Chapter 7: Chapter 6 – The Centurion And The Barbarian Attack Part II

Part 1 

"S-Sir, the shield wall is breaking from behind!" 

Gaius heard one of his men shout from behind him, so he ordered: 

"Second row from the top, go back and support the back lines!" 

He ordered a section of his men to reinforce behind him, but they just looked on with confusion. 

"Are you listening? Fools?!" 

They seem to be frozen. 

Gaius frowned and stomped toward the legionaries he had ordered to move, grabbing one by the shoulder and smacking his helmet, the impact forced the legionary to the dirt ground. 

"I-I-I- I don't know... I- Sir!" 

Gaius looked down into his eyes disapprovingly and looked at the other men on the same row. 

Ah, these guys are the new recruits... Half of the century were replaced by raw green recruits, they must have frozen in fear. 

If that was the case, Gaius would have to be much rougher. 

"Get your fucking asses to the back line and support, or I'll execute you all myself for military disobedience!" 

He drew his blade, and pointed it at the throats of the recruits. 

"Yes, sir!" 

They all replied before awkwardly moving down to thicken the back line. 

This was done all while the Barbarians on the other side of the shield wall were banging screaming and trying to stab into the formation, though the veteran soldiers held firmly. 

The situation was very frustrating. 

Just a few moments ago the men were chatting around in the village doing their jobs before a scout rushed to Gaius, asking for where Lucious was. When Gaius answered that he was the commander in Lucious's place, he told Gaius that a horde of Barbarians was rushing toward the village. 

Because of that late notice, Gaius just barely gathered everyone to form a defensive straight line, awaiting the barbarians. Lucious wasn't here, he was taken by the girl to a place somewhere, so he had to take command, though he sent Singer and a few men to find Lucious as the Barbarians arrived. 

But the Barbarian number was overwhelming, soon the straight line of Roman shield wall was pushed back into a semi-circle shield wall, then now into a full-on circle as they were encircled. 

"Fuck! Hold the circle!" 

"Yes sir!" 

The Barbarians on the other side pushed and shoved against the Roman shield wall, shoving their spears and blades into it. 

Gaius could only hear his men scream in pain as some blades made it into the wall, stabbing them. 

"-Die, you Roman invaders!" 

"-Why did you come back, dogs?!" 

"-I curse you!" 

This wasn't the first time Rome had ordered Roman blood into the island of Britain, this was actually the third time. The first two times was nearly 100 years ago when the renowned Julius Caesar General during the time launched his foot into the sands of Britain.

And the Romans did what they did best, invade and conquer.

So the Britains were familiar with the Roman Legacy on the island. 

Although, from the looks of it, Gaius and the Century were just sitting dogs waiting to be executed as they were encircled. There were no moves to make besides holding the circle and defending. 

"Hey look, isn't that...?" 

"It's Lucious!" 

"Sir Centurion?!" 

"Sir Lucious Centurion?!" 

The men holding one side of the circle screamed out Lucious's name after seeing him, this quickly spread across the entire century as they all noticed their commanding officer rushing toward them. 

Lucious? What the hell is he doing? 

Lucious was rushing toward Gaius's encircled position, chopping down any Barbarian in his way, blood-stained all over his body. 

The men who could see him clearly all cheered and smiled, seeing their commander risk their lives for them, even if it was stupid. 

"Aaaaaawawaaaaah!" 

A deep loud scream came from Lucious, he screamed from the top of his lungs as he grabbed a Barbarian's blade and finally reached the Roman position, stabbed into the backs of those encircling Gaius and the century. 

The Barbarians who were encircling the century could only hear an extremely loud noise, but when most of them turned around the men within the circle took it as their chance to release the shield wall and attack, cutting down almost half of the Barbarians on Lucious's side. 

Gaius noticed this and ordered most of his men on the opposite side to shift to Lucious's side to support the vulnerable Barbarian flank. 

"What the hell are you all squinting at?! Support your Centurion!" 

"-For Jupiter!" 

"-For the Emperor!" 

"-Fuck off you fucking Britons!" 

HIs men charged out and cut down even more Barbarians. 

Confused with this turn of events, the Barbarians turned around to flee. 

"Huff... Huff..." 

But they were met with a large 2-meter-tall Roman man, all bloodied up, who stood on top of a Barbarian corpse wielding two blades, the standard Roman shield nowhere to be seen. 

"What the fuck are you all looking at?!"

Lucious shouted as he ran toward them, slashing down at the closest ones. 

Frightened by this, they fleed where ever they could.

With this flank now cleared and the encirclement broken, Gaius quickly ordered the men on the now Barbarian-free side to attack the flanks of the Barbarians on the other side, who were clueless to what had happened on the side Lucious was on. 

"Good to be under your command again, Sir." 

Gaius saluted as he saw his giant commander stomp toward him, completely covered in the blood of the Briton Barbarians.

Lucious walked past Gaius and looked around. 

It only took the other side to see a few of their allies flee that a few others fled, others noticed them and also fled. This grew into a full on Barbarian retreat. 

"Men! Chase after them! Don't let them escape!" 

