Rebellion A semi-historical AAR.

[Belisarius II]

Prologue

If there's one thing I remember about that day, it would have to be the wind. It wasn't even cold that day, the sun was shinning and one would have the temptation to take off his armor, yet with one breeze of the wind, he would instead keep it on. The wind was painful. It was if there were knives stabbing you with each gust. I sometimes wonder if the bodies that decorated the field felt the cold too.

Tyre. That was the name of that god forsaken town. Five months, it took five months to take some Thracian backwater town that was of no strategic value. We took Pella in three and Corinth in four, but for a little town in the mountains? Five! I could of visited my cousin in Epireos and came back only to find out that the army was still sitting on its ass. The Senate demanded to know why the legion hadn't burnt the damned thing to the ground and to tell the truth, no one knew why. We just couldn't. Every thing we tried, every siege tactic we knew, we could not get in. But then Sextus arrived and changed all that.






This is my first ever AAR so please lay off any insults or any comments that tell me what a horrible writer I am. Other than that, please feel free to give me advice! I need it! I'll try to write the first chapter soon.

[Hax]

Not at all, this is a promising start. I'm eager for more, don't you know we all had to start somewhere?

I'm awaiting the next update

[Belisarius II]

Chapter I

"Mattaeus!" Gaius called for his friend again, "Mattaeus, get up! Decius is doing a tent check!"
The words "tent" and "check" caused Mattaeus to suddenly sit straight up in his bed. "Where is he now?"
"He's checking out Marcus' boys right now," Gaius Cornelius explained, looking through the slit of the tent made by the opening. Just suddenly a loud roar sounded, as if a bear had just been attacked by a hunter. "Uh oh, he didn't like that tent," Gaius said with a smirk.
"He doesn't like anyone's tent, Gaius," Mattaeus Scipio explained as he was moving throughout the tent, trying to make it look spotless.
"Then why are you trying so hard to make this place perfect?" Gaius had sat himself down and was scrapping dirt out of the links of his chain mail with his finger nail.
"Because I'd rather be yelled at then whipped"
"Oh come on, Mattaeus, how many of our boys have been--"
"Have been what, Cornelius?" Centurion Decius Primus Amelius demanded as he stepped inside the tent. He was a hulk of a man, standing a good head above every man under his command. He had a deep voice and a stare that cause men to never look straight into his eyes.
"Sir, Gaius was only saying--," Mattaeus tried to explain.
"I'd like to hear it from him himself," Decius said, not even looking at Mattaeus.
Gaius had always been one to be in trouble so he was able to save his hide. "...have been saying how grateful they are to be under the command of such a great man."
Decius stared at Gaius, daring him to say more, but he saw that Gaius looked dead serious. He finally gave a large sigh and looked about the tent. He didn't stare at one object for even a second till his gaze fell upon another thing in the tent. "Sloppy, very sloppy, then again all the tents are sloppy." Decius went and started to exit the tent, but stopped mid-way. "The general has ordered another assault for today, get on that junk that I'm guessing at one point looked like armor on and report to the north gate in an hour," and with that Decius exited the tent and moved on to the next one.

Mattaeus and Gaius got in their armor, strapped their swords to their belt, picked out a pilum, and brought there shield out to the gate. Both Mattaeus and Gaius had a chain mail shirt, a large shield, a gladius, and a pilum That they held in their shield hand. They weren't the only ones preparing for battle. Seemingly only a few minutes ago the camp was quite with sleeping men, but now the entire camp was stirring. Cooks and servants scrambling to make a meal for the now hungry soldiers. Iron clashed on iron has the camp's blacksmiths started to pound away with their hammers. The wives and lovers who had traveled with their men were saying their good-byes. Some were in tears and some tried to look unconcerned.

Mattaeus and Gaius made their way past the crowds moving around the camp, and reached the northern most gate in the camp. Decius was already there as well as the rest of the centurions and junior officers.
"Why'd we get here so early, Decius said to be here in an hour."
"That was thirty minutes ago, Gaius, and anyways, I like to be prepared," Mattaeus said as more and more men gathered before the centurions. After the soldiers had all gathered, the general, Mattaeus Lucius Cotta appeared. Only it wasn't Cotta. A man in a simple black tunic stood before the now hushed legion.

