Tales of Ancient Rome 4: Amazons!

                       Tales of Ancient Rome 4: AMAZONS!

                                               by

                                               TG

                                        Chapter 1

                                         Vultures

       Second day in the history of the Valley of the Amazons

       Ambiorix's wife ran into their cabin and shouted to her husband, "There are 3 Aquitani coming through the wheat field!"  Her husband stopped what he was doing, fear written across his face.  He and his son rushed to the wall where their amour hung on pegs, and they started to put on their breast plates.  "They're almost here," she screamed at him.  Almost panicking, he glanced at her and then reached for his sword and shield, abandoning his attempt to put on the body armor.  He and his son rushed out of the cabin with only swords and shields to face the Aquitani out in the open rather than be trapped in the cabin when they were attacked.  As he rushed from the cabin, he yelled at his wife, "Get Venetrix!"   The woman grabbed her little daughter, and ran out of the cabin to get her brother-in-law, who lived close by.

       Ambiorix and his son ran across the clearing in front of their cabin to see 3 warriors emerge from the fields.  The 3 men had their swords in their sheaths and were walking slowly!  The 3 men weren't there to attack Ambiorix and his family!

       Ambiorix slowed to a walk, relieved but still suspicious, and called out to them, "What do you want?"  The eldest Aquitani answered, "We want to buy some horses."  "We don't have any to sell.  Get off my land! Get out of here!"

       "What about those two," the Aquitani answered, pointing to a coral and shed near the cabin.  He was pointing to the two saddle horses Ambiorix and his son used.  "They aren't for sale," Ambiorix responded, "Get off my land. Get out of here."

       "I'll give you 100 denarii for each of them," the Aquitani angrily spit out to him.  Ambiorix's eyes flashed round in surprise.  100 denarii!  That was more than twice what the horses were worth.  Shrewdly, Ambiorix shot back, "200 denarii."  "Damn you," the Aquitani answered, but he grabbed his purse to begin counting out the money.

       The third Aquitani, the youngest one, asked, "Don't you have any other horses?"  Ambiorix shook his head negatively.  "Fucking shit," the young man muttered,  Then he pointed to the heavy plow horse tied to the coral which held the saddle horses, and asked, "What about her?"  Surprised, Ambiorix thought to himself, "They want to buy draft horses!"  With a cunning look on his face, Ambiorix sneered to the young man, "200 denarii!"  The young man's face pulled back in anger, knowing the Remi man was taking advantage of him and gouging him on the plug of a heavy plow horse.  The older Aquitani pushed the young man toward Ambiorix.  "You fucking bastard," the young man mumbled as he got his purse and began to count out money.

       The count was interrupted by Venetrix and his three sons, all in amour and with their swords out, who galloped into the farm yard.  Seeing the men talking, Venetrix and his sons slowed down and trotted up to his brother and sat there as the young Aquitani finished counting out the coins.  With the money in hand, Ambiorix waved his arm at the horses, and the Aquitani stalked over to get their three new, very expensive, horses.

       Ambiorix and the others watched silently as the Aquitani bridled the horses, swung up on them and rode off westward.  Ambiorix turned and shook his bulging pursue at his brother.  "600 denarii," he dramatically said to his brother, enunciating each syllable slowly.  The horses were worth maybe 110 denarii.  Theatrically, Venetrix threw his head back, and then exclaimed, "You're kidding?  600 denarii," he repeated, not believing the amount.

       "Why do you think they paid so much," Venetrix asked his younger brother.  Ambiorix shook his head, indicating he didn't know.  "They seemed nervous.  They kept glancing over their shoulders, as if they were afraid they were being followed.  Maybe they were fleeing something.  Maybe they killed someone in their valley and wanted to get away before their fellow tribesmen caught them and put them on trail for murder."  As Ambiorix was saying this, his brother and his sons swung off their horses, and dropped them off in the coral.  As they walked toward the cabin for beer for everyone, Venetrix continued the conversation, "Maybe not.  I saw a lot of smoke coming across the mountains, but I didn't think much about it.  Maybe something is going on in the Aquitani valley.  Let's go over to their valley and take a look at what's happening over there."

       The next day, four of them rode over the mountain ridge which separated them from the Aquitani valley, using Venetrix's horses.  The moment they came in sight of the valley they knew the Aquitani had been attacked by someone.  Throughout the valley, scattered homes here and there still poured out smoke.  As they descended the slope, they didn't see any people out working in the fields and no herdsmen tending the flocks and herds of livestock.

       About midway down the mountain ridge, they thought they saw some movement in the center of the valley, but it was so far away it was hard to see clearly.  "I think it's a patrol of Roman cavalry," said Venetrix's oldest son, who had the keenest eye sight.  When they neared the foot of the ridge, they saw another patrol of Roman cavalry pass by them along a road which skirted the edge of the valley.  It had taken them an hour and a half to travel down the ridge and in all that time, the only people they saw were the 2 Roman patrols.

       "The Romans must have attacked them yesterday," Venetrix said to his younger brother.  "The Aquitani are probably in slave chains by now, or dead.  A few here and there, like those 3 men yesterday, probably escaped.  The Roman Legion is probably camped someplace around here, and they sent out a few patrols to watch the valley."

       The four men prowled the edge of the woods which surrounded the Aquitani valley, noting a couple of Aquitani homes that looked like they had been broken into and sacked.  Around some of the Aquitani homes were scattered bodies of Aquitani warriors.  An hour had passed and they saw no other Roman patrols.  In the 3 hours they had been in sight of the Aquitani valley, they saw no people except for the brief appearance of the 2 Roman patrols.  They came to a stop near a field with a small herd of six unattended horses.

       Gambling no Roman patrol would come along, the four warriors rushed out of the woods to get the horses, and then they herded the horses back into the woods.  Elated by their success, they drove the stolen horses up the mountain ridge and back to Ambiorix's farm.

       "Let's go back tomorrow and see what else we can pick up.  We can dodge the few Roman patrols they have out," Venetrix said to Ambiorix.  "Humm," Ambiorix agreed.  "Don't tell any of our neighbors about this.  Let's keep these easy picking to ourselves.  We can be rich men by the time our neighbors find out the Aquitani are gone and no one is guarding their livestock."  They agreed.

       Ambiorix and Venetrix were two tough Remi warriors.  The Remi had fiercely resisted Julius Caesar when he subjugated Gaul, and the Remi had almost been annihilated in retribution for their defiance.  Ambiorix and Venetrix and their valley were one of the few isolated bands of Remi who escaped Caesar's wrath.

                               .......................

       The mountains which separated Salidia's valley from her neighbors were hardly worthy of the name mountains.  They were more than big hills, but they were not the towering peaks of the Alps.  But they were big enough to form natural boundaries lines between the people inhabiting the various valleys in the area.  To the north of Salidia's valley was a group of Cimbri.  To the south were Ambiorix and his valley of Remi.  And to the west were the war like Nervii, who were perhaps the wildest of the tribes living in Gaul.

       In the surrounding area there were other men like Ambiorix and Venetrix.  Cimbri and Remi and Nervii men had noticed slaves fleeing from the Aquitani valley, or bedraggled Aquitani survivors or unusual amounts of smoke pouring from the Aquitani land.  As Ambiorix and Venetrix were rushing out of the woods to capture the unattended horses, other groups of Cimbri, Remi and Nervii warriors were creeping up to the valley to investigate what happened there.  And they all realized there were unprotected livestock and slaves to be had for anyone brave enough to risk running into one of the scattered Roman patrols.  They were joined by tribes that had noticed the Roman Legion marching up the Via Agrippa, only to see the Legion march back down south with hundreds of slaves in tow.  They went to see what the Romans had been up to.

       Throughout the area, Salidia's new valley became a happy hunting ground for warriors that hoped to steal some unprotected livestock or slaves.  None of the surrounding tribes were strong enough to contend with a Roman Legion for possession of the Aquitani valley, but there were hundreds of warriors brave enough to dodge Roman patrols for the easy pickings left behind in the valley by the fleeing Aquitani.

       The next day, scattered here and there up and down the length of the valley, groups of warriors were sneaking up to Salidia's new valley to grab whatever livestock or slaves they could get before a Roman patrol spotted them.

                       ............................

       Our story began two days earlier when Lydia accidentally ran into the man who sold her into slavery as a child.  Two minutes after she unexpectedly saw the slave trader for the first time in years, Lydia killed the man.  The two minutes it took her to kill the man were spent reminding him who she was before she killed him.

       In retaliation for the slave trader's death, the Aquitani attacked Salidia and her people.  In a scene that foreshadowed a John Ford movie, Selenius, commander of the local Legion, rode his cavalry to the rescue of Salidia and her men while they were fighting the Aquitani.  The cavalry comes to the rescue!  Selenius arrived at the battle in time to save eight of Salidia's twelve bodyguards.

       Salidia was a Roman Patrician.  Barbarians attacking a Roman Patrician was something no Roman Legion would tolerate, any time, any place.  It would provoke massive and brutal retaliation.  But what sealed the fate of the Aquitani was that Salidia was Selenius's childhood friend.  The Aquitani had attacked Selenius's best friend.  The next day Selenius marched his Legion into the Aquitani valley and razed the land, killing all the Aquitani men he could lay his hands on, and taking the Aquitani women as slaves.  He awarded Salidia the Aquitani valley as compensation for the attack, and as punishment to the Aquitani.

       A few Aquitani escaped Selenius's attack on their valley.  These survivors included the Aquitani chief, Vircingi, and a few of his nobles.  Vircingi was enraged at Lydia and Salidia for starting a war that resulted in the destruction of his land and murder and enslavement of his people, and he sought revenge against Salidia and Lydia.  He wanted to kill the two Roman women that caused him this grief.

       In a series of skirmishes, ambushes and single combats that stretched out for three months, Salidia, Lydia and her men were able to run down and kill Vircingi and the last of the Aquitani nobles.

       When Salidia rode into her new valley for the first time, spread before her was a valley over forty leagues long and nearly twenty leagues wide, plus the surrounding mountains.  And she had her eight men and Lydia to run the place and defend it. 

       Salidia had to bring the valley into operation as a farming enterprise.  Farming was the fundamental foundation of all the people who lived in Gaul, and Salidia needed to provide subsistence for her people in their new home.  And Salidia was having trouble doing that.  She had a valley forty leagues long and twenty leagues wide with no farmers to farm it or shepherds to tend the livestock abandoned by the Aquitani, or Slave Guards to guard the slaves left behind when the Aquitani fled the invading Romans.  And Salidia had thieves from the surrounding tribes all over the place.  And eight men, Lydia and herself to handle all the problems they faced.

       Salidia divided her valley up into large estates, and she awarded these estates to her eight remaining men, or the widows and heirs of the four men killed by the Aquitani.  Her men or their heirs were now Liege men and women, and no longer hirelings.  Each was now responsible for their individual estates, while they received the profits generated by their estates, and they shared part of the profits with Salidia.

       While Lydia and her men were running down the last of the Aquitani, Salidia reassigned personnel from her villa in Rome and her family estate in Tuscany to her new property, to help her run it.  She began to hire new personnel to staff her valley, and she started to buy slaves, horses and other livestock to operate her new property.

       During the Aquitani attack on her people, most of the boys in the families of her Bodyguards were killed, leaving the families with daughters but no surviving sons.  Like all the other Romans living in the valley, the young daughters of her Bodyguards volunteered to help ensure the survival of the Roman enclave.  They volunteered to serve as Sentries armed with bows to defend the villas where they now lived.

                                       Chapter 2

                               Starting New Lives

       The eighth week in the history of the Valley.  Salidia and her men were hunting down the last of the Aquitani who were trying to kill them.  By this time they recruited some vassals in exchange for some land in the valley, and Salidia brought up people from her Rome Villa and her Tuscany estate.  Their engineer, Scipio, had thrown up temporary Keeps on each estate, where people could safely defend themselves if the Aquitani attacked them.  With their new people and Keeps, they felt safe enough to do more than devote all their time to the Aquitani, or worrying about thieves.  They tried to devote some of their time to bringing the valley into operation as a farming enterprise.  Each day they tried to knock off some chores to get their estate running.

...........................

       The hard part of the day was over.  The men could relax for the rest of the afternoon, and knock off any chores they had to do.  Raiders showed up by mid-morning and were gone by afternoon.  Practical reality ruled life in a world that lived by fires, touches and oil lanps.  Riding through woods at night meant someone was going to get a tree branch stuck in their eye or a horse was going to step into a hole left by a rotting tree truck.  If you couldn't see what was in front of you, riding in the woods in the dark meant men and horses were sure to get hurt.  Raiders had to start back through the woods so they could finish traversing the mountains before nightfall.  That meant raiders had to head back up the mountains by early afternoon with their catch of livestock from the valley.  By afternoon, Talig and his men figured they could take off their armor for the rest of the day.  As far as the Aquitani were concerned, they felt people would be safe if the they went to the Keeps if they were attacked.

       Talig, Rufus and Milesus planed on buying horses in the village in whatever time they had available in the afternoon.  They had a big shopping list.  They wouldn't have time to buy all the horses they needed, but if they were lucky, they could catch a horse trader in town on Market Day, and convince him to stay around tomorrow so they could finish getting all the horses they needed.

       They wanted a dozen good quality cavalry horses for some of the new officers Salidia had hired, so the officers could ride around checking on their men on decent mounts.  And they also wanted a hundred plugs.  Well, plugs wasn't the right word.  They wanted fifty for Overseers, and fifty for Slave Guards.  These men didn't need cavalry quality horses.  They didn't even need excellent saddle horses.  Overseers where only going to follow slaves around as the slaves worked on foot.  A horse that was slow as molasses would do, as long as he could plod along day after day and put in 10 or 12 years of solid, dependable service.  A sound, durable, cheap plug describes them.  Milesus was there to see if he could find some cheap horses that might stretched out to 12, 14, even 16 years of dependable service if he could find them.

       They wanted a little better quality horse for the Slave Guards.  Watching slaves didn't require a race horse.  A pregnant mare could run down a slave.  The horse could be slow too, as long as he could run across a field to out run a runaway slave.  And if there was a problem with the slaves, the Slave Guard had to able to ride to their stronghold for help in a reasonable amount of time.  They needed a horse that could run 5 or 6 leagues without falling down in a heap of exhaustion for the Slave Guards.  Average, garden variety horses describes them, ones that could put in dependable service for 12 or more years, the more, the better.  Durable, sound, dependable, but cheap describes both groups of horses.  Such horses usually had minor problems: biters, kickers, slow, a touch sway-backed, etc., and Milesus had to distinguish insignificant problems that they could tolerate from problems that affected the horse's durability.

       They had a good deal of money with them to cover a hundred plus horses.  Rufus tagged along with Talig in case someone saw the bulging purse of money hanging from Talig's belt and got funny ideas about the money.

       They had also brought 6 of the young girls with them.  They wanted to bring the 12 cavalry horses for the new officers back with them today.  When they left town, they would give each of the girls two of the new cavalry horses, and let the girls pull the new horses behind them as they returned to the valley.  For the Overseer and Slave Guard horses, the horse trader could herd those horses up to the valley and drop them off when the horse trader was leaving town.

       The young girls had put in their day of training, and they were standing around doing nothing when Talig was ready to leave for the village.  At this initial stage of their training, the girls were just developing strength.  People needed strong arms and shoulders if they were going to be speed trained.  Without strong arms and shoulders, the fast, jerky movements of speed training caused pulled muscles and sprained joints.  The girls were being strengthened so their bodies could absorb the violent, jerky movements of speed training without injury.

       The girls had put in a few hours of strenuous exercise, and then they were sent off to get plenty to eat and a lot of rest to allow their muscles to develop.  This was how gladiators were trained and what Talig was use to: strenuous exercise, followed by food and rest.

       Talig had them swinging heavy swords and shields around for their exercise, things that would be useful for them to know in any circumstances.  It was the usual drills with weapons that warriors typically engaged in.  The heavy swords and shield were equivalent to doing aerobics with hand weights today.  The swords and shields were heavy enough to give the girls a good workout.  The drills had the added benefit of improving the girl's swordsmanship.

       Like men throughout history, Salidia's men tended to talk less than women, and Talig and his men were as taciturn as any other group of men.  When Talig and the others left the stronghold, he simply said to the first 6 girls he came across, "Get your horses and come with us."  It wasn't until they were heading down the Entrance Road that the girls realized they were heading out of the valley for the town.

       For the young girls, this was exciting and fun.  They didn't get to go to town that often, and even better, it was Market Day.  It was an exciting adventure to go to town on Market day.  The girls would have a chance to wander around town looking at all the things for sale while Talig and the men bought the horses.  It would take a long time for the men to buy all those horses, and the girls had several hours to browse through all the things for sale.  Window shopping and women go a long way back in human history.

       The girls were wearing the tunics which were ubiquitous to the Roman empire for men.  It was a one piece garment with short sleeves that looked like a woman's dress that extended down to the knees.  It differed from a woman's dress only in its length, the woman's dress being longer.  The girls in training to be warriors in the valley wore the men's tunic rather than a women's dress because they could run better in it than the longer gown women typically wore.  It was also easier to mount a horse in the shorter men's tunic.

       The girls were also wearing the gladiuses dangling from their belts that they used for practice.  If Talig had told the girls that they were going to the village, the girls would have preferred to change into their dresses for a visit to the village, but like most men, it never occurred to Talig that someone might want to dress up for a visit to town.  Talig and Rufus were wearing the same old "work" tunics they usually wore, and it never occurred to them that they should change clothes for a visit to the village.

       The girls were all disappointed that Talig hadn't told them they were going to the village, and given them the chance to change into something more appropriate for Market Day.  All except one girl, Annunka, the daughter of a Persian woman and Legionnaire father.  Annunka's mother had regaled her daughter in the myths and stories of Persian gods and heroes; and she had named her daughter in honor of an early Persian warrior goddess, Anya.  Annunka had grown up dreaming of being a heroine like the gods and goddesses and heroes and heroines in the stories her mother told her.

       When Annunka had first been allowed to join the fledgling women archers that Kaylin and Alisa formed up, she had literally peed on herself in excitement over the chance to become the woman warrior that she had always dreamed of becoming.  The first time Annunka had ridden with the male warriors, as a stand-in to deceive the Aquitani as to Lydia's true location, she had peed on herself in her excitement over riding with the warriors as a true warrior herself.  In the valley, most of the girls took off the heavy gladiuses hanging from their belts as soon as the got back to their barracks.  Not Annunka.  Annunka proudly worn her gladius all day long, like a true warrior.

       When they approached the village, most of the girls were thinking about their dusty tunics and uncombed hair.  Annunka, on the other hand, sat up straight on her horse, and proudly shifted her belt around so the hilt of her gladius jutted conspicuously clear of her waist, where everyone was sure to see she was wearing a sword.  She rode into the village proud of being a woman warrior with a prominently displayed sword at her side.

       With Annunka were fearless Trivi and Itatia.  Trivi and Itatia were the biggest, strongest girls in the valley without a drop of fear in their bodies, but they were also down to earth, fun loving girls.  On the other hand, there was cliquish, irascible Janae, who was only warm and friendly with the other girls training to be warriors.  Outside of the small cadre of Kaylin's girls, Janae was short tempered and argumentative.  Janae's good quality was her intense loyalty to those she considered her friends, and for Janae that meant any of the girls training to be warriors.  Counter pointing Janae was socialable Thalia, who would sit down and talk with anybody.  Thalia was a bit of an adrenaline junkie.  She loved to do anything that was exciting and different.  A trip to town was just the kind of thing Thalia craved.  And last was Annunka's best friend, Dimita.

       Dimita and Annunka counterbalanced and complimented each other.  Dimita was independent, clear headed and congenitally practical, and Annunka's flamboyant flights of imagination constantly made Dimita smile over her friend's vivid imagination, while Dimita's practicality kept Annunka's feet on the ground.  There was a practical side to Annunka, too, but she usually surrendered it to the adventures suggested by her imagination.  One girl provided the imagination of the pair, and the other girl kept the two of them out of trouble.

       The first four girls, Trivi, Itatia, Janae, and Thalia had all known each other for years, being the daughters of Salidia's original bodyguards.  They formed a seamless union, having spent years adapting and adjusting to each other's personalities as they lived next door to each other at the Old Centurion's estate.

       Annunka and Dimita had also spent years together, being the daughters of one of Selenius's Praefecti and one of his First Centurions.  Instead of spending years with Salidia's men, Dimita and Annunka had spent years together as part of Selenius's Legion.  The two new girls to the valley often spent their nights gossiping with each other over the new things they discovered about Salidia, her men and their families, and the new place they came to live.

       For all the differences in the girl's backgrounds, they all felt camaraderie with each other.  They were all entering this new, novel life of being women warriors with each other.  It was a new, exciting adventure they were all sharing together.  And the demands of real day to day life have a habit of outweighing other considerations, and influencing people the most.  What mattered most to these girls was the new adventure they were sharing with each other.

       Two other things should be mentioned.  Trivi was Marcus's daughter and Itatia was Lucius's daughter, both First Centurion ranked ex-Legionnaires.  Before these two men joined Salidia's bodyguards, they had learned the warrior's craft in the Legions.  Legionnaires didn't have much respect for the undisciplined horde the barbarian's called warriors.  Marcus and Lucius had nothing but contempt for the warriors of the local tribes.  To the ex-Legionnaires, the local tribes were subjugated peoples, who had been trampled underneath the heels of Julius Caesar's Legions.  Trivi and Itatia inherited their fathers' contempt for the local warriors.

       The other thing was that Trivi and Itatia had grown up as camp followers, as their mothers followed their husbands from one Legion to another, and while the Legions marched from one location to another.  Trivi and Itatia had grown up with both good men, and bad tempered, fowl mouthed and usually drunk Legionnaires.  Trivi and Itatia could curse as well as any Legionnaire, and they were adept, and well practiced, at putting down any fowl mouthed son of a bitch that bothered them.  They were, after all, "army brats."

       ...............................................

       Now the girls were wandering around the market, stopping at every seller which caught their attention, and, in general, having a thoughly good time.  And, wouldn't you know it, they passed two local warriors to stop at the next seller who interested them.  One of the warriors noticed the group of girls pass him, to stop on the other side of the street.  He jerks his elbow into his buddy's ribs to get his friend's attention.  So he saids to his buddy, "Hey, Otis!  Get a load of that shit!"    So Otis looks over where his buddy, Gustav, is looking, and sees 6 disheveled girls in dirty men's tunics, all with gladius at their sides.  "Holy Gods!  What the hell is that," saids Otis.

       Gustav turns to the girls, and in a loud voice so everyone nearby would know who he was addressing, said, "Hey,...........you guys get lost on the way to the Isle of Lesbo?  You want to find the Isle of Lesbo you got to go to the sea,"  and Gustav points in the direction of the coast.  Now Otis found this very funny, as well as a number of people standing around them, and they all begin to laugh.

       So Trivi immediately saids, "What did you say to me, you damn fat slob!"

       Itatia immediately plastered herself to the side of her best friend, and said, "Watch you mouth, you damn, lousy tub of lard!"

       Now Otis didn't find this as funny as what Gustav said, so he saids, surprised, "Watch your mouth, you rude little bitch!"   Itatia was anything but "little."  Otis was referring to the girl's age.  He was a little taken aback by the young girl's insolence.  All these people lived in paternalistic societies, and women were expected to be deferential to men.  In addition, youths were expected to be respectful to their elders.  These two ideas were certainly not high priorities in Trivi's and Itatia's lives.

       Now, irascible Janae's head snapped up at the first sound of angry voices.  She was instantly angered by someone insulting her friends.  She looked at the two men, noticed that no other men were coming to the men's side, and guessed the two men were alone.  She acted as if she wasn't interested in the argument, and she slowly worked her way to the back of the group of girls.  From the back, she pretended to browse the items out for sale, and she worked her way around the edges of the crowd now gathering around to watch the argument between the strange new girls and two men.  When Janae finished working her way around the edge of the crowd, she was standing behind the first man to shout at Trivi, to his right.

       Now, Janae was the smallest girl there, but she was also the fastest girl there.  Now, if this son of a bitch was going to move against her friend, Janae was going to sucker punch the bastard from behind with a right hook before the bastard knew what was happening.

       Now, at the start of the argument, Annunka was suddenly having serious second thoughts about her desire to be a heroine.  You see, Annunka dreamed of being a heroine, but Annunka was no fool.

       That very morning she had practiced her drills with a sword and shield with Presphene, who coached her technique as they practiced the drill.  Presphene played her opponent for the drill, giving her tips as they practiced and he let her succeed with her counterstrikes to his strikes or succumbing to her assaults, coaching her the whole time.  But the very last exercise of the drill, when Annunka launched an assault against him, Presphene did a circular little twist with his sword arm.  It caught the hilt of Annunka's sword, and propelled it so fast and forcefully in her hand that the sword flew out of Annunka's grip, leaving Presphene holding his sword pointed at her heart with a devilish grin on his face.  With a smile on his face, he playfully said to her, "Some time I'll teach you how to do that.  Come back and see me in six months!"  Annunka wanted to be a warrior, but she was very aware she was a novice, while there were people who were experts with weapons.

       Annunka was thinking, "Oh, gods!  I hope he doesn't pull his sword.  If he does, the only way any of us are going to live is if we all jump at him at once, and one of stabs him in the back while he's busy killing all the rest of us."

       Action loving Thalia was always at the center of anything exciting that might be going on.  Friendly Thalia had jumped to Trivi's side without thinking, and started shouting, "You stupid idiot!  What did Trav do to you?  What's the matter with you!  You try to insult my friend for no good reason!  For no good reason!  Just for the fun of it?  I ought to slap your face, you stupid idiot!"

       Dimita was standing behind Itatia and feeling miserable.  Dimita had seen so many fights between Legionnaires while she was growing up with Selenius's Legion that she knew exactly how things like this went.  In her mind, she pictured how things would go.  Knowing Trivi took no bullshit from anyone, she thought, "Trav's going to start pushing that guy, as sure as the sun is going to come up tomorrow.  And he's going to push her back, and the moment he does that Tat's going to jump in to defend Trav."  She looked at Janae who had snuck up behind the man, and thought, "Jani looks like a snake waiting for a mouse to get closer, so she can flash out and bite him."

       Dimita pictured the whole thing in her mind.  She imagined Trivi pushing the man, him pushing her back.  Itatia immediately attacking somebody.  The second man would jump into the fight.  Her and all the other girls piling into the melee.  Janae going off like a guard dog with a lousy personality.  She pictured it all in her mind, and she felt disgusted.  Because she also pictured tomorrow morning.  She thought, "Tomorrow, I'm going to be all 'black and blue' and have scrapes on my arms and legs, and it's going to hurt to just sit up in bed or to get up and walk."  She knew tomorrow she was going to be all beat up and sore, and she felt disgusted.  She didn't want to feel miserable tomorrow, but she knew she was going to help her friends, even though she didn't want to fight, and the inevitability of it all made her feel lousy.  She saw a catastrophe coming, and she was going to a part of it and there was no way to avoid it.

       To be fair to the two men, they weren't thinking of pulling their swords.  They realized these were young girls, and the situation didn't warrant anything as drastic as someone losing their lives over this.  On the other hand, the men did think the girls deserved a thrashing.  These were paternalistic cultures, both for the Romans and these men, and the girls were insolent.  And the girls were being disrespectful to their elders, and that deserved punishment by any culture in the world, for that time in history.  However, thrashing the girls may not have been the wisest option for the two men to choose.  But then, no one had ever accused the two men of being too bright.

       To be fair to the girls, they were minding their own business, not hurting anybody, and the men were "big mouths" just out to get a few laughs at someone else's expense.  And the girl's were self conscious about their appearance, as any teenage girl would be, and that made them defensive.  Which understated the case considerably.

       None of the girls but one was thinking about pulling out her sword.  It fact, all but one girl was earnestly praying to the gods that didn't happen.  Well, maybe not Trivi and Itatia.  They were too busy being angry to do anything else but be angry.  But Janae wanted to kill the man next to her.  She knew she was a novice, but she also knew she could get him from behind while he wasn't paying attention to her.  She could do it, and she wanted to do it.  She wanted to slide out her sword and plunge the sword into the bastard's back before he knew what was happening.  What stopped her was the man's buddy, standing on the other side of them.  Once she killed the man, his buddy would pull out his sword.  He could - probably would - kill one of the other girls before they could kill him.  It was thinking about her novice, poorly trained friends that stayed Janae's hand.  Or else she would have tried to slip her sword out without letting the man see what she was doing behind him.  She felt he was lucky that consideration of her friends prevented her from killing him.  She felt frustrated and unhappy that she couldn't kill him like she wanted to.

       The argument was still going on between the men and Trivi and Itatia.  "Watch your mouth, you rude little bitch," was the last thing Otis said to Itatia.  Itatia turned on him, "What are you going to do about it, you beer bellied rube.  With a gut like that, you can't reach around your fat belly to reach your fucking sword.  What do you think you're going to do?  Sit on me, fatso?"  (The men were a touch rotund.  No, "out of shape" captures it better.  Nope, Tat had it right: fat.)

       Gustav cut in, going after Itatia, "You smart mouthed little bitch.  Someone ought to teach you some manners and give you a good thrashing."

       Someone going after Itatia was something Trivi NEVER tolerated!  Trivi jumped between Itatia and the man to defend her best friend.  "You think you're going to raise your hand to HER? You aren't going to thrash anyone," Trivi snarled at the man, while shoving him back.

       "Aaiiieeeee," split the air beside the man. Janae had hauled off and belted the man in the side of his head, with a scream.

                ----- All hell broke loose -----

       Trivi grabbed Gustav's tunic with her left hand, and started to punch the guy in the face with her right.  Trivi didn't punch like a woman; she punched like a man.  She drove her shoulder forward with her torso and pectoral muscle.  She drove her arm forward with the front of her deltoid, and snapped her arm straight by snapping her triceps closed.  And she followed her punches by throwing her weight behind them.  They were solid punches any men would be happy with.  And they were taking a real toll on the man.

       Meanwhile, Gustav was having trouble.  Trivi was holding onto him with her left hand wrapped in his tunic by his left shoulder, and her left arm blocked a straight right punch from him.  And she was hunched over, using her left shoulder and arm as cover against a right from him.  The way she punched, driving her punches forward with her muscles rather than depend on roundhouses, allowed her to drive her punches up from that hunched over position.  To reach her, the man had to throw roundhouse hooks up and over her arm and shoulder, to reach her head.  Those were weak punches for anyone, most of them only getting the back of her shoulder or glancing off the back of her head.  The two of them were spinning around in a circle, the man trying to get at her head by hooking over her arm, while Trav was pulling to her right, trying to stay away from his right, while she drove her right punches up to his face.

       Pretty good position for Trivi.  Pretty bad position for Gustav.

       Janae was spending most of her time flying through the air.  Little Janae was small to begin with, and she was only 16 y.o. and still had some growing to do.

       She was holding on to the man's tunic, too, with her left hand, and trying to punch him with her right.  She had a death grip on the guy's tunic.  Little Janae weighed less than a third of the man's weight, and as the man and Trivi spun in a circle, little Janae was spinning off to the side, without her feet touching the ground, as she clutched the man's tunic, while the man rotated around with Trivi, with little Janae hanging off the side of the spinning man.

       That didn't stop Janae from trying to punch the guy.  As she was spinning around, Janae kept swinging at the guy.  But since Janae was attached to him by an extended, stretched out left arm, her right swings at the guy were zipping past the guys head without being able to reach him.  While she was trying to punch him, her legs were wind milling away.  While he was spinning around, her feet couldn't reach the ground, but she kept pumping her legs, hoping to get a purchase on solid ground whenever she could.

       As the guy spun around with Janae hanging off his shoulder, Janae's punches kept ineffectually whistling past his ear.  But that didn’t stop Janae from swinging at him, and she was flailing ineffectual punch after punch at the guy, but with the punches only whistling past his ear.  And all the while, she kept swinging her legs, hoping to reach the ground sooner or later.

       Of course, whenever the guy and Trivi slowed down their twisting around together, Janae got her feet back down on the ground.  When Janae got her feet underneath her, she leapt toward the man, closing the distance to him, and her punches connected.  So every so often when the man slowed down his spinning around, you'd see little Janae jump up into the air to hit the big guy in the side of his head.  Janae had to jump up to reach the man's head since the man towered over little Janae.  And then Janae would get jerked back into the air when the guy started spinning around again.

       So Janae spent most of the fight spinning in the air, hanging off the side of the man as he spun around, with punches flailing the air next to his head, and only occasionally getting her feet on the ground, where she was able to launch an occasional punch which socked into the guy's head.  For all the swings that just harmlessly whistled through the air, Janae still threw as many punches as Trivi, only, she didn't connect that often.

       Meanwhile, back at Otis and Itatia, both were catapulted into action by Janae's scream.  Both hauled off to belt the other at the same time.  Now Itatia was no where near completing speed training, but she was still a naturally fast woman.  And she was a hell of a lot faster than this guy.  While the guy was still pulling his arm back for a windup, Itatia's punch slammed square into his face, staggering him and knocking him backwards.  He was stumbling backwards, trying to keep his feet underneath him, but slowing losing the battle to keep his balance as he stumbled backwards.  His center of gravity was behind his feet and he was definitely losing his fight against gravity.  ........  Oooops!  He was about to fall on his ass as he stumbled backwards.

       Itatia rushed forward, trying to land another punch as the man stumbled back away from her.  As the man was about to fall, he reached up to grab her, to keep from falling down.  Both started to fall, the man pulling down Itatia along with him.  His feet twisted under him as he stumbled, and he turned sideways, also pulling Itatia to her side as they fell.  When the two hit the ground, the man landed on one knee, and from the kneeling position he was able to straddle Itatia as the two scrambled around after hitting the ground.

       When the man straddled Itatia, all of Annunka's trepidation and thinking was replaced by sheer emotion.  When Annunka saw the man towering over her friend, everything she had been worrying about was swept away by the sheer emotion she felt.  "Heeeiiii," Annunka screamed and jumped on his back, pummeling his head with the bottom of both fists in a flurry of punches that came as fast as she could throw them.  Not very effective, but Annunka put all her heart into it.

       Dimita had an instant of thinking, "Shit!  Here we go.  Crap!"  Then she looked at Trivi, and then Itatia.  Itatia was falling.  The guy was on top of Itatia.  Itatia was in more trouble than Trivi.  Dimita rushed to help Itatia.  She grabbed the guy's tunic on his left, and tried to pull the guy off of Itatia, grunting as she repeatedly threw her weight back against the man's weight.  Dimita spent most of the fight grunting, "Ouhh," "Ouhh," "Ouhh," "Ouhh," as she stood next to the man, while she tried to pull him off Itatia.

       Thalia had been standing to the right of Itatia when the fight began.  As Itatia rushed forward to get the man, Thalia ran along side of her friend, wanting to be part of the action, trying to get her own punch in at the guy.  When Itatia and the man hit the ground, and the man got over Itatia, Thalia went to her knees on the right of the man.  She grabbed the right of his tunic, and started to punch his head from his right, to get him off of Itatia.

       Otis was a pretty busy man.  The girl underneath him was punching up at his face.  He had another girl straddling his back who was pummeling his ears.  He had a third girl on his left trying to pull him over.  And he had a fourth girl on his right, punching him in the side of his head.  Lucky for him, two of the girls couldn't punch very hard.  The one on the bottom could throw a good punch, but she was on her back and that was a bad angle for anyone to deliver a solid blow.  Otis had both his arms up, just trying to cover his head from the blizzard of blows coming at his head from the 4 girls, but no matter where he moved his arms to protect himself, someone was always landing a whack to his head.  Otis was a very unhappy man and he was very sorry he had gotten into this in the first place.

       Meanwhile, at the edge of town, Rufus was sitting on the top rail of a coral, watching Milesus go over horses, and Talig paying the horse trader every time Milesus gave his nod of approval over an animal.  Rufus was bored out of his mind, and his ass was starting to kill him from sitting on the narrow fence rail.

       Rufus thought he heard a distant "Aaiiieeeee," from the town, and then a "Heeeiiii."     "What the hell was that," he thought.  He got down from the fence and headed up a side street to investigate.  Part way down the side street, he could see a crowd had formed in the market square up in front of him.  As he got closer, he thought he saw Trivi's head swing past a gap in the crowd, but it went by so fast, he wasn't sure.  An instant later, Trivi's head flashed past the gap in the crowd again, to be immediately replaced by a man's head also spinning around in the center of the crowd.

       Rufus turned, bolted down the side street to the coral, yelled, "Talig," and then bolted back up the side street back to the market again.  When Talig got to the market, Rufus had parted the mass of people to almost reach the center of the crowd.

       Both men burst into the center of the crowd at the same time.  Four of the girls were swarming over a guy on the ground.  Trivi was spinning around in a circle with a guy, trading blows with him.  Janae was hanging off the guys shoulder, spinning around with him, with her feet hardly touching the ground.  As she swung in the air, Janae kept on trying to punch him, but her punch kept on missing.

       "Hey!  Get away from those girls,"  Talig shouted.  Now, Talig was a pretty formidable looking guy, muscles and all.  Rufus was a pretty tough looking cookie himself.  And Talig had a growl that you'd expect from a man who had 34 kills in the arena.  It had a lot of anger in it, and total, absolute, unwavering, undeniable, unquestionable, overwhelming, consummate, unshakable, irrefutable confidence and authority to it.  And a little touch of "menace", too.  And there were the battle scars that tattooed his body.  At that time in history, a battle scar meant the owner had lived while another man had died in the fight.  Just looking at Talig, you could tell this man had been in a hell of a lot of fights, and a hell of a lot of other men had died.  If Talig gave someone a warning, it had the sound of something that should be seriously considered.  Seriously.

       Talig leaned a little toward the man with Trivi, and snarled, "Do you want to pick on somebody your own size?"  Now Otis had decided he wanted to go home 10 minutes ago, but Gustav was still a little peeved.  He said, "You ought to teach these girls some damn manners," at which Talig started to walk toward the man.  Gustav pivoted at the approach of the angry warrior (a very tough looking angry warrior!), grabbed Otis under the arm to help him stand, and headed out of the crowd................as rapidly as he could.

       Trivi stood in front of Talig.  Her left eye was already blue, and swelling had already started to close her eye.  Her upper lip was swollen on the left side, and there was a bruise on her left cheek.  Little Janae was standing next to big Trav, with her arm wrapped around Trav's waist and a big smile on her face.  Trivi smiled at him and said to Talig, "Why did you break it up?  We were winning!"  Rufus started to laugh, in part because Trivi could only talk out of one side of her swollen face and her words were a mumble that were hard to understand; and Talig looked at him, and then back to Trivi.  Talig decided he liked these girls a lot, especially Trivi.  As Thalia, the adrenalin junkie who loved excitement, got to her feet on the side, she asked Talig, "Can we come to town with you next week?"  Talig began to laugh.

Chapter 3

Men at War

       By the twelfth week in the history of the Valley, Salidia and her men were still facing two problems.  One would kill them quickly - at the point of a sword.  The other would kill them slowly, a slow, grinding death from starvation.  One problem had gotten better.  The Aquitani nobles, who were trying to kill them, had been cut down to three men.  The other problem had gotten worse.  They depended upon the livestock, abandoned by the Aquitani when they fled the valley, to feed themselves during the upcoming winter.  Thieves and raiders were popping up all over the place.

       A thick plume of white smoke bellowed up from the Keep at Cetus's villa.  The smoke was a signal that raiders were spotted on Cetus's estate.  Talig and his seven men galloped over to Cetus's villa, trying to intercept the raiders before they escaped into the surrounding mountains with horses or livestock stolen from Cetus.  At Cetus's place, a House Guard told Talig where he saw the raiders, and now the Roman men raced across the fields in the direction the raiders were last seen, hoping to find the thieves.

       They saw a boy, around seventeen, wearing the light grey tunic they supplied to their freemen.  Lucius was the first to reach him.  The boy's tunic was blood strained on the right side, and the boy was holding his right arm.  "You alright, boy," Lucius called to the boy.  "They just stabbed me," the boy cried.  "I would have given them my horse if they asked me.  They just slashed at me to get my horse.  I would have given them the horse if they told me what they wanted."

       Atus galloped up.  "You no fight , boy,"  Atus asked the boy.  When Atus got excited, his Latin grammar got much worse, and he tended to leave out adverbs and adjectives.  Latin was a big pain in the ass to Atus.  You had to match the endings of one word to the ending of another word, and sometimes the fuckin' things weren't even the same.  Atus couldn't be bothered by all that crap when he got excited, so when something bothered Atus, he kept it down to the basics, "Who did what to who," just nouns and verbs and pronouns.  And sometimes even then he didn't get the endings right, and depended upon sentence structure for the listener to figure out what was the subject and what was the direct object.  Fuck indirect objects.

       In answer to Atus's question of whether he had fought back, the boy just shook his head negatively.  Big Atus leaned over to face the boy closer.  "I get HIMMM,"  Atus shouted at the boy, angered that the raiders had attacked a young, unarmed boy who wasn't resisting them.  Atus had used the singular pronoun for the raiders when he meant the plural.  "Where," Atus shouted at the boy.  The boy nodded to the west.  All the men had gathered around the boy by that time.  They all turned and galloped off in the direction the boy indicated.

                       ..........................

       When Talig and his men caught sight of the raiders, they arranged themselves into a formation they had been using for awhile.         Lucius and Cetus rode in the lead, with Titus and Atus behind them.  Presphene and Talig were the fifth and sixth men in the lineup.  Marcus and Rufus were the last men, but they were teamed with Lucius and Cetus at the very front, Lucius working with Marcus and Rufus working with Cetus.

       They were trying something new.  A few weeks after Salidia got the valley, they hired a man, Milesus, as Stable Master, who oversaw the care of all the cavalry horses they used.  He introduced them to the use of the bola.  Several of Salidia's men weren't cavalrymen, and the bola allowed these men to bring down opposing cavalrymen without using a lance and shield or sword and shield on horseback.  For men who weren't cavalrymen, the bola was a godsend.  Lydia had used the bola in combat, and it worked well.

       Marcus (who was a lousy horseman) was always willing to try new things.  Wherever Talig and his men went, Marcus was willing to try the strangest food in the new location.  When they passed through markets, they could find Marcus trying on a new type of sandal to see if they were better than the sandals he used.  Marcus wanted to see how well the bola worked.  Later in the history of the valley, Marcus would try out an idea he had, and he would create and develop a new type of cavalry, the Riders, used as a police force within the valley.

       Marcus worked with Lucius because Marcus and Lucius were best friends since they were teenagers.  If Marcus did something, Lucius was standing besides him.  But Lucius would never eat the strange new foods Marcus put in his mouth, or when Marcus complained about blisters from new sandals he just bought, Lucius would tease him with, "Well, you bought the stupid things.  My sandals have worked just great for the last ten years."

       Cetus was a good cavalryman, but he wanted to try the bola.  Cetus was a good tactician and strategist, and he was curious about what they could do with the new weapon.  To Cetus, the bola was an interesting challenge that he wanted to change into a means to overwhelm enemies.

               Cetus worked with Rufus because Rufus was another lousy horseman.  "You mean some bastard ain't goin'a be riding at me with a lance?  Sure, I'll do it," Rufus answered Cetus when he asked him.

       When they charged at the enemy, Lucius and Cetus lead the charge swinging their bolas overhead.  They discovered that none of the surrounding tribes were familiar with the weapon.  The men they charged acted as if Lucius and Cetus were using slings.  They also discovered that the bolas were easy to use.  The bolas stretched so wide when they were thrown, they almost always got their targets.

       Lucius and Cetus brought down the horses of the lead enemies riders with their bolas.  As soon as they released their bolas, they swung out wide since neither their lances or swords were out, allowing Titus and Atus to pass them, and then Talig and Presphene would go by them, followed by Lucius and Rufus.  As soon as they could, Marcus and Cetus pulled out their lances or swords, and charged off behind the other men.  They charged into the enemy once Titus, Atus, Talig, and Presphene brought the charging enemy cavalrymen to a stop.

       When Marcus and Cetus brought the lead enemies down with their bolas, their companions raced past them, leaving the downed enemy men in the back of the field.  Lucius and Rufus, who were lousy horsemen, rode at the back of the Romans.  When the two forces clashed together, Marcus and Rufus charged at the men sprawling on the ground, the men Lucius and Cetus had brought down with their bolas.  Action happened so fast, as two groups of men galloped their horses at each other that Lucius and Rufus usually charged the stricken men while they were laying on the ground or just starting to get to their feet.  Most of the men Lucius and Rufus killed were still on their knees on the ground when Lucius and Rufus galloped at them with lances.

       Once Marcus and Rufus killed the men brought down with the bolas, they pulled out their swords and charged into the fight taking place with the others.  But by that time, most of fighting was reduced to men circling each other, swinging their swords.  Lucius and Rufus were good enough horsemen for that, and the two of them were damn good with a sword!

                                                                                          ...........................

       Titus, with Atus a little behind him, took the lead after the bola swinging men swung out to the side.  Both were big bulls of men.  Big men.  Their job was to smash into the enemy, to break up any formations the enemy might be using and to cause the enemy horses to slow down if possible. 

       Titus was a Crupellarius , a type of gladiator.  Crupellarius armor was complete, covering most a man's body in thick and heavy armor.  It looked a lot like medieval armor, completely enclosing a man in iron.  Titus was like a rolling tank, encased in his heavy armor.  Only the biggest, strongest men could move and fight under the weight of all the iron Titus strapped on himself.  The only concession Titus made to riding around in the heavy armor was having an armorer cut away some of his leg and hip armor so the armor won't grind against him as he rode his horse.

       After Lucius and Cetus released their bola's and swung toward the sides, Titus rushed past them to angled toward the leading enemy rider, his friends holding back to allow Titus the lead position.  This particular day, Titus and the enemy warrior would pass each other on their right sides.  As they charged toward each other, Titus aimed his lance at the man's shield.  The man aimed his lance at Titus's chest, and Titus moved his shield in front of his chest as protection.

       Titus's intention was simple.  He intended to absorb the man's blow, while Titus knocked the man to the ground.  He would use muscular strength if the man was on his left, but this man was on his right.  A few heart beats before the two men clashed, Titus dropped his lance down to aim for the enemy's right thigh.  The man continued to aim for Titus's chest.  Titus was fine with that.  He intended to absorb a lance strike against him, trusting to his shield, his own enormous strength, and his heavy, thick Crupellarius armor.

       The man almost panicked when he saw Titus aiming for his right thigh.  He couldn't aim his lance at Titus's chest and cover his leg with his shield, which he held with his left arm at the same.  The shield would get in the way of the lance.  The man had to choose striking Titus with his lance or protecting his leg with his shield.  He couldn't do both.

       Titus didn't care what the man did.  If the man covered his leg with his shield, Titus would plunge his lance into the man's horse, killing the horse and throwing the man to the ground beside his stricken animal.  If the man held his lance to Titus's chest, Titus would absorb the blow with his shield.  With Titus's strength behind his lance, the lance would drive through the man's leg and into his horse.  In either case, Titus was going to kill the man's horse and leave the man on the ground.  In one case, Titus would escape a blow to his shield.  In the other case, Titus would get a lance to his shield.  But either way, Titus was going to put the man on the ground.

       The enemy warrior tried to solve his dilemma by holding his shield over his thigh, and he still tried to get Titus with his lance.  He did that by raising his right arm high, so it reached over the top of his shield.  With his right arm in that awkward position, he couldn't strike Titus very hard.  Titus absorbed the weak blow to his shield, while Titus's lance plunged into the enemy horse.

       When Titus received the blow to his shield, Titus's horse almost immediately started to pull to a stop.  This was almost an S-R response for the Titus's horse.  It was what Titus always did.  The horse had done this many times, almost every time Titus ran him past another horse at a gallop.  The horse knew what was coming next.

       The blow to Titus shield knocked Titus back in the saddle, but that was the same move Titus use to tell the horse to come to a stop.  The horse was trained to response to knee pressure and shifts in Titus's weight.  The horse knew Titus shifting his weight to the back meant "Stop!" as surely as Titus pulling back on the reins.

       The horse felt the command to turn to the right.  Titus's right knee and lower leg digging into his side meant, "Turn to the right!"  The horse expected this.  He always turned to the side that the other horse had passed.

       Titus stopped and turned back toward the downed rider in an instant, thanks to the well trained horse.  Titus's lance had been wrenched out of his hand as the enemy horse passed him.  Titus was pulling his sword out as he raced back to the man.

       If there are any riders among the readers, they know what happens if their horse goes down.  If your horse goes down at a canter or gallop, you end up face first in the dirt.  If you're very lucky, the horse doesn't roll over you.  If you hit the horse's neck, and don't get caught in a stirrup, you may end up doing a cartwheel on the way down.  But you still end up with your face in the dirt.

       As Titus came up behind the man, the man was scrabbling to get up again.  At that instant, the man was still on all fours, and just starting to raise his torso to a kneeling position.

       As Titus came up to him, Titus raised his sword up and swung down at the man as he was just starting to get up.  The sword got the man's shoulder armor, right next to his neck, at an angle toward the neck.  Titus's strength, and the momentum of the sword, drove the sword a hand's length deep into his chest before resistance from the man's breast plate brought the sword to a stop.

       Titus looked around for the next man to attack.

       Atus, too, was a big bull of a man.  Atus used heavy, thick armor like Titus used.  Titus's armor was more complete, overlapping joints so it was almost impenetrable.  Atus used heavy arm guards, grieves, breast plates, etc., but to allow himself easier movement, Atus didn't use overlapping joints.  His elbows, knees, shoulders, etc., were exposed, where there were gaps in the armor.  This allowed Atus to move faster, since there were no overlapping joints to impede movement.  Nevertheless, Atus trusted the very thick armor to protect him from sword blows and lance strikes.

       Both Titus and Atus could afford to use very thick armor because they were both big bulls of men.  They had the strength to fight in spite of the crushing weight of all the iron they wore.  Smaller men would have become exhausted in short order under the weight of iron Titus and Atus wore.

       Atus rode beside Titus in attacks.  After Cetus and Lucius threw their bolas and pulled to the side, Atus and Titus rode first into the enemy, trusting their thick armor to keep them safe as the two groups of men clashed together for the first time.

       Atus and the man he charged traded blows, both men's lances smashing into each other's shields.  Aided by the Roman saddle which gave Atus a firm grip on his horse, and Atus's own enormous strength, Atus remained seated while his opponent was knocked to the ground.  Their clash was so violent, both men's lances were broken by the impact against each other's shields.

       Atus turned his horse with knee commands and galloped back at the fallen man.  Atus still had his broken lance in his hand, the lance breaking near the tip, when Atus rode up to the man.  The man lost his shield in the fall from his horse, and he only had his sword for protection.  Atus swung his broken lance at the man's head when he got close.  The man raised his sword to block Atus's lance, but Atus's swept past the sword as if it were a mere twig.  The lance smashed into the side of the man's helmet.  The blow was so strong, the man's neck was broken as his head was violently knocked to the side.

       Atus, still with a broken lance, looked around the field for somebody else to attack.

       The two groups of warriors had charged against other, nine Remi against eight Romans.  The two lead Remi were brought down with the bolas.  When Titus and Atus smashed into the main body of Remi, the Remi started to slow their horses.  Some of the Remi turned toward Titus and Atus, to gang up on them.  Talig and Presphene rode right behind Titus and Atus.  When both groups of warriors started to slow down, Talig and Presphene rode at the men closest to Titus and Atus, so the enemy couldn't gang up on Titus and Atus.  Talig and Presphene didn't want several Remi to gang up on either Titus or Atus; and Talig and Presphene picked off men to the side so Titus and Atus only had to fight one man at a time.

       A moment after Talig and Presphene crashed into Remi, Cetus and Marcus charged into the fight from the side.  They had swung wide after releasing their bolas, allowing Titus, Atus, Talig and Presphene to pass them.  As they gallop back toward the fight taking place before them, they were watching for enemies ganging up on either Titus, Atus, Talig or Presphene.  When they saw two or more enemies ganging up on one of their men, they headed for that.

       A second later, Rufus and Lucius charged into the fight.  They had lanced the Remi brought down with bolas.  When Rufus and Lucius rode toward the fight, they were watching for two or more Remi attacking either Titus, Atus, Talig, Presphene, Cetus or Marcus.  They headed toward anybody who was fighting two or more Remi.

       A mountain of a Remi man charged Talig.  The Remi was armed with a shield and heavy battle ax.  As a big man, he used his advantage in size to pound smaller men down with powerful, overwhelming blows.  It was why he used the oversized, heavy battle ax.  His mouth and face were drawn into a snarl, with his teeth exposed.  As much as was possible for the ugly expression, the man smiled.  He was pleased to have a smaller man to attack in what he expected to be an easy kill.

               Talig was an averaged sized man, 5'10" or 178 cm, well muscled.  If he appeared formidable, it was because of how he handled himself, his expression, and his voice when he was angry.  His voice carried his self confidence and the authority that he could unleash his anger with deadly certainty.  And than there were the battle scars on his body which proclaimed to the world his violent history.

       The Remi swung high, level with Talig's shoulder, leaning forward on his horse to transfer the most weight into the blow.  Although he didn't know the mechanics involved, he understood the high blow created more leverage against his target, so he was more likely to knock his opponent off his horse.  Once he knocked Talig to the ground with the powerful blow, he could cleave the sprawling man on the ground with his big ax.

