by R. W. Peake
“Send word to Caesar? Are you crazy?” Calienus laughed. “Do you think a Pilus Prior is going to stick his neck out to warn Caesar of something that might or might not happen, especially after what happened with Considius?”
He was right; it was too much to expect for a Centurion, no matter if he led a Cohort, to risk his career on a hunch, especially after the fiasco that had occurred shortly before. Nonetheless, that is exactly what Pilus Prior Vetruvius did, sending Rufio off to relay his suspicions, an act that gained him even more respect from the Century and the Cohort. Finishing our move back into the first line, we resumed where we left off, exchanging smoothly with the second line, most of them gasping their thanks as they moved down the files between us. My head was pounding, and my left arm was beginning to stiffen a bit, though I knew that once I was back in the fray I would forget such things. Meanwhile, the Helvetii were slowly moving up the hill, and I could not help noticing that the piles of bodies did not seem to be as deep as one would think they should be for a retreating enemy.
Once the Helvetii made it to the top of the hill, suddenly their retreat stopped and on some unseen signal, the pace of the fighting picked back up as they unleashed the ferocity present in their first assault. For a few moments we found ourselves being pushed, ever so slightly, back down the hill and I was forced to dig my heels in, pushing hard against the man in front of me in an attempt to stop the backward slide. It was right about then that we heard a sudden roar from our right rear, coming from the direction of their camp. Risking a glance back, my heart seemed to stop at what I saw. Boiling out of the camp was another mass of warriors, not as large as what we were facing, though probably in numbers matching the size of the four Legions that were currently engaged. A series of blasts on the cornu alerted Caesar and the command group then we saw one of his Tribunes scrambling down the hill towards the third line, the only ones in position to meet the new threat. Even as this was happening, an idea dawned on me that perhaps this was why Caesar had insisted that the third line stay unengaged and fresh, and I was gratified to see how rapidly they reacted to the new attack. There was nothing more that I could do about it, so I turned my attention back to the fight in front, trusting in my comrades and Caesar to make sure that they stopped the advance of this second threat. Soon enough, my turn came again, except this time I was the one moving uphill, and I found myself thanking the gods yet again for my great height, since it helped negate the disadvantage. Also, I was determined not to make any further mistakes, making me more cautious than before, consequently taking longer for me to make a kill, but I contented myself with the thought that I was giving my friends more time to rest. I quickly disposed of three men and had just sliced into the thigh of a fourth when the whistle sounded, and I went back to the back of the line. The intensity of the fighting, if anything, was increasing, with the sight of the Helvetii counterattack heartening the main force while it had the same effect on us, albeit for different reasons. By this time we knew we were now fighting to stave off the destruction of our entire army, placing our trust in our comrades to the rear, and in turn we did not want to betray that trust by letting them down. With the pace becoming more furious, the relief period became shorter, and it was only a matter of a few moments before I was back in front again. Now the bodies were piling up in earnest, making the footing difficult, between the slippery blood on the grass and having to step over corpses. The job of the second man in the line is not only to brace his companion, but to end any foe that has fallen and is not yet dead, and those in the second rank were now busier than ever. Just as I was dispatching my opponent, I heard a cry of pain to my left and looked over to see Scribonius fall to the ground, writhing in agony but still trying to use his shield to protect him from the man who knocked him down. The Helvetii warrior in turn let out a roar of triumph and stood over Scribonius, his arm pulled back for the killing blow with his spear. Without thinking, I leapt sideways, crashing into the man just as he thrust down at Scribonius’ unprotected face, the point instead burying itself in the ground several inches deep no more than a hand width away from my friend. In making that move I had helped Scribonius, yet I left myself exposed to a blow from the rear from the man I was facing, and I felt my shoulders involuntarily clench in expectation of a thrust that never landed. Instead, I heard the part-crunching, part-squishing sound of a blade being thrust into the man’s chest by my relief, who had lost his grip on my harness when I jumped, but thankfully not his wits. Simultaneously, I made a quick thrust to the throat of the man who had tried to kill Scribonius, his blood spraying all over my arm and face as he made a choking sound and fell to the ground. In almost the same motion, I dropped my shield and with my left hand, grabbed Scribonius by the front of the armor, ignoring his screams of pain, half dragging, half flinging him backwards out of the front line. Once he was out of the way, I picked up my shield and turned back to face the enemy, ready to continue killing.
