“Aye, but finding the strength at your age to do what needs to be done is a rare gift. Jaco is me name and my mates and I will follow your lead.”
Baltazar smiled and nodded at Jaco. He then turned to the other men and said, “We’re down to twenty men to help protect the thirteen wagons. I need two men in the second wagon, one in the next and then two for every other wagon. Lael, you’re with me in the first wagon. The rest of you help the drivers hitch the horses and let’s continue to Yarmouk!
The men did as they were bid. Before long all thirteen wagons were hitched to their horses and ready to set out. Baltazar stood up in his seat next to the driver of the lead wagon, gestured down the path, and said, “Forward!”
The wagons lurched and began moving down the path when their turn came. The group slowly made its way to the Jerusalem road. As they turned onto the road, Baltazar glanced back at Tuba and thought about the trio within, Till we meet again.
Before long they rode beside the Sea of Galilee. The cool breeze coming off the clear blue waters put a smile on everyone’s faces. For a time, they forgot how desperate their situation was and simply enjoyed being alive.
After several hours, Baltazar saw what could be a moving figure off in the distance. The figure didn’t seem to be walking with purpose. Instead, it staggered around in a loose circle, “Lael, take a look at that figure ahead. What’s your opinion?”
Lael responded, “A fisherman maybe. Hoping to sell us his catch?”
Baltazar didn’t look convinced, “Maybe.” He turned to the driver and said, “Stop please.”
With a nod, the driver brought the wagon to a halt. Baltazar stood up and signaled stop to the wagon behind him. He yelled, “Dismount and form up!”
The sound of his voice changed the behavior of the being up the road. It began running toward the column as fast as its rotting legs could carry it. The men came together into a decent approximation of the shield wall Justin and Baltazar had shown them how to form. Jaco’s cavalrymen formed up with three of them on each side of the guardsmen mounted on their horses.
Baltazar who was standing in front of the shield wall looked over his shoulder to see how far off the running figure was. In the time it took to form the shield wall the creature had closed nearly the entire distance between them. Baltazar pulled his Spatha out from its scabbard pointed at what was very obviously a damned now only thirty feet away and yelled, “Shields up, advance!”
Several of the shields made a noise as they touched each other. The guardsmen to a man held their shields up with left hands. They looked out over their shields as they began marching forward. As the attacker neared, they each drew their Spatha and balanced the blade on the top of their shields. The damned hurled itself right at Lael. With a dull thwack, Lael’s shield absorbed the impact. He then stabbed out with his Spatha trying to hit the creature in the head, and missed.
The damned, now desperate to feast, reached and grabbed Lael’s helm as he drew back for another strike. This caused Lael to stumble forward and lower his shield. Before the damned could strike Lael, Septimus brought his Spatha down hard on the top of the demon spawn’s head. With a squish, the vile thing’s skull collapsed and purplish brains splattered onto Lael’s shield.
“Thanks for the assist,” said Lael.
Septimus smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”
Seeing no other threats, Baltazar ordered the men to break shield wall formation and return to their assigned wagons. The men did as instructed and they once again set off moving south down the Jerusalem road. They continued without incident for several hours. As the sun drew closer to the horizon on their left, they spotted a large group of the damned moving up the road toward them.
Athos was fighting side by side with Constan. To his left was a man that he had never seen before. Something in his mind told him the name of the man was Radcliff. How do I know this man’s name when I’ve never met him? Athos’ thought was interrupted by a spear thrust from the Persian in front of him. He brought his Spatha up to block the spear and then shoved his shield into the man’s face. The metal boss smashed his nose. With a scream, the Persian dropped his spear and grabbed his nose. Athos thrust his Spatha into his gut, and he fell.
To Athos’ left Constan made quick work of three Persians in the time it took him to kill one. To his right, Radcliff was struggling with a gigantic Persian wielding a massive hammer. The Persian brought the hammer down onto Radcliff’s shield. The blow caused Radcliff to stagger back two feet and numbed his left arm. Athos, worried for his friend, quickly killed the next Persian in line in front of him. He then swung his Spatha to his right. His blade sunk deeply into the massive Persian’s side but the man just kept coming.
