Daggers of the Republic: A Romani AAR

[johnhughthom]

Three days later all eight men watched the city as they marched in file, swinging to the right to enter the battleline in the correct position. Nobody expected the Greeks within to accept the invitation to battle, but these things had to be done. They stood with the rest of the army for four hours in the late morning and early afternoon that day, before the order to return to camp was given. Drusus left to meet their centurion as the camp was being assembled for the night, he returned a few hours later to let his men know what would be happening tomorrow. "Some of the residents of the city are tired of their foreign overlords, the King we kicked out of Italy has abandoned them and they realise we are the true power in Italia. The gates will be opened tomorrow, we will enter the city and kill the garrison, the population are to be spared, we come as liberators not conquerors."

"Nice speech, did the centurion use that one on you?" mocked Camillus. "No, I came up with it all on my own. Thought you might need some words to back up your pretty armour before the battle." retorted the decanus. The others laughed at Camillus being put in his place. "Right, get some sleep, it'll be a long day tomorrow."

Morning came, the sun high in the sky, not a cloud in sight. The army wheeled into position as they had the previous day and waited. And waited. Drusus had been told the gates would be opened by a group of locals who planned to overpower the guards, but nothing happened as the sun reached it's high point and then started it's descent. Finally the Romani heard shouts and screams from the gatehouse and the gate started to swing open. Before it was even half open the centurion ordered the Hastati forward and they all charged. Drusus watched as Camillus and Dio raced each other to reach the gateway first. Tullius started to lag behind and Drusus stopped and hauled the boy on. "Move!" he yelled in Tullius' ear. More frightened by the danger he knew than the mysterious dangers behind the gate the boy ran forward.

Dio reached the gatehouse first and two men leaped out at him, swords drawn. He batted away the blow from the first, but the second seemed certain to run him through. Camillus jumped in front of the attacker and the blow glanced of his breastblate, knocking Camillus to the ground. Florens took advantage and ran the Greek through. The first Greek was killed by Justus Durus, a burly teenager with a shock of red hair. The rest of the gatehouse guard had been killed by the townsmen, who also lay scattered through the gatehouse. It had clearly been a brutal fight to uproot the defenders. The rest of the Hastati rushed through the gate behind Drusus' group.

They met the psiloi, the lowest rank of the Greek defenders sent forward as the richer men cowered within the city streets. These men were unarmoured with slings, javelin and knifes for weapons. As Drusus moved toward them he noticed Tullius fall behind, he grabbed the boy and threw him forward toward the Greeks. Straight into the path of a javelin which went through the lads throat. He collapsed pulling at the wooden shaft in his neck, blood splashing all around him. The mass of men behind him pushed Drusus forward and he lost sight of the dying boy. He took his anger out on the men in front of him, imagining each man he faced to be the one who's javelin killed Tullius. In his rage he killed four men before the Greeks started running from the Romani infantry.

Drusus and the rest of the Hastati chased down the fleeing psiloi, killing them all before they could hide in the city streets. They had no idea where they had to go, the rest of the army had moved into the city to engage the bulk of the Greek garrison. Drusus gathered his men and battered down the door of a dishevelled hovel. An old woman with a a baby huddled in the corner, Septimus Levinius, who constantly bored them all with stories about the year his father had been Plebeian Aedile, grabbed the woman and hauled her out of the hut. The six men sat on the floor, their sword arms aching and more than one began to shake. Florens entered a few minutes later with arms full of wood and began to get a fire going. They sat in silence around the fire, nobody wanting to speak first. "Thanks for the help back at the gate Camillus, you too Florens." Dio finally said. Silence from Florens, a non-commital grunt from Camillus. Levinius looked around the room, "Wheres Tullius?" Silence. "Oh."

The door flew open and all seven men jumped to their feet, swords drawn. A heavily armed Roman officer strode in, glanced at the Hastati then took in the shack. "This definitely the place?" he asked somebody outside. Obviously getting an answer that indicated it was he looked around again. His eyes fixed on a loose wooden board the rest of them had missed. He strode forward and kicked the board as hard as he could, there was a loud scream from within the tiny compartment and a filthy man of indertimate age crawled out. The officer looked at him in disgust, "The Greek King can't help you or your friends now. You are going to pay for what happened at Rhegium." He grabbed the man and threw him out the door, as he left he turned to the soldiers, "You eaten?" Drusus shook his head. "Caius," he shouted. "Have food sent to these men. Some wine too."

"Well," said Camillus as they all sat down again. "This soldiering lark is turning out to be quite fun."