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Chapter 11
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2021-10-20 14:36:22“So soldier, would wine do you good today? I know you’re not here for the ale” The barmaid asks. “Oh no thank you, water would be fine.” I reply. She gives me a puzzled look and then says “There’s probably some boiled water that has cooled down. I’ll go fetch you some.” Before she leaves she gives me a small wink and walks towards the kitchen. I try to guess why she gave me a puzzled look till I remembered that inside any Remanian city; water is as filthy as a pig’s ass. In the battlefield clean water was easier to get by because we always left some buckets out for the rains. Here in the city people would rather drink ale and rum to avoid whatever diseases had cooked up in the water. Of course folks around would boil water but boiling hot water isn’t something you’d be drinking instantly. The barmaid arrived in a few minutes carrying a mug of
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I wake up to the sting of cold water and the site of Varkii standing beside my bed with a bucket in his hand. Varkii, realizing I’m still half asleep pours another bucket of cold water at me. “What was that for!?” I yell at him as I get off the bed. “Get up strap on your armor, we don’t have time” This was the first time I had seen the whole Iasi camp under duress. Hundreds of soldiers were running around in full battle gear, I could hear the Centurion’s whistling along with the confusion of the many soldiers who had just woken up from their hangovers. “Varkii, what’s going on?” I ask him while I step off my bed desperately bearing through the pain in my leg while I search for my sword under a pile of bottles and pig bones. “There’
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“Providence’s Mercy Lurti, my burned leg is killing me.” “Calm down Molag, just put on that Crimson Arrow oil when we can sit down and it’ll be good as new. Oh yes, hide that thing, it’s worth two bags of gold remember?.” Lurti and I had been following Centurion Trosdig for at least 3 minutes now; I didn’t realize how busy the camp was till I reached the camp’s main road. Dozens of riders and knights were frantically trying to clear the way for their horses while Engineers were pushing all manner of artillery into positions. The Grand Guns, sitting on their Coal Engines were already being positioned for mobilization; the sound of their hissing engines was something I would never get tired of. But the one thing that we Legionnaires would always leave us in awe was the sight of a Towergunner. The familiar roar of Remas’s fabled bipedal war machine could be heard echoing all
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After what seemed like an entire day of formation planning, battle strategies and logistical drivel we were finally dismissed and allowed to leave. By the time we left the tent, all the Towergunners had left their bays and were positioned at the roads leaving camp. The hissing noise their engines made was grating to the ear, but was something everyone got used to. At the camp’s main road other companies were marching off to wherever they were being sent off to. I could see some of their faces; they all had the looks of frustration on them. The same look that even I and the officers of the 3rd
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The perimeter we formed was basically still the Hammer formation but with us surrounding the Towergunners and the Captain. Lurti and Trosdig were then called off to an officer’s meeting; ironically now that I wasn’t a scribe I had felt rather envious of my replacement Leris. All these events, the expression on the Captain’s face, it all felt rather intriguing. Why was the General ordering us to arrest Lord Rubin Gavlin? And why did it need roughly 600 soldiers and 3 of Da Vinci’s war machines to arrest him? I ask Varkii and the rest in my squad and they felt the same. “When this is all over, I want to have a long chat with the Captain” Varkii says rather angrily. One of the older soldiers in the squad Joram puts his hand on Varkii’s shoulder and calms his down. Joram was a rather quiet soldier and also one of the oldest. He was bald but his eyebrows were white giving us an idea of what his age was, h
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Emerging from a group of bushes, emerge twenty men, all of them armed and all looking rather filthy. Their tunics were caked in black stains while various insects were crawling around the bird shite that covered their cloaks. The only thing that looked clean in their outfits was a single large lavender strap tied to their elbows. “Identify yourselves strangers!” Varkii shouts at them. One of them raises his axe and points it at us and shouts “I’ll ask the same of you Remanian pig!” the stranger replies. “They’re Barbarian mercenaries” Pal’lacon murmured. We had faced down some of their kind before, many Barbarians mercenaries or sellswords as we called them were used to bolster Persian ranks during the war. I hear Pal’Lacon muttering some old Latin curses, but then h
