As the Roman army regroups between the arrows that are fired by the archers on the walls of Creetus. The Caesar is absolutely furious with the incompetence of his army and their absolute failure to secure a way inside the city. It is a matter of time before they fall! And they will fall! Says Caesar annoyed. Arrows and behind the Caesar, killing one of his generals. They turn around to see a thousand strong Greek, Macedonians and Spartans and a few wounded from the battles they had along the way here. The Caesar takes a deep breath, turns around to his army, notices a few Greek and Spartan ships on the sea approaching Creetus. Hairs on his arm rise, goosebumps all over his body, fists clenched, the most stern look on his face he says… Men! Be ready! Today, we are going to be victorious! And crush these rebellion for the glory of Rome! The army turns around, shields above their heads, they march towards the Greeks, Macedonians and Spartans.
From the wall, one of the men screams at Anus, telling him that they are running towards another army. He realizing this, turns towards his men and tells them to stop burning as they need to help fight the Romans. With spears, shovels and by throwing boulders they take down the fire on one of the streets, to make a passage towards the sea. Anus instructs the archers to remain on the wall if anything happens, he takes a man, whispers in his ear something. And screams at the men he told to keep watch on the wall, now to tell the men he just whispered something to if the Romans approach the doors to the city. They start running through the opening they made.
On the wall of Creetus, the archers fire towards the Roman army as they move towards their opponents. But the Roman army undeterred moves forward attacking the Greeks, Macedonians and Spartans. The horses meet first as they clash in the middle of the battle field. Clashing, dying, falling, grunting, the Caesar was in the middle of it all, feeling alive again after years of peace and serenity. His anger turned into pure fighting energy with a smile on his face he plunges his sword in the meat of those uncivilized enough to fight him and the empire. Two thousand and some more men clashing in the battlefield at Creetus, swords gnashing, dead bodies start to pile up, horses unable to move. All now on equal footing, sword, spear or ax in one hand, a shield in the other launching at each other in their freest moment of their lives for their lives.
In Creetus Anus and his soldiers arrive at the beach, where Roman soldiers are ready to welcome the Greek soldiers. Seeing this opportunity he launches with his men killing them a few of them as quickly as possible, before they turn around and start counter-attacking. But this gives the Greeks the chance to touch down the beach and ambush the Romans. With all their tactical prowess the army of the empire falls short when cornered and surrounded. And after a few hours they surrender and are taken hostage. Anus thanks the Greeks for their assistance and they in turn admire him for his courage. Now with this dealt, he and the Greeks start marching towards the wall of the city to assist the rest of their allies.
Upon almost a thousand dead bodies, under the hot sun, with blood flowing through the ground, tall above them with a sword in his hand, a sweat on his brow, stands Caesar Augustus. With all their might they had pushed back the Greek, Macedonian and Spartan armies. With an adrenaline rush, The Caesar pushes to surround and decimate the rest of their forces, so they can finally focus on the city and the men that had started it all. Standing together with a few hundred Spartans, a few Greeks and Macedonians are fighting for their lives as Augustus is showing no mercy killing whoever stands in his way. Soon the Romans stand victorious. The Caesar without a breath tells a few of his men the men the siege equipment and start firing, as the rest of the army takes a moment to breath and get back into positions.
Anus reaches the wall, a men briefs him on what happened and tells his that the Romans have reached the walls and doors. He instructs a few men to look from the wall where it’s being targeted and take men there to hide and ambush the Roman army. He then instructs the rest to take a breather and get ready, and another to get onto the siege weapon and to be prepared to shoot at the general direction of the door. He then goes to the wall to pull on a giant thick rope that collapses the floor under the Roman soldiers that are at the doors of the city. From over the doors, a few men are pushing down giant boulders to crush the Romans. A few minutes later, the walls start to crack. A few more shots the walls on the side fall.
The Empire’s army comes through, the Creetin army tries to ambush them only to be surprised by a full testudo. In their shock, their adversaries doesn’t hesitate, takes them out quickly. and are now trying to make their way towards the center. But a wall of fire greets them as soon as they start marching. From the wall, Anus is brief that the sides have been compromised, but that they also have stopped sieging. This surprises Anus as he asks for more details. The man on the wall can’t give him any as he can’t see too much due to the smoke that surrounds the city and the battlefield. An hour later from both sides sounds of crashing is heard.
Anus realizing what happens tells his mean to burn down everything and retreat. As he gives the orders, a bolt files by kills a few of his men in front of him and their siege weapon too. With a few over a thousand men, Anus feels trapped in a device of his own making. As he looks to the left, he sees legionnaires, to the right too. He turns back, the soldiers he captured now are free. He is surrounded on all sides. The Romans wait, Anus and his men with spears, axes and swords in hands are shaking as they are standing their ground. The silence is deafening.
Arrows start flying towards the ones defending, between those arrows, bolts and boulders that kill many. Seeing this Anus takes charge and attacks. With a brave scream he charges at the Roman army. They all follow him. Spears meet them followed by their shields. With every push back from the empire, more men die. With every death, the more they pushed. And the cycle as soon as it started, it also ended. Winded, Anus stands with his soul crushed hunched over looking at the spilled blood and wonders to what end. The Caesar comes, looks at the men. Anus raises his vision from the ground, looks at Augustus. Without any hesitation Augustus puts his sword through the man’s heart and tells him that he wasn’t worthy of the death he got. Turning around, he starts speaking… Men! I have promised you glory! And glory is what we got here today! To those that were brave and had died, we owe them gratitude as they died for the glory of Rome! To those still standing with me, brave men, you took upon this journey with me and thus I salute you! Now let the glory of the empire set over these barbarians as we set up north!
The end.
Thank you very much for reading this. It’s been an amazing year, and writing Attropolis has been one of the most fun things I have done. Especially since this is the first year I am doing such an experiment with writing every week a short story. I hope you enjoyed it, I thank you for the thousand of eyes that you have laid on this work. I promise you, next year I will publish new books, new short stories and hopefully more. So stick around. I hope you have an amazing 2020. And again, a big thank you.
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