"Today my friends, my fellow Romans, we shall take this town. Ha! I see the looks on your faces, the disbelieving looks. I assure you, I am no fool. I am Sextus Cornelius Flavius! And I will lead you to victory!"

[Vasiliyi]

Ive always liked aars that made you look into a soldiers life, not just battles. Good work. I will be following this one.

[Belisarius II]

Chapter II

The men just stared at Sextus. Silent, all that was heard was the blacksmiths forging their weapons and a child somewhere in the camp was crying. Not even the centurions seemed to grasp what the man in the black tunic had said. Someone mumbled something to his comrade and both men snickered silently to themselves.
"Mattaeus," Gaius whispered," does this guy seem a little out of it?"
Mattaeus was about to respond when Sextus started to whistle some tune, stepped off the small platform he had been on and went into the general's tent. At this, the centurions started to gather up their men. Decius came over to Mattaeus' and Gaius' cohort and shouted out orders.
"All right, out the gate! Come on, move you good for nothings! Keep formation! By the gods! Can't any of you walk in a straight line?"
It took fifteen minutes for the cohorts to leave the camp, get to the farthest point where the town's archers couldn't reach the soldiers, and then positioned themselves in two lines facing the town.

Mattaeus and Gaius doubted they would be in any fight, for they were both principes. They were not the principes of old, however, in fact it was just a name, ever since the reforms of Gaius Marius. Instead they knew, the hastati, would earn the glory, if they could get on to the walls which they had failed to do for ten times now.

Mattaeus ordered the men to form up behind the hastati. Mattaeus was the optio of the century, which made him second in command of it. Decius had gone up to the the tribunus militum, Sextus Lepidus, to discuss the battle the would immense any minute now. Just then a duo of trumpeters blew the instruments and the hastati charged as one. The man to Mattaeus' left scowled,
"Lepidus is an idiot. What does he plan to accomplish with some barbaric charge?"
The hastati were now in range of the defender's arrows, the few archers on the high wooden wall let loose their missiles at the charging men. Mattaeus flinched when he saw an arrow go straight through the neck of a hastati towards the back of their cohort. Then the ladders went up, the hastati clambering up to try to be the first on the wall. A defender with a falx was single handedly holding one of the ladders at bay, chopping down his curved blade on the heads of the hastati trying to get up the ladder without falling, let alone trying to defend themselves. One of the ladders was pushed off the walls with soldiers still on it. The defenders gave a large cheer as it toppled over.

"This isn't working," Mattaeus thought to himself, " there has to be another way."
"Why can't we just charge in there and help them?" Gaius demanded, "They getting slaughtered out there!"
"I can't." Indeed it was ultimately up to Lepidus whether or not the cohort would charge. Just then when the hastati started to retreat from the assault, the unthinkable happened: the town's gate opened.

[Belisarius II]

So far all I've written has been off the top of my head so I may not post Ch. 3 tomorrow, instead I'll write up the story. Also, as for pics, should I use them? Or is the story fine how it is? I'm still confused with the whole Fraps and photobucket account, so if anyone here knows how to get pics on the forums, that would be great.

[Vasiliyi]

Check the gameplay guides sticky. In it should be a link called "writing an AAr-a guide" I get into detail as to how to get screenshots. If you have any questions, just pm me.

[the man with no name]

I like this AAR so far, good luck.

[Belisarius II]

I'll have Ch 3 posted tomorrow

EDIT: I lied

[Belisarius II]

