Legio XVII: Roman Legion at War (48 page)

The Auxiliaries manning the walls had long since exhausted their supply of rocks and
pila
to hurl downward.  Similarly, the archers had fired all their remaining arrows.  The desperation of the
Suevi
to avoid the onslaught of the Legion exceeded the determination of the Auxiliaries to repel them.  The Auxiliaries were no match for men frantically seeking to escape certain death.

*******

Once his cavalry were on line, Rasce urged his horse to a gallop and the entire force surged forward.  When they were still about 100 yards from the fort, some of the
Suevi
began to break and run for the woods.  This is what the cavalry understood: pursuit!  And they were very good at it.  Their four horned saddles held them firmly in their seats while their six foot lances did their deadly work.

Despite the unfolding
Suevi
defeat in front of the fort, the battle for the wall had tipped decidedly in the
Suevi’s
favor.  The Auxiliaries were being beaten back.  In a set piece man-to-man fight, the Auxiliaries were like a rock, but defending a wall was another matter.  Like an avalanche, the Suevi broke over the top of the palisades.  The Auxiliaries began giving more and more ground.

*******

Manius craned his head forward and shaded his eyes.  He thought he could see Ariovistus at the top of the hill as he stood up, turned, and disappeared over the far side.  Manius ran down the tower; called for his horse; and yelled for his personal body guards to follow him, “And bring an interpreter,” he yelled.  The gate opened and he raced out and over the hill, being careful to swing wide of the caltrops.  He could see Ariovistus and a few of his men in the distance running for the woods they occupied earlier in the day.  He could also see three Roman cavalrymen bearing down on him and yelled for them to break off their attack.  Manius easily rode in front of the Suevi Chief and now faced him.  Ariovistus stopped running and was breathing hard, so hard, in fact, he could not speak and was bent low at the waist catching his breath.

*******

Manius had focused so intently on Ariovistus in the few minutes before riding out of the fort that he failed to see the desperate struggled that was unfolding all along the east wall of the fort.  The Auxiliaries were slowly being pushed back from the edge of the wall and
Suevi
were now inside.  Only a few at first, but their numbers were growing rapidly.  Auxiliary fighters were now beginning to jump off the fighting platform to save themselves.

The Auxiliary Commanders, Taluric and Lugano, stood with their combined 900-man reserve force in the center of the fort and could see the walls were slowly being breached.  However, instead of sending the entire reserve force to expel the
Suevi
, they sent 50 here, 100 there.  They were sending men to the wall in a piecemeal fashion while the seriously deteriorating situation actually called for more drastic action.  In some cases, these reinforcements could not even get to the wall because the defenders, their own countrymen, were fleeing in ever greater numbers and blocking their access.  Andreas pleaded with the two Auxiliary Commanders to commit their entire force to the wall, but to no avail.

*******

Manius dismounted and got a shield from one of the men.  He waited patiently while Ariovistus slowly recovered from his exertion.  When he gauged that Ariovistus could speak, Manius said, “Earlier today you wanted to fight me man to man and, if you remember, I didn’t say no. You may recall that I simply said you were bigger than me.”  Then, flush with victory and throwing all caution to the wind, Manius said, “Here’s my answer, let’s fight now if you still have the stomach for it.”

That enraged Ariovistus; he drew his sword and rushed at Manius with a yell.  Ariovistus raised the sword high over his head and held the handle with both hands.  He intended to split Manius in half!  Manius raised his shield, braced himself and waited until just before the sword came crashing down, and then violently thrust the shield upwards into Ariovistus arm and face and thrust his
gladius
into his upper thigh.  The
Suevi
sword never hit the shield; instead, it dropped harmlessly to the ground as Ariovistus crumpled with his hands pressed hard on the wound and his face distorted in pain.

Manius backed away from Ariovistus instead of delivering a lethal blow.  He had other plans for him, but he was not finished.  Manius was feeling a rage he had not felt since he was a young Legionary; he wanted to fight.  “Get up,” he shouted.  “Fight!”  Ariovistus got to his feet.  Warm blood ran down his leg.  He picked up his shield and sword and faced Manius.

“You could have killed me Roman.  Why didn’t you?”

When Manius did not answer him, Ariovistus lunged at Manius pushing his shield into Manius’ shield and swinging his sword low at Manius left leg.  Manius saw the arm movement and barely pulled his shield free to parry the stroke, but not before it left a deep gash just above his knee.  Manius screamed and backed up as the pain spread through his body.  Now he was bleeding.  His head filled with cotton and he dropped to one knee.  Ariovistus saw his moment and rushed at Manius.  His sword rose over his head.  Manius lifted his shield to block the blow and thrust his gladius at Ariovistus’ exposed and bleeding thigh.  The sword hit the same wound and penetrated even more deeply. Manius felt it hit bone. Ariovistus bellow in pain, twisted away, and renewed his downward swing at Manius’ shield.  The force of the blow drove Manius to the ground.  His head and neck now totally exposed.  Ariovistus drew back his sword for a thrust into the throat and then stopped.  He looked into Manius’ eyes as Manius looked at him.  Ariovistus backed away a few steps and lowered his sword.  He had won, but he felt no victory.  He looked up at the hill 300 yards away and could hear the sounds of battle, but knew he had lost not only the battle, but also his army.  He dropped to both knees as Manius slowly rose to a sitting position.  Both were now covered with blood and exhausted.  Ariovistus may have won his fight with Manius, but he had a serious wound and was losing too much blood.