       Talig raised his shield, and absorbed the blow, although it twisted him on his horse.  The Remi was shocked, his eyes going round in surprise, that the small man had remained seated on his horse.  The Roman hardly bent under the strong blow, or shifted his seat on his horse.

       When the Remi swung at Talig, his right shoulder twisted toward Talig, and his left shoulder, with its shield, compensated by twisting backwards.  When Talig twisted back under the force of blow, his left shoulder went back and his right shoulder went forward.

       This happened so often that Talig had the moves down to a well practiced routine.  He used the backward momentum of his left shoulder to help drive his right shoulder forward.  Knowing the routine, he threw his weight into the forward movement of this right shoulder to develop the force he would need.  As his shoulder came forward, Talig drove his arm upward by closing his deltoid and pectoral muscle, and he straightened his arm by snapping the triceps closed.  He threw all his weight and strength into the move.  Talig's steel sword punched forward with enough force to piece the man's iron breast plate.

       Talig was genetically endowed with a high proportion of white, or "fast twitch," muscle fibers, compared to red or "slow twitch" muscle fibers, making him strong for his size.  His body type was like most of today's competitive weight lifters.  But it wasn't some kind of preternatural strength that allowed Talig to do this.  Everyone has a different proportion or percentage of "slow twitch" and "fast twitch" muscle fibers.  Talig had a lot of "fast twitch" muscles compared to most other people, like most competitive weightlifters do today.  Or good sprinters or high jumpers for that matter.  Just as genetics gives some people large noses while others are given large statue, Talig's genetics gave him a lot of "white" or "fast twitch" muscle fibers.  A lot of good fighters have this body type; it inherently grants advantages in fights, specifically speed and strength.

       All the Roman fought with advantages against their opponents.  For that time and place, the Roman's swords and lances were technological marvels.  Cutting edge developments in an arms race that moved at a snail's pace.  His sword was a sandwich, an iron plate forged onto a steel core and backed by another iron plate.  The steel core of the sword was honed razor sharp on a mechanical grindstone.  Talig's steel tipped sword was sharper and harder than the iron weapons his enemy used, able to pierce iron and bronze body armor.

       Body armor wasn't thick enough to withstand everything!  The thicker the armor is, the stronger it is.  But the thicker it is, the heavier it is.  The heavier it is, the more tiring it is to wear and the more difficult it is to move fast in it.  Men had to choose between how much endurance and speed they wanted during a fight against how much protection they wanted.  It was a balancing act of weight against strength and speed.  In most cases, some armorer had guessed the forces which would strike the breastplate, and he kept the weight of the breast plate down to the minimum needed to protect the wearer.  If it weighted too much, it would be prohibitive heavy and tiring to wear.  It was a guess by an amorer based upon his experience.

       Most armorers made their armor strong enough to withstand iron weapons, no more, to keep the weight down to a manageable level.  This was an intelligent choice on the part of most armorers since most enemies they would face used iron weapons.  But the Romans innovated a change in this arms race that moved at glacial speed.  They used harder, sharper steel weapons.  A strong man could drive a steel sword through an iron breast plate, considering the thinness of most body armor. 

       And the Romans used saddles.  Not just any saddles.  The Saddler for the valley, Nectus, innovated the use of cinches, making the valley's saddles more secure than the saddles other Romans used.  The saddles gave the Romans a stronger grip on their horses than the hold unsaddled enemies had on their horses.

       When the Roman rode into battle, they could swing their swords with greater force, and resist blows against their shields, because they didn't slip on their horse's back, because of the advantage given them by their saddles.  (Every force generates an equal but opposite force..... If a man generated force swinging a weapon, and he slipped backwards a little as he swung, some of the power he generated was misdirected backwards...)  Saddleless riders slipped just a little bit when they swung their swords or absorbed the force of a blow, and that cost them power.  Not slipping on their saddles or horses meant an average sized Roman could expect to match the strength of bigger opponents, because he didn't slip backwards on his horse when he swung his weapon.  It also allowed the women Amazons and Elites near parity against male cavalry who weren't using saddles.  In a clash of cavalry of lances against enemy shields, the Romans could expect to see their enemies knocked to ground while they remained seated, and they could expect to overpower their enemies with their swords with stronger blows.  Because they were better equipped.  Simply because they didn't slip on their horses when they swung their swords or absorbed a blow to their shields.  Because of the saddles they used!

       And for the early history of the Romans, they almost always fought outnumbered by their enemies.  They were use to riding into the field against larger numbers of enemy warriors.  It was simple logistics.  It's easier to field more men in their native land than transport men to distant shores and lands.  In spite of facing larger enemy armies, the Romans usually prevailed.  Because they used superior battle tactics and had superior weapons.

       When Talig and his seven men rode out to fight larger enemy forces, it wasn't an example of exceptional courage, although it was a courageous thing to do.  Throughout the ancient world, Romans usually fought outnumbered, and they won.  Enough to conquer the western world!  Later, the hands of history would swing in a different direction.  Another technological change would affect the balance of power.  A horse culture to the west would innovate the use of stirrups on saddles, giving their warriors an advantage in combat.  Then the Romans would fall to mounted hordes that used stirrups on their saddles.

                       ...............................

       Presphene angled toward a man on the left of Titus, as Titus was bringing his horse to a stop and turning.  Presphene's lance smashed into the man's shield.  The impact broke Presphene's lance, but the man was knocked almost flat against his horse's back.  Presphene struck him before the Remi lance even hit Presphene, and the man retained his own lance after he was struck.  The Remi was a good horseman, and he was able to pull himself erect using the grip he had on the horse with his legs.  The Remi turned, to charge Presphene as second time with his lance.

       Presphene slowed to draw his sword, but as he did, he took a lance blow to shield.  Presphene watched the man recover and saw him coming back with his lance.  Presphene intentionally used the angle of his shield to deflect the lance up to left to protect both himself and his horse.  He immediately kneed his horse to follow the Remi.  With Presphene right behind him, the Remi dropped his lance and drew his sword for a sword fight.

       Presphene was a wizard with a sword, the best swordsman of Salidia's men.  He could have swung his sword to get the first blow, but Presphene hesitated to let opponent swing first.  Presphene didn't just passively absorb the blow, but caught the blade on the outside edge of his shield.  At the same time, he raised his left arm and twisted, so his opponent's sword slid down the side of the shield to crash into Presphene's left upper arm, which was encased in armor.  Presphene trusted his armor.  The move protected Presphene and his horse, while the enemy's sword was left immobile.

       Presphene's left shoulder was forward when he blocked the man's sword.  Presphene immediately snapped his right shoulder forward.  The written description of what Presphene did is long.  The actual event looked like a modern boxer blocking a blow and counterpunching.  BAM,BAM!  Block and counterstrike.  The reader cannot clap his hands together twice faster than Presphene blocked and counterstuck.  Clap your hands together twice, as fast as you can, and you'll get an idea of the speed with which Presphene blocked and struck back.  Presphene's sword cut into the man's chest before the man even started to withdraw his arm for his next blow.  Presphene's steel sword cut through the man's bronze breastplate.

       The sword thrust was fast, driven by muscular strength accustomed to making this vital move.  Within a moment, the man passed out from the pain of a sword driven through his heart.  When Presphene tried to withdraw the sword, angles had changed.  The man slumped forward, leaning downward on Presphene’s sword.  The broad side of the sword was now wedged against the man's body armor as the man leaned down upon the sword.  The sword was stuck.  Presphene gripped his sword tightly and raised his left leg up to the man's chest.  In order to do that, Presphene had to lean way back in his saddle and brace his left arm against his cantle.  Then Presphene kicked the man off his sword with his left leg.  The sword came clear and the man was knocked to the ground.

       As Presphene pulled his left leg back down to his saddle and brought his torso back upright on his horse, he looked over his shoulder to find the next man to attack.

       Cetus was angling into to the fight after releasing his bola.  A Remi spotted the Roman galloping toward him and his friends, and he turned his horse to charge the Roman galloping at them.  Cetus saw the Remi ride out toward him and he prepared for a lance and shield attack.  The two men galloped toward each other.

       Cetus expected a usual exchange of men aiming lances at each other while trying to use their shields for protection, and he had his own little bag of tricks he planned on using to fool the Remi.  Cetus was confident and expected to kill the Remi in a few moments.

       A little before the two men clashed together, the Remi changed his lance from aiming at Cetus to aiming at the chest of Cetus's horse.  "Whoa," Cetus shouted in a high pitched scream, "Turn!  Turn, girl, Turn!!"  He was scared out of his mind for his horse!  Cetus was a good horseman.  His knees firmly gripped his horse, but he was frantically kicking his horse with his lower legs.  Just a frantic flurry of kicks into the horse.

       Luckily for the horse, Cetus was a calm man.  Even in battle, Cetus kept his head.  There aren't many men who can remain calm in battle, who can think calmly as battle raged around them.  Cetus was one of these men.  Some men like Atus were angry when they fought.  Cetus was a cold fish - a cold, calculating fish - as he fought.

       The horse was surprised by the atypical behavior from Cetus!  Cetus never screamed before!!!  Cetus never acted frantic before!!!  The horse thought the "horsy" equivalent of, "What the shit is going on here???"  Frightened, the horse turned and bolted, trying to get away from the scary situation.  Because he wasn't use to Cetus panicking!

       Cetus felt the horse make a good attempt at a sharp turn.  He looked over his shoulder, as the Remi lance streaked at his horse, while the horse's ass was pulling to the side.  He watched, scared, unsure of the outcome.  The Remi lance was going to get his horse in the back leg, the horse not turning to the side fast enough.  Cetus swung his lance at the enemy lance, knocking it further in back of his horse.  The enemy lance streaked through the horse's tail.  Cetus felt the "dump-de-de-dum" rhythm of a gallop falter, as the startled horse pulled up his ass at the feel of something unexpectedly pulling at his tail.

       The normally calm Cetus turned, and with rage he screamed, "You fuckin' bastard!  You try to kill my horse!!!!!!!"  (The Romans had no qualms about killing the enemy’s horses when it was useful, but the enemy killing their horses was another story!)  Cetus had spent weeks checking every horse trader he could find to get a fast horse with no flaws.  And he spent a couple of months in the field, while everyone else relaxed, training the horse whenever he had a chance.  And he became fond of the mare!  She did everything Cetus asked of her!!!  Hurting the horse was like going after his children!

       Cetus looked around.  Marcus was pulling up to the fight, after lancing the man Lucius brought down with the bola.  Cetus yelled, "Marcus!!!  Marcus!!!"  Marcus heard someone calling his name.  He looked around, and finally saw Cetus across the field, waving his arm at him.  When Marcus saw him, Cetus pointed at the Remi and shouted, "Horse Killer!!!"  Marcus galloped toward Cetus, to help him with the "Horse Killer."

       Cetus continued to point at the Remi, so Marcus could identify the man.  When Marcus drew near to Cetus, Cetus kicked his horse into a gallop at the Remi.  Both Marcus and Cetus charge toward the Remi.  BUT THIS TIME, THEY BOTH HELD THEIR LANCES OVER THEIR HEADS TO HURL AT THE REMI!  THAT WAS A SAFE WAY TO ATTACK A "HORSE KILLER!"    USE A LANCE TO HURL AT HIM FROM A DISTANCE!      The Remi might be able to handle a Roman in a cavalry charge, but there was no way to defend against two men hurling lances at him, from two different directions, at the same time!  ONE WOULD GET HIM AS HE DEFENDED AGAINST THE OTHER.  The Remi turned his horse, and tried to run.

       The two Romans chase the fleeing Remi away from the battle.  It wasn't clear which of the three horses would win the race, but as they raced, first Cetus and then Marcus pulled back their arms, to throw their lances at the Remi in front of them, before he could escape them.  Cetus missed (maybe because he was angry and not his usual calm, collected self), but Marcus got him in the lower back.  The Remi tumbled to the ground.

       Marcus and Cetus pulled up to the man.  The man was semi-conscious, moaning and groaning.  Cetus kicked his horse forward, to trample the man underneath the horse's hooves.  The horse balked at stepping on something soft, which was unsafe footing, but Cetus forced the horse over the man several times, crushing the man and leaving him bloody under the horse's hooves, the whole time shouting, "You fuckin bastard!  You fuckin bastard!"  Cetus couldn't be angrier than if someone attacked his family.

       Finally Marcus said to Cetus, "Come on, let's get back to the others.  Forget this piece of scum."  Cetus reluctantly broke off, but he mumbled to himself about the "fuckin' bastard" who "tried to kill my Bessae" the whole way back.

       During the initial stage of the battle, Atus's horse was hardly moving after Atus smashed his man in the head with his broken lance.  The battle with the other men was swirling around him.  Suddenly Atus heard hoof beats pounding toward him.  He looked up to see the man who was at the back of the pack of Remi galloping toward him with a lance, on Atus's right side.  Atus turned his left shoulder toward the man, and raised his shield.  Just as the lance was about to strike, Atus twisted and flung his left arm with the shield outward.  That pushed the man's right arm way out to the side of his body, as the lance he was holding was pushed in that direction.  At the same time Atus twisted his left arm and shoulder to the left, he twisted his right side to the front, swinging his broken lance at the man, using the broken lance like a club.  The lance crashed into the man's shield near the top, but it was driven with so much force, the top edge of the shield was driven back to smash into the man's throat.  The blow was so strong, it knocked the man off the back of his horse.  Maybe it was the man's arm or the man's leg or his lance, but something hit Atus's horse and spooked the animal.  The animal surged out two body lengths before Atus was able to control him and turn back to the man.  The man was getting to his feet and drawing his sword as Atus turned back toward him.  Atus was drawing his sword too, but just then Rufus galloped up to lance the man in his back.

       Rufus pulled up to stop beside Atus and laughed, "I love bringing up the rear for you guys!  That's the second slob I got in the back while he was kneeling on his knees!  I can do this all day!  I didn't even break a sweat in this fight!"  Atus was still worked up from the fighting, and not ready for any humor, but he tried to force himself to match Rufus's levity.  "You got it too easy, Ruf.  Next fight we have, I'm going to tie you to your saddle so you don't fall off, and you can come up here and fight up in the front with the rest of us," Atus taunted Rufus over his poor horsemanship ----with a smile.  Rufus chuckled, and answered, "Alright with me.  You just tell Cet he can't play with his new toy 'cause no one's backing him up."

       Just then, Talig trotted over to them, "Anybody got some water?  My water skin fell off someplace."  Rufus tossed Talig his water skin.  Atus looked around while Rufus was untying his water skin.  "What the fuck are Marc and Cet doing way out there," Atus asked when he saw Marcus and Cetus trotting toward them from across the far field.  As he talked, Lucius joined them and Presphene was right behind him.  Lucius asked the group, "I heard someone call they had a horse killer.  Who got him?"  Everyone just shrugged their shoulders, not knowing who made the call.  "That was fast," Presphene cheerfully said, "They all stayed to fight instead off running around for leagues trying to escape.  We can make it back to the stronghold for lunch with everybody else."  Titus walked his horse over to join them and he dove right into the conversation, "I love it when there aren't a lot them.  Last time I had a second guy hit me in the back of my helmet, and my ears were ringing half the afternoon."  Talig faced toward Marcus and Cetus and called, "Come on, you guys, hustle your asses.  I want to get some lunch."

       Marcus and Cetus continued to trot toward them, and everybody impatiently waited for them.  Lucius asked them when they arrived, "You guys have the horse killer?"  Cetus sullenly nodded.  Cetus said to the group, "You guys go on.  I'm going back to my place and sending some wranglers out to get my cattle back and collect these guys’ horses."  Rufus, Marcus and Lucius were ex-Legionnaires, and they had left over habits developed in the Legions.  One of these was the rule that after a fight, the first thing you do is help anyone that was hurt during the fight.  None of the men were hurt, but they left the injured boy in the field before.  Rufus said, "I'm giving that boy two of their horses.  He can sell them.  That will give him some money while his wound is healing and he can't work."  Cetus took off, and the ex-Legionnaires rode over to grab two Remi horses.  While the rest waited for the three men to return with the horses, Presphene said to Titus, "Do you always have to kill the guy’s horse?  With all the horse thieves we got, we could use some extra horse."  Titus looked at Presphene like he wanted to slap him in the back of his head.

                                       Chapter 4

                                         FedEx

       The fourteenth week in the history of the valley.  Scipio, the engineer, started to throw up permanent concrete structures to protect the valley residents.  He was just doing the minimum needed to keep people safe at each estate, just walls around each Villa.  He put up just the absolute minimum at the front of the valley to house some troops there, the skeleton of a Garrison.  They wanted to stop some of the travelers on the Via Aggria from slipping off the roadway to steal from the valley.

                       .............................

       Clodius was standing by the Front Gate when four Equites turned into the Entrance Road, and headed toward the Garrison.  Clodius leaned back against the Front Gate and waited for them.  They were pulling two pack horses along with them, and Clodius eyed the pack horses as the men rode up.  One was carrying bundles that appeared to be clothing and personal gear of the Equites, and the second horse was carrying several different shaped packages of varying sizes.  They didn't take up much room on the horse.  It was very lightly loaded.  There were no tents or cooking pots on any of the horses.

       Clodius was the Captain of the House Guards.  House Guards were the senior officers at strongholds.  Although his rank was Captain, his authority was that of a Praefecti (major).  House Guards used a different system of ranking officers than other branches of the military.  All the other Captains in the Garrison saluted Clodius, and obeyed his orders.

       There were only seven House Guards assigned to each stronghold, six on duty and one off duty.  Two were assigned to each shift, with the senior officer taking the Keep, where he oversaw all the other troops in the stronghold, while the junior officer attended the Lord or Lady or executed tasks for the senior officer.  Although there were only two House Guards on duty at any one time, they figured prominently in everything that happened in a stronghold.  Whenever something unusual happened, a House Guard soon arrived to take charge of the situation.  The senior officer on the Keep usually questioned any strangers that appeared at a stronghold.

       Day to day, House Guards didn't do much that was important.  But if ever the stronghold was attacked….....THEN YOU SAW WHY THEY WERE IMPORTANT!  House Guards were all officers from the Legions, trained and experienced in Battle and Siege Tactics.  All had commanded cohorts in battle in the Roman Legions.  The minimum rank required of the House Guards Salidia hired was First Centurion (The highest ranked Centurion in a cohort).  If ever a stronghold was attacked, these men would spring into action, commanding the all the other troops below them to defend the stronghold.

       Clodius returned his gaze to the pack horses of the approaching strangers, and thought, "I bet these guys are transporting something for someone.  Couriers.  Too few men if it's something like gold, but a lot of men to guard something inexpensive."

       Post riders and couriers were common sights on the Via Agrippa.  Messages going to the Legions in the north ran up the Roman highway, and reports from Legions sent to the Senate went down it.  Big tribes with treaties with Rome, as well as big, successful merchants, used the highway for the same purpose.  Since there were no tents or pots on the pack  horses, Clodius thought, "These guys must be staying and eating at inns as they travel.  Someone's paying a small fortune to send these guys out."

       When the men pulled up and stopped before Clodius, Clodius looked at the insignia on their belts, where Roman's displayed their rank designations.  Standard Roman insignia of rank, but the insignia were followed by another symbol.  The same as Clodius's belt.  Their belts identified them as former Legionnaires, who were now in the private employ of some Roman Patrician.

       The senior Equite saluted Clodius, "Hail, Captain;" and Clodius returned, "Hail, Sergeant.  Who's your Lord?"

       "Augusta," the man answered.

       Clodius was a little suspicious of the strangers when they first rode down the road, but his mood immediately changed when he heard their answer.  "Augusta!  I know your Mistress well!  You're welcome here!  Get down.  Let me get you some wine and food, and we can sit down and talk.  Where are you from," Clodius asked them.  Clodius hoped they were from Rome.  He'd like to get the latest news from Rome.  He also knew that if the men were from Augusta, they were here to see Salidia.  Augusta and Salidia were best friends.  Augusta must have sent her men to Gaul to deliver something special to her friend.

       "Pompeii," the man said in response to Clodius's question.

       "Ohhh!  Lucky you!  Stationed in Pompeii!  It doesn't get better than that.  That's a cushy post.  I envy you!  Do you have to talk to Salidia or just deliver a message," Clodius asked him.

       "Both," the man answered.

       "Well, come in.  We'll feed you, liquor you up and after we've squeezed every drop of new news out of you, we'll send you off to Salidia, nice and full and drunk and hoarse from talking," Clodius smiled at the Sergeant.  He wrapped his arm around the Sergeant and added, "And we've got some things to show you!  You guys might be from sophisticate Pompeii, and us rubes stuck up here in the boondocks, but you won't believe what we've got up here.  Women Warriors!  We got real Amazons up here!  And young and good looking, too!"

       The four men beamed big smiles, happy to be with Romans again, after spending so much time at inns filled with nothing but foreigners.  The five men piled into the Common Room on the 1st. floor of the Keep, with other people from the stronghold following them to hear the latest news from Italy. 

       The next day, Clodius sent the four men off to Salidia, escorted by Clodius's 1st. Optio.

       Salidia, with her personal maid, strode into the Private Dining Room of her villa.  The four Equites rose to stand at attention, saluted and formally said, "We bring greetings from Augusta.  Augusta said, 'Hail, Salidia.'"

       "What news do you bring me from her," Salidia informally asked the men.  The Sergeant stepped forward to hand Salidia a rolled up scroll.  "Ahh!  Wonderful," Salidia exclaimed.  The three other Equites stepped forward to place the different pieces of a set of armor upon a table.

       "My armor!  Angi got my armor for me," Salidia exclaimed.  Quickly she said to her maid, "Send for the men and Lydia!"  The maid placed a full purse of coins upon the table before she left.

       "I want you to personally thank Augusta for me.  I'll write a letter for her before you leave, but I want you to personally tell her I'm so grateful to her,"  she said to the men.

       Then she changed topics, "Do you have enough money for the return trip?  Sometimes the prices vary wildly, and it's hard to predict what it will cost to travel."

       "Oh, yes, Mistress.  Augusta always makes sure her men are properly provided for."

       "Well, take the purse on the table anyway and get yourselves the very best food and lodgings as you return.  Stay here as long as you wish so you're completely rested before you head back.  My Steward will see that you're well provided for.  If you need anything or if your horses are exhausted and need replacement, tell my Steward, and he'll get you whatever you need."

                       ...........................

       Salidia sat down to read her letter while she waited for Lydia and the men to arrive.

       "Greeting from Augusta.  Hail, Salidia.

       Here's your armor!  I hope it's what you wanted and that you like it.

       Sali, I have to say getting it turned out to be a real adventure, and I had to mount a full scale military expedition with myself as general, that almost resulted in a small war in the middle of Pompeii.

       I sent my Steward out to get your armor from the men you mentioned, and my Steward came back to tell me the tradesman would not settle on terms!

       Well!  I couldn't tolerate that!  A tradesmen arguing with me!  I put on my armor and mounted my cavalry horse, and charged out to deal with this brazen upstart in full battle regalia with all my troops.  .....Well, maybe it was a little more like I ordered up my palanquin and a couple of guards, and went off to talk to this little snot-nosed twerp myself.

       Sali, he argued with me!  A tradesman argued with ME!  I had Octavius with me since he could identify the man.  Octavius has been one of my guards since I was a child.  Twice I had to shout to Octavius, "Hold!"  Twice Octavius went for his sword at the man's insolence.  Octavius was red in the face as he listened to this scrawny chicken of a man strutted up and down like a peacock spouting the terms he wanted.  I thought there was going to a second Macedonian War as swords came out and Greek blood flowed in the streets of Pompeii.

       But I ended up not having the man flogged.  Because of what he told me.  I got your armor, of course.  But the man said not to take it as an example of his best work.  He said he has made improvements to make up for the weakness in some parts of the armor.  He will still make the armor thin on its sides, but he is now sloping the armor plate so a sword or dagger strike will slide off to the side.  He was so pleased with himself over the improvements he made, he acted as if he could do more with steel than Vulcan.  I asked Octavius and Hectus if his ideas would work.  They said they would have to see it, but they added that it seemed like a good idea.

       So I let the man off in case his ideas were good and you wanted the armor.  My Steward wrote down the terms of employment the man wanted, and I appended the terms to this letter.

       Silla and Heppa are with me here in Pompeii and we all miss you.  It's just not the same old gang without you.  We sit around at night and the room is so quiet without your laughter in it.  We all hope we'll be able to see you soon.

       Give my love to Selie, and Silla and Heppa also send their love.

       Give me a good, long letter back in return for this one.

                                        Love, Augusta."

       Salidia finished, and then read the terms of employment Augusta's Steward appended to the letter.

                       ..............................

       As Salidia read her letter, Talig and his men piled into the room, and they immediately began to examine the armor.  In a little bit, Lydia joined them and she eagerly went to the table to look at the long awaited prizes.

       "It's thin.  He makes it with steel instead of iron.  No wonder it's so light.  The steel is so much stronger than iron that he can use less metal," Rufus said to Salidia when she walked up to the table.

       Marcus: "That's the problem.  It's like what Baynor said about it.  The sides are too thin to stop even a sword, let alone a lance.  The front is thick enough to stop a sword, maybe a lance, but a dagger will pierce the sides.  It's only good for ceremonial use, not battle."

       Presphene: "I wouldn't trust it to keep my daughter safe.  The front is good.  Thick enough to match regular iron body armor.  But anything coming at the sides will go through it like it was only leather."

       Salidia: "Augusta said he's making all his new stuff with a slope, so swords will slide off to the sides.  I guess she means it's like a shield you tilt to the side so a thrown lance will be deflected to the sides."

       Cetus: "I don't understand.  What does he mean, 'He slopes it?'  Does it stick out on the sides?"

       Salidia: "Augusta just said, 'he slopes it.'  She didn't explain what that meant.  But the man seems convinced he can do it so a strike slides to the side."

       Talig: "I'd have to see it to see what he means.  I won't give this to the girls as it is.  It's too thin on the sides to provide any protection."

       Salidia: "The front and backs are strong enough to work.  It's better than we got now.  Nothing!  We got nothing for us women to wear.  Something in the front is better than nothing at all."

       Salidia hoisted a breast plate into the air, and swung it up and down to judge it's weight.  She added, "That's light enough for us women to wear without it tiring us out like the armor you men wear."

       Titus: "Did you see the sword?"  Titus handed the sword to Lydia, with an expression that indicated he was impressed by it.

       Lydia swung the sword around and added, "That's light!  I like that!"

       Titus: "He just used the steel core of the sword, without backing up the blade with iron on the outside."

       Talig took the sword and hefted it about.  "It is light.  Let's give it a try."  When Talig rode as a cavalryman, instead of a Dimachaeri, he used armor.  He took off a grieve he was wearing and wedged it against a chair.  He slashed the new sword into the grieve.  Everyone gathered around to see the damage the sword did to his greave.

       Lucius held it up and showed it to everybody.  "Son of a bitch, it cut through enough to cripple a man," he exclaimed.

       Talig: "I want these swords for all girls.  I'd like more heft to it so it had more weight behind it when it cut into armor 'cause the girls won't be able to swing as hard as me, but the girls can swing these all day without getting tired."

       In a quick aside, as the other people kept talking, Rufus said to Talig, "And I think you better yourself some stronger grieves."

       Salidia: "I'm hiring this son of a bitch.  He's real conceited, like he's better than Hephaestus, but this stuff is light enough for the girls to use without getting all tired out, and some protection in the front and back is better than nothing.  The sides may be weak, but it's more protection than we've got so far.  If he can do something about the sides, so much the better."

       When everybody left, Salidia walked out of her villa to look at the partially complete stronghold around her.  Enormous problems faced her.  Sometimes she felt like it was more than she could handle.  Today's "emergency" was Titus's estate.  He didn't have enough grain to feed both his horses and his slaves.  But once in a while she had a success, like today with the armor that let her feel she was making some progress.  Things were moving along although everything took longer than she wanted and everything was harder than she expected.  It made her feel better when once in a while she could take something off the list of things she had to do.

       Now she had armor for herself and the girls.  It wasn't perfect armor, but it was something.  Finding armor that was light enough for women to wear was a problem that faced her since she first started training with Talig, and a solution eluded her for years.  It was a big problem and now it was behind her.

       Vircingi and his men were now dead, and no longer a threat to anyone.  Thieves were becoming a worse and worse problem for her, but thieves only wanted to steal.  Vircingi wanted to kill them.

       Six of the villas were now behind safe concrete walls, including the villa at the isolated Old Centurion's estate.  That estate could be attacked without anyone in the valley knowing about it.  Salidia felt much better now that the people there were behind tall walls.  Scipio started the Garrison.  Salidia wanted to construct a Garrison to protect the entrance to her valley, and Scipio had thrown up enough to house a few troops there.  Scipio was working like an Egyptian slave driver getting up the walls around the remaining three villa, and he would build the strongholds for Pacina, Draena and Kaylin after that.

       Her biggest problem was personnel.  She only had a few people to farm all her new land.  She only had a few herdsmen to watch all the horses, cows, goats, etc., that she would need to make running estates.  But the estates now had most of the senior officers they would need.  Senior officers were the hardest to get, and she got all the most important ones she needed.  She still need some lieutenants and sergeant, but the most important ones like Head Stewards, Head Housekeepers, Head Cooks, Captains of House Guards, Slave Guards, etc. were in place.

       Rank and file people were harder to get than she expected.  Shepherds were driving her crazy.  People just didn't want to move from safe Italy to wild Gaul for the pay of a plain shepherd.  Especially when people found out the place they would be working was surrounded by savage and murderous tribes like the Cimbri, Remi, and Nervii.  Every couple of days a few new shepherds or orchardmen or overseers walked down the roads to work at one estate or another, but it was never enough.  The small number of people Salidia got were just a drop in the bucket compared to the number of people she needed to get her estates up and running.  All the estates had flocks and herds of livestock abandoned by the Aquitani, but no one to watch them.  The most they could do was send someone out to water them and check for obvious signs of predators in the area.  Cindin, her Steward in Tuscany, set up an entire program to train Overseers and Slave Guards for her, and every month she could expect 40-45 Overseers and Slave Guards from him.  But that was no where near the number of they needed to watch all their slaves.  Everyday slaves ran away because they had too few guards to properly watch them.

       Money was a constant pain in the ass.  Today, she was almost out of cash to buy all the things she needed, but every three months she got the revenue earned by her Tuscany estate.  Next month, another chest of coins would arrive from Tuscany.

       It was good that she had a success once in a while, because most of the time her problems seemed overwhelming.

                                 Chapter 5

         What The Hell Do You Think You're Doing?

       

       Week seventeen in the history of the valley.  Construction went fast.  Slaves were worked sunrise to sunset by Overseers holding whips in their hands.  No plumbing or electrical wiring run through walls.  No 'rebars" in walls, no building permits, no building inspectors.  Just nail up some wood planks, pour concrete between them, and walk away while the concrete cured behind you.  Throw some wood planks over the top for a roof and you were done.

                               .......................

       "Alert," screamed the Sentry at the door to the girl's barracks, and then she ran on to rouse people in other parts of the stronghold.

       "What? What," asked Alisa, suddenly waking from a deep sleep.

       "There's an Alert," shouted Kaylin from the bed next to her.  Kaylin was already swinging out of her bed.  To make sure everybody was awake, Kaylin shouted, "Alert! Alert," again.

       Twenty six girls frantically tried to clear the sleep from their brains.  They scrambled to get their armor on, and then started to rush out of their barracks as soon as they were dressed.

       Kaylin was the first to emerge into the courtyard, and she searched the sky over the walls around the stronghold.  To the southeast she saw a thick plume of white smoke.  She came to stop, threw her head back, sighed, and her whole posture slumped in place, feeling both relief and disgust at the same time.

       "It's only raiders," she said to Alisa and three other girls who came running up to her.  Raiders weren't the responsibility of the girls.  As they stood there, and others joined them, the men began to pile out of the Stable with their horses.  Talig and his men had been the first people the Sentry had roused.  The men already put on their armor and run to the Stable by the time the Sentry finally got around to waking the girls.  As the girls stood there, the men mounted and then kicked their horses to a gallop to race out of the stronghold.

       As the men raced out of the front gate, Kaylin and Alisa and the others heard loud cursing from the top of the Keep.  They all turned and looked over to the roof of the Keep to see Salidia in her sleeping gown.  Salidia angrily threw something down on the Keep rooftop, and stormed around the flat roof top of the Keep cursing and venting her frustration.  Lydia was there too, also in her sleeping gown.  She was agitated too, pacing back and forth to release her anxiety as she watched the men ride away over her shoulder.

       Things had been tough in the valley the first few months they had been there, and everybody showed the stress they had been under

       Salidia was relatively rich.  If the Patricians of Rome had been ranked by their wealth, Salidia would have been around the 80th. percentile.  Not the richest of the Patricians, but one of the wealthier ones.  But she was spending money at a prodigious rate, and she was nearly broke.  She was hiring soldiers and farming staff, buying slaves and livestock, and purchasing the equipment and supplies needed to make the valley a running enterprise.  Her family estate in Tuscany was sending her the revenue generated by that estate as soon as they got their hands on cash, but the last chest of coins sent up to Aballo was nearly empty.  It would be weeks until she could expect more money from Tuscany.

       The valley was woefully understaffed.  The thieves were getting worse, as neighboring tribes realized how impotent Salidia's few warriors were to stop the thefts.

       Talig and the men had rushed out of the stronghold to intercept the latest group of thieves raiding one of the other estates.  The other strongholds didn't have the cavalry to protect their own land, and Talig and his men had to be dispatched from Salidia's centrally located estate to go to their aid.

       And that is how the valley used their few cavalry troops.  Talig and his men were stationed in the center of the valley, and they rode to any of the other strongholds that signaled raiders had been spotted on their land.  Pushing their horses hard, it could take over a half hour just to reach the most distant stronghold, and once they got there, they had to locate the raiders.  On exhausted horses.  Except for the closest estates, the men had to exchange their exhausted horses for fresh mounts at the stronghold before they even began to search for the thieves.

       And most times, nobody even realized a raid was taking place on the large estates.  Sentries on stronghold walls could only see a couple of leagues in any direction before trees or hills obstructed their view, while thieves could be prowling the estate lands five and six leagues away from the stronghold.  The raiders would come in, take what they wanted, and leave unobserved and unopposed.

       The problem had reached a tipping point, thieves stealing from the valley faster than Salidia could purchase the supplies and animals needed to run her valley.  The thieves had to be stopped.

                       ..........................

       The girls were up and dressed.  They headed over to the Troop Kitchen to get breakfast.  The Alert had shaken everybody out of their beds early, and the girls filed into the Kitchen an hour or so ahead of their usual time.  The cooks hadn't finished cooking the food, and the girls had to wait for the cooks to finish preparing breakfast.

       Three months ago, Baynor, Caigan, Camtus and Salidia sat down and "guess-timated" the number of people, slaves and freemen both, that it would take to run an estate the size of Salidia's personal plot of land in the center of the valley.  And Scipio had constructed Salidia's stronghold in anticipation of these projected numbers of people the stronghold would eventually hold, when Salidia finished hiring new people.  The 26 girls sat in a big, empty building that was intended to hold hundreds of troops during each change of shifts.  There was a lot of empty space and few girls.  A few rows of benches and tables were clustered in the large, empty dining room, near the kitchen.  The girls spread out in one big group, some on the benches and some sitting on the tables, as they waited for their breakfast.

       Thalia sat on the edge of a table, "Ohh, I really could have used some more sleep instead being pulled out of bed so early.  I'm exhausted and still tired from yesterday."  She shimmied further on to the table, and laid down full length on the table top.  Inadvertently, she brushed against Paulina, who was sitting on a seat and leaning back against the table.

       "Ouuh," Paulina said in pain.  Thalia rolled over on her side, and lifted up to rest on an elbow, "I'm sorry, Paulie, I didn't see you sitting there."

       "It alright," Paulina answered, "It isn't your fault.  My arm is still killing me from yesterday's drills.  I'm not use to the weight of the new armor, and my arm kept rubbing on my breast plate when I made a strike to the left.  I have to get the new armorer to adjust the shoulder opening for me.  I was thinking about taking today off.  My arm is rubbed raw from the breast plate, and my arm aches from all the new weight.  I don't know if I should take the day off and nurse my arm, or just 'grin and bear it' and tough out some more drills today."

       Alisa: "If I've got a sharp pain, I take the day off.  If it's a dull pain, I tough through the drills.  The sharp pain has always gotten worse and worse, but the dull pain gets better little by little."

       Paulina: "Well, Sergeant, you called it.  When you look for me today, I'm going to be back at the barracks sleeping."  A few girls smiled.

       Janae: "I'm so sick and tired of all the drills.  I train and train until my arm feels sore like Pauli, and I'm not getting fast.  Talig and Salidia and Lydia just stand there and snap their arms up without thinking about it.  And their arms just flash out like bolts of lightning.  Both their left arms and right arms, and they twist and turn and jump almost as fast.  Sometimes I think they lied to us when they told us we'd get fast with practice.  Sometime I think they must have been naturally fast to begin with."

       Kaylin: "Be patient.  Talig said it takes around ten or twelve months to get the speed.  Salidia said she took more than a year before the training paid off, and she got fast.  I bet you're just down on the speed because you're tired from carrying the weight of the new armor.  We're all tired from the extra weight, but we'll get use to the armor in a little bit, and next month we wouldn't even notice we it.

       Cinna: "I wish you girls wouldn't say that you're still not getting the speed at six months.  You older girls have been with Lydia and Talig since Vircingi.  Us new girls have only been here a month and we're only doing the strengthening moves.  Now you're telling me at six months we still won't be getting any speed."

       Alisa: "Keep swinging your sword and shield, Cinni.  You haven't even started the delight of doing the same drill a hundred times in a row.  Three day a week."

       Trivi: "I don't know what you girls are complaining about.  We're being taught the sword and shield, the lance, the bow.  That's all useful stuff by itself.  Who could have better teachers than the men."

       (When Trivi mentioned "the men," she meant "The Men," Salidia's original bodyguards.  When Salidia first arrived in Gaul, she was accompanied by her twelve original bodyguards, and she referred to them as "her men."  They retained that original title, "Her Men."  Salidia now had many more people working for her, who were all, technically, her men, but when Salidia or Lydia or Talig mentioned "The Men," they meant the original bodyguards.  They were now promoted up to the "Lords" of her valley, and for most of "the girls," they were their fathers.)

       Itatia: "Yeah.  Pressie showed me a great block yesterday.  Instead of resisting the force, he showed me a way to go with the blow, but guide it downward with my sword.  It left him with his arm crossed across his body in a useless position, with my sword on top of his and all set for a back handed counter-strike.  It was such a good block."

       Thalia: "That's good for you two.  You two run around with the armor like it's only a cloak you're wearing instead of steel.  And you like the sword and shield.  And the lance.  And the bow.  You like it all!  Look at you two!  You two just keep on getting bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger.  Every time I look at you two, you've gotten bigger.  I can see muscles on you two.  Me, I like the easy stuff.  Give me a knife like Lydi and Sali use.  Just a little ole knife.  No arm strain.  No grunting and groaning with a damn heavy shield.  I don't like clauses on my hand from a sword.  Just give me a light, little knife.  My tunic weighs more than my knife.  I want to get the speed.  Than I can get rid of my damn sword and shield, and just walk around with a knife like Lydi.  Everyday when I practice, I scream to Mount Olympus, 'Let me get fast so I can throw away my damn sword and shield."

       Annunka: "You're crazy to complain.  Don't you want to be like Lydia and Salidia?  Lydia saved the whole valley!  She single handedly cut the Aquitani down to just a few men.  What could be braver than her slipping into the woods to save everybody!  Don't you want to be like her?  So brave!  Able to defeat the worst enemies!  I'll do anything they want me to do as long I can do what Lydia does in the end."

       Dimita: "You girls aren't getting the important thing.  Anni's got it right.  Talig can teach us to move like no other warriors.  Fast enough to be safe no matter what happens.  And that takes practice and practice to learn.  So what if it takes a long time for the speed.  And we'll all get use to the weight of running around in the armor.  But in the end, we'll be able to walk out into a field and no one can beat us.  Then we'll all be heroines like Anni wants.  And all that we have to do is put in our time practicing and it will come to us sooner or later."

       Janae: "So what you mean is keep on going with the damn drills day after day with nothing changing!  A lot of help you girls are.  I'm sick of it.  By the time we finish with practice today, my arm is going to sore just like Pauli here."

       Cassandra: "I'll tell you what goes on day after day and never changes, you girls complaining.  I know what you want.  First you want someone to sympathize with you and tell you what poor suffering dears you all are, having to do those terrible, hard drills day after day.  And after sympathizing with how tough things are for you, you want someone to tell you you're all going to be the strongest, most undefeatable women in the world.  You want someone to start a sentence saying, 'Poor you,' and you want the sentence to end with, 'you're the strongest, bravest women in the world.'  That's going to be some conversation.  I can hear it now, 'Poor you; you're so wonderful and strong and brave.'"

       Julia:  "Cassi, I glad to know somebody understands us.  You got it just right.  You understand us perfectly."

       "Alert," a Sentry screamed from outside.

       "Oh, crap," said Kaylin, "No breakfast."

                       ...............................

       Outside, Lydia was standing in the courtyard.  She had changed into her armor while the girls were in the Troop Kitchen.  Salidia had also changed, and she was up on the Keep roof in a tunic.  "Lucius," Salidia called down to Lydia.

       Then Salidia turned and faced away from the signal of raiders at Lucius's stronghold.  She gazed off into space, unable to look at the column of smoke that signaled another group of raiders at a second stronghold.

       Emotions surged in her.  In her mind, she imagined Carra, Lucius's wife, standing on her Keep, looking at Salidia's stronghold and waiting for her husband, Talig and the other men to come to her aid.  In her heart, Salidia said, "I have no one to send you, Carra.  Forgive me."  It hurt Salidia to turn her back on her people.

       At the same time, she was enraged at the raiders.  She wanted to rip their faces with her fingernails, she wanted to kick them, stab them, and personally kill them.  She turned her face from Lucius's stronghold to help her deal with the frustration of not being able to get at the raiders.

       Deep inside there was a sickening feeling that she was going to lose her valley, that the raiders were bleeding her dry.  She couldn't buy more livestock or slaves, she couldn't hire more guards, until more money came up from her Tuscany estate; and soon she wouldn't be able to feed her people or animals, and what would happen then?  The raiders were winning, and her loyal people were going to pay for that in pain.  In her mind, she was terrified of the prospect of seeing pain in the faces of her people.  She feared, soon, having to see the dead faces of the people she had come to love over the past few years.

       When the smoke signal of raiders went up from Lucius's stronghold, she knew she was helpless, and she didn't have the emotional resources to deal with the feeling of helplessness.  Salidia had always been a fighter, and now she had no way to fight.  Even if Talig and the men started back from Titus's stronghold that minute, their horses were shot.  They could kick their horses on.  Some horses would run, and then drop with burst hearts.  Some would run, and then stop in the middle of the road, their bodies overheated from prolonged exertion.  Heat exhaustion would soon kill them.  Other horses would pull up and refuse to run, their bodies racked by cramps.  Their horses just couldn't run anymore.

       Salidia stood on the top of her Keep, and turned away from the smoke signal at Lucius's stronghold, unable to face all the emotions released inside her by the signal for help.  Tears ran down her face.

       In the courtyard, Lydia and the girls look up at the Keep with Salidia standing in the near corner.  From their distance, they couldn't see the tears, but there was something in Salidia's posture that communicated to them.  They knew Salidia cried for what was happening.

       "We'll go," Trivi said to Lydia.  "Let us go," Itatia echoed.  "We can stop the raiders!  We can handle anyone they throw at us,"  Janae said.  Kaylin and Alisa walked up before Lydia.  "We want to help.  Let us help with the raiders," Kaylin said.  "This is what we've been training and training to do," Alisa finished.

       Lydia looked at them and her mind reflexively screamed, "NO!"  The girl's hadn't finished their speed training.  They practiced drills with weapons, but that was to strengthen their bodies, and to prepare them for the moves they would eventually use once their speed training was complete.  It was speed that would make the girls safe, and that took time for Talig's training methods to achieve.  The drills and practice with Salidia's men were turning the older girls into skilled swordsmen and archers, but that wasn't what they depended upon.  Speed.  Speed was what they needed, or they would just be women facing men who were bigger and stronger.

       There were several things Lydia didn't know.  She didn't know if one more loss to raiders would drive the valley over the edge.  She didn't know if the valley was at a breaking point under the predation from surrounding tribes.  She didn't know if people were becoming so discouraged that they would give up.  She didn't know if the warriors surrounding the valley were about to conclude that the Romans were so weak no one need respect them or what they could do.

       What Lydia did know is that Salidia looked discouraged and that she and these girls wanted to do something about it.  She knew she was sick and tired of people taking advantage of them.  She knew she wanted to do something about it.

       Kaylin looked at Lydia while Lydia stood roiled by the conflicting emotions that surged in her.  "Let us go," Kaylin screamed at the silent Lydia.

       "The old girls come with me.  The new girls stay here," Lydia shouted to the girls.  The old girls were the original twelve young girls who joined in the fight against Vircingi when Salidia and her people first came to the valley.  These twelve young, untrained girls had volunteered to help defend the valley as simple Sentries armed with only bows.  Since that time, they continue to train, expanding their training to use all the weapons used by warriors.

       The new girls were the women who had joined the Amazons after Vircingi had been defeated.  At the time of Vircingi's attack, they were too young to join the older girls, or some of their parents were reluctant to let them do anything new that could be dangerous.  The new girls had only been with them a month or two and they did not have as much training as the older girls.

       Lydia and the older girls ran back to the Stable and got their horses.  They raced up the stronghold's interior and out the Front Gate.  Salidia heard the unexpected sound of galloping horses inside the stronghold and went to the back of the Keep to see who was racing horses inside the fort, only to see nothing as the horses disappeared into the Front Gate passageway before Salidia reached the back.  Salidia ran back to the front of the Keep to see Lydia and some of the girls galloping down the road away from the stronghold.  Salidia screamed, "No," to the disappearing girls.  Lydia heard Salidia's cry, but she ignored the call and pretended she didn't hear Salidia, and she continued on with the girls.

       Salidia was use to Lydia doing reckless things, but Lydia was so capable Salidia felt confident about her.  But Salidia still thought of the young girls as children.  She was terrified of telling one of her men, "Your daughter was killed today."

       As Lydia galloped off to Lucius's stronghold, the girls were ranged around her.  Thalia was galloping alongside of Lydia, laughing and screaming in excitement.  Thalia was the adrenalin junkie of the group and this is what Thalia lived for: something exciting to do.  Janae was next to Thalia with the same look of excitement.  But Janae's excitement was driven by something else.  Since the murder of her mother and older brother, Janae wanted to take her anger out of the bastards who had attacked them.  Janae had been driven crazy by the forced inaction of training, nothing but training.  Now, finally, Janae would get a chance to do what she had waited month after month to do, kill the bastards who had killed her mother and brother.

       Behind the three girls in front, Trivi and Itatia rode with relatively calm expressions for the situation.  They looked slightly angry, but it was really a look of intense and purposeful focus.  Besides them was Annunka, who was both scared and excited.  She had waited her whole life to do this, be a warrior, but she knew this was dangerous and that she could be killed.  Her breathing was fast and shallow, and she was nervous over the impending fight.  Beside her was her best friend, practical Dimita.  Dimita was fiercely trying to focus her mind.  She thought to herself, "We trained for this.  We practice for this," and in her mind she was reliving training sessions with the men, trying to remember what counterstrikes to use against different assaults.  She was thinking, "If it's an advancing overhead swing at me, a right arm overhead block, catching and diverting the sword downward, while I spin to the right.  If the right side is obstructed, a left overhead block with the buckler, diverting the sword to the right while I spin to the left."  Dimita wasn't actually saying all the words.  In her mind, her internal conversation was a quarter words, and three quarters eidetic image of training sessions she had with men.  She was going over all the different training scenarios she had been taught, one after the other.

       Alisa and Kaylin rode in the center.  Both of them felt personally responsible for all the girls around them.  Alisa and Kaylin had recruited all these girls.  Kaylin looked at the faces of the girls around her, running through her mind all the thoughts she had about each girl's personality.  Each of the girls had the expressions Kaylin had come to know from months of practicing with each of them.  She was thinking, "No one looks scared.  Everyone looks ready."  Kaylin felt reassured, looking at the emotions written on the faces around her.  She thought, "We're ready for this.  We can do this."   Kaylin was prepared to encourage anyone who looked nervous.  "Check your shields," Kaylin shouted, referring to placement of the shields within their scabbards, with the forearm strap aligned upward so they could be instantly grabbed without any fumbling.  "Keep alert!  Watch the sides," she called out again.

       Alisa was thinking like Kaylin, she was thinking of "her" girls, the girls she and Kaylin had recruited.  But her focus was different.  She wanted to protect her girls from the bastards around them who could hurt them.  Alisa was thinking of the tactics they should use.  "Trav, Tat, Jani and Juli are our best lancers.  They should be in front.  Di, Anni, Tali and Pauli should be at the back with their bows.  They're the best with the bow.  Me, Kay, Kris, and Cali can take the middle.  We'll cover with swords."  Alisa was thinking of Battle Line formations, and arranging her girls the best way for Lydia to use.  Alisa started directing girls to different positions to put the best girls in the best places as they galloped along the road.  Under direction from Alisa, girls started to change their positions in the formation as the group galloped down the road.

       At the back of the group of girls were Paulina, Julia, Krista and Calista.  Paulina was always protective of the people around her.  She had joined Kaylin and Alisa and their girls just so she could protect all the other people in the valley.  She looked around the girls and felt emotional.  She thought, "If we take care of each other, we'll be able to do this," driven by her feeling that she had to protect her friends.  On the other hand, Julia beside her was calm with little emotion.  Instead Julia was thinking, "We have the new armor.  That's going to help us a lot.  Atus and Cetus showed us good ways to handle cavalry, and that takes care of cavalry.  Marcus, Lucius and Rufus showed us good things for infantry, and that takes care of infantry.  And Pres has drilled us and drilled us with the sword, and we should be able to handle sword play....."  Julia was coldly practical.  She thought in terms of training, equipment, tactics, and the usefulness of people with special skills.  As cold as an accountant going over Accounts Receivable, she was thinking in terms of whether they had enough to cash out Accounts Payable.

       Calista was a realistic girl who saw life in concrete terms.  She looked around the estates and saw the herds of livestock grazing there.  At the back of her mind were images of cooks preparing meals, and images of her, the other girls, and her family sitting down to dinner.  When she thought about the raiders stealing livestock, it was like she pictured some stranger standing at a table and taking steaming bowls of food off the table for themselves.  When she thought about the raiders, she thought, "Hey, you fuckin' bastard!  That belongs to me!  Get your fuckin' hands off it!"

       As they galloped along the road, Calista had different images running through her mind.  She picture five or six raiders surrounded by the other twelve women with her.  She pictured a group of men charging at them while these thirteen women fired their bows at them.  She thought about fighting with swords and shields, and images of the girls at sword practice with the men filled her mind.  Calista always thought in concrete terms, and as she galloped down the road, she pictured herself and the other girls charging at men who were stealing "her cattle."

       Calista's imagination was going at full speed.  She imagined the raiders doing all sorts of things.  Charging at them with lances.  Running at them with swords.  Sneaking up to them unobserved.  All sorts of different things the raiders might try.  And in her mind, she had specific images of the girls shooting bows or grabbing their swords or lances to fight the bastards.  And the emotion which lay behind all these specific images in her mind was, "Get your fuckin' hands off my stuff!"

       Deep inside Krista there was fear, but she actively, consciously suppressed it.  Instead, there was courage.  Krista felt two feelings, both fear and anger.  Whenever a fearful idea crossed Krista's mind, she deliberately thought of something else.  Krista wasn't driven by the starry eyed dreams of being a "heroine" like Annunka or the revenge driven anger of Janae.  Krista's father was Cetus, one of the best tacticians in the valley.  Her father coldly assessed the situation they were in, and from her father, Krista knew the dire straights the Romans were in.  Cetus knew without any illusions how much food they had available and how successful the raiders were.  Without any illusions, Krista knew how desperate situation was.  She knew they were facing starvation this winter.  Krista had the courage of someone backed into a corner.  Krista knew, "We fight here, or we die here."

       Lydia was thinking as a trained and experienced warrior who had been in life and death fights with enemy warriors.  She knew Talig's speed training gave warriors a tremendous advantage in fighting enemies, and the girls would be safe once they were speed trained.  But none of the girls had achieved it yet.

       People who are speed trained do not show gradual improvement.  Speed training has a long, flat learning curve with every little change taking place.  People go for months with no apparent improvement in their speed.  Because it doesn't depend upon muscular changes in the body.  It depends upon hundreds of small neurological changes.  New neurological pathways must be forged, hundreds if not thousands of them.  Only after all these hundreds of individual neurological pathways are form, are they ready to fire together.  And then, one day, a large collection of new neurological pathways fire in unison for the first time.  It is like a long chain.  Little by little one link is formed, joining with the link next to it.  Little sections of the chain are formed up here and there.  Until, finally, the last link is formed, and all the links now form one long, connected chain.  The long, flat learning curve, after remaining flat for months, suddenly sweeps upward.  There is close to a 90 degree change in the slope of the line.  It just rockets upwards, once an entire collection of new neural connections join up together into an integrated whole.

