The Adventures of a Roman legionnaire

Chapter 10

They told us to hold. It wasn't easy, it wasn't fun but we held. While we waited for the scrambled together 20th and 21st legions to arrive. It took 3 weeks. In those three weeks I experienced some of the hardest fighting of my career.
I was constantly on my feet. Constantly on patrol. Constantly fighting. Sometimes I barely escaped with my life.
Once I was marching along a road on the way back from a patrol. I had about 300 men with me. As I marched an arrow hit my shield. I staggered backwards suprised. I made a line of men facing where the arrow had come from. That was when the Gauls came at us from behind. We made a mad dash back to the fort. We were forced to turn around and put up a hasty line.
The Gauls raged against us, time after time, wave after wave. We were pushed against our shields and we were slowly being driven back.
I sent out a messenger to Romulus. It was just as we had begun to break that they arrived. Just as my sword swings were getting slower and slower. Just as my limbs felt like they were filled with lead. The Gauls fled at their sight. We were able to bid a hasty retreat. Most of us collapsed on the floor right outside the gate. I made it back to my room and fell asleep. I didn't wake up for 14 hours.
It was days like these that helped me realized what had changed about Romulus. The constant fighting wears on you. You can feel the tiredness long after the battle is over. With every battle more troops are lost. At times you feel trapped. Trapped in a war that will never end. A war that was here long before you, and will be here long after.