Chapter 1:
‘Don’t stray to far!’, the farmer shouted towards his son. The boy ran through the fields, playing, enjoying the sun’s warmth on that fine day. A smile came to his father’s face, watching the innocence which only exists in children. The both of them lived in a tiny farm, a few hundred meter to the east of Naissos. This town was the ‘capital’ from where Diales ruled over his small kingdom. It was located south of the Getai lands, separated from them by a river, and slightly north of the Makedonian mountains. But the fate of the tiny country hung in the balance.
Horns were blown in Naissos, the sound rolling over the town, warning the people. A group of horsemen had come charging through the fields that covered the fertile land, meeting Diales and over a thousand armed villagers at the eastern watch-post. ‘My king, the Getai army, led by Dizo per Rekivada, is within two hours march from here.’, the commander of the scouts reported to Diales. A frown came to the king’s face, two hours. ‘How many of them are there, have they been reinforced since they were seen crossing the main bridge?’, he rapidly posed the question to the tired horseman. When he answered their numbers had swelled to over a thousand Diales’ hope on a quick victory was crushed. Now that their armies were equals he feared Dizo, who was known to be a good tactician, would be able to take his kingdom.. and his live.
The farmer looked up as he heard the sound of a bow-string being released. Moments later he felt great pressure on his chest, terrible pain spreading through his body. He fell and, his hands still grasping for the arrow, was dead. The smile on the boy’s face changed into a look of fright, pale and cold. The Getai had come into sight of Naissos. ‘So that tiny town rules over all this land?’, Dizo grinned as he said this. ‘If their armed forces are as pathetic as their defenses, we should have an easy fight.’ It was then that Diales, clearly weakened by the lack of a wall, ordered his forces to split in an attempt to hit his enemies from two sides. But there was a flaw in his plan. When he decided to keep back a few hundred guards on the town’s small hill, his attack force became smaller than the Getai army. Forced to fight against Dizo’s phalanxes, with arrows raining down upon them, many of them broke within moments.
Getai phalanxes advancing towards Naissos, defenders fleeing ahead of them.
It wasn’t an equal battle. The Getai, now outnumbering the villagers nearly one-to-two, marched in through both the eastern and the western road. Diales however, refused to go down without a fight. Rallying what little remained of his forces he charged down the eastern road in a final attempt to take down as many of his adversaries as he could.
Diales’ final stand.
In the end only 150 Getai lay dead, whilst over a thousand of the defenders had perished in the heat of battle. It had been a slaughter.
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