Chapter III

Mattaeus had to take a minute before he realized what was happening. The gate was opening, the hastati were running towards the rest rest of the cohort, and the defenders looked to running amok on the walls. Shouting was heard and then a loud clash of iron upon wood was heard, behind the wall.
"Decius! The gate!"
Decius was on his horse galloping towards the century, "Move it! All centuries! Get into that damn town!"Other centurions were shouting the same along the line of shocked principes. Then, toghter as one, the whole line advanced at a steady pace towards the town.
"Tyre will be ours today!" A centurion shouted somewhere behind Mattaeus. He couldn't see that much to the left or right of him for his helmet blocked his view. Some arrows landed harmlessly in the frostbitten ground ahead of Mattaeus, but he didn't notice. He was focused on the gate, afraid that it might be a trap, that the gate would shut and the archers of the town would release volley upon volley on the Romans. Yet the principes got closer and the gate did not shut. The cohort was now making their way around the bodies of the fallen hastati. "Now is the perfect time for them to attack," Mattaeus thought to himself," we'd be disorganized from going around these bodies, we wouldn't stand a chance if the attacked."
"Can't wait to see what they have hidden in their, eh Mattaeus?" Gaius was grinning, which gave Mattaeus a little more confidence that his friend be right next to him, guarding his right.

Now Mattaeus could see clearly past the gate. A long road lead from the gate directly to the town's center. Buildings of Greek, Thracian, and Macedonian architecture lined the street. The defenders had all but left the wall undefended. No one was in sight, but that all changed once Mattaeus entered the town. Bodies. Packs of them littered a street that seemed to run along side the wall. They were mostly archers and skirmishers which led Mattaeus to think that these men hadn't expected an attack from the town they were defending. Fighting was heard coming from the town's center.
"What happened here?" A soldier behind Mattaeus asked.
"Maybe they were fighting each other?" Another suggested.
"Sounds like they still are."
"Then who opened the gate?" Gaius asked, looking down the main street.
"Advance down the main road!" Decius had entered the town and was ordering the men to get to whatever was happening in the town. He didn't looked surprised to see the dead corpses of the enemy, he almost looked like he expected them to be there.
"You heard him, keep formation and advance!" Mattaeus called out to his men.
"Aye, optio!" The men of the century cried.
Mattaeus was now more alert than ever, expecting an enemy to fly out of a house and come right at him. "If I fall, you know what you must do," Decius had dismounted his steed and now took his place next to Mattaeus.
"I will become centurion, but I pray that does not happen."
Decius gave a grunt and said no more. The three cohorts of principes were coming to Tyre's center now, and all witnessed what was happening. The principes were looking at the backs of the entire town's garrison. It was a huge shock to see who they were fighting: a cohort of triarii. The triarii had blockaded themselves in what looked to be a barracks. The garrison had surrounded the building and was obviously trying to break in the building. The defenders still did not notice the 1440 soldiers that had just appeared. That is until a man with one eye holding an axe turned around and shouted something. The entire rear of the enemy turned to see the later deemed rescuers staring back at them. Gaius stopped and couldn't believe how many of them there were.
"Crap."

[the man with no name]

Nice. Keep it up!

[Vasiliyi]

Good narrative so far, i like how you end your chapters abruptly to keep up guessing.

[Belisarius II]

Chapter IV

"Shield wall!"
The Romans were interlocking their shields the moment the order was given. The enemy was forming there own shield wall about fifty feet in front of the principes. Then for a split second, nothing happened. Nothing moved, nothing made a sound. Mattaeus released a breath, realizing he had been holding it. He had been in battles where a line of soldiers could stare at each other for hours until one side had the courage to charge. Tyre's defenders were the first to gather up that courage and they charged. At that point, nothing else mattered to Mattaeus. He didn't notice Decius to his left, nor Gaius to his right, his entire focus was on the man in front of him. A sad sight quite actually, a man with a helmet too big for his head came charging straight at Mattaeus. He had an old, beat up hoplite shield that was almost, certainly taken from a Thracian raid. His only armor was a small square piece of bronze strapped to his chest. The man's weapon was a short spear he had at his waist, its head pointed at Mattaeus feet. Then all of Mattaeus' senses came to him all at once. Mattaeus got out of his trance and slammed his shield against the ground. The man's spear rammed straight into it, but the shield turned out to be stronger, for the spear snapped in two at the impact of the strike. Mattaeus rammed his short sword over the top rim of the shield, and watched as the sword went straight into the man's face. Mattaeus felt the man's weight on the shield give way and Mattaeus stepped into the gap he had made. The one eyed man that had seen the principes first tried to use his axe to hook on to Mattaeus' shield, trying to hook and then pull it out of Mattaeus' hand. The one eyed man was able to hook his axe on to the shield, but didn't get the chance to pull away at it for Gaius rammed his sword into the man's belly. The man's eye glazed over and fell backwards.
"Kill them! Kill them!" Decius was rallying the men forward, "Break them! Drive them back!"
Shouting was heard ahead of the Mattaeus and made it out to be that the triarii had made a sally out of the barracks.