       For the people who are engaged in speed training, they go months without much change, and then suddenly one day when the new network of neurological pathways fire together in unison for the first time, the person's arm just flashes out at tremendous speed.  After months of no change, one day the arm just explodes outward with blinding speed.  After the first occurrence, it takes only a few more weeks of practice until the fast motor movements occur dependably and reliably.  For the person who does it, it like they "just get it" one day, with no warning when that day occurs.  One day they can't do it.  The next day they can, without warning when that will happen.

       Lydia knew none of the girls had achieved that point.  The girls had practiced the sword and shield, the lance, and the bow with Salidia's Bodyguards, and these men were the best swords money could buy.  That was good training in swordsmanship.  If the girls had been young men, with the strength and size of men, that training in swordsmanship alone would make them better than the average warrior.  But they weren't young men.  They were young girls fighting grown, experienced men.  They were smaller, weaker, and inexperienced.

       The smaller, weaker, inexperienced young girls needed an edge, an advantage, to beat grown experienced men.  That advantage was tremendous speed.  Once they had speed, they could beat the men.  But none of them had it yet.

       Lydia was weighing the good training in swordsmanship the girls had received against the physical weakness and inexperience of the girls.  Lydia was thinking of the different men she had fought.  Some of the men Lydia fought were poor warriors, and Lydia knew the girls could have beaten them just using their newly acquired swordsmanship.  Most of the men Lydia had fought were decent enough warrior.  Average would describe them.  And two of the warrior she and Talig had fought were excellent warriors who came close to killing both Talig and her, badly wounding Talig and her in the fight.  Candidly, Lydia guessed it would be a 50-50 gamble if the girls fought average warriors in one on one combats, just depending upon their improved swordsmanship which Salidia's men had taught them.  Lydia guessed the enemy warriors would have a slight advantage while the girls were inexperienced, and the girls gaining a slight advantage as they gained experienced, considering just the skill the girls had learned with a sword.  All the girls were now, indeed, better swordsmen than the average warrior.  But... without the strength of men.

       But Lydia was not going to let the girls fight in battles where there was a 50-50 chance of them being killed.  She would only let them fight if they had a clear advantage.

       Lydia had decided she would do the fighting herself, and only use the girls in support positions, where they would be safe.  She was not going to gamble with the girl's lives.

        Lydia was permanently scarred by something that happened in the past, the Aquitani attack against Salidia and her men.  Lydia felt personally responsible for the deaths of four of the men, three of the wives, eighteen of the boys, and one girl, and another three boys had been wounded, and two of those boys were left with a permanent disabilities, all from the Aquitani attack.  Lydia believed these deaths were all her fault, and guilt from these deaths haunted her.  If it killed her, Lydia was not going to say, "Lucius (or Presphene or Titus), I killed your daughter today, sending her into battle before she was ready."

       Lydia looked over her shoulder and heard Alisa arranging the girls with the best lancers in the front.  "Good.  That's useful," thought Lydia.  And she heard Kaylin reminding the girls of the basics, another useful thing.

                       ............................

       They pulled into the apron before the Front Gate at Lucius's stronghold.  It had taken them a little more than twenty minutes at a light gallop to reach the spot.  Lydia looked at the girl's horses.  The girl's horses were in better condition than the men's horses would have been.  The girls used lighter armor and weapons than the men, and the girls weighed less than the men to start.  Their horses had less weigh to carry.  But the horses still needed to rest.

       They needed better horses.  Lydia's horse, Zep {short for Zephyr(a), the god of the west wind.  Lydia had named her two Arabians for the gods of the "North Wind", Boreas, and the "West Wind."}, looked like it had been out on a light strole.  But her horse was a prize winning Arabian.  The girl's horses were among the best Talig and Milesus could buy locally, but they were poor mounts compared to Lydia's Arabian.  The girl's horses needed to rest.  They needed more Arabians, like Lydia and Salidia rode.  Arabians were bred for not only speed and nimbleness, but for endurance.  With more Arabians, they could ride to the furthest stronghold, and still have horses that were fit to use.  Right now, the men were probably changing horses at Titus's place before they even started to look for the raiders.

       Carra, Lucius's wife, called down from the top of her Keep, "Where are the men?"

       "Still at Titus," Lydia answered.

       "What do you think you're going to do," Carra asked Lydia, incredulous Lydia had showed up at her stronghold instead of the men.

       "I'm going to handle your raiders," Lydia answered.

       Carra immediately snapped back, "Lucius is going to beat the crap out of you when he finds out you brought the girls out with raiders in the area.  They're not ready to take any chances.  Does Salidia know you have the girls over here?"

       "She didn't want us to come," Lydia answered.

       Carra's face formed into a snarl, confirmed in her belief it was foolhardy to put the young girls in harm's way.  "Tat!  Trav!  Get in here,"  Carra shouted down to her daughter, and Trivi, who she considered the same as her second daughter.  "Lydia, you get the rest of those girls inside my stronghold now!."

       Itatia calmly, but with sure purpose in her voice, called up to her mother and said in an even, firm voice, "Mother, we can do this."

       Carra was shocked when she heard the tone of her daughter's voice.  It was so calm, so certain, so purposeful.  "When did this happen," Carra thought to herself, "When did Tat become so grown up."  "How did I miss this happening," Carra asked herself.  Carra's maternal instincts told her daughter had changed.  Tat no longer sounded like a young girl she could order about without question.  Tat now sounded like a young woman with a mind of her own.  Carra was thunderstruck by her daughter's new maturity, self-possession, and self-confidence.  What had brought about this change in her daughter?  Carra stood silent, uncertain of how to proceed with this seismic change in her daughter's personality.  Carra turned on Lydia, venting her uncertainty on Lydia, "Lydia, if you let anything happen to those girls, I'll KILL YOU!"

       "I'll keep them safe, "  Lydia called up to Carra,  "I promise.  I'll do all the fighting.  I'll only use the girls in safe, support positions, and I'll pull them out if there is any danger to them."

       Lydia had already noticed that three of Carra's House Guards were on her east wall.  She guessed so many high ranked House Guards were on one wall because they were watching what was happening to the east of the stronghold.  Lydia nodded toward the east, and asked, "How many raiders did you see?  Which direction were they going?"

       Carra had an impulse to exaggerate the number of raiders she had seen, to discourage Lydia; and to misdirect Lydia in the wrong direction, but instead she truthfully answered, "Six, heading east."

       "Carra, if it kills me, I promise you I'll keep the girls safe," Lydia called up to Carra.  That mollified Carra.  Carra knew Lydia meant it: Lydia would die to protect the girls.  But Carra was still scared.  Lydia was promising something she couldn't control.  Still, it was something that Lydia would do all in her power to protect the girls.  That promise carried almost as much weight as if Talig made the promise.

       As they took off, Thalia called over to Lydia, "Lydia, you're still going to let us help you, aren't you," afraid Lydia was going to relegate them to some useless position, after hearing the angry exchange with Carra.  "SHUT UP," Lydia snapped, angered that one of the girls might challenge her decision to use them only in safe support positions. "YOU DO AS I TELL YOU," she curtly answered Thalia.  Lydia was upset that she had angered Carra so much.  She loved Carra, and had not intended to anger her friend.  And she was more worried than ever about keeping the girls safe as she rode off into danger with them.  Carra's fear for the girl's safety amplified Lydia's own fear for the girl's safety.

                       .............................

       They trotted east, looking for the raiders.  The trot let the girls' horses rest.  Lydia felt six raiders was a reasonable number to pursue with twelve girls.  Even if the six raiders attacked them, the twelve girls should have been able to support each other enough to be safe.  But she still intended to do all the fighting to guarantee the girl's safety.

       Seeing Lydia's worried mood, Alisa and Kaylin were wise enough to stay quiet rather than constantly talk to the girls.  Kaylin contented herself with one admonition, "Watch the sides as well as what's in front of us."  Kaylin continued to direct her attention to the personalities of her girls.  She knew Janae and Thalia were excitable, the two girls most likely to do something reckless, like charge the raiders on their own imitative.  Using hand gestures, she directed Janae and Thalia to flank Lydia, thinking they were more likely to hold their position if they thought they were protecting Lydia.  She thought that if a fight broke out, Janae and Thalia would most likely stay with Lydia to protect her, rather than race off to do something on their own.  And she signaled Trivi and Itatia to take the outside positions, because she knew Tat and Trav were rock solid, and fearless.  And Tat and Trav were such incredibly big, strong women, they could hold their own against male lancers.

       Alisa watched Kaylin switch the positions of Itatia and Trivi with Janae and Thalia, and she thought putting Itatia and Trivi on the outside was a good idea.  Alisa was still thinking of battle formations, and she wanted to protect Lydia with her best lancers.  When the front girls had finished changing positions, Alisa directed the four girls, using hand signals, to ride further forward, right alongside of Lydia, to protect and support Lydia if they were attacked.

       "Get back,"  Lydia snapped, annoyed and angry when the girl's horses pulled up alongside of her.  They were at cross purposes.  Lydia wanted to do all the fighting, to keep the girls safe.  The girls wanted to protect Lydia from danger, and help her with the fighting.  This wasn't going to work out.

       The four girls immediately fell back at Lydia's command.  Confused and uncertain about what to do when Lydia dismissed them, they all looked to Alisa for instruction.  Annoyed that Lydia refused to let them help, Alisa gestured them forward while silently mouthing to them, "Get as close as you can."  Apparently the girls understood what Alisa was trying to tell them, and they urged their horses up a little closer to Lydia.

       As the riders in front repositioned themselves, the other girls looked to Alisa for instructions.  Using hand gestures, Alisa directed the four girls at the back, who were functioning as bowmen, to watch the sides and back for the appearance of any raiders, and Cali and Kris to watch the front and sides.

                       .............................

       In less than an hour, they came to the edge of Lucius's property without seeing anything.  They started a second swing through Lucius's estate, this time a league further north.

       Half way back, they saw a group of six warriors herding a medium sized flock of sheep toward the northern mountains.  The men rode seemingly without a care in the world, apparently unconcerned with the possibility of Romans pursuing them.  Their postures were casual, without any attempt at stealth or effort directed to vigilance.  They didn't look like they had stolen Roman livestock; they looked like they were returning from market with newly purchased sheep.

       Looking at the clothing the men wore, Lydia snarled, "Cimbri !!!"    The statement electrified the twelve young girls with Lydia, and caused them all to stop breathing.  As children, every one of them had grown up with the story of Lydia and Salidia killing a Cimbri chieftain and his son with their knives after the Cimbri had run Salidia off the road.  It was that very story of Lydia with the Cimbri chief and his son that made both Annunka and Dimita want to join Lydia and the girls who served her.  As children, every girl there had daydreamed and imagined herself playing the role of Lydia in that fight.  No other name was as evocative to the girls as the name, "Cimbri."  To every girl there, the name "Cimbri" meant these men were to be hunted down and killed.  Every one of them had pictured themselves killing a Cimbri warrior in their imaginations, acting out Lydia's part in that fight from long ago.

       Lydia pulled the girls back, behind the last clump of trees to conceal them from the Cimbri.  Then she scanned the islands of trees and bushes which dotted the landscape until she spotted one which suited her purpose.  She loped over to that growth of trees and bushes with the girls.  Low bushes covered the beginning of the island of trees, for a few body lengths.  Thick trees grew behind the bushes.

       "We'll ambush them.  I'll get them to chase me back here.  You hide here, and when they ride past you, you cut them down with arrows.  I'll come back and finish the ones you don't get with the arrows," Lydia said to the girls.

       "I want you to protect each other, if some of them escape the arrows and attack you.  Trav, Tat, Juli, Janae form a shield wall in front with your lances, in case they make a cavalry charge against your position.  Dimita, Anni, Thalia, Paulina use your bows to cut them down when I lead them past your hiding place.  Aim for the man, not his horse.  I don't want an un-horsed warrior to charge you on foot.  Kaylin, Alisa, lances and shields on the sides.  If they charge you and over-run your position, I want you protecting the ends so they can't rush in to get the other girls from the side.  Calista, Krista lances and shields.  Cover the back in case they over-run your position and turn back to come at the others from their backs a second time."

       Being so concerned with the girl's safety, Lydia arranged the girls into positions where they sure to be safe against an attack.  She was less concerned with the girl's offensive power.  She intended to do most of the fighting, rather than them.

       "Be ready with your arrows when I race past your position.  You'll only have a few moments to get them when they come past, chasing me.  If any escape the arrows, stay in your positions.  I don't want you chasing the survivors down.  I'll do that."

       "Stay low so they don't see you.  Don't give away your position before they come within bow range.  Hide your horses behind the trees in back of you, so the Cimbri don't see them."  Lydia turned her horse, and galloped back to the Cimbri.

       As Lydia disappeared around the scattered islands of trees, Janae said to Kaylin, "This is no good.  Eight of us are in defensive positions, and only four of us are offensive, with bows.  The numbers should be the other way around, so we can kill more of them."

       Calista said from the back, "We'll do as we're told.  Lydia will learn to trust us when she sees what we can do."  "Janae, hold your position.  Your turn will come in time," Kaylin added.  Alisa remembered that Paulina had said her arm was hurt that morning.  "Paulina, you and your sore arm get in the back.  Calista, take her place with a bow," Alisa ordered them.

                       ..............................................

       As Lydia galloped off to the Cimbri she was thinking of Vircingi and his son, two skilled warriors she and Talig had fought.  Warriors as skilled as Vircingi and his son could go through the young girls like a reaper with a scythe through a wheat field.

       Lydia had practiced the bow with Acetur, a Second Centurion of archers, since he came to the valley.  She got an hour of individual instruction from him every day.  She was not yet an excellent bowman on a horse, but she had become a competent mounted bowman.  When the young girls had first volunteered to serve as Sentries, at first they got an hour a week individual training with Acetur.  Since the girls had moved to Salidia's stronghold for full time training, all the girls spent two hours a day as a group practicing the bow, with Acetur circulating among them and coaching each of them on their technique.  Most of the girls were now competent as standing archers, and a few of them would soon achieve an "Excellent" rating.  Soon they would begin to practice the bow on a horse.

       Lydia rounded a group of trees to see the Cimbri ahead of her.  They had a young man bringing up the rear, with the older and more experienced warriors taking the point positions.  Lydia liked to see young men among her enemies.  They frequently got bored by simple tasks, and often spent their time daydreaming.  Their propensity for boredom and daydreaming made it easier to sneak up on them.  Older men usually had the self-discipline and concentration to remain focused on their task in spite of boredom, and it was harder to catch them unaware.

       Lydia kicked her horse into a "cat-walk."  A "cat-walk," also known as a "running walk," is a fifth gate a few, but not many, horses are capable of.  The intermediate gate falls between a walk and a trot.  The thing about a "cat-walk" is that it is quiet.  It doesn't produce the loud "clop, clop" of a trot or the loud pounding hoof beats of a gallop.  It is about as loud as a man jogging.

       Lydia headed into the open, toward the young man at the back of the Cimbri, using the quiet "cat-walk" with her horse.  Although the "cat-walk" was a slow gate, slower than a horse trotting, she used the "cat-walk" because it didn't make much noise.  She guided the horse toward the sections of grass in the field which would be quiet to run across and she tried to avoid dry, gravel covered spots.

       She wondered how close she could sneak up behind the young man, as her horse crossed the open, exposed space behind the Cimbri warriors.  She was out in the open as she snuck up on the Cimbri, and had no idea how close she could get to them before they noticed her sneaking up behind them.  She slipped out an arrow and knocked it, and leaned down low on the horse, as if lowered visibility made a difference in when one of the men would finally hear her coming up behind them.  She hoped the young man was bored and daydreaming, and she thought one of the older warriors would have the self-discipline to remain vigilant.  She expected one of the older warriors to be the one who heard her sneaking up from the back.

       She couldn't believe how close she was getting as she rode out in the open behind them.  She was simply riding across the field behind them where anyone could see her riding out in the open.  Her only advantage was the quietness of her horse, and the inattention of the men in front of her.  She closed the distance behind the men in plain sight of anyone looking at the scene.  An observer would have seen a group of men herding a flock of sheep in an open area, with a single rider in plain sight coming up behind them.

       The young man's shoulders were slumped over and he was looking down at the ground.  About 300 yards. or 274 meters from them, the young man jerked upright in surprise and looked over his shoulder to see her.

       "Hhaaaaaaaa," she screamed, and kicked her horse into a gallop at the Cimbri.  She sat upright on her horse, and drew her bow, aiming at the young man.  He was shocked, frozen, too surprised to move.  The men in front wheeled their horses, and kicked them back toward Lydia.  Hearing the high pitched scream, and the feminine timber of her voice, one of the men shouted in surprise, "It's a damn woman!"  "Kill the bitch,"  another one yelled.

       Lydia was charging at the Cimbri and the five older men were charging back at her.  When she halved the distance to the young man, she fired.  "Damn,"  she cried, the arrow missing.  She was so frustrated by her lack of skill.  "Shit,"  she cried again, missing again.  The five older Cimbri from the front had now passed the young man in their charge back at Lydia, and they were closer to Lydia, but Lydia kept firing at the young man because he was frozen in surprise and not moving, with a terrified expression on his face.  "Damn, damn, damn,"  she cried in frustration again.  Now much closer to her target, she had missed the boy, but gotten his horse.

       She jerked up her horse, pivoted and kicked.  The other five Cimbri had pulled up close to Lydia.  They were now just a lance throw behind her.  She looked over her shoulder, terrified one of them might have his lance pulled back and was about to hurl it at her.  The magnificent Arabian leapt forward, opening up the distance between them as Lydia watched the Cimbri over her shoulder.  Seeing the space between them increase as her prize winning mare unleashed her tremendous speed, Lydia gently pulled back on the reins, and whispered to her mare, "Don't discourage them, my Beauty.  Let them think they can catch you."  Her fast Arabian could leave them in the dust if she let the mare run free.  If she let her horse run, the Cimbri would realize they had no chance of catching her and they would give up their pursuit.  She constantly looked over her shoulder, holding her horse back and not opening up too much distance between her and the pursuing Cimbri.  She teased the Cimbri into chasing her, letting them believe they had a chance of catching her.

       Rounding a clump of trees, she raced into a wide expanse of land where the girls were hiding, with the Cimbri pounding behind her.  She scanned the numerous islands of trees that dotted the countryside, looking for the specific group of trees where the girls hid.  Knowing where to look, she saw a clump with Kaylin kneeling down with no bush in front of her.  "Oh, damn,"  she thought, "How stupid,"  discourage by Kaylin poor hiding place.  This ambush wasn't going well.  Seeing Lydia, Kaylin hunkered further down, lowering her visibility.  That was better.  As Lydia approached the place where the girls were hiding, her angle relative to them changed.  From the new angle, a bush now intervened between her and Kaylin.  Lydia, knowing where to look to find the girls, hoped the Cimbri were watching her and not their surroundings, where they might have seen Kaylin.

       Lydia opened more distance between her and the Cimbri, so she would have time to rein in her horse, turn, and then charge back into the Cimbri.  As she raced past the girls, she saw the girls rise up from their hiding position, and assume their fighting stances.

       Arrows zipped around the Cimbri.

       "Heeeii," "Aahaaee," and "Haaaah,"  split the air as the girls screamed, lead by Annunka.  Annunka was screaming, crying with fear as tears streamed down her face, and firing arrows as fast as she could, all at the same time.

       "Uugghaa," and "Neiighh,"  cried a Cimbri man and Cimbri horse, both hit by arrows.

       "Ambush,"  shouted a Cimbri. "Women,"  called another in astonishment. "KILL 'EM ALL,'" barked another in mean spirited indignation and anger.

       "Aiiieee,"  a stab of fear raced through Lydia's body when she saw the Cimbri stop, and then turn to charge the girls.  She jerked her horse around, and desperately, frantically, kicked the horse back toward the Cimbri.  "No!  No!  No,"  fear and desperation arched through her body, the emotion so strong it hurt and took her breathe away.

       SHE COULDN'T LET THEM GET TO THE GIRLS!

       Three of the Cimbri were charging the girls on their horses with lances and shields.  One was already hit with an arrow, and another had his horse shot out from underneath him.  It was three Cimbri against twelve girls, but the Cimbri apparently thought that three grown men could handle twelve young girls.  Or the men were just brave.  Or they were just damn stupid.

       In the center on the front line were Janae and Thalia with their lances, as protection against a cavalry charge.  Janae looked over her shoulder to make sure she was standing in front of Annunka, who had a bow.  In spite of Janae's small size, Janae called back to Annunka, "I got you, Anni!"  Big, strong Trivi and Itatia were on the ends.  They already knew they stood in front of Dimita and Calista.  They had been referencing the position of girls with bows out of the corner of their eyes.  On the sides, both Kaylin and Alisa took a step forward, so they were just a little in advance of the four girls with bows.  A step would take Kaylin and Alisa back to protect the girl's side.  Six girls with lances and shields now stood in front of the four with bows.

       The girls with lances all raised their lances up, and then drove the lances back and down, driving the lance butts into the ground   Then they hugged the lances to their sides with their right arms whiles they raised their shields in front of them with their left arms.  They held their shields against their shoulders, so they could absorb the force of a lance strike with their whole torsos and legs, and not just the strength of their arms.  Then they braced themselves for the impact of the charging Cimbri, with their lances bristling in front of them, but anchored in the ground with their butts buried in the dirt.

       Krista and Paulina, who had been covering the back, shifted their positions.  They spread themselves out, and stepped up to stand behind the shoulders of the girls with the bows.  They readied their lances and shields, to protect the girls in front of them, if the momentum of the charging horses carried the Cimbri through the first line of girls.

       The girls with the bows were firing as fast as they could.  Dimita was methodically doing as she had been trained.  She was thinking, "Quiver.  Knoch.  Draw.  Sight.  Exhale.  Release."  Then over again, "Quiver.  Knoch.  Draw.  Sight...."  Annunka was a caldron of roiling emotions, crying, screaming, firing, all flooding out of her at the same time.  Annunka had been the one who got the first Cimbri man as they chased after Lydia, and her screams alternated between screams of elation and screams of fear when her arrows missed her next target.  All in all, she was having a schizophrenic time.

       Julia could be practical, like Dimita.  She had sighted on the lead Cimbri because he would be the first to reach them, and he should be eliminated first.  He had deflected two of her arrows with his shield.  She made a shrewd tactical guess and though the next place to try would be his right thigh, the hardest place for him to cover with his shield.  Mentally, she had marked out a location in the field in front of her.  If he reached that point, she was going to change from targeting the man to targeting his horse, so he couldn't charge into them mounted.

       Calista was as fearless as Trivi and Itatia.  She was confident, but nervous at the same time because of the unpredictability of the situation.  She was burning off her nervousness with a nervous, broken laugh.  She didn't mean the laugh.  It was just something she did because of her nervousness.  She was personally convinced these men stood no chance in Hades of surviving this charge.  She was waiting for the first arrow to slam into them.  But she was still nervous because this was her first time in combat.

       An arrow slammed into the throat of the lead Cimbri, a lucky shot.  Calista had been aiming for the man's chest, and the arrow went high.  Her other arrows had also gone wide, but to the left, missing the man.  Lucky, this arrow went wide, too.......upwards instead of to the side!  If she was going to miss her target of the man's chest, "up" was the direction to go!  A lucky mistake!

       Julia shifted to the next Cimbri, and realized the man was approaching the distance she had decided to go for the horse.

       "Go !  Go !  Go ! Go,"  Lydia screamed, kicking her horse with an unending flurry of kicks, desperate to get to the Cimbri before they reached the girls.

       "The nice woman," "The woman who gives me apples," wasn't acting like she usually acted.  Things that were out of the ordinary made the mare nervous.  Feeling nervous made the mare want to run.  The frantic kicks, the screams of "The nice woman" made the horse feel, "Something is wrong!"  "Something is wrong!" meant the same thing to the horse as "Something is dangerous!"   The horse felt, "RUN !!  RUN !!"

       The mare leapt forward like Lydia had seldom seen her do before, like an arrow leapt from a bow.  The horse was at a full gallop in what seemed three strides.  The lance was in Lydia's hand.  Lydia didn't remember grabbing the lance, but it was there in her hand.

       Lydia angled toward the first Cimbri.

       He went down holding his throat with an arrow in his neck.

       The second one was leaning forward on his horse and holding his shield forward, in front of him.  That left a wide gap exposed under his armpit, which his armor didn't cover. 

       Lydia wasn't thinking about aiming her lance, and she wasn't thinking about controlling her horse.  She controlled the horse with knee pressure, rather than with the reins.  She was aware of watching the gap in the man's armor under his arm pit and leaning to the left, while thinking, "More left."  Without thinking about the component parts that went into the act, she watched the lance head plunge into the man's armpit.  The man screamed, "Aaahaagg!!"

       With hundreds and hundreds of hours of practice behind her, she felt the familiar feel of the long, thin lance flexing when the lance head came to a stop.  There was the familiar jerk to her arm at the first impact of the lance, then the usual build up of pressure as the thin, very long lance bowed and flexed.  She let go of the lance at the point she would normally begin to roll backwards with the rebounding lance.

       Suddenly, Lydia's horse veered right, to avoid a collision with a Cimbri and his horse.  Lydia had her horse so tightly gripped between her legs she was not in danger of losing her seat, but her torso jerked violently left.  She recovered as her horse ran past the collection of Cimbri.

       "Don't shoot," both Kaylin and Alisa shouted when Lydia first flashed into the Cimbri from the side.  Lydia was charging the second Cimbri with a lance.  Dimita's stomach twisted in fear as she saw her arrow flying toward the place Lydia's horse would soon cross.  Her arrow and Lydia were both flying toward the same spot from two different directions.  From the side, Lydia flashed into Dimita's arrow's flight path.  Lydia's line of travel and the arrow's line of flight intersected.  The arrow zipped across less than an arm's length in front of Lydia, as the arrow and Lydia crossed paths.  It was the only time during the fight that Dimita lost her composure.  "Oh,  Juno,"  Dimita exclaimed, letting her arm swing down to her side.  She just stood there, breathing hard and not firing, her body racked by fear that she had almost shot Lydia by accident.

       The remaining mounted Cimbri snapped his head to his left when he heard his neighbor scream.  In fights, sometimes things appear to be happening slower than they really are, because of the adrenalin pumping through the blood.  The Cimbri saw the man who lived next to his farm start to fall off his horse, toward him.   At the same time, as if it was frozen in time, he saw a long, thin lance that was bent in an arch sticking into his neighbor.  All in the same image, he saw a red clad rider to the left holding the lance.

       He realized four things simultaneously:

               "I'm the only one left."

               "This is no good."

               "I'm going to get killed."

               "Get out of here."

       Simultaneously with the last thought, he jerked his horse up, jerked the reins around, and started kicking his horse back the way he came.

       A fourth Cimbri had his horse shot out from underneath him at the start of the ambush.  He had gotten his sword and shield and ran behind his companions to help them in the fight with the ambushers.  He was shocked and surprised when he saw his leader go down holding his throat.  But when a red rider streaked in from the side to attack his companions, he realized the ambushers were killing everyone.  He turned, and ran for his life.

       When the remaining mounted Cimbri pulled up his horse to turn around to escape, he became a stationary target.  Three arrows rained down on him.  One got his right triceps, one his right thigh, and one plunged into his horse's neck.  Trivi shifted her grip on her lance, ran forward, and threw her lance from a running start.  The lance arched upward, and then gracefully tilted downward.  Compared to fast arrows, the slow hand thrown lance seemed to be traveling in slow motion.  All the girls stopped to watch the slow graceful arch of the lance.  It seemed to move so slowly to the girls who were pumped up with adrenaline from their fight with the Cimbri.  Just a slow gently curved flight.  All the girls were quiet, just watching the lance silently fly through the air.  With a "CLACK," the metal lance head struck the Cimbri's back plate, pierced it, and drove into the Cimbri.  He dropped like a rag doll.

       As soon as Lydia recovered her position on the horse, she looked over her shoulder toward the Cimbri, and saw one remaining, a man running away on foot.  Without thinking about what she was doing, her right knee and lower leg dug into the horse's side and she shifted her weight to the right, and the horse responded by turning right until the pressure from the woman's right leg relented.  Lydia slipped out the second lance she habitually carried, and quickly overtook the running man.  Not trusting the thin lance to have the strength to pierce his metal body armor without breaking, she angled the lance low down into his back, below his back plate.  The lance sliced into his loin a touch higher than the hip, and the lance head emerged from his groin above his right thigh.

       Without a seconds thought about the man after he was neutralized, Lydia turned her horse to race back to the girls.  She pulled up to the nearest, reached out her arm, and commanded, "Lance!"  Kaylin thrust her lance to Lydia's hand.  Lydia grabbed the lance, and turned her horse to race back for the young boy she had left alive when she first attacked the Cimbri.  After the war with Aquitani, Lydia was deathly afraid of blood feuds and counter attacks motivated by the desire for revenge.  She was determined no Cimbri would survive to say the Roman women in the next valley had attacked them and killed the Cimbri men.

       Hunched over on her horse, hair streaming out behind her with a lance held to her side, Lydia galloped back to get the boy.  As Lydia raced away, Janae threw her lance down, and started to walk out toward the Cimbri Lydia had just lanced.  She took out her gladius as she walked.  He was the only Cimbri still alive.  Thalia started to follow her.  From the side Itatia called, "Tali!"  Thalia turned to see Itatia shaking her head, "No."  Thalia stopped, and let Janae walk out to the Cimbri alone.  Itatia knew how much Janae needed revenge for the death of her mother and brother.

       The man was sitting on the ground, propped up on his left arm and holding his wound with his right hand.  The lance had tilted forward until it was leaning against his back.  It forced him to extend his leg out behind him to relieve the pressure of the lance in his hip.  Janae circled around him, and stood before him.  She lean in toward him with her face less than an arm's distance from his face, and with a snarl she screamed, "Haahhaa," at him; and thrust her sword into the base of his throat.  Then she pulled the sword back out, and contemptuously wiped the blood off her sword on his leg.  She walked back to the other girls.  It was the first man Janae ever killed.  There would be a very long line of men after him.

       Lydia galloped back to the place she had attacked the Cimbri and saw the boy's horse.  It was slowly limping north, with her arrow in it's shoulder.  Lydia felt a pang of regret and sympathy for the horse.  She always felt bad for the horses hurt in these fights.  She thought they were innocent, guiltless victims in the battles.  She resolved to come back for the horse, and bring him to Milesus to see if the horse could be saved.

       Her horse was exhausted.  She could tell by how the mare ran.  She patted the horse on the neck and said, "Alright, girl.  We'll only trot from now on."  She looked around and saw no boy.  She hopped off her horse, grabbing her water skin as she did.  She wedged the water skin under her arm, took off her helmet, and squirted the water into her helmet, and let the horse drink the water out of her helmet.  That done, she remounted and headed toward the nearest clump of trees toward the north.

       She searched the wooded areas, heading north, suspecting the boy was trying to escape back to the Cimbri's valley.     

        "Son of a bitch," Lydia thought.  "When I was shooting at him and the kid had to think clearly, he couldn't find his own ass using both hands.  Now when he's safe and no one is firing at him, he turns himself in a wood nymph and disappears into the trees without a trace.  I've got to find that little son of a bitch before he gets back to the Cimbri."  Lydia went to each of the little clumps of trees and bushes which dotted the landscape, looking for the young boy.

                       ........................

       Back at the girls, Thalia was jumping up and down, just turning in a circle, shouting, "WE DID IT!  WE DID IT!"  (Most of the girls were sixteen and seventeen years old, and they acted it.)  "Oh," Thalia exclaimed.  She ran out into the field to the nearest Cimbri.  There, she took his helmet off, and exchanged it for her helmet.  It fit her as a well as a big bucket.  She ran back to the other girls, holding her oversized trophy on her head to keep it from bouncing off as she ran.

       Dimita's calm demeanor had disappeared.  She was holding Annunka by the shoulders, hopping up and down, and screaming, "Anni got one!  Anni got one!"  With a big smile, Dimita looked at her best friend, and exclaimed, "You're a heroine, Anni, a REAL HEROINE!  JUST LIKE YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO BE!"

       Instead of being elated by her victory, Annunka looked like she had shrunk in size.  She looked diminutive, with fear written across her face and panting, her breathing fast and rapid.  Her face was streaked with tear stains.  The fear of the fight had made her cry.  Now, she looked like she was going to start crying all over again.  Dimita threw her arms around her friend, and hugged her.  Then Dimita suddenly pulled back and looked down.  "Anni, you pissed on yourself," Dimita laughed.  In spite of Annunka's wet tunic, Dimita hugged her friend again.  (For Annunka's entire career, she was terrified every time she fought, and she had a terrible case of "nerves" for weeks after each fight.  It never stopped her from fighting, though.  She fought in every fight that came up.    But she always fought terrified!  And for weeks after the fight, she was haunted by the fear that the next time she fought she would be killed.  There is another way to express Annunka’s reaction to battles: she had the reactions of a healthy person to almost being killed!  It scared the hell out of her!  Or, in her case, it scared the piss out of her.)

       While all the other girls were screaming and running around, Kaylin turned to Trivi, and asked, "Where the Hades did you learn to throw a lance like that?"   Trivi just shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know!  That was twice what I can throw at practice.  I just hauled off and threw, and the thing just flew, and it just kept on flying and flying.  I couldn't believe it.  I just stood there watching it, thinking, 'Gods, look at that thing go!'  Kay, I don't think I could do it again in a hundred years."  Kaylin just shook her head in amazement, "Trav that was the best lance throw I've seen in all my life."  Itatia had walked up to them, and grabbed Trivi by the shoulders.  With a big smile, she tilted her hear toward her friend, and playfully shook her head side to side; and with exaggeration, went, "Ha, Ha, Ha," in a gesture meant to convey, "That a girl!"  Thalia ran up to them, laughing away and smiling, with the oversized helmet bouncing on her head and almost covering her eyes, forcing Thalia to tilt her head backwards to be able to see out from underneath the helmet.  She grabbed Kaylin by the shoulders, and began to spin around in a circle, pulling Kaylin along with her while she sung out time after time, "WE DID IT! WE DID IT!"

       Paulina was standing behind Calista, and she put her hand on Calista's shoulder.  "You got one, Cali," Paulina said with a smile.  When Paulina touched her shoulder, Calista lolled her head backwards and tilted to the side to smile at Paulina.  With her head held playfully askance and looking backwards over her shoulder at Paulina, she said, "It was a 'sure shot.'  We had to get them!  Every time Acetur puts targets out at that range, we all nail the targets.  Every one of us nails the targets at that range.  And they kept getting closer and closer!  How could we miss!"  She went on, "Did you see that guy spitting out blood!  That will teach the fucks to come on our land and try to steal from us!"   Paulina smiled back at Calista, "You're a tough ass warrior, Cali.  You're going to terrify all the warriors around our valley, and make them too afraid to set a foot on our land."  Calista had turned as she was talking to Paulina.  She wrapped her arm around Paulina's waist and said to Paulina with exaggerated bravado, "Us girls are going to teach those fucks not to mess with us!"

       While the other girls celebrated, Krista stood silent and unmoving for a few minutes, staring at the Cimbri bodies lying in the field in front of her.

       Julia and Alisa had been caught up in the personal drama with Janae.  Their intuition and insight made them understand the personal tragedy that drove Janae.  Both women walked out to meet Janae as she walked back from the Cimbri.  Instead of the laughter the other girls shared, Julia and Alisa went to each side of Janae and silently wrapped their arms around her, and quietly walked back to the other girls with Janae between them.  Trivi and Itatia broke off from Kaylin and Thalia.  Thalia was still holding Kaylin by the shoulders and still jumping up and down screaming.  Thalia was the most exuberant of all the girls, just a fountain of excitement and laughter.  On the other hand Trivi and Itatia were somber as they walked out silently to meet Janae, Julia and Alisa.  When they came up to Janae, they exchanged a look with her that let Janae know her friends were with her.  Janae hugged Itatia and started to cry.  The other three girls just stood silently, and let Janae cry her sorrow out.

       After a while, Krista looked over her shoulder, and then said to Kaylin, "You know, Lydia has been gone a long time."  Kaylin seriously looked over her shoulder in the direction Lydia had disappeared, and answered, "You're right."  Kaylin was quiet a few moments, thinking, then she turned to the other girls, "I'm sure Lydia wants us to wait here, and that she'll be mad if we follow her.  But I'd rather have her mad at me for disobeying an order than find out she's been hurt and is lying out in the fields someplace.  I think we should go look for her."

       Alisa spoke up from the side, "We'll give her a little more time.  Kay, Pauli, Juli and Cali get the horses.  Tat and Trav, check those men and make sure they're all dead.  Everybody else, see if you can find some arrows with arrowheads that aren't bent all the fuck up.  We may need all the arrows we can lay our hands if we run into more Cimbri."

       When everyone returned from their tasks, Dimita tossed each Calista and Annunka a blood smeared arrow.  "There's a keepsake from your first kills," she said to each girl.  Everyone watered their horses with their helmets and water skins, and then headed off looking for Lydia.  Thalia had her own helmet on her head, and the Cimbri helmet tied to her saddle.

       When they finally got back to their barracks, Thalia got a stool and tied the helmet above their barracks' door, for all to see.  Annunka and Calista each gave her their arrow trophies to stick in the helmet, so the arrows stuck up from out of the helmet.  A third arrow was added to represent Trivi's kill with a lance.

                       ..........................

       The girls trotted north in the same formation they had used before, looking for Lydia.  They saw nothing, passing some sheep and an injured horse along the way.  Then, way off to the side, Krista thought she saw a flash of red.  They headed in that direction, and finally came up to Lydia rooting around among a group of trees.

       Without preliminaries, Lydia ordered them, "There's a Cimbri boy trying to get back to his valley.  I want him dead before he gets back to his people.  Split up into three groups of four.  Tat, Trav split up so two groups have a strong lancer with them.  If we lose sight of each other, everyone make sure they're back to Carra's stronghold by dark.  If you see any enemy warriors besides the boy, don't fight them.  Head back to Carra's right away.  I don't want anyone taking any chances."

       She finished up, "Split up.  Spread out.  Check out any place a boy might hide, and work north.  Go."  Before they took off, Alisa quickly pointed to four girls in secession, trying to split the groups up with a good lancer, good bowman and good swordsman with each group.  Kaylin looked at the three groups.  She and Alisa were heading two of the groups.  Kaylin faced the third group, and said to clear headed, practical Julia, "Juli, keep your eye on the sun and get your group back to Carra before it gets dark out.  Remember, if you see any enemy, don't take any chances but get back to the stronghold."  The three groups of girls split up and headed in different directions to find the Cimbri boy.  Lydia continued to search on her own.

       They never did find him.  After his horse was shot, the boy grabbed his sword and shield and ran after his friends to help them, thinking they were trying to catch a single woman.  Coming around a group of trees, he was in time to see all his friends killed by a gang of ambushers.  At the end of the fight, one of the ambushers left the group and galloped back towards him.  He hid in the trees as the red clad woman rode past him.  She came to a stop back at his horse, and then she rode off toward a clump of trees to the north of him.  He stayed to the south in order to circle around her, heading east for a long time before he turned back to the north again.

       Lydia had simply ridden past him, and then she started to search for him toward the north.  He stayed in place behind her and the other searchers who later joined her before he, too, finally turned north after darkness fell.  He returned home to his people during the night with the story of the massacre in the Roman valley.

                               Chapter 6

                               Score Card

       Two hours later.

       The men were sitting on their horses, relaxed and talking, in the center of the Cimbri bodies.  They had gone to Lucius's stronghold after they finished at Titus's, having changed horses at different strongholds a total of three times.  When they saw the Cimbri bodies, they realized the girls were safe and not in danger.

       Their conversation was relaxed, instead of what would be expected of men whose daughters were danger.  They talked as if they were discussing a new sergeant who they just hired.  Maybe they were relaxed about the danger to their daughters because their lives were so dangerous that they couldn't get excited about anything that wasn't a real, imminent threat.  Vague possibilities that could be averted in the future didn't deserve the concern of something that was actually -really- happening.  Their attitude was, "I'll get excited when something is actually happening this very moment."

       Cetus looked at the line of bodies that led from the field toward the grove of trees, and he noted the trampled grasses around the bushes where the girls had been hiding.  "An ambush using arrows was the safest way to use the girls.  It would have been foolish for them to use lances or swords and shields.  Lydi picked the best tactic for using the girls."

       Talig: "Those are Lydi's lances in those men.  Only she and Sali use long, light lances like that.  She must have set the girls up and then led the Cimbri back here to the ambush, and then joined the fight to get two of them."

       Marcus: "There're a few loads of horse shit behind the trees.  They must have tied the horses out of sight behind the trees, and waited for the Cimbri to come to them."

       Titus: "At least it was all thought out and planned, and not some rash, impulsive act of anger."

       Talig answered Titus: "Yeah, Lydi can lose her temper, sometimes, and do things without thinking.  This was thought out and planned.  She wasn't reckless with the girls."

       Marcus: "But we can't let her do this again with the girls."  All the men expressed agreement, in spite of their decision that the girls had been used safely and wisely.  Lydia use of good tactical judgment only meant the men weren't angry with her.  It didn't mean they approved of what she did.

       Lucius amplified what Marcus said, "Carra said there were six raiders, and Lydi based her decision on that.  Lydia should have known better.  Carra may have only seen part of the raiding parting, or the raiding party may have split up into several small groups.  Lydia could have lead the girls into a large party of Cimbri.  She should have known that.  The girls couldn't have fought their way out of a large group of Cimbri if the raiding party was larger than Carra said."  All the men nodded agreement.  They all had enough battle experience to know the first reports about the enemy were usually wrong, and that fights had an annoying habiting of turning out worse than planned.

       Rufus: "I don't want those girls out anyplace dangerous until they can handle trouble better.  At the least, I want them good with a bow on a horse, so they can run and shoot at the enemy as they're running.  That way, they can run back to a stronghold if they're pursued by too many raiders.  And I want them all on better horses.  Their horses are only mediocre."

       Talig: "Sali and Lydi fell in love with those Arabian horses they got from the Circus Maximus.  She can't afford to buy more teams of prize winning race horses, but she told me she has a friend stationed in Africa with his Legion, one of her Patrician friends.  She sent a letter to him.  They're passing the letter along, one Patrician to another.  She asked him to buy cavalry horses from the same breed as her race horses."

       Atus: "I thought she was broke."

       Talig: "Her Tuscany estate gets paid four times a year for the food it sells to the Legions.  Every three months she's got more revenue coming in."

       Atus: "Well, that's nice to know.  I thought we'd all be starving this winter.  I was planning on spending the winter hunting deer so we had something to eat."  Atus went on, "They can do that?  Send horses from Africa over here?"

       Cetus: "Sure.  How do you think they get elephants for the Circus Maximus?  Did you think they had the elephants swim across the sea?  They stick them on boats, like that Phoenician galley we were on.  I was with two Legions, and they loaded us all onto galleys, infantry, cavalry, and us auxiliaries, all of us with the horses, and they sent us off to fight, once in Africa and the other time in Spain."

       Atus: "That's something.  But Cetus, I'll believe it when I see the horses."  Cetus laughed, and answered, "Atus, I won't believe it either until I see the horses."  Atus laughed back.

       Marcus: "Does anybody know how the girls are doing with the bow?  I lose track of how they're progressing since they moved over to the Salidia's place."  All the men just shook their head negatively.

       Marcus again.  "I'm sorry we let the girls even start this.  I wish we hadn't let them train as archers to begin with.  Being archers in a Keep may have been safe, but this sword training is going too far."

       Talig: "Marc, that's an egg that's been cracked.  You ain't getting that egg back inside its shell now.  Not with Sali and Lydi riding around like Amazons for all the girls to see, and Clodius hiring women as Slave Guards and Sentries.  Every where you look there's a new hire woman walking around with a gladius or parading around with a bow on the stronghold walls.  You ain't getting the young girls back in a villa where the only thing they have to do is worry over is whether the slaves are washing the laundry alright."

       Atus: "Marc, I got three daughters.  One wants to help me run my stronghold.  But when Jani saw her brother get hit with an arrow, and then Grenda and Bruno get hit, she picked up a shield and she's hasn't put it down yet.  Now I got my littlest one asking me for a red tunic like Lydi wears."

       Titus: "I don't like it, either, Marc.  But they wouldn't be good daughters if they didn't want to help when their families were in trouble."  Titus got real serious, and in a very serious manner asked Marcus, "What did you expect your daughter to do when she saw her brother get killed?"

       Lucius: "He's right.  Tat and Trav have been tough kids since they were little.  They've been around Legions and Legionnaires their whole lives.  They played around my gladius and scuntum from before they could walk.  There's no surprise that when we were attacked, the first thing those two did was reach for a sword and shield."

       Lucius was a little surprised at his friend, and with genuine surprise in his voice asked, "Marc, what did you expect Tat and Trav to do?"  Lucius was thinking of how combative his daughter and Marcus's daughter could be when something threatened either of them.  Lucius knew how tough the two girls were, and that they didn't take crap from anybody.

       Lucius again, finishing up what he felt: "As much as I didn't like what Tat told her mother, I can't imagine her doing anything else when somebody she knows is in trouble."

       Talig: "Some of the girls are going to be like Corrie (Atus's oldest daughter), like most women.  But some of them have grown up with soldiers and swords and shields, and when there's trouble, they reach for the swords and shields.  The best we can do for them is make sure they're well protected for anything that happens.  It's just not going to work if you order the girls to stay in the strongholds, and then something happens.  They're just going to pick up bows and rush out to help, just like they did when Baynor said he didn't have enough men to protect the families from the Aquitani.  Remember, the day after Baynor said he didn't have enough men, Kaylin and Alisa had a list of girls that wanted to help out as sentries.  The moment one of the families are put in danger, one girl or another is going to want to protect her brother or sister or mother."

       Marcus: "Yeah.  I know.  Trav would just sneak out of my villa to be with the other girls if I ordered her to stay with her mother.  And if Tat went, Trav would kill to stay at Tat's side.  But I don't have to like it."

       Atus: "Join the club, Marc.  We all got daughters that drive us crazy and don't do what we tell them.  We just got to keep them as safe as we can.  Look on the bright side.  Talig here has promised to turn them all into Little Lions like Lydia, with his speed training.  If Tal can teach them his speed training, they'll be safe.  They'll be like Lydi."

       Marcus: "Tal, you're going to talk to Lydi, right?  I don't want her taking the girls out again until they have better horses, and Acetur tells me they can hit someone chasing them.  I want to know that they can get back to a stronghold if they run into too many raiders."

       Presphene addressed Talig: "Yeah, talk to Lydi.  I don't want my daughter out unless she's only used as an archer, riding a fast enough horse to get her back to a stronghold if there's a problem.  I do most of the coaching the girls on the sword and shield, and I know what they can do.  They're not ready to do anything dangerous.  I don't want my daughter using a sword and shield unless you teach them the speed training so they can move fast like Sali and Lydi.  The girls are becoming good with the sword and shield, but they're still just girls.  If you ram them hard with a shield, you can knock them to the ground and get them while they're on the ground.  Sali and Lydi are so fast, they can dodge me and get me from the back when I try to ram them."

       Presphene summed up what he thought, "I'll only let Pauli go out as a mounted archer on a good horse, where she can run like Mercury if there's a problem.  Until that happens, I don't want Lydi doing this again with the girls.  If you teach the girls the speed training, then I'll think about letting Pauli do more.  You talk to Lydi, Tal."

       Talig: "Yeah.  It was too soon for Lydi to bring the girls out.  But they did well, and I'm going to tell them that.  They killed these men, and that's something.  Now, let's go find the girls.  I'm tired.  I want to get back to my stronghold before it gets dark out."

       Marcus: "Where the shit are they?"

       Rufus: "Carra said there were six raiders.  The girls are probably out chasing down the ass of the last one.  Let's try the north.  The Cimbri live over that way.  The last guy is probably trying to get home with his ass in one piece."

       Presphene: "We should send some Slave Guards out here to pick up these guys' armor and their horses.  That roan and that bay over there look like good horses."

       Titus: "Pres, you're the cheapest guy I know.  You want to check these guys to see if they have any food on them?"

       Presphene: "Ti, you act like you're a rich man already.  Not one of us has sold a bucket of grain from our big, new estates!"

       Atus: "No, Pres.  You're cheap.  You've stripped every fuckin' raider, and his horse, that we've caught so far.  I swear to Wotan you'd take their sandals to give to your slaves if they were in decent shape."

       "You guys make fun, but who do you come to when you get a new Slave Guard and need a horse for him?  Didn't you ask me if I had five spare horses last week," Presphene asked Atus.  Atus laughed.  Presphene had caught him.  Atus had asked Presphene for some spare horses last week.  Presphene did have more horses and weapons than the others, because he grabbed any horse or armor they got their hands on.

       Cetus defended Presphene, "Don't listen to them, Pres.  You got it right.  Sali use to pay me and I felt like a rich man.  Now, Sali gives me some money, and the only thing I can think of is that I have a hundred things to buy, and the money will only pay for five of them.  I've never been so broke until Sali made me a rich estate owner."

       Atus leaned over and slapped Presphene on the back, "Come on, my practical friend, let's go find the girls and go home."

                                       Chapter 7

                               Nobody Expected This!

       Two days later, they had their usual meeting.  Lydia knew the men were angry with her.  When she ran into Presphene, he didn't try to joke around with her, but just acknowledged her and said, "Lydia," with a serious expression.  Then he walked away without saying anything else.  Atus smiled at her, but no hug from the usually affectionate man.  And Talig was an open book; he just looked at her without saying anything, with an unmistakable annoyed expression.

       Talig started the meeting, which he seldom did.  And the first thing he said was, "Lydi, you shouldn't have taken the young girls looking for the Cimbri.  You should have known better.  You only had Carra's word that there were only six raiders.  You had no idea what you would find when you started to ride around."

       Before Lydia could answer, Marcus jumped into the conversation the moment Talig stopped speaking, "Lydi, there could have been several Cimbri bands raiding the estate.  For all you knew, there could have been Remi or Nervii raiders in the same area.  You didn't know what you were going to run into once you were in the field, outside of what Carra saw from her stronghold, and that's a stupid thing to base your decision on."

       Joining the chorus, Presphene cut to the bottom line position for all the men, "I don't want the girls doing anything until they are better with the bow, until they're good as mounted archers.  I want to know that the girls can get to a stronghold if they see something dangerous, on horses that can beat anything the raiders have."

       Talig wanted to be even handed.  He thought Lydia assessed the situation poorly, basing her decision on unreliable information.  But he also thought she used good tactical judgment in deploying the girls.  And he thought the young girls deserved praise for the job they did.  In Talig's eyes, good was good, and that was it.  There was no use disavowing something which was true just because you didn't like it.  He believed that the truth would come out sooner and later, and that it was ultimately determinative.  The girls had done well, and there was no (good) justifiable reason to take that away from them.

       "Lydi, you shouldn't have taken the girls out unless you could get them back to a stronghold safe if the situation was too tough for them.  They need to be able to shoot their bows from horseback if they're pursued, and they need good horses," Talig said; but then he turned to face Kaylin, Alisa and their girls and added,  "But using them as archers for an ambush was the right way to use them."  Talig respected courage.  If he saw a puppy act bravely, or a young boy behave with courage, or a woman... or anyone ..., he respected that.  He couldn't help it but had to smile when he said, "You girls did well.  You acted with courage, and got the job done.  You did well and have reason to be proud of yourselves."  Talig remained looking at the girls a few moments with a smile on his face.  All the girls beamed an ear to ear grin at the praise from Talig.

       Talig, Titus, Atus, and Lucius all believed that some of the girls had personalities that couldn't be reined in if they saw their families in danger, and deep within their hearts, they respected that and believed it was the proper way for a person to react if someone they loved was in danger.  Man, woman....or young girl....these men believed courage was the right way to react to danger.  Talig and the others felt some of the girls were going to act like Lydia acted, as a fighter, when they saw their families in danger.  Some of the mothers, like Pacina, also believed that.  But, naturally, others were like parents anywhere, reluctant to see their daughter put in any kind of jeopardy.

       When Lydia was out in the field hunting down the Cimbri she was consumed with the task, and thought about nothing else.  But once she got back to Lucius stronghold and saw all the girls had returned safely, she had time to think of what the young girls had done.  She was proud of them!  They had obeyed her orders, and stood firm against the charging Cimbri.  Every one of them had followed their orders.  And every one of them had acted with courage.  And none of them had gotten frazzled under the threat of being attacked, and forgotten her training.  They had all done as they were trained to do when the Cimbri charged them.

       When Lydia went to the meeting, she intended to advocate using the girls as archers against the raiders in the future, but she hadn't anticipated the men's criticism of her actions.  Their criticism caught her by surprise.  What they said was true, and she had overlooked the possibility of running into more than six raiders.  She made a mistake in assuming there was only one group of raiders in the area, and she realized her mistake.  Feeling contrite, and with her self confidence wounded by her error, she didn't have the courage to introduce the new idea of using the girls as archers in the future.

       But she still had a burning desire to use the girls.  It was driven by her desire to help Salidia and the men with the raiders.  That was a desire which wasn't going to go away.  Driven by the desire to help the men, Lydia still wanted to know when she could use the girls.

