Rising Sun (MAGNUS) (Volume 1) by Robert Allen Johnson

Author:Robert Allen Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub

CAPITULUM X

Spring came early to the Italian peninsula, which allowed Sulla to toy with Marius the Younger in the province of Latium. Word of his success reached the snowbound Cisalpine Gaul, causing grumbles among the anxious men awaiting their own day of departure. When it finally came to pass, the armies in Cisalpine Gaul were split into three forces led by Metellus, Crassus and Pompey. Scouts reported sightings of Carbo and Carrinas in Etruria, Umbria, and southern Picenum, so the three armies kept eyes and ears open for any signs of the enemy as they descended into Umbrian territory.

It didn’t take long to find Carrinas, who was encamped near the Sapis River within shouting distance of the town Sarsina. For three days, the opposing armies lined up against each other, but the weather turned to heavy rain each morning, preventing any battle from taking place. On the fourth day, Metellus led the attack with Father commanding the right flank. With the river on his right and the forces charging west, Father led Ignis into battle once again.

As my father pressed the enemy on the right and Crassus on the left, Metellus feinted a retreat from his position in the center and the two flanks shifted much like a door opening from its center point. With no clue as to what was occurring along the flanks, Carrinas applied pressure to Metellus’s retreat and stepped into the trap. After falling back for a quarter mile, Metellus spun around to face Carrinas, now boxed in on three sides. Father was now facing south, Crassus north, and Metellus west; my father and Crassus pressed their lines, squeezing the army of Carrinas like a winepress and began to cut them down with ease before the enemy realized what had befallen them.

“All was shrouded in a haze. I jumped from Ignis at some point, but don’t know exactly when my feet touched the soil. I stood eye to eye with other Romans much like me, striking them down one by one. There was fear and terror in their eyes as they felt my blade enter and exit once again. With each retreat of my gladius, I could almost see their spirit ascend to the heavens as their lifeblood poured to the ground. I was shield-less, but not afraid. Eventually, Marinus grabbed ahold of me and pulled me behind the front line, pushing another soldier into the empty space now unfilled.

“I stood behind the first three lines of men after that. Ignis was nowhere to be seen and I feared for his life. I occasionally heard the screams of what I thought were horses, although they could have been men for all I know. I saw my own soldiers fall, blood spattering the faces of their killers. The dead were replaced by more men, who had no choice but trample their fallen comrades to push the enemy further back toward Crassus and his legion.

“It was an eternity as I watched the events unfold from behind. I chanced a glance to the sky, but the sun seemed to have rested in place and forbade time from existing.

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