Lucious, now with his command back pointed his blade toward the fleeing Barbarians and shouted. 

His men enthusiastically shouted as they ran for the Barbarians, cutting down the slow ones. 

And with that, the Barbarians were repelled. 

Part 3 

"Lucious! Lucious! Lucious! Lucious! Lucious!" 

Surrounding Lucious was his entire Century, along with Gaius although Emilia and her squad of scouts weren't there, all cheering at him.

"Lucious! Lucious! Lucious! Lucious! Lucious!" 

The villagers who were protected by a squad of Legionaries joined in with the cheering, in fact, the entire village came out with a cheerful mood, happy that no one had died under the hands of the Barbarians. 

Although the Century protected the village, they were overwhelmed and surrounded and would have easily been destroyed if it weren't for Lucious's rough and surprising entrance, breaking one Barbarian flank and causing a retreat. 

Lucious amidst the cheering walked with Gaius and the village chief into the chief's hut. 

Lucious had to hunch over as he entered through the short door and the ceiling was high enough to barely touch his hair. The floor was made of polished wooden planks and the living room was quite spacious with a fireplace and wooden walls. 

The place was well-light too, it wasn't a bad place for a Chief; if compared to a Roman room, the Lower Middle-Class would be able to afford something like this. 

I'm really thankful for you protecting our village... But, where's my daughter? I heard that she was last with you."

"Oi oi, how ungrateful can you be? Sir risked his life and put himself between all sorts of blades to save this village, you can talk about your daughter after you give him a reward of appreciation." 

Gaius seemingly annoyed by the chief crossed his arms, and spoke down against the Chief.

The chief just looked away and down, refusing to become shameful for looking out for his daughter but having no power to talk back to Gaius. 

"-Your daughter is safe, her and some of my men are hidden in the forest. I ordered them to protect her. They should be coming back soon."

Instead of pouncing off of what Gaius said, Lucious ignored him and answered the Chief. 

The chief quickly raised his head, relief in his eyes.

"Really?!" 

"Really." 

Lucious smiled and pat the Chief's shoulder. 

"I'm glad to hear that! What were my daughter and that kid with her doing with you anyways though?" 

"I asked her about a place to take a bath and relax, she led me to a pond in the forest." 

"Ah, that pond. I used to go there when I was a kid all the time." 

I wonder how it's still so clean if  it's sort of regularly used?

Lucious silently thought before he turned around suddenly, alerted by one of his men entering the hut. 

"Sir!" 

A man wearing a bizarre-looking outfit walked in, he was the Century's hornblower, one of Lucious's men under him. Despite wearing the signature colors of the Roman Empire red, he wore a fur wolf cape over his typical Legionary iron breastplate, covering his entire back. 

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The fur itself was unusual, being silver white and only barely stained. It was clear that despite the conditions it's gone through, the man took care of it especially and cleaned it often, the only stains being the ones that hours of scrubbing can't get off. 

What was most unprecedented was his hood, he wore a wolf's head as a hood over his head which garnished its sharp teeth, ferocious eyes and pointy ears. 

His name was Felix, and he was a junior officer Conicern. His horn-blowing made sure the Century was well coordinated within larger battles, and kept morale up and high. 

Also, he was pretty intelligent, a man that Lucious would rely on the most beside Emilia. 

"What have you come for, Felix." 

Back still straight and chin up tense, Felix professionally replied: 

"No Century losses, Sir! Casualties are at the minimum and can be self-treated without hospitalization!"

"That's some good news!" 

Lucious warmly smiled, but couldn't say anymore before he was interrupted by Felix. 

"Sir! You were very valiant today! The men, along with myself are really happy and incredibly overjoyed. I couldn't hold back my excitement when I saw you run down, charging toward us against the Barbarians like that! Thank you, Sir!"

Incredibly stiff, Felix saluted and stomped out of the tent. 

"Oh, right, Sir-"

But before he left, he asked for something. 

"-Permission to go back to camp and feed my dog." 

Felix, a Junior officer who wore wolf fur as his cape owned a dog, that he left at camp. 

Normally, that wouldn't be allowed in the army, but his family was pretty rich and his father was running as Consul and was a famous influential Senator within the Roman Senate for a term, so everyone with authority turned their heads away with the matter. 

"Of course, you can, you have an adorable puppy." 

"Thank you, Sir!" 

Felix then left the hut. 

"I will be going too, I need to make sure all my villagers are safe." 

The chief excused himself, leaving too. 

That left Gaius and Lucious in the same room. 

"..."

They were both silent, neither saying a word for a few seconds. 

"Pfff-!" 

Before, one of them, Gaius, suddenly bursted out into laughter.

"-Puhahahahahahahah!" 

"-Hahahahahahahahaha!" 

Finally letting go of his professional persona, Gaius took off the personality mask that he put on with the soldiers outside and became himself again. 

"Lucious, Lucious! The Chief was almost about to piss himself, I swear, I swear!" 

Gaius and Lucious had two faces. The first face was their officer face, where they had to act strict and professional, especially for the raw recruits. They really didn't have to use it until very recently, but they had to so they could instill discipline into the recruits that had just joined the Century from the comforting womb of Rome. 