The battle soon became a massacre. The defenders were no fighters. The defenders' only hope was the town's walls, where they could kill the Romans from afar, and kill them one by one as they tried to climb the ladders. Now, the Romans were in a large open field in the center of Tyre, and were fighting how they were trained to fight. The killing became systematical, block, stab, move to the next one, block, stab, this went on and on for what seemingly felt like hours. Yet in ten minutes the battle was over. It took ten minutes to take a town that had kept the Romans at bay for five months. The enemy men, sensing the battle was lost, were now running to their homes in a futile attempt to save their homes and families. The cohort's centurions were trying to get the principes in line, but eventually gave up trying to round them up, for the only thing on those principe's minds was plunder.
"Gaius," Mattaeus called out, "Gaius, where are you?"
"Off to the tavern most likely." It was Decius, blood soaked his tunic. "Don't worry it's not mine," sensing what Mattaeus was staring at. "Come with me."

The two started towards the barracks where the triarii were all grinning to themselves and bragging to each other of the fights they had in the battle. Mattaeus wanted to ask how they had gotten in the middle of the town in the first place, but Decius didn't look like he was in the mood to answer any of Mattaeus' questions. Decius went up to the doorway of the barracks and called out, "Come out you lucky bastard." Mattaeus' eyes were glued to the doorway, and then stared open mouthed, for coming out of the doorway was the man Mattaeus had least expected to see, for the man standing triumphantly in the doorway was none other than Sextus Cornelius Flavius.

[Belisarius II]

Chapter V

"Decius! How nice of you to come and save me," Sextus said with a mischievous grin,"and who's this you've brought with you? One of yours no doubt."
"He's the optio of my century sir. He goes where I go because he's the best damn soldier in the cohort."
That was an exaggeration of course, but Mattaeus still reddened a bit at being complimented in front of the commander of the legion. He was glad he still was wearing his helmet.
"I see. Well alright then, both of you come in."

The barracks smelt of blood and sweat, for the smells of battle had not left the wooden building. It had a hearth in the middle of the room where a group of triarii surrounded it, trying to keep warm. The building was one story and had tall walls. There was no armor or weapons on the racks that once held them and were lining the walls. Mattaeus suspected that either the defenders had taken them all or some of the triarii had taken some to be sold for a few coins.
"Wait here till I come back. Sextus has ordered all tribunes and centurions in the legion to meet him in that hall." Decius pointed out of a window at a large wooden and stone building on a hill to the north of the town. Mattaeus assumed it was the hall of Tyre's leader, who was claimed to be killed during the battle at the town's center. Decius then followed Sextus and a group of other centurions out of the barracks.
"So now we optes sit here on our asses all day, while the rest of the men plunder everything."
Marcus Atticus had now stood by Mattaeus, watching the departing group disappear into the town. Marcus was not the best fighter in the cohort, but he was an amazing strategist. There had been plenty of times when Lepidus had had a talk with Marcus before a battle. He cares more about plunder than anything else. He had always said and has always said it,"Rome runs on two things, Mattaeus, adn those will always be war, women, and wine."

And there looking out of the window, Mattaeus and Marcus looked upon the conquered town. And then the screaming started.

[Belisarius II]

I could use some help on a matter. So far I'm posting short chapters in around 3 days. My question is should I continue posting like this or start to post longer chapters that would take me possibly a week to post?

[Vasiliyi]

short chapters are nice, and keep things easy for people who dont have a lot of time to read. Keep this up

[the man with no name]

short chapters are nice, and keep things easy for people who dont have a lot of time to read. Keep this up

Exactly. Very nice cliffhangers too.