Fortunately the third line moved quickly, forming up in a single line, angling across our rear partway up the hill to meet the threat posed by the Boii and Tulingi. Fighting in that area was ferocious, the Helvetii knowing this was their one and only chance to overwhelm us and destroy Caesar’s army. Understanding that as well, that knowledge kept us going through the day, the sun moving steadily towards its home in the west. Neither side would relent, both knowing the stakes, yet the bravery of the Helvetii was no match for the iron discipline and teamwork of the Legions, as we chewed them up like some huge beast will gnaw on its prey, spitting out heaps of dead and dying men in our wake, relying on the watches of drill that enable us to perform without any conscious thought. First position, bash with the shield, thrust while remembering to turn the hips, withdraw, recover. Over and over, variations on the same theme of killing, not thinking, just doing, ignoring the pain and fatigue in your body, knowing that by giving into it, you will not only shame yourself, you will cause the death of your friends and comrades. So you move forward, your mind empty of every thought that might distract you, and you kill, over and over. We were only vaguely aware of the struggle taking place behind us, while the third line stood firm, battered over and over as if by a huge wave, yet never giving in, never giving ground that might lead to the destruction of the army. Instead, slowly but surely, they began to advance on their foe, who in turn gave ground very grudgingly, at least at first. Then, the second Helvetian attack suddenly disintegrated, and quickly a retreat became a rout, with men running for their lives, heading to their last defense, the hill on which all the wagons gathered. The main force of the Helvetii, the force we were engaged with, having the advantage of being higher on the hill, was able to see the crumbling of the second attack. Seeing now that all was lost, the men in the rear of their formation began to stream away, seeking safety by fleeing the battle, but the men in the front lines had no such luxury. They understood that the instant they turned their back we would cut them down and this knowledge made them fight even harder, something that I did not think was possible until I saw it. They resisted in the manner of men who know that they are doomed, yet are determined to take as many of their enemy with them as they can and indeed, many of us fell, some to never rise again. One of them was Hirtius, our Tesseraurius who replaced Cordus, disemboweled by a spear. Thankfully, I did not see it happen, but it was a painful loss nonetheless. For my part, I do not know how many men I killed that day; I lost track around ten men, worrying me a bit because I had been told that when I sacrificed to the gods, being accurate was very important so one knew the size of the offering to give. We sensed more than saw the thinning of the force in front of us, until finally, there were no more men to kill; only then did we pause to stand there for a moment, chests heaving, standing in a heap of dead and wounded, trying to make some sense of what had happened. As I was catching my breath, I looked up in surprise to see that the sun was hanging low above the hills; this battle had lasted almost two full watches, and it was still not over.
Across the valley
, on the other hill, the third line chased the Boii and Tulingi up to the wagon camp, where the Helvetii women and children were gathered in the center, huddled in terror as they awaited the inevitable outcome. Their warriors were on top of the wagons, and were reduced to hurling stones or whatever they could lay their hands on that would make a missile. Meanwhile the men from the third line were now being joined by the Cohorts of the second line, sent to aid their comrades.
“Should we join them?” I wondered aloud, not that I had any desire to. I was exhausted, and killing women and children was never my idea of fun. However, the wagons also meant booty, so that was a temptation.
“We haven’t been given any orders to,” answered the Pilus Prior, who was standing caked in blood, a long cut running across his cheekbone, the gore having obscured the lower part of his face. “First we need to see to our own wounded. Then if it looks like they need help, we’ll head over there.”