       "Mistress, will we be getting better horses," Lydia asked Salidia.  Lydia felt timid about questioning Salidia about her finances.  She felt it was rude, and not her place to question her Mistress, but Salidia realized the question was prompted by concern for the girl's safety.  Salidia, too, felt her people deserved the truth about the dangers they would be facing in the future.  Decisions would be made that could cost people their lives.  She decided to be forthcoming about her finances and the situation they were in, so people could make good decisions.

       "We should be getting ninety Arabians by the end of summer, thirty cavalry horses, and sixty brood mares.  My friend, Marcelus, knows I want to set up our own breeding program for Arabians, and he's picking mares with good confirmation and stamina that should drop good foals for us to use.  He's sending enough stallions for us to pick and choose the best for breeding, once we see what the horses are like in action.  Thirty cavalry horse will give us two for each man, so the horses get a day of rest between uses.  The girls (she meant the senior girls) can have one apiece.  I'll use one for Caigan and one for Flavius so he has a good horse to send here if he is attacked.  (Flavius was the House Guard who was now in charge of the defenses at the isolated Old Centurion's estate).

       That statement affected the mood of everyone in the room.  It meant the men now had a better way to stop the raiders.  With the tremendous endurance that Arabian's possessed, the men would be able to ride to a stronghold and immediately begin searching for the raiders without the necessity of changing to fresh mounts first.  It meant the men would be able to catch a lot more of the thieves.  Solving that one big problem was a big relief for everybody, and it distracted them from dealing with the problem of the girls and how to use them.  Talig was distracted like everyone else, and he felt it was alright to end the meeting, forgetting the issue about using the girls in the future.  After all, the topic that was important to him and the other men had been covered.  He turned to the other men, "Does anyone else have something they want to say?"  He was just thinking about the men's objections to what Lydia had done with the young, inexperienced girls.  He wasn't thinking of how to use the girls in the future.

       Instead of the men answering, a lone figure rose in the corner, from among the young girls.  It was Thalia, the adventure loving, adrenaline junkie who always wanted to do fun things that were exciting.  It surprised everyone, including the other girls.  Thalia had taken on a role that was unusual for her.  Usually she was only interested in finding things that were fun to do.  She turned to face the men and Salidia.  When she spoke, she directed her comments to her father, Rufus.

       Thalia: "You need to use us now.  You aren't getting all the raiders.  The new Arabians will only get here at the end of summer.  If we get driven out of this valley, where are we going to go?  You already told Mommy that you'd rather go back to the Legions than go back to the family farm and work for uncle Lucan.  And how are we going to get back to Italy?  Claudius can't travel yet.  (Claudius, her brother, was wounded in the Aquitani attack.)  It hurts him to just move about in bed.  If nobody has noticed it, Salidia hasn't bought any horses or slaves or iron for the blacksmith in a month.  If Salidia is running out of money, what are we going to feed Cora (her younger sister) this winter?  The raiders are stripping us of cattle and sheep."

       "You don't want us to fight, but you can't stop the raiders.  You're just eight men trying to protect the whole valley.  You can't do it.  You need us if you're going to stop the theft.  If we don't stop the thieves, we won't be able to keep this valley."  Thalia stopped talking and just faced the room.  From her seat, Itatia said, "Tali is right.  The thieves have to be stopped while we still have food for the winter."

       The room went silent, for a dozen reasons.  From his seat, looking defeated and embarrassed, her father, Rufus said, "Tali, sit down."  She did.  In the quiet room, Itatia repeated, "Tali is right!  You have to use us now, or you won't be able to stop them." more emphatic this time and louder.

       Thalia had brought up so many issues, it assailed people on multiple levels.  They didn't know where to begin.  Most of the people present were parents, and although the girls were teenagers, the parents still thought of them as children.  Here was the next generation demanding a voice in how the valley was governed.  The shift in paradigm from thinking of the girls as children to considering them as worthy of a say in governance was mind numbing for the parents.  It meant the parents had to treat them as young adults, something no one had even considered before.  To them, it was a child taking the role of an adult.

       They were in a culture that demanded respect for elders.  Thalia, a youngster, had just pointed out the adults couldn't do their jobs.  Everyone knew it, but there was no point in bringing it up.  It was eight men trying to cover a valley that was twenty leagues wide and forty leagues long.  It was just too big a place for eight men to cover.  And the men were valiant, doing everything they could.  Every time they rode out, they were going into battle.  Every day or two the eight men charged out of Salidia's front gate to fight an unknown number of raiders.  It's just an emotionally exhausting thing to do.  It takes time for men's nerves to calm down after life and death fights.  More than twenty four, forty eight hours.  Fighting every day or two just grinds men down.  It is too much.  It takes something from them.  Yet every day or two Salidia's men rode out to fight for the valley.  What the men were doing was valiant.  The men were doing everything that could be asked of them.  But it was just too big a job for eight men.  But there was no use in telling the men they weren't getting the job done.  Thalia had shoved everyone's face into the fact that the men couldn't stop the raiders.  ......While there was nothing to do to make the situation better.  Pointless.  Pointless to make the men feel bad about something they couldn't help.

       Salidia was their Liege Lord.  Everyone owed fealty to her.  Most present were obligated to give their lives for her, if worse came to worse.  No one had a right to criticize her.  What was Thalia doing?  Following Salidia around making a list of what she was doing wrong?  Thalia had violated the respect owed Salidia.

       Taira sat on the side of the room.  The Romans were overwhelmed by what the young girl had just done.  The young girl made them face truths that were painful to admit.  The Romans would need some time to digest what the youth said.  Taira had witnessed similar discussions in other places at other times, when other people had made their companions face losing situations.  Taira had lived through several sieges in Egypt, and been part of the meetings held during the battles.  She had seen generals refuse to admit defeat for the sake of their pride and refuse to abandon positions that couldn't be defended.  She spoke up, "I think it's time we call the meeting to a close.  Salidia, I think we should have a private meeting with the men tomorrow."  Taira held her gaze on Salidia.  Salidia looked at her, and nodded acquiescence.  Taira looked at the men.  They all returned her look with sullen expressions.  Silently, without words, when she looked in each man's eyes, she knew they agreed to a meeting tomorrow.

       It was a tough meeting for the Romans.  Taira thought the young girl had just done them a favor, making them face realities they didn't want to admit.  Without actually being aware of the change in her thinking, Taira now thought of Thalia, and the other young girls, as young women.  Capable, useful young women.

       All the girls gathered around Thalia's chair at the end of the meeting.  Kaylin said to her, "You did right, Tali.  We're all behind you."  Thalia said to the others, "I had to do it.  If they don't use us, we're going to lose the valley."

       Of all the girls in the room, Thalia was the most light hearted, and least serious of any of the girls.  It was hard to imagine her having a serious thought in head.  It's surprising when you see someone you think is only frivolous turn serious.  Thalia had done something none of the other girls had the courage to do, even Lydia.  And she was the least likely candidate to take on that role.

                       .............................

       The next day Salidia met with her men.  Lydia wasn't included, but not because of any prejudice or anger against her.  The ex-Legionnaires and mercenaries among her men had all been officers in the Legions or Auxiliaries, and their experience made them useful in assessing tactical and strategic situations.  Lydia had none of this knowledge, and she would have been superfluous.  A supernumerary.  Taira was presence.  Although she had no military experience to contribute to tactical issues, she was, perhaps, the best strategist among them.  And she had attended other meeting like this in Egypt.  She understood what had to happen, even if the Romans did not.

       Salidia looked at her men, and they all looked lost.  Not because they lacked the courage to face hard facts.  When the Aquitani had attacked them, Talig set up the young men and boys to defend the families after he and the other men were killed in the fighting.  They could face hard facts.  It was her.  Salidia was their Liege Lord, and they all owed her respect.  None knew how to question her about their situation.  They didn't know how to deal with Salidia!  They didn't know how to question her respectfully, or challenge anything she proposed, or make proposals that might contradict her.

       Taira saw the nervous squirming of the men.  Men always looked like nervous little boys when they were ashamed or nervous about bringing up a topic.  Taira broke the ice for them, and got the ball rolling.

       "Sali, when I first got here, there were only a few reports of seeing a raiding party around or somebody noticing that a flock of sheep or herd of cattle were missing.  By the second and third month while we were still fighting the Aquitani, it was an every day or two that people reported a raiding party or missing animals.  Now, sometimes we even see two raiding parties in one day.  I think the tribes around us have realized we only have eight men to cover the whole valley, and that they can come in here and ride off with whatever they find without much chance of being stopped.  Talig and his men have nailed every group of raiders they found, many times when they were outnumbered.  I have nothing but praise for what they do.  But sometimes by the time they get to the estates, the raiders have already disappeared.  It's good to know the men will be getting Arabians to ride.  That means they don't have to waste so much time stopping at strongholds to change to fresh horses.  They should be able to catch more raiders.  But it's still one squad of men, and they can't cover two different raiding parties at the same time.  I think we have a real problem with the raiders, and I think the problem is only going to get worse."

       "Now, I don't understand all the military stuff.  Why can't you use the men you call the Dragoons to stop the raiders?  That's fifty or sixty men you could use," Taira finished.

       Talig: "Those are the few good Legionnaires we get who come with recommendations from their Centurions.  They've served their levy when they come to us.  The Dragoons have made their officers proud of them."

       "The Dragoons are already trained as infantry.  We are training them to ride, so we can get them to a stronghold that's attacked.  But they're trained to fight as infantry," Talig explained.

       Salidia cut in to clarify what Talig said, "Talig and I sat down and talked about this when we first started to notice raiders coming into the valley.  The first raiders we saw were only small groups of four or five men coming in to steal a few sheep or horses.  That was bad, but we had Vircingi trying to kill us, and he took priority.  We decided we could live with some lost livestock until things got organized and we got more men, and Vircingi was out of our hair."

       "But we worried that raiders are greedy men.  Some of them may have wanted more than a few goats.  We didn't think the Remi or Cimbri or Nervii would come in and try to take the valley away from us, because we have Selenius backing us up.  But we were worried that one of them might try a 'hit and run' attack on one of the strongholds to loot it and take what slaves and valuables that they could find, and be gone before Selenius could get his men here.  If anyone got a big raiding party together, sixty, a hundred men, and tried to sack a stronghold, we wanted to be able to stop them.

       That's what the Dragoons are for.  If anyone gets bold enough to mount a large raiding party to overrun and loot one of the strongholds, and be gone before Selenius's Legionnaires can get here to help us."

       Talig took over, "As infantry, they're trained to fight on foot from behind a shield wall.  If someone attacks a stronghold, they can stand in front of the stronghold and protect it.  But they're only being trained to ride well enough to get to a stronghold without falling off the horse as they travel.  That's harder to do than you'd think, when you're wearing armor, with the armor bouncing one way and you're bouncing the other way on the horse.  Once that armor starts bouncing around the wrong way, it can help pull you off a horse.  And the Dragoons use full, heavy armor, the same as a full Milite.  That armor's not good for using on a horse.  It will block a sword that's thrust at it from any direction, but it slows the men down.  Cavalry need light armor so they can travel fast, and they need to twist and turn fast on their horses.  The Dragoons use the wrong kind of armor for cavalry and it will just make them bad fighting on horses."

       Taira asked, "Why not use them for both, protecting the stronghold from a big raiding party, and stopping small raiding parties?  Can't you give them two sets of armor?  Talig uses armor when he rides, and Titus has a second set of armor he uses on horseback."

       Cetus took over, "It's just a matter of how much time they spend training.  They're being trained to ride.  They're getting additional training in dealing with cavalry attacks against their shield wall because that is what they'll probably have to face.  They have to spend time each day just keeping in shape to fight as they've been taught.  And they're new to each other.  It takes some practice just to get confident in trusting each other and working as a team.  They've got a full day of training just as it is, without increasing their training with cavalry drills.  Besides, we don't have horses for them to use that would be any good."

       Taira again, "What about hiring new men to use as cavalry?"

       Salidia: "We're not getting many good warriors.  We're getting a lot of poor warriors that can't find work in other areas, but not many good warriors.  And I want to increase the Dragoons up to a full century, so we have enough men to properly protect a stronghold.  Two centuries would be a lot safer.  That comes first before I use new hires for cavalry.  It's a matter of protecting livestock or people.  I'm not going to have all my people in a stronghold killed, no matter what happens.  Protecting my people in a stronghold comes first before anything else.  If I have to choose between protecting my people or our livestock, the people come first.  So the Dragoons are going to stay dedicated to the job they have, protecting strongholds if they're attacked by a large force.  The Dragoons will ride when a black column of smoke goes up from a stronghold, telling us the stronghold itself is being attacked.  And the training and practice for that takes up all their time, without any time left over to practice cavalry drills."

       Taira: "Alright.  The Dragoons are out.  That leaves us still facing the same problem of not having enough men to handle the raiders.  Sali, is what that young girl said true?  You haven't bought any horses or slaves in a month?"

       "Yeah.  Cindin (her Head Steward in Tuscany) is training men to send up here.  I've promised those men jobs.  There are men doing their Probationary Period here.  I have to pay those men full salary once they've passed their tests.  I gave them my word.  (Salidia would not break her word once she made a promise.  She had promised these men jobs and she would keep her promise.)"

       "Scipio has yet to finish the walls on three strongholds.  He needs to buy clay and lime to do that.  If he doesn't finish those walls, people could get killed.  I need money to pay the men I've promised jobs and for concrete for Scipio.  I had to chose where I was going to spend my money, new horses and slaves and spare weapons, or the men who have been promised jobs and Scipio."

       "Everything has cost me more than I should have to pay.  I buy a hundred horses and a month later, I've got seventy horses left because of theft.  The slaves are worse.  I buy a hundred slaves, and a month later I've got sixty slaves.  We just don't have enough Slave Guards to properly watch them.

       "When we first got here, the Aquitani had left behind enough cattle and sheep to feed us through the winter.  Now, more than half of those animals are gone.  Now I have to put aside money to buy food for the winter or people will be starving," Salidia finished her reply.

       Talig added, "It not just the tribes around here.  It's the damn Via Agrippa.  Half the time when we ride out, it's to Rufus's or Titus's estates.  They're the two estates closest to the Via Agrippa.  People just ride off the road and go into Rufus's place or Titus's place to take whatever they can find.  Every time I look up to the Via Agrippa, there's a group of people going north or south on the roadway.  And half of them think it's alright to take a couple of our cows or sheep to have for their dinner."

       Salidia finished, "The thefts are bleeding me dry.  I have to constantly replace stolen horses or runaway slaves, and now I have to worry about putting aside money to feed everybody this winter."

       "So young Thalia was right.  You have to use the girls if you're going to keep this place running," Taira said.

       Marcus joined the conversation, "What good is it going to do to send out the young girls if they only get killed?  The raiders will still ride off with our horses, and the girls will be dead in some field.  How will that help the situation, Taira?"

       Presphene: "I do most of their training with a sword.  The ones that have been here the longest, the one who first joined Kaylin and Alisa, have gotten real good.  They're better than the average warrior handling a sword.  But they are still just young girls.  I can just out muscle them and pound them down with more strength using simple tricks any warrior would know.  They need Talig's speed training.  When I try those tricks on Lydi or Sali, they just slip around me and the next thing I know, I've got splinters in my neck from their wood training swords."

       "When will they get fast like Lydi and Sali," Taira asked Talig.

       He just shrugged his shoulders.  "Who knows?  It happens when it happens.  Most people take around a year, some people less, some people more.  I've seen gladiators at the Ludus take two years.  And some people never get it.  And who knows how long they can do it.  It's rough on the body.  I've seen gladiators start to get sore shoulders and pulled muscles three months after they start.  And I don't mean a little 'sore.'  I mean so sore they can't pick up a wine cup.  I saw a Lanista think his man was faking it, and he sent the man out to fight anyway.  The guy got killed.  He wasn't faking it.  He couldn't use his arm.  So even if the girls get the speed, there is no telling how long they'll be able to do it.  Most of the Dimachaeri I've known can do it between five and ten years, and then their arms start to go bad.  A few lucky ones, like Caius, can do it into their thirty's and their arms stay good.  There was a Doctores at my Ludus and he was in his forty’s and his arm was as good as mine.  It's the hard, jerky movements that does it.  Jerking your arm from a dead standstill to a quick move pulls and thugs at the joints and pulls at the muscles.  It's tough on the joints and muscles and sooner or later something breaks down under that strain."

       Taira: "But most people who speed train do get it, and they last around five to ten years.  I've seen Dimachaeri at all the Games I've been to.  So men do learn it.  They weren't quite as fast as you, but they were still Dimachaeri.  So people do learn to become fast."

       Talig: "I use a training method that's my own, and my Ludus used a training program that was close to mine.  I don't know how other Ludus taught their Dimachaeri.  But yes, Taira, most of the girls will get it, and most will be able to do for several years.  I can't tell you when these girls will get it.  Figuring how long they've been doing it and what it usually takes, three months is the soonest.  I'm figuring 10, 12 months for the training to pay off."

       Taira: "So everything has to wait.  You have to wait for Arabians to come from Africa before you let the girls go out as archers, and even than you'll only use them against small groups of raiders.  And you have to wait for the girls to finally get their speed before you let them take on bigger jobs than just archers.  Like Lydia, able to take on warriors."

       "We're in the same spot as we began this meeting.  Well, I tell you one thing: something had got to change!  The raiders are becoming bolder and bolder.  They ride into this valley like they were going to Aballo on Market Day.  You have got to do something different, or the thieves are going to bleed you to death," Taira concluded.

       Salidia: "I'm not sending the girls out to be killed.  If I have to, I'll sell off slaves and brood stock from Tuscany to get us through the winter."

       An exasperated Taira answered, "Think about what you're saying.  If you do that, you won't be able to meet your contracts to supply the troops in Rome with food, and you'll lose your revenue from Tuscany.  What will you do without the revenue from Tuscany?"

       A stubborn Salidia returned, "I'm not sending the girls out to be killed.  We'll get by, one way or another."

       The meeting ended without any progress being made on the problems facing them.  Salidia and her men were not going to budge on the decisions they had made.  If things got worse in the valley, they would "tough out" any hard times themselves rather than put any of the young girls in danger.

       The meeting had been a waste of time.  Nothing had changed.  No one changed their position.

       As Taira left the meeting, she was met by little Annunka.

       "Taira," Annunka called to her.  "Ahh, the little Persian girl," thought Taira.  Taira understood a little Persian.  She thought the girl's name meant, "Little one of Anya," or "Anya's child."  Taira knew Anya was a Persian warrior goddess.  As best Taira could remember, Annunka's mother was Persian and her father, Seritonius, was Roman.  The man was serving as a First Optio of House Guards at Marcus's estate.

       "Yes, child," Taira answered her.  "Did they decide anything at the meeting," Annunka asked her.  "No, child, not yet," Taira answered.  "Ohhhh," Annunka responded.  Taira smiled.  The young girl reminded her of Lydia, she wore her heart on her sleeve and she never tried to conceal her feelings.  Annunka's disappointment was written in her voice, her face and her posture.  Taira tried to make the young girl feel better, "They're worried about your safety, and they don't want anything to happen to you."  "Hummm," the young girl answered, disappointment still written across her.  "Thank you, Mistress," she said, and turned and left.

                                       Chapter 8

                               The World Changes

       Two days later, the day started as any other, and by late morning people were where they usually were for that time in the day.  The men were lounging around outside the villa, waiting for a call that they were needed at another stronghold to chase down thieves.  The older girls were practicing the bow in front of the Keep.  Lydia and the new girls were in the back of the stronghold, and Lydia was having the new girls practice quickly remounting their horses if they were unseated during a battle.

       A white column of smoke rose from Cetus's stronghold, signaling a raiding party had been spotted on his estate.

       The men ran back to the Stable to put on their armor and to get their horses.  Lydia left the new girls, to race back into the stronghold, just to encourage the men.  The older girls all saw the "Alert" signal, which upset them all, but they went back to their bow practice, knowing they weren't wanted for raiders and frustrated by their uselessness.

       After a few minutes, Thalia threw her bow to the ground in frustration, and walked over to Kaylin and Alisa, who were practicing next to each other.  "I'm going to go, if another raiding party is spotted," Thalia said to Kaylin and Alisa.  Kaylin and Alisa looked at Thalia and each other.  They didn't answer her or object to what she said.  Instead they stood thinking about it.  Janae had seen Thalia angrily throw her bow down to the ground, and Janae walked over to the small group.  When she got there, Thalia said to her, "I'm going to go if there's another raiding party."  "Count me in," Janae immediately returned.

       Trivi and Itatia walked over to see what the impromptu meeting was about.  Soon, everybody joined them.  When Trivi and Itatia walked up, Alisa said to them, "Tali and Jani say they're going to ride out if more raiders are spotted."  Trivi turned to Thalia, "If you're going, I'm going."  That meant Itatia was also going, since the two women always did everything together.

       "Going where," Annunka asked as she and Dimita walked up just as Trivi finished speaking.  "Tali and Jani say they're going to ride if more raiders are spotted.  We're going too," Itatia said.  "Me, too," Annunka joined in without a second thought.  "Crap and half.  Wouldn't you know Tali and Jani would fly off the handle like that.  What are we going to do about horses?  Did anybody tell Lydi about this," Dimita though.  "What are we going to do about horses," Dimita asked the group.

       Julia, the practical one, thought about it.  "We can change horses at the strongholds, like the men do.  But if it's Lucius stronghold, we have to come up with something different.  Carra's never going to give us fresh horses.  She'll come out and pull our horses into her stronghold by their reins, all by herself."

       Calista, "You have to be practical about this, Tali, or we'll all end up dead like our fathers are afraid.  We can't depend on getting horses at any of the strongholds.  My mother won't send out horses if we ride up, any more than Carra would.  She'll want us to come inside the stronghold same as Carra.  We should only go if it's a close stronghold, where our horses will still be in good shape."

       "Tali, if we act sensibly, we'll make Sali take us seriously, but if we act stupid, you'll just give the men more reason to forbid us to help.  We should only go if we don't have to depend upon anyone else to help us, like for horses," Dimita said to Thalia.

       Alisa: "Yeah.  We have to act together, and do it smart so we make Sali more likely to use us.  We should do the same thing with the raiders.  If it's a big group of raiders that will get us into trouble, we should pull back.  If it's a small group of raiders, six like before, we'll go on it."

       Kaylin: "We have to work together on this, and only do what makes senses, so it gives us a good argument to use with the men.  Only as archers.  Nothing with lances or swords."  (She didn't mean they wouldn't take the swords or lances.  They would take them.  But they would only fight as archers.)

       Paulina: "As archers.  The men can still just out muscles us with the sword or lance.  As archers, we can cut the raiders down, like we did with the Cimbri."

       Kaylin: "We'll go if it's a close stronghold, as archers, and pull back if it's more than six raiders."

       "I'll go anyplace the bastards show up, a near stronghold or a far one.  We can do it.  I'll go if it's ten fuckin' raiders.  We can kill every fuckin' one of them.  But what you said makes sense.  We want a good argument to use with our fathers.  If we do something really stupid, even my father will slap me around.  Tali," Janae asked in a questioning tone, wanting confirmation from Thalia.

       Thalia: "Alright.  We'll only do something that can't be used against us in an argument as being stupid.  We'll only go to strongholds that are close by, with less than six lousy thieves.  As archers, like Kay saids."  Thalia went on, "But when we get the Arabians, we'll go to the far strongholds, too."  Kaylin and Alisa nodded agreement with going to distant stronghold, once they got better horses.

       Paulina: "Tali, you should tell the men straight to their faces, before they leave.  Be honest about it.  If we're open and aboveboard, Sali will have more reason to trust us.  If we sneak around behind their backs, they'll have more reason not to trust us."

       Kaylin: "Come on.  Let's catch the men before they leave the stronghold.  Tali, it's your idea.  You tell them."

                       ..........................

       Salidia was on the Keep.  She always went to the Keep when there was an "Alert."  She always wanted to double check her Sentries that the smoke was a smoke signal and not one of her strongholds being burned down.  She watched Talig and the men gallop from the Stable up through the stronghold's interior to the Front Gate, but instead of galloping through the gate, the men unexpectedly came to stop.  Then she saw the men start to trot their horses through the gate passageway.  She went down to see what was happening.

       When the men got to the Front Gate, they saw Kaylin and some of her girls standing in a group at the far end of the long gate passageway, partially blocking the exterior gate.  They slowed their horses and trotted out the passageway to the girls in front.

       "What do you want," Talig snarled, angered that the girls were interfering with something important.

       "If raiders show up at Titus's or Atus's strongholds, we're going to go," Thalia said to him.

       "You heard what we said at the meeting, THALIA,"  Talig growled at the girl, outraged that the youth was contradicting what he and the other adults decided.

       Thalia had organized what she intended to say, in a respectful manner.  Faced with the angry Talig, all her well organized thoughts scattered, but she managed to blurt out a few things she planned on saying, in a disorganized order, "You can't cover all the valley.  The raiders are killing us.  We live here, too."  That took more courage than the other girls had.

       It was also enough to stop Talig.  The truth always stopped Talig.  It wasn't enough to cut off his anger, but it was enough to make him listen.  Salidia, Lydia, and also Taira, had joined them at the end of the gate passageway by this time.  From the back, Taira said, "Hear them out.  Some of what they say is true.  Sali, you have to do something different if you're going to stop the raiders."

       Thalia said, "We'll only go to the near strongholds, Titus, Cetus and Atus, so our horses are fresh.  If there are more than six raiders, we'll go back to the stronghold."  Thalia stopped.

       Kaylin joined in, adding something Thalia forgot to mention.  "We'll only go as archers, no swords or lances."

       Presphene added something that bothered him, "You'll stay near the stronghold?  You don't have fast horses."

       Alisa conceded a point the girls hadn't discussed, "We'll only go two leagues out from the stronghold.  No further.  So we can get back to the stronghold fast if we see a lot of raiders."

       Presphene added, "And you'll turn around for the stronghold at the first sight of over six raiders?"

       Alisa answered, "Yes.  We promise.  We'll only take on a small group of raiders as archers, close to the stronghold."

       Taira asked the men, "Isn't that all the things that bothered you?"

       Marcus joined in, "There's still no way to know if there is more than one raiding party in the area."

       Titus, who respected what the girls wanted to do, answered Marcus, "We don't know that when we go out.  The only way to know that is to scout the whole estate, and by that time the raiders they first saw will get away.  No one can check out a whole estate without losing sight of the first raiding party.  The only thing you can reasonably ask of them is to check out the area a short distance around them."

       Taira said to the men, "I think the girls are doing everything that's sensible for them to do.  They've changed how they'll act in order to satisfy all the objections you had.  And if you are honest, you do need help with the raiders."

       Salidia was angered that Taira was interfering with how she decided to use the girls, angered that Taira was taking the girl's side and defending what they wanted to do, and she was angered that Taira was publically contradicting what she and the men had decided at the meeting.  She turned to the men and commanded them, "The raiders are over at Cetus.  Go get them."  The men turned their horses to go around the girls, and kicked their horses on out of the Front Gate, and then galloped off to Cetus's estate.

       Salidia turned to the girls, "Thalia, you're interfering with My men!   Stopping them from doing what I want them to do!   You're being rude and disrespectful to the men and Me  when you Challenge the decisions we make at the meetings. You never get between me and what we decided to do!  Never challenge my decisions or what I tell my men to do ....or what I tell you to do!    If you ever do that again, Thalia, I'll throw you out of Kaylin's girls, and forbid you to ever come to my stronghold or one of the meetings again.  You'll be stuck at your father's stronghold with nothing to do but make sure there's enough wine for dinner.  Understand me?"  Thalia was frightened by Salidia's threat to throw her out of the Amazons and answered, "Yes, Mistress."

       Salidia turned to Kaylin and Alisa, "She's one of your girls.  You're responsible for her.  If one of your girls ever does something like this again, you're out as Sergeants, and I'll get replacements for you.  Understand?"  They both answered, "Yes, Mistress," also scared by Salidia's anger and afraid of being dismissed from the girls.

       Taira whispered to Salidia, "Be easy on them.  The girl did something important."  It instantly angered Salidia that Taira was continuing to interfere on the girl's behalf. 

       Taira grabbed Salidia by the arm and turned her, so the two women had their backs to the young girls.  Taira whispered to angry Salidia, "The girls are being more truthful and honest than you or the men, Salidia.  You need that.  You need someone to tell you the truth.  You have to do something about the raiders, and the men can't do it.  Thalia just told you the truth to your face when no one else had the courage to do it.  You're going to have to use the girls, and the girls realize that.  You don't.  Be grateful you have someone to tell you the truth when no one else will.  You should be thanking Thalia for being honest instead of reprimanding her!   Listen to her!   She's right!   She's telling you the truth when no one else has the courage to do it!" Salidia looked at Taira with smoldering resentment, hardly able to control her anger, but she didn't challenge what Taira said.

       Salidia strode down the long enclosed passageway that separated the exterior gate from the interior gate, her steps brisk and her movements abrupt, and her footsteps echoed in the cavernous structure.  She was whipped by anger from a dozen sources.  Then she turned back up the passageway to the girls again.  "Alright.  You go to the near strongholds, but only as archers."  Salidia turned to look at Taira after she said that, anger at Taira written on her face.  Then she turned back to the girls and continued, "You stay close to the stronghold so you can get back fast if there's a large raiding party.  No more than five raiders!  I want you to have more than a two to one advantage in numbers."

       Salidia turned to Lydia, "You go with them.  Keep them out of trouble.  Close to the stronghold!  If anything happens to one of them, I'm holding you responsible!"

       Salidia turned to go back to her villa.  Taira went to accompany her.  Over her shoulder Salidia curtly shot back to Taira, "NOT NOW!"  Salidia resented not having the freedom to act as she wanted, and she resented the situation dictating what she had to do.  And even worse, she hated someone rubbing her nose in it.

       Taira watched Salidia stalk away and thought to herself, "She's mad but she did alright.  She bent when she had to bend.  I've seen generals do worse, and get themselves killed.  I bet Talig will admit it, too.  Uesat (a secret name for the Egyptian goddess Isis, known only to priestesses), Sali has good women working for her.  I want some of these girls working for me.  I'd give three of my girls to have Thalia working for me, as she is now, before the speed training."

       Lydia wasn't paying attention to Salidia and she didn't notice when Salidia angrily walked away.  When Salidia commanded her to accompany the young girls and keep them out of trouble, Lydia had shifted her attention to the girls.  Lydia thought, as she watched them, "They just look like a bunch of kids.  Janae cutting into the conversation while Dimita is talking.  Kaylin trying to say something but not getting into the conversation.  Paulina and Julia having a separate conversation with each other.  Just a bunch of young girls, all of them trying to talk at the same time, with one, then another grabbing the center of attention."  But as Lydia thought this, she felt something was different.  She knew something was different.  The young girls looked and acted as they always did, but things were different.

       Lydia thought, "Thalia did something I was afraid to do."  Then Lydia remembered the ride to find the Cimbri, with Kaylin and Alisa directing and arranging the girls into a useful formation as they rode, while she was too lost in thought to do that herself.  Instead of being children involved in meaningless play, Lydia felt the girls were making meaningful and useful contributions that nobody else but they were doing.  While she was riding to Lucius's stronghold with the girls, Alisa and Kaylin had been usefully directing the girls, while she, Lydia, was too lost in thought to do anything useful with them.  In her mind, the girls had been elevated from children to useful people.

       To Lydia, the world consisted of Salidia and Talig, then the seven men, followed by five wives and the two widows.  They were the important people in the world.  Their opinions mattered and had to be taken into account.  There were others, Selenius and a couple of the new people, but they weren't important in decision making in the same way.  To Lydia, the world had sixteen people whose feelings really mattered, and their feelings shaped decisions.  As Lydia looked at the young girls, she realized these girls had to be admitted to the circle of people whose feelings mattered.

       Lydia hardly paid attention to Salidia's statement that she would hold her, Lydia, personally responsible if something happened to one of the girls.  Lydia knew Salidia said things she didn't mean when she was angry.  Lydia knew the opposite would really happen.  If something happened to one of the girls, she and Salidia would cling to each other for emotional support to deal with the tragedy.

       And Salidia had no need to tell Lydia that she would be responsible if something happened to one of the young girls.  Lydia did that automatically, on her own, without Salidia telling her.  Lydia would blame herself worse that Salidia could ever do if one of the girls were hurt.  If it killed her, Lydia was going to make sure nothing happened to one of the girls.

       There never was a question in Lydia's mind about going with the girls.  If the girls went out, Lydia was damn sure she was going to be with them to watch out for them and protect them.

       "They've grown up," a voice to Lydia's right surprised her.  Taira had come up next to Lydia, and Lydia hadn't noticed it.  Taira's voice had startled her, jolting her out of her private reverie, and Lydia just stared at Taira, wide eyed without a response.  "They're going to ride into battle now, and, Lydia, some of them are going to get killed," Taira said to Lydia.  That instantly scared Lydia to her core, her heart froze up, and round eyed with a look of fright on her face, Lydia exclaimed, "No!"

         "They'll be going into battle.  Warriors always die.  That's what happens to warriors.  They die.  You can win several fights in a row, but sooner or later somebody is going to die.  Lydia, these are young girls and they are going to have a hard time dealing with the deaths.  They're your girls and you have to prepare the girls so they can deal with death when it finally happens.  You must prepare them for what's going to happen to them," Taira said to her.

       Lydia looked at Taira frightened, too frightened to speak.  "It's going to happen, Lydia.  You know it will happen.  That's what happens when warriors fight.  Some of them are going to die, and you must prepare these young girls for that."

       "Nothing's going to happen to them!  I'll take care of them," Lydia cried out to Taira.  But....deep....deep inside her, a little piece of Lydia knew that what Taira said was true.  "Nothing's going to happen to them" was wishful thinking, a contradiction, a denial, of something Lydia knew...feared.... was true, deep within her heart.  Lydia just couldn't bring herself to admit it.  It was a fear more than her heart could bear.

       Lydia was desperately trapped between her fear and the truth she was afraid to admit.  Barely able to hold back tears, Lydia's face was contorted in pain.  She cried to Taira, "I don't know how to do that.  How do you prepare someone to die?  What could I say to them," a scared Lydia asked Taira.

       "Give them some respect, now.  Give them the respect you give warriors, today.  Tell them you respect what they are doing.  Give them a title, something they can be proud of.  Give them something to wear that sets them off from everyone else, so they know they are different from anyone else.  Make Alisa and Kaylin captains, so they know they're commanding a troop of warriors.  Then, Lydia, when one of them dies, their own hearts will show them how to deal with death.  Their own hearts will tell them how to respect and honor the sacrifices they make.  Show them they are respected today, and when the time comes, they will know how to honor the sacrifices they make for each other.  It will show them what they are doing is important!  You only have to show them that what they are doing is important to everyone, the whole valley,  and that you respect them for that, and they will find their own way to deal with death."

       Lydia was moved.  She had felt frightened when Taira started to speak, but when Taira stopped speaking, Lydia moved to a place of sober understanding.  She understood what Taira said, and she knew it was right.  When Lydia dealt with Taira, she felt she was dealing with a spy one time, an assassin another time, a witch who knew magic another time.  But now when Lydia looked at Taira, she realized, "This is a Priestess!  This woman understands Courage, Honor, Respect, Love, and as a Priestess she explains what these things mean to us"

       Humbly, respectfully, and gratefully, Lydia bowed her head to Taira, and simply said, "Yes," while Taira stood tall and erect and dignified before Lydia.  "Lydia, if you make Alisa and Kaylin Captains, than make Thalia their First Optio.  I know Thalia spends her time running around laughing and giggling and doesn't seem to have a serious bone in her body, but Lydia, when you make a mistake, Thalia will tell you the truth when no one else will.  And that is the quality you want most in your First Lieutenant, someone who will tell you the truth.  And Lydia, for all Thalia's running around laughing, when she is First Optio and you give her a task, she will execute it with dead seriousness.  It is in her heart to be serious when she needs to be serious, and ....... to laugh when she doesn't have to be serious."

       "That light hearted girl has a gift for Life.  She has been blessed by the gods with a heart that takes in all of Life, it's good and it's bad, with each breath she takes.  When her heart is weighed for the afterlife, her heart will Lift the scales UP! Appreciate the treasure you have in her.  I have only met two other women like her in all my life.  She is special.  And, if you haven't noticed it, Thalia has made a decision.  Now, Thalia has decided that her job in life will be defending those she loves, and she will do her chosen job with all her heart."

       Again Lydia felt, "This is a Priestess, and she is explaining to me what is important.  She sees and understands what I have not seen, and she is explaining it to me."  And again Lydia simply bowed her head and said, "Yes."  And again Lydia felt what Taira said was right, and again when Taira spoke, Lydia felt Taira's explanation was manifestly correct and self-evident once Taira spoke the words out loud.  When Taira spoke, she was explaining important truths that Lydia and the others had missed.  "Thank you, Taira," Lydia said to her, and she meant it as a statement to a Priestess who understood the mysteries of life.

       Taira concluded, "Now, your girls are going into battle, Lydia.  Treat them as true warriors.  Make Alisa and Kaylin Captains.  Promote Thalia.  Give them a name that is special.  Give them something to wear that sets them off from other people.  And that will show them that what they are doing is important and that you respect them for it.  And when they know that you respect them and that they are doing something important, you will have prepared them for the dangers they will face."

       This time when Lydia looked at Taira, it was with a serious look on her face.  In a serious voice, Lydia simply said, "Yes," to Taira.  Lydia realized she had a serious job to do.  She understood the principles underlying the actions, and the life-altering purposes behind them.  This wasn't about uniforms and names; it was about giving people the reasons they needed to fight for their lives and the lives of their loved ones and to deal with the dangers involved.

       Taira looked at Lydia and she realized the Romans had solved their problem, and it was a group of young girls that had done it.  Salidia and her men had stubbornly refused to face the dire circumstances they were in, but Thalia's courage to face the truth and the other girl's courage to fight the raiders was going to save Salidia's valley.  As a commander of her own troops, Taira realized that Salidia's most important tactical resource was going to be the young girls who were training to become warriors.  They would make the difference in whether or not Salidia was going to be able to keep her valley.  And it was because the young girls had the courage to face the world around them truthfully.

       As Taira stood there thinking, she said to herself, "I'm glad I came here to escape Akenmentep's men.  Salidia and her girls are something I never expected to see.  They rose up on their own to deal with the dangers facing them.  On their own initiative!  I always knew I could find women with courage when I needed them, but I always thought I had to train them.  They do need weapons training, poisons for my girls, steel for Salidia's girls.  But they can think through and understand what has to be done on their own.  They can develop their own organization.  If a temple has a problem, maybe some of the girls there could handle the problem without sending my girls there.  I want to watch these girls of Salidia for a while, and see what happens with them.  I'm glad I came here, and this is not a waste of my time up here.  I'm learning something from these girls."

       Then she looked at Thalia.  Just looking at Thalia, it evoked memories of the young girl running around and giggling over something silly.  "Who would have thought it would be that laughing girl that did it," Taira thought to herself.  And she looked at little Annunka.  The last time she had talked to Annunka, the girl had seemed a child whose feelings were easily hurt, and the young girl had seemed devastated by the news that the men weren't going to use them.  And Taira shook her head in disbelief and she thought, "And that little girl is going off to fight men."  Salidia's young girls just amazed Taira.  The courage of these girls was epic.  Taira made an honest self-appraisal of her feelings, "I'm in awe of these Roman children."

       Years later all these young girls would be tough, battle hardened warriors, hardened to the brutalities and dangers of the battlefield, veterans of countless life and death fights, as strong or stronger than any male warrior on the battlefield.  No!  Stronger than the men!  The odds were always stacked against them, and they had to fight at a disadvantage.  They were women fighting men who were always bigger and stronger than them!  But they would ride out to battle with the same toughness and courage as any other warriors.  They had more courage than the men!  BECAUSE THE DANGERS THEY FACED WERE BIGGER THAN THE DANGERS THE MEN FACED!

       But that is not how their story began.  In the beginning there was only danger for the untrained girls, but they faced it with tremendous courage.  Simply, their courage was greater than any danger or disadvantage they faced.

       To fight when you have the advantage takes no courage.  It is what bullies do.  To fight when you are likely to lose takes real courage.  And a powerful and strong heart that is stronger than the fear.  And this is what the young girls had in spades!

       In time these girls would master Talig's speed training, and they would be able to move with lightning fast speed.  They would master the training in weapons that their fathers were teaching them.  Their exceptional speed and training would make them superior warriors, able to easily kill almost any man they faced.  In the future they would become almost undefeatable on the battlefield.  The average warrior would stand no chance against any one of them.  But their prowess and superiority on the battlefield was not what made these women special. What made them special was the tremendous courage of their hearts which brought them to this place!

                                       Chapter 9

                                  The First One

       Lydia got up early to check one of her Arabians.  The horse entangled herself in a tether rope and had gotten a bad rope burn on a hind leg, while she was staked out to graze.  The horse just made the situation worse.  Like most horses, once the rope looped around two legs, the horse ignored it and continued to walk around until the rope was wrapped around the horse like a Gordian Knot.  After the horse was so tangled in the rope that it could no longer walk, the horse resented it and fought against the restrictions by pulling on the rope, drawing the knot even tighter.  Lydia wanted to see how the wound was coming along on the moron of a horse, and she headed out to the Stable before breakfast.

       When she got outside, she saw one of the young girls on her knees in front of the Amazon's barracks.  The girl was sobbing, with her hands held to her face.  A surprised Lydia hurried over to see who it was, worried about the girl.  As she got close, she realized it was Janae.

       "Honey, are you alright," Lydia exclaimed when she got up close.

       Janae looked up with a tear washed face, "I got it!  I got the Speed!"

       "Oh, Honey," Lydia beamed at her with a big smile, suddenly changing from a worried mood to an excited mood.  Lydia knelt down to hug Janae."

       "I got up early for some extra practice, like I usually do.  I went through two drills and it was like always.  When I went to strike on the third drill, my arm just flashed out!  Just like you or Tal or Sali!  It just flew out," Janae gushed out a rush of words.  She went on, "I tried to do it again.  I tried another fast strike, but my arm just went out like usual.  I tried three times, but I couldn't do it fast again."

       Instead of being discouraged by being unable to repeat the fast strike a second time, Janae continued to smile.  "But that's alright, isn't it?  Tal said it's not dependable at first!  He said it takes a few weeks until it happens all the time," Janae hopefully asked Lydia.

       Like a mother with a child who she was very proud of, Lydia smiled back a Janae and nodded affirmatively, "Next week or the week after, you'll get another fast strike.  But just one!  But the week after that, two or three fast ones!  And the week after that six or seven in a row.  And then, after that, in only a few more days, every strike will be fast!  Then once in a while you may get a slow strike, but forget them.  Once you get the first fast strike, it will become dependable in a few weeks, and all you strikes will be fast!  After the first few weeks, you never have to worry about slow strikes again.  It belongs to you now."

       Then Lydia got a stern expression, a little exaggerated to be playful, "Now, forget about your right arm.  Practice and practice your left arm!  And your jumps!  Run through complete drills, blocks and counterstrikes and spin outs.  Concentrate on your left arm and your jumps.  Don't worry about your torso, don't worry about your right arm, just concentrate on your legs and left arm.  The twists and turns and ducks will come without any special work.  Your right arm will develop dependability with just regular practice at drills.  Your job from now one is working your other arm and your legs."

       Lydia leaned back and her face turned to a cunning but satisfied expression, "Now, Janae, we're going to turn you into a Dimachaeri!!!!  Now, with speed, you're going to become a killer on the battlefield who men fear."

       Lydia settled into a relaxed position.  She smiled a satisfied smile again, but this time there was an evil sneer with the smile.  In fact, Lydia's mood changed to a predatory mood.  Lydia was thinking as a warrior.  She leaned back in toward Janae, and in a conspiratorial manner said to Janae, "Wait 'till you try Pressie's attacks with your speed.  When you can move fast like Sali or me, you'll see how easy it is to kill a man."

       Janae smiled back at Lydia with the same kind of evil, but satisfied, smile.  This is what Janae had worked for, for more than a year: kill the bastards that had killed her mother and father.

       Lydia got up, and helped Janae up.  For a moment, Lydia looked thoughtful, and then she seriously said, "We're going to change your training.  Work your left arm and legs like crazy.  Forget your right arm.  I want you to start practice combats with men you've never fought before, our House Guards, some of the Dragoons are good, any man you've never fought before who's good.  Every man has a slightly different style of fighting, and a lot of them have special tricks they use that no one else uses.  I want you practicing with those men.  When you go into real combat you'll face men you've never seen before.  I want you to get practice at dealing with men who surprise you with new things.  I want you to get practice at thinking on feet during the fights.

       "You do that while you're still working on your left arm and legs.  House Guards, Dragoons, we have a few mercenaries that we've hired who a damn good with swords, anyone who's good with a sword."

       "Men work their arms and shoulders to be good with a sword.  Our Dragoons work their legs and their backs so they can shove the enemy around with their big shields.  We depend upon leaping and twisting faster than an arrow leaps from a bow.  Just standing on one leg, you must leap to the side or back or forward faster than a snake can strike."

       "When you can leap more than a body length in any direction from one foot, even to the right from the right leg and left from the left foot, you stop practicing with the House Guards and Dragoons.  When your leaps become good, I want you back practicing with our men, especially Pres and Cet.  When they find out you have speed, they'll fight you full out, the best they can do to avoid being beaten.  They'll fight you as opponents, not teachers.  They're the best of the best, and you'll learn to fight with the BEST!"

       Finally Lydia broke out into an excited smile and her mood changed completely, "Come on, let's tell Tal and Sali!  Sali's going to go crazy when she finds out!"  Both got up and ran off to the main villa.

       With one of Talig's girls finally achieving the goal of speed training, the other girls would follow along in a little bit.  Janae was just the first, probably because she put in an extra hour of practice early in the morning.

                                       Chapter 10

                                       Stone Faces

       Clodius was hot.  The wood used to construct the Keep had turned dark brown with age, and it soaked up sunlight to make the flat roof top hot in the afternoon.  The Keep sat on one corner of the Garrison, and Clodius impatiently looked around the unfinished fort from atop the flat roof of the Keep.  Scipio, the engineer, had only erected 3 of the outside concrete walls of the fort to an incomplete height of 2 stories, while the outer wall which faced the Via Agrippa was finished to it's final, completed height of 3 stories.  The bastions which stood at the other three corners of the fort were now concrete.  But the Keep which sat on the fourth corner of the Garrison was still the original wood Keep.  It was suppose to be a temporary structure, but it had not been replaced by a permanent concrete Keep.

       "Come on, Scipio, move your ass, will ya," Clodius thought to himself.  Scipio was someplace in the middle of the valley.  He was now putting up a second interior defensive wall at each stronghold, and erecting buildings which were skipped over in the initial rush of putting up exterior walls.  He was moving estate to estate, finishing up work left undone at each stronghold.  This was more work and it took longer.  The engineer wouldn't be back to the Garrison until other estates had their work finished.  Then Scipio would return to finish more work on the Garrison.

       "He'll come back in winter and give me a concrete Keep to stand on when it's snowing out and I'm freezing my ass off.  Wood to roast on in summer, and concrete to freeze my feet in winter," Clodius thought.  He wanted some of the cool, off-white colored stone to stand on now, when he needed it in the middle of a hot summer.

       "Awh!  Good!  Something else to do," Clodius thought.  An especially bedraggled woman was walking down the road with two little kids in tow.  A man would be more interesting, but at least the woman would give him an excuse to get down off the hot roof top.

       This happened a lot.  Several times a day when a Legion stopped by.  Right now there was a Patrician, Galba, visiting with Salidia, and Galba's Legion was camped up by the Via Agrippa.  Clodius had been the Second Optio of Salidia's House Guards when she lived in Rome, and he recognized Salidia's Patrician friend the moment he saw him.  A hundred times Clodius had admitted Galba to Salidia's villa in Rome.  Clodius was now the Captain of her House Guards for the Garrison, but that didn't do him much good if he was a Captain in the middle of the boondocks with no place to spend his money.  Clodius headed downstairs still grateful the woman gave him something to do.  Outside the door to the Keep there was a table and chair, with some pieces of torn off scroll pinned down underneath a rock.  He grabbed the parchments and walked over to the Front Gate.

       "What do you want," Clodius asked in a suspicious tone, with a dour, sullen expression on his face.  Clodius always looked like he was in a bad mood.

       Which had nothing to do with what the man was really like.  Inside, the man was a compassionate, caring soul who always wanted to make wrongs right.  But Clodius had been in too many fights to ever let himself appear vulnerable in any way.  You had to listen to what he snarled out to realize what the man said in such gruff tones was actually something very fair and caring.  Two adages applied to him: "His bark is worse than his bite," and, "Watch what he does, not what he saids."   ....  Or even better, "Watch what he does, not how he sounds."

       The woman was a match for him.  Defiant.  Her clothes were dirty.  She was dirty.  Her kid's clothes were dirty and they had no sandals.  The kids were very young and appeared frightened by the strange new place, but they stood dutifully outside the front gate.  The woman stood up tall, with a resentful look.  Her attitude seemed to be, "a good offence is the best defense."  She seemed to challenge him to say something derisive to her about her poor clothes and bedraggled appearance.

       "The soldiers say you have jobs for women," she barked in a loud voice.

       "What can you do," he asked her in his habitual suspicious tone with his usual dour habitual look.

       "Any dairy job you have, from herding the cows to wringing out the whey.  Berthing the calves if there's a problem in spring," she answered in too loud a voice, with a defiant little lift to her chin and her lips thrust forward that left her looking arrogant and angry.

       Clodius didn't have to look at the scraps of paper in his hand.  He knew the answer to this.  "We don't need any more dairy maids 'till next spring," he coldly answered her.  They weren't increasing their dairy herds until next calving season.

       There was a pained expression that flashed across the woman's eyes, but it happened so fast, and immediately disappeared, that you had to be observant to even catch it, it happened so fast.  Clodius caught it.  Then she immediately masked it with her arrogant look, with her chin tilted up and jutting forward.  "What else can you do," he asked, staring intently at her.

       The question caught her unprepared.  She had never done anything else besides tend the cows on the farm she had grown up on, outside of the usual chores children were typically given, like feeding the chickens.  She didn't have any other special trade to claim.  "Wash clothes," she defiantly answered him, aware that was a job given to slaves.

       Underneath Clodius's unmoving expression, he was thinking, "She doesn't give up fighting, even when she had nothing left to fight with."  Clodius had been through this with a hundred other women who had settled into one trade or another as they grew up.  He continued with his usual routine he had developed to deal with such people.  He nodded his head toward the Legion which was camped up on the Via Agrippa, "Who can vouch for you?  Any officers?"

       "No one," she answered.  Clodius eyes flashed round for an instant and his head pulled back a little, as if he had been slapped, but like her expression, it was so fast you had be observant to notice it before his face resumed it's usual stone like mask.  Both these people wore masks they presented to the world, and it was only in brief flashes that they revealed their true feelings hidden underneath their masks.  His eyes were a tell-tale marker of surprise.  With genuine emotion, he asked her, "You just walked down from the Legion!  No one knows you up there?"

       "They're all dead," was her answer, said coldly.  She was hardened to the pain contained within the statement by the year of deprivation she had been exposed to.  The man underneath the stony face felt a flash of compassion, but lack of understanding and surprise was his dominating emotions.

       Her story was unusual, and she was familiar with his lack of comprehension.  "My husband's contiburium (squad) are all gone.  He was killed a year ago near the Rhenus, and then all the men in his contiburium were either killed or crippled over this last year."  His friends had helped the widow at first, giving her what money they could afford.  Five, ten denarii here and there, a few sestertii other times.  But one by one the soldiers who were close to her and her husband had disappeared, killed or crippled.

       "Even his Centurion," Clodius asked her, genuinely surprised.

       "Crippled in the battle that killed my husband," was her answer.  "Crippled," meant being thrown out of the Legion.

       "How have you been living," he asked, his stony expression now gone and replaced by an expression of genuine involvement.  This was always the Clodius behind the stony face.

       "Washing officer's clothes when I could.  Anything I could to earn some money.  I herded pigs a few times for them, when they bought a lot for the Legionnaires."

       Returning to his customary command mannerisms, her plight had focused his mind.  He ignored the sheets of paper in his hand, quoting from memory.  He had asked for someone to vouch for her character, thinking the best job for her would be a Sentry.  The lives of the stronghold residents depended upon the Sentries, and they wanted people they could depend upon for that.  No one was hired as a Sentry unless they had good reason to believe the applicant was a dependable, trustworthy individual.  Someone who would conscientiously apply herself to the job of remaining vigilant without drifting off into daydreams during their long ...and boring... shift.  Sentries required someone responsible vouch for their character, someone who could assure them the applicant was a dependable person could watch the countryside for a whole shift instead of nodding off to sleep.  A centurion or sergeant from the Legion up on the road would do, someone who knew the woman.  This woman had no one to vouch for her character.

       He now turned to the jobs that depended on a trial period to determine if a person was competent and dependable.  "If you think you can handle the work, we need Overseers and Slave Guards.  Forty two sestertii a month for Overseers, 50 sestertii a month for Slave Guards.  A five week trial period to learn the job and see if you can do the work.  You get a small plot of land to build a house of your own where you can grow a few vegetables, with both jobs.  You can raise your kids there without having them underfoot at a stronghold.  But if the kids are too little to leave unattended, you can a have a room in the stronghold until the kids are older, and then you can claim your plot of land."   (By comparison, a Legionnaire earned around 75 sestertii a month, plus the opportunity of plunder from defeated enemies.  Sort of like a job today that paid "Salary plus commission."  The plunder from defeated enemies usually resulted in a substantial amount of money.  More than their pay!)

