“Let’s go cut some strings,” Trax Dircium advised.
Then four lightly armored Legionaries popped through the broken gate.
“Who’s in charge?” one asked. Someone pointed to Alerio and the four skirmishers rushed over to the Tesserarius. “What do you need Corporal?”
“Those spearmen and the archers swept off the defensive walls,” Alerio replied without looking. “That will isolate the soldiers on our flanks and we can stop the spears and arrows.”
“Give us a squad of heavy infantrymen then consider it done,” the Veles replied before hopping back to the opening where he directed the skirmishers coming through the break.
“That was interesting, Corporal,” commented Trax Dircium.
“What?” questioned Alerio.
“He is a Centurion of Velites and he took orders from you.”
“Must be my fine singing voice,” Alerio suggested. “I’ve been told it’s captivating.”
“I have no comment but I do feel the urge to go and kill someone,” Dircium offered.
“That’s the heavy infantry spirit,” Alerio assured him.
The squad leader left to round up the 2nd and Alerio went in search of the Legionary with the powerful arm he’d shoved through the gate. He hoped Messoris survived the hurried assault after they were separated.
Chapter 31 – The Walls of Adrano
“Lance Corporal Messoris, collect your squad,” Alerio instructed while shaking the shield off his left arm.
The young squad leader from the first maniple looked at the aggressive Tesserarius who had pushed him through the hole in the gate. He wasn’t sure he trusted the crazy NCO after the man forced the fight with the gate guards. Especially now that the Corporal exchanged the protection of an infantry shield for a second gladius.
“What are you doing, Corporal?” Messoris inquired.
At the gates, two contuberniums worked at removing the locking bars from the three gateways. To the front, Legionaries fought off soldiers sent to attack the shield wall. Others, not involved with the gates or the defensive line, held shields overhead to block arrows and spears. It worked for the small shafts but many of the spears powered aside the shields and struck within the formation. It’s where Corporal Sisera got the second gladius and why the number of their wounded grew with every new wave of thrown spears.
“We are going to clear the walls then remove the mounted weapons on those platforms,” Alerio informed him. He nodded to the left although neither man could see through the roof of shields. “I have another squad forming up to do the same on the right.”
“I’d rather stay here and defend the gates,” Messoris insisted. “I’m needed and it’s where the real fight is taking place.”
Alerio lowered and twisted his head sideways as if he could see around the bodies pushing and stabbing over the Legionaries’ shields wall.
“I believe squads from the 25th Century have that covered. But, while we stand here discussing the matter, the second maniple is about to come up the mountain. Unless we act, they will catch all of the stones and bolts from the mounted weapons.”
Age lines attempted to crease the smooth face of Lance Corporal Messoris. He was young and the attempt to appear contemplative while forming a logical argument to resist the NCO failed badly. He opened his mouth to reply but he was drowned out.
Roars came from the edges of the tortoise formation and daylight filtered in from the sides. Two squads charged out of the cluster and attacked up the hills on both sides. The spears and arrows stopped falling on the testudo in the bowl. Instead, the spearmen and archers focused on the Legionaries scrambling up to engage them.
***
Lance Corporals Tescum and Ostrei from the 10th and 1st had talked. Centurion Megellus and Optio Gustavi were out of the fight and Tesserarius Sisera had his hands full organizing the defenses and getting the gates open.
“I’m going to stop those spearmen,” Ostrei exclaimed when a man next to him fell to the ground with a shaft protruding from the back of his neck. “I’d rather face the spear that takes my life.”
“The 10th will clear the right side,” offered Tescum.
“Then the 1st will do our killing on the left,” Ostrei stated.
The Decani clamped wrists. One tall and arrogant and the other short and almost frail, the two squad leaders couldn’t have been more dissimilar. They locked eyes, nodded goodbye, and went to collect their contuberniums. In their commitment to clearing the hills and stopping the rain of arrows and spears, they were exactly alike. They were heavy infantry squad leaders.