Immediately we turned to the task; I found Scribonius, who was alive, though he was in grave condition, having taken a spear thrust all the way through his left shoulder, just above the collarbone, the point having passed all the way through. This could be a good thing, as long as none of the material from his tunic, or even worse, none of the links of his armor had been driven into his body and were still in there. If that was the case, he would die a horrible, lingering death, the wound putrefying and poisoning the rest of his body. He was conscious, but just barely, and I knelt beside him, trying to give him a smile.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you when I dragged you out of the way,” I told him, drawing a ghost of a smile.
“Pullus, I hate to tell you this, but I don't think a career as a medici is in your future. You handle your patients much too roughly.”
I laughed at his attempt at a joke then promised to come see him as soon as we were settled in camp and then he was carried down the hill by the medici. Calienus was wounded as well, although he could walk with some help, having taken a spear thrust to the thigh. It missed the bone, but when pulled free, it had torn a hunk of the muscle so that it was hanging loose and would have to be sewn back together. I could not help wondering if he would be crippled, but he was too tough for that. Once we were done, we turned our attention back to the far hill. The sun was just sinking below the edge of the horizon, although it would remain light for a couple of more hours, and the order was passed for us to re-form to march over to the hill and help mop up the last resistance, which we did, albeit a little reluctantly. At least, some of us were reluctant; Didius was literally smacking his lips at the prospect of plundering the wagons, and……other things. Part of his character was such that he took no pleasure in coupling with a woman if she were willing, although I guess it is not hard to see why. Even with the whores, he garnered a reputation for enjoying inflicting pain, so soon enough, even women who are paid to be willing were giving him a wide berth, limiting his opportunities for pleasure to moments such as these. Watching him with undisguised loathing as he chattered about what was to come, it made me wonder about the justice of a world where men like Scribonius were struck down while Didius managed to survive without a scratch. I will give him this much; he was a born survivor, and would prove extremely hard to kill.
Arriving at the wagons, it was a scene of desperate fighting. Those Helvetii men left knew they were fighting to save their women and children from slavery and worse, not to mention all their worldly possessions that were contained in the wagons, and this gave them an endurance to match their desperate courage. This was no battle; this was a brawl of the first magnitude, with small groups of men fighting viciously among the wagons, while the women looked on, or in many cases, tried to help the men fight. We were sent around the hill to complete sealing it off, and soon moved up to the wagons, just as the last of the light was fading. Despite our fatigue, we were required to give one last supreme effort as we engaged with the Boii and Tulingi warriors, who were literally throwing themselves off the top of the wagons and down onto us, sometimes knocking us to the ground, where we would roll around and fight like animals. Very quickly I found Vibius and myself embroiled in a desperate struggle with a group of four men, a pair of them teaming up to kill each of us. If they had worked as four against one, or even three against one, with the fourth trying to occupy one of us, they would have made short work of the thing. Instead, they chose this method and paid the price for it with their lives. At one point, I was rolling around on the ground with the last man, trying to avoid his hand as it clawed at my eyes, using my greater weight to pin him while I frantically grabbed for my dagger, having lost the grip on both my sword and shield. Finally pinning him underneath me, I drove the blade up under his ribcage, our faces no more than a couple of inches apart, then watched the life drain from his eyes. This was the closest I had ever been to a man I killed, and found it a profound and somewhat disturbing experience. Finally clearing the wagons, we then moved into the circle to see that the line was now breached in several spots, and Legionaries were rushing about in a frenzy of looting, rape and killing. The screams of women as they were violated began to fill the air, mingled with the cries of despair from young children forced to watch. Not all of the women passively accepted their fate, however. A good number of them fought viciously, clawing, biting and spitting at anyone who came near, and that was how they died, their faces frozen in expressions of hatred, their lips curled back from their teeth like a cornered wolf. The Centurions began trying to restore order, but between the darkness and the manner in which the day’s fighting had gone, the Legionaries were wild with bloodlust and the desire to rape, pillage and burn. Vibius and I contented ourselves with looting a couple of wagons, finding hoards of coins and jewelry, along with other odds and ends that we thought would fetch a price when we sold them. Someone set fire to a couple of wagons, probably more to provide light than for anything else, the flickering flames casting an illumination on the scene that fit the nature of what was happening. It did not take long for men like Atilius to sniff out the wine that was part of the cargo on most of the wagons, and soon enough, men were staggering around drunk, making restoring order all the much harder.
