by C K Ruppelt
696 AUC (58 BC), summer
Ten miles south of Bibracte, Free Gallia, Nation of the Aedui.
“Here is what we need to do,” Caesar shouted at all his officers. They rode through wide open terrain and had no time to stop. “We send all our cavalry to engage and slow down the pursuing Helvetii host, which will allow the legions, the baggage train, and the families to go up and dig in on a certain hill I had scouted.” He saw some approval, but also many worried faces. “The four veteran legions will block the approach, while the two new legions will fortify, and the auxiliaries protect the laborers, women and children.”
“How much time do we need to buy you?” Crassus asked from his side, Cinna and Sabinius riding next to him, both anxiously nodding at the question. Caesar was pained over the question. I am sorry boys, I know attacking the massive enemy army with only four thousand seems like suicide. My hope is the engagement won’t be long enough for their numbers to count.
“The cavalry won’t need to buy us a lot. The key outcome I need is for Divico and his chieftains to see you ready for them, stop their host and analyze the situation. When they start moving again you will attack and fight for a few minutes. You need to keep back someone at a good lookout, I want you to disengage the moment our last wagons get to the hill.” He pointed forward where the flat changed into several hills, growing taller in the distance. “Do you see the medium height one with the forested top?” he asked, pointing northeast. “That’s the one. It has only steep approaches except for the one from the front. I will have our legions cover that side, and the hilltop is wide and flat, perfect for the baggage train and fortifications. Some of Crassus’ scouts are already waiting there to give directions.”
He looked around at all the men. “Any other questions?” A few grim faces looked back at him, others looked determined. Good, they have some hope that this will work. That will help make it so.
“Very well, go to your troops and get ready. Dismissed!”
He loosened his helmet strap to take it off for a moment to dab away the sweat from his forehead. It was still late morning, but already a clear and hot day.
Aeolus, I pray to you. Let loose Venti Favonius so that he may bring us a western breeze to keep my men cool in their armor. Today, we need every advantage we can get.
***
Oz held his horse steady. The combined Roman cavalry force had faced down the approaching front-lines of the Helvetii until the massive host stopped half a mile away. Though it looks like they are done discussing, and on the move again.
He watched Capussia give the signal for the liticen to blow their horns. “Get ready,” Oz shouted as his turma. “Are you alright, Adhe?” he asked his nephew next to him.
“I’m fine. Just thinking that it seems insane for us to try to stop this”—he nodded at the ocean of Helvetii consisting of many tens of thousands of warriors, plus wagons and families coming their way—”flood with our little band here.”
Oz grinned at his nephew to show he had more confidence in the plan than he really felt. “Capussia will send us back before we’re done with the first quiver. You heard him, the Cretans and us are needed to man the fortifications, so these poor people,” he nodded behind them at the Roman Celtic cavalry, “will take the brunt of it, but hopefully not for long.”
“Here they come!” he heard Capussia shout. The Numidians and Cretans were stretched out in a long line three horses deep, with wide paths left open between them. Those paths are what will keep us alive.
They all held their bows ready, arrows nocked. The first Helvetii riders came within fifty yards and the Litui blew the note for release. Oz let go of his arrow and pulled and shot the next one and the next. When the enemy came within a hundred feet, he heard the cavalry signal for attack, followed moments later by the Roman cavalry riders bursting through the archer’s line to hit the enemy. For a moment, they watched the ferocity of their own attack, until Oz heard the signal for the retreat of the Numidian and Cretan forces. He nodded and raised his hand. As one, the mounted archers turned their horses and galloped for the hill looming on the horizon.
***
Elsed rode out of the group and turned his horse back to scan his people’s faces. So many were gone, but the remainder had followed him to this place where giant forces were at play. He smiled at Rionach and Orlagh and many other familiar faces that greeted him. Nodding to himself, he decided to forgo a speech. There is really nothing I can add, they are all here with me despite having to face down a whole nation of hundreds of thousands of people on the move.