***
“No, not yet. Oh, Gods, we are perfututum,” Alerio screamed when he realized the two squads were attacking early. He grabbed Messoris’ armor, pulled him in close, and threatened. “Do not argue with me. Good men will die because you hesitated. Get your squad or I will cripple you right here, right now, and find another squad leader.”
When Trax Dircium saw Ostrei and 1st Squad break from the cover and scramble up the slope, he also swore.
“2nd Squad, form up,” he yelled.
It seemed to take forever but his contubernium finally gathered. Stacking them in two rows, he ordered the squad forward.
They marched out from under the tortoiseshell of shields, up the twisting ramp beside the gate wall, and onto the top of Adrano’s defensive wall. There, they faced spearman, archers, and slingers. But as the militiamen soon discovered, Legionaries below the wall and down range were different from Legionaries in an attack formation. One situation presented targets; the other brought infantrymen hunting prey. And the spearmen, archers, and slingers soon realized the lockstep, tight shields, and narrow space between the helmets and top of the shields created an almost impenetrable barrier.
Trax Dircium glanced to his left and his stomach soured. 1st Squad had made it out of the bowl-shaped area and almost to the top of the hill. And, while their javelins had thinned the number of spearmen and archers, there were still enough soldiers to have brought down three of the Legionaries. By attacking early, Horatius Ostrei and his squad drew arrows, bolts, and spears from the soldiers on the wall and the oxybeles. The result was, as the 1st Squad cleared the hill it left the Legionaries exposed to the missiles from the wall and platform.
“Launch,” Dircium ordered while drawing back his own javelin.
Eight shafts arched into the sky, tilted over, dropped, and swept archers and slingers from the wall. The spearmen ducked behind their shields and, while they didn’t die, the incoming javelins stopped them from launching spears.
2nd Squad marched forward stomping downed soldiers, kneeing others, and stabbing any not laying on the dirt and stone fill of the wall. Dircium looked towards the hill again. Only two Legionaries from the 1st showed signs of life.
“Stay down and get off the hill,” Trax Dircium whispered.
But the Legionaries pushed to their feet, both bleeding from arrows wounds, and near misses from spears. They didn’t retreat; they surged forward, swinging gladii and clearing the remaining soldiers from the hill. Then, one took an arrow in the face and the other seemed to leap off the hill when a bolt snatched him from the crest.
The rain of steel and iron on the right side of the testudo ended. Now half the Legionaries defending the gates were safe from enemy spears dropping in among them. But the 1st Squad paid dearly for the relief.
The 2nd squad moved along stabbing, parring, and clearing the wall of defenders. By the time they came abreast of the first weapons platform, Trax Dircium’s anger had built, his eyes glowed red, and the veins in his neck throbbed.
“Left pivot section, continue killing the limp mentulas on the wall,” he cried out. “Right pivot section, on me. We’re going to rip the throats out of every engineer we can find.”
All seven Legionaries of the 2nd Squad responded with a roar as did the fifteen skirmishers who joined them. Dircium stepped onto the ramp connecting the wall with the weapons platform and threw down his javelins
.
Some things felt better up close and personal. He drew his gladius and stomped across the ramp.
***
Ibis Gustavi, his weight supported on the shoulder of a Legionary, watched as Corporal Sisera followed eight Legionaries out from under the testudo formation. Then, just before they disappeared around the curving ramp, the Tesserarius screamed and jumped in front of the squad’s shields.
“You there, gather a squad and help clear the right wall,” he ordered grabbing the first Lance Corporal he saw. “Quickly.”
Staggering and wincing under the pain from the arrowhead in his shoulder, the Sergeant fought to keep his head clear. Seeing another squad leader, he beckoned him over.
“Take a squad to the left wall and help clear it,” he instructed before collapsing.
The Legionary supporting the Optio lowered his weight to the ground.
“What did he want?” inquired the squad leader.