The aftermath of the battle was such that we spent the next three days in place. According to Caesar’s account, we were tending to our wounded, and while I do not want to dispute the great man, from my viewpoint in the ranks it was less a matter of tending the wounded as it was sobering up the drunk. Apparently the Helvetii liked their drink, and did not confine themselves to just wine, imbibing something fermented from honey they call mead. I despised the taste, yet it is incredibly potent, and for men like Atilius who drink not for the pleasant taste but for the sensation it provides, mead was the perfect answer. Unfortunately, there was a lot of it to be had, and there were a lot of men like Atilius, so in my own humble opinion, it was this more than any other reason why we stayed in place for that time. Regardless of our reason for staying put, there was a massive amount of work to do. As many bodies that were buried at the bridge, this number was dwarfed by what we faced now. In the wagons was found a census roll that stated that the Helvetii, Boii and Tulingi tribes numbered a total of 360,000 people. We buried upwards of 80,000 at the bridge, and now there were some 120,000 to bury here. Additionally, we held some 30,000 prisoners, meaning that about 130,000 of the Helvetii actually escaped from the battle. Despite being a fraction of their earlier number, it was still a formidable force, which I think explains in part why Caesar ordered a halt. Burial of all these bodies took the better part of two days, but luckily, the 10th did not get selected for the duty, since we pulled it at the bridge. Instead, we were to provide security, guard the prisoners who were about to be sold into slavery, and perform routine patrols around the area to make sure that the Helvetii did not circle back and try to take us unaware. They were doing just that, but not for the reasons we feared.
After the three days, we formed back up to march again, the wounded like Scribonius and Calienus being loaded in the spare unburne
d wagons left by the Helvetii, and we began to follow them again, intent on finishing the job of stopping their migration, one way or another. It was while we were on the march that Caesar was met by a deputation from the tribe who threw themselves at his feet, begging for mercy and promising to do whatever he commanded as long as he did not exterminate them. Caesar gave instructions for them to wait where they were, allowing the entire army to catch up, whereupon he would sit in judgment and decide what to do with them. Reaching the site of the Helvetii camp in two days, we made our own, in a position that was defensible yet provided a good view of the comings and goings of the tribe. Once we were established in a strong defensive position, Caesar announced his decision concerning the Helvetii, ordering them to return to their homes. Knowing that they destroyed everything, Caesar ordered the neighboring tribes to help supply them with the food that they needed to survive through another planting season and harvest. In addition, he demanded their weapons, along with a certain number of hostages. A group of some 6,000 Helvetii refused to accept this and that night, crept out of camp, headed for the Rhenus and Germany. Caesar sent word that any tribe whose lands they passed through that did not apprehend them would be treated as the enemy, whereupon the tribes faced with this ultimatum promptly rounded them up and returned those Helvetii in fairly short order, where they were all put to death. A total of 110,000 out of the total 368,000 of the Helvetii were left to return to their home territory, and in some ways, their problems were solved. They had originally moved because they did not have enough land for their people, but defying Caesar solved that problem for them, there now being plenty of their land to go around. The Boii were accepted into the lands of the Aedui, who esteemed their courage and desired them to be part of their tribe from then on. All in all, the problem was solved, the surrounding tribes who previously worried about the Helvetii were happy, and deputations from every tribe flocked to the camp to pay their respects to Caesar and win his favor. For our part, we were thankful for the respite from marching and building camps, settling into the routine static camp life very quickly, as we waited for our wounds to heal and for some new crisis to emerge.