       Catana had been overwhelmed by fear when the man started talking .....because she was desperately trying to make sense out what he was saying and this was a life and death issue to her.  She had to get this right!     She had to get this job! 

       Catana was thousands of leagues from her people in Macedonia, and had no way of getting back to them.  She had been living on a few sestertii a month, and her youngest daughter was losing weight, and Catana was afraid her daughter would soon start to get sick and die unless Catana could get them all more food to eat.  She didn't think any of them could survive the coming winter.

       When she started down the road to this place she didn't want her hopes raised only to be destroyed, so she told herself that what the Legionnaires had mentioned, that the people in this valley were hiring women, was wrong, and the Legionnaires were just passing on a false rumor.

       When the man kept talking after he told her there was no work...(Next year!  A lot of good a dairy job next year meant to her.  She'd be dead by then.....)  When the man kept talking.... hope surged up so strongly that she was distracted for an instant....and she wasn't sure if she heard him correctly.

       She thought he said, "Overseer," and "Slave Guard," but that made no sense to her, a woman.  She was sure he had said something else, some other kind of job besides "Overseer" and "Slave Guard", but she had mistaken what he said.  She was trying to figure out what he really said from the rest of the sentence.

       But none of it was making sense.  What did a plot of land have to do with a job?  Forty two sestertii, 50 sestertii, what did that have to do with a job for her?  Did he mistake her for a trained craftsman, someone like a weaver or potter?  All the words coming out of the man's mouth were Latin, but when you put the words together into sentences, none of it made any sense.  She was terrified that she didn't understand what the man was saying, and that she wouldn't be able to answer any questions he asked her.

       The woman looked scared as she listened to him.  Clodius thought, "She's not as tough as she looks."  He mistakenly guessed she was frightened by the tough work.  It could be dangerous work, especially if a person got stuck watching field slaves.  Almost all the women he offered the jobs looked confused or frightened when he first made the offer.  Only a few tough, old hookers and women who ran stalls selling wine and beer to Legionnaires had been unphased by the prospect of having to pull a sword and kill a slave if necessary.  Those women hadn't blinked when they realized the jobs meant wearing a sword and keeping a bunch of slaves in line.  Clodius had the feeling those women would kill a man without a second thought the moment a man annoyed them.

                         ...........................

       When they first told Clodius that he was to hire women for the jobs, he thought it was stupid and dangerous.  But he had been watching Kaylin and Alisa practicing with their girls since he arrived in the valley.  At first the young girls couldn't hit a target with their bows if their lives depended on it.  But slowly they had improved.  Now, they had become damn good bowmen!  As good as any Persians he had worked with.  And they had devised some sneaky tricks using very long lances on horseback.  He was beginning to believe some of the sneaky things they had thought up might actually work!  And Salidia's new adopted daughter, the woman gladiator............She was damn dangerous!  He had seen her practicing with the gladiator, Talig.  That was one woman he didn't want angry with him.  She had killed some men!               

................In combat!!.........

       And as much as he hated to admit it, he saw the necessity in it.  Only a few Roman men traveled up and down the roads up here in Gaul.  Some slave traders, a few pot bellied traders with wagon loads of merchandise.  There were a few Roman men who quit their Legion after their levy was served who were looking for work as mercenaries, but the few who had accepted jobs were lousy warriors.  There just weren't many Romans wandering around in Gaul who were looking for work.  And the few that were looking for work seldom wanted the job of Overseer or Slave Guard.  It was a big step down in status to go from mercenary to Slave Guard, and few of the Romans who were seeking work as mercenaries wanted the jobs.  To be honest, the ones who did accept the jobs weren't good enough soldiers for any one to hire them as mercenaries.  They were such lousy warriors, watching slave was the only thing they were qualified to do with their swords.  They were men who had wandered around seeking work but no one wanted to hire them because they were such poor warriors.  Finally they came across the valley, and they gratefully accepted any kind of employment the valley offered them.

       And Salidia refused to hire foreigners who stopped at the Garrison looking for work, and he didn't blame her.  He didn't want to go to bed with some local tribesmen guarding the walls.  He'd wake up in the morning with some Gaul or Celt standing over him with a sword after some turncoat threw open the front gate to his fellow tribesmen.

       That old war horse, Stemdam, sent up around 45 men and women a month from Salidia's family estate in Tuscany, but they needed more than that.  And a few of Salidia's Patrician friends directed a few extra men over to her.  But it would take years to get everything up and running at that pace.

       And they needed more slaves, and the money they could earn with those slaves.  Only a little of their land was under cultivation, and all the estates had vast sections of land that went unplowed.  And large sweeps of pasture land that went unused.  Meanwhile all the strongholds were unfinished, in need of more lumber and cement.  And they needed to hire more troops to be safe from their neighbors.  Every week, theft by surrounding tribes was costing them more and more in lost livestock, and they had no troops to effectively stop the theft.  The thieves were becoming bolder and bolder as they realized the Romans had too few warriors to offer any meaningful resistance.  All those problems needed money to correct.

       They had to get all the estates up and running, and get the money they could earn from the estates.  And to do that they needed Overseers, Slave Guards, Sentries, and soldiers, as well as farmers and herdsmen.

                               ......................

       Clodius turned back to the woman and growled out in his usual endearing tone - that scared dogs and small children - "Well, do you want one of those jobs?"

       "Yes," Catana shot back, ferociously determined to hold onto some opportunity to get a job.  But she still wasn't sure what the jobs were!

       "Which one, Overseer or Slave Guard," he asked her, surprised she accepted one of the jobs after looking scared of the dangerous work.

       He did say "Overseer" and "Slave Guard!"  More ferociously than a guard dog going after a prowler, she was going to hold on to these jobs no matter what they entailed.  The pay didn't concern her.  Any job that paid steady money would satisfy her.  Being able to do the work required of her was her only concern.  "What do I have to do," she asked the man.  When she asked the question, she leaned toward Clodius so abruptly it looked like she wanted to lunge at him and grab him.

       Clodius understood the necessity driving the women.  Her dirty clothes, the skinny kids were all testament to how destitute the woman was.  The woman's appearance and now her actions told Clodius that she was desperate to get a job.  The compassionate part of Clodius answered her, although you couldn't tell it from his manner, "Overseer's the easiest job.  I send you over to one of strongholds in the valley, and you talk to the Lord or Lady there.  You be honest with them when you talk to them!  The Lord or Lady will decide if you get the job.  (They would make a determination if they thought the applicant was dependable and trustworthy from the interview.  It was really just a Lord's or Ladies' first impression of the applicant's personality.  Clodius was sure the woman would get the job.)  Someone at the stronghold will show you how we do things in the valley.  You get five weeks to learn our way of doing things.  At the end of five weeks, we test you to see if you've learned what we show you."

       If it killed her, Catana was determined to get it right, and learn what she had to learn.

       "Slave Guard is harder to get, but it pays more and the work is easier.  But to get the job, you have to know the 'Basica' drill with a gladius, but using a light buckler instead of a big scutum (the big, square shields that Legionnaires used).  Like the other job, someone will show you how we do things, and you get five weeks to learn it before we test you."  He tilted his head toward her, and wagged his finger toward her, "But at the end of a year, you have to be able to hit a target at 20 paces with a pilum, but you get a year to practice and train for it."

       Catana had a general idea of what the "Basica" drill was.  Her husband had been a Legionnaire, and Catana had been around Legions and Legionnaires for years.  The "Basica" was the drill with a sword and shield that they first taught new recruits.  Did the man really expect her to do a drill with a sword and shield?  But he did say buckler rather than scutum.  She could do it with a small, light buckler.  But a pilum was heavy.  She had moved her husband's things around often enough to know just how heavy a pilum was.  Much heavier than a javelin.  Heavy enough to punch through a shield when they came hurtling down through the air.  Twenty paces was a long way to throw the very heavy spear, at least for a woman.  It was an intentionally heavy weapon, designed to have enough weight to drive a spearhead through a shield when it was thrown.  But he did say she'd have a year to practice with the pilum before she'd be tested.

       How much better was the job as a Slave Guard?  Was it worth the effort of trying for the Slave Guard job?  She wanted to find out more about the advantages of each job.  She also wanted to find out about the requirements of each job so she could tell if she was able to do what was required.  And she had to learn the Basica drill.  "Can I think about it a little before I decide," she temporized with Clodius.  She needed to find out more about the two jobs.

       This was where the compassion part of Clodius came in.  He knew these were unusual jobs for women and they were confused about what the jobs entailed.  And from the few tough, old hookers who took the job, he knew that women didn't know the "Basica" drill.  Some Legionnaire had to teach it to them.  But it was the simplest drill taught to new recruits and easy to learn.  "You can take a little time to make your decision and you can take a week or two to practice the "Basica," if you want," Clodius said to her.  He knew the truth was that she had a week or two to learn the drill from scratch if she wanted to try for Slave Guard.

       Clodius looked at the pieces of parchment.  On top was the list of jobs needed at Lucius's stronghold.  Lucius needed the most people, and his list was at the top of the stack of parchments.  But Clodius shuffled through the parchments until he came to the list of jobs for Atus's estate.  He confirmed that Atus hadn't been sent any Overseers or Slave Guards for a while and that he still needed a lot of them.  Clodius had already decided he was going to send this woman over to Atus's estate.

       Atus was a soft hearted man, and he'd make sure the woman got work.  Atus's second daughter was that tough, mean little bitch, Janae, who was always at Kaylin's side.  Janae would just as soon kill you as look at you, and she'd probably twist the sword around so it hurt more, and enjoy every second of it.  But Cornelia, Atus's oldest daughter, ran his stronghold for him.  Cornelia was as soft hearted as her father.  Cornelia would take care of this woman.  But most important, the plots of land they gave Overseers and Slave Guards was located at the edge of Atus's estate.  It would only take half an hour or so to walk from the stronghold to one of the plots.  This woman could raise her kids on one of the garden plots and still walk to work everyday.

       Strongholds could be dangerous places for children.  Cavalry troops galloping up and down doing drills.  Sentries always out practicing with bows.  A little inattention, and you could wander into someplace someone was doing a drill.  They were no place for little children who wandered around not watching where they were going.  Clodius liked to send women with children to Atus's estate when he could.

       Clodius walked out the Front Gate, beckoning the woman to follow him.  He pointed down the long valley, on the north side.  "See that stronghold over there in the middle?  You go there in the morning, and ask for Atus.  You tell him Clodius sent you for a job as Overseer or Slave Guard.  He'll see if he thinks you can handle the work.  Go in the morning.  It's a long walk from here."  Clodius walked back into the stronghold, again directing the woman to follow him.  He pointed to a building on the near side of the stronghold.  "That's the Troop Kitchen.  Go inside, and you'll see a box against the left wall with some bags in it.  That's today's lunch.  Bread, some cheese, a chunk of mutton, and a carrot.  Take one.  It's a long walk back to the Legion.  And take one for tomorrow's walk over to Atus's.  That's a long walk, too.  Take a couple extra for your kids."

       "Captain," Catana said to him, "My friend needs a job, too.  We weren't sure if the offer of work was true or not, and I told her I'd let her know if you were really hiring woman.  Do you have a spot for her, too?"

       "Maybe.  Send her down to talk to me."  Clodius did the initial interviews, judging whether he felt someone was honest and dependable.  Only then did he send them off to a stronghold.

       "Thank you, Captain," Catana said to him, and she meant it more than he would know.  What she meant was, "You just saved our lives."

               ......................................

       The woman had proved more interesting than Clodius first thought when he saw her.  When she left the stronghold, she only took four lunch bags, the precise number he specified, proving to Clodius that she was no greedy pig.  When she left, she could have tried to walk out with every bag she could carry.  This boded well for her.

       And the woman's friend proved interesting, too.  When he first saw them way off in the distance, he thought they were taking their sweet time to walk down to the Garrison.  Two adults, and 2 children.  But when they drew nearer, Clodius saw why.  The man was on crutches, one leg withered and misshapen.  Clodius wondered if he was the same man Catana had mentioned, the crippled Centurion.

       In an age with no effective medical care, this happened a lot.  This man had been crippled by a simple mistake, an improperly set broken bone.  The woman now had to keep the family in food.

       When they finally got to the stronghold, the man stayed outside the Front Gate with the children, and the woman, Lena, entered.

       Being his usual "ray of sunshine" self, Clodius snarled out to the woman, "Yeah?"

       "Catana said you have jobs for women as Overseers and Slave Guards.  Is that really true?"

       "Yeah."

       "Forty two and 50 sestertii?"

       "Yeah."

       "And you show us how to do the job?"

       "Yeah."

       "Catana said you have someplace we could build a cabin?  Is that right?"

       "Yeah."

       "Could we stay at the stronghold until we build the cabin?"

       "Yeah."

       "But I have to learn to use a sword and shield?"

       "Yeah."

       "It's the "Basica" drill.  I have to learn the "Basica?"

       "Yeah."

       "And I have to watch male and female slaves?"

       "Yeah."

       "Do I really have to learn to throw a pilum twenty paces?"

       "Yeah."

       "What do I have to do for the jobs?"

       Clodius looked at the man, Milos, outside.  He would probably have to teach the woman.  He waved the man over.  Milos hobbled over on this crutches, but when he got to Clodius, he saluted Clodius like a Legionnaire, with the crutch wedged under his arm.  Clodius smiled the littlest smile, and returned the salute.  He was glad to help out a fellow Legionnaire.

       Clodius spoke more to the ex-Legionnaire than the woman.  The Legionnaire had to understand what was required of the women so he could teach them the right things.

       "I'm going to send you over there," he said pointing to Atus's stronghold.  You convince Atus that you'll show up for work everyday without being drunk, and that you can keep the slaves working hard the whole day.  If you go for Overseer, our farmers will show you what the slaves have to do.  Our men will show you how we do things.  You got five weeks to learn it, and then we test you."

       Being an ex-soldier the man would understand what Clodius was talking about, so Clodius was more expansive with him.  Turning to the ex-Legionnaire, "We don't teach our Overseers much with weapons.  You should teach her how to use a sword if a slave turns on her."  Milos seriously nodded back to Clodius, understanding the serious life and death issues involved.

       "Slave Guard's a better job.  More chance of promotion, but it's more dangerous if the slaves turn on you.  She has to learn the Basica to even try out for the job.  Take two weeks to train her if you have to.  If she can't learn the Basica in two weeks, she isn't good enough for the work."

       "We show you how we do things.  Five weeks to learn it, and then you're tested.  If she gets the job, she's got a year to learn all twelve drills with a gladius, but the women use a buckler instead of a scutum.  See that wall," Clodius said, pointing to the wall facing the Via Agrippa.  "If we're ever attacked, she goes up on the wall to defend the stronghold like any other warrior.  At the end of a year, she's got to be able to stand on top of that wall and hit a target 20 paces out with a pilum.  But it's throwing down from the top of the wall, so you should be able to cover the distance if you practices," Clodius said.  The last sentence was directed at the woman.

       "Once we see that we can trust you, you can try out for the Sentries.  That's a good job.  Fifty five sestertii a month, no running around the countryside with a bunch of slaves but inside the stronghold all day."

       Clodius turned to the man, "Are you going to show that other woman, your friend, the Basica?"  Milos nodded, and added, "We help each other out."  Clodius smiled.  They needed people who were loyal to each other and helped each other out.  He filed that information about these people in his memory.  Turning to Lena, he said, "Go to that building over there and get some lunch bags to cover today and tomorrow's trip to Atus.  Take some extra for the kids and your husband.  If the box is already empty, ask one of the cooks to throw together some lunch bags for you."   She smiled at him, thanked him, and headed off to the Troop Kitchen.

       About twenty minutes later Lena emerged from the Troop Kitchen carrying what looked like five lunch bags.  But with her was also Camarína, one of the cooks.  She was carrying two bigger bags.  On top of one Clodius could see a head of lettuce, and he could see carrot tops sticking out of the top of the other bag.  Romans loved carrots.  Camarína put the bags down at the feet of the man and two children when she got to the Front Gate.  Clodius chuckled to himself.  He wasn't the only soft hearted person at the Garrison.  As the couple disappeared down the road, Clodius thought to himself, "I've got to stop being such a softee, and send Lucius some women tomorrow."

                                       Chapter 11

       That night the three friends sat around in Lena's tent talking, in the baggage train of Galba's Legion.

       Milos: "I don't know if this is such a safe place to live.  Selenius's Legion isn't stationed down the road because these are such nice tribes around here.  There are bands of Remi and Cimbri settled around this area, and they're nothing but thieves and killers.  And that fort is only half finished.  Three of the walls aren't high enough to stop anyone, and they had no catwalks.  They can't be defended without someplace for warriors to stand.  Half the buildings aren't up.  There are just engineer's stakes marking the ground where they intend to build them later.  There were only 5 sentries spread across all the walls.  That's not enough people to defend even one corner."

       "The people in this valley are lucky one of the surrounding tribes doesn't swoop in here to kill them all and take all their land and slaves.  I don't think they have enough warriors here to defend themselves, and that's why they're hiring women.  They're desperate to get any people they can.  We move here and we can be killed in some half finished stronghold along with all the other fifty people who live in this valley......if they even have fifty people living here!  And half the people they have are women who they expect to fight men.  This is going to be a dangerous place to live.  You look at the bastards surrounding them, and it's like a contiburium of Legionnaires surrounded by a whole tribe of Huns.  They don't stand a chance if one of the surrounding tribes decides to attack them.  It could be suicide if we decide to stay here."

       Catana: "Milos, the first time it snows next winter, somebody will find us all in our tents frozen to death with our ribs showing through our skin.  If we get these jobs, at least we stand a fighting chance of staying alive."

       She continued, "You're talking a 'maybe' against a 'sure thing.'  Maybe the neighboring tribes will attack them, and maybe they'll be able to break into their strongholds.  But it's a sure thing none of us will be alive next spring if the only way we can live is scrounging whatever we can off the Legion.  We've got to get some jobs so we can feed ourselves." 

       Lena: "Honey, the girls are losing weight.  We can't go on like we've been living.  Let's at least go to that stronghold, and hear what they have to say.  We don't know if that stronghold is in better condition than the fort up here.  Maybe the fort we're going to is finished and has enough warriors stationed there to defend themselves."

       Milos gave in to the women's reasoning.  They were desperate.  He knew they had to get some kind of steady work if they were going to avoid starving to death.  Catana asked him, "Do you know that Basica that we have to know?"

       Milos: "Every raw recruit knows the Basica.  I can show it to you in a day.  A week of practice to polish the moves so you get them perfect.  But the first 3 blocks of the Basica are throwing your weight into the shield to ram into the enemy, but that man said they use bucklers.  I have to see how they do that with a small buckler instead of a large scutum.  And there are a few ways to block with a buckler

and I need to know which way they do it."

       Lena: "I'm going to ask Silvia if we can put our things in her tent tomorrow.  Catana, eat your meat instead of saving it for your daughters.  And have more of the vegetables that cook gave me.  There's still some carrots left.  You're going to need your strength if we're going to do this."

                       ....................................

       The next morning as the three strangers started to Atus's stronghold, they passed the Garrison again.  Out on the Training Grounds, Dragoons were practicing their drills.  The three watched the soldiers as they passed, and they recognized the drills as identical to those used by Legionnaires.

       Milos: "At least they know how to fight, but there's only half a century of men out there.  And there are only four Sentries on the fort over there this morning.  I'm telling you, these people don't have enough warriors to defend themselves against the murdering bastards who live around here."

       Catana: "Maybe that's why they're willing to pay so much money for Overseers and Slave Guards, to attract people to work here.  If we throw our lot in with these people, maybe we'll be richly rewarded for taking the risk.  I'd rather gamble my future on the chance of rich rewards for taking a chance with these people rather than gamble me and my children don't starve to death this winter."

       Lena: "Honey, no matter what we do, we're gambling.  At least in this valley, we're gambling on a job where we can eat and have a warm place to live."

       Milos stopped to lean over and kiss his wife.  "You're right.  I know we have to get steady jobs, but I wish we found someplace that offered us just plain jobs instead of a place that offered us dangerous work that can get us killed.  Let's think about this before we take these jobs.  Maybe if we look a little longer, we can find a someplace that has safe work.  Just because we're desperate, it doesn't mean we should take jobs that are just suicide."

       Catana: "I've been looking for work longer than you two, and there's nothing for people who don't belong to one of the local tribes up here.  They only hire people from their own tribe.  It'll be snowing and we'll still be looking for a job.  The winter will kill us as surely as any of the local tribes.  This is the only place that has offered us any kind of work so far, dangerous or not.  And how would we even talk to one of the local tribes if we look for work among the people who live up here?  We don't know their languages!"

       They all knew Catana was right.

       Two hours into their walk to Atus's, three riders approached them from the other direction, at a trot.  Two men and a woman.  All wore brightly polished breast plates, helmets and grieves that typically distinguished high ranked officer.  Their horses were festooned with weapons, and the woman wore a purple tunic under her armor.  The color purple was typically reserved for Patricians.  As they passed, the woman smiled at the little group of strangers.

       Catana: "Did you see that! A women warrior!  I never thought I'd ever see that."

       Lena: "Do you think that was the Patrician?"  They had heard that a woman Patrician owned the valley.  "It's like seeing the legend of the Amazons come to life."

       Milos:  "Those were some damn good horses.  I think that was her.  Imagine, a Patrician living way up here in wild Gaul instead of some rich estate back in Italy."

                       .......................................

       As they approached Atus's stronghold they were relieved to see all the walls were up to full height.  But the Keep which sat on one corner was only made of wood.  And worse, only six Sentries patrolled the walls and they were women.  The two women left Milos with the children outside the front gate, and they headed through the gate and then down a long, enclosed passageway into the stronghold's interior.  A Captain dressed like the Captain at the Garrison met them in the interior courtyard of the stronghold.

       The man affably said, "The only reason you'd be here is for jobs.  What kind of jobs?"

       Catana loudly blurted out, "Overseer or Slave Guard."  A little startled by the loud answer, the Captain returned, "Atus is with his daughter.  Wait over there," and he pointed to a bench next to a second, interior gate which sat at the other end of the long, cavernous gate passageway that connected the outside gate to the inside gate.  The women took a seat.

       About 20 minutes later, a big man dressed in the pants and shirt of a Germanian exited a building and started across the courtyard.  He had long blonde hair, but no mustache or beard.  He had learned how much the mustache reminded Romans of Goths and drove them crazy, and he had chosen the easy way out of the problem.  "Atus," the Captain of the House Guards called to him, and pointed to the women sitting on the bench.

       As Atus neared them, he noticed the man and children waiting outside the stronghold gate.  Children's voices had echoed down the long gate passageway to catch his attention.  Waving his arm, he bellowed, "Come in, Come in!"  He walked part way down the passageway and knelt down before one of the children.  "Hello, Sweetie.  Your mother's inside," he said.  Standing up, he took the child's hand and walked back down the passageway toward the interior courtyard with Milos and the children.

       As Atus neared the end of the enclosed passageway that made up the middle section of the gate, a mounted woman trotted across the courtyard and then into the Gate passageway.  Like the women on the road, this woman was armored, with a bow, quiver, lance and shield on her horse.  She stopped at Atus, leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.  "I want you and your brother to come here for dinner tomorrow.  I don't like you and Bruno being over at the Garrison and me stuck way over here.  Families should be together," Atus said to her.  "Yes, Daddy.  I'll tell Bruno," she answered him.  "Love you," she bid him good-bye and started her horse out the passage.

       Inside, Atus flopped down on the corner of the bench with the group of strangers, with his legs stretched out and leaning back against the wall.  "You must be here for jobs.  What kind of jobs do you want?"

       "Slave Guard or Overseer," Catana emphatically shot out, once again in too loud a voice.  Atus craned his neck around to see the loud woman at the end of the bench.  "What a porcupine," Atus thought to himself, looking at the woman's jutting jaw, lips pushed forward, and bristling manner.  Amused at the woman's apparent belligerency, he jokingly asked her just to tease her, "You don't know what kind of job you want, woman?  You walk all the way over here and you don't know the job you want?"

       The humor in Atus's voice disarmed Catana.  She didn't know how to respond to it.  Her poor clothing and that of her friends and children often evoked contempt from strangers, and she had been prepared to defend herself from ridicule.  Humor is a wonderful weapon against such an attitude.  A pause started to stretch out into an awkward silence as Catana fumbled around for a good response.  "We don't know what we have to do for the two jobs," Lena broke in to relieve the silence.

       Atus smiled.  That was an honest answer.  None of the women who came to his stronghold knew what the jobs entailed.  Slave Guard and Overseer were unusual jobs for women, and they had no idea of what would be expected of them.  "Ladies, we expect you do the same things that male Overseers and Slave Guards do.  It can be dangerous work, and you need courage to do it.  But we train you, and we use male Overseers and Slave Guards for the most dangerous slaves, but you could still be stuck watching field slaves and that can be dangerous."

       "We're short people in this valley, and we're using women to fill in jobs men would do.  The women you see in this valley are all brave women, and if you want one of these jobs than you'll need courage."

       "We'll take the jobs," Catana angrily blurted out, as if the need for courage challenged her ability to do the work.  She acted defiantly just like an adolescent boy would bristle if someone doubted his courage.  Atus leaned forward a little to look at the woman at the end of the bench.  He thought to himself, "That porcupine is one angry woman.  I hope she doesn't bite."

       Neither woman was fazed by the mere mention of "danger."  Their poverty had thrust them into a dangerous world that threatened their lives with starvation.  Lena was a more practical person, and she wanted information to decide which of the two jobs to try for.  "What's the difference between the two jobs," she asked Atus.

       "Overseer's a safer job, but we get most of our foreman from trained men sent here from Salidia's estate in Tuscany, so there's not much chance of a promotion.  Slave Guard's more dangerous, but we need a lot of junior-grade officers like corporals and sergeants, so there's a better chance at promotions," Atus answered.

       "Could we have a little time to practice the Basica if we decide on Slave Guard," Lena asked.  Atus laughed.  These weren't the first women to try out for Slave Guards.  None of the woman knew the drill, and they all needed someone to teach it to them.  "You mean you have to learn it from scratch, don't you?  Who's going to teach it to you," Atus asked Lena.  "I will," Milos answered. 

       Atus glanced at the man, noting his crutches and withered leg.  He guessed that if the man knew the Basica, he must have been a Legionnaire at one time.  The man's condition sobered Atus, and he sat pensive for a few moments.  Seriously, he said to Milos, "My own wife and oldest son were killed in an attack a little while ago.  Sometimes I think Wotan is a bad god, and he picks the wrong people to fall in battle.  When I get to Walhalla I'm going to have to find Him and set Him straight on a couple of things.  I could do a better job at it than He does.  At least you people still have each other.  I'd give my right arm just to talk with my wife for one night."  Atus had truly and deeply loved his wife, and he never got over her death.  He remained true to her memory until his death, and never remarried.  Simply, every woman he looked at, he thought, "You're not like Grenda.  I want Grenda."  Unconsiously, he searched for his wife the rest of his life, but never found her in the new women he met.  Deep in his heart, he knew the woman he wanted to find, and his heart would accept no other.

       Being reminded of his wife sadden Atus.  The change in mood left him wanting to conclude the interview.  He got up and faced the small group.  "Which job," he asked.  "Slave Guard," Catana defiantly answered, making a spur of the moment decision to take the better paying job.  "Are you sure?  The job can be dangerous," Atus returned.  "We want the jobs," Catana shot back, with her chin thrust forward and lips pushed out, an angry look on her face.  Lena, with a serious look on her face, jerked her up and down hard, in place of an affirmative nod.  The feisty porcupine got Atus laughing again.  The interview was meant to weed out liars and deadbeats and drunkards.  They wanted only people who sincerely wanted to settle in the valley, who they felt could do the jobs.  Atus was sure the women's determination to get the jobs ensured they would work hard to keep the jobs.

       Atus turned to his Captain of House Guards, "Find Corrie, and send her over here to settle these people in."  To the group of newcomers, "I'll tell Patronus you're here.  He's your Captain.  And Cottus will find you tomorrow.  He's your 2nd. Optio (second lieutenant).  He'll explain everything to you and test you on the Basica."

       The Basica test was to see if the person had sufficient athletic abilities to handle the job.  Clods and people who couldn't walk without tripping over their own feet were weeded out and relegated to some trivial agricultural job.  They wanted to be sure the person had enough physical ability to benefit from the training in arms that they gave their Slave Guards.  They expected their Slave Guards to do more than usual Slave Guards were required to do; and they needed extra training, even for those men who had been Slave Guards in other locations.

       Because of the shortage of people in the valley, they were forced to use Slave Guards to help defend the strongholds if ever they were attacked.  Slave Guards were given extra training in weapons so they could successfully defend the walls of the stronghold.  Besides, most of the men who took the job were poor warriors to begin with, and they needed more training just to be competent at the job of Slave Guard.

       Atus faced the porcupine, "What's your name?"  "Catana."  Atus chuckled for a few moments at the woman's loud answer.  "Welcome to my stronghold, Catana," Atus finally managed to say to the feisty woman when he quieted down.  "And you," Atus asked Lena.  "Lena," she answered.  "Welcome, Lena."  And lastly, "And you, Milite?"  Being addressed once again as a Legionnaire, instead of a cripple, made Milos beam ear to ear.  "Milos, Lord," Milos answered proudly.  Atus extended his arm to shake Milos's hand, "Welcome, Milos."  "Wait here.  My daughter will be over and she'll settle you in.  Good luck with your test, Ladies," he finished up.  He nodded to them, and then turned and left.

       The three adults beamed at each other with expressions that combined astonishment that they got the jobs, joy at their good fortune, and relief that their precarious existence was behind them.  In truth, the jobs didn't pay that much, but compared to how they had been living, it was a godsend for them.  And it was much more than anyone else would offer such apparently low class people.  It was a class conscious society with rigid social stratification, and not many people would hire them for responsible positions.  If they had been in Italy, no one would have hired them for a responsible position like a Slave Guard, and they would have been lucky to get 6 or 7 denarii a month at the lowest status jobs imaginable.  Part-time work cleaning out stables and barns would have been their lot if they were back in Italy.  They would have gotten part time jobs where there was too little work to employ a full time slave.

                       .................................

       The stronghold which spread out before them was mainly open space, with a few scattered buildings in what seemed like odd locations.  Scattered around were engineer's stakes driven into the ground, to mark the locations of future constructions.  The construction engineer for the valley was going stronghold to stronghold, erecting only essential structures, and leaving other buildings undone until he had more time to finish all the work.  The whole place had the look of an unfinished project.

       A 20 y.o. blonde woman walked up, dressed in a simple gown ubiquitous to the provinces.  "Hello, I'm Cornelia.  I run my father's stronghold for him."  A round of introductions followed.

       "So, we've got little ones to take care of.  What kind of jobs are you here for?  Overseers, Slave Guards, Sentries, Shepherds?"

       "Slave Guards," Catana proudly answered, standing up tall.

       "Alright.  First things first.  This way," Cornelia said, and headed for a big, long building on the far side of the stronghold.  "This is the Slave Guard barracks for single people living at the stronghold without their families.  This is where you form up at the beginning of your shift, and it is where you come for your equipment."  She led them into the building.  It was a long, narrow building.  Near the door were a few rows of beds with blankets and pallets on them, and scattered bags of personal belongings stored under the beds.  There was another row of beds with just pallets on them, apparently not being used.  More than half the room was empty and unused.  Against the far wall were some doors for rooms which lined one side of the building, and Cornelia headed toward the side rooms.  She led the group into one of the rooms.

       The walls were lined with shelves, and clothing was stacked on the shelves.  "This is where you Ladies come for clean uniforms, cloaks, and bedding.  Slave Guards all wear brown.  I'm afraid you Ladies have to wear tunics on duty.  They say it's easier to run and ride horses in tunics rather than gowns.  Sandals over on that wall.  Each of you grab a tunic, some undergarments, some sandals and a cloak.  Grab a blanket, too."

       An astonished Catana and Lena went to the shelves to get the excellent quality tunics and cloaks and sandals.  Very often soldiers were required to supply their own uniforms and equipment.  Catana and Lena were thrilled at their good fortune, and happily took the tunics and cloaks to replace their threadbare clothing.  And warm blankets!

       While they rummaged through the different sizes (clothes were made by hand without any system of standardization and varied in size),  Cornelia went on.  "When your clothes get dirty, thrown them in that box over there.  Slaves wash them.  You get a clean uniform whenever you need it.  Slaves keep a constant supply of clean uniforms available.  If you want, take an extra set to keep at your rooms, so you can change to clean clothes in your room instead of here."

       When the woman's arms were full, Cornelia led them out, pointing to another room.  "That's where your armor and weapons are stored when you're off duty.  Come here to get your equipment when you go on duty."

       Cornelia took them out of the building and led the group toward a well in the corner of the stronghold.  Next to the well, they passed a building.  "That's the Baths," Cornelia said.  "Slaves keep the fires going during the daytime, but we have so few people at the stronghold right now, it's not worth having any attendants there.  Later, when more people live here, we'll put in some attendants.  I guess later it will start to get crowded, but right now there's never a crowd whenever you go."  The Romans in Gaul kept up their tradition of bathing that was typical of Rome.

       Beside the well were water troughs that slaves used to wash clothing.  Behind that was another small one room building.  Cornelia led them inside.  It was like the place they had just left, a room lined with shelves.  The shelves were stacked with clothing, apparently organized by type and size.  "This is for the families of the soldiers living here.  You get the clothes for the children here.  You, too, Milos.  Get some tunics and cloaks and sandals.  And a blanket for each set of kids."  While they got the kids' clothes, she said, "When the clothes are dirty, drop them off in that box for the slaves to wash."  The kids emerged from the shack, beaming with smiles over their new clothes.  Milos had his things thrown over a shoulder, along with 2 blankets.

       Cornelia lead them back across the courtyard, and she pointed to a building as she walked.  "That's the Troop Kitchen, where you eat.  Three meals a day, but you can always go inside.  The food is put out hot and fresh three times day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner."  Pointing, she said, "That's a sundial to tell you when the meals will be put out.  If you can't read it, watch what everybody else does.  And the cooks will ring a hand bell when they've put out all the food."

       She went on, "If you have the Night Shift, slaves will bring you a mid-watch meal to your station.  If you work outside the stronghold, they make up a lunch bag for you to take with you when you leave the stronghold.  You women will need a lunch bag when you start the training for your probationary period."  She turned to Milos, "When the troops change shifts, we like to move them through the Kitchen without delays, so they don't have to stand around waiting to eat.  If you and the kids could eat before or after the shift changes, it would help prevent any congestion."

       To everybody as they walked, "Inside, there's a table at the far side.  It will have platters and pots filled with the food for that meal.  Just go down the table and take what you want.  Tables and benches to sit on.  If you're starving between meals, you can always slip in there for a chunk of bread and cheese to tide you over until the next meal.  They always keep a wheel of cheese and a bag of bread out all the time for anyone that's hungry and wants something to eat between meals.  And Milos, if you go there before the food is ready, just go in the back and tell the cooks, and they'll rustle something up for you."

       She led them to the far wall.  There were some buildings against the outer defensive wall, and some free standing buildings.  They were all intended to be part of a larger complex of buildings, but only a few of the intended structures were up.  In the center were 2 small conjoined buildings, each 2 stories high.  "These are for single parents.  Those buildings over there are for officers who live here with their families."

       Both of the joined buildings had 8 rooms on each floor.  A table next to the front door had a collection of oil lamps, with one already burning, which served to ignite others.  Cornelia took one, lit it from the burning lamp, and motioned Catana and Lena to take one.  "Take some extra lamps, so you can use them to light your rooms," she said to them.  Heading toward some stairs, she said, "These rooms on the 1st. floor are already taken.  Come on."  She led them upstairs.  Along a central hallway was a stack of firewood for the residents, as well as a small cache of water jars and lamp oil.  Slaves kept these supplies replenished.

       Pointing to one of the rooms in front, Cornelia said, "That room's taken."  Pointing to a corner room without a door in the back, she said, "That's a common room for everybody to use.  You can send the kids there if you want to get them out of your hair for a while."  Then to Milos and Lena, "The room at the back is the biggest.  You might like that one."  To Catana, "You can pick one of the other rooms."  Catana choose the room next to Milos and Lena.  To Milos and Lena again, "I'm afraid these rooms were intended for single parents, but your room is bigger and it will be more comfortable for both you and your husband.  It was intended for someone with five or six kids, so you should be able to squeeze in Milos in the extra space."

       By our standards the rooms were small for a family, but by their standards the rooms were average sized.  And clean and snug by their standards.  Most people lived in wood or stone single room cottages or hutches.  Concrete was cleaner and draft free.  Each room had 2 beds with straw stuffed pallets (wool in winter), a table and chair, and a cabinet.  The children could share one of the beds, a common practice for that time.  There was a small supply of firewood, a fireplace for warmth, and 3 water jars.  In the corner was a small enclosure with a door, used as a toilet.  The door was intended for odor control rather than privacy.  Lacking running water, jars with lids were used instead of toilets.  Most of the stronghold's accommodations used common toilets shared by all, but for families with small children, toilets in each room was thought more useful for the parents to use with small kids.  Compared to the tents the two families had been living in, the two rooms were warm, snug palaces that came replete with their own water and firewood.

       Lena: "We left our things up at Galba's Legion.  Will we be able to get them?"

       Cornelia: "Galba's going to be here for 3 more days.  He hasn't seen Salidia for a few years and he's staying long enough for a good visit.  And he also wants to give his men a rest.  Get some horses from the barn, and go when you want to.  Settle in here and get something to eat later.  Stay around this building tomorrow morning.  Cottus will come looking for you to start you off.  Any questions you have about the job, you ask Cottus.  Any problems you have with food, clothing, lodgings you come to me.  I make sure our soldiers are taken care of, along with their families."

       "After you've passed your probationary test, you come see me about a plot of land.  The garden plots are real close to the stronghold.  Just a short walk away.  You might prefer living there, if you have little children.  It's a lot safer for the little ones over there.  Here there are horses running around, Sentries practicing with their bows, all sorts of dangerous things for little kids.  This is probably the only stronghold in the valley where you can easily walk to work.  Everyone else has to walk for leagues to get to their plot of land."

       "I think you're going to be happy here.  Remember, if you have any problems, come see me.  Even if you just have questions about something, you can come see me."

       Lena: "Thank you so much, Mistress.  Tell your father we'll make him proud of the work we do for him."  Everyone exchanged curt bows of their heads, and Cornelia headed off.

         When Cornelia left, the three all hugged each other, Catana repeating time and again, "We're safe!  We're safe!"  She leaned down to hug her youngest daughter.  She had been so worried her littlest one could not survive the tough conditions they had been living under.  Lena cupped Milos's face with both her hands and said, "You've been getting skinnier and skinnier.  I've been so worried about you."  And he said to her, "I've felt so bad since I haven't been able to take care of you and the kids.  Now I know you'll be alright."  The celebration was interrupted by Catana's oldest one, who tugged on her mother's gown, saying, "Mommy, can I try on my new clothes?"  The adult's eyes lit up, and Lena said, "Let's try them on!"

       The families disappeared into their rooms, to reappear minutes later in the hallway all dressed in their new clothes.  The women's threadbare, old dirty clothes were replaced with their new uniforms of light brown.  (It wasn't customary to pass out uniforms until after job applicants passed their tests, but Cornelia had noticed the group's poor clothing, and she decided to hand out the new uniforms ahead of schedule.)  Milos and the children worn clothes of a light gray shade.  Clothing was color coded in the valley.  It was useful to identify all the newcomers to the valley simply at sight, and useful to spot slaves who might not be in their assigned positions.  Slaves wore unbleached, undyed fabrics.  They got a rectangle of fabric with a slit cut in the center for the head, and a rope to cinch the garment around their waist.

       Although it was warm out in late summer, everyone had on their new cloaks.  Everybody just giggled and laughed at the sight of each other.  But it wouldn't be a complete display of the clothing without some comments.  Catana said to her daughters, "Oh, you two look so pretty in your new gowns."  Milos fingered the fabric of Lena's tunic, "Good strong fabric.  That will last you a long time and still be good."  Lena to Milos, "You look so handsome in that.  You remind me of the man I married."  Next came an inspection of each other's rooms.  The rooms were virtually identical, except for a slight difference in size, but each item in both rooms deserved appreciative "ohh's" and "awh's."  Each item in the rooms was treated as if it was a great prize, down to the oil lamps.  In Catana's room, when Catana looked at the fireplace, the small pile of firewood, the beds with their pallets and warm blankets, she hugged her two daughters and cried.  She had been so sure the next winter would claim all their lives.

       Next came the pièce de résistance of their introduction to their new home, the food.  "Let's eat," Lena gleefully exclaimed.  They all ran down the stairs, crowding each other in their rush, and jostling each other and laughing as they ran toward the Kitchen, only to self-consciously rein in to a walk when they noticed people in the stronghold staring at them.

       This Troop Kitchen was half the size of the building at the Garrison, but the layout was the same.  The Garrison covered two estates and it sat on the border between both pieces of property, and it housed twice as many slaves and personnel as Atus's estate.  They arrived at the Kitchen two hours before the usual shift change, and none of the food had been run out yet.  But a cook noticed the group when she started to bring out bread for the next meal, and she asked them if they wanted something to eat.  The cooks had been preparing batch after batch of food in anticipation of the diners who would arrive later.

       "Do you want something," the cook asked them.  The children blurted out, "Yes, please."  Addressing the adults, the cook said, "We have a few batches of everything ready.  Only the beans may still be a little tough.  But you can have some if you want them."  "Yes, please," the children answered for everybody.  Out came a few platters and bowls of food.  All the Kitchens in the strongholds made generous amounts of food.  It never went to waste.  Surplus amounts of food produced for the Officers Mess or Troop Kitchen was sent to the Slave Kitchen, to be used in the slave's next meal.  The food was intentionally overproduced to ensure never running short for the hard working personnel, and the food allotted to the slaves anticipated using unconsumed food from the other kitchens.

       There were platters of cheese, roast chicken, and apples and bowls of beans and lettuce, a favorite of the Romans.  The lettuce only had olive oil mixed in, since the valley's olive trees had yet to produce any crops.  And there was a bag of bread.  The children's eyes went wide in surprise at the variety, and they went for the chicken and apples, only to have their mothers slap on some beans and lettuce on their plates.  Everyone took more than they could eat, which they would gleefully force themselves to finish.

       Back at a table, Catana exclaimed, "Can you believe this!  All we can eat!"  Milos just watched his family eat, tears silently running down his face.  Catana said to Lena, "I don't care what they ask of us, we're going to do it.  I don't even care what they pay us, as long as we can eat like this everyday.  My kids are never going to go hungry again."

       Toward the end of their meal, a man dressed in a black tunic, the color used to identify Overseers, came in carrying a large kettle.  He went in the back room by the cooks, and emerged a few minutes later with an apparently heavier kettle, only to exit the building with his haul of food for his family.  "Is that what you do if you don't eat here?  Take the food back to your family," Lena asked Catana.  "I guess so," Catana answered.

         The attitude in the valley was that anyone who lived or worked in a stronghold was fed in the stronghold.  (What else could they do?  It was a practical necessity.  There were no local supermarkets where people could drive to for groceries!  The stronghold grew all of the food available for all the valley's residents, and there were no other sources of supplies.  Strongholds were the sole suppliers for everyone in the valley.  The choice was to feed the people or watch the sons and daughters and wives of their personnel starve.  Freemen, who lived outside the strongholds in their own cottages, stopped by the stronghold to pick up bags of supplies, and returned to their cabins with the food.  Later in the history of the valley, freeman would start to produce crops on their plots of land, but in the beginning the plots of land were undeveloped and uncultivated.)

       The adults had been too involved with the important task of stuffing their faces to bother with something so trivial as conversation, but now that their stomachs were beginning to painfully bulge, they relented for a few moments.  "Can you believe they just give us horses to use because we have to go back to the Legion?  They don't even know us, and they give us horses to use," Catana exclaimed.  "What people these are!  They certainly know how to take care of their own," Lena answered.

       "Do you know how to ride," Catana asked Lena.  "No," said Lena, "Do you?"  "No, but I'm taking a horse even if I have to walk beside him the whole way.  Wait till they see us at the baggage train with horses!  Silvia's going to faint.  You and I can go, and Milos can watch the children."  Milos added, "I know how to ride.  I can tell you all about it."  The three laughed.  Milos was open and candid about his leg.  They headed back to their rooms.  The two women each took some bread and cheese with them,.... just in case....

                       ...........................

       When they got back to their quarters, they heard sounds of children in two of the downstairs rooms, but they were too shy to introduce themselves to the people in the rooms.  At the top of the stairs, they saw a slave tied hand and foot lying on the floor next to the door by a front room.  At the noise of people ascending the stairs, the room's occupant got up and went to her door.

       As everyone piled onto the hallway, the door at the end opened, revealing a woman in a brown tunic.  "Hello, I'm Laurelae.  Nice to see some people finally up here."  Behind the woman, a girl the age of Catana's eldest was peeking out from behind the door.  "Hail.  I'm Catana, and this is Lena and Milos," Catana returned.  "Another Slave Guard!  We have a million questions to ask you," Lena chimed in.

       As Lena talked, Laurelae noticed Catana starring at the slave lying on the floor.  She addressed Catana, "He annoyed me at work today, and I thought I'd teach him some manners tonight so he's better behaved tomorrow.  I'll keep down the noise so it doesn't disturb the children later."  She opened the door to the empty room next to her's, and kicked the slave.  "Get in there," she ordered him.  He crawled into the room, and she closed the door behind him.

       A man and a woman climbed the stairs.  They heard noise on the stairs above them, and then the sound of strange voices, and they came up to introduce themselves.  "Hi, I'm Iolus," the man called from the stairway.  He was the same man they saw before, the black clad Overseer from the Kitchen.  "And I'm Matilda," said the woman, who also wore a brown Slave Guard tunic.

       The hallway was now crowded.  Laurelae pointed to the common room in the back corner which had additional tables and chairs in place of beds, and all the adults filed into the room, with some children and the balance of children crowded around the doorway. 

       Introductions followed.  Everyone felt a need to explain who they were and why they were there.  Matilda was a camp follower who had been abandoned by a Legionnaire husband who simply got bored with her, and he stopped coming to the baggage train to be with her.  When his Legion stopped at Salidia's, she jumped at the opportunity to feed herself and her child.  Initially she only felt qualified as an Overseer, but once she got to Atus's she saw how well they trained their Slave Guards, and she decided to try for the better money of a Slave Guard.  When she told Atus that she wanted to make the change, he didn't bat an eyelash.  Instead, he just said, "Sure.  Get someone to teach you the Basica, and then take two weeks to practice it.  Ask Cottus to test you when you're ready."  Then he wrapped his arm about her as they walked, and said, "I'm glad you're making the change.  I've got more Overseers than Slave Guards, and this will help round out the teams."  Then he tousled her hair, and said, "See you later;" and head off to his work.  Atus could only spend a little time during the day at his stronghold.  Most of the time, he was on duty at Salidia's stronghold with Talig and the other men.

       Matilda searched for someone to teach her the Basica, and quickly found Iolus.  A tradition was already developing in the valley of Overseers and Slave Guards helping each other out.  In her early twenties and inexperienced, she had the courage and optimism of youth.  She believed the training they would give her was enough to handle any problems she might encounter.

       Iolus felt a need to explain why an able bodied Legionnaire would accept the cut in pay and status to accept a job as an Overseer.  "My wife died a few months ago.  I miss her so much, and I never realized how much I depended upon her to take care of the kids.  I found a woman back in the baggage train who agreed to watch my kids for a little money and she was nice enough.  But every time my Legion got in a fight I started to worry that if something happened to me, there would be no one to take care of my kids.  I'm the only one they have, and if something happens to me, they'd be all alone in the world.  Every time we marched out, I was afraid I might not come back, and I kept on having this picture in my mind of the Legion moving on and my kids standing on the side of the road, abandoned and alone.  When we stopped in this valley, I thought the best thing I could do for my kids was take a safe job as an Overseer.  I had to desert my Legion because my levy wasn't finished, but my centurion knew I had the kids and no one to take care of them.  Everyone just turned a blind eye to me and the kids walking out of the redoubt."

       "At least when I go to work, I know I'll come back at night and my kids wouldn't be alone.  Maybe when my kids are older and can take care of themselves, I might try out for the Slave Guards.  I thought even a Dragoon would be good job, once the kids get bigger."

       Laurelae had been married to a Legionnaire, and his Legion had been posted to the very northern limit of the empire, where she heard there was constant skirmishes and fights with the northmen on the border.  She had heard terrible stories of the Huns, and tales of whole Legions being wiped out in battles with hordes of barbarians.  When his Legion passed Salidia's valley, she thought that even the valley was a safer place to live than a dangerous border garrison surrounded by Huns and Goths.

       While her husband's Legion tarried at the valley, she met a Dragoon, and she cultivated a friendship with him.  When her husband's Legion moved on, she stayed on with the Dragoon.  When her husband's Legion next bivouacked, her husband went back to the baggage train to find her gone.  She had the Dragoon show her the Basica, and once she learned the drill, she went to Clodius and asked for a post.  She was interested in the job that paid the most money and was also easier work than an Overseer.  She felt she could figure out one way or another to get around the dangers of the job.

       This wasn't the story she told the others.  She told the others in the Single Parent Quarters that she had been abandoned like Matilda.

       Milos: "I was kicked by a horse.  One of our own horses, no less!  We were going past a little, no-account tribe.  Not worth the trouble of stopping.  When we went past them, they stood up on a hill and shot arrows at us.  When our cavalry went out, they all ran away.  Just a little, no-account tribe."

       "When they shot their arrows, we all put up our shield overhead.  Nothing special, just what we usually did.  It wasn't even massed arrows.  The tribesmen just fumbled around with their arrows, scared half to dead and dropping their arrows half the time, they were so afraid.  Can't blame them, though.  It was a couple of dozen men going against a Legion.  Pretty brave of them when you think about it.  Can't blame them for having a little case of nerves.  It was a steady rain of a few arrows here and there."

       "I heard some noise behind me, but I couldn't take my eyes off the arrows.  I had a few coming in my direction and I couldn't tell yet which way they were going, so I had to watch them to see if they were coming toward me."

       "Next thing I know, I'm on the ground.  An arrow got one of our officer's horse, and when the horse got hit, he started kicking everything around him.  The horse was just spinning around with an arrow stuck in his hip, kicking whatever he could reach with his back legs.  Nailed me right in the back of my leg.  One of our own horses!  He dumped the officer, too, and kicked him in the middle of the back, but his armor protected him from the kick.  A little, no account tribe, not worth the trouble of stopping for."

       "If I didn't have those arrows coming in my direction, I could have just looked behind me and seen what the noise was all about.  A moment's difference in time with the horse or arrows, and I would have had time to look behind me to see what was making the noise and I could have dodged the horse.  Just a moments worth of time between the horse and arrows, and I could have avoided the whole thing, but the horse and the arrows happened at exactly the same instant."

       "My leg never healed right.  Ever since it happened, Lena here has had to get the food and clothes for all of us.  It just breaks my heart to see her and the kids stuck in this position."

       Iolus: "Can you watch kids?  We all watch each other's kids when we're on duty.  It's a lot of kids to watch.  And when we start to build our cabins out by our plots, we could help your family.  We're all going to help each other raise roofs and pull out tree stumps and things like that.  Laurelae here even thinks we could pool some of our money so we could buy a horse to plow all our garden plots, and share the horse when we have to ride someplace like the village.  She even thinks if we all put in a little money, we could buy a few slaves to do the farm work out at all our plots of land.  We all help each other out."

       Milos: "Sure.  I've gotten pretty good hopping around on my one good leg and two wood ones.  I can hop around fast enough to run down a 2 year old."  Now that Milos knew Iolus had been a Legionnaire, he asked him something that was on his mind.  "Iolus, how do they do the Basica with only a small buckler instead of a big scutum."

       "They're good!  It's not like you and I were taught to fight.  The Dragoons up at the Garrison fight with a scutum, like you and I know, but the women fight more like half Thracians and half Dimachaeri."

       Milos recognized the names as different types of gladiators, but that was it.  "I grew up at a small garrison town in Spain.  We had no Arena.  I've only been to a few Games when my Legion passed through big towns."

       Matilda: "I grew up in Lugudunum (Lyon, France).  I've been to plenty of Games.  We women are supposed to fight more like Dimachaeri, not Thracians.  Atus's second daughter was here a couple of days ago.  She's stationed up at the Garrison and she's one of their best woman warriors."

       Mitilda turned to Catana and Lena, "Janae's not like Cornelia, Atus's oldest daughter.  Cornelia's nice.  But I've heard some bad things about Janae."  Turning back to the group, Matilda went on, "So Janae was here a few days ago, and she called all the Afternoon Shift together before lunch, and the Morning and Night Shift after lunch, and gave a demonstration.  She got one of the House Guards and had a few practice bouts with him.  And she beat him!  She fought him like a Dimachaeri!  She was fast!  Real fast!    And she saids to us, 'It's not like you have to fight a shield wall of twenty Legionnaires.  You'll have one slave to deal with.  Don't take him head on, pitting his strength against your's.  Slip around him!  Duck and dodge to his side and get him from the side or back when you're slipping around him!  Don't take a man head on.  But be quicker and more agile than him.  When you train, that's what I want you women to think of.  Think 'Duck,' 'Dodge,' 'Slip around him,' and get him from behind or the side as you go around him!'     When the House Guard came at her, he raised his sword to charge her, and Woossshhh!!  she was behind him, jumping to the side when he came at her, real fast, and she got him from the back before he could turn.  She did it a few times and she got him every time!  A House Guard!  She got a House Guard four times!"

