An Ancient Hell (Discontinued)

Chapter 1: It Begins

The year was 447 AD. It was sunny and warm, but a nice cool breeze swept through the landscape. Not a single cloud could be spotted. Only the sun was seen up against the light blue color of the endless sky. Snow topped mountains can be seen in the distance while plains and farmlands are also seen plenty beforehand. There are Roman troops in a rather large city which lays on the outskirt of the huge empire. They are far away from Rome, and if attacked would not get help for a long while. In the city lay up to 5,000 heavily armed roman soldiers, at least 2,000 are archers. The rest of the army was made up of Evocatus and Miles. (Evocatus meaning veteran soldiers who had voluntarily rejoined the army. Miles or Miles Gregarius were the basic foot soldier.) The Roman forces were not stationed there, they were on their way to support the roman offensives to conquer more land. Due to some happenings they are staying there until they get some more supplies. So far they have been un-protested except for some small skirmishes here and there from those who defied and disliked the Roman rule. Archers made quick work of those rebels if they were in a field far away and the Evocatus made quick work of them if the fights were close quarters. For the most part the day was peaceful, filled with hearty laughter and joy. Until the messenger had arrived bearing grim news. Attila, king of the Huns has sent a large army in their direction to conquer and push through the Roman defense and to try and get far enough to attack Rome herself. His force goes into about 30,000 troops or more, the exact number has evaded the messenger. More armies have been sent across the Roman border as an aggressive push into the territory that is currently controlled by Rome. The General of the small Roman force which now are in the path of attack has two options, neither one viable. The first is to let the Huns come through and take land, cities, and villages killing everything in their path as they retreated back to Rome. The second option is for them to stay and fight until reinforcements have arrived to support them and drive back the Huns. The decision was made swiftly, they will remain in the city and fight until the end so as to delay the Huns. They quickly made haste and sent the messenger towards Rome with news of the attack and a request for military aid. In a few long moments the soldiers began fortifying the city, digging a small moat around it. Instead of water they place large wooden spikes facing outwards to delay the attack of horsemen. In case of attack at night they place oil on the dirt ground in the moat. If fighting at night was to begin they would light the moat giving a glorious ring of fire and sight for the Roman forces to fight back and fire upon enemy soldiers. Each Roman soldier was prepped and armed quickly preparing themselves for the attack. It will be a few days before the Huns arrive, this will make the soldiers extremely anxious. The Huns march from a little city they had managed to occupy not too far from the Roman's position. The longer the Huns take, the more anxious the Roman troops become. It is as if a siege is taking place, the mental affect is tremendous on the soldiers. The Huns move swiftly, the master horsemen and bowmen are prepared to attack. Instead of just males, some females were also in the fight. The bow is powerful, but also easy to draw allowing woman to use it without having the upper body strength of men. This made it so the woman were not at a disadvantage against said enemies. The Romans though powerful and strong, were severely outnumbered and under equipped to fight against the large and quick army of the Huns. Hopefully the Gods favor them, and that Rome is able to send troops quick enough to support. The Huns set up a small camp very close but still out of view. They send a small scouting mission to go forward and check if there are any opposition. They see the Roman forces soon after being sent out. Once they return they let the General of the Hun army know. He immediately sets up a small force of about 1,000 troops and sends them forward to attack during the night. A few Roman soldiers are on guard on the city walls watching and listening intently for anything that signifies enemy movement. A few hundred of the Huns climb off their horses silently and slowly move towards the moat and begin to climb up. One of them had slipped up pulling apart a few rocks that were stuck together. The rocks begin falling and smashing into the ground, all guards are now drawing their swords and are on high alert. The Huns try not to move and make no sound but that does not stop the Roman guards from checking what made the rocks fall. Slowly and steadily at least five guards move towards the exact position where the rocks fell, two of said guards have a sword but also a torch giving sight. As they peer over the side, they see the Huns eyes staring directly into theirs. "Huns!" The guards shout out loud, now the whole city can be heard with the rustling and movement of the Roman force gathering it's weaponry. The Hun leaps up pulling the guard with the torch into the moat, a poor decision. In mere seconds, the moat catches light giving the ring of fire needed for the Romans to fight back with ease. The fire also manages to catch a few Huns burning them alive. Their screams of pain and agony echo through the landscape giving a small blow to the Huns morale that are currently fighting. The archers are quick to respond not needing sword and shield, they come up and start firing volley after volley of arrows at the Huns and their horses. The fire continuing to give massive light for a large distance while the Huns try to retreat from their failed night raid. The Roman archers are also very skilled and continue firing a cloud of arrows upon their enemies. Horses and Hun soldiers fall to their deaths in mass numbers as they finally retreat out of sight. A victory for the Romans? No, a mere slip up of the enemy, the Romans were lucky that one of the Huns had managed to cause a ruckus for them to be put on guard. The fire and spikes also helped in defense since it did not allow for any of the Huns to get close enough to attack directly. This will boost Roman morale, but the Huns are just getting started.