Of course, they were here to help the Romans keep these enemies from ravaging Aedui lands, and to get help later in return against the Suebi, but all that faded away when confronted by the incredible size of the Helvetii nation in front of them. I am glad about not seeing Brenna’s face here. I know she is unhappy that she drew the short straw to stay with the children, but at least there’s some hope they won’t grow up as orphans.
Morcant had left with Brenna, anticipating he could be of more help with his healing skills once their wounded arrived at the camp. Elsed turned back around and saw the archers letting their first arrows fly. Then a second salvo, followed by a third. The cavalry litui blew for attack and he drew his sword. “This is for us!” he shouted and rode out, leading his clan through the lines of archers and into the fray. He screamed at the first Helvetii warrior in his path, hacking down at the man’s shield with all his might. It split on the second swing and left the warrior wide open for his follow through. His Aedui fanned out around him, and soon they were all embroiled in a vicious melee. However many enemies they downed, still more pushed in to replace them. “Stay together!” he shouted. If they were stretched too thin, disengaging would cost even more of their lives. Please gods, lead my people out of this before we all die against these overwhelming odds.
***
Nico reached the hill after a mile of hard riding and followed his fellow Cretan and Numidian archers through the openings the four legions had made for them and up the hill through the open gate area of the unfinished hill fortification. The archers led their animals to the rear and tied them to stakes already prepared for them by the camp staff. “Follow me to the wall!” Andrippos shouted, and Nico ran after him to the hill’s west side which overlooked the action below. Their men flowed around the Balearic slingers, which had taken the center position, with the Numidians filling the right flank and the Cretans the left.
Nico came to a stop next to Alketas, a close friend and one of the handful of fellow survivors of the south pass battle against the Transcudani, and whistled appreciatively. “The legionaries have been very busy in a very short amount of time.” They looked down as some of the soldiers of the Eleventh and Twelfth legions hurriedly dug additional defensive moats in front of the wall, filling them with sharpened stakes. Nico lowered his bow from his shoulder and opened his quiver, keeping the arrows ready. That’s all there was to do for now besides watching the others fight in the plain below.
“Ah, our cavalry is disengaging. Not too soon, I think our troops are ready for the Helvetii,” Alketas said.
They silently watched their cavalry rush back, closely chased by the enormous mass of cavalry of the enemy host, until they rode through the openings provided by the legionaries and hurried up the hill. The legions now closed their line, the ranks holding Pila at the ready. The enemy cavalry turned sideways and kept their distance instead of engaging. So far, so good.
He looked over as the Celts rode their horses through the fort’s gate. Nico noticed two women warriors at the end of the line sharing one horse. They had to be part of the recently joined Aedui clan since the Roman’s usually did not recruit women into their auxilia forces. The one up front leaned into the horse’s mane, close to falling off and bleeding profusely.
“These Aedui have some fierce women warriors. I hope she makes it,” Alketas commented.
Nico nodded. I couldn’t agree more. The Aedui and the raw recru
its from the south haven’t been with us more than a few days, yet they just stopped an overwhelming force to buy us the time we needed.
***
“Yes, this is the best view. We’ll stay here for now and see how it develops,” Caesar stated to Labienus and Hirtius after they followed him to the top of a big boulder a few hundred feet below the fortifications. Caesar very much enjoyed the gentle breeze the Roman wind deity had sent. “Thank you Favonius,” he whispered.
He had left the other high-ranking officers with their legions, valuing Labienus’ perspective for strategy above all others. The enemy host below gathered two-thirds of a mile from the hill and arranged their wagons into a circle to create a defensible position. All their horses and draw animals were brought into the center. Interesting, no more cavalry?
An incredibly big mass of foot soldiers gathered on the east side of the wagon fort and set out toward the Roman hill. As they came within a few hundred feet, the front line of the oncoming mass started to form a protrusion. “Look at that. They are creating a phalanx to try to push through our line,” Labienus commented.
