NationStates Jolt Archive

The four mighty legions of Ostia marched towards the border leading into Gaul. The Senete passed the decision to send armys on an expansion of the empire, thousands of soldiers marched proudly through the gates out into the uncivilized wilderness.

The army was lead by General Fabius who rode on his horse near the middle of the coloums. The fog rolled across the wet soggy ground of Gaul, there was a heavy over cast and the weather was really wet but the soldiers spirts were high. Many of them were new recruits drafted into the army but a good handful that were not on their way to Aust were veterans who had faught here before against Cedric.

The General scanned the trees for movement,

"Keep a sharp eye!" he bellowed

As the troops marched on the noise of feet and armor clacking echoed for miles. Fabius knew the dangers of Gaul, the barbarians were crafty and very skilled at preparing ambushes.

Fabius marched his army all morning and around noon barbarian horns were heard blasting loudly near the front of the coloum. The Ostian general galloped foward followed by his staff close behind, the front ranks were being attacked from both sides but held tight as the swarms of barbaric warrirors charged out of the trees swinging crude weapons.

The Ostian ranks tightened up as the enemy collided with them. The noise of battle echoed through the air, metal hitting metal and screams of dying men were heard all around,

"General! there is hundreds of them!!" Fabius's aid Sulla yelled

The mob faught fericely against the soldiers overthrowing the left flanks front line moving into the second but was halted when the second rank let loose their spears dropping the enemy in handfuls. Fabius rode into the battle swinging his sword with controled actions dropping the enemys who attepmted who kill him,

"For Ostia!" he yelled!

The left flank was regaining strenth slowly but surely. The right flank was holding its ground secure, Ostian cavelry from the rear came galloping at full speed towards the front ranks carving right through the enemy on the left flank in a fast charge. The battle raged on for roughly a half hour, Fabius cantered to the front of the coloum inspecting the outcome of the battle.

The generals aid Sulla rode up to him,

"General, the count for the time being is 40 dead and another 55 wounded.."

Fabius nodded and scanned the feild of enemy,

"And them?"

Sulla scratched his chin and looked over the bodys,

"alot more...sir...the cavelry really put a pounding on them"

Fabius grinned and gave the signal to continue on....

By dusk the army exited the forest they entered earlier. The front ranks combated raiding party after raiding party, untill finally they stopped. Fabius ordered a halt when candle lights were spotted in the distance,

"My general, barbarian fortress ahead...what is our plan of action"

Fabius ordered a rider to go closer and cheak it out. When he returned it was confirmed that it was indeed an enemy fortress with a village at it's base,

"I want eight thousand infantry, 200 cavelry to move on it...have 2000 archers fire untill the infantry gets as close as possible, have their arrows ignited"

Sulla rode down the ranks to carry out his orders. Members from the 12th legion moved to the center and started to advance after the archers had gotten into formation. The barbarians in the fortress seen the advancing army clear as day emerging from the trees,reports were an army was expected but to reach the fort so quick was beleived to be an unreal goal.

The archers drew back their bows, Sulla sat on his horse beside Fabius who then gave the order,

"Archers! loose!"

The ignited arrows flew towards the enemy streaking through the sky striking the wooden fort which was slightly elevated on a hill. The 12th made it's way under a hail of enemy arrows that were returned, volley was exchanged to volley time after time. The advancing legionaires raised their sheilds into the turtle formation protecting them from flying projectiles.

Smoke rose in the air thick and black from the burning walls. When the legionaires reached the doors they started to hack through them, items of all kinds were being tossed over the wall, hot greese and scouding hot water, soldiers screamed out in pain as their bodys were burned badly.

The gate started to give way from being on fire for too long and would easily be over come soon. The Ostian arrow volleys stopped because the troops were too close to the walls, meantime Ostian cavelry made a pass through the village killing anyone who came in sight.

Finally the gate gave in and Ostian legionaires poured through the opening into the court yard where arrows flew from all sides on the ramparts but the Ostians tactics and numbers were well developed compared to their savage enemy. The stream of soldiers poured in climing on the ramparts and fighting it out hand to hand with the enemy. Screams of pain echoed and bodys fell everywhere, the commander of the barbarians held his ground on the stairs to his quarters with a ball and chain swinging it smashing legionaires on all sides.

The warrior finally got overwhelmed and was taken down by multiple stab wounds all over the body. Fabius and Sulla watched the village aswell as the fort burn, the battle was almost over as quick as it begun, Cedric the warrior was still alive because the fortress was marked with his crest.

