Between a Rock and a Hard Place (an Averni Story)

[woad&fangs]

“Men, umm, today we have a chance to avenge the death of Aneirin and the brave Celts that followed him.” A small muttering of approval could be heard and ‘Litanos began to speak with a new found confidence, “The host that the enemy has assembled is large in number but small in spirit. The God’s have favored us with the gifts of keen minds, strong arms, and courageous hearts. The Sweboz are cowards. You have all seen before how they run at first contact with our spear points. You have all seen how their nobles cower inside their shells of iron. They adorn themselves in valuable metals as if they were on a throne instead of a battlefield.” He knew that the Sweboz had begun their advance and decided to rap his speech up, “The man who slays their King will be given his throne when this war is over. Now, prepare yourselves for a fight.”

With that he rode back behind his line. Not a great speech and it had a rather abrupt ending but his men had all fought in battle before and knew what was expected of them. The Sweboz were now 300 paces from his own line. The enemy army began to angle to towards the rock. Surely they wouldn’t try to break through there? But it seemed like that was their plan. They definitely weren’t as numerous as his scouts had reported but even with their move to the right their army still extended beyond his own left flank. From the second line of the enemy army a horn was sounded and they broke into a slow jog. A movement from the woods on Litanos’ far right caught his eye. The mercenary cavalry had mistaken the horn for his own! Damn, damn, damn, the two lines hadn’t even met yet. The far left of the enemy line broke off and engaged the mercenaries. At least he wasn’t as badly flanked on his left now.

The two lines were now only paces apart.
“Swordsmen, archers, ready your missiles,”
The lines would clash at any second.
“Fire!!”
Dozens of Sweboz fell and their advance stopped.
“Fire!!!”
More Sweboz fell with javelins protruding out of their chests but the lines had now engaged. The Sweboz and Averni lines shoved against each other but neither would break. The dull thwack of shields colliding and the metallic clanging of swords unsheathing echoed all around him.
“Swordsmen, Charge!”
With the additional force of the swordsmen, the Sweboz line began to bend but their nobles quickly joined the fray and the lines returned to a stalemate. Litanos scanned the entire line. The right was holding against overwhelming odds thanks to the great rock. The very center held by the levy hooplotes and their longer spears were proving decisive. As long as the Celtic spearmen on either side of them held, the hooplotes would win. The rest of the center was in a stalemate. Litanos looked to the left side of his line and swore loudly. The superior numbers of the Sweboz had allowed them to flank his Massilians and Germanic nobles.
“Cavalry, Charge!!” He bellowed over the din of the battle.

He thundered towards the left flank and lowered his spear at a skinny Sweboz soldier. The soldier turned to face the thundering charge, eyes wide in horror. He tried to raise his shield but was too slow to prevent Litanos’ spear from puncturing his neck. All around Litanos his bodyguard was likewise impaling the enemy spearmen. Surrounded by cavalry and infantry, the Sweboz were packed to densely to put up much of a fight. A few moments later and the far left flank contained only the bright green banners of the Averni. Litanos allowed himself a brief smile at the successful charge before he turned his eyes once more to the battle being waged to his right.

To be continued...
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I think my next update or two will be about Litanos until I finish the battle. Then I'll focus on Prasutagos for a while.