Bluebottlejr
Legionary
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posted
23 April 2014 21:29
EDT (US)
23 / 27
Thank you for all your comments and as promised, chapter 6 is ready for reading! Chapter 6: The Siege of Porrolissum
Byzas, Brinkanzos, a surgeon called Pallucius and two guards called Mankanuis and Ollopikan surrounded the slow breathing body of Consuias, who was still unconscious.
‘How long till he wakes up?’ Byzas asked Pallucius.
‘He should be awake in about 2 to 3 hours, or perhaps even longer,’ he answered.
Byzas continued to look at the unconscious Consuias.
‘Did he have to charge into that horde with spears? By the gods, let him live.’
‘So what now? Do we wait for him to awake or do we go straight for Porrolissum? If it’s the latter, do we need more men?’ asked Ollopikan.
Brinkanzos turned his head to look at Ollopikan. ‘I do not know, but I cannot answer your questions pacifically, Byzas can though.’
Ollopikan looked at Byzas with the question in his face.
‘I’m not sure, but I suppose that we should stay here and heal our wounded,’ Byzas replied.
Just then, a guard from outside the tent came in and addressed Byzas.
‘Sir, your spy from Porrolissum has arrived,’ the guard said.
‘Let him in,’ replied Byzas.
The spy, called Getrakes, entered the tent and bowed in front of Byzas.
‘Greetings, general,’ greeted Getrakes. ‘I bring news that may interest you.’
‘Tell me then.’
‘This fort was attacked by the Dacian reinforcement army, led by Scyles, second brother of the Dacian king.’
‘So that’s who the Dacian leader was, damn him!’
‘Why is that, sir?’
Byzas’ face started to turn red with anger.
‘He killed several good men and he threw a spear into Consuias!’
Getrakes remained silent as Byzas raged with anger, but Brinkanzos calmed him down.
‘Calm down, Byzas,’ Brinkanzos said. ‘You must keep calm.’
Byzas then sat on a chair and began to think.
‘Its time, time for vengeance, death and victory. Its time to attack Porrolissum!’
‘What are you thinking, general?’ asked Mankanuis.
Byzas stood up and began to walk outside to the tent. He then stoped halfway out of the tent and turned his head towards the others.
‘We’re moving out in around 2 to 3 hours. Get those men who are still able to fight and make sure they’re training for battle,’ he ordered.
Brinkanzos nodded his head and walked with Byzas outside the tent. While walking, Byzas and Brinkanzos talked.
‘We must get ready for battle soon, if we leave earlier, then we might be able to take Porrolissum quicker,’ stated Byzas.
Brinkanzos nodded his head in agreement.
‘Agreed. If we train the men for only an hour and a half, we can still make it to Porrolissum before sunset.’
‘Alright then, its agreed. We train the men for an hour and a half, then we marched to Porrolissum,’ said Byzas. ‘But should we take the wounded with us?’
Brinkanzos stoped walking and thought of a reply.
‘Well, to be honest, no,’ Brinkanzos answered. ‘If we take them with us it will only slow us down. I suggest we send a messenger to Symarus and tell him to abandon his fort and join up with this fort immediately.’
Byzas nodded with agreement.
‘Very well then, I shall do that now, go and train the men for battle.’
Brinkanzos bowed and walked towards the men.
‘May the gods watch over us for the next few days.’
* * *
Consuias awoke with a headache and a pain in his side, he groaned in agony and tried to look around the place, but could hardly see, his vision was blurry. After a couple of seconds his vision returned and he saw a person watching him and drinking wine.
‘Nice to see you awake, friend,’ the man said.
Consuias looked up at him.
‘Where have I heard that voice before?’
Consuias groaned again and thought where he knew that voice, he looked at him again and tried to remember where he knew him from, but it was the mans curly black hair and the way he smiled that gave him away. Consuias smiled.
‘Symarus, what are you doing here?’ he asked.
Symarus smiled with a smirk.
‘I came because a messenger told me that Byzas needed me here to defend the wounded while he was out.’
‘How long was I out?’
‘I’m not quite sure, I only came half an hour ago, but I’m sure you’ve been out for hours.’
Symarus then stood up and walked in front of Consuias and held a cup of wine in front of him.
‘Want some wine?’ Symarus asked Consuias.
Consuias shook his head. ‘I’d prefer water instead.’
‘Suit yourself.’
Symarus sipped more wine; his smile was gone as he looked at Consuias.
‘I heard that wine is good for the blood, apparently it keeps you warm,’ Symarus pointed out.
‘Are you naturally a drunkard, Symarus?’ Consuias asked.
Symarus then smiled with a grin on his face.
‘I’m not a drunkard, but I could’ve been if it hadn’t been for the dead king, Sautes.’
Consuias nodded his head in agreement, knowing that Sautes had also recruited him as well.
There was a long silence in the tent, as both men thought of the past, the present and the future. The silence was broken when Consuias asked a question.
‘Did Byzas leave any message before he left?’
‘Yes, he did leave a message,’ Symarus answered. ‘He said he was heading for Porrolissum to lay siege to it.’
Consuias then went quiet for a small time, thinking about what he could do.