As the fort and villiage burned to ashes prisoners were brought foward to Fabius and Sulla who stood around set up table with maps spread across it,

"Antony, how many prisoners have we aquired?"

An officer stepped foward,

"We have captured 22 soldiers and 43 civilians"

Fabius looked at Sulla and got back on his horse,

"You know what to do..."

Sulla nodded slowly and watched the general ride towards the smouldering ruins,

"Kill them all" Sulla said to Antony

Antony looked to the ground then replyed,

"As you wish..."

Sulla put on his helmet and climed on his horse aswell,

"There is nothing we can do with them...what has to be done...will be done.."

With that he rode off towards the general who was speaking with the victorious legionaires....

OOC: Doesn't Gaul have to post?

OOC:I am Gaul too....i am Rp'ing my nation taking NPC armys. The Barbarians had always been an enemy of ostia, now the barbarians fight back for everything the have.

Fabius decided to hold for the night and set up a perimiter around his camp. The legions set up their tents and dug in for the night, they had marched all day plus faught many scrimishes and one battle.

Sulla entered Fabius's tent,

"General...a dispatch rider from Ostia has arrived"

Fabius signaled Sulla to lead him in. When the dispatch rider came through the door he was greeted by the general who stood up,

"Ahh, what is the news you bring"

The dispatch rider was young and looked like some one the general knew but he couldn't put a name to him,

"Before..you..speak tell me, do you have a father..grandfather in the emperors service?"

The mans facial expression remained the same and he replyed,

"My father..was an officer years ago, he is not alive now.."

Fabius continued to think about the matter then got back to buisness,

"ahh, sorry nevermind..what news do you bring?"

The man replyed,

"The leader of the gauls..cedric-campsafew miles from here with a small number of his soldiers..reports from traveling merchants that were payed to tell of this because they noticed our advance into gaul, they knew that they could make money from it"

Fabius grinned,

"How relyable are these merchants" he said with a laugh

The man nodded,

"They are being held untill it is proven..."

Sulla looked at Fabius,

"I will take some scouts ahead in the morning"

Fabius nodded,gestured towards the door to the rider who saluted then left. General Fabius couldn't figure out what was wrong with this situation, to him it sounded strange,

"Sulla..what was that mans name and rank?"

Sulla shrugged his shoulders then ran out side to get the man, minutes later he returned,

"He's gone sir..."

Fabius sat down in a chair deep in thought,

"Sulla...i will be sending support behind you at a safe distance tomorrow..."

The generals second in command saluted then left the tent. The rider was cedric the warrior, resistance leader of gaul...son of General Regulus.

The morning mist rolled across the damp ground. Sulla quietly lead a small band of Ostian cavelry down a well used path, shapes seemed to dart around from both sides spooking the horses,

"Stay alert..." Sulla wisped...

All of a sudden a cry echoed through the air then barbarians ran out of the trees on both sides,

"Ahhhh!" they yelled also hooting and hollaring

Sulla drew his sword and signaled to the cavelry soldiers to follow his lead, one took off to the rear to inform Fabius's troops that followed, an arrow flew through his throat dismouting him sending him flying into a small creek,

"Men! yell at the top of your lungs now!!" yelled Sulla

All the cavelry soldiers yelled loudly as they faught off their attackers. An arrow struck Sulla in his left arm, he winced and continued the fight, the Ostian numbers were decreasing slightly when a cavelry soldier was dismouted, the ones on horse were not having very many problems.

Reinforcements came thundering up the path causing the barbarians to retreat back into the trees, Sulla's scout party started with roughly 30 men and was down to around 20,

"We are glad to see you men..." He said to the officer in the lead

The officer nodded and then looked at Sulla's shoulder,

"I would get that out of there..."

The man grinned and placed his sword in it's sheath,

"I will get around to it"

The other officer replyed,

"General Fabius is on his way with the army, we will go ahead to clear any more ambushes..."

Sulla nodded then rode towards the rear followed by his men. The new arrival dismounted and started cheaking over the casulties of the fight.

When Sulla arrived at Fabuius's position he gave his report then had the arrow removed. While the coloum continued a scout approached the general and his staff,

"Sir we would like to report cedrics citidal lies ahead!, they were forced to dig in due to more nations appraoching from the west...they are ours for the taking sir..."