While the Persian lifted his hammer up to deliver another blow to Radcliff, Athos yanked his Spatha out of his side. Seeing motion out of the side of his eye he dropped to his knees and shoved his Spatha upward. The Spatha pierced the groin of a Persian. A flood of blood washed over his Spatha. Shrieking, the man dropped his spear, and Athos yanked his Spatha out. He then turned to attack the massive Persian with the hammer just as he once again brought the hammer down onto Radcliff’s shield.
With a loud cracking noise, the shield broke apart, and the hammer continued through striking Radcliff in the head. His head disappeared under the huge blow, and red mist was flung into the air as Radcliff’s skull collasped. Screaming in rage Athos brought his Spatha down onto the Persian’s arms severing them. The thick muscular arms, along with the hammer fell to the ground on top of Radcliff’s body. As the Persian fell to his knees, his arm stumps spurting blood, Athos heard Constan cry out behind him.
Athos turned to see Constan put his hands over his left eye as a Persian withdrew a spear from it. Horrified, Athos stood stunned for a moment. A horn sounded, and Athos grimaced, “Another damn dream.” Then he heard the roar of the Kataphractoi as they smashed through the Persians felling them by the dozens. The Persians turned tail and ran. The few surviving members of Athos’ Kentarchia screamed in victory and pursued the fleeing Persians killing scores of them from behind.
The horn sounded again. With a gasp, Athos sat bolt upright in his bed, Just a dream. He stood, walked over to the corner of his chamber and relieved himself into the pot.
“Are you in there, Nikas?”
The Nikas personality answered, “I’m here.”
“Do I have you to thank for these dreams?”
An image of the Nikas personality popped into his mind nodding, “Yes you do. It would seem that our memories are mingling with each other. Your mind is trying to reconcile this by showing my memories to you in dreams.”
“So, what I just saw happened?”
The image of Nikas in Athos’ mind nodded again, “Yes. That was the day Constan lost his left eye. If the Kataphractoi had been given the signal to charge just a little sooner, he would still have it today.”
“Why didn’t the Emperor order the Kataphractoi in sooner?” Athos asked.
“There comes a time in every battle where the forces arrayed against each other are perfectly in balance. When that moment passes the force that breaks the balance and starts moving forward gains a tremendous boost to their morale. If you can identify that moment and provide a crushing counter blow then that heightened morale can be instantly destroyed sending your opponent fleeing when they were on the cusp of victory. Emperor Heraclius held the Kataphractoi for that moment.”
Athos nodded understanding dawning on his features, “You should take over now. It’s time to train the men.”
The Nikas personality smiled evilly in Athos’ head, “No, I think I am going to take a break today. You train the men.”
“You can’t be serious! I’m not ready yet.” Athos voice betrayed the panic he was feeling.
“Well, I guess you had better become ready really quick.”
Nikas disappeared from Athos’ mind. It was rather un-nerving he hadn’t been alone inside his head since he woke up in Damascus
. At first, he didn’t understand what the stray thoughts were but as he got better at listening, he discovered that they were not his own. Later on, the thoughts had become more dominant and finally, they took over, Now I don’t know what to do without him. Not wanting to be late he put on his uniform and hurried out the door.
Athos stood at the spot where the 2nd Kentarchia forms up for the morning. The men were breaking their fast with the usual fare from the fort’s kitchens. After a few minutes, Damon walked up. They nodded at each other and stood in silence for several minutes. Athos glanced at the eastern horizon. The vista slowly transformed from a pale ribbon of purple to a larger dark red band. As the red ribbon evolved slowly into pinks and oranges the time had come.
“Form up!” Athos yelled.
Without hesitation, the men ran over to their positions and stood at attention. Athos and Damon walked amongst them admonishing anyone that was not standing at perfect attention. Satisfied the two walked back to the front of the formation, and Athos address them, “Good morning 2nd Kentarchia!”
