a secret entrance below the water that you had to dive to find. I found a hidden entrance on the side of the wall and there was a way to get into the castle by entering the catacombs. One of the most obvious was the climbing route on the gate. But the gate was heavily protected so I wasn’t able to try it. We decided to split up into different groups and enter different ways. I went in the side entrance. We worked in secret. I ended up tricking 2 people into killing each other by shooting one in the foot with an arrow then running. We took out people in secret by stabbing them in the throat or shooting them in the throat.

Battle of the Castle

All was going well. We were taking them out 1 by 1 and none of them noticed. Until one the barbarians was seen… They rang their bell to call for their sleeping troops in the guarded barracks. I was tasked with taking the flag down, at the top of the keep, and replacing it with ours.

I heard footsteps.

I turned around with my bow drawn ready to put an arrow into his eye. However, the small boy raised his hands and said, “I got a message!”

“What is it?” I demanded.

“We’re retreating, well, you are retreating” he responded.

I just thought, “No. Not while we’re this close.” I ran towards the keep and attacked it with all my might. I killed about 6 people in the chamber: Two with arrows, two by slitting their throats and the last 2 by beating them in a swordfight. I ran up the stairs and lowered the flag. All I had to do was raise the flag. That was when Ezreal jumped up and attacked. I could do nothing as he shot me in my shield arm, and pursue me with a sword.

We had a long and tiring swordfight but it all ended when he managed to corner me to the edge of the wall. There was only one thing I could do. I jumped and hit the water. I can’t remember what happened after that.

After the Battle

I was in a bed, my own bed. It seems that one of my fellow legionnaires found me in the water and took me back home. I looked at my wounds. I had bandages all over: three on my leg, one on my arm and one on my chest. I felt ashamed but grateful. I said thank you and just lay there and went to sleep, trying to forget the horrors of that battle, my comrades who died and also the part of my soul that was missing. I still can’t forget any of those today…