Fabius frowned,

"So quickly...their existance is about to cease, if not by our hand it will be by the new commers..have the 33rd move to the front i wish to lead this final attack, come Sulla"

The general and his staff passed through the path where Sulla and his men were ambushed. When they reached the other side there was a lake where the fog rolled across, when it parted there stood a large wooden outpost much like the one they had destroyed before but this one was twice it's size.

Fabius rode out in front of the 33rd legion and spoke,

"We thought this expansion would take years to complete, but as it stands this will be the final battle....there are armys approaching from the island of britian, they have already made claim to the coasts of gaul, we shall respect that and stop here! this is the day when Cedric the warrior is no longer a threat to ostia! fight and fight well! those who die you do not die for nothing..this is a historic event!"

The thousands of soldiers roared with cheers, Fabius's voice boomed loudly through the ranks.

In the fortress Cedric and his men were not scared, the warlord stood on the ramparts watching the lines of ostian legionaires get into formation for their final battle with the barbaric united hordes, Cedric turned to face his men assembled in the courtyard,

"Today...we will fight to the last man, we are a noble proud people..i am proud to lead you although i am not of full blood.. but i have spilled much on behalf of our ancestors who we faught so hard to protect their memory..today all our legends and way of life will end"

He paused and took a deep breath...

"That is if we lose this battle! if we win we will push on to ostia..right to the emperors front doors of the famous fortress pompeyy where we will bust through and crush what remains of their army!!"

The people listened with much emotion, women cryed and childern clung to them tight as they listen to cedric and the ostians outside who made the most noise but could not over power cedrics voice. The fort went quiet then all of a sudden the barbarian warriors started yelling their own war crys.

The ostian soldiers were more scared of a barbarian then they were of ostian soldiers. It was the way it was, and the way it always would be.

Fabius lifted his sword in the air signaling the advance of the 33rd legion...

The trumpets sounded as the army advanced on the enemy position. The sun was comming through the clouds for the first time sence the army had advanced into gaul, the ground was wet and damp as the troops crossed the valley heading for the fort.

Cedric stood on the foward ramparts watching the sun bounce off the ostians armor,

"Prepare foward archers..."

His aid repeated the order and the barbarian archers lined the walls. The ostian legions continued to advance farther and farther,

"Loose!!" shouted cedric

Hundereds of arrows flew through the air striking the ostian lines, the affect was not great because the soldiers lifted their sheilds and continued their advance,

"Ahahaha you think they would have learned by now!!"

Fabius said to Sulla who grinned. Behind the walls the barbarians had consrtucted catapults from ostian designs of the past, they dosed projectiles in oil and ignited them. In total there were 12 catapults ready to fire, Cedric turned to face them,

"FIRE!!" he yelled..

The noise of the projectiles sailing through the air caused the legionaires to look up in the sky to see large firey balls sailing towards them, some of them screamed out in terror. The projectiles slammed down into the lines exploding in flames, Fabius frowned,

"They use our own tactics against us..ahaha.." The look on his face showed he was NOT impressed

The legionaires got closer and closer to the fort and the catapults continued to cause havoc in their lines, Cedric yelled,

"They will not forget this day!!"

Fabius looked at Sulla,

"Get up there! take command!!"

Sulla looked at the feild scattered with dead legionaires then nodded,

"Yes sir!"

He took off on his horse towards the advancing army followed by members of Fabius's staff. The projectiles exploded through out the lines thinning some of the ranks out, the 33rd was not near in trouble just the defenders were putting up a good fight. The front lines of the 33rd legion reached the gates of the fort where large stones and boiling hot water were dumped from above.

As Sulla rode on a catapult almost claimed him as a victim, the projectile hit afew feet away blowing him off his horse, he hit the ground with a thud. He rolled over and looked behind him, the members of the staff that followed were dead and dying,

"ahh..ahh.." he moaned as he rolled over on his back

He got to his feet and drew his sword,

"Ahhh!!" he screamed as he charged towards the gates..

The Ostian legion was in the process of breaking the mighty thick door down, it cracked and started to give way from all the presure. The defenders above still did everything they could to thin the numbers out, the attackers climed over bodys stacked at the base of the door to attepmt to break through,

Cedrics aid came over,

"My lord..you must fall back..the ddoor will give any moment.."

Cedric looked over the feild at the legionaires who never made it, in the distance he seen Fabius,

"Yes...lets organize the troops.."

Cedric moved through the fort followed by many barbarian soldiers ready to die with him in the last stand. The Ostian troops bashed through the door and filed through the opening to be met by hundreds of ferice barbarian warriors who faught more wild then ever. Fabius mouted his horse and rode off towards the fort followed by his elite guard units,

"We will join the fight gentleman..."