       Iolus jumped in, "Yeah, I saw it.  She was real good.  Very fast.  Even for a Dimachaeri, she was fast.  And the House Guards are the best soldiers we have here.  All the House Guards were officers in the Legions.  They're the senior officers at this stronghold."

       As a quick "aside" to Catana and Lena, Iolus said, "If ever a House Guard gives you an order, you obey!  Even if someone else tells you different!  Even if your own officers tell you something different!  Everyone obeys the House Guards!     House Guards are the top men here, only second to Lords and Ladies.  You do what a House Guard tells you, no matter what it is.  House Guards are in command of the stronghold and they run it, and they tell your officers what to do.  You treat a House Guard like he's a Praefecti (major)."

       

       Then Iolus went back to talking to the whole group, "The women fight more like half Thracian and half Dimachaeri because not many of our new women can move as fast like Janae can.  It's more like blocking like a Thracian, then try to slip around him like a Dimachaeri.  Iolus demonstrated, as if he had a buckler in his hand.

       Instead of holding the shield in front of himself and using the strength of his arm to absorb the force of a blow against the shield, Iolus held his arm against his chest so the shield would rest against his shoulder, and his whole torso would absorb the force of the blow rather than his arm alone.  He demonstrated the last 3 blocks of the Basica, holding the shield against his body and stepping to the left or right or leaning downward at the same time, so his arm never had to take the full force of a blow, but instead keeping the shield against his shoulder and catching the blow with his whole torso, while deflecting it to the sides or downward as he twisted his body.

       "Aawwhh, I see," said Milos, "They use their whole bodies to brace the shield and twist at the same time so the blow is deflected to the side.  Now I understand."

       Iolus was animated now, and talking to Milos like he would any other Legionnaire.  "When I first found out they used women as Slave Guards, I was scared.  I thought the first time I find myself alone with 20 slaves, they're going to turn on me, and I only have a woman for backup.  Then I started to watch them train, and the training was good!  The training isn't complete yet, but I'm willing to give them a chance and see how they turn out after they're trained."

       Turning to a bigger issue, he said, "You know the Lords and Ladies in this valley aren't really nobles.  They call them 'Lords' or 'Ladies', but they're really soldiers, the staff officers Salidia had working for her when she got this valley.  Some were even just her bodyguards.  But she trusted them and put them in charge of the estates when she got the valley.

       When you're talking to Atus, you're not talking to an Equestrian class noble.  You're talking to a TRIBUNI MILITUM (a staff officer).  Salidia, the Patrician here, is more like a Legatus Legionis (General), and Atus is her Legati (colonel), not any kind of noble.  And not all of them are Roman, as if the name 'Atus' and his barbarian pants didn't already give it away.  Some of them are Roman and some of them are Auxiliaries (foreign troops the Romans employed.)  Some of the Lords are foreign mercenaries and some are ex-gladiators!     And that's how they fight!     As gladiators!  Us men they train as Legionnaires.  We do the same drills as any Legion.  Except, because we use light bucklers, we move through the drills faster, like Thracians.  But it's the same drill using the smaller, lighter shield.  It's the same sword work and footwork, and we move our shield arms the same way, but holding the smaller buckler.  Because the bucklers weigh so little, we can move faster, and jump and turn faster.  But the women they train as gladiators!     Like Dimachaeri!     They do the same drills, but it's jump and twist and try to move as fast as they can, like Dimachaeri.  One or two little things are different because they're trying to move fast, but I can show you that in no time.  It's still the Basica that you know, with the same sword and foot work, but with just a couple of small changes so the women can do the drill faster."

       Catana and Lena and Milos all looked at each other surprised that Auxiliaries and ex-gladiators were in charge of some of the strongholds instead of nobles.  In a class conscious society, they trusted that nobles would be stronger, smarter, and more knowledgeable than the common man.  They were disappointed that a noble wasn't in charge of the stronghold because they felt that a noble could provide superior leadership.  And they were stunned by men being trained to fight as Thracians and women imitating Dimachaeri.  Associated with a Legion as they were, they trusted in the fighting techniques the Legionnaires used, and they had faith in that style of fighting.  They felt a Legionnaire could beat any barbarian.  But this different style of fighting made a lot of sense.  Thracians and Dimachaeri used a style of fighting better suited to the single combat required if a slave rebelled, compared to a Legionnaire whose style of fighting was adapted to fight rank upon rank of enemy warriors.  And the Thracian style of fighting was better suited to men who had more muscle, while the Dimachaeri style of fighting depended upon moving with speed and agility, and was the best alternative for women who had less muscle.  They all realized that using the Thracian and Dimachaeri style of fighting might be a good idea for dealing with slaves.  These were the details the women had not asked when they talked to Atus.

       The idea of women Overseers and Slave Guards might not be a crazy idea that only a crazy person would try, but a clever solution to a problem, requiring people with the courage and daring to try something new.  Maybe a woman could successfully slip around a man and get him from the back, if she was fast enough.

       "So we won't have to wrestle hand to hand with a man if a slave rebels or try to push and shove him around with our shields like a Legionnaire, but they train us to duck and dodge the man and get him from the back or side if we have to," Catana asked Mitilda.  Matilda nodded her head up and down and added, "Yes."

       Catana turned to her friend and asked Lena, "Do you think you can do that," hope causing her voice to rise in excitement.  Both women had secretly harbored fears that the slaves would kill them if they rebelled, but neither woman had voiced her fears to the others.  The women had each accepted the dangerous jobs because they feared starving to death as beggars more.  Now hope suddenly sprung up in each woman that they could successfully do the job, instead of it being a suicide mission if the slaves attacked them.  "Maybe I could," Lena answered Catana, the excitement of hope also raising Lena's voice.  Both women felt a stirring of hope that this technique of fighting as Dimachaeri might provide them with a realistic method of dealing with a rebellious slave.  Catana and Lena both expectantly looked at Mitilda (Milos, too!), both wanting more information to sustain their new found hope.  

       Matilda saw the three newcomers staring expectantly at her, and she could feel they wanted her to say more.  "The training is good," Matilda answered their unspoken question.  When Matilda started to speak, she saw the newcomer’s faces change to wrapped attention at what she was saying, and that encouraged her to continue talking to the three people.  "I get off my morning shift, have lunch, and then have to report to the Training Ground for a training session. (About 1 1/2 hrs. a day.)  Two days a week we practice using the gladius and buckler, doing drills the first day; and then, on the second day we use the same moves what we learned from the drills to do practice combats with each other.  Drill one day, and use the moves from the drill for practice combats the second day.  Doing the drills is kinda' easy because we can practice the move over and over again until we get them perfect, but the practice bouts are harder because then you have to do the moves while we're jumping around and moving all over the place.  The men practice with the men because they do it different, using more muscle.  Like Thracians, like Iolus said.  And us women practice with each other, depending more on turning and twisting and trying to get fast at it.  Like Dimachaeri.  And while we practice, Cottus walks around coaching us all on our technique."

       When Matilda mentioned the women practicing like Dimachaeri in mock combats, Catana and Lena glanced at each other.  These people would train them to fight!  Not just run through drills and watch demonstrations of what to do, but actual training and coaching in fighting!  That man Cottus would coach them, telling them what they were doing wrong and what to do right!  A teacher who would tell them what they did right and who would point out what they did wrong reassured the women that they might be able to learn to fight as required.  There were a lot of things Atus didn't mention when he talked to the women.

       A teacher who would show them what they did wrong and right meant a big deal to Catana and Lena.  It raised the hope that they could successfully learn to do what was required of them.  Catana and Lena returned their attention to Matilda.

       The prospect of having to fight might have scared Catana and Lena, but Matilda's buoyant confidence carried the two newcomers in the opposition direction, making them believe they could do what Matilda did.

       While Matilda spoke, the three people hung on each word she said, and that encourage Matilda to continue, "Two days a week Cottus shows us what slaves have tried to do to him and the other Slave Guards, and he shows us how to counter it.  It's always real problems that they've run into with slaves.  The senior Slave Guard officers like Cottus all come from Salidia's estate in Tuscany and they all have years of experience; and between them, they've seen all the tricks slaves try to use.  So two days a week they show us things slaves might try to do, and how deal with it."

       This directly reflected what Catana and Lena had to do at their new job, and they wanted more information about it.  "What do they show you," Catana asked Matilda.  Catana was desperate to hear something about the training which would allay some of her fears over the dangerous job. 

       Matilda answered, "Well, this week they got all the Slave Guards together and showed us how to force our way into a holding pen if the slave revolt in one of their big cells.  We used big scutums for that, and they showed us how to line up and then force our way into the holding pen with our shields butted together.  They gave me a lance, and I was one of the Guards standing by the bars on the side who protected the door, and I helped drive the slaves back with the lance so the door could be opened and the others could march in."

       "They're smart about how they assign people their posts.  The biggest men they gave the shields right in front of the door so they're the first ones to force their way into the cell.  The strongest women formed the next line who used lances held overhead to support the men with shields in front of them.  They line up with the men in front, and file into the cell one woman behind each man.  They jabbed their lances over the top of the shields to help the men with shields so they scare the slaves and stop them from pushing too hard against the shields.  The slaves are afraid to push much against the shield because of the lance jabbing down over the top of the shield.  Then the rest of men with scutums who filled in the sides as the slaves were broken up into small groups, and then herded into different corners in the cell.  Then there's a big group of us women who work together and use bucklers and gladiuses.  They chained up the slaves one at a time, once the slaves had been split up into small groups and surrounded by the men with shields.  Two women use their swords and shields to hold the other slaves back while two women with their swords and shield coral a slave on the edge, and then all four woman back out with the slave.  The men with the shields back them up and get in the way if the slaves come at them.  Once they get the slave outside, one chains him up and the other three watch the slave with their swords.  They gave me the lance at the side of the door because Cottus thinks I'm pretty good at practice combats, and he thinks I could handle a slave that was trying to block the spear."

       "They stick us all in the place they think would be the best for the person involved.  They're pretty smart about what they think a person can handle, and where they post them.  Me, I got a spear at the door because I'm pretty handy jabbing a spear around.  The biggest women got spears to jab over the tops of the shields the men were holding.  The biggest, strongest men burst through the doorway and pushed the slaves into smaller groups.  The smaller men filled in the sides as the slaves were herded into different corners.  And the smaller women who weren't so good with swords and shields got bucklers and gladiuses to use, but they worked together in teams of four to pull out slaves one at a time and chain them up.  Besides, they had the men with shields who would get in the way if the slaves came at them.  And the smallest women got lances and they stood guard over the slaves once they were chained up and lying on the floor."

       Catana and Lena were both reassured by learning men and women were each posted to the tasks they were best suited.  It made sense that men would be used where muscle was required.  In their imaginations they pictured themselves wielding lances from behind the bars, or standing behind a man with a shield and jabbing around the shield at the slave with enough skill to get the rebelling slaves with their lance.  Hope began to rise in the women that they could acquire enough skill wielding the lance to successfully jab at a fighting slave, if a male guard was standing in front of them with a shield that blocked the slave.  They both felt they might be able to do that with enough practice.  They continued to stare at Matilda, encouraging Matilda to continue speaking.

       Matilda went on, "And finally, two days a week they show us what we have to do if an enemy tribe ever attacks the stronghold."  To Catana and Lena, Matilda asked, "You know we have to go up on the walls, if ever we're attack?"  Both Catana and Lena replied, "Yes."  Matilda finished, "The first day it's up on the walls, practicing what do if the enemy tries things like using a ladder to scale the walls.  We work in teams of four to fight that, everyone working together.  If the enemy is just raising the ladder, we use long poles to push the ladder away from the wall, two of us on each pole.  But we rest the pole in a notch in the wall so we don't have to hold the full weight of the pole all by ourselves.  If you push or guide the ladder just a little to the side, it's easy to tip it over because it's so long and tall.  If you just tilt the tall ladders a little to the side as they come at the wall, the ladder starts to lean to the side and they hit the wall moving at an angle."

       "You do that by catching one of the ladder legs with the fork at the tip of the repelling pole and guiding it just a little bit to the side, and let the other ladder leg keep moving without touching it.  So we rest the repelling pole on the wall and guide it to catch one of the ladder legs with the pole.  That stops one ladder leg from moving while the other legs keeps moving, and the ladder starts to lean to one side.  We guide the ladder leg a little to the side then with the repelling pole.  When the ladder hits the wall leaning at an angle, the ladder just skids across the wall in the direction they were leaning and then they crash down to the ground on the sides.  It's really easy to do once you get the hang of pivoting the pole around in its notch on the wall.  There's notches in the pole, too.  When the notch in the pole catches the notch in the wall, it stops the pole from sliding back, so we don't even have to handle the weight of the ladder.  I'll show you when we get up on the wall.  You'll understand it when you see how the notches in the pole and the notches in the wall line up with each other," Matilda continued.

       "If the ladder is already leaning against the wall, two of us stand in front of it, one man with a sword and shield and the other a woman behind him with a lance, helping the man in front by jabbing the lance over the top or side of the shield in front.  The other two stand on either side at the next gaps in the wall with lances, and everybody stabs at the enemy together at the same time.  That's all four of us stabbing at him at once from different sides, so one of us has to get him!  He can't use his shield to block all the different directions we come at him.  Somebody had got to get him in the side or back or front."

       The use of teams to accomplish tasks made Catana and Lena feel better.  Some of these things took physical strength and others required great skill with weapons, and each Catana and Lena had wondered how they would do it.  But working with someone else to do the job made the two of them feel they might be able to do what was required.  They continued to stare at Matilda, hanging on her every word,

       "And the second day we practice the 'Tortoise.'  For the 'Tortoise' we have to use the scutum!  Do you know what those are?"  Being with Legions so long, both Catana and Lena knew what the scutum and "Tortoise" was.  "But that's not as bad as it sounds," Matilda went on, still talking to Catana and Lena.  "There's a hook near the center of the shield, in the middle.  You can hook it on one of your baldrics so you don't have to carry the weight of that big shield just using your arm alone, but you can use the baldric to help support the shield."  (Baldrics were leather shoulder straps, used to support the scabbards and shields rather than carry the weight on a belt or by hand.  The baldrics let women support the weight of the heavy shield using the shoulder strap as well as their arms.  It allowed the women in the valley to carry and use the big shields when they had to.)

       Catana and Lena had been intimidated by thinking they had to use a scutum.  Both women had moved their husband's scutums, and they were heavy!  But a hook in the center of the shield so they could use a baldric to support the heavy weight!  The people in this valley seem to have thought of many ingenious ways to let women successfully do the jobs of Slave Guards.  The more Matilda talked, the better Catana and Lena felt about the dangers facing them.  The secret fears each woman felt seemed to have been addressed and solved by the valley people through using new and novel ways of doing things.  Her husband's scutum didn't have a hook in the middle, but these people had added one to the shield so women could do the work!

       Matilda went on, "It's not just marching in formation in the 'Tortoise,' but things like helping the person next to you if an enemy pulls on his shield.  If you're in the second line, it's how to use a lance to support the man on the outside line," she said.  "We did that two weeks in a row.  It’s hold the lance overhead, and jab at the enemy over the top of the shield.  And if the enemy grabs the shield, it's get his hand with the lance.  And if the enemy tries to push between two shields, I go straight at him with my lance and buckler while the man on the front stabs at him from the side, so we're both coming at him from two different directions at once.  When I had the back line, Cottus said my job was to get the enemy's attention, because I had a lance and shield, and I could catch his attention from a safe distance away and had a shield to protect myself.  My job was mainly to get his attention by jabbing at him with the lance.  Then the man on the front line could get him in the side with his sword, while the enemy was paying attention to me and the lance I was jabbing at him.  And Cottus saids there more, and he'll show us that later.  Cottus has thought of everything they can try to do."

       Catana, Lena and Milos looked at each other, amazed at

what they had heard, and relieved by what they heard.  Even

Milos forgot his fears of the dangerous tribes surrounding them, to look reassured his wife would be alright doing the job.  To confirm her rising hope over the training they would get, Catana turned to her friend and asked Lena, "Do you think you can do this?"  "Maybe we can do it," Lena answered.  It was the second time Lena answered the same question, but the first time Lena gave the answered, it was with hope that it might be possible.  This second time Lena answered the question, it was with some confidence that they could do the job.  Both women felt reassured by the training Matilda described.

       Catana looked at Matilda and asked, "Do you feel safe at the job and that you can handle the slaves?"  Matilda had the naive confidence of youth, unchallenged by any contradictory evidence that experience might bring.  But like all women, she was conscious of the trepidation every woman feels when faced with men's greater strength.  Matilda understood that at the heart of Catana's question was the question of whether a woman could handle a man in a fight.  "Cottus has shown me how to handle the slaves," Matilda seriously answered Catana.  Catana and Lena looked at each other, and each nodded their heads ever so slightly, answering an unspoken question a third time: "We can do this."  This third time the question was answered with conviction.

       (The "Tortoise" which was taught the Slave Guards was a defensive formation soldiers used if ever it appeared they might be overwhelmed.  They formed into a square, with shields turned outward on the outside, and soldiers on the inside ready to raise their shields overhead against an arrow attack.  The "Tortoise" could manage to move slowly, the soldiers on the sides stepping sideways, and the ones in back backing up.  In a defensive "Tortoise" formation, Roman soldiers would try to safely retreat from a disastrous situation.

       The "Tortoises" was used if a stronghold had to be abandoned.  If ever the valley was attacked by a large army, the plans were to abandon the outlying strongholds, which currently had few warriors for protection, and everyone was to retreat to the big, main stronghold in the center of the valley.  There, all the warriors in the valley would defend the one large stronghold, rather than a small number of soldiers trying to defend several small strongholds.  The "Tortoise" would be used to march from the outlying strongholds to the main stronghold, soldiers on the outside of the square and the rest of the stronghold residents on the inside.  If the group was not under attack, everyone would just face forward and move at a walking pace to the big, main stronghold, but if they were attacked while traveling, they were instantly ready to assume a defensive formation.)

       Iolus: "That's not all.  My 2nd. Optio and her 2nd. Optio both expect us to put in some time on our own practicing.  They call it 'Personal Practice.'  Sometime during the week they expect us to go off on our own and put in a little time practicing.  But that's not that bad.  When I was in the Legion and not marching, they expected us to train all day long, from dawn to dusk.  If we were lucky!  Here, with our shifts and training, I still spend less time working than when I was in the Legion.  Here, I still get some time to myself during the day.  How many places can you say that about?"

       Mitilda: "Yeah, my second week here Cottus came up to me and saids, 'I haven't seen you out doing any personal practice.  Get your ass out there and put some time in.'  So one afternoon a week me and Iolus get together and do some practice combats.  I make sure Cottus can see us."

       Iolus: "It works our good for me and her.  It keeps me from getting rusty, and I can show her some things I picked up in the Legions.  And if ever a slave acts up, that's what you need to know, one on one combat.  That's probably the most useful practice we get in all week."

       "Matilda here has picked it real well.  When I come at her, I attack like a Thracian, like the 2nd. Optios have been showing us.  Matilda counters as fast as she can, trying to be fast like a Dimachaeri.  And she's been getting faster and faster with practice.  Once in a while she gets me.  And she's been getting better and better at it, the more we practice.  I think in a little bit she'll get it and be able to hold her own against a man all the time.  And I mean she'll be able to spin and twist around a warrior.  And be able to handle a slave without a problem!  It's the practice.  Practice and practice and practice, and it works!  The more she practices at it, the faster she gets.  I've been feeling more and more confident out in the fields with Matilda here.  Mitilda and I have worked out to be a pretty good team, and I think we'll we able to handle anything the slaves try."

       Catana and Lena looked at Mitilda, impressed by what Iolus had said.  Matilda looked back at them, smiling and proud of herself, and pleased by Iolus's praise of her.  She said to Catana and Lena, "I have to say that since I've been training, I feel pretty ferocious!  They call the women cavalry up at the Garrison 'Amazons.'  Well, I feel like an 'Amazon' down here, too.  In a little bit, I bet I can handle anything the slaves think up.  And outside of the one on one practice combats, most of the stuff they show us is about working as teams to help each other out, and it feels good knowing there is someone else who will help you if you need it."  Iolus nodded his head in agreement with Matilda.  "Yeah," Iolus agreed, "everything is about teamwork."

       Catana, Milos and Lena looked at each other, all three amazed and relieved by what they heard.  The valley people seemed to have thought up all sorts of different, unique, innovative ways to allow women to successfully do their jobs.  Each of them privately thought, "We can do this!"

       

       Iolus turned to Milos, "Do you want to join us with watching the kids?  And we'll help you with your plot of land."  Milos shook himself out of his concentration on his wife, and shifted his attention back to Iolus.  "Yeah," Milos reaffirmed, in answer to Iolus’s question.  It made him feel useful to be of help again, something he dearly wanted.  Milos hated being useless and he hated being crippled, and he was elated at this opportunity to do something useful.  Just being treated as a useful member of any group made his heart race.

       "Good," Matilda answered.  "You haven't met everybody yet.  Iolus and I have the Morning Shift, and Leda and Laertes and the others watch our kids.  They have the Afternoon Shift, and the rest of us watch their kids, when we get off duty.  Helen and Lepitus have the night shift and everybody watches their kids, making sure the kids are asleep and looking in on them once in a while, and listening if they're up and moving around.  We feed their kids in the morning along with our kids because Helen and Lepitus have to hang around the Slave Quarters until the slaves are fed and marched out."

       Catana and Lena and Milos looked at each other with questioning looks.  Morning Shift, Afternoon Shift, and Night Shift made three shifts.  They didn't know the valley used eight hour shifts, with time devoted to training before or after their formal 8 hour tour of duty.  There were several details the three had skipped over in their eagerness to get the jobs.  They had assumed the usual 12 hours shift, or a dawn to dusk shift.  This was more generous than they imagined.

       While Catana and the others were wondering about 3 different shifts, Mitilda went on, "The problem is the training session after lunch for the Morning Shift.  It just isn't fair to ask Helen and Lepitus to cover that since they would have to stay up until the afternoon, after they put in eight hours on the Night Shift and get off duty in the morning.  So we let them go to bed after their practice with Cottus, and we let them sleep.  They make up of it by doing some extra chores for the rest of us when they get up.  Who ever has their day off that day has had to cover the kids then, in the afternoon, while Helen and Lep are back here sleeping.  And that means nobody has much time to work on our plots of land.  It would be real helpful if you could cover for us while we have practice after lunch.  Then the person who has their day off can go out to the plots and spend the whole day working on the land."  "Day off!  What "Day Off," each Catana, Lena and Milos were thinking.  There was a lot about their new jobs that the three didn't know.

                                       Chapter 12

       The Officer's Mess was one of the buildings which hadn't been constructed yet, and evening found all the senior officers eating dinner in Atus's Villa.  Some of the top officers were also billeted in the Guest Rooms of the Villa until their housing was finished.  Which was fine with Atus.  He could have lived in a tent and not cared much one way or the other.  His daughter or the Head Housekeeper handled such thing, and when one of them pointed at a room and said, "That's your room," Atus just headed there without a second thought.  He didn't much care about food, either, as long as it had a lot of meat in it.  No fish, though.  He didn't like fish.  But beer was another story.  He got ticked off at whoever was in charge if there wasn't enough beer for dinner and afterwards.

       Atus: "Patronus, wait till you see the next two I got you.  Women.  One's got the personality of a cornered wolf.  Cottus, when you train her, better keep your shield up between you and her, or I swear to Wotan, she'll bite you!

       Cornelia: "No!  They were real nice and polite with me when I got them their rooms."  Then turning to Cottus, "They're over at the Single Parent rooms."

       While Corrie was talking, Atus was theatrically shaking his head, "No," with an exaggerated frown.  "No," he said with comic dramatics, "She's a porcupine, all barbs and quills, and thrashing her tail around at anybody who comes near her.  Be careful with her, or she'll bite you."

       Cornelia frowned at her father, but then laughed at his theatrics; "Cottus, be easy on them when you start to train them.  They're all skin and bones, and the kids look like walking skeletons.  Give them some time to build up some strength before you go asking them to do something hard."  Then to Patronus, "None of your, 'Last man on the Rolls gets the worst jobs.'  Give them easy jobs to start and don't send them running around the fields with a bunch of field slaves.  I want to see some meat on their bones before you men start running them all around the place."

       Atus: "That reminds me.  Cottus, one of them's got a crippled ex-Legionnaire husband, and he's the one teaching them the Basica.  He's going to have a lot of trouble hobbling around with a sword and shield on 2 crutches demonstrating the moves to them.  Look in on them when you can."

       "You may have to demonstrate the moves for them, and let the husband coach them on the fine points after they see how to do it.  And maybe Corrie's right.  Give them some time to put on a little muscle before you test them.  Put off your test for a while and let them hang around here a little until they get some strength."

       Cornelia announced to the whole group, "Janae and Bruno are coming for dinner tomorrow."

       "Are her fiends coming with her," asked Siegfried, 1st. Optio (lieutenant) of the House Guards.  A lot of Janae's friends were good looking women.  Janae was damn good looking herself!

       Immediately cutting into the conversation, Beowulf, Captain of the Overseers, interjected, "Talk about woman with some meat on their bones, Trivi and Itatia are a handful for any man.  Those two always remind me of Brunhild.  (Queen of the Valkyrie, of Teutonic mythology.)"  Beowulf liked big women.

       A lot of the officers at Atus's estate were from Germanic peoples.  Whenever Selenius recommended a Teutonic Auxiliary for a job, Salidia sent them over to Atus's estate.  She knew Atus liked to spend his nights drinking beer and singing songs in his Germanic tongue.  She gave Atus a hall full of Germanic officers to drink beer with and sing their songs.  In short, Atus's Villa sounded and looked like a German beer hall at night.

       Besides, Atus understood the code of honor followed by such men.  Atus could tell which men would feel bond by their warrior code to honor their commitment to Salidia.  These men had strict codes of behavior to follow if ever they hoped of getting into Walhalla, and Atus could tell which men put their honor - and their promises - before all else.

       Big Atus leaned forward and shook his finger at the two Ubii men, "You watch yourselves with those girls!  Those are good girls!  They're the daughters of my friends!  You mess with them and... you answer to Meeee!"

       In the morning the next day, Cottus wandered off looking for the new recruits.  Cottus wasn't a busy man.  Second Optios (2nd. lieutenants) were in charge of the training of the troop underneath them, and Cottus didn't have that many people to teach right now.  Later, when they hired more troops, he would start to get busy, but not right now.  He was able to give the people under him a lot of personal attention, but that still left him with time on his hands.

       After breakfast, he gathered the Night Shift people together and spent some extra time with their training.  After a tour of duty throughout the night, they were always bleary eyed and hardly awake.  They needed a little extra time to get what he was teaching them.

       He had a little time between training sessions.  Before lunch the Afternoon Shift would gather on the Training Grounds for their training sessions.  They got their training before they had lunch and went on duty, and they were always "bright eyed and bushy tailed" and ready to go.  After lunch, the Morning Shift got their training after they came off their tour of duty.

       In front of the Single Parent houses, 3 people were sitting, 2 women and a man with crutches.  Nearby, 3 of his Afternoon shift people were riding herd on a gaggle of kids.  As he approached, the two women jumped up, one as stiff as a spear.  Cottus thought to himself, "That must be the one they told me about."  "Hi, I'm Cottus, your 2nd. Optio," he said to them.  "Yes, Sir," said the stiff one in too loud a voice.  "Yhep, she's the one," thought Cottus.  "This is going to be fun," he thought sarcastically.

       "Relax, Ladies.  You haven't passed the Basica test yet, and we don't enter you on the Rolls until you pass the test.  You don't get paid until you're on the Rolls.  So far, we're not paying you, just feeding you.  So relax."  Cottus's comment was inspired in part by looking at them.  He thought, "Corrie was right.  They're nothing but skin and bones.  I've got to get some muscle on them so they can even swing a sword.  I will let them hang out here for while before I test them."  To the man, he asked, "You're teaching them?"  "Yes, Sir," was the answer.  "Come on.  Let's get you some equipment."

       As they walked toward the Slave Guard barracks, Cottus asked Milos, "You were a Legionnaire?"  "Yes, Sir," he answered.  "What Legion," Cottus asked him.  "Galba's.  The whole time.  And you," Milos asked Cottus.  "Tiberius, in Dalmatia and Germania, when he was good.  I got out when he turned bad and his wife took over the show."  "A good time to get out," Milos commented.

       As they walked, Cottus asked Milos, "Can you help fit their armor?"  Milos nodded, "Yes."  "Good.  That stuff will cut a hole in your skin if it rubs you the wrong way."  He pointed to a building as they walked, "That's the Tool Shed, where we repair and sharpen the farm tools.  They have hammers and an anvil over there.  If the armor rubs either of them, you can help pound it out so it fits them better."  "Yes, Sir," Milos answered him.

       At the Slave Guard barracks, he led them to the room next to the one which held uniforms and bedding.  This room had 2 sets of shelves for helmets, back plates, front plates, bucklers, daggers and swords.  One set of equipment was for men and the other for women.  The women's stuff was all smaller.  Swords, daggers and shields were all uniform in size because they were cast from the same molds, but the helmets and chest armor all had small variations, since it was formed, shaped and fitted by hand.  There were also two boxes of wood training swords, as well as blunt lances and pilum that could be used for practice.  Other lances and pilum stood stacked against a wall.  There were also leather baldric shoulder straps used to carry swords and shields when they weren't in use, as well as water skins and shoulder bags.  The shoulder bags were used to carry personal equipment or the person's lunch bag.  One corner had a stack of scutum leaning against it, for use in special circumstances.  Also, free standing in the center of the room were rows of upright racks, fitted with pegs, used to hold sets of armor.  There were some sets of armor dangling from them now.

       "First, that box over there is for dull swords and daggers.  Don't take anything from that box.  If your stuff gets dull, drop it off in that box and take another sword.  The men at the Tool Shed pick up that stuff and sharpen it for us.  Now, find some helmets and front and back plates that fit you the best from the shelves," he said to the group.  Once you pick out the armor, you can pick out a place on these racks for your own individual spot and hang your armor on that.  Everybody respects everyone else's choice.  Don't forget your spot, or somebody's going to come looking for you angry as all shit because they had to wear the wrong helmet that rubbed a hole in their forehead.  But for right now, take the armor back to your quarters so you can practice with it." 

       Cottus flopped down on an empty cot outside, while the pair searched for the best fit of the available armor.  They finally emerged from the rooms, arms full of equipment.  He looked at them, "Wood training swords!  Do you want to kill each other the first time you practice,"  he shouted at them, and then chuckled to himself as the three scurried back into the room, barely able to walk with all the stuff they were carrying.  When they finally emerged again, he said to them, "Milos, now you got some equipment.  You can start them on the Basica.  Take them over to the Tool Shed, and help them fit the armor.  I'll come by tomorrow and see how you're coming along.  Now, I got some people to see."  He left them in the room, thinking, "That will kill 2 days for them, by the time they get the armor right."  The big thing with the armor was the helmet.  It would press the head too tightly in one place, and be too loose in another.  And if you pounded one side of the helmet where it pressed against the head, another place on the helmet got pulled out of shape at the same time.  Unless you were an armorer, it took forever to get the all the sides to fit right.

       A few things happened to them after they left the barracks.  First, they were exhausted just walking across the courtyard with all their heavy iron equipment.  Second, in spite of being intimidated by the sharp weapons and all that implied, they felt like Matilda when they tried it on, "pretty ferocious!"   And when their kids saw them all decked out as warriors, it impressed the shit out of the kids and the kids went through rounds of "Ohhs," and "Awhhs," and "Mommy, you look just like a warrior!"  Which left the women feeling a little proud of themselves.  And they were inducted into the mutual help network of the house, when Lepitus, a former Legionnaire, helped them with fitting the armor; and Helen, one of the women downstairs, helped them with the leather linings used in some places to reduce the abrasiveness of the metal.

       The next morning as Cottus went for breakfast, he noticed them outside practicing the Basica.  They were just standing still in one spot, swinging their swords and twisting their torso's with the shields without moving their feet.  "That must be because that man Milos can't take a step while holding a shield and swinging a sword.  Just as good.  It will help strengthen their shoulders and arms without putting too much strain on the rest of their bodies.  This is good," he thought to himself.

       On the way out from breakfast to the Training Grounds to meet the Night Shift, he looked over and saw they were sitting down resting.  "That's good.  That's the way to do it.  Hard work and a lot of food and sleep afterwards.  That's the way to train and put on some muscle."   On the way back from the training session with the Night Shift, he saw they were up again and swinging their swords again.  "Hummp!  Good!  They're hard workers.  That's good," he thought.

       He had an hour to kill before the next training session and he grabbed a short snooze in the Slave Guard barracks.  On the way outside to meet with the Afternoon Shift, he saw they were still swinging swords.  "Gods," he thought, "They won't be able to walk tomorrow.  They'll be too stiff and hurting to even move."  On the way back into the stronghold from the training session, he saw they had disappeared from in front of the Single Parent Houses.  "Good.  Something to eat and then rest.  That's the right way to train," he thought.

       On the way out for the afternoon training session with the Morning Shift, he saw they were at it again!  "Gods," he thought, "Don't they know how to pace themselves.  That much heavy training and they'll just exhaust themselves rather than strengthen themselves.  I've got to put an end to this."

       When he came back from the training session with the Morning Shift, he saw they were still outside, but the two women were sitting this time, with some bread and cheese and a water bottle on the benches.  The husband was now watching the children from the single parent houses, and the children were all gathered around him.  The man seemed to get along with children.  Looking at the food the women had, he thought, "Well, they got that part right, but I don't want them overdoing it in the morning again."  Coming up to them, he said to them in an exasperated voice, "Don't you know you're suppose to pace yourself."  "I told them," Milos called over from the side, "but they wouldn't listen.  They said they could do it."  The feisty one said, "We have to get stronger so we can do the drill."  "Ohhhh," Cottus thought, "What?  Is she going to argue with me!"

       "Do you know how to ride," Cottus asked the women.  "No," both answered.  "If you work close to the stronghold you walk or use donkeys to carry your stuff.  If your slaves are sent to a far field, you get a horse or a cart and ride.  You need to be able to ride a horse without falling on your faces in the dirt in front of the slaves.  And, Gods forbid, you may even have to chase down a runaway slave without falling off the horse."  He pointed to a building behind the Slave Guard barracks.  "That's the barn for saddle horses."  He turned around and pointed to another building, "That's the Stable for the cavalry horses.  Don't go there.  They're busy over there.  Those are valuable cavalry horses over there.  Warriors lives depend on the cavalry horses being well trained.  Don't go pestering the men at the cavalry Stable.  They're doing important work training cavalry horses.  You go to the barn for the saddle horses.  Those are the horses we use," he said pointing again to the first building.  "Tell the Top Wrangler you're Slave Guards, and you need to learn to ride without falling off the horse in front of the slaves.  He's always got a Wrangler sitting around without anything to do in the afternoon.  The Wrangler can show you enough so you don't embarrass us in front of the slaves.  Now go!  I don't want to see you out swing swords the whole fucking day another time.  Listen to your husband.  Pace yourself."  An exasperated Cottus walked away.  The women didn't understand what they had done wrong.  They had just tried to work hard.  And Milos topped it all off with a call from the side, "I told you so!"  Which didn't make him a popular man at the moment.

       The next day Cottus looked for the women in the morning.  They were out practicing again in front of the Single Parent Houses.  This time, he noted, they weren't just swinging the swords and twisting with the shields without the footwork, but they were lunging forward, and twisting and turning as they jumped to one side or the other.  One of the other Slave Guards must have shown them the complete drill with all its moves and footwork.  The man Milos was coaching them from the side as they twisted and turned and leapt around doing the drill.  Milos had gotten another buckler and wood training sword, and he was using the third sword and shield to demonstrate to the women what he meant to show them.  Well .......too late, now.  He would have preferred they took their time to build up some strength before they buried themselves under the hard work of doing complete drills.

       In the afternoon he looked for them again, and was glad to note they were nowhere to seen.  "That was a good idea, sending them off for the horses.  They're doing something useful with the horses, instead of overdoing it and working themselves to death with drills all day."

       (They had gone back to Galba's Legion to retrieve their possessions, which they had left with a friend.  When the two women told Adolf, the Top Wrangler, what they wanted the horses for, he ended up giving each woman two pack horses in addition to a saddle horses because the women said they wanted to bring their tents back with them.  The women no longer needed their tents anymore, but their destitution made the women ferociously cling to their few possessions.  They wanted to keep every little scrap that they owned.  They ended up using their tents out on their plots of lands, where everyone used them for shelter and storage as they all worked on building their cabins together.

       Although the inexperienced women weren't use to riding, they rode the horses the whole way from Atus's estate to Galba's Legion, which killed their inner thigh muscles.  And they didn't have to, but they wore their heavy new armor just so they could show off to their friends.  Which impressed their friends as much as Catana and Lena hoped it would.

       In fact, the appearance of the destitute Catana and Lena in new sandals and tunics, wearing new armor and on horseback, each with two pack horses, caused a big commotion in the baggage train.  A big crowd of over a hundred curious people followed the women they knew as almost beggars into the baggage train and back to their tents.  And more people joined them when people in the baggage train saw something unusual happening.  A swelling crowd surrounded Catana and Lena and they bombarded the two women with questions.

       "They gave us everything, tunics, cloaks, sandals, blankets, everything, even for Milos and the kids," Lena answered one woman.  "And a warm room in a strong building with firewood and beds, even water and lamp oil and a cabinet to use," Catana added.  She went on, "And a big kitchen for everybody, and they let you eat as much as you want.  Good food, too!  Beef, mutton, chicken, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, lettuce, even carrots and melons."  Then Lena raised her arms to quiet everyone down, and dramatically said, "And a plot of land to build a cabin!"  The crowd erupted into dozens of separate animated conversations.

       One woman asked, "What do you have to do?"  Catana answered, "I'm not going to kid you.  It's dangerous.  It the same job as a male slave guard."  The woman's eyes widened in surprise, and she looked frightened.  "But they have a Master at Arms," Catana misidentified Cottus, "who teaches you to fight like a Dimachaeri, and Lena and I think it will work."  Lena added, "They have all sorts of other jobs, cooks, housekeepers, sentries if you can use a bow, even shepherdesses, goatherds, all kinds of jobs."

       A cynical hooker asked her, "How much do they charge you for the uniform and room and board?"  Lena answered, "Nothing!  Even for my husband and kids.  They pay me 50 sestertii and I get to keep it all to myself."  That was less than the hookers made, and many of the them dismissed the valley's jobs as not paying enough for the dangers involved, but there were a few hookers who were sick and tired of the abuse they had to endure at the Legionnaire's hands who seriously started to consider what Lena and Catana said.  And a couple of whores who were getting older, and as they aged and lost their attractiveness, they lost customers who started patronizing younger girls.  They knew it wouldn't be long until 50 sestertii seemed like a decent income.  And 50 sestertii was more than some of women who sold beer and wine to the Legionnaire's made.  Some of those women decided to try for a job right then.  And it was more money than some of the wagoners earned driving wagons for some of the freemen in the baggage train.

       That day forty six people went down the road to find Clodius.  It was the largest number of people who ever appeared at the Garrison from one Legion.  More applicants than Clodius usually saw in a month.  And others followed them the next day.  Those numbers shouldn't be too surprising.  Galba's Legion numbered around fifty five hundred men, and around nine hundred camp followers in his baggage train.  And Galba was sympathetic to Salidia's plight in her undermanned valley.  He released four Legionnaires who petitioned him to stay in the valley, although he refused to release any officers.  Legions hung onto their career officers as if they were gold.

       Clodius sent the first fifteen off to Lucius's stronghold, and he thought to himself, "Lucius better kiss me when he comes up here next time."

       Women often outnumbered the male job applicants for the valley.  Men looking for work could often find jobs in the towns and cities that Legions passed as the Legions moved from one place to another.  The few resident expatriate Romans living and working in Gaul loved having Roman ex-soldiers work for them as guards at their homes or businesses, and it didn't take much time for Roman men to find employment.  Roman soldiers were gobbled up as guards by expatriate Romans living in Gaul.  Few of the places Legions traveled past offered jobs for women.  Slave women provided cheap domestic help.  When Legions came to the valley, the valley was one of the few places that would hire them, and the woman camp followers who had unsuccessfully looked for work in other locations ran down the Entrance Road to find Clodius.

       And the Legions always had women looking for work.  When Legions were formed up in Italy, there would always be soldiers who had wives in the baggage train.  Once they marched out and left Italy, men would always be killed in training accidents and in battles.  The new widows in the baggage train would have to make their way back to their families in Italy, which could be a dangerous, long and expensive journey; or they would have to find employment someplace out in the Provinces.  There were always a few women who were abandoned by lovers or husbands.  Catana was stuck in the situation she was in because she couldn't afford to make the long, dangerous and expensive trip to return to her home in Macedonia.)

                       ............................

       Two day later when Cottus went for breakfast, he glanced over to see how the women were doing.  The feisty one was limping around on one leg!  He could see her leg was bruised and he could see a large scrape on it.  "Holy Gods," he thought, "we're keeping this woman in the stronghold so she can build up a little strength, and she goes around killing herself!  What's wrong with those two?  First, they push themselves like maniacs to the point of exhaustion, and then they go around falling off horses," Cottus guessed.  "What was she doing?  Racing the horse while she still didn't know how to ride?"

       Cottus tore off to the women.  "What the Hades are you doing?  What's the matter with you!  Look at your leg!  We give you some time to just sit around the stronghold all day doing nothing but just practicing, and you go and kill yourself.  How are you going to practice like that?"

       "I was just trying to work hard, and do what the Wrangler told me to do.  He said I should try to trot the horse.  He said that was the thing that took the most practice.  I just did what he told me to do," Catana answered him.

       "I told you to pace yourself!  Is that 'pacing yourself?'  Now we got 2 cripples instead of 1."

       Catana was getting angry.  She was just trying to work hard and do what she was told, and this man was trying to make her look bad for doing what the Wrangler told her to do.  This man could ruin her chance at getting the job, and her life and the lives of her children depended on keeping this job.  "You're not being fair.  The other man told me to trot the horse," Catana shot back angrily.  After all, she was still practicing in spite of the pain of her injury.  So what was he complaining about?  She wasn't using the injury as an excuse to sit on the side lines, but she spent the morning swinging the sword in spite of the injury.  She thought she was being damn tough and strong just doing the drill in spite of a hurting leg.  Besides, she got mad when someone ridiculed Milos.  She felt defensive about him.  Milos had been a good husband for Lena for years before he got hurt.  It wasn't his fault the horse kicked him.  Just like her, he was just trying to do his job right when his leg was hurt.

       "Are you going to argue with me, woman!  You do what I tell you, when I tell you.  Without any 'lip' from you.    Do you understand me? "

       From her husband, Catana knew an enlisted person didn't argue with an officer.  "Yes, Sir," Catana growled out from clenched teeth, feeling unfairly treated, but also aware that this man held her fate in his hands.

       Cottus stalked away, angry with the woman.  Catana seethed in anger.  When her husband had been alive, she wisely counseled him to be patient when an officer treated him unfairly.  Now that Catana herself was the victim of unfair treatment, she was having trouble finding patience.

       That night at dinner, Cornelia asked Cottus, "How are your two new recruits doing?  Are the women putting on any weight?"

       "She argues with me!  I told her to do something today and she starts to argue with me!,"  Cottus answered her.

       Atus laughed and playfully jostled Cornelia with his arm, "See, I told you!  She's my 'porcupine!'  All bristles and quills.  You're telling me she was nice and polite, but I knew!  All bristles and quills!  I told you, Cottus, she's got the personality of a corned wolf."  "What did she do," Atus asked Cottus in an amused tone.

       "She doesn't know how to train, and I told her to pace herself.  Does she listen to me?  No!  She runs around like a maniac doing drills all day until she's too sore to move, and today she was racing a horse before she learned how to ride.  You should have seen her today, limping around like a cripple because the horse must have dumped her."

       "Oh," said Atus, disappointed.  He had hoped Cottus would tell him something funny about the woman.  Atus expected some funny things from the woman with the fierce personality.  Let down because Cottus didn't have anything funny to say about Catana, Atus commented, "That's not so bad.  I wish all our new recruits had a problem training too hard.  She could be lazy.  Now, that would be a real problem."

       Defensively since Atus seemed to be dismissing his frustration, Cottus added, "But she argues with me when I tell her to do something, instead of listening to me."

       "Well, that can be a problem.  That's got to stop.  She's got to listen to you.  You got to treat the women different from the men.  I've been helping train Salidia and Lydia for years now, and you can't just yell at them like you do with men.  You yell at them, and they don't act right.  They get all flustered and upset, and that's a worse problem, and ever worse, they take forever to calm down.  You're going to have a lot of women recruits to teach, and you got to learn how to train them.  Just tell them what you want without shouting at them, and let the idea sink in for a while.  You could have told that women to pace herself, and let her sore muscles do the arguing for you.  The next day she would have realized how right you were when her arms and legs were too stiff to move."

       Atus paused a moment, thinking about it.  "Still, this is not such a bad problem.  Think of how this woman is going to act if some slave disobeys her.  Getting angry and defensive is not the worst way our Slave Guards could act if someone gave them a tough time.  Cottus, you have to learn how to train our new troops, too, especially women.  Knowing which are real problems and which are minor issues is something you have to learn, too," Atus said to the man.

       Atus had watched Lydia and Salidia change with training.  He had faith that with the right kind of training, the women could make excellent warriors if they had some athletic ability, and they were deployed in ways that took advantage of their strengths while shielding their weaknesses.  Gifted ones like Lydia could be incredible.  Right now, Lydia was probably the 2nd deadliest warrior in the valley because of her lightning fast speed.  You just had to train them right.  Lydia didn't know anything when she first started with them, and look at what happened with her.

       With men, you could shout at them and they did what you told them.  They were easy to train.  Shout loud enough, and they did as they were told.  It was just a matter of shouting louder and louder until they finally obeyed.  The women were harder to train.  You had to figure out what was bothering them first, and talk.  They took more time to figure out what was wrong and talk to them.  But they needed every able bodied person they could lay their hands on, and Cottus would have to learn how to deal with women.

       Atus turned to Cottus, "Cottus, with the women, talk more and shout less."

       The next day Cottus stopped to watch the 2 new women as they practiced together.  The truth was that Cottus was angry at Catana and he was looking for things she was doing wrong.  He wanted to criticize her.

       "Awwhha," Catana screamed, throwing all her anger into her blow as she practiced with the sword with Lena.  All the demons inside her screamed, and escaped her throat in that "Awwhha."  Her demons were her memories.  Memories of cold and shivering in a thread bare blanket.  Memories of hunger and memories of feeling hopeless when she laid down to sleep at night, knowing the morning would only bring worse unrelenting hunger and cold.  The demon that chased her was her old life and she was terrified that it would catch her again.  Catana put all her anger and fear into a hard strike against Lena's shield.  Catana was determined to learn how to fight hard with a sword and shield.

       "No, no.  That's all wrong," thought Cottus.  "She's using a sword like a club, thinking she has to hit hard with it for it to do its work.  A sword cuts just fine without throwing all your weight into it."  He stomped over to her, angry before he began.  "No, no.  Look at your feet!  They're planted in the ground like tree trunks.  How are you going to spin to the side with your feet like that.  You don't have to hit her hard.  A hard swing putting all your weight into it leaves you standing still facing her.  A light swing let's you pivot on your feet and move to the side while you make the swing.  Your sword will cut her to the bone, without putting all that weight behind it, if you get around her shield, and you can control the sword better with a light swing.  "

       "But I just wanted to hurt the enemy as much as I could when I hit her," Catana defended herself.

       "No, no.  That's not a club and you're not trying to break her bones by hitting her hard.  It's a sword and it cuts by moving it faster than the enemy can turn to block it.  If you swing it hard like you just did, you're just going to end up with two feet on the ground not moving anywhere.  Swing and pivot at the same time.  It means a weaker blow, but you're moving behind your opponent at the same time and you have more control.  And if you haven't thought of it yet, you won't be a stationary target for his next strike at you!.  If you do it your way, you're just going to end up standing still and trading blows with a man who's stronger than you!  If you don't move to his side, his next blow with be a crushing strike against you while he steps forward.  Your only option will be retreating before him!"

       "But if if the enemy is blocking me with his shield, how else am I going to hurt him," Catana returned, feeling the power she put into the blow hurt her opponent the most.

       "No.  No.   Think about what you're saying.  You want to hit him hard to hurt the hand and arm holding his shield.  I'm showing you how to cut him.  Which is the better thing to do?"

       "But I wanted to do both," Catana tried to explain herself.  She was treating this like it was a debate!  Like she had her point of view, and her commanding officer had his point of view; and she had a right to debate with her commanding officer what they should do.

       "Don't argue with me," Cottus started to shout.  He had tried to be more patient with her than he was with men, explaining more to her than he would have bothered doing with a man.  Even after Cottus's attempt to be patient and explain things, she still argued with him!  Cottus was exasperated.

       Atus was mounted and about to leave the stronghold to join Talig and the other men at Salidia's place when he heard angry voices start to erupt at the back of the stronghold.  He turned to see Catana and Cottus starting to argue with each other.  He listened for a few moments.  He guessed a fight might be brewing between the two, and he wanted to cut it off before he lost his "Porcupine."  First, she amused him.  But more important, second, he thought her feisty personality would make her a good soldier.  It was just the kind of personality he wanted in his people.  He turned his horse to ride over to the two.

       The big blonde Germainian sat on his horse above Catana.  "Woman, you will meet a hundred warriors who think anger and strength will give them the power to win.  And you will meet one warrior who fights with the skill he has learned with his mind.  And the one who fights with his mind will beat the hundred who only fight with anger and muscle."

       "Leave your anger behind you when you learn how to fight, and learn with your mind instead of your anger how to swing your sword with skill.  Than you will be the one warrior who can beat a hundred."

       Atus understood this newcomer to his stronghold, his "Porcupine."  He remembered how destitute the woman was when she showed up at the front gate in her ragged clothes and gaunt face and skinny kids, and he understood the fear which drove her.  "Catana, I have heard how hard you work, and I like that you work hard.  And you have the kind of heart and spirit I like to see in my people.  You want to learn how to fight the best you can, and nothing can be better than that.  Catana, you are going to be part of my stronghold, and you will not lose your place here.  Your job is safe, and you will not lose it.  I want you at my stronghold.  I like you. Listen to Cottus.  He is here just to make you better.  Pay attention to what he tells you.  He knows what to do with a sword."  

       Atus turned and looked at Cottus for a moment.  The look was only for a moment, but it had "daggers" in it.  What Atus was thinking in that quick look was, "I told you to talk more and scream less with the women."  Then Atus rode away.

       What Atus said to Catana cut to the core of the things bothering her, her fear of losing the job.  What Atus said to her earned him her loyalty from that day forward.  And after Atus's talk, Catana stopped being defensive, and realized the trainers in the valley were just there to help her become better at what she did, like the Wrangler who was teaching her to ride a horse.  The Wrangler had even suggested she go over to the Wagon Master, and get a Wagoner to show her and Lena how to hitch a wagon and drive it.  She stopped arguing with Cottus, and tried to learn what he had to teach her.  She tried to ignore his personality and she tried to find the things in what he said which would make her better.  It is a valuable learning tool to realize a teacher's personality is only a distraction, while what they have to teach is useful to learn.

                                       Chapter 13

                               The Good and The Bad

       Laurelae put her daughter to bed, and sat down waiting for the child to fall asleep.  She liked the idea of having a slave of her own to serve her.  Her new position as a Slave Guard allowed her to use one of the stronghold's slaves for her own personal use.  It wasn't official policy.  Slave Guards were not suppose to use the slaves on their off duty time.  But none of the Slave Guards "ratted" or "squealed" on each other if they saw a Slave Guard walking out of the Slave Quarters with a slave in tow.  She had taken one she found attractive, and intended to train him to serve her in her time off.  It was an unofficial "perk" to the job.

       Being practical, she knew it would grind the slave into the ground and burn him out eventually.  He was a field slave, and needed rest to recover from his exhausting day of labor in the fields.  Having him serve her at night, rather than resting, would exhaust him over time.  But there were other slaves to use when this one wore out.

       A Lord or a Lady and senior officers could win a slave's loyalty with the lure of easier work assignments, even eventual freedom, but none of that was at her disposal.  She would have to use fear to control her slaves.  It was more work, and had to be repeated with each slave, but it would have to do for the time being.

       She got a second oil lamp and went to the room next to her's.  The new people on her floor were still up, and she should be quiet.  Inside the room, she got a rag and some rope and gagged the slave to muffle his screams.  In anticipation of tonight, she had pre-positions some things in the room that she could use.  She ordered the slave to roll over to one of the beds with his legs next to one of the bedposts, and she tied one leg to the bed.  She tied another rope to his other leg, looped the rope around another bedpost, and held the rope in her hand as she untied the bindings which bound the slave's legs together.  All this was done in an unhurried, business-like manner.  There was work to be done.