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So I do the only thing I can possibly do at this moment, end his suffering; I draw my carbine and shoot the dying boy’s head, which is soon followed by a kick to the face from the knight in front of me. … “The only son of Caesar that has the right to be a successor is the son that has served as a Knight of Remas.” It was something that was taught in every school house. A Knight was a hero, he was what every young boy aspired to become. But these knights that were standing in front of me weren’t real knights; they weren’t the war heroes that every soldier cheered for whenever they rode into battle. These were the arrogant scum that everyone secretly or som
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“This was your first battle wasn’t it?” she asked as she pulled out the 3 inch long piece of shrapnel lodged to my right leg. I grunt in pain of course. “Yes” I reply while trying to hold in the pain. She laughs a bit and applies a concoction of herbs and plant jelly on the wound. “So, what was it like?” She asks. The moment those words enter my ears, I vividly remember the events that had transpired that day, the smell of Lurti’s vomit, Trosdig’s whistle, the heat wave that accompanies every cannon shot and finally the feeling of a sword going through the insides of another man. “You’re about to vomit aren’t you?” she asks me. “What?” I reply, slowly realizing the anxiety and fear beginning to crawl its way out of my mouth in the form of the oats and fish I had earlier this morning. “
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“You think it’s odd how the whole camp is not worried after those attacks?” Pal’lacon asks me as we lazily look at the storm slowly filling up the valley with water. “A few angry unpaid mercenary barbarians turned bandits are not things to be worried about, I bet the others are more worried about missing Mistress Raletia’s dance show back in Iasi. After all, we did survive the Persians.” I reply. Pal’lacon nods his head and lights up his pipe again. “That’s not what worries me, I just don’t want to watch another bleeding farm boy get shot in the head” “You weren’t the one who shot him, old man” I reply while throwing stones at the mud. “I’m sorry Molag, I understand you’ve never done that---” “Done what? I’ve killed dozens if not hundreds before I killed that boy. What’s another nameless person on my list?” I find myself rather surprised at the outburst. “Sorry, it’s just
Last Updated : 2021-10-20
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It was a sound that men of the 3rd Company rarely heard. The Company’s forces were meant for heavy infantry and slow attacks but that didn’t mean we had no idea what an arrow sounded like when it descended on its target. And that’s what happened, the barbarians had seemingly launched every arrow they could find at us. “Damn it” was the word in every soldier’s mouth now. “TESTUDO!” screamed every single officer; we immediately locked down our shields in place in anticipation of the terrifying onset of fear and anxiety that was already writhing and crawling in our bo
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I was expecting the weather to turn dire and shower us all with some unneeded freezing rain, but surprisingly the weather stayed calm the whole day though, nothing wilder than a strong wind passed by. Varkii and I stayed at that supply tent till the next morning. I expected Trosdig to wake us up for the sake of Cohort solidarity but it seemed that he couldn’t care less, or perhaps he thought we were dead. … It wasn’t too long till I was awaken by a disturbing bright light shining brightening our resting spot, I expected it to be the Sunrise but instead it was just the one of the squads lighting up a massive bonfire for warmth. I look up into the sky and see the Moon shining brightly down upon us. “Serene isn’t it” I look behind me and see a woman standing behi
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Though the distance between me and the Cohort was only a few short paces, my sprint to close that distance felt like a day’s worth of marching, and the howling growls of the charging barbarians did very little to satiate my panic. Once I joined my comrades, Varis immediately slaps me in the head and garbles some angry words at me; I couldn’t hear any, thanks to the rumble of guns and the bashing of shields. I stay in the back ranks for a while, watching the barbarians slam wildly into our well packed ranks. So far, no casualties, though the breach in the wall was still flooding with our rag armored opponents. Miraculously, the fighting seemed to die down for a moment, that’s when Trosdig finally found some time to berate me. “By Loki’s Children! What is your job here Mallic?” “I I I am A Soldier of Remas!” I stammer, but with enough of the vigor and passion that I once ha