“Pull a contubernium together and help clear the left wall,” Private Ottone from 4th Squad told him.
The Velites staged on each side of the gate wall followed the heavy infantry squads up the ramps. Between the skirmishers and the Legionaries, the wall defenders began falling fast. While the militia’s commander and General Periander wanted to keep their infantry intact, they couldn’t let the city fall around them.
“Companies. We will defend the gates,” Periander announced. “Forward to the attack. Remove the Republic forces from the portals.”
***
Alerio ducked behind the squad letting them catch the arrows and deflect the spears and pebbles from the slingers. In an orderly fashion, the eight inexperienced Legionaries left the cover of the overhead shields and started up the ramp.
Suddenly, the Corporal screamed before appearing in front of the squad. Without a shield, the Tesserarius ran ahead, charging the defenders on the wall with two gladii. The NCO’s action confirmed Lance Corporal Messoris’ belief that Corporal Sisera had a death wish.
But it wasn’t suicide driving Corporal Sisera.
On the hill beside the entrance to Adrano, Decanus Tescum and his contubernium fought with archers and spearmen. It was a mismatch; the militiamen who launched missiles shouldn’t have stood against Legionaries. In fact, they didn’t. Most of them died on javelin tips or gladii blades. But, the soldiers on the defensive wall and the oxybeles crew had no targets in the kill zone.
They turned their ranged weapons on the exposed contubernium. And, in a storm of arrows, spears, and bolts, the men of the 10th were plucked off the hilltop. One by one, they fell back and into the embrace of the Goddess Nenia. Only their lifeless bodies made it to the bottom of the hill.
***
Alerio Sisera bent at his waist, dodged a thrown spear, and sprinted forward. A hastily launched arrow bounced off his armored skirt. Another arrow clipped his helmet. The spearman snatched up a second spear. In the face of a charging Legionary, the archers attempted to cock their gastraphetes. Manipulating the belly bows then seating the arrows was drilled into them under controlled conditions. Adding a raging infantryman to the process caused them to fumble a few of the steps. Even so, at the end of arming the crossbow, all they needed to do was release the arrows. The spearman had options; hold and jab, or throw the spear. He must have been the indecisive type because he held the spear but just below his shoulder level.
The gladius blade chopped into the shaft driving the iron head off to the side. Then a hobnailed boot planted flat-footed on the spearman’s chest armor. Alerio’s weight drove the soldier back on his heels before crashing him onto his back. While stomping the spearman’s head with his raised leg, Alerio threw one gladius at an archer and knocked aside the mechanical crossbow with the other blade. As he brought the gladius back, the tip sliced the first archer’s neck. A jump landed him in front of the second bowman where Alerio kicked the man’s legs out from under him.
Legionaries flowed around the fight and attacked another group of soldiers further along the wall. After Lance Corporal Messoris and his infantrymen passed, a light infantry Veles stopped, reached down, and picked up the gladius.
“That was some fine fighting,” he announced while handing Alerio the gladius.
“Do me a favor,” Alerio asked as he took the Legion sword. “I need to get to the weapons platform. Kill this cūlus for me.”
“It’ll be my pleasure, Corporal.”
***
Two, ten-man units of militiamen jogged along the wall and stopped near the ramp to the platform with the mounted weapons. They lowered their spears, locked their shields, and settled into a defensive posture.
“Squad halt,” Lance Corporal Messoris called and the eight men and the skirmishers stopped.
“Messoris, what’s the holdup?” Alerio demanded while shoving through the ranks.
“As you can see Tesserarius, they’ve created a hard point at the ramp,” the squad leader answered.
“And what are you doing?”
“I am analyzing the situation and weighing the best options, Corporal.”
“Did you learn that in Legion training?” Alerio inquired.
“It’s important for leaders to preserve their Legionaries,” Messoris reported. “A bad decision cost lives.”