In unison, the men responded, “Good morning, sir!”
Well this was working so far, better keep it going. He took a deep breath and said, “Yesterday you got a taste of what your days will be like until you are ready for battle. Endurance, formation drills, and weapons training. Today I expect you to do better than you did yesterday.”
Athos paused, and the men once again replied in unison, “Yes, sir!”
Gaining some confidence Athos said, “That means we are going to start out with another run around the parade ground. You’ll get the same prize as yesterday if you do well. The first seventy men to cross the finish line get a wine ration chit. If anyone can beat me, you’ll get two. If you do poorly, you might just feel my sandaled foot up your arse. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll win the wine and not my foot.”
The men responded with nervous laughter. Athos turned and took off running onto the parade ground. The men didn’t hesitate this time and followed immediately. Around the first lap, several of them kept pace with him and Damon. As the 1st lap turned into the 2nd, he couldn’t hear men breathing right behind him anymore. He glanced to his right and saw that Damon was keeping pace.
Damon grinned back at him and said, “I saved a special present for you this morning, Kentarches.”
Intrigued Athos asked, “Oh, what present?”
As Athos finished his statement, Damon increased his pace and moved in front of Athos. He looked back at him and smiled. Perturbed Athos increased his speed to catch him when Damon’s posterior rumbled to life. The horrid stench immediately wafted over him assailing his nostrils.
Athos yelled, “You bastard!” He quickened his pace to try and catch Damon, but Damon laughed and increased his speed further. Eventually, Athos gave up, and Damon crossed the finish line ahead of him. Athos punched Damon in the arm in repayment, and the two stood silently waiting for the men to finish.
It wasn’t long before men began crossing the finish line. As they did so, Athos clapped encouragement to them and Damon handed out the wine chits. Though breathing hard and exhausted the men looked to be in slightly better shape than they had been the day before. Once again Hagen and Wayra crossed the finish line last. Today, only about half the distance lay between the two friends and the runner in front of them, then did the previous day.
“Great job you two. Still last but I appreciate the effort you are putting forth to get better.” The two older men both smiled at Athos in gratitude for his encouragement. Wow, they seem to be reacting well to what I said. Can I actually be a Kentarches?” He then turned to the rest of the men as they milled about and yelled, “Form up!”
Then men formed up, and Athos and Damon began marching practice. Several minutes into their practice, the gates to the fort opened, and Constan walked in. Behind him were the four hundred and fifty new recruits that were raised through the Governor’s draft. They had no order as they wandered into the fort wide-eyed and looked about. The disorganized rabble ranged from young men whose faces hinted of beard growth to men whose heads were almost entirely gray.
All four of the Kentarchias of former city guardsmen halted their drilling and formed up on the parade ground in their designated positions. Constan led the multitude of men onto the parade ground and then yelled, “New Kentarches form up your men.”
Damon and the three other first Dekanoses left the 1st through 4th Kentarchias and began organizing the new recruits. Athos sighed audibly as he watched Damon go. You picked a fine day Nikas to make me go it alone.
Athos scanned the faces of his men. Several of the men looked pleased with Damon’s departure including Otis. Athos decided to vent his frustration on the offending grin and walked briskly up to Otis and yelled, “Wipe that shite eating grin off your face right now!”
Otis audibly gulped at the sudden and unexpected outburst from Athos. Athos then marched back to the front of the formation. As he did so, the yells coming from the four new Kentarchia commanders washed over them. He paused and watched the action for a few moments. Damon nearly had his Kentarchia lined up in a rough formation. The other three were lagging behind and still looked quite disorganized.
Athos turned to his men and said, “We will miss Dekan- I mean Kentarches Damon. It looks like you are stuck with just me to make you all Ironmen now. With Damon’s departure, I’m going to need one of you to step up and replace him. I’ve had my eye on several of you now for possible leadership positions. One of you will have to grow up a lot sooner than I had intended. I will choose Damon’s replacement by the time the sun sets on this very day.