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It didn’t take too long for us to react and soon enough I had plunged my sword into the belly of a charging barbarian, I turn to face another but find none standing as the Captain’s bodyguard had quickly finished the last ones “Just a bunch of fast ones” Trosdig says as he hands me a shield, “We have to join the others” Exclaims one of the Centurions, who then begins our return back to our posts at the Eastern Wall. The crackle of gunfire forms an irregular but uplifting beat as the Gunners on the towers and the walls fire at will on our attackers. I look around and see glimpses of small groups of barbarians engaging Remanian soldiers or getting cut down by bullets and arrows, we later then passed one of the outer walls where the General’s bodyguard could be seen holding in the breach. But soon after navigating the twists and turns of the Encampment we had finally reached
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“Retreat! Fall back!” echoed the all the other Legionnaires running towards us down the hill. Despite the confusion, Trosdig’s defiant orders could be heard amidst the deafening screams of fear. “Hold you cowards!” He screamed as he drew his sword and lifted it up into the sky. A shiver begins to crawl throughout my entire body. My fingers begin to uneasily shake. “Forward” Screamed our Centurion, and so we marched up the hill through the throng of our fear stricken comrades, some who were covered by terrifyingly large splatters of blood adorning their gear. We continued to mutter prayers and hum songs of encouragement until it became terrifyingly clear that we were not facing an enemy of the usual sort as the ring of its engine and the whirl of its blade
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I pick up some mud from the ground and let it run through my fingers, allowing the descending mud to calm me down. “Gravlin Valley was not a simple stride. You think it was easy? I lost friends there too, people like you and I. Soldiers” I tell him “We faced the metal men and the hordes, I know what it feels like when the creaking of their gears echo across the field. And don’t forget we all fought in the Long War before all this? I mean for love of Providence, we all fought here against the Persians in the Long War didn’t we? Even if Captain Gilderscrowns did betray the principles, are we not all still part of the 17th Legion” I stare him in the eye hoping to bring my
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I had faced disrespect in the past, disrespect from my brothers, and disrespect from strangers, from officers, prisoners, enemies and so forth. The irritation that follows is something I have never outgrown so what followed next was a flurry of fists, curses and more spit as I wrestled the tattooed legionnaire to the ground. My opponent fought back as hard as any Remanian soldier was expected to and so did I. He struck back by punching at my ribs as I tried to land an elbow strike to his face, I clinch through the pain and go through with the attack as I feel his nose crack under my elbow. But despite that attack he is able to flip me over and then begins to deliver strike down on my face with a series of quick punches. I block with arms and catch one arm and use it
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“Death Death Death to all” Sung Frederick as we threw a body into the pile “I honestly don’t know if this is better, or worse” Said Quintus as he wiped off some barbarian blood on his sleeve. “A lot better than fighting I guess” I say, hopefully slightly raising the spirits of my squad mates. I continue to look for more bodies until one suddenly rises up and tries to attack us. He begins by screaming and swinging his spear wildly. An arrow stuck out from both his knee and belly while his left shoulder had a large bleeding bullet hole, and his skin was as pale as snow. This man was on his last drop of blood. “Stay back! TRUTH!” he screams then he stumbles and tries to balance himself with his spear. “You’re done now, drop your weapon.” I tell him as I keep my distance
How it Ends Chapter 25
After forming up, a group of officers led us to a set of habitation tents near the perimeter of the Southern walls of the fort, from which we were split up and assigned to the tents by squad. “Get some rest, you’re moving out before dawn and meeting up with the rest of the legion at the main fortress.” Says one of the Officers, we salute in response and begin unpacking. Trosdig had again released me as scribe after remembering my bad arm and took in Frederick this time. Once we settled by the tents, Cub passes by and I strike up a conversation with me “I thought there was a meeting?” I ask him “