“I can’t argue with the logic,” admitted Alerio. “But what did the instructors have to say about standing in a stationary position, down range of a dual bolt ballista?”
“Nothing. No one would do that,” the young Lance Corporal offered. “That would be insane.”
Alerio raised an arm and indicated the weapons platform with a gladius blade. Two engineers pulled handles on a wheel drawing the thick string back with each spin. Two others shoved the giant crossbow around so the bolts pointed at a section of the wall. A closer inspection of the oxybele crew revealed they were clearly rotating the weapon around to target the Legionaries.
The realization dawned on the young Lance Corporal. If he meant to, he couldn’t have stopped the squad in a better place to have his infantrymen slaughtered.
“Orders, Corporal?” Messoris requested.
“What did your instructors say about the application of force?”
“Direct, violent, and decisive.”
“Good,” Alerio said. Then, to the squad’s puzzlement, the Corporal began to hum. Pausing for a heartbeat, he instructed. “Follow me.”
If I today, if I today
See it my Optio’s way
Alerio ran straight at the defensive line of shields. His sudden movement left the Legionaries behind for a moment. Then, they charged after the unbalanced NCO.
Stab the javelin and bring on doomsday
Stomp the field where my enemy lay
Three paces from the militia shields, Alerio threw his righthand gladius. It flipped end-over-end towards the face of the soldier on the end of the enemy formation.
If I today
My orders obey
A side step, then another, and he came directly at the soldier. Alerio’s other gladius rose from an inside guard. The raising blade knocked that soldier’s spear up and out of the way. He grabbed the shaft, then hacked the shaft of the militiaman in the second rank moving it out of place. And finally, Alerio’s blade struck the adjacent man’s spear as the shaft swung over to cover the soldier ducking the thrown gladius.
Barbarians hordes I will slay
Driving with his legs, Alerio shoved the spear shaft into the soldier’s face driving him backward. Then the Legionary changed the angle and pushed the soldier off the wall. While the militiaman screamed on the way down, Alerio stabbed the spearman in the second rank.
And they will be damned
For I am a Legion man
The soldiers turned and focused on the single man attacking the end of their lines. He should have already died but that would be remedied shortly. Then, the precise and measured assault by Lance Corporal Messoris’ squad reach the soldiers.
The front rank stabbed with their gladii whil
e the second thrust javelins over their shields. On the sides, Velites used their javelins to force the soldiers to remained compacted. It was easier for the heavy infantrymen to kill them in a tight formation.
Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today
Alerio slipped back between the drop-off of the wall and a Veles. When the clash between the Legion squad and the Adrano unit moved beyond the ramp, he snatched up the other gladius.
“Give me six skirmishers,” he said to an NCO.
Armed with the two blades and trailed by six Velites, Corporal Sisera sprinted up the ramp to the weapons platform.
Chapter 32 – Bolts and Home
The four engineers backed away from the oxybele, pulled their swords, and lined up behind four spearmen. Adding to the defenders on the platform, the three engineers from the lithoboloi crossed over to create a third rank.
“Not very formidable,” a skirmisher suggested when Alerio and his six men stopped at the edge of the weapons stand.
“I only need one engineer for the oxybele,” Alerio informed the Velites. “The rest are a nuisance.”
“Launch,” the NCO ordered without hesitating. Six javelins on a flat trajectory impelled the four spearmen and two of the lithoboloi engineers in the back rank. “Attack.”
***
“Get up,” Alerio ordered the surviving engineer.
The Greek’s legs folded under him when the Legionary jerked the engineer to his feet. After being shaken until his arms and head wobbled, he managed to lock his knees and plant his feet.
“I don’t want to die,” the Greek stammered.
“Good. An instinct for self-preservation is a strong motivator,” exclaimed Alerio. Directing the man’s attention by turning him towards the back of the gate wall, the Corporal inquired. “Can you put bolts into the bowl? I mean without hitting the Legionaries.”
Infinite Courage Page 23