Athos marched the men out of the fort for the first time. As they walked through the streets of the city, they practiced turns, about faces, halts, and double times. The citizens of Damascus stopped what they were doing and watched, Before we left for Yarmouk they were so used to us being around they ignored us. We are noticeable again. Athos also noticed that the onlookers were mostly women. There were a few young boys and old men scattered amongst them.
Satisfied that the men could execute the basic commands of marching Athos led them back to the fort. In the midst of chaos as the 5th through 8th Kentarchias learned the basics of starting to march he brought them to a halt. With the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Kentarchias missing the 2nd Kentarchia seemed like an island of order amongst a chaotic storm roiling around them. Athos then drilled them for an hour on the art of going from a column of six marching formation to line of battle and back again.
This maneuver was the hardest that they have tried to learn so far. At first, they were shaky, and there was some confusion as men collided with each other. With every successive attempt, it became more natural to them. Finally, in the 2nd hour of drilling, they flowed perfectly from formation to formation. Athos paused and reflected, They’ll be ready to try Testudo tomorrow. I hope they understand the importance of getting it right better than I did.
Athos then led them to their final training of the day, weapons training. He made them swing at the wooden posts for an hour and five minutes this time with their axes. The axes did a considerable amount of damage to the posts, but it was necessary to give the men a chance to get comfortable swinging them at a target.
He then let them match themselves up for weapons training. Hagan surprisingly won three matches in a row and made it to the semi-finals with his wooden training ax. He became the underdog favorite of several of the men who cheered him on. Hagan’s victories earned him the opportunity to face off against Vadim.
The two men lined up on their starting points and stared at each other for several seconds. They both wore a simple gray tunic that went down to their mid-thigh. It was cinched together at the waist with a piece of rope. Each man carried a one-handed wooden facsimile of the new single headed throwing ax. In their left hand was a wooden oval shield. The shield was standard issue for the city guardsmen of Damascus and was painted solid black with a metal boss in the center of it.
Vadim h
ad seen perhaps 25 summers. He had a broad chest, thick biceps, and a confident demeanor as he looked across the square at Hagan. By contrast, Hagan had seen no less than 45 summers and sported a potbelly belying the comfortable lifestyle he had led in recent years. Hagan was avoiding Vadim’s stare and appeared to be nervous.
Athos walked out in-between the two men, “You both know the rules. A touch equals a point. The first person to three points wins. Do not inflict injuries that will prevent your opponent from training on the ‘morrow. Beyond that no rules.”
Athos walked over to the side of the square. He took up a position where he could easily observe and then said, “Begin!”
Vadim immediately charged across the square. He brought his ax into a quick downward swing toward Hagan’s head. Hagan brought his shield up and blocked the blow. Vadim’s ax struck his shield with a loud thwack! The mighty blow caused Hagan to drop to one knee as he absorbed it and his arm immediately numbed. As Vadim brought his ax up for another strike, Hagan rolled to his left to avoid it.
Standing Hagan tried to bring his shield up into a defensive position but his arm was still numb and it was all he could do just to hang onto it. Vadim smiled and advanced toward him. The larger man swung his ax at Hagan’s exposed left side. Hagan, feeling his arm start to tingle brought his shield up a few inches and blocked the blow. At the same time, he swung his ax at Vadim. Vadim blocked the ax blow with his shield and followed up by pushing his shield forward.
The boss of Vadim’s shield found Hagan’s nose, which immediately exploded into a bloody mess. Vadim’s shield had crushed it. Hagan dropped his shield and ax, fell to his knees, and clutched his nose. Blood leaked out between his fingers. Vadim gently tapped him on the top of his head with his ax.
“Point Vadim. Be warned if he cannot participate in training tomorrow you will get ten lashes.” Athos turned to address the rest of his men, “If anyone hurts their opponent that badly during our training matches deliberately again they will answer to me in blood. Understood?”
Byzantium Infected Box Set Page 40