Manius sat for a moment and then pushed his shield away.  He took his scarf off from around his neck and tightly wrapped it around his leg.  He was feeling stronger.  Ariovistus rolled onto his side then lay on his back.  For the first time in his life, he felt he was dying.  Manius crawled over to Ariovistus to look at his wound.  “We’ve got to stop the blood flow.”  As he moved his hand to place it over the wound, Ariovistus drew his dagger from his belt and weakly swung it at Manius shoulder.  It hit armor!  Manius grabbed the dagger and said, “I want you alive; we can help each other”

“How,” said Ariovistus through clamped teeth.

“You will allow commerce to pass freely through Innsbruck.  You will stay out of
Raeti
territory.  If you do these things, Rome will help you fight your enemies.”  Ariovistus nodded his ascent and passed out.

*******

Bethica pushed her troops hard.  She stayed in the woods and advanced quickly with her men in four loosely organized columns.  She expected to find the Romans trying to escape.  At 1500 hours, she arrived at Ranggen and stopped at the wood line.  To her dismay, the ground was littered with
Suevi
dead that Calvus had placed there earlier.  She estimated 3 to 4 thousand.  She was stunned!

In the field to her front, she could see a triangular shaped fort with towers and thousands of bodies lying on the surrounding ground.  Soldiers, she assumed to be Romans because of their strange equipment, were standing and walking among the bodies.  Small isolated groups were still fighting, but obviously the battle was mostly over and it appeared that her father had lost.  She was physically sick.  She slid off her horse, bent over and threw up.  She knelt down. Her fingers dug deeply into the ground.  She was devastated.  The
Suevi
army and probably her father were all dead.

Davenhardt saw Bethica’s distress.  He helped her to stand up and encouraged her to be strong.  “Your men need you now and, if your father and Vocion are dead, the entire
Suevi
nation needs you.  Mourn later.  Be a Commander now.”

Bethica got up.  She knew Davenhardt was right.  She sent a runner to recall the 1000 men on the road then washed her face and took a long drink of water.  She had to think clearly.  Revenge filled her heart.  She wanted to lash out, but then she began to think.  She said to her Second-in Command, Kacili, “These Romans have defeated Vocion and his 6000 men as well as the 11,000 that were with my father.  If I fight them, we may lose another 4000, which the tribe cannot afford.  I could evade them by turning around and fleeing back into the mountains, but that would devastate the men’s morale.  Running in the face of the enemy is not an option.  I could approach them to learn more about them and try to establish a relationship between equals.  But if they want to fight, we will fight.”  He concurred.

The 1000 men from the road joined the main body at a run.  While still out of sight of the Romans, Bethica spread her men out in one thick long line.  She instructed then to draw their swords only on her command and to advance silently.  She planned to approach the Romans in battle formation, but to try to first talk with the Roman Commander.  She mounted her horse, adjusted her sword belt, took up her shield, and ordered the line to advance out of the woods.

*******

Inside the fort, the situation had changed dramatically.  Tomaeus, the senior Roman in the fort, immediately saw that he and the few dozen or so Roman
Ballistae
gunners and walking wounded were about to be overrun.  He watched helplessly as Taluric and Lugano led the remaining Auxiliary reserves and the shattered remnant from the walls quickly out of the fort.  Once outside the gate, the
Cenomani
and
Raeti
warriors could see in the distance, a gathering storm of approaching
Suevi
warriors as Bethica exited the woods.  Panic began to take hold.  Taluric and Lugano agreed that going back into the fort was probably the lesser of two bad choices.  Andreas ordered the Auxiliary Chieftains to prepare their men to counterattack and recapture the fort.

Tomaeus grasped that he had to act fast if he were to save himself and his fellow Romans.  He saw the
Ballistae
Centurion.  “Centurion, gather your men and anyone else capable of holding a shield.  Form a
testudo
[turtle] right here in the center of the fort.  Stay away from the tower and the walls.  I’m hoping the Auxiliaries will counterattack as soon as they get themselves together.  We’ve got to hold out for a while.”  The Centurion’s loud commands drew a rapid response from his relieved men.  They now felt that someone was in charge that may possible save them.  About 50 men formed the
testudo
and none too soon.

*******

As Bethica entered the field, she had no idea what to expect.  Thoughts of her dead father flooded her mind.  “If my father and Vocion are dead,” she though, “I am now the Chief.  I have got to do this right.”  She sat a little taller on the horse.  “Will the Romans treat me with respect?  Will they only talk to a man?  I have got to appear to be in charge.  “Look confident Bethica,” she told herself.  “You are the Chief!”  I wonder what we look like to the Romans?  They certainly cannot fear us; they just defeated 17,000 first class warriors.  Maybe we should just turn away.  Maybe we should attack and kill as many as we can.  The men behind me will do it if I command them.”

By the time Bethica’s warriors cleared the woods, a single Roman sentry in the west facing tower spotted the approaching
Suevi
army.  He groaned inwardly “Damn, not again, not now” and shouted the warning over and over.  “
Suevi
attacking from the west!”  Calvus heard the alarm and looked in the direction the sentry was pointing and saw the approaching army.  His heart sunk.  He realized the battle was not yet over.  He doubted the Legionaries could muster the energy for another pitched battle.  This was not good.  He looked around for Manius, but could not see him.  He was last seen riding over the hill.  “Maybe he is dead,” Calvus said to himself.  “That means I have to fight this battle and there is no time to organize.”  Adrenalin surge through him as he called the
cornu
to his side.  “Sound the call to Battle Stations,” he said, a little too loudly.  His hands were shaking.