       She pulled the rope in her hand, spreading the slave's legs wide apart between the two bedposts.  This time the slave was unresisting.  In the future he would probably fight to prevent this, but this time he didn't know what was coming and he didn't resist.  She was confident that if she threw her weight against the rope, she would be able to force the slave's legs apart, even if he fought back.

       She had planned on torturing him for a while to scare him into being obident, and she had a few things on the side to do it a few different ways.

       But with him lying on the floor as he was, she had an idea suggested to her by the situation.  She interrupted her plans for what she wanted to do with the slave.  Laurelae was always nimble enough and cagey enough to exploit an unexpected opportunity when it popped up.  She realized the situation presented a better way to scare him than originally planed.

       The slave was lying with his legs spread apart and hands tied together.  Laurelae moved to stand next to the slave with her leg touching him.  With her sword, she gestured to him to raise his hands, and when he did, she put the blade of the gladius below the rope bindings and pulled the blade up, cutting the rope.  She nicked his hand when she did, but the slave ignored the injury.

       The real action wasn't with her sword.  It was with her face.  Her face was calm, with an expression that had a look that combined just a little contempt, plus meanness.  The most frightening thing about her expression was her eyes.  Her corners of her eyes and upper eyelids pulled down just a little more than normal, and the eyes expressed tremendous meanness.  She was standing over a slave, but any man, freemen or soldier, whether he was sitting at the table or standing up, would have felt defensive and on-guard seeing the expression on this women.  The meanness in her eyes seemed on the verge of pouring out into action at any second.  Any man in that room with her, freeman or slave, would have felt threatened by a women with that mean look in her eye.

       And it was her eyes that the slave stared at, not her sword, and the look alone made the slave feel in danger of losing his life.  If she decided to kill him, the volence of the act would originate, come, from the meanness in her eyes.  The instrumentality of the volence was incidental.  It was the incipent volence in her eyes that would kill him.  The danger he was in all came from the meanness in her eyes.

       When she cut his bonds, his hands were raised, and she stepped to him to stand at his chest, and let her sword fall to her side opposite him.  He could have grabbed her leg, and wrest her to the ground.  Instead he stared at her eyes, and she stared at his eye.  She didn't say anything, it didn't take words to say, "Go ahead.  Try.  Try to do something."

       He could have grabbed her left arm or legs.  She was challenging him to see who was tougher, who was more dangerous.  She moved around the other side of him, so the sword was on the side facing him.  Not watching what she was doing, but staring into his eyes, she flicked the sword to the side to nich his skin.  She moved up and down him, down to his feet and back again, occassionly flicking the sword into him, challenging him to stop her, but never taking her eyes off his eyes.

       She finished off standing at his chest.  With the sword, she poked his arms, using the sword to command him to raise his arms.  Then she stradled him, her feet at his armpits, with his arms raised.  She drew the sword up along his arms, just grazing his skin and leaving an almost imperceptable cut.  But then with a smirk, she drew the sword across his chest, in a blantant display of her power to hurt him, and she drew the sword his crest from side to side, leaving shallow cuts across his chest.

       It wasn't that she was just challenging him to do something.  It was her ferce determination to push the issue.  The hardness of her personality.  Her character which was more violent than his.  She was proving to him that she was stronger than him.  Not that she had a sword, but that she kept pushing the issue, forcing it, shoving it down his throat.  She was willing to kill him, coldly kill him, that was frightening.  It was her personality, her character, her will power that was stronger than his.  It wasn't just that she was challenging him to do something, but that she would coldly, vicously, meanly push and push until he was dead.  He was telling him, "I'm meaner than you.  I'm colder and crueller than you.  I'm harder and stronger than you.  I'm more dangerous than you and willing to do more violent things than you.

       She scared him worse this way than torturing him.  She was meaner and crueler and stronger and harder and stronger than him.  It was her personality, her will power, her strenght of character which was stronger than him, and he knew it and she knew it.

       She had a rope with a small nose nearby, and she had him sit up, and put his arms behind his back.  She tied his hands behind his back.  She left him to sleep as best he could with his legs spread apart and arms tied behind his back.

                       ........................

       The next morning she herded the slave back to the Slave Quarters.  When she got there, she had an idea, inspired by something she had forgotten.  In the corner, next to the exterior gate, was a small shack, an "infirmary," used to hold slaves that had temporary injuries, like sprained ankles.  If it was obvious that a slave wasn't faking an injury, like one with a badly swollen and discolored ankle, the slave was allowed some to time to recover.  They'd stick the slave in the "infirmary" for a few days to allow his injury to heal.  "Infirmary" care boiled down to food, water and rest.

       Laurelae pushed the slave over to the "infirmary," opened the door, and shoved the slave inside.  Then she closed the door, and drove home the large exterior bolt that locked down the door from the outside.

       This was better.  Instead of exhausting the slave with field work during the day, plus serving her at night, her new toy would last her longer if he was allowed some rest.  She wouldn't need to train a replacement for this one as soon if she could give him some rest occasionally.

       Laurelae's partner, Aeneas, wouldn't care about a missing slave.  He didn't give a shit about them.  If the Farmer complained about the amount of work done by their under-manned squad of slaves, Aeneas would just whip the ones he had to make them work harder.

       Nevertheless, when Laurelae got back from the fields that day, she walked through the other slave buildings before going for lunch.  She wanted to find a replacement for the one she had.  She knew that field work and being used at night would soon use the slave up.  Slave were like sandals.  You used them and periodically had to throw them away and get replacements for them.  Laurelae was practical about working a slave in the fields during the day and then using him at night.  She would need a replacement for the one she had soon enought.  At each of the cells used to segregate male slaves from the other slaves, she stopped and checked out the slaves there.  A few times she saw slaves that interested her.  When she did, she called into the cell and had the slave approach the bars at the front of the cage.  One slave retained her interest enough for her to order him to take off his tunic and turn around for her to examine.  She filled him away in memory.

       When she got to the "Red/Green" building (building were identified by the colors assigned to the contiburium of Slave Guards and Overseer who supervised the building, starting with the morning shift.  Each contiburium had their own platoon and squad colors, and Slave Quarter buildings were identified by the colors of the squad assigned there.), Laurelae saw a slave she really liked.  He was one good looking man.

       "You!  Third on the left.  Come over here.  Yes, you stupid!  Get over here," Laurelae called into the cell.  When the slave approached, Laurelae felt a little tingle of excitement over how good looking he was.  She pointed to one of the buckets of drinking water against the wall.  "Go over and wash your face off, and come back here," she ordered the slave.  He did, and when he returned, he was even better looking with a clean face.  "Take your tunic off, and turn around slowly," she ordered him.  Good looking.

       Laurelae was Greek.  She wasn't a bad looking woman, but no one would call her good looking.  Her features were a bit hard and her nose a little too long.  And she was a touch skinny.  Just a little bit.  But Laurelae always demanded that the men she took be good looking.  Laurelae always felt she deserved the best looking men.  And, surprisingly, she always got the best looking men.  When someone talked to her, they always had the impression Laurelae felt a little conceited and arrogant, and entitled to the best looking of men.  Laurelae wanted this man.  This was the kind of man Laurelae believed she deserved.

       "Who's your morning Slave Guard and Overseer," she asked him.  "Mannius and Gellus," he answered.  Two men.  Laurelae knew Mannius.  He was at the Slave Guard barracks.  A single man in his late 30's.

       Although Laurelae didn't personally know any who did this, there had been plenty of stories about Slave Guards and Overseers that commandeered a slave here and there for their personal use.  It was common knowledge that Optios and Captains took whoever they wanted from the slaves.  Some on a permanent basis.  It was a regular occurence to see some male Slave Guard or Overseer pull a female slave into the "infirmary" at the beginning or end of a shift.  And Laurelae had lost count of the times she had seen some man out in the fields, behind a wagon with some female slave on her knees sucking his cock.  And twice she had seen female Slave Guards behind the wagons with a male slave sucking her off.   She'd bet a months pay that sooner or later she'd see a trussed up male slave on the ground with some woman Slave Guard riding him.  Everybody got horny sooner or later and so many helpless slaves made a solution easy to find.

       And the opposite took place.  She knew three women who said they had been raped, and they wanted payback.  One was vitriolic about it, bitterly cursing men and the bastards that they were.  And their male slaves paid the price for what their brothers had done.  When these women cracked their whips, the slaves cock and balls were always the targets of the women's anger.  The angry one made a practice of trying male slaves to wagons and cutting off their balls when they misbehaved.  No one complained.  It fact, everyone thought it made the slaves more docile and easy to control.  Because of the added benefit of making slaves docile, castrating them was an acceptable punishment for misbehavior.  The women who had been raped just took more pleasure in it than others.  And these women often had little "accidents," slicing off lenghts of cock along with the balls.  And the vitriolic one usually cauterized the castration wound with a burning branch.  She was so enthusiastic about cauterizing wounds that she had been known to cauterize a slave's balls without even bothering to cut the balls off first.  (That was frown upon.  The burned area was easily infected, putting a valuable piece of property in jeapordary.)

       Laurelae knew she was a smart little cookie, and she knew it wouldn't take her long to arrange a "personal slave" as part of her possessions.  In fact, she was thinking along the lines of two or three "personal" slaves.  And nobody really cared.  Field slaves died at a regular clip each week, and every week replacements were dropped off at the stronghold.  Nobody really kept track of them.  She only knew that every week they'd send off a message to the scribes at the Garrison to send down three or four replacements.  Three had died at her building since she had been there, and no one even asked how they died.

       She would find Mannius and Gellus and ask them to trade slaves.  They wouldn't give a shit as long as they got back a slave of equal quality.  But she was sure they would want to know why she wanted to trade slaves, simply as a matter of curiosity, and she was damn sure she'd have to go through some good natured teasing at their hands.  But it was worth it.  And sooner or later she'd catch Mannius or Gellus in the "infirmary" with some female slave, and she'd be able to pay them back for any teasing they gave her.

       Laurelae slipped out her gladius.  "Come here," she said to the slave.  He did.  "Lean against the bars," she commanded him.  He pressed against the bars that separated the slave cell from the hallway she was in.  She held the tip of her gladius against his stomach so he felt the point pressing against his skin.  She wanted to be covered, just in case he tried to make a grab for her.  Then she reached through the bars with her left hand to grab his chin and turn his head to the left and right.  "You are good looking, slave.  You're going to give me many hours of entertainment."  She reached down to grab his cock, and with only the littlest rubbing, she got him hard.  She looked down.  "That's a useful size, for all kinds of uses.  Plenty for a ride when I'm horny, and plenty of meat to turn black and blue when I'm training you.  I won't have any trouble hitting that big a target when I have to punish you."  She let him go.

       "Turn around," she commanded him.  When he did, he had moved a little away from the bars.  Quietly she slipped the gladius through the bars so that it reached below his ass.  Then she jerked it up and back at the same time, leaving a palm length cut up his ass.  "Aahha," he screamed in surprise and pain, and jump away, turning to face her.  "What's the matter, slave?  Don't you like it when I hurt you?  You're going to have to get over that in a hurry.  You're going to have to learn to like it when I hurt you or you're going to be very unhappy when I'm training you.  You should learn to like it when I hurt you, then you'll enjoy your training as much as I enjoy it.  Come here," she commanded him while her gladius still stuck through the bars at waist height.

       He was afraid of her now, and refused to come closer with the gladius sticking through the bars.  With a wicked smile on her face, she said, "I have ways to train you so you can't run away when I want to hurt you.  You're going to learn that when I want to hurt you, I am going to hurt you and there is no escape.  You are going to learn that it's always less painful to obey me, and there is only worse pain if you disobey me.  You don't have to come to me now, slave.  I will see you tomorrow, when you can't run away from me, and we will pick up where we left off today."

       Before she left, she sarcastically leaned toward him and said with a smile, "It's so good for me that you are so good looking, and so bad for you that you are handsome.  You're life if going to get so much harder so I can have some fun with you.  You're just going to have to learn to grin and bear it, while I only have to grin and smile over it."  She went to leave, but as an afterthought she turned back to the slave.  "You should have come over to me when I told you to.  Now I'm going to spend all night thinking that I wanted to cut your cock to show you who was boss.  Tomorrow I'll have all this pent up energy that been bottled up inside me all night.  When I get done with your cock tomorrow, you'll know why it's always less painful to obey me than disobey me."

                       .........................

       Laurelae headed off to the Kitchen to see if she could catch Mannius and Gellus before they left for Practice.  She got to the Kitchen in time to see the two sitting at a table bullshiting before they went out to Cottus.  Laurelae had exchanged greetings with Mannius a few times, and she went up to the two of them, and sat down at the table facing them.  The two men leaned back in their chairs, anticipating something entertaining in the visit by a woman they seldom talked to.

       "Mannius," Laurelae greeted the man.  He bowed his head to her as a response, with a smile, but didn't say anything.  "You're Laurelae," Gellus asked, "Aeneas's partner, right?"  "Yeah," she answered.  "I did some practice bouts with him last week.  He's pretty good with a sword," Gellus commented.  "Yeah," she said, "Lucky for him and me, he's better than me with a gladius, or we'd both be dead by now."  The two men chuckled.  "I'll tell him you said so," she finished.

       The two men waited, wanting to find out why she had approached them.  Mannius glanced around the room.  It was emptying out as people headed out the Traing Gounds.  "Come on.  We'll talk as we walk," Mannius said to her, not wanting to be late for practice.  "Cottus will live if we're a little late.  He'll just shout a little, and that will be the end of it.  Tomorrow, he'll forget it even happened," she answered.  The two men smiled, amused at her "Let the rules be damned" attitude.  It matched their own loose attitude about the rules.

       "What can we do for you," Mannius finally got down to business.  "How'd you like to trade slaves," Laurelae asked with a smile.  Both men grinned broadly.  There was only one reason guards traded slaves, and it had nothing to do with work.  This was really getting entertaining for the two men.  Women weren't usually so obvious about sexual matters, and Laurelae's directness was an amusing novelty.

       "Why, Laurelae, would you ever want one of our slaves," Mannius asked her, and laughed at his own wit.  "Man or woman," he asked with a smile.  Laurelae switched topics to something she knew would draw their attention away from her, their own self-interest.  "If ever one of you two sees one of our females that interests you, I'll drop her off in the 'infirmary' for you on the way out in the morning.  And if you ever see a female that really interests you, just give me the word, and she'll be in your cells in your building the next morning."

       Mannius and Gellus glanced at each other with smiles, and Mannius said, "Alright.  We'll trade with you, and we get our pick of your females wheneven one interests us.  Be at our building tomorrow morning and point out which one you want.  Make sure you give us a good replacement in exchange, or the deal if off."  "You'll get a bigger, stronger slave back," she said, and added, "Let me talk to Cottus when we get outside.  I'll take the blame for us being late.  I know how to handle him.  I can twist him around my little finger.  By the time everybody lines up, he'll be smiling at me with the biggest grin you ever seen."

       "It's been fun doing business with you, Laurelae," Mannius laughed.  From the side, Gellus added, "If you want to give the slave a trial run in the morning to make sure he can perform to your standards, we'll wait around while you try him out.  And if he doesn't measure up, maybe one of use can do what he can't."  With a big laugh so the men knew she wasn't being snide with them, but was trying to be humorous, she answered, "I'm going to teach him to kiss my ass, if you want the job."  The three laughed as they got up to finally head for the door.

                                           Chapter 14

                                          The Big Wigs

       Catana and Lena were in their third week at the stronghold.  They could have passed their Basica test, but Cornelia urged Cottus to put it off for a while.  The women were getting stronger, but had yet to add much weight to their thin frames.  The two started to obey anything Cottus said to them, and that mollified Cottus.  He was letting them participate in the afternoon training session with the Morning Shift.  Today's lesson was the "Tortoise" training.  He wanted to teach them to replace a man who was wounded on the outside line.

       There was a terrible racket outside, combined with the sound of hoof beats, and then a chariot pulled into the stronghold.  Cottus's eyes went round in nervousness, and he spun to the group of students, "Talig! Fall into ranks! At attention!"  Catana and Lena didn't know who Talig was, but he was apparently very important, judging by how Cottus acted at his appearance.  But that wasn't what transfixed Catana and Lena.  It was the woman driving the chariot.  Her skin was deeply bronzed, her hair was jet black, and her face was painted with wide black lines starting at her eyes and eye brows and sweeping down to form swirls on the side of her face.  She wore some kind of translucent gauze like head covering and had a white, flowing gown topped with a gold necklace.  Her left hand was decorated with a large gold ring.  Catana and Lena had never see anything like her before, and they stood awe struck with their mouths open in surprise.

       Siegfried, the 1st. Optio of the House Guards, was the senior officer for the Afternoon Shift, and he ran in following the chariot.  Siegfried was deeply impressed by Talig.  Siegfried had twice seen Talig fight in the Coliseum, and the warrior code which Siegfried followed demanded the utmost respect for the powerful and deadly gladiator.  Unlike the Romans who judged people by their social class, the Germanic man judged Talig by how powerful a warrior the man was; and Talig's deadliness with a sword put Talig at the very top of his list.  He offered Talig his arm to assist him down from the chariot.

       The warrior in the chariot ignored the proffered arm, and dismounted.  Although he tried to hide it, you could see the man was injured by little moments of hesitation that marked his movements, and getting down from the chariot made him breathe heavily.  His face was pale, and he had a belabored expression.  You could catch glimpse of a bandage across his chest, underneath his tunic.  He had been wounded in a life and death fight with Vircingi, leader of the Aquitani, a few weeks earlier.

       Siegfried took no offense at Talig's refusal of help.  He understood the emotions behind Talig's stoicism.  In fact, he respected Talig more for his refusal to give in to the pain of his wound.  Siegfried bowed deeply to Talig.  "Tribune," he addressed Talig.  "Is Atus here," Talig asked the man.  "No, Sir.  It's his day to check the cavalry horses at the Garrison and Salidia.  He'll be back close to dinner time."  "Get us Corrie, then," the woman in the chariot said.  "She's outside someplace," Siegfried returned, thinking that he was specifically detailed to attend the Front Gate for his shift, and nothing else should distract him from that vital post. "FIND HER FOR ME," the woman snapped back in an irritated tone.  Siegfried bowed, then turned and left.

       Taira dismounted and said to Talig, "Might as well be comfortable while we wait."  She authoritatively took his arm, and forcefully but gently, pushed him back so he was forced to sit on the lip of the chariot's floor behind him, forestalling any objections he might make.  She looked around, and saw the House Guard Sergeant who stood in attendance nearby.  "Water for my horses," she commanded him.  He disappeared.  She looked around again and saw Cottus.  "Optio, get us something to drink."  Cottus thought the best wine would be found in the villa, and he literally ran there for it.

       Cornelia entered the Front Gate, saw Talig, and ran over to him, not obsequiously, but because she was so happy to see him.  "Hi, Sweetheart," he said when she ran up.  She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the forehead.  "How are you feeling," she asked him.  "Fine," he answered, then glanced down at his chest and added, "This is nothing."  Taira frowned at Talig's answered, annoyed with his obstinate refusal to give his wound the proper rest it needed.  "Daddy's not here," Cornelia said to Talig.  "Yeah, I know," he answered.

       Cottus ran up with wine and two cups.  He looked at Cornelia and realized he was now a cup short.  He was getting exhausted from all the running he doing, but soldiered on.  He turned and literally ran back to the villa for another cup, but this time his running was labored, flat footed and slow under his growing exhaustion.  He was running full tilt in his full armor.

       "Have you had any loses this week," Taira asked Cornelia.  "We lost 3 slaves Wednesday.  They were clearing out some heavy brush to make a new orchard.  Four disappeared into the heavy brush.  The Overseer watched the ones he had, and the Slave Guard went looking for the missing ones.  He got one, but the other three were nowhere to be seen.  And we think we lost half a big flock of sheep up in the north.  We have no shepherd to watch them, so we're just guessing at the numbers.  We just knew it was a large flock up north around an old Aquitani farm.  Last time we sent someone up to water them and check for any wolves or bears around them, the big flock was scattered into a few small groups, and it looked like a lot of them were missing.  We guessed a raiding party came through, and swooped down on them, scattering some and running off with the rest."

       Cottus came puffing up with the third wine cup.  He gave it to Cornelia, bowed, and then backed away to his students.  Still puffing away and sweating profusely.

       Conversationally Taira said to Cornelia, "Marcus just had twelve slaves make a run for it.  He had a squad of twenty out, and when they got near the borderland, the twelve men of the squad just ran in different directions.  I guess they thought the two guards couldn't chase them all, and some would get away.  So they all just ran for it in different directions.  The Overseer stayed with the eight women of the squad.  The Slave Guard got one almost immediately, returned him to the Overseer, and went out looking for the other ones again.  It took him over an hour, but he got another one.  Ten got away."

       Talig: "We're going to try your father's idea of cavalry squads to run down runaway slaves, while the Overseers and Slave Guards stay watching their slaves.  The cavalry squad’s one job will be running down any slaves that try to slip away from their work group.  One Overseer and one Slave Guard are just too few people to both watch the slaves, and run down any runaways.  If we can find enough people willing to take the new job!"

       "Daddy didn't tell me what you talked about in your last meeting," Cornelia responded to Talig's comment.

       Taira looked around, saw Siegfried was back in attendance, and said to him, "Get Corrie a chair."  Talig was informal, and in the habit of stopping to talk about something whenever the topic came up.  He didn't need a formal meeting arranged in some villa with servants in attendance.  Cornelia was present, Atus was not, and Talig wanted to discuss the matter.  He didn't care that he and Taira was sitting on the back of a chariot in the middle of the courtyard.  At the same time, he was oblivious to all the people standing around him at attention.  For her part, Taira was happy Talig didn't insistent on walking around with his wound, but was content to do business out the back of her chariot.  This was his first venture out to work since he had been wounded, and she wanted him to take it easy.

       "Well, you know your father had some cavalry troops before he came to work for Salidia.  Last meeting, he suggested getting some cavalry troops dedicated to chasing down runaway slaves, since the Overseers and Slave Guards have their hands full just handling their slaves.  Since they're just running down slaves, not fighting other cavalry, these new troops won't need much training," Talig said to Cornelia.

       "The question is where we'll get the new troops from," Taira jumped in.  "We get new Overseer, Slave Guard, and Sentry recruits every month, but not enough to fill our needs.  We get a few good warriors, but those we want to use to protect the strongholds as Dragoons, and we don't have enough for that job either.  Salidia thinks the chances are low that a surrounding tribe will try to take the valley away from us.  Not with Selenius down the road, ready to punish anybody who openly attacks Salidia.  So we think the valley is safe from attack ........as long as Selenius is backing us up.  But we are worried someone will try a hit and run attack to sack a stronghold as a large force of simple raiders, and get out before Selenius can get here to help us.  But that's what the Dragoons are for.  To get to any stronghold that's attacked by a large force and reinforce it until Selenius can get here."

       "So we think we can hold the Sentries at the current levels since the Dragoons are backing them up at their strongholds.  Sentries are the one group not seeing much action.  And a good number of the recruits applying at the Garrison are applying as Sentries, so we have a good number of new recruits available.  Overseers and Slave Guards have more slaves than they can watch.  We can't spare any of the new recruits from them.  Whatever we decide to do about Kaylin's and Alisa's girls, they not ready for any action yet until they get more training.  The men, they've got thieves to chase down everyday.  Sentries are the one group not engaged with any active threats we have.  With the Dragoons backing up the strongholds, the Sentries have nothing to do but watch for thieves and slaves trying to escape.  And it doesn't take a full compliment of Sentries to do that.  So we'll use Sentries.  We're going to use some Sentries with their bows to run down the escaping slaves," Taira finished.

       "Your father knows cavalry," Talig said.  "We want to know what he thinks of using the Sentries to run down escaping slaves.  Does he think they can do it with their bows, since they'll only be dealing with slaves and not real enemy cavalry.  And we want to know what he thinks they'll need for training.  Would they need to know the sword and shield?  The lance?  How good do they need to be on a horse?  I want to know how he'd set up their training, and how he'd organize patrols."

       Talig looked over to Siegfried, "Did you hear that?"  "Yes, Tribune," Siegfried answered.   Talig couldn't help but laugh.  The sight of one of the Teutonic men in a Roman style uniform always struck Talig as funny.  It was the hair.  It seemed so incongruous to see long blonde hair sticking out from underneath a Roman helmet.  Some of Atus's men had moustaches, no less.  And perpetually white legs sticking out under the uniform.  It always made him laugh.  But not their prowess as warriors.  Talig had fought a couple in the Coliseum.  They had a wild, undisciplined style of fighting, but they were ferociously aggressive and wildly fearless.

       Fearlessness always made men more dangerous.  They took chances and charged forward while more timid men held back defensively.  Their constant assault forced a man to waste effort on being defensive, and while the man was being defensive, it was hard to get in position for an offensive strike.  Talig called them "crazy brave," because they continued to attack, rather than become defensive, when they were out classed; but they hoped their bravery would turn the fight in their favor at the last moment.  They were men who believed bravery and ferociousness, their spirit, would save them from a more skilled opponent.  Talig hated to fight them because they were almost right, and he always felt exhausted and nervous after he fought one of them.

       "You're Siegfried, right," Talig asked the man.  "Yes, Tribune," Siegfried answered.  Talig had first seen the men when he showed up in the valley in the shirt and pants of an Germanian, with a written recommendation from Selenius.  "What do you think?  Can a Sentry safely chase down a slave," Talig asked him.

       "What weapons can a slave have?  An ax?  A scythe?  How can you block an arrow with an ax or scythe?  If you teach the Sentries to spread out as they come at the slave, the slave has no chance against archers.  If I had a shield and two archers were shooting at me from two different directions, I'd have problems blocking both of them.  If they coordinated their attack, I'd have a real problem.  And slaves have no shields.  Sure, two archers can get a slave.  Even a group of slaves if they stay on the perimeters and fire into the slaves from two different directions.  Teach the Sentries to come at the slaves from different directions and coordinate their attack, and they can do the job," Siegfried answered.  Talig thought to himself that Siegfried made a rapid, comprehensive assessment of the proposal, and he was satisfied with Siegfried's performance as a 1st. Optio.  He also thought to himself that Selenius had recommended a good man to them.  Talig looked at Taira.  Everyone they had asked about the proposal had said the same thing, Sentries could do the job.

       "We want your father to figure out the training the Sentries will need for this job, and have him come up with some tactics we can teach them.  Maybe talk to Acetur (their archery instructor, a Second Centurion) and Caigan about it.  We asked Acetur to come up with some archery tactics, too," Taira said to Cornelia.  "We asked Caigan what he thought would be good for patrol routes," she added.  She looked at Siegfried and held the look long enough for him to realize he was being included in the conversation.  He nodded to Taira, understanding that he was being treated as one of Atus's staff officers instead of a "go-for." "You were a cavalry officer before you joined us," Taira asked the man.  "Every man who crosses the Rhenus is a cavalryman, Mistress," he answered her, referring to all the Germanic men who traveled south to work for the Romans.

       Taira thought this man, and the Captain and 2nd. Optio of the House Guards would probably help Atus develop this idea of using Sentries to patrol slaves.  They were Atus's senior officers.

       Taira asked the man, "How are your training programs going?"  If Atus's stronghold was going to develop a training program for a new type of cavalry, she wanted to know that the current programs they were overseeing were working well.  "Through," the man answered her.  "The 2nd. Optios cover basic skills and tactics everyday with their troops.  Atus, the Captain, and I sat down with all the 2nd. Optios and went over their training plans to make sure they covered all the topics that need to be covered.  As the training goes on, their troops will be taught all they have to know.  And the 2nd. Optio of Slave Guards has a written list of all the things Caigan wants covered.  Only the Overseers have light training schedules, but we were told to reserve 3 days a week for the Farmers to train them in farming practices.  Most of the time the Farmers go back to their quarters after their shift is over, and they train no one."

       Taira asked him, "You sat down with the 2nd. Optios, and went over their training plans to make sure nothing was missed?"  "Yes, Mistress," he reaffirmed what he had already told her.  Taira turned to the squad of Slave Guards who Cottus had out practicing.  "You two on the end.  Run through some of your drills for me," Taira called to the two Slave Guards closest to her, Matilda and Mannius, a bachelor living in the Slave Guard barracks.

       "No," Talig called over to them.  He turned to Taira, "Don't waste my time watching simple Slave Guards.  You've only been with us a short time, Taira.  Atus is my man.  You don't have to check the work he does.  When I give Atus a job, the job gets done and nobody has to check him or the work he does.  Those 'Slavers will run their drills the right way without us watching them.  Atus runs this stronghold and his people the way it should be run."

       Taira leaned back against the side of the chariot and looked at Talig.  Salidia trusted the word of her subordinates much more than Taira did with her subordinates in Egypt.  Taira was accustomed to quizzing her people as a check on their work.  But this was Salidia's valley, not one of Taira's temples, and Taira knew she should respect Salidia's way of doing things.  It didn't bother her that Talig contradicted her.  She had no shortage of self-confidence, and would have insisted if she thought it was necessary, and she would have been more than happy to cut Talig down to size in the process.  But she wanted to keep the injured man calm so he wouldn't aggravate his wound.  And in the couple of months she had known Talig, she was changing her opinion of the man.  Originally, she thought Salidia used the man because he was a skilled killer and excellent bodyguard.  But she was now starting to trust the man as a smart and competent commander of the troops under him.  If Talig wanted to trust his man Atus, Taira was willing to see what happened.  Time would tell if Atus ran training programs that were dependable, and whether Talig was right in trusting Atus.  Taira knew her questions would be answered by just waiting without any action required on her part.

       Talig turned to Siegfried, "Tell Atus we need some ideas about these new cavalry by the next meeting."  The man nodded.

       Then Talig turned to Cornelia, and his posture relaxed, "I miss you.  I never get to see you anymore."  "Me, too," Cornelia answered.  "Come to the meetings with your father.  We only talk about the valley a little of the time.  We spend more time just catching up on news and bullshitting than doing any work.  Angela always comes with Cetus, Carra is always there with Lucius, Draena and Pacina are always there.  Most of the other wives show up most of the time.  Persius and Leda always tag along with their father.  Half the other kids show up.  You should come.  It's more just a chance to see each other now that everybody’s spread over all the strongholds rather than a formal meeting.  It's our one chance for everybody to get back together again and see each other once a week," Talig said to her.  "I hate to leave the stronghold unattended," she answered.  "Sali got you a Head Housekeeper.  Let her take over once in a while.  That's her job," Talig returned.  Cornelia got up and kissed Talig on the forehead and took his hand, "Alright.  I'll come next meeting."  "Good.  I'll tell Sali and Lydi that you're coming.  They'll love it."

       Talig went to get up.  "Aauughh," he gasped.  His wound had stiffened up as he sat in the chariot talking.  Cornelia reached out quickly to hold his shoulder, with a worried expression.  He waved her away, saying, "I'm alright.  Just stiff."  "Do you want the potion from the poppy flower.  I brought some," Taira asked him.  "No.  I can't think right after I take your potion.  It clouds my mind like I'm drunk."  He turned to Cornelia, "My babysitter.  Sali thought it would be a good idea if she went with me today."  Taira turned to Cornelia at this, and the two women exchanged knowing smiles with each other.  Both women knew the men didn't know how to take care of themselves, and they always claimed they were "fine," no matter what kind of shape they were in.  If Talig had blood running down his side, he'd say he was "alright."

       Talig mounted the chariot, a little slow, and said, "Come on.  I want to talk to Rufus today about vassals."  Then a "Love you," to Cornelia.  Taira gave Cornelia a quick squeeze of the hand, then got in the chariot, and headed the chariot out the stronghold.

       "Who was that," Catana asked Matilda.  "Taira, the Egyptian witch," she answered.  "Talig, Salidia's top aide.  They call him and Lydia Tribunus Laticlavius because they're the two top officers for Salidia," added Bellosa, a man standing next to them.

       "What was wrong with him," Catana asked.  "He and Lydia were hurt in a fight that killed the last of the Aquitani," Mannius said from the side.  "I came to work for Atus just four weeks after Salidia got the valley.  When I first got here, they didn't have any of the walls up yet, and Scipio was working way over at Titus's villa putting up the first of the strongholds.  Me and the other new men made all of seven men stationed here, and we all stayed in the first villa.  That was it, just seven men in a villa with no walls around us.  Salidia and her men, the Lords, were still fighting the Aquitani, the people who owned this valley before it was given to Salidia.  Talig and Lydia were cut up pretty bad when they took on the best two fighters of the Aquitani at the end.  I heard the two Aquitani were fast, like Dimachaeri.  Taira, the witch, kept Talig and Lydia alive with her magic after the fight.  I've seen Lydia since then, with her arm bandaged up, but this is the first time I've seen Talig since he was hurt."

       Catana had listened to the conversation taking place just a short distance away from her, and she realized Talig had defended Atus against the Egyptian witch.  After Atus rode over to talk to her last week, she and Lena liked Atus a lot, and the two of them were developing a loyalty to Atus.  "I like that man.  He likes Atus, doesn't he," Catana asked Mannius.  "Oh, yeah!  When I was in the Legions, sometime the Tribunes (who were political appointees) and Legati (who were career soldiers) argued with each other.  But here in this valley all the Lords and Ladies treat each other like family.  They all like each other and trust one another.  You saw how Cornelia acted with him.  She fawns on him like a loved uncle.  All the Lords and Ladies treat each other like family."

       To Catana and Lena, this valley had the feeling of the tribes they had grown up in, where people were bound together by bonds of family and clan.  The people who lived here came from all different places, and some of them weren't even Roman, but everyone worked together, helped each other, and trusted each other.  They were feeling very happy and lucky that they had come to live in this place.  Listening to Talig defend Atus and have faith in what Atus did left Catana and Lena feeling the stronghold worked like a large, extended family, and that they were a part of it.

                               Chapter 15

           Things Go Wrong, Things Go Right

       Catana and Lena were put on the Rolls on their fourth week.  By that time they could run through the Basica twice in a row without breathing very hard and they hardly felt tired at all.  You could actually see biceps and triceps on their arms, and it was easy to know they put on weight because Milos had to take them to the Tool Shed to bang out their armor to give them more room inside their metal skins, especially the part over the stomach.  When it came to their Basica test, Cottus just told them, "I put you on the Rolls today.  When the Paymaster comes through, get on line with everybody else, and tell him your name when it's your turn.  You get 25 sestertii a month for the five week Probationary Period; you get full pay after you pass the Probationary Test."  Lena asked him, "What about the Basica test?"  "Aahh, you can do it.  I ain't wastin' my time watching you do something I already know you can do," he answered her.

       They went through their Probationary Period, which was basically going out with a Training Slave Guard for a week as he showed them what he did, one week for a Morning Shift and another week with a different trainer for an Afternoon Shift.  That showed them how slaves were collected in the morning, fed, and run out in morning.  It also showed them how wagons, farm implements and appropriate horses or donkeys were gotten.  The afternoon shift showed them how everything was returned to the proper place at the close of the day.  Then they took charge of a squad of slaves, with the Training Slave Guard following them and coaching them the whole time as they handled the slaves, for both a week each with the Morning Shift and the Afternoon Shift.  They spent a few days on separate tasks, like learning how the Night Shift worked.  For their Probationary Test, Patronus, their Captain, watched them from the off the side several times during their shift.  They had the Morning Shift, and Patronus showed up in their Slave Quarters building as the slaves were fed, and he watched them as the slaves were fed and then marched off to the Draft Horse Court, where they picked up a wagon, some farm implements and two horses.  He watched them as their slaves were marched to their work site.  Three times during their shift, he watched them from a distance as they supervise their slaves as the slaves work.  When the Afternoon Shift came out to relieve them, Patronus rode over to tell each one, "Tell Corrie to give you your Garden Plots."

       For three weeks, Patronus put them out as the Domestic Exterior Slave Guards, Catana for the Morning Shift and Lena for the Afternoon Shift.  What all that boiled down to was that they got a horse and rode around the outside of the stronghold, checking on the slaves that worked close to the stronghold.  Several groups of slaves worked around the outside of the stronghold: slaves who tended the Chicken Coops, slaves that drew water from the outside well, slaves that kept the outside area of the stronghold free from animal droppings, slaves that mucked out the sheds used to house pigs and goats, etc.  Patronus did this just to satisfy Cornelia.  He would have sent Catana and Lena out on regular duty as soon as they passed their Probationary Test, since the two women had noticeably put on some weight and muscle from nine weeks of tough exercise, good food and plenty of rest, but Patronus gave them easy jobs just to keep Cornelia happy.  Then Patronus paired them up with two Overseers and assigned them useful posts.

       Catana was paired up with Sertonius, a forty two y.o. ex-Legionnaire.  For that time in history, forty two was an old man.  Sertonius was a good, level headed, tough, brave veteran of many campaigns.  He was really good in a fight, but as he aged, he realized his reflexes were getting slower and he didn't have the agility or strength he had in youth.  Realistically, he knew he couldn't survive many more fights against younger warriors.  It was the reason he applied for a job as an Overseer rather than a Slave Guard, a position where he was less likely to get into a fight.  And if he worked for Salidia as an Overseer, that service was accepted in lieu of serving as a vassal.

       Sertonius had two full sized "retirement plots," the one Selenius gave him upon retirement and the one Salidia gave him for joining the valley.  The "retirement plots" were much bigger than the small "garden plots" they handed out to low ranked soldiers.  It was enough land to make a comfortable living as a farmer who could afford a few luxuries once in a while.  But Sertonius was also an inveterate gambler, and he had left the Legions with almost no money.  He didn't have enough money to buy the supplies and equipment he needed to set up a farm.  Besides, he had decided that he didn't want to deal with the strenuous work of farming.  He decided to spend his retirement with the light work of tending an orchard.  His plan was to sit in front of his cabin watching his apples grow bigger day by day.  He needed to work for Salidia for a few seasons to buy the apple and peach sapling he would need for his two plots of land, plus buy the furnishings for a homestead.

       Catana and Lena got along well with him.  Sertonius regretted never having children, and he enjoyed spending time with Catana's and Lena's children, which endeared him to the two women.  And Sertonius got along well with Milos.  They had served in the same locations, and had many stories to exchange with each other about exotic places and strange people they both knew.

       He was a good partner for Catana.  Although he was aging, he was still a formidable man with a sword, more than a match for any local warrior, let alone an untrained slave.  He kept his head when there was trouble, and if anything, Catana learned from his calmness when he handled problems.  And his experience in the Legions left him familiar with handling subjugated people.  When he dealt with his slaves, he had a natural sense of authority and command, and when a slave gave him a problem, his hand automatically wrapped around his sword.  As a Legionnaire, he felt the edge of his sword was the correct response to disobedience.  His slaves picked up his willingness to use his sword, and they tended to be very obedient.

       Sertonius had worked for Salidia for five months, but everybody was new to the valley, and five months made him a veteran Overseer.  It allowed him to have a voice in choosing his job, and he landed a cushy job.  Catana was an incidental beneficiary of his job choice.  Little by little, Atus had been getting more personnel.  Atus now had one Estate Keeper, and one Orchardman.  The Orchardman worked with a freeman who he was training as an apprentice, and the two worked alone.  They were charged with developing the orchards on Atus's estate.  The Estate Keeper maintained the estate property outside of the stronghold, and he was charged with engaging in small improvement projects when needed.  Think in terms of small "home improvement" projects.  He would clear a field of rocks so Farmers could plow the field.  He would clear a hill of brush so orchards could be planted on the hill.  He would build a small coral and shed for shepherds to use.  He would lay in a gravel path to heavily used areas so wagons could travel without becoming mired in mud when it rained.  There were hundreds of little improvement projects on estates that would make life a little better, and Estate Keepers patiently went about the business of improving the property of the estate one little project after another.  Right now the Estate Keeper was clearing land for use as orchards.

       Sertonius got himself assigned to the Estate Keeper, doing the exact work he would need to do when he started his own orchards.  He was getting paid to gain experience where he needed to gain farming skills.  Even better, since the Orchardman only had one man to work with, Sertonius was sometimes asked to dig the holes for the saplings, with the Orchardman directing the placement of the trees.  This wasn't done with mathematical precision, but allowed variations to place trees in the best location.  The Orchardman followed Sertonius and his slaves around, directing, "No, a little more to the left.  The tree will get better drainage there.  That one, further back.  It will get better sunlight."  This was exactly what Sertonius needed to learn.  Sometimes, Sertonius would start the day in the field with the Orchardman, just asking him questions for his own education.  The job couldn't have been better for Sertonius.

         Patronus and Beowulf, Captain of the Overseers, had paired Sertonius with Catana.  They both thought the (relatively) experienced old hand would be a good steady hand to balance the new recruit.  Lena, too, had been paired with a steady, experienced hand, an Etruscan who had worked for the Romans as an Auxiliary.  Both Patronus and Beowulf liked to pair new recruits with experienced partners.  They had paired the green Matilda with the battle tested ex-Legionnaire, Iolus, using the same formula a couple of months before.

       The work was good for Sertonius but it was a little bit harder for Catana.  The highest number of slave losses occurred when slaves worked in heavy brush and trees, where the slaves could easily slip out of sight in the heavy vegetation.  Even worse, Catana and Sertonius often worked near the borderland.  If a slave could make it to the borderland, they could often escape into the wild woods that grew at the edges of the borderland.  Several times, Catana had to reprimand slaves looking over their shoulders as they worked, studying the woods to the north.

       Cornelia had broken custom and initiated something that all the other strongholds would eventually follow.  She had looked around her father's stronghold, and felt it was a pretty desolate looking place.  One of the first things she had the Estate Keeper do was plant some trees, including an odd collection of fruit trees, a short distance outside the Front Gate.  She wanted to establish a little garden area outside the stronghold for people to go and relax.  Romans loved to spend time outdoors when they could.  The fruit tree saplings were only waist high, but Cornelia looked forward to a time when the area would be a shade covered grove to have lunch, and where children could play, safely out of range of the troops constantly practicing around the stronghold.

       Milos had the kids out in the back of the stronghold, and he was watching the Slave Guards doing their weapons training with Cottus.  When the lesson was nearly done, Milos went inside to pick up lunch at the Troop Kitchen.  He had the kids carrying some water bottles and three kettles for all the food he was getting.  Then he headed out to Cornelia's new tree grove.  Someone had left a stack of firewood out there, and someone else had cobbled together three circular stone fireplaces.  Milos started a small fire in one of the fireplaces and stuck one of the kettles on the fireplace.

       Sertonius headed over to the grove at the end of his training session with his 2nd. Optio.  Overseers spent less time training than Slave Guards and Sertonius always finished training before Catana or Lena.  "Toni!  Toni," the children cried when they saw him walking up, and they ran over to greet him.  Catana's littlest one ran up to him, arms outstretched, and he hoisted her up to hold with one arm.  "OOhhh, you're getting to be such a Big Girl!  I can hardly lift you up anymore," he said to the child as he playfully jostled her around.  He lifted up the cover on the kettle over the fire, "Chicken again!  Anymore damn chicken and I'm going to start growing feathers."

       Milos laughed, and answered, "I got some carrots to make up for it and the cook said tomorrow she's got melons for dinner.  But me, if my stomach is pushing against my belt, I'm happy.  Things could be worse."  "I don't think so," Sertonius returned, and finished by making the children laugh with a, "Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Cluck," and flapping his arms around as if he was a chicken.

       "Mommy! Mommy!," the children shouted as the women walked up.  "Hi, Toni," Lena said, and then she looked in the kettle over of the fire, "Half a chicken each!  That'll keep us full until dinner."  Sertonius looked at Lena, and just shook his head back and forth in disapproval over her comment.  Catana started to clown around with her eldest daughter, Alexandria, dueling with her as if both had imaginary swords.  Catana's weapons training was starting to pay off, and her duel with her daughter was a lively, fast paced dance between the two.

       Since Catana's decision to be a compliant student for Cottus, she had learned a lot from the 2nd. Optio.  Her assaults and blocks were now coordinated combinations of four and five integrated moves that finished with her well balanced and ready for her opponent's next move.  Her daughter wasn't getting any training, so she tried to match Catana increasing skill by improving her own reaction time and agility.  Alexandria enjoyed this play with her mother.  For longer than Alexandria wanted to remember, since the death of her father, her mother had been short tempered and humorless.  Now her mother was starting to laugh again, and she was cheerful.  She loved these duels with her mother just to have a chance to have a good time with Catana again.  And her mother had put on some weight and looked healthier and more robust, and Alexandria was sure it was due to the exercise her mother was getting, not just the food alone.  When Alexandria practiced with her mother, she was sure she was improving her mother's health.

       As Catana and her daughter spun around with their imaginary swords, Sertonius called over to her, "What's up, Achilles?  How's my bodyguard doing?  Did they teach you which end of the sword is the pointy end yet?"  "Hi, Toni," she answered.  She changed her swordplay to lunge at Sertonius, pivoting around him and slashing him with her invisible gladius.  "You're dead, Toni.  Fall down," she triumphantly laughed, then added, "What have we got today?"

       "Same as yesterday," Sertonius answered her, as he settle down to eat his damn chicken.  He was saving his carrots for last.  "Ah, crap," Catana complained at his answer to her question, annoyed her slaves would be working in trees and brush again.

       "What have you got," Sertonius called over to Lena.  Lena was assigned to the field slaves, but she had also been temporarily assigned to an improvement project.  "Rocks out of a field.  I hate it.  The Toolman gave us three shovels to dig up the biggest rocks, but Dentatus and I only handed out two of them.  I don't like the slaves having anything they can swing at me, and Dentatus and I stood right behind the slaves as they used the shovels.  We took them away as soon as the slaves were done with them."

       Dentatus was Lena's partner, retired like Sertonius, who also had two full sized plots of land.  He was married, but his wife had yet to make the journey up to Abbalo.  She had traveled to Salidia's Tuscany estate, and she would make the dangerous journey up to Gaul in the safety of the next wagon train sent up to Abbalo from Tuscany.  Like Sertonius, Dentatus needed a little extra money before he could start up his farm on his two plots of land, but unlike Sertonius, he had two sons who would help him with his farm.  With two plots of land to work, he too would be able to make a comfortable living with some luxuries as a farmer.  Dentatus talked to the Head Steward, and he thought his sons would be able to get part time work as wagoners.

       Catana answered Lena comment about her slaves with shovels, "That's not so bad.  Our slaves have got axes!"

       "Axes!  Why'd you give your slaves axes," Lena exclaimed, surprised.

       Sertonius: "We got trees to cut down.  And after they're cut down, we cut them up to make a hutch and coral for any shepherds who are using the area for their flocks.  But we do like you did.  We only handed out two, and we stood breathing down the slave's backs as they used them."

       Lena: "It'd make me nervous as all Hades if my slaves had axes in their hands."

       Sertonius: "My First (Optio) tells me they're putting together special teams at the Garrison, one Overseer and a full squad of 'Slavers to watch a squad of twenty four slaves.  All their slaves will have axes.  They're sending them into the mountains to cut firewood for us for winter.  We're getting one of the teams when they finish training them.  The Sword Master at the Garrison is giving them extra lessons with the sword, and one of the 'Slavers has to be good with a mounted bow."

       "My First has seen them up at the Garrison, and he said if he met them on the road, he wouldn't turn his back on them.  They all look like a gang of thieves and murders, and bulls of men who'd make Hercules look puny.  Everyone calls them 'Goon squads' behind their backs and my First said that's what he thought when he first saw them, 'What a bunch of goons!'  He said, 'Imagine if you cut the hair off a bunch of Goths, and put them in regular clothes.  They'd still look like animals.  That's what these guys look like.  Like they eat meat raw, tearing off chunks of raw meat with just their teeth.'  They're giving them FOUR garden plots of land each, and triple pay.  Enough money and land to hire tough assed mercenaries for the job."

       "When they show up at the stronghold, I'm giving them a wide berth.  If one of them wants my seat in the Kitchen, I'm giving it to him.  But Lena, that's all these guys will do, watch slaves with axes.  A squad of twenty four slaves armed with axes, out in the mountains chopping firewood.  And as far as I'm concerned, if they want to give these guys four plots of land and triple pay, it's alright with me.  I don't want the job.  They can pay these guys whatever they want to, as long as they keep me in firewood this winter."

       Milos: "Mercenaries, huh?  Huns, Goths?"

       Sertonius: "Persians, Assyrians, Thracians, anyone who's up here in Gaul looking to get hired on as a mercenary by someone.  They're paying them enough to hire real good mercenaries.  But they've got to be real tough asses.  Probably some Persians and Assyrians since they want a good bowman with each squad."

       Milos: "I don't want some guys up here that are going to cause problems.  When I was in the Legions, we had auxiliaries that were just robbers and murders and thugs.  In battles, I've seen them stripping Milites of valuables when they went down in the fights.  You can't trust these guys.  I don't want someone up here who's going to rob Lena of her pay after the Paymaster comes through."

       Sertonius: "You know, they're such nice guys and after you meet them you tend to forget it, but Atus and his top men are all Big, tough assed mercenaries.  You forget it when all you see of Atus is him walking around with his arm wrapped around someone, laughing his head off.  Salidia didn't hire him because he was big and tough.  She hired him because he was the BEST, tough assed mercenary that she could find IN ALL OF ROME.  Atus use to command men like these when he commanded a troop of Germanian cavalrymen.  He's use to men like these.  Atus will handle these men just like he use to handle the cavalrymen under him.  He'll be more than a match for any of them."

       Catana: "These new guys, these 'Goons,' are going to be just like us.  They got slaves to watch all day, too.  If their slaves rebel, they'll need us to help them just like we help each other out if the slaves give us a problem.  If anything, these guys are going to know they need good backup more than any one of us."

       Sertonius: "That's not how it works.  They know they're tough and can push other people around."

       Catana: "Than I'll remind them that's how it works.  Either they're nice, or everyone here will turn their backs on them if there's a problem.  If they're nice, everyone here will be their friend and run to help them if there's a problem.  Let their slaves, with axes in their hands, remind them why they need good backup."

       Sertonius looked at Catana seriously for awhile, "Catana, you're new, but you're becoming a tough assed 'Slaver."

                       .............................

       When Catana and Sertonius had first pulled up to their work site, it was a series of small hills covered in trash trees with a lot of creepers and vines growing underneath the trees.  They were cleaning the hills of vegetation and then planting apple saplings.  They'd leave the hills set up for shepherds to also use the land later.  Whenever they came to patches of grass, they left it to grow out to cover the space beneath the trees.  Next year, the hills would be grass covered underneath their apple trees, and the shepherds would find a coral for their animals and a shack for them to sleep in.

       What the slaves were doing made Catana nervous, and she was on her toes watching them.  The slaves were issued a small semicircular hand scythe to cut the vines and bushes.  The scythes in the slaves’ hands are what made Catana nervous.  One of the newly hired blacksmiths at the Garrison, the Tool Maker, had made the tools especially for use by slaves.  The semicircular blade was the length of a foot, but the tip was left blunt so the scythe couldn't be used to stab at an Overseer or Slave Guard.  The blade was only sharpened starting a distance back from either end.  To cut anyone, the scythe had to be placed around an arm or a neck and then pulled, or accurately swung so it encircled a limb.  As a weapon, it was a useless piece of shit.  Nevertheless, the small hand scythes made Catana nervous.  Slaves were desperate people, and some would take any chance to escape.

       Catana used all her instincts to watch the slaves, plus all her Training Slave Guards had taught her.  Her training was good, and she depended upon it.  But it also helped that women were more sensitive to social situations than men, and if anything, the women Slave Guards were better able to foretell when slaves were going to act up.

       Her Training Slave Guards told her, "We give you the same slaves day after day so you can learn how they think," "Slaves pick out a leader for the men and women.  Watch the leaders without letting them know it," "Know which are the cowards, who's nervous, who's brave, who's got a short temper,"

       And Catana had done as she was taught.  She knew her slaves as well as she knew the people in her Single Parent House.  Her male leader was "Flat Nose," and his two lieutenants were, "Tall One," and "Big Ears;" and her female leaders were "Little Chin," and "Long Hair."  Catana knew her cowards and her nervous slaves, and her calm slaves and the ones who were depressed and defeated and hopeless.  Of course she knew who was the most defiant, "Cut Face," and who was the easiest to anger, "Big Ears" again who was also one of the leaders.  Sertonius left this part of the job up to her, and he usually consulted with her before he deployed his slaves.  He concentrated on the job his slaves did, like whether they damaged the ball of roots on saplings when they planted the trees.

       Catana was more alert than usual.  Her "The Nervous One" seemed more agitated than usual.  Trying not to betray what she was doing, she was doing as she was trained to do, watching how her slaves were acting to get clues about anything they might be planning to do.  But she wrapped her right hand around her sword hilt and she rested her left hand against her buckler because of how the "The Nervous One" was acting.  Sertonius had a slave she identified as a coward using an ax.  Sertonius was doing something that Catana always appreciated: he always stood with his hand wrapped around his sword.

       "Tall One" was working toward the middle of the slaves, but then he moved to work closer to Sertonius.

       "Tall One" glanced at "Flat Nose" when he got closer to Sertonius!

       "Flat Nose" returned the glance and stopped working..........

       Catana instantly shifted her eyes, "Big Ears" had stopped working and was staring at "Tall One!"  "Little Chin" and "Long Hair" weren't working and they were staring at "Tall One!"  They had all stopped working and they were all staring at "Tall One!!"

