Chapter 26: The Storm Through Syria II
Two sides faced eachother from a distance. One a small force from a small kingdom, the other a large force from a great empire. Nothing could be heard from either army, but the wind flowing through the dark forest that ran on both sides of the battlefield.
Sorrowful clouds floated through the full grey skies as their tears began to drench the land below.
Edward turned to the soldiers and rode his horse in front of them.
"This battle will be a hard-fought one. If I told you any different, I'd be lying."
The rustling of armour could be heard in the ranks.
"But I am not here to lose it."
Edward looked across the army of about 2,000, and then at the Roman army of 2 legions (10,000).
"I will not sit back and let Rome expand into our land. I will not sit back as Rome razes our lands and slaughters indiscriminately."
He rode his horse back and forth in front of the troops.
"They believe us to be weak; something they can tread on to further their power. They want us to grovel at their feet as they swallow us whole."
"So I ask you - will you sit back and watch?"
A small shout of "No," could be heard.
"Will you allow them to tread on us?"
The shout became louder.
"Will you grovel at their feet?"
The shout became a roar.
"Will you be prey or predator?"
"Predator!" the men roared.
"We will not hide in wait for them, we will chase them back to Rome with their tail between their legs, because we are warriors!"
The roar was deafening.
It was at that moment that the Roman army charged towards them.
Currently, there was a row of men in front of the spiked ditch, pointing their spears, waiting for a signal to join up with the rest of the army, behind.
"Hold!"
The stomp of hooves reverberated throughout the battlefield.
"Hold!"
Louder and louder, closer and closer.
"Now!"
At the signal, the army ran behind the ditch via a small piece of land that hadn't been dug up. After crossing, they formed a row in front of the army and pointed their spears towards the Romans.
The Romans cavalry came charging in, but as they tried rushing at the opposing force, they tumbled into the ditch, both horse and man impaled by spikes.
Any who fell into the ditch, who weren't killed by the spikes, were quickly suffocated by the masses of men and horses that came crashing in after them.
Some horses managed to cross over, but they had to leap and were quickly stabbed to death by Commagene's spears.
The smug Roman commander finally figured out what was happening, and shouted out to the men.
"Stop! It's a trap!"
However, as they all stopped, arrows came slamming down on the unprepared army. Throat, chest, face, the arrows pierced through the Romans like they were just target practice.
"Move around the ditch!" the commander directed, under a rain of arrows.
Moving around the ditch, they were ambushed by the troops, hiding in the forest. Taking the Romans completely by suprise, they began an insane rampage, roaring as they stabbed horses and people alike; some were even pushed into the ditch.
"How do they have this many men? Weren't they being attacked in the North too?"
The commander felt like his world was being turned upside down. The great Roman army of 10,000 was being destroyed by a small Kingdom with 4,000 troops.
He watched as the noble Roman soldiers were left ungracefully impaled on sticks, drowning in the wet mud, trampled by their own horses.
At the same time, Edward was making his way through the hectic battlefield. Some of the infantry had been able to break through the ambush and were pushing through.
Immediately, he unsheathed his sword and rode through the masses of bodies. A small distance away, he saw the Romans trying to push through with a wall of shields, spears tearing apart anyone who got in their way.
With a terrifying war cry, he rushed at the shield wall and smashed his sword and horse into them with such force, it blew a row of the soldiers away.
Taking advantage of the hole in the formation, the men of Commagene charged with Edward into the gap of the shield wall and started slashing at the Roman's sides.
Commagene's cavalry swept through the Roman's knocking them off their feet and crushing them beneath their hooves. Those who didn't die under the horses were and brutally stabbed to death by swords and spears.
Edward dismounted his horse and ran behind the enemy, cutting anything and anyone he could see.
One soldier dashed towards him and tried to launch their spear at Edward, but he parried it with his sword and ran the blade through his stomach.
Blood pouring from his mouth, the soldier fell to the ground, and a Commagene warrior leapt on him, repeatedly stabbing him in the back of the neck as he struggled to prevent himself from suffocating in the river of mud.
As he charged around the blood-stained field, Edward began to see that Commagene was being overwhelmed by the Roman's sheer numbers, and the Roman's were forming another shield wall to push them back.
"Retreat!" he roared.
Upon hearing this, Commagene's entire force began to charge backwards.
Seeing this, the Roman commander was delighted.
'You may have tactics, but you can't beat numbers,' he thought.
"Stop them! Don't let those bastards retreat!"
Despite there being a large distance between Commagene's army and the Romans - as they were shocked by the retreat - they still gave chase. Unfortunately, they were not very fast, as all of the horses were dead.
Nevertheless, they caught sight of the fleeing army, moving down a hill, and the enraged Romans frantically raced down the hill at them, seeking revenge. What they didn't notice was that they were only chasing a single row of the army, and the rest had hidden in the forest.
For seemingly no reason, as the Romans chased them, the Commagenians split up, half going left and half going right. This revealed a ditch that was once obscured by the row of men. The only difference between this ditch and the earlier one was that this one was much wider and there was no way around, except into the forest.
"We've been tricked! Through the forest, now!" the commander shouted as he realised what was going on.
However, as the army turned to enter the forest, a row of soldiers blocked their path on either side, forming a shield wall. Out of the forest came the bulk of the Commagenians, who then blocked their path behind.
"Maintain positions!" the commander shouted, as the Commagenian forces charged at them.
Slowly, they were pushed down the hill after hours of vicious bloodshed until, in the end, the Romans were all pushed into the pit; the few that managed to somehow cross the ditch, shot down.
Just to make sure they were all dead, Edward lit the ditch alight, and as the flames crackled, he turned to the brave warriors.
They were injured and they had lost a lot of men, but ultimately they had won. They were battered but not broken.
"Let's see if the mighty Romans will underestimate us now!" Edward cheered.
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