If the Century was still filled with their beloved veterans, they'd act a tad bit like their usual selves. 

But their other side, the ones that other ones close to them and veteran soldiers of the century knew of: Gaius was quite goofy, a goofy idiot. Lucious was just less tense and warmer. 

"Pfft, sure sure. Although, leaving that aside, I'm really impressed with how you took the initiative today. That was great command, if it weren't for you, my men would have been killed." 

Lucious lightly shoved Gaius with his fist. 

Within the Century, Gaius and Lucious were practically brothers in arms. Not only were they assigned to the same Legion, but they were in the same training camp as each other in Rome. They had met, become friends, and were stationed in the same Legion. 

It has been 15 years since then, they were practically children in tough bodies. Lucious wasn't very much well-spoken and was introverted along with that, he always failed anything that required some sort of thinking, when he was picked on by the other recruits Gaius would step up and defend him verbally. 

Gaius had a weaker body, and Lucious was physically stronger, so when Gaius got into fights (that mostly started with his brash loud personality) Lucious would easily step in and scare his enemies away. 

They shared the same tent back then, confided and defended each other with their lives. 

Over the course of 15 years, there was nothing they had that was a secret between them. 

One time, during an expedition in Gaul (modern-day France), when fighting the Gallic Tribes, Lucious who was a Junior officer during the time was separated from the main army along with Gaius. Gaius had gotten seriously injured, and couldn't walk, but they were being tailed by the Gallic Tribal men. 

For over 6 hours, Lucious had carried the lifeless body of Gaius back to camp, saving his life despite himself being seriously injured and exhausted from the battle. 

They were really really close. If both had the impossible decision to save the other with the cost of sacrificing themselves, it would be an instantaneous answer of self-sacrifice. 

"Yeah but... We got surrounded, if it weren't for you, we would have lost." 

Gaius shamefully looked away. 

"Then you should be glad that I came, eh? You're lacking in tactical skill, dumbass." 

Lucious smirked, shoving Gaius again with a condescending expression on his face 

"Shut up, dog."

Gaius shoved him back, his eyebrows twitching, feeling a surge of irritation rise from his heart. 

"Make me." 

Lucious stepped back, opening his arms in a way that invited Gaius to charge at him. 

Although Lucious was huge at 2 meters tall, Gaius also stood pretty high compared to the average Roman male. With the average being around 155-160, Gaius stood at a whopping 180cm, though still a far cry against Lucious. 

But because of this, he felt more comfortable than others to tackle Lucious. 

"Yeah, I will!" 

Blindly charging in, Gaius used the momentum of his intial run to grab ahold of Lucious's waist and shove him back. 

Lucious stepped backwards as he was pushed back, he clasped both his hands into a two-handed fist and hammered down against Gaius's back, which forced him to the ground. 

"You've got to do better than that, bud." 

"As if that'd stop me." 

Instead of staying down on the ground, Gaius rolled over to the side and used his legs to trip Lucious over. 

They both made sure to not break anything in the hut, surprisingly, the hut was pretty big so Lucious tripped over a few steps forward and quickly turned around to stop a punch Gaius was throwing before throwing one himself. 

"Ouch!" 

Lucious punched him to the ground and held him down. 

"-Sir Centurion Retard, Sir Optio Dumbass. What are you both doing?" 

Emilia, now returned from the scouting party walked into the Chief's hut, looking at Lucious and Gaius demeaningly.

"You missed the party, Emilia! Oh well, it's not like a woman could handle battle anyways." 

Gaius snickered, shrugging his shoulders with a sarcastic attitude. 

Though, before he could get ahead of himself, Emila grabbed the hair on his head and kneed his face. 

"You can't even handle a broken nose, crybaby." 

Emilia spat on Gaius as he got up, his nose now bleeding from Emilia's knee. 

Lucious awkwardly smiled before asking Emilia: 

"Did you find the Legion camp?" 

Emilia clicked her tongue, crossing her arms: 

"No, we couldn't, we found a Barbarian camp not far from here though. I had the Scout Commander put it on our map, and I'm sure that same camp was responsible for the raid on the village not too long ago, right?" 

"Who knows, probably." 

Lucious shrugged with a "i dunno" expression, he didn't have any deductive reasoning at all to connect the dots between the attack and the nearby Barbarian camp. 

Emilia sighed, massaging the base of her nose. 

"Well, it was, definitely, but we're going to investigate a bit more. Though, I heard that you saved the entire Century with a single attack, did you really?" 

"You don't think I can do that?" 

"No... It's just... Impressive." 

Emilia looked away, struggling to pick her words as she fidgeted with her red cape.

She was blushing. 

Lucious didn't know that she had a crush on him and densely ignored it, walking out of the hut. 

"We don't know if they're gonna attack again, tell Gaius to order the men to set temporary camp over at this village." 

"..." 

Emilia frowned, slightly frustrated at Lucious. 

"What's the problem?" 

You can't take hints. 

"Nothing... Yes, sir." 

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