Thanks for the comments, people. Part two of Chapter I.



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Chapter I - Securing the Homeland - Part II

Even though many soldiers fell that day, our army was still largely intact, more than able enough to march upon Ambrakia. We could not march on directly, however. Severe snowfall prevented us from reaching the lowlands, and so we had to make up camp in the mountains.



When we finally marched on, I noticed that the closer we got to Ambrakia, the more it seemed that the country was abandoned. Villages and farms were left abandoned, everyone was fleeing north, in fear of our army. On a sunny day, we could finally see the walls of Ambrakia in the north.

Walls? They were nothing more but a thin palisade of sharpened sticks. The arrogance of the Epeirotes was so great that they didn't think of the fact that could one day be invaded here.

We planned to invade the city as soon as possible, yet suddenly, grievous news arrived from Sparte. Areus Agiados Lakedaimonos, Hegemon of the Koinon had died peacefully in his bed.



Negotiations followed quickly thereafter. Ptolemaios promised a 12-day ceasefire that enabled us to woe in peace.

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When we were able to march upon the city, dignitaries were sent into Ambrakia to inform Ptolemaios of the coming battle. The large battering rams that were constructed from nearby woods rolled loomingly towards the city, the sound of the feet marching over the green plains as if Zeus himself was present.



The small Epeirote garrison consisted out of little more than mercenaries from the north, together with the small amount of survivors from the previous battle, which was already a year ago.



The weak gates proved no match for the ram and it quickly fell. Seemingly, these walls were more designed to keep one's local peasant uprising out than a standing army.



'Phalanx!'

We dropped our pikes almost simultaneously, and marched into the city, covered by the Ekdromoi.

As soon as we were inside the city, we were greeted by the remaining Loncorophoi, that had managed to escape fate once before in Epeiros, but they would certainly meet Hermes Psychopompos before nightfall.



A huge horse galloped towards me, and I braced myself for the coming impact. As he thrust himself towards me, I defensively pulled my pike upwards, piercing his lower stomach, and penetrating his guts. I quickly pulled it back again. He fell from his horse and collapsed unto the city streets. Terrified, his hands tried to reach out to something to cling on to.

Without doubt, I stepped forwards, unsheathed my sword and ended his life.

Seeing the complete chaos in which we now were, our commander rallied us once again and ordered us to turn.



'And, march on!'

To our right, Ptolemaios had finally joined into the fray, crashing his horsemen into our second line of Iphikratouioi. The worst part was that he was winning.



Yet not for long.

Seeing this new threat, Doros Aithalidos ordered the Ekdromoi to rush in and relieve pressure from the Iphikratouioi. It was there that he made a tactical mistake, though a small one. Ekdromoi were not trained to fight highly-armoured cavalry units.



As I turned my attention back on our own fight, the last of the Loncorophoi had fallen and were now lying motionless upon the cold ground.

Our Speirarches finally ordered us to reform. All would have been well if I had not seen Ptolemaios engaged in close-combat with one of the Ekdromoi.



He must have been paralyzed with fear, as he did not move. Suddenly, in an act of rashness, I charged from our line and ran past the battle, ignoring my Speirarches shouting my name repeatedly, until I reached him. Ptolemaios already lifted his xyston to end the poor lad's life when I drew my sword. Within a moment, I jumped up on his horse and buried my xiphos deep in his throat. He fell from his life, and dragged me with him, and we both crashed into the floor. I got up again and felt a sharp pain near my shoulder. It would appear my collar bone had been broken. My shield too heavy for me to carry now anyways, I dragged Ptolemaios' out of the breach and laid him down upon the ground. Dragging him all the way back to camp, nearly 2 miles further, with a broken collar bone and exhausted from the battle, I finally collapsed and looked upon his body. The spot where I had pierced his neck was obscured by a crust of dried blood. After a short rest, I continued dragging him further. Seeing that now I had destroyed my entire career in the army, I could sell his belongings on the Agora back home. I would only return to our camp, collect what little belongings I had and leave.

My plans didn't come that far, or otherwise I would not have been writing this.

Doros Aithalidos, our Stratege himself stood at the top of a hill where we had made camp, overlooking the battle. I tried to slip past him unnoticed, but I failed in my effort.

'You there! Soldier!'

A cold fear gripped my heart. I had heard rumours of what would happen with soldiers that had deserted and found.

'You have one moment to tell us why you are not at the battle!'

It would seem my entire body was working at top-speed to think of a likely excuse.

'Stratege...with all due respect, sir...this is the body of Ptolemaios Aiakides, sir.'

He laughed, although it was not a pleasant laugh

'And then why, soldier do you come back here, instead of staying with your unit?'

'Stratege...I am a member of the Iphikratouioi, and I believe I just broke my collar-bone. I cannot carry a shield properly anymore, I would have been of no more use, sir.'

'I see.' He seemed to calm down a little. He walked towards me, and looked upon the corpse. He appeared to be a little perplexed, seeing that I had told the truth. He waved his hand towards someone in the background. That someone soon ran up to us.

'Control him for fractured locations.'

'I'm fine, sir, thank you.' I responded

'Not you, the body.' Doros coldly replied.

Now it was my turn to be slightly perplexed.

'Soldier, what is your name?' He said, as he turned towards me

'Aetos Nicodemonos'

'I see.'

There was a short pause

'Aetos, do you know the punishment for desertion?'

I shook my head. 'Vague rumours heard, Stratege'

'It is of no matter. You single-handedly killed a great enemy of the Koinon today, Aetos. I trust you know how to ride a horse?'

'Yes, Stratege.'

'Good. I cannot punish you, that much is obvious. The Gods themselves have chosen you as the killer of Ptolemaios, so...I am going to reward you instead.'

From the bushes suddenly a messenger arrived that ran up to Doros, whispered something and received a small pouch of water from him.

'It seems Ambrakia has fallen. As soon as I return to Athenai, I will convince the Council of the Koinon that we must re-take Sinope from the cruel Persians. I want you to lead the Xystophoroi.'

Again, I was competely dazed.

'But...sir, Stratege...the Xystophoroi are...nobles, I am but a simple man from Attike, I am not a noble in anyway. And I have no experience leading men whatsoever.'

'Then we will make you one,' he slyly replied.

'I don't know if --'

'Are you going to refuse?' Finally, a small smile broke through on his lips.

'Of course not, Stratege...this is a great honour.' I bowed and suddenly felt the pain again.

'Oh, and chirurgeon?' Doros said, 'See to it that Aetos here gets his wounds healed.'

Suddenly, I was surrounded by three or four men that guided me into a tent, telling me to sit down and undress myself.

I could hardly believe it. I expected to be woken any minute by my Speirarches. Yet it did not happen, and I was now one of the nobles. Not just a noble, I was Speirarches of the Hippeis Xystophoroi.



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I had to ennoble this guy, seeing that I do not have BerkeleyBoi's awesome talent for using short sentences to describe things. Kudos to him for both of his great AAR's. Must-read, really.

Off to bed, finally, it's 2:12 AM here. So if there's any spelling or grammar mistakes, it's because of the time :p