What History Doesn't Know

How To Desert

I woke up early the next day, eager to carry out my plan. Today, while everybody else was fighting, I would sneak out wearing a legionnaire's outfit. Hopefully, that can let me sneak past their ranks. They would think I was one of their own. Yes, I knew it was cowardly to desert my army but this was a fight to the death and I'm not interested in dying so early.

I grabbed my gladius and walked out to Spartacus. My friend was sitting on rock looking very stressed out.

"You look really troubled, Spartacus." I said to him.

"I spent all night thinking of the battle. We have no choice but to fight."

'That's what you think,' I said as I smirked and walked off.

All of us got ready as we prepared to charge at the wooden Roman barricade. I, myself, got my arrows on fire. Since the barricade was wooden, fire would burn it down easily.

Our army prepared themselves at a safe distance from the Roman barrier. By now, the guards would have already raised the alarm. Crassus and his men will be waiting for us behind that wall, more armed than we were. No doubt, we would not stand a chance, just like Crixus.

When everyone was ready, we charged towards the barrier at full speed. I began shooting my fire arrows at the barrier, effectively burning them down. In the process, some of the guards got caught on fire. Oh well, less scum to deal with, I thought to myself.

However, as much as we could throw ourselves at the Romans, the Romans threw tenfold. The sky rained arrows as Roman archers fired their arrows. Amazingly, Spartacus, who was at the head of the line, remained unharmed despite everyone dying around him.

I drew my gladius and began cutting down the legionaries left and right. The rest of us did the same. Soon, we managed to overpower the guards.

However, the guards were just the beginning. Further ahead, Crassus and his men marched towards us in a uniform pace. Looking at the number, I knew we were outnumbered, fifty to one. I knew it was time to let my plan come into action. The others would probably kill me for deserting, so I dragged a dead legionnaire to one side. I waited till the others had marched ahead. Once they were gone, I removed the uniform off the Roman corpse. I slid the armour onto me and luckily, it fit me almost perfectly. Right. Now to find Spartacus.

I ran to the battlefield and began searching for Spartacus. It was seriously not as easy as I thought. My own allies tried cutting me down. They were not really well trained so I blocked their attacks easily. Finally, I found Spartacus unconscious bleeding badly on the ground. I dragged him away from the bloodshed and back to the barricade. I was quite fit but Spartacus was a really heavy man. Carrying him was rather exhausting.

I slide another dead legionnaire's armour onto him. It didn't fit him well but hopefully it would do for now. Just then, Spartacus regained consciousness.

"Therus? Ugh...what happened? Why are you in legionnaire uniform?" he said with blood on his mouth.

"You were beaten up badly. I'm getting you out of here."

"No...no! We must fight. We can't run away like cowards!"

"If we stay, we'll die, Spartacus! Dying here is just what Crassus wants. We must take this opportunity and run!"

Spartacus kept quiet after that. I lifted onto his feet and we tried to sneak past the battle. Just when we were almost close to making it past, Crassus, on his horse, saw us and narrowed his eyes at us. Shoot. We were so close.

Spartacus suddenly collapsed and I walked over to him.

"I'm okay. Pretend I'm injured and you're carrying me to the medic." Spartacus whispered to me.

I placed his arm around my shoulder and carried him off. Crassus looked at us and I pointed to Spartacus. Crassus just nodded and looked towards the battle. I continued dragging Spartacus until we were far enough from the battle.

We ran and ran and we just kept on running. After what seemed like forever, we stumbled upon an ox cart. We told the driver we were assigned to head north and he agreed to give us a ride without a word. In the middle of the ride, Spartacus had high fever. The wounds on him were infected and there was just nothing I could do. Sadly, Spartacus eventually passed away. A buried him underneath two trees that converged and said a prayer for his soul.

I later went for miles without thinking of the battle back in Rhegium. I took a boat and eventually reached magnificent lands beyond Gaul. I'm not sure why I went there. Maybe it was the voices in my head. Voices that sounded strangely familiar...