[Belisarius II]

Chapter VI

At first the two men thought nothing of it, but then it came a second time, then a third, and then too many to count. The cry's of men and the screams if women was heard throughout the town.
"What's going on out there?" Marcus started towards the doorway,"Well come on, let's have a look."
Mattaeus and Marcus came out of the barracks and went down the main street. The entire legion had entered the town and had started plundering Tyre. The bodies of men, women, children, and even dogs, littered the streets. Groups of men were claiming the homes of the townspeople. The men, who had fought in the town's center, were now all dead. They had tried to protect their homes and died mercilessly because of it. The Romans were angry. They had been fighting Tyre's forces for five months and now had let their fury unleash upon the townspeople. A young woman was being carried away by a soldier, who had a large smile on his face. A chest suddenly fell in front of Mattaeus a hand's breath away from his face. He looked down at the chest, then looked up to see a soldier staring back at him from a window on the house's second floor.
"That's mine! Go get rich somewhere else!" The soldier then hurriedly went from the window to get to his loot. The man hadn't even noticed that he had, in a way, ordered an optio. Moving away from the house, a woman was in the middle of the street, naked and tied to a barrel, where a line of soldiers waited in line to have their fun with her. Marcus turned away. Indeed, he was very fond of plunder, but had never enjoyed the raping of women.

"Mattaeus!"
Mattaeus turned to see Gaius coming from a house with a bunch of silver bracelets on his arms.
"Marcus, there's a house not far from here that hasn't been taken yet. If you hurry you can get it all for yourself."
Marcus was plainly tempted, but decided he alone could not loot a home by himself. The three then walked through all the murder, rape, and pillage, and arrived back at the barracks, where many of the Roman women of the army had started unpacking their belongings brought from the camp. One of the triarii that had been in the barracks said that one of the buildings bedrooms wasn't taken, so Mattaeus bid Gaius and Marcus a good night and tried to sleep through the night. And the screaming went on all through the night.

[Belisarius II]

Chapter VII

David woke up to a load uproar outside. He got up and walked onto his small balcony where he saw a large group of people in the markets, or now as they were called, the forum.
"Well better go see what all the commotion is about."
David walked down the stairs, gave his mother a peck on the cheek, and was out in the scorching heat. A group of children ran past him, laughing as they tried to catch each other. This was a good day, David decided as he walked down the street. The day was almost perfect, if it wasn't for the gradually becoming louder group of people in the forum. David entered the forum to see a large group of people, apparently of the poor, gathered at the far end of the forum were a podium was placed.
"We need food!"
"You'll kill us all!"
"How can we pay your taxes?"
This was but a few of the words David could make out as he walked hastily over to the growing crowd to see what was exactly going on.
"Calm down! Be quite you ingrates!" These words came from Cato Licinius Septimus, the governor of Jerusalem. He was a strict man, one who would be better at leading armies than running a town, let alone a city. He was of middle age, a short, plump man who was always flustered whenever he didn't get what he wanted. And there was always rumors that flowed through the city like a river, that Septimus was a corrupted and greedy man.

At this point high priest of the Temple, Kohen Gadol stepped forward, at the head of the crowd.
"My governor, the taxes you have placed upon us can not be payed. You have taken all of the riches of the civilians!"
To this, Septimus stepped down from the podium and walked up to Kohen, "Your precious temple must have at least four year's worth of taxes, and you come to me with your followers and tell me that you cannot pay them? Do you question the emperor's right to rule here?"
"No,I did not say--"
"Then you WILL pay them by tomorrow, or so help me, I will find them in your temple."
"That is a sacred place! You cannot desecrate a temple of your own people!"
It was too late by then, for the governor and his bodyguard had already started for the palace. This caused a uproar of pleas, complaints, and insults form the whole crowd. David shook his head sadly and walked back to his home. He prayed that God would help his people get rid of Septimus and his corrupted rule.

His prayers were answered.

[Belisarius II]

This is not dead yet, I've haven't gotten the chance to write anything these past weeks, I'll have an update soon!

[G. Septimus]

Cato Licinius Severus- nice name. Cato was a cognomen, not a pranomen. Gens Licinia in the Severii????? cool- Nice one bel, keep it up!!!!

