In Fire And Darkness

Chapter 2: First Encounter

“Do you know what 'Nemesis' means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent, personified in this case by an 'orrible cunt … me”

                                                                                         - Bricktop 

   Antonius Timaeus, the Tribunus, or General of the Roman legion looked on from the rear of the army on his horse as his men climbed up the path to plunder the village of Aviliobris. Proud, haughty, sharp-witted and unnaturally skilled in arms, Antonius was a man that the soldiers of the legion obeyed more out of fear than respect. His eyes narrowed as he overlooked the plundering; he could sense something was wrong. The villagers should have spotted them by now, should have tried to rain his men with rocks and boulders or atleast shouted some words of warning. But no, nothing of that sort had happened. From his vantage point he could make out that there was no one positioned in the watch towers. Midday meal maybe? No, as stupid as those savages were, they would leave someone on guard, even during meals. He glanced at the ground, the muddy ground seemed a shade darker than it should have been. And a strange smell was rising from the dirt beneath their feet. The matter had caused much murmuring within the ranks. Something was amiss.

  Antonius was growing tired of this wasteful attack on Hibernia. The land was barren, devoid of life for leagues and leagues, the natives had little wealth to be robbed of and the weather was absolutely horrible. Yes, that's what the emperor had jokingly told Antonius before he had embarked on this conquest - "Savage Celts, barren landscapes, horrible food, worse weather, god-damn Antonius, you sure as hell are going to enjoy yourself there!"

  The General longed to be back home, back to the hot baths and beautiful women of Rome. He cursed the emperor for sending him here. Of all the other Tribunus' there were, it had to be him that was to lead a hopeless conquest into Hibernia. But Antonius knew it wasn't all that bad. His legion had destroyed every Celtic tribe they had encountered on their way north; it had been all too easy! And if all went well, he would be honoured with even greater wealth and power. A smug grin crept to his face as he thought this.

  It was then that a soldier shouted, pointing at something in the distance. All heads turned that way and at first nothing could be seen in the glare of the sun. And then, it dawned on them that fire was speeding towards the army. Fire? How could it be?! They were all lost for words as everyone, Antonius included, gaped at the approaching trail of fire. Then, all hell broke lose.

  The fire was upon them in a matter of seconds and engulfed nearly the entire army. Antonius, being at the rear, escaped quickly. He watched dumbfounded as in front of his eyes, his men were burnt alive. He couldn't do anything but shout orders, telling them to get away. But that was pretty obvious, all the men were already trying to flee from the fire. But most of them were already to deep within the perimeter to escape alive.

   As the sun just touched the horizon, the elongated shadows of his men writhing and rolling in agony gave an almost supernatural appearance to the horrid scene. The blackened ground and burning bodies made the place look like hell itself. Antonius, not knowing what to think, unmounted his steed and sat over by a rock as the soldiers who had managed to escape the fire searched for survivors. His dreams had been shattered. No hero's welcome would be awaiting him when he returned to Rome. The emperor would not be pleased. Face buried in his grimy hands, Antonius sat there pathetically, not knowing what to do with this situation. Bastardly Celts! Then by chance, as he lifted his head up, he saw movement in the distance. He would not even have noticed it if the setting sun hadn't illuminated their tiny figures. It looked like no one had noticed either.

   “OI!” he shouted to the officers near him, “I want a hundred men, ready to march in the next ten minutes!”

   “Sir, we need to tend to the injured and bury - ” started the blackened and soot covered officer.

   “I don't give a shit! I need one hundred men NOW”

   “Yes sir - ”

   “Move your sorry ass!”

   As he wished, Antonius had one hundred men with him in the next few minutes. He looked back to where had seen the darkened silhouettes. The nerve those stupid little Merdae had taking on his army! They would pay dearly.

   “Alright you little shits!” roared Antonius, “The time has come to prove whether you little girls can live up to your name. The enemy has been spotted to the North of this settlement. We fight to kill! Those savages have brought upon us this situation, we show no mercy!” With that he mounted his horse and set off to the North with twenty cavalrymen and over eighty infantrymen behind him, all ready to fight to the death and reign hell on the Celts.

                                                             *

Abelio and his troop were given a warrior's welcome when they returned to their camp. Shouts and cheers from the citizens of Aviliobris caused the birds settling in for the night to scatter into the blood-red sky. The forest was not the quiet place it had once been; bonfires were lit and the villagers gathered around the so-called warriors, begging them to recount their tale. Even Abelio, ever so cautious and on-edge joined in the story telling. Weapons were abandoned and food was brought out. The Romans were all but defeated and they were far from their village; they found no need to keep their location secluded.

Bama was perhaps the happiest of the lot. Having experienced the wrath of the Romans first-hand, he was glad that they had gotten a taste of their own medicine. He laughed and guffawed along with the others, lost in their fanciful thoughts of how easily the Romans had been defeated. The evening waned into night and plans were already under way to return to Aviliobris in the next few days. These foreigners were no match for their intelligence! The stories of their unstoppable strength and awesome power were mere exaggerations!

How wrong they were...

                                                         *     

Antonius slowed to a trot as he followed the path Abelio's troop had taken. Those fools had not at all tried to cover their tracks. His trackers were easily able to follow the trail of broken twigs, footprints in the grass and rustled leaves. What idiots, he thought and looked up in time to see birds scattering into the sky. He was somewhat disappointed that the Celts who had so brilliantly managed to roast half his army alive, did not have the sense to keep their location secret. Steadily advancing, he spied the tell tale glow of bonfires in the distance and if one listened closely, they could here the chatter of voices.

Antonius held out his hand, indicating the men to stop. He ordered one of his men to climb up a tree and get to know the lie of the land. The man sat up on the tree for a full two minutes. Upon coming down, he drew a rough map of the Celtic camp on the ground.

“There are atleast one hundred of them sir,” said the young man, “But only about half of them look like fighting men. The rest are women, children and some elders.”

“Good.” said Antonius, “That is very good.” He paused for a moment and said “We wait till it is completely dark to attack.” He called out to the only officer who had accompanied their little expedition, “You lead half the men around the camp and cut off any escape routes. Attack when we have started our assault. Understood?”

The men murmured and nodded their heads. The officer set of with half the men, all of them infantrymen. Antonius wanted to surprise the Celts first with his cavalry, and while their heads were turned, his officer would lead the others to attack from behind. They waited patiently until nightfall, listening to the sounds echoing from the Celtic camp.

As stars started popping into the night sky and the moon's scattered pale light shined through the forest canopy, Antonius turned to his men and said “It is time.”