“Let’s see what our Pila will do to that formation,” Caesar commented. “I’m not too worried about us holding the hill, our position is strong enough, though I wonder how we can achieve a crushing victory.”
They stood in silence for a moment, until Labienus cleared his throat. “We can’t win by staying in our fortification, and we can’t win with a frontal attack, their numbers are just too great, they would wear us down.”
“I generally agree with both, except that I think adding the baggage train with their families into the equation might be the needed lynchpin,” Caesar mused. “If we can somehow drive a wedge between that and their army, they might lose their heads.” He looked around and focused on an even higher hilltop a mile away. An idea began to form. “How about we do this…”
***
“Coraidan! Get back here!” Brenna screamed at the top of her lungs while running after her son and hugging little Faela tight in her sling around her shoulders. She couldn’t believe the speed her two-year-old demonstrated at the most inopportune times. The tyke headed straight for the legion’s artillery teams assembling their heavy weapons meant for the platforms on the fortification walls. She saw him run to a team that was trying to turn over the heavy wooden frame of a catapult. “Stop, Coraidan, stop!” she yelled in desperation when a young girl ran in from the side to grab the boy just before he reached the big timber frame. The artillery team succeeded in tipping the frame over, landing it with a solid thump on the wild grass where Coraidan had been just a moment earlier. Oh, my gods.
Brenna caught up with the girl who still held Coraidan’s arm with a tight grip. “Thank you!” she told the girl in Latin before spontaneously hugging her. “I can’t thank you enough for saving my son. I don’t know what would have happened without you.”
“No problem,” the girl answered. “I have a young brother myself who’s always getting into trouble. Why don’t you bring your son over to our group?” She pointed to several families with children to the west side of the open space. “He can play with my brother Saki and I can keep an eye on both. Looks like you could use the help, you already have your hands full.” She waved at Brenna’s group consisting of only a handful of adults vastly outnumbered by a horde of children. Then she held out her hand. “I’m Stena. My papa is with the Numidian auxiliary.”
She took the girls hand. “Thank you, Stena. My name is Brenna and I am grateful for your offer. If we all get through this, I’ll help you any way I can,” she replied.
Stena shook her head. “No need, I am happy to help.” The girl turned to Brenna’s son. “So, what was your name—Coraidan? Am I saying it correctly?” He nodded with a smile.
Brenna watched Stena take her son by the hand and slowly lead him away. Thank you, gods. There is still hope for this world.
***
“Elsed!” Brenna shouted as she saw her husband, running to throw herself into his embrace. “I am so glad you’re back. How bad was it?”
“Bad enough, we lost more people,” Elsed said. “Though I suppose it could have been much worse.” He let go to look at her closely. “I’ll take over with the children. I think you might want to stay with your friend.” He nodded behind where Brenna saw Orlagh and Morcant supporting somebody shuffling along.
“Rionach!” She rushed forward. “What happened?”
“That woman! She figured that I needed saving, that’s what happened.” Orlagh answered. “I lost my horse, and all she could think of was how to get to me instead of worrying about the many Helvetii right in front of her.”
Rionach’s ten-year-old niece Epona and eight-year-old nephew Caom ran up to them, shocked and immediately worried about their aunt’s wounds. The group made it as far as the wagons when a legion medicus spotted them. “Bring her over to the Valetudinaria!” he called. “It’s our medical tent,” he explained when he saw their blank faces. “We don’t have many legionaries in there yet, so I can take a look at your friend.”
She saw Morcant frown. After a brief inner battle, her brother-in-law answered with “All right, lead the way.” He can intervene if he doesn’t like what he sees.
They made it to a big tent full of empty cots and gently laid Rionach on one of them. The man efficiently assessed and cleaned Rionach’s injuries under their watchful eyes, though once he started closing the wounds Morcant spoke up.
“I’ll take over now if you don’t mind. Looks like you’re needed elsewhere,” he said, pointing at the busy tent entry where wounded legionaries started showing in big numbers. “Thank you for your good work. I could not have done better myself.”