[Belisarius II]

Chapter VIII

"Ah-ha! I win again Gaius! Hand 'em over!" Marcus whooped for joy as his arrow hit the bulls-eye of the target.
"What? You cheated!"
"Cheated? I shot an arrow you git! How in Jupiter's name I'm I able to cheat?" Marcus smiled again, "You now owe me five denarii, we made a deal and I won it fair and square."
Gaius spat on the ground and reluctantly hand his coins to Marcus, defeated. Just then, Mattaeus came around the corner of the inn at which the three were staying at, with three cups and a small vase filled to the brim with wine. The three were lightning fast, and before one knew it, the three men were on the ground and done with their first cup and moving on to the next.
"Not as good as the wine back home, but it'll do."

Peace. The Empire finally had peace. Well at least in the Eastern portion of the Empire. Many provinces of Gaul, Africa, and Hispania had recently "rebelled" from the Empire. Emperor Nero and his mad antics had caused these rebellions. "When your emperor starts singing in the middle of the Forum, you know you've got a problem," Gaius would always say. This was quickly followed by Mattaeus saying, "And that's why you'll never be emperor, no one can't stand you singing!" Thracia was about to join its western counterparts, and that's why the Legio XX had been sent from Campania to Thracia.

The legion was now at Andros, an island town off the coast of Achaea, near the city of Athens. Really, the legion was doing nothing at the moment, except relax from the siege of Tylis. Little did the legion know it was to be called into duty once again, for the glory of the Senate and the people of Rome.

[the man with no name]

Nice update. Glad 2 see this is still alive.

[Belisarius II]

Chapter IX

The heat beat down upon the brow of Cato Licinius Septimus. He reached for a cloth to wipe off the sweat gathering on his face. He stood in his private quarter, in front of his small personal shrine. "They are almost in," he thought as a third bash was heard and the door shook with a force. Septimus knelt down in front of the shrine and prayed silently to himself.
"Dear Jupiter, lord of all, give me strength," the small figurine of the god he held was shaking for he could not steady his hands,"Mars, lord of battle, have pity upon me."
A fourth great bash on the door caused the vase of wine on a stool nearby to fall and shatter on a mosaic of Nero. The red liquid covered the stone face of the emperor.
"Dear Juno, look upon those of my family that still live," a fifth bash was heard and the sound of wood cracking on iron sounded throughout the room. "Minerva, forgive me for my wrongs," a sixth bash, caused half the door to collapse, and the voices of many were heard shouting behind it. "Mercury, send my ancestors word that I come." At that moment, the men of Jerusalem, the common men, the plebeians of the city, men that had turned on their masters, came bursting through the door and into the room, swords and knives drawn. Septimus stood and turned to his assailants and shouted to the heavens,

"Pluto! I come to thee!"

[the man with no name]

Chapter IX

The heat beat down upon the brow of Cato Licinius Septimus. He reached for a cloth to wipe off the sweat gathering on his face. He stood in his private quarter, in front of his small personal shrine. "They are almost in," he thought as a third bash was heard and the door shook with a force. Septimus knelt down in front of the shrine and prayed silently to himself.
"Dear Jupiter, lord of all, give me strength," the small figurine of the god he held was shaking for he could not steady his hands,"Mars, lord of battle, have pity upon me."
A fourth great bash on the door caused the vase of wine on a stool nearby to fall and shatter on a mosaic of Nero. The red liquid covered the stone face of the emperor.
"Dear Juno, look upon those of my family that still live," a fifth bash was heard and the sound of wood cracking on iron sounded throughout the room. "Minerva, forgive me for my wrongs," a sixth bash, caused half the door to collapse, and the voices of many were heard shouting behind it. "Mercury, send my ancestors word that I come." At that moment, the men of Jerusalem, the common men, the plebeians of the city, men that had turned on their masters, came bursting through the door and into the room, swords and knives drawn. Septimus stood and turned to his assailants and shouted to the heavens,

"Pluto! I come to thee!"

I wonder what happened?

[Belisarius II]

Chapter X

Kohen Gadol stood on top of the stairs leading to the Temple, facing the entire city that had come to hear his words. The entire city did indeed come; the entire temple complex was filled with people. Merchants, potters, smiths, priests, musicians, soldiers, all of the city was there. Children ran through the crowds, weaving in and out of groups of the onlookers.