‘I can’t stay here and hear about what happens after the siege, I can’t stay here, I can’t.’
‘What are you thinking off?’ asked Symarus.
Consuias looked at Symarus. ‘Nothing, its nothing.’
Symarus looked at Consuias, uncertain if he was telling the truth.
‘Well, I must leave now, but I’ll get a guard to bring you some water,’ Symarus said.
‘Thank you, Symarus.’
Symarus left the tent and 3 minutes later, a guard came in with a jug of water and placed it beside Consuias’ bed. Consuias nodded his head in thanks and went back to thinking about a plan.
‘I cannot miss out the battle at Porrolissum; I came to this godforsaken place to fight at the Dacian capital and I shall do so! I’ll wait for a few minutes then disguise myself as a soldier, after that I’ll grab a horse and ride towards Porrolissum.’
With his plan planned out, Consuias did what he thought off. He left his tent to see no one around nearby, luck was on his side as he saw the armoury near him, and he entered it and found no one inside.
‘The gods must favour me.’
He found a suit of light armour and a helmet and put it all on, after that he left the armoury and headed for the stables. He arrived to see that one guard was guarding it.
‘Damn! I best use trickery to get myself a horse.’
Consuias approached the guard and greeted him.
‘I come on Symarus’ orders, I am to scout the area to the west to see if any enemy armies are around.’
The guard did not look convinced. ‘Are you sure, because if Symarus wanted you to go out and scout around, he would’ve told me instead of you.’
‘Well, he’s busy with other stuff at the moment.’
The guard sighed and let him take a horse.
‘Be careful. By the way, what your name?’
Consuias thought hard to think of a name, then he thought of one.
‘My name is Petrikas,’ Consuias answered.
‘Well then, Petrikas, good luck,’ the guard said.
Consuias nodded his head and rode out of the stables and the gate, towards Porrolissum. After 10 minutes of riding, his wound began to grow in pain again.
‘Damn it! I need to rest and put that herb on it, but I haven’t got time!’
Consuias rode on towards his target, hoping that he wouldn’t arrive to late.
* * *
Byzas took shelter behind a large shield to protect himself from arrow fire, he saw a person near him get pierced by an arrow in the chest. Byzas could hear the man screaming in pain and agony then he saw the man fall to the ground, still struggling around on the ground, before he stoped yelling and died.
‘Poor bugger. Pity I couldn’t help him.’
Byzas turned towards some peltests.
‘Fire at will!’ he commanded.
The peltests open-fired over the wall into Dacian warriors and archers, Byzas could hear some of them yell and one of them cry out in pain before he became silent.
Byzas turned towards the encampment, where battering rams were being constructed to ram down the gate.
Byzas looked at the Dacian walls again, and realised that they weren’t prepared for a defence.
‘Idiots. Could they not at least try to put effort into building better defences? Well, that Dacians for you, they’re warriors, not defenders.’
He heard his name get called from a soldier near him; Byzas turned his head to look at the soldier.
‘What is it?’ Byzas asked.
The soldier ran next to him and took cover with his own shield before replying.
‘Brinkanzos brings word from the encampment, he says that he needs more wood to build the battering rams,’ the soldier replied.
‘Well tell him he can go and find some more.’
‘He could, but there’s no wood left around here for about 5 to 8 miles,’ the soldier sighed.
Byzas’ face turned red with displeasure about the news of lack of wood.
‘The Dacians must have cut most of the wood down and used it for new defences.’
The soldier nodded his head in agreement.
‘Brinkanzos suggests that you and your men should return to the encampment, he says that you have weakened the enemy enough and encourages you to return.’
Byzas looked at the defences, then he turned to look at his men taking cover while throwing javelins and firing arrows over the palisade wall.
‘Very well then,’ Byzas said. ‘Men, we are returning to the encampment, leave the dead, but try to take their war gear, carry the wounded as well.’
He saw his men run towards dead men and take as much as they could carry, then they headed towards the encampment carrying a few wounded men with them. When they reached the camp they saw men arguing about were to find wood at this time of the siege.
Byzas walked towards Brinkanzos and three other men, who were arguing, Byzas could recognise one of the three men, his name was Mankanuis, he was one of Consuias’ guards.
Byzas approached them, asking what the commotion was about.
‘We are arguing about where we can find any good wood,’ replied Mankanuis.
‘I was saying that we should use the wood of the camp’s defensive wall,’ said a man called Kratheta.
The last man, called Apraces, refused to continue with the confiscation and said that he was going to practice using a spear, this left Byzas, Brinkanzos, Mankanuis and Kratheta to argy about how to find more wood. After 15 minutes of arguing, they decided to go along with Kratheta’s plan, which was to use the camp’s defensive walls for the battering rams.
But just after the discussion, their scouts found a Dacian army heading towards them, and Scyles, prince of the Dacians, led the reinforcements.
When Byzas head of the Dacian reinforcements heading their way, he ordered his men to defend the camp, after they entrenched themselves in the camp they could see the Dacians coming, the Battle of Porrolissum was about to begin. "Its my duty, my duty as a complete and utter !@#$%^&*!" -Rimmer “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” -Gandalf "Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition!" "The die is cast." -Gaius Julius Caesar
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