The man mock-bowed with an amused smile. “Please put the needle and thread over on that table when you are done,” he added before hurrying to the new patients.
She could tell Morcant had something to say, but her brother waited until the Roman medicus was out of earshot. “He did well, except for the crude stitching. Let me fix what he did so we can get out of here, there are more of our people in need,” he said, carefully guiding the needle. “She needs some rest, but she is fine,” he told the girl and boy standing behind her cot. Then he turned to Orlagh, “and I’ll keep her pretty for you, don’t you worry.” Brenna laughed in relief, joined by Orlagh a moment later.
***
“Get your pila ready!” his centurion yelled from right next to him. The man had just rotated into first rank. Numerius obediently sheathed his gladius and carefully picked up the first of his two pila from his left hand’s shield grip, leaving the second for later. Risking a glance over to Vibius, who stood two men over in the same position, he saw his friend look back at him. Let’s hope we survive this, maybe we don’t have to be first rank next time.
His eyes moved back to the Helvetii phalanx which was now climbing up the slight incline and was headed straight for them. He regripped the pilum, his sweaty hands making things worse. “Hold it! Steady, men!” the centurion roared. Numerius had enough trust in his superior that just hearing him calmed him immensely. Here they come, the first enemy warriors, now maybe twenty feet away. They are so close now, when are we finally throwing?
“And release! Pila iacite!” He heard and hurled his pilum as hard as he could. It went straight towards the face of the second man in the tip of the phalanx, but the man’s shield went up at the last moment and caught it. Another missile hit his now exposed thigh and downed him like so many others. The Helvetii not out of the fight yet slowed down and tried to remove the Pila from their shields. With the soft iron tips solidly embedded, they ended up dropping the shields to the ground before the weakened phalanx broke apart, sending the remaining warriors rushing blindly at the Roman line.
“Ready your second Pilum!” the centurion bellowed. Numerius hurried to get his remaining pilum out from behind his shield.
“Pila iacite! Pila iacite!” More of the Helvetii went down, and once again a great number
of the enemy line had to drop their shields while running at the Roman frontline.
“Here comes your warmup, boys!” The centurion added. The legion’s shield wall closed in anticipation, everybody pulled their swords and braced for impact. Numerius peaked out over his shield rim and saw a tall Helvetii rushing in with a long sword swinging down. The warrior was at least two heads taller, and though Numerius raised his shield higher, he realized it might not be enough. He raised his gladius above his head and the Celt’s sword cut deep into his own edge. It had worked, the blade stopped right above his head and Numerius pushed the man back with his shield before his line neighbor got a stab in. “Thanks, centurion!” he shouted. He thought he heard a chuckle in response but wasn’t sure with the noise of battle. The frontline rhythm started, push shields forward, rotate the shields slightly left to open your right side. Dart out your gladius to hit exposed skin, or at least weak armor. The Helvetii front lines kept going down in huge numbers. As long as all their warriors push against us, their men in front have no room to evade our stabs. We might yet survive this.
He lost all track of time while following the rhythm. The same movements over and over, calming in a way. Maybe ten minutes later, the Helvetii warriors briefly thinned, creating a buffer space that gave the enemy time to regroup. Are they finally weary of the slaughter we’re committing here?
He stabbed out with his gladius and could not find any targets close by. A new command came over the din, introducing a major change to his rhythm right after the shield closing. Instead of just pushing the shield forward to keep the enemy off balance, the whole line stepped as one with a shoving motion, first closing the distance to the enemy, then pushing hard into the warriors before opening shields for the next stab. The pressure was immense, and the entire Roman line wavered briefly with the enemy masses pushing back. Though the move was a full success and the front line of Helvetii warriors was blocked in again, with no room to move and or evade the Roman blades. The tubae changed their call back to just hold and the slaughter continued. Another two rounds of stationary action, then another call to push forward. We’re using their big numbers against them in a most devastating fashion.