A merchant that had just arrived into Jerusalem that day walked up to David, who was leaning against the outer wall that ran around the temple complex. He wanted to know what had happened to get the entire city riled up. And so David told him the tale.

Apparently Cato Licinius Septimus had taken up his promise to find his taxes. He sent a quite large battalion of the garrison to sack the temple of Solomon. A large group of Jewish men had barricaded the gateway into the complex. The centurion leading the brigade ordered the men to step aside. One of the preists did not want the conflict to end in violence and ran towards the Romans with a golden scepter as a token to be given to the governor as payment for taxes. Well, the centurion thought he was being charged at by a man with a spear and so threw his pila at the priest, killing him outright. The men at the gate charged the soldiers in a fury of rage. The rest happened so fast. Roman soldiers heard the brawl at the Temple and were moving in to aid their brethren when at the same time the citizens of the city heard the shouts of revolution throughout the streets. The city moved as one swift wind that the Romans must of thought was the very wind of hell coming upon them. The Romans were dreadfully outnumbered and were massacred. The few Roman families that had any sense at all fled from the city during the panic. The rest that stayed were soon to be slaughtered by blood hungry Jews.

David said to the merchant that he was guarding his house in case any Roman soldiers came in hopes of looting homes in the chaos, although he knew that he had been doing something he would most surely get killed for saying at that time and moment.

[Belisarius II]

Chapter XI

Three hours earlier.

David ran out of his house to find what all the noise outside was. People were everywhere. Running through the streets. Some of them with weapons.
"What's happening?" David quickly pulled aside a man.
"Are you a fool? It is our chance for freedom!" With that, the man pushed aside David and ran to join a group of men moving towards the Roman district. David knew what was happening and ran the opposite direction, into the forum. He was moving quickly through the crowds of people gathering in the streets. At one corner he stopped dead in his tracks. A Roman guard lay dead across the street. The guard's head was missing.
"I can't be late."
Picking up his pace again, he made a straight shot towards the forum. No one was there as he expected. No one except for an old woman in a home's doorway, watching, and a few bodies of Romans, still in the market stalls. David made for a certain stall that had robes that had the Star of King David decorated on them. David took three from their hangers and then made his way to the Roman district. He was running as he tripped on his own feet and fell, scraping open his knee. He did not notice the bleeding cut, however, and ran as fast as a man was able through the city. He did notice anything really. He was focused on one thing, all others did not come to mind. He then saw traces of smoke coming from the Roman district. Smoke caused by large fires. Adrenaline pumped through his body as he cried out in horror, to his own belief. He ran and ran, and when others would of fell from exhaustion, David kept on running. Once he got into the district, everything was in chaos. It seemed as if the world was ending. Bodies littered the streets. Screams of women and children were drowned out by the cries of men. Fires raged in some parts of the area, Jews cheering wildly. It was at this point that David had reached his destination, not far from the chaos. Panting heavily for a moment, he looked up to see a small Roman boy in the street. He seemed to be part of a noble family. Wearing a silk tunic and a small golden bulla around his neck, his bright, fine blond hair, sadly soaked in blood. The boy's face was unreadable, mainly because he lie face down in the ground.
"What have we become? We are God's people, and He allows this?"
"David! Thank Jupiter!" David's best friend, Tertius Rutilius, stepped out of his home to embrace his friend.
"Thank God, Tertius, not Jupiter," although David doubted his own words.
"What's happening? I Heard screaming and yelling and --"
"No time to explain, hear put these on you and Rutilia and your daughter," David handed over the three robes that Tertius took and brought inside his house. A few moments later Tertius and family came out of the house, looking like lepers, with cloths covering their faces. They had a few belongings that they carried.
"Good. Walk towards the forum and then head towards the North Gate. If people come your way, they should leave you alone, but best try to avoid anyone."
Tertius was about to say something, but instead gave David a curt nod and took his wife and child towards the forum.
"Godspeed, Tertius!" David yelled and then to him self, "Godspeed."

[Belisarius II]

Sorry for the delay, final exams are coming up and I haven't had the time to update yet. Don't give up on this AAR yet!