Marching With Caesar-Rise of Germanicus by R. W. Peake

Author:R. W. Peake [Peake, R. W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: R.W. Peake
Published: 2016-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

It is impossible to say with any certainty, but what I can say with a fair amount of assurance was that, less than a sixth part of a watch after I first set foot on the rampart, the stronghold of Splonum fell. Yes, it fell, not at Roman hands, but at the hands of those Maezaei townspeople who, we learned in the aftermath, had been kept more as prisoners than as fellow tribesmen to be protected. Once they were given the slightest excuse, these poor people had risen up and in their fury, and through the strength of their numbers, killed more Maezaei warriors in less than a third of a watch than, as we would learn, we had during our entire siege of the stronghold. Honestly, I only felt partially vindicated when we learned that, far from three thousand warriors, there were only about five hundred, and of those, only about a tenth part of the three thousand Germanicus had been convinced were contained within were healthy enough to lift a weapon. As we had witnessed, the inhabitants of the stronghold had been stricken with the plague, but we learned from survivors, when Decebalus, who was somehow still alive, was approached by the remaining elders and they beseeched him to surrender, those tribal elders had been put to the gladius at his command. This had happened some ten days prior to our scaling the wall, and in the intervening time, the son of Dodonis’ hold over his father’s subjects had become simultaneously more brutal and more tenuous. Our arrival had simply precipitated what had been brewing for days, and of all the unusual, odd moments, the fact that we had to protect Decebalus, who we had found cowering behind the precious few remaining sacks of grain, kept behind lock and key in an underground storeroom, not from Romans but from his own people, stands out in particular.

Next morning, when the sun rose, it fully exposed the horror inside what had begun as the pride of the Maezaei king, this large stone structure that served as both fortress and palace, but was now nothing more than a large tomb for most of those unfortunate to have been penned inside. Not surprisingly, it was quite the chaotic scene, as the men of Metellus’ section shoved open the gates and people went staggering out into the night, not caring in the slightest about anything other than getting away from the horrors behind them. Inevitably, when Germanicus led his horsemen, moving as quickly as was prudent under such dark conditions, up the road, and they encountered the first of the Maezaei villagers fleeing from the stronghold, these unfortunates were cut down before I could inform the Legate of all that had occurred. Even then, it was a terrifically disorganized mess, and rather than make matters better, the arrival of the First Cohort, with Rufius leading my Century, made them worse, at least at first. Not until we got dozens of torches lit, and Germanicus himself started issuing orders, was a semblance of order restored.

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