The Ostians advanced slowly through the battle, the bodys were stacking up for each meter of ground taken. Other ostian troops went in the direction of the civilan homes rushing in dragging people out by their hair and clothing but did not kill them as usual. Even some of the civilians faught with gardening tools and abandoned military equipment.

Fabius rode over the bodys and toawrds the enemy who was now falling back to a lone building in the middle of the fort, around it were all the catapults used to launch the artillary strike on the ostians. Fabius rode through the enemy slicing on both sides followed by his guards who also cut through the enemy. The advance came to a halt when 5 or 6 barbarians climed the stairs to the hut, they were all that was left of the barbaric army in gaul.

Fabius sat on his horse watching them carefully, a bloody mess of a man strolled it, it was Sulla,

"My general! they are defeated..except for them.." he pointed at the hut

Out of the hut came Cedric holding a very long thick sword,

"Common ostians!! common!! i am still here!!" he yelled in latin

The soldiers stood there amased at the courage of their defeated enemy leader. Fabius started laughing then replyed,

"You may as well surrender yourself Cedric...you are finished!!

The barbarian lifted his sword high then yelled out a battle cry charging toawrds the ostians but his men did not follow...he stopped shortly after turning to look at them,

"You..cowards...come!..COME!!" he dropped to his knees sticking the sword in the ground

The remaining barbarians threw down their weapons and got on their knees, Cedric looked teary eyed at Fabius who grinned. The 7 remaining barbarians were arrested along with 180 civilians, their fate lay in the hands of Fabius.

After the battle the barbarians had killed 587 legionaires and wounded another 231. The barbarians had lost close to 900 somthing men, the ostians made a rough guess..there were no wounded acounted for.

Fabius walked down the line of prisoners he had taken after the battle. There were women and children standing there but no one made eye contact with the general,He spoke out in gaulic

"Your land belongs to ostia! Cedric has failed you and caused you to become servants of us!"

His voice boomed, then he paused..

"What will become of you fearless leader who did not know defeat when it was put in front of him...much pain and death for what!?"

Some of the women and children wimpered,

"He will be sent in the arena of course....king of gaul...haha...imagine the money the goverment will make off that show while he stays alive!"

A woman stepped foward,

"My lord...spare him.."

Fabius stormed over to the woman and drew back his hand to hit her then stopped,

"You have courage...no one else would speak back..i will spare you my wrath, but i must ask who are you?"

The woman would have been beautiful if she was civilized and cleaned up. She looked at the general and replyed,

"I am Amie, wife to Cedric..."

Fabius stepped closer to her then looked over at cedric and the other warriors chained up who were sitting down on the muddy ground,

"That is where your courage comes...such a flower you are too..."

He touched the bottom of her hair with his finger then withdrew his hand as she tryed to bite him,

"She's a firey one! is she like that when your ramming her cedric or shall i find out!"

He shouted in latin, the legionaires roared with laughter, cedric went wild tugging at his chains then Sulla struck his in the back of the head with a sword handle causing him to crash to the ground,

"Heel dog!" he said

Fabius looked back at Amiee,

"Your fate shall be different...."

He turned and strolled away. The day past and night fell, Fabius sat in the command building which cedric came out of during the battle, the candle light flickered as he wrote in his journal.

Sulla came through the door,

"General the prisoners are being guarded in the stockade, Cedric is chained to a steel rod in the center of the courtyard guarded by our best"

Fabius looked up from his writings,

"Good, get some sleep Sulla...tomorrow we return to ostia with our trophy"

Sulla grinned then he saluted,Fabius nodded and watched the man leave. In the corner Amiee was chained to the wall,

"You are under my watch my dear...i will take you personally into my home as a servant over time..we will grow to rather...enjoy eachother..ahaha.."

Fabius continued his task at hand...

In the morning the rain poured from the sky once again. Yesterday the lands of gaul were blessed with the sun for their victory, today it was back to the horrible weather that cursed this land. General Fabius came out of the hut and walked over to his horse and looked around,

"I will return when i have completed my buisness in ostia, pompus will be in charge in my stead"

Pompus saluted the general as he got on his horse, the girl Amiee was brought out and tied to Sullas horse,

"Ostia will be proud of all of you..all of you.."

With that the coloum started to leave the fort at a slow pace because of all the prisoners they had with them. The majority of the men were left at the outpost with was being restored and improved to ostian standard.

The 33rd legion was returning to ostia with the general while the other 3 stayed in gaul to occupy the lands they had just taken over. The journey back to Ostia would take 2 days because of the pace on which they moved.

General Fabius looked at Cedric who was staring up at him,

"Sence you have lost you wife to me im sure you will be needing a new mate, but i am not your type so do not look at me"

Sulla gave the rope a tug sending Cedric falling to the muddy ground, Fabius laughed loudly,

"Lets hear those trumpets! we are victorious!"

The trumpeteers sounded off loudly as the legion moved through the forest towards home.

After 2 days general fabius's coloum came out of the forest to the top of a hill where the city of Corona came into veiw. The city stretched for miles with hundreds of buildings and people going about their daily buisness,

"Here we are Cedric! Ostia!" Fabius gestured towards the mighty city that lay below

The 33rd legion approached the city trumpets blarring, people came out of their homes to see the soldiers march through the streets proudly with their prisoners all bound in chains which they threw food and other items at,

"Sulla, stop them..." ordered Fabius

Sulla rode down the lines of legionaires directing some of them to the sides of the road to stop people from interfearing. The people of ostia cheered and hung out of their windows greeting their returning soldiers, the war in gaul was finally over.

General Fabius was going to Apollo to the fortress Pompeyy to deliver Cedric to the emperor who awaited his presence. Cedric looked around at the people and buildings of ostia, little did any of the people know he had been comming to here for years learing all about the culture and ways of life due to his curiousity.

The coloum left the city of Corona and marched on through the small villages and towns in the ostian countryside. The only noise that could be heard now were the footsteps of soldiers on the cobble roads, the army started to cross a large arch bridge high in the air over a lake when the front lines all of a sudden stopped.

General Fabius looked at Sulla who quickly rode to the front of the coloum where he halted to see a wagon with 3 dead praetorians laying on the ground,

"Get them off the road...rebel bandits..."

Sulla rode back down to Fabius who sat waiting,

"Bandits killed 3 praetorians ahead...treasurey wagon got robbed.."

Fabius frowned and replyed,

"Humph..that will be our next objective...kill this damned bandit king...o well..carry on!"

The army started moving once again bound for Apollo. The sun was setting on the horizion and the moon was visible in the sky,

"It's going to be a clear night..."He said to Sulla

The army moved through the countryside on to the capital. They entered the city through the main road, the streets were close to deserted as it was getting late. The streets were light up with torches placed around on buildings, people opened their shutters and looked out at the soldiers passing through.

The city of Apollo was quiet besides afew dogs barking in the distance. Fabius and Sulla rode side by side as they past houses and shops of both sides of the street,

"General, we near the fort..shallwe sound off?"

Fabius gave Sulla an angry look,

"Of course not you idiot...all of Apollo's childern sleep!"

Sulla grinned to himself then looked the other way so Fabius would not see it. Sulla was a young officer who felt he had somthing to prove to his commander, he was of an imperial bloodline that dated back to the beginning before the empire even existed.

Things in Ostia had settled down after the defeat of Cedric. Thousands of soldiers in Gaul were now freed up from their dutys and thousands more recruited into the armed forces due to a conscription law that had been passed by the Senete.

Cedric the barbarian king had escaped fortress pompey right under the noses of his captors, his location was unknown and he could not be found anywhere. Meantime the senete discussed matters of pirates off the coast of Ostia and the crumbeling empire in africa, egypt was still occupyed by 500 legionaires and it was passed they be reinforced by more soldiers.

Ostia had commited a total of 25,000 troops to egypt under the command of general Titus. Preperations for their movement across the sea were being looked after after the decision passed, Titus was glad to be given a posting as he spent the last 2 years in Ostia commanding troops in Apollo.

Ostia would reinforce her new province and prepare to dig in for good, merchants and civilians would go with the army this time to establish a new trading port in Alexandria where they would colonize the country in time.

Titus would be govenor.

ooc: looks like Titus will proilby be the first Ostian oficial that Tazkook runs into then. good to know.

OOC: Titus is a military man but he is not like Fabius and Regulus, he is more like his good friend General Agrippa who is currently near Kilani. Titus has lots of experiance with running a large settlement or city such as Apollo, also his military records are those of an expert veteran general and no one else would be more suitible for the new province.

General Regulus and General Fabius are cold hearted soldiers, it's all they know and have no emotion when on the feild except for their own. Titus is more calm and relaxed..not so uptight all the time.