                       "TONI!!!!!"

       Everyone turned to look at Catana when she suddenly screamed.  Everyone, that is, but Sertonius.  "Drop it," Sertonius bellowed at the slave with the ax, while he pivoted as he drew his sword and tried to free his buckler.  The hook on the buckler which engaged the baldric shoulder strap was caught on the strap, and Sertonius was shaking the buckler, trying to free it from its carrying strap.  Then the buckler came free.

       Catana was right in identifying the slave "Sad Eyes" as a coward.  She had recommended he be used with the ax.  "Sad Eyes" didn't understand why Catana called to Sertonius or what Sertonius shouted at him in Latin, but at the angry shouts from the Slave Guards, he panicked.  He screamed and fell to his knees terrified, and covered his head with his arms, and continued to scream in utter terror that the angry Slave Guards were going to kill him.

       Sertonius thought Catana's call meant a slave was rushing him from the back, and it was the reason he pivoted.  But as he turned, he saw no one was moving.  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the slave with the ax dropped to his knees as well as dropped the ax.  He dismissed the slave with the ax as harmless.

       "Flat Nose" didn't know what tipped off the female Slave Guard and gave away their plan, but he wasn't going to lose his best chance of escape.  Everyone had a weapon in their hand today, the hand scythes, and they were close to the woods.  "Now," he shouted.

       "Flat Nose," "Tall One" and three other slaves rushed at the male guard, and "Big Ears" and another slave charged the female guard.  "Tall One" was real close and had a good chance of reaching the male guard.

       Everyone was standing still after Catana's scream to Sertonius.  In the background of the scene were the terrified screams of "Sad Eyes," who was prostrate on the ground in terror.  Then "Flat Nose" called out something in his native tongue, and seven slaves rushed at the Slave Guard and Overseer.  Five female slaves and two male slaves dropped to their knees in a gesture of submission, fearing the Slave Guards would kill them in retribution for the rebellion their fellow slaves were staging.  Five slaves stood watching the scene around them.  When the others attacked the guards, they turned and ran for the woods.

       Sertonius saw slaves starting to move or drop to the ground.  Then out of the corner of his eye, Sertonius noted a slave attacked Catana, and then a second one tackled her and brought her to the ground.  "Tall One" was only a couple of steps to the side of Sertonius.  "Tall One" lunged at him.  Sertonius easily blocked the clumsy assault and disembowel the slave with a single slice of his sword rather than stab the heart, because he was enraged the slaves had the audacity to attack him.

       "Flat Nose" called out in his native language, "For Astarte's sake, Cudja, for once in your life, act like man!  Throw me the ax!"  "Sad Eyes" continued to scream in terror, huddled on the ground.  "Aaahh," "Flat Nose"  screamed in frustration over the terrified slave with the ax, then he yelled, "Vat, Bet, the wagon!"  He knew two more axes were stored in the wagon.

       Two slaves ran for the wagon.  Sertonius couldn't let them get to the axes in the wagon.  He turned to run after them, but just as he did, two other slaves lunged for the ax on the ground.  Reverting to all his years as a Legionnaire, Sertonius held his small buckler exactly as he would his large scutum, and he turned back to charged the two men going for the ax on the ground.  The slave closest to the ax looked up to see the guard running at him.  The slave was just starting to reach down to pick up the ax when Sertonius ran up to him.  The slave had time to stand up before the guard smashed into him.  The impact carried both men past the ax on the ground.  Sertonius had done this for more than twenty years.  Even using the small buckler, Sertonius knocked the man to the ground; and as he swept over the man, Sertonius tripped a little, stumbling, but he was so practiced at making this particular attack that he was still able to maintain enough control over his body to stab the man on the ground as he swept over the man.

       The guard's charge carried the guard and Gillgatar away from the ax.  "Flat Nose" stooped to grab the ax, but as he did, he saw the guard catch his balance and with practiced skill the guard turned to charge back at "Flat Nose" faster than "Flat Nose" thought he could.  "Flat Nose" had enough time to turn and flee, if he abandoned the ax.  "Flat Nose" thought, "If I can hold the guard here a little bit, the others will get the axes in the wagon, and everybody will be safe and able to escape."

       "Flat Nose" grabbed the ax and had time to stand up before the guard rushed up him.  "Flat Nose" used the ax handle to deflect the guard's sword downward before the guard could stab him.  The two men collided together.  A year ago or even eight months ago, "Flat Nose" had more strength, but his year of captivity with its exhausting, endless labor and miserable food had weakened "Flat Nose."

       Sertonius smashed into the second slave, but the slave was strong enough to withstand the initial impact.  The two men struggled with each other, the slave trying to raise the ax while the guard had the hilt of his sword hooked on top of the ax, holding it down.  Sertonius had time to recognize the slave as the two men struggled face to face with each other.  He recognized the slave as "Flat Nose."  Sertonius used his left arm, his shield arm, to viciously thrust the slave back.  The slave stumbled a little when he was violently shoved back and he was forced to concentrate on keeping his balance for a few moments.  He stumbled.  Before the slave could regain his balance and raise the ax, Sertonius stabbed him in the stomach.  Then Sertonius ran to get the two slaves trying to get the axes from the wagon.

       "Flat Nose" lay on the ground, clutching his wound, in agony.  He cried out a few times, "Victa, I love you," and then he died.

       Sertonius was in serious trouble as he ran toward the wagon.  The two slaves were pulling two axes out.  When they turned around and saw the Slave Guard running at them, they spread out so they could come at the guard from two different directions.  That was good for Sertonius.  It put some distance between the two slaves.  Both slaves clutched their axes, ready to raise the axes overhead for a full swing when the guard closed on either one of them.

       When Sertonius got close, he feinted toward the right.  That caused the slave to take a step backwards and come to a stop, as he prepared to defend himself from the guard's attack.  The slave raised his ax overhead to strike the guard when he got close.  But it was just a feint.  The slave on the left started to run at Sertonius when the guard charged the slave on the right.  Sertonius immediately changed directions to charge the slave on the left.  The change in tactics startled the slave on the left, and he came to a stop.  He took some steps backwards so he would have time to brace himself for the attack and to raise the ax fully over his head, so he could swing the ax with the maximum force when the guard reached him.

       As Sertonius ran at the second slave, the slave was taking some steps backward as he started to raise the ax overhead.  Sertonius saw he was going to reach the slave before the man managed to get the ax fully overhead and brought his feet underneath him to brace himself for the attack.  Sertonius slowed down an instant.  He wanted the slave to swing at him with the greatest force possible, and he had to give the slave an instant more to raise the ax up a little higher and prepare himself for the attack by getting his feet solidly underneath him.

       When Sertonius got up to the slave, the slave swung the ax down at the guard.  Sertonius trust his shield upward at the same time so its upward movement would add impact to the ax coming down.  Sertonius angled his shield so the ax would strike it toward the top of the shield.

       When the upward moving shield smashed into the downward flashing ax, the iron ax head cleaved through the bronze shield, sticking through the other side of the shield, just above Sertonius’s shield arm.  With the imbedded ax now stuck through his shield, Sertonius jerked his shield arm to the left, pulling the jammed ax along with the shield.  At the same time he pulled the ax to the side, Sertonius thrust his sword into the slave's stomach.

       Sertonius shook his left arm to be free of his shield with the ax stuck in it and before he even pulled his sword clear of the slave, Sertonius started to pivot.  That left Sertonius’s right arm pulled across his body, as he turned before his sword came free.  The second slave was running at him, the ax held overhead, about three body lengths away.  Starting with his right arm still pulled across his chest, Sertonius flung his right arm outwards and hurled his sword at the running slave.  The sword flew across the distance and plunged into the slave's chest.

       Sertonius leaned over a few moments, gasping for breath.  He grasp his arching left arm, where the impact of the ax against his shield had badly bruised the bones of his shield arm.  When he was younger he had more stamina, and he would have immediately sprinted over to recover his sword, but the violent exertions has over-taxed his aging body and he needed to just breath before he could go on.  If another slave had attacked him, he would have been a dead man.  He only had his dagger left to defend himself.

       A moment later he tried to run to his sword, but when he did, he hobbled over toward it like he was an eighty year old man riddled with arthritis.  The violent exertions had over strained his aging muscles and joints, and every muscle and joint in his body now screamed in agony.  The violent movements had stressed his old body more than it could take, and now his body complained of all the exertions it had made.  That was alright with Sertonius.  His body could complain all it wanted to.  It had done the job when it had to, when it mattered.

       The slaves had been unlucky in attacking Sertonius.  Most Overseers were lousy warriors, and their poor skills with swords was the reason they choose the job of Overseer.  A few like Sertonius and Iolus were skilled warriors who picked the job for other personal reasons that had nothing to do with how skillful they were with a sword.  Sertonius had survived twenty years in the Legions because he was damn good in a fight.  The slaves had picked the wrong man to attack.  He was a powerful warrior who just knew he was getting older.

       There were no ex-Legionnaires retirees who weren't tough, skillful, dangerous men in a fight.  An old soldier had to be damn good in a fight to survive twenty years in the Legions.

       Sertonius achingly ran over for his sword, and then he ran over to help Catana.....a bit slowly and with a little bit of a limp.

       He was getting too old to do this kind of shit anymore.                                              

                       ...............................

       When Catana first called out to Sertonius, she started to run to him to help him, through the spread out slaves working around him.  Something big, black flew at her head as she ran.  She caught sight of it through her peripheral vision as it came at her from the side of her head.  Instinctively, it had nothing to do with her training, she threw up her arms to protect her face.  Whatever the object was, it bashed into her forearm.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man coming up to her where the thing had come from.  Instinctively, without anything to do with her training, she twisted and pushed the man away from her.  Everything happened so fast, she didn't notice that the man was "Big Ears".

       Everything Catana did was just instinct, what anyone would do if something flew at their face.  It was all about something suddenly frightening her.  Her arms just flew up without thinking to protect her face.  When Catana pushed the man away from her, it was just because he suddenly scared her.  The emotion driving her was simply, "Get away from me!"

       But everything Catana did, she did with a sword and shield in her hands!  When the man ran at her, he ran into her sword tip, and when Catana pushed, she pushed the sword into the man's chest.  The man clutched his wound, staggered away, and fell.  The wound wasn't immediately fatal.  He might have tried to struggle with her for a while longer if he was a determined fighter, but instead he pulled away from her to protect himself from another sword cut.  "Big Ears" lay on the ground and slowly bled to death.

       Instantly, Catana turned to run toward Sertonius again.  Instantly, Catana saw a man running at her from the front, a hand scythe held overhead to hit her.  This time, Catana intentionally cut at him with her sword.  As the man swung the hand scythe at her, Catana drove her sword thought his forearm, the blade going clear through his arm in the middle of his forearm.  He screamed, dropped the hand scythe, but with an enraged snarl on his face, he reached his left hand up to clutch her throat and drove at her.  The momentum of his forward rush carried them both backward, as they collided together.  They tripped on each other's feet and fell to the ground.

       The impact of their crash to the ground wrenched the man's hand clear of Catana's throat.  The sword was pulled from Catana hand from the momentum of their collision and impact of falling down, as their arms were pulled in different directions from the weighs suddenly bearing down on each of them.  The sword pulled free of the man's arm as it twisted underneath them as they fell on top of each other, someone's weight pushing the sword hilt in one direction while the man's arm was pulled in another direction.

       The man was sprawled on top of her, at an angle.  His legs were on one side of her, and his torso had landed in back of her.  The man's hips were pressing down on top of her hips, but he landed on the ground behind her resting on his right shoulder facing her.  He had twisted as he landed.  Resting on his side, his right shoulder was pinning his right arm underneath him so that he couldn't move it.  Simply, he was lying on his arm.  But he had also pushed her shoulder back when he hit her and he had landed on top of her left arm.  He was laying on both his right arm and her left arm, and neither of them could use the arm pinned under him.

       Catana had landed on her right side.  When she landed, her right arm was crossed across her stomach, with her right hand near her hip.  The man was lying across her, on top of her right arm.  Both her right arm and her left arm were pinned underneath him, and she couldn't move either arm with the weight bearing down on the them.  She was pinned immobile and helpless underneath him, with the man lying on top of both her arms.

       Laying behind her on his right side, he could only use his left arm, and he thrust his left arm over her shoulder and thrust it at her throat to strangle her.  Catana felt the man reaching for her throat and she desperately held her chin against her chest to block his hand from reaching her neck.

       Although it didn't look like the two of them were moving around a lot, the two were desperately struggling with each other, the man twisting and pushing his hand to get under Catana's chin to reach her neck.  Catana was desperately holding her chin pressed hard down against her chest to prevent him from reaching her throat.  She was leaning her head left and right to block his hand as the man first tired to get his fingers and then his thumb underneath her chin.  Lives hung on whether or not the man could squeeze his hand underneath her chin, and the struggle just kept going on and on.

       The man was lying on his right arm.  He knew if he wanted to use his right arm, he would have to pull his legs underneath him to stand up a little in order to free his arm.  He realized if he did that, Catana would be free to roll away from him and escape.  It was his legs and hips which were holding her beneath her.  He continued to go for her throat rather than let her escape, and he gave up the idea of sitting up a little bit to free his right arm.

       At the same time Catana was squeezing her chin down against her chest, she was desperately trying to pull her right arm free from underneath the man so she could use it to defend herself.  The man lay on top of her right hand, her right wrist, and part of her right forearm, while she lay on her right shoulder, hardly able to move her arm at all.  With all the weight bearing down on her shoulder, she could only move her right arm a little bit.  She was desperately pushing and pulling her arm back and forth in the limited amount of distance it could move.

       Another desperate battle was going on which would determine who would live and die, with almost no movement betraying the great stakes involved in the outcome.  Whether she would die or he would die waited as she strained and pulled her right arm an inch (or centimeter) or two at a time from underneath him.  She tugged and pulled a little at a time to free her right arm from underneath him.  As the struggle at her chin extended into minutes, the struggle as she tried to pull her arm free extended into minutes.

       The two were on the ground, hardly moving at all but nonetheless violently, desperately struggling with each other to stay alive, as he tried to strangle her.  From a distance, it didn't appear that the two of them were moving at all.  It appeared like the two of them were quietly lying with each other, but in truth there was a vicious fight going on over who would live and who would die, as each of them tried to move a hand just a little bit more.

       Finally!  Finally!  Catana pulled her right arm from underneath him.  She reached over to pull his hand from her neck!   "OOhhh," Catana wailed forlornly.  Pressed down on her right shoulder, she could hardly move her arm up and down more than a little bit.  She was only able to ineffectively bang her forearm into his forearm.  It wasn't doing anything bad to him at all!  It wasn't stopping him at all!  Then with renew hope, she tried to punch him!  "OOhhh," the same thing!  With the little bit of distance she could move her arm, she was only ineffectively thumping his chest with feeble punches.

       They continued struggling on the ground, the man trying to strangle her and Catana holding her chin down to stop him.  Her right arm could move so little, it was useless to her, and there was nothing she could do to stop him.  She was desperate for some way to stop him before he strangled her death.

       Her dagger!  Her dagger!!!!  She was lying on top of her dagger!  She was lying on her right hip, her dagger pinned down underneath her hip.  She could feel it sticking into her hip, underneath her. She tried to roll over - off the dagger - so she could reach it!

       He felt her trying to twist her hips.  She was trying to roll away and escape!  He didn't want her to roll away from him to get free.  She was helpless beneath him and she couldn't keep pressing her chin down forever.  In a little bit, he would strangle her to death beneath him while she was held helpless to stop him.  He pressed his hips down on her, trying to prevent her from escaping!

       The struggle had switched from Catana's neck to their hips.  Again the struggle between them hung on inches (or centimeters), with almost no movement betraying that each of them were desperately trying to kill the other.  Each of them threw every drop of strength in their bodies into moving, while neither of them hardly moved at all.  He was pushing and pulling his lower body down on her to prevent her from moving.  Catana's stomach muscles were straining to twist her hips while she tried to push her hips with her legs also.  Catana was groaning from the strain of pulling her stomach muscles to the side and pushing her legs against the ground, trying to twist her hips underneath him.

       The two had been struggling on the ground, wrestling with each other, maybe four minutes.  That's an enormous amount of time for people to violently struggle.  Most people can sustain 30 seconds of 100% anabolic effort or less, trained athletes a minute, give or take a little.  Short breaks must be taken, effort must be reduced to 60-70-80%, something must be reduced to extend action past a minute.  These two people had been fighting with each other maybe four minutes, throwing every drop of energy in them into the struggle.  Both were totally exhausted.  Arms and legs and backs and stomach muscles were aching in pain as they fought against exhaustion to stay alive.  Catana's body felt numb, and everything burned with pain.  Her arm felt too heavy to move, yet she still tried to move it.  They were fighting for their lives!  They were trying to extract every little bit of energy out of their bodies that they could.  Each fought against the burning, numbing pain of their exhaustion to fight as hard as they could.

       They were fighting their own numbing, burning exhaustion as much as they were fighting each other.

       And for all that desperate struggle, each person's life hanging on the outcome, neither had moved more than a few inches (or centimeters) during the entire struggle.  From a distance, it would appear neither had moved at all during the fight, yet a violent, savage struggle had filled every second of it, as each pushed and pulled and strained to move just a little bit more.

       The only thing that betrayed their violent struggle was their voices.  The slave was growling, "Awhh," "Ahha," "Ohha," as he tried to shove his hand underneath Catana's chin or pressed his hips down onto her.  Catana was straining, "Huwwa," as she pressed her chin down; and "Hummm," as she tried to twist her hips.

       Catana felt her hip roll just a little to the side.  She reached for the dagger!  She could feel the handle with her fingertips!  She pushed and squirmed her hand underneath her hip, so she could wrap her fingers around the hilt.  Little by little she wiggled her fingers and pushed her hand between her hips and the dagger on the ground.  She got the dagger!!!!!  SHE PULLED IT OUT AND SHE STABBED HIM!!!!  SHE STABBED HIM AGAIN!!!!   SHE STABBED HIM AGAIN AND AGAIN in his side!!!!

       Her first thrusts into him were in his side above his hips.  Catana sat up and twisted to stab him in the face and chest!  She rained a storm of blows down on him in rage and fury!  He rolled on his back to escape the knife thrust coming at his face and chest.  He raised his arms to protect himself.  He slowly wilted under the storm lashing down on him as his life drained out of him along with his blood.

       Catana continued a frenzied flailing her dagger at him until, finally, her rage was spent.  Then she hatefully pushed his legs off her, and collapsed in exhaustion down on the ground no longer able to move a single muscle in her body.  She lay in a lump on the ground, barely conscious, exhaustion overwhelming her.

       Sertonius started to run to Catana after he had recovered a little from his fights, but when he looked in her direction, he saw her sitting on the ground repeatedly stabbing an unmoving slave next to her.  The man's legs lay across her legs, but she had twisted around and was sitting up stabbing his chest.  No other slaves were standing near her.  No other slaves were running toward her.

       "She's alright," he thought, and stopped trying to run.

       "I have to get control of the slaves before another one attacks us," he desperately thought.

       "I'm so tired.  I can't move anymore," he silently complained to himself.

       "Get up," he bellowed at the slave who had remained obedient.  "Lay down over here," he yelled at them, pointing to the ground near the wagon with his sword.  His face was a snarl of anger as he watched the slaves get up, walk over to the spot he was pointing at, and lay down on the ground.

       In pain, he walked over to the wagon, and leaned back against the wagon wheel, his arms hung limply at his side, his eyes half closed in exhaustion, and he slowly breathed in and out for awhile, unable to do anything else.

       The thought, "We have to get back to the stronghold," flashed through his mind so fast, he was hardly aware of thinking it.

       "Maybe Catana can drive the wagon.  The slaves marching behind her.  I ride the horse behind the slaves."

       "Catana takes the horse.  Goes for help.  I stay here watching the slaves until help comes."

       He didn't know what he was going to do.  He glanced over at Catana and saw she lay exhausted on the ground, motionless.  "Are you alright," he called over to her.  She weakly answered, "Yes," without moving.  He didn't know if Catana was strong enough to drive the wagon.  He didn't know if she was strong enough to ride the horse.

       He knew they had to do something by the time the sun swung down to hit the top of the tree tops.  They had to start back to the stronghold by that time or they would be caught out in the open with the slaves in the dark.

       "I'll rest here until I get enough energy back to start doing something," he thought.

       "Or until Catana is strong enough to help me."

       He was depending upon his body's natural tendency to recover after exertion, but the extraordinary exertions of the fights left him unsure of how long that would take.  Simply, he was exhausted and he didn't know how long it would take him to get over it.

       At the back of his mind, he knew he had to do something by the time the sun hit the trees.  He knew that if neither he nor Catana were strong enough to do anything by that time, he would kill the slaves so they couldn't attack him or Catana in the dark.  He'd tie their hands and feet first with the ropes they used as belts, so they couldn't resist or escape once the killing began.  He wasn't going to gamble that tying up the slaves throughout the night would work.  They might escape their bindings during the night.  It was safer to kill them rather than give them any chance of attacking him or Catana.

                       .......................

       Neither Catana nor Sertonius heard it, but in the distance was the sound of a signal horn being blown in short, rapid blasts, the signal for "Come help us! We need help!"  As part of Atus's attempt to create a new type of cavalry to deal exclusively with runaway slaves, Atus had assembled three teams of the new "Mounted Sentries," and he sent them out on patrol routes that would cover his four largest teams of field slaves.

       Atus and his First Optio, Siegfried, got together with Acetur, and they worked out some tactics for them to use.  Because it took a long time to learn to shoot a bow and arrow from a horse, they had decided it was better that the new teams only use their horses to travel around the estate.  If they ran into escaping slaves, they were to dismount and use their bows on foot.  The Sentries were excellent with bows as standing archers.

       The teams of Mounted Sentries were to constantly circulate from one work detail of slaves to another, and not stay stationary.  First, they didn't have enough teams assembled to assign one to each slave detail.  Besides, it would be a waste of manpower to assign a lot of guards to just a few slaves.  Second, if they were on the move, they could also spot any thieves sneaking around the estate.  And third, if they remained in a single spot to watch the slaves, they were sitting ducks for any thieves that tried to sneak up on them.  Thieves might want to eliminate the Mounted Sentries as obstacles to their raid.  Moving around all the time, it was less likely that a gang of thieves could rush out to attack them.  Instead, they were more likely to unexpectedly come upon the thieves and surprise them.

       They only had nine volunteers they accepted for the job, but they expected more.  They offered them sixty five sestertii, but that wasn't what attracted the women to the work.  Constantly staring at the same countryside all day as Sentries was damn boring, and the girls took the jobs so they could ride around and do something more exciting that standing on a wall for eight hours and stare at the same scenery day after day.

       More than nine girls had volunteered for the job, but Acetur only accepted nine of them.  Acetur wanted them to be very good with a bow, and only nine of the job applicants had passed the rigorous test he set up for them.  The slaves they chased might be running away from them, or more importantly, the slaves might try to attack them.  Acetur wanted only people who could hit a running target with a bow.  The nine women he accepted had all learned the bow to supplement their family's food by hunting, and all could hit a running deer from fifty paces away.

       One team was heading for a large concentration of field slaves weeding a field, to check on them.  They spotted five people running towards the woods, and they knew nobody should be running anywhere.  They charged the five running slaves, one blowing her signal horn for assistance.

       This was the first time the patrol of three were called into action, and all three women were nervous over doing something for real instead of just practicing a drill.  The second Mounted Sentry, Nerva, called over to her corporal, Lavidia, "What are we going to do?"

       Lavidia shouted back, "The Crab!  Start real wide, to stop them from splitting up, but close up real tight so we can cover each other if they fight!"

       Surprised, Nerva called back, "But there are five of them!"  They had only practiced the Crab attack against a single slave.  Even worse, they were still mounted and approaching the slaves on horseback.  None of them could use their bows bouncing along on a horse.

       Lavidia called back, "The Crab's the best we've got.  Remember start wide, but end close."

       When the slaves saw three guards galloping toward them, three came to a halt to surrender, realizing they had been caught and there was no escape.  Two split off still hoping to escape, and cut for the woods to the north.

       One of the Mounted Sentries headed straight toward the slaves, and other two split off to either side.  After swinging out to the left and right sides, the two turned back in toward the slaves, in a pincher movement that came toward the slaves from both sides.

       Nerva had the north side, the side where the two men had tried to make a run for it.  The men each took two different directions, but they were still just a stone's throw apart from each other.  Nerva was scared out of her mind.  This was the first time in her life that she ever confronted a slave doing something wrong, let alone two men who were probably violent.

       Nerva bluffed it.  She couldn't shoot a bow from a galloping horse worth shit.  None of the Mounted Sentries could.  Nerva knew she was suppose to dismount and fight as a standing archer.  That she could do damn well.  She could get a running rabbit if it didn't dodge, if she was dismounted.

       Nerva pulled up short before the two slaves, between them, and bellowed at the two slaves, "GET BACK!"  Nerva sat menacing on her horse.  She held her bow with her left hand, an arrow notched and the bow string partially pulled back, pointing downward.  She looked like she was ready to snap the bow up and fire.  It was all bluff.  She was afraid that if she pointed the bow at one of the slaves, he could see how much the arrow wobbled around and he'd know she wasn't accurate while mounted on a horse.  Instead, she snarled at the men again, with her bow partially drawn but pointing down, "GET BACK!"  She looked as dangerous as Nebuchadnezzar with a bow in his hand and arrow partially drawn.  The very act of pretending to be tough and not nervous left Nerva truly feeling tough.  The slaves meekly turned and marched back to their three companions, with Nerva following on her horse.

       Lavidia and Antonia, the other two Mounted Sentries, had dismounted and held the other slaves in place with their bows.  The three Mounted Sentries exchanged smiles with each other, elated that they had acquitted themselves well in their first action.  In a hushed voice so the slaves couldn't hear them, Lavidia whispered, "Juno!  We did it!  I can't believe we did it!  Nerva, you were great!"

       Nerva tried to hold back a smile so the slaves wouldn't see it, and she whispered back, "They believed me!  I can't believe they thought I could get them from horseback!"

       Behind them, they heard a long, drawn out blast on a signal horn.  Lavidia exclaimed, "Somebody heard us!"  Lavidia picked up her signal horn and issued a few short, quick blasts on it, then she waited a little bit and repeated a few short blasts.  The Mounted Sentry patrols were suppose to reinforce each other if they saw a problem, and short, rapid blasts on the horn were used to call for help.  The women weren't required to learn different notes on the horn.  Any sound they could force out of the horns was acceptable.  Timing was used to distinguish the calls.  Short, fast blasts were used to call for help.  Slightly longer blasts used to a slower beat were used if the patrol spotted a large enemy force on the estate, and it meant everyone within hearing should return to the stronghold at once.  Relaxed, long, drawn out blasts on the horn were used when people were trying to find each other on the large estate.

       In a little bit the three women saw another Mounted Sentry patrol galloping in their direction, but heading a little off to the side.  Lavidia reissued a few short blasts on her horn, and the approaching patrol corrected their route to head straight for them.

       Tullia, Elisa, and Doreata galloped up to them.  "You got  some!  Five!  How'd you do it,"  Tullia, the corporal of the patrol exclaimed.  "The Crab," Lavidia answered her.  "Really?  Five with the Crab," a surprised Tullia questioned her.  "Yeah!  It worked," Lavidia exclaimed.  "You should have seen Nerva!  She galloped up to two of them, and while she was on the horse, she orders them back to US!  LIKE SHE WAS A PERSIAN - SITTING ON HER HORSE - SHE ORDERED THEM BACK TO US AND THEY OBEYED HER, and they Marched back here meek as two dairy maids," Lavidia finished.

       Tullia, Elisa and Doreata turned to Nerva with surprised expressions.  Nerva beamed a big smile, and answered, "I can't believe they believed me!  My horse was nervous, and prancing around from one foot to the other.  He was bouncing me around so much I thought I was going to stick my own leg with the arrow!  But they believed me and did just what I told them!"  "Wow!  I wish I could have seen it," Tullia answered her.

       "Jove!  The Overseer team," Elisa interrupted, remembering they were suppose to check the Overseer/Slave Guard team where the slaves came from, to make sure the guards were alright and had not been attacked by their slaves.

       "Where are they from," Tullia asked Lavidia, referring to the Overseer/Slave Guard team who had supervised the slaves.  Lavidia had a bewildered expression, "I forgot to ask them," Lavidia answered.  She turned to the slaves, "WHO DO YOU WORK FOR," she asked them.  They didn't appear to understand Latin.  "OVERSEER," she asked them again, then repeated, "Overseer?"  "Sertonius," one of the female slaves meekly answered.

       "Who the Hades is Sertonius," Elisa asked the group.  This was the first Mounted Sentries sent out into the field.  Later in their history they would realize the importance of knowing all the different Overseer/Slave Guard teams working on their estate, but this first batch of Mounted Sentries had only been instructed to patrol four large squads of field slaves.  Moreover, they were new and just starting to get to know the people they were working with.  No one had filled them in on all the different Overseer/Slave Guard teams working at the stronghold.

       "Where were you working," Tullia asked the slaves.  The slaves didn't understand her Latin.  Tullia repeated, "Where," several times, combining it with a few body language gestures.  The slaves talked among themselves.  Finally the female slave that first answered them pointed over her shoulder in the direction they had come.

       "Who the Hades is working over there," Elisa asked the group.  No one had filled them in on what the Estate Keeper or Orchardman were doing.  "We better try to find them.  They may be in trouble," Tullia said to the group.  "We'll follow you up as fast as we can," Lavidia said to Tullia.

       "COME ON," Tullia shouted to her girls.  Tullia, Elisa, and Doreata galloped off to try to find the Overseer/Slave Guard team who had the slaves, in case they were in trouble.  Lavidia, Nerva and Antonia repeated the name, "Sertonius," and pointed in the direction the slave had pointed until they got the slaves to understand they wanted the slaves to return to Sertonius.  Once they got the slaves going in the right direction, they urged the slaves into a jog to return to their Overseer.

       Tullia and her group raced to one clearing after another, and stopping at different hills, looking for the unbeknown "Sertonius."  Lavidia and her group followed the slaves on a route that snaked around a group of small hills to arrive at hill with a wagon parked midway up the hillside.  Lavidia stopped, issued some short blasts on her signal horn, and then headed up the hill.  Tullia heard the distant signal, and turned to head in that direction.

       Day to day experiences would teach everyone what was required to do the job.  Names would be coined for all the salient locations on the estate.  People would get to know everybody's name and what they did.  In a few months someone could say, "Seneca's over at Three Oaks," and everybody would know who Seneca was, who his partner was, what they did, and exactly where they were working.  But today everybody was trying to figure out how to do this new job of Mounted Sentries.

       Lavidia, Antonia and Nerva saw Sertonius leaning against the wagon with his sword in his hand when they got close, with a bunch of slaves lying on the ground in front of him and a bunch of dead bodies scattered around.  Catana was so exhausted from her fight, she didn't even lift her head up when she heard horses coming.  She knew anyone on a horse would help them.

       "Boy, am I glad to see you girls.  Take over, will ya," Sertonius said to Lavidia and the others when they came up to him.  He slowly, achingly, sat down against the wagon wheel.  "I thought the sun would get to the trees before I had enough energy to stand them up and march them back to the Slave Quarters."

       Lavidia got down with her water skin and went to Sertonius to give him a drink.  Antonia dismounted and leaned over Catana, "You alright?"  Catana just nodded her head ever so little without saying anything.  Nerva stayed mounted with the slaves they had captured.  She pointed at the ground where Sertonius collection of slaves laid, and commanded, "Lay Down!"  They understood, and obeyed.  Nerva dismounted and stood guard over the slaves with her bow while Lividia and Antonia took care of the Overseer and Slave Guard.

       Tullia's team rounded a hill to see a wagon and group of people and horses standing on the hillside, and they galloped over to them.

       Tullia and her girls weren't the only one's to hear Lavidia's call for assistance.  Atus, Siegfried, Acetur and Caigan were out in the field checking out how their ideas about Mounted Sentries were working in real practice, and they had heard some far away blasts on a signal horn.  They were galloping around the area trying to find the group who issued the calls on their horn.  They came into a small clearing, to see Tullia and her team disappearing between two hills in front of them.  They took off chasing Tullia.

       Lavidia and Tullia were new to positions of command, and they were new to the job, but when Tullia galloped to the wagon and people around it, Lavidia and Tullia automatically took on the roles of corporals taking charge of a field situation.  Lavidia said to Tullia, "We'll take care of the Overseer and Slave Guard, and I'll send Nerva to get Atus.  You take the slaves back to the Slave Quarters."  Tullia seriously nodded her head in agreement.  Pointing, Lavidia said, "Those five tried to escape.  Nerva, cut their belts so we can identify them from the others."

       Just then Atus and the men galloped up.  The girls stood at attention before their commanding officers.  Nerva stayed in position guarding the slaves with her bow held at the ready, and Antonia remained kneeling by Catana to help her.  When Sertonius recognized the officers riding up, he got to his feet, slowly and stiffly.  Catana was so exhausted, she didn't care about anything taking place around her, and she didn't even look up.

       Exhaustion is a genuine medical condition.  It requires a body rest until it recovers.  Blood glucose levels are depleted to nothing, and muscle cells have been literally damaged.  Muscle cells actually cannibalize themselves to get sources of energy, and organelles like mitochondria are damaged and depleted in overall numbers.

       When Atus pulled up to the group, he looked around the scene, and he recognized his porcupine lying on the ground.  With concern in his voice, he asked Antonia, "Is she alright," as he walked his horse over toward her to see better.  "Yeah.  She's just tired," Antonia answered.  (The cavalryman, Atus, habitually stayed on his horse when there was danger.)  When Catana recognized Atus's voice, she slowly, a little bit at a time, pushed herself up into a sitting position.  With concern written on his face, Atus leaned over the side of his horse to look Catana in the eyes.  "Are you alright," he softly asked her, and he smiled in relief when she nodded her head affirmatively.  He sat back upright on his horse, and looked at the slave lying next to her.  Suddenly his eyes widened in surprise and he gave a surprised chuckle when he realized the slave had been stabbed fifty or sixty times.  Wide eyed in disbelief, he nodded toward the slave and asked, "Are you sure he'd dead, Catana," and then continued to laugh in surprise over what Catana had done to the slave.

       Catana gave two very weak, quiet laughs, more like grunts, and said in a quiet voice that was hard to hear, "Yeah, I'm certain.  That bastards ain't goin' get up again."  Atus laughed, glanced at the slave, and said to Catana, "That's pretty much what I thought you'd do to anyone that gave you a problem.  Catana, you tired from fighting him or from killing him a hundred different times?  That's the MOST Dead man I've seen in a long time."  Atus smiled at the scene.

       Siegfried had been put in charge of the day to day operation of the Mounted Sentries as the program was developed and he was impatient to find out how they preformed.  In the pause when Atus stopped speaking, he asked the Mounted Sentries, "What happened?"

       Lavidia: "We were going along our patrol route when we saw five people running, and we knew that wasn't right so we signaled for help and went after them.  When we got close, we could see they wore slave’s clothes so we continued the attack."

       Siegfried interrupted, "That's good.  No one should be running around for any good reason.  It's good you remembered to call for help."

       Acetur, who was in charge of archery tactics, asked, "What attack did you use?  You got five of them over there marked as runners."

       Lavidia: "The Crab.  Three stayed together as a group and surrendered.  I was point.  I dismounted, and when Antonia got in position to cover me, I went in for the capture.  Two ran and Nerva was the left pincher, and she went for those.  The two split up again, but Nerva caught both of them.  She bluffed them into surrendering together by acting like a mounted archer, like she could get them both if she wanted to from horseback."

       While the girl was talking, Siegfried was shaking his head in disapproval.  He was thinking, "What if the slaves didn't buy the bluff?  What would you have done with two slaves on different sides of you, and you on a horse and not able to use your bow."  Acetur continued, now addressing Lavidia, "That was brave of you.  You women have turned out to be gutsy when you have to be.  But I don't want you taking chances like that again.  That was real good that you pulled off a capture on three, but still, I don't want you to take chances like than again.  Next time they could attack you and you only had support from one wing.  You shouldn't have done anything until your left pincher was secure.  But it's alright, girls.  We haven't showed you how to deal with several slaves at once. You girls be brave as you want, I like that, but don't take chances.  I don't like that."

       Siegfried addressed Atus: "We have to come up with some tactics for dealing with groups of slaves."  Atus answered, "I have some ideas for groups.  We'll talk tonight."  Acetur added, "Yeah, I got some things for them to use, too.  It ain't the first time archers have been outnumbered.  I'll show you over dinner.  You can start running the girls through new drill tomorrow, and I'll help you out and show you what to do."

       When the Mounted Sentry issues were handled, Atus was ready to move on.  He said to Lividia and Tullia, "Separate the runners from the other slaves and kill them as a lesson to the others."  The command terrified the girls.  None of them had ever killed anybody, let alone five people.  And they didn't know how they could accomplish the task.  But instead of contradicting a commanding officer, they all stood silent with round, frightened eyes.  Atus, who was use to commanding battle hardened Germanian cavalrymen, had fired off the command without thinking.

       Caigan, who was in charge of controlling slaves and organizing and training the Slave Guards for the entire valley, interrupted, "Atus, if you want to kill a slave for a lesson, you bring them back to the Slave Quarters where all the slaves can see it, and you do it slow so the slaves see the killing over a few days.  Crucify them or hang them by their arms for a few days, whatever, but do it slow.  Then as the other slaves come in and out for work every morning and evening, they can see it for a few days.  And don't kill them at the first run.  You'll go through too many slaves.  Take these back to the Slave Quarters where you can handle them easily and safely.  Then cut off their right ear.  That marks them, and you tell them if they're caught again running, than you'll kill them.  If your girls catch a runner and he's got no ear, the girls will know to bring him back and kill him in front of all the other slaves."

       "When you warn the slaves, that won't scar them at all and it won't have any affect on them, but when you kill the next runner, that will scar them.  Sooner or later the slaves will figure out they can afford to make one run for it and still live.  They lose an ear, but they stay alive.  But your girls will kill some runners every so often, and some runners will fight instead of being captured and they'll be killed.  Hang their bodies in the Slave Quarters, and tell all the slaves you killed them on the spot for trying to run away.  The slaves won't know if they get one chance to try to escape or if they'll be killed on the spot for trying to get away."

       While Siegfried was talking to the Mounted Sentries, Caigan had glanced around the area and he saw that the dead slaves were killed with swords, not arrows, the work of his men.  He wanted to know how his people performed, so now he turned to the Slave Guard.  "What happened," he asked Catana when he stopped talking to Atus.  Sertonius felt protective of his partner who was sitting on the ground obviously in no shape to do anything.  "Seven jumped us by surprise at the same time, Sir," Sertonius answered Caigan.

       "By surprise?  You had no warning of any trouble coming," Caigan asked Sertonius.  "Oh, no, Sir.  Catana warned me before the first slave took a step, like she was a soothsayer and could see what they slaves were going to do before they did it.  I had time to draw my sword and get my buckler.  I turned to face them before they had taken their first step."  Caigan glanced approvingly at his Slave Guard when he heard she had warned her Overseer before the slaves attacked them.

       Sertonius finished his report, "Five tried to get me, and I picked them off one after the other.  Two tackled Catana as she was running through the slaves to come help me.  She was wrestling on the ground with the ones who came at her.  That's why she's so tired."  This time Caigan glanced at his Slave Guard disapprovingly.

       First, Caigan turned to what pleased him, "You're name is Catana, right?  What tipped you off that the slaves were planning something?"  Catana answered from the ground, "I was keeping real close attention to the slaves.  They all had hand scythes, a real ripe situation for them to try something.  And we had an ax out.  One of my slaves was acting real nervous and I was wondering what was making her so nervous.  So I was really on my toes and paying close attention to them.  I always keep tabs on my leaders.  All my leaders stopped working at the same time to watch what the slave working closest to Sertonius was going to do.  So I knew they expected that man to do something and they were watching him to see what he was going to do next.  I warned Sertonius to watch the slave closest to him, and then I ran over to support him."

       Caigan had a serious expression and said, "Just excellent.  Just excellent," and he shook is head up and down in approval.  But then he got a suspicious expression and asked her, "But how did they tackle you?"

       Catana answered, "I was on the outside, keeping all the slaves in front of me so I could watch all of them at the same time.  Sertonius moved to my left to keep close tabs on one of our cowards who was using an ax.  When the trouble started, I ran to get to Sertonius as fast as I could."

       Caigan interrupted her to ask with a suspicious face, "You ran through the slaves to get to your Overseer?"

       Catana got an "Opps! I forgot about that," expression on her face, and just nodded her head up and down a little with a scared expression on her face.

       Angry, Caigan said to her, "You know you're always suppose to keep your slaves in front of you and never let them get behind you.  You come around the outside keeping the slaves in front of you all the time.  You order the slaves to a far corner and threaten them with your sword as your travel.  The obedient ones will go and the rebels will stay, so when you get near your Overseer, you know who your rebels are and where they're located.  Then, when you have the fewest slaves between you and the Overseer, you decide if he can come to you or you have to go in to get him.  The slaves tackled you just like we told you they would.  How many times has your 2nd. Optio told you not to let the slaves get around you?  How many times did you practice going around outside of the slaves to the closest place to your Overseer as you could get before you started to act?  You should have come around the outside keeping the slaves in front of you all the time until you were the closest you could get to your Overseer, and then come at the slaves with them in front of you and not with them around you or behind you."  Caigan sat on his horse just shaking his head in disapproval for a few moments.

       Then he thought a little, and turned to Atus, "Atus, can I borrow your girl for a few days?  When we train them, we have the 2nd. Optios tell them, 'Watch your slaves,' 'Watch your slaves,' 'Watch your slaves,' time after time, and still they forget.  See, with this one!  I don't know how many times we told her, 'Keep the slaves in front of you,' 'Don't let they get around you,' and still she forgot.  But when they hear one of their fellow Slave Guards tell them, than they remember.  When a Marcus or a Lucius, or a Catana, who they know, tells them, "Yeah, they were acting real suspicious, and I thought they look like they're planning to do something, 'and when they rushed at me, I was ready for them!  I had my sword out and I stabbed him in the stomach before he got close to me!'  They'll remember that better if she tells them that than when the 2nd. Optios tell them that a hundred times."

       "I want to take her to the other estates and have her tell her story to the other Slave Guards there.  That was real good what she did.  Not many of our Slave Guards pay close enough attention to notice when one or two are acting a little nervous, and she was doing just what we told her to do, 'Keep tab on your leaders' so you can guess what they're going to do.  This girl knew who her leaders were, and it sounds like she knew her cowards and how to use them.  I want her to tell the other Slave Guards that she was watching her slaves and she warned her Overseer so he was ready and got his sword out and ready for when they came at him.  Wait till the other Slave Guards hear her say, 'All my leaders stopped working at the same time to watch the  other slave.'  They'll remember that twice as good as when the 2nd. Optio tells them."

       "And at the same time, I can tell them, "See, she forgot to keep the slaves in front of her, and she let them get around her, and they jumped her!  I can teach two lessons as the same time, what she did right and what she did wrong."

       Atus was about to tell Caigan he could use the girl for a few days, and he was about to tell Catana to go with Caigan tomorrow, but he glanced at Catana sitting on the ground hardly able to move, and he started to chuckle.  He said, "Yeah, sure you can use her for a few days, but Caigan, give her a day to rest up first, will ya?  Let her spend tomorrow sleeping, and then take her."

       Atus leaned way over on his horse to get his face very close to Catana, and in a conspiratorial voice he whispered to Catana, "He may not be happy with everything you did, but I'm real happy with you.  Good job, Catana."

       One Mounted Sentry drove the wagon back to the stronghold.  Sertonius sat in it and Catana lay in it.  Another Mounted Sentry sat in the wagon with Sertonius and Catana, and she had a water bottle if they got thirsty.  They tethered the free saddle horses to the back of the wagon.  They headed back to the stronghold.

       Four Mounted Sentries herded the slaves back to the stronghold.  The runners were segregated to a holding pen where it would be easier and safer handling them.  The Slave Guards on duty at the Slave Quarters cut their right ears off, and then they were sent back to their usual cells.  The next day they sent a wagon to collect the bodies of the dead slaves, and they were taken back to the Slave Quarters and hung by a leg in the courtyard of the Slave Quarters for the other slaves to see for three days, until the Slave Guards stationed in the Slave Quarters complain so much over how much the bodies stank.  The slaves were all told that was what happened to any slave who attacked a Slave Guard or Overseer.  The one Catana killed with her dagger was tied standing up by the gate which lead in and out of the Slave Quarters, so they could see how horrendously Catana had killed him.

       Atus and the other men went back to the four groups of field slaves that day, to see how much time it took for the remaining Mounted Sentry patrol to move between different work details and see if the patrol gave each group of slaves enough time.  That night and the next night the men went over tactics for Mounted Sentries to use when they ran into a lot of slaves.  Acetur thought of most of it because he had experience with archers being outnumbered.  Two days later Siegfried and Acetur began showing the Mounted Sentries the new attack tactics.

       Two days after the attack, Caigan began to make the rounds of the other estates with Catana.  She proved better than he expected.  She told the other Slave Guards what she had done wrong herself!  "After I called to my Overseer to warn him, I got so nervous to get over to him fast, I forgot my training.  Instead going around the sides like my 2nd. Optio taught me, I ran straight through the middle of the slaves.  One slung his hand scythe at my head as I ran past him, and another tackled me from the front as I was running.  I ended up wrestling on the ground with him in the middle of the slaves, and I couldn't help my Overseer at all.  The slave almost killed me.  No one taught me how to wrestle on the ground with a slave.  It was just luck no other slave attacked me at the same time and that I killed him."

       When Catana said, "I saw my Nervous One getting real nervous and I got suspicious and I started to pay close attention to my leaders," all the other Slave Guards leaned forward in their chairs and started to pay close attention to her.  And when she told them, "I had one I picked out as a coward using the ax - my Overseer always listened to me when I tell which slaves to use with axes -  the coward fell to the ground in terror, and he dropped the ax when the action started," all the other Slave Guards paid close attention to that.  That was real useful to know.  They had all been told that, but they didn't expect it would prove to be so important.

       Caigan was real happy with the way the talks had gone.  He expected all the other Slave Guards would start to pay better attention to how their slaves were acting, and he thought he wasn't going to get a report of a Slave Guard running through the middle of his slaves for a long time to come.  Wrestling on the ground with a slave scared the other Slave Guards to death.

       Catana herself and her children and all the other people in the her Single Parent House were real proud of her by the end of the tour, and Sertonius got to spend several days off with nothing to do since he didn't have a partner.

       Cornelia came to visit her in her room when she first got back to the stronghold after the attack, and Cornelia had them bring her meals to her in her room that day and next.  Cornelia also stopped to check on Sertonius in the Slave Guard barracks, used by single Slave Guards, and she had his meals sent to him also, and she asked his Captain to check in on him and have someone help him that night and next day, too.  Sertonius thought that was a joke, but he accepted it with a big smile on his face.  Sertonius thought to himself with a laugh, "They sure as Hades didn't do this for me in the Legions!"  He greeted the food bearers with a grin plastered on his face from one ear to the other.  Sertonius and Catana didn't see each other until the second day.  Alexandria stayed by her mother's side constantly, getting her anything she wanted.  The people in her Single Parent House kept tabs on her youngest child, and they stopped in often to see how she was doing and if she needed anything the first night and next day.

       Overall, the revolt of Catana's and Sertonius's slaves was seen as a good thing since it proved such good lessons to everybody.

       The day after it happened, Atus stopped by Catana's room before he left the stronghold in the morning.  When he entered her room, Catana and Alexandria went to get up, but Atus said, "No, relax.  Besides, I'd rather sit down myself and relax for a little."

       As Atus flopped down in a chair, Catana said to him, "Sir, I sorry I didn't do things right yesterday."

       "Awwh.  You don't know how many times a bunch of us have sat around making battle plans and laying out our strategies the night before a battle, and we'd come up with these great plans that were just going to work out perfectly, and we'd all slap each other on the back because of how great the plans were.  And then the battle would start, and half way through something would go wrong, and all our great plans turned to shit.  Something always goes wrong with great plans and perfect strategies," Atus said to her.

       He went on, "That's happened to me so many times, I have my own ideas about what's good, and it ain't great plans.  When everything starts to go wrong, are you still tough enough to get the job done?  You show me somebody who gets the job done when things get tough and everything starts to fall to pieces, and that impresses me.  Battles always go worse than planned.  Someone always saids, 'Ohh! CRAP! No!'  I want someone standing next to me who gets the job done even when things aren't working out as planned, someone I can depend on when things go bad.  You kept your Overseer alive.  All the slaves that revolted are dead.  All the slaves that surrendered are in the Slave Quarters.  That's pretty much everything you had to do."

       "Catana, you impressed me more when you did what had to be done, when things went bad, than if you did everything right when things went easy.  The slaves surrounded you and jumped you, and in the end you won and you're the one who's alive.  Catana, you're strong, and you can take care of yourself when things got tough.  That impressed me, Catana.  You're the kind of person we need around here.  Someone who still gets the job done when things go bad."

       "Catana, next bunch of 'Slavers that Clodius sends over here, I'm putting you in charge of the contiburium as a decuriones (corporal)," he said with a smile.

       "Gods!  Thanks, Sir," Catana said, stunned that she was rewarded.  She thought everybody was mad at her for running through the middle of the slaves.

       Atus playfully wagged his finger at her, "Don't thank me.  It just means more work for you.  You have to make sure they're on time for Roll Call, and you have to make sure they all turn up for practice with Cottus.  But I figured that even if something goes wrong, you'll still get the job done, and you'll teach your squad how to do that."

       He went on, "I gave your buddy something he liked more, double pay for the month.  I stopped to see him before I came here.  He told me all about the slaves that attacked him.  Boy, that guy can fight!  Pulling the slave's ax away from him with his shield was one neat trick!  I wish he was ten years younger.  I'd have him up with the Dragoons, probably as decuriones."

       Then he leaned back against the wall with a knowing smiled, and he kind of smirked, "Hey, Lady.  Half the fights I've been in, I wake up the next morning and everything hurts!  My arms, my legs, my back, and I got bruises where I didn't know I was hit.  And I think, 'Wotan, I don't want to get up!'"  Catana and Alexandria were laughing, because Atus was right.  That was how Catana felt.  He went on, "So you take today off, and if you feel like it, take tomorrow and the next day off too, if you want to.  I'll give Caigan some excuse or another.  Nothing he wants to do can't wait, and nothing the Estate Keeper wants to do is important and in a rush.  He can get by with one less team of slaves.  Me....the next day, I don't get up until I have to.  There's nothing you gotta do.  So take it easy."

       At first Catana had been surprised by what happened, then shocked by what Atus said, then she went to being overwhelmed by what was happening.  Her feelings changed from trying to take it all in, to trying to understand everything.  Now, she was seriously trying to understand what had just happened to her.  When everything sunk in, she serious said to Atus, summing up everything she felt, "I rather be working here at this stronghold for you than any other place in the world."  That summed up her feelings about being rewarded even though she had made a mistake, and that everyone was so concerned over her well being.

       Atus playfully smiled at her, "Well, Lady, I'm kinda glad you're working here, too."  Then he sat up with a satisfied smile, and rose to his feet, "Well, I got people to see."  He turned to leave, and walked saying, "See you later," as he walked out.

       Catana turned to Alexandria and said with unlimited and total commitment, "This is our home."

       ("Flat Nose," the leader of the male slaves who attacked Catana and Sertonius, was named Salamesh.  He had lived his whole life as a good, decent man who was respected.  His wife, Victa, and his two sons would have been proud of him.  He always thought of other people first.  But they already thought he was dead, killed a year ago.  Last year, he and the other men of their village had made a last ditch, desperate stand against Assyrian warriors, to give the women and children of the village enough time to flee to safety.  The Assyrians broke his nose when he was taken captive.  His wife and his sons thought of him as a hero, having saved the women and children of his tribe by delaying the Assyrians while everyone escaped.  He died as he had lived his life, a brave man who was respected by his people for his decency.  As had been true through most of human history, heroes often die lonely, unknown and futile deaths.  But they have brave, good hearts, and there cannot be more asked of a man.  It is the way some hearts work.)

                                       Chapter 16

                       It Began Like An Ordinary Day

       "Finally," Janae screamed.  "Hhaaa," Thalia also yelled in excitement.  Both women turned, and ran to get their horses and armor.

       In the past few weeks, there had been dozens of "Alerts," announcing that raiders were spotted at various strongholds, but none of the "Alerts" were simultaneous attacks at two different strongholds, when two different groups of raiders attacked different locations at the same time.  The girls were only suppose to fill in for the men when they were busy handling a different Alert at another estate.  A few times there were two Alerts the same day, but the Alerts occurred hours apart so the men were able to return to Salidia's, and they were ready to ride out when the second Alert occurred.

       This day the men were over at Presphene's estate, responding to an "Alert" from that stronghold, when an "Alert" went up from Lucius's stronghold.  The girls all ran to get their armor and horses.

       Lydia was glad it was Lucius's stronghold.  She still wanted a chance to rehabilitate her standing with Carra, and this would give her a chance to smooth things over with the woman.

       Carra was standing on the Keep roof with a scornful expression on her face when Lydia and girls galloped up to the stronghold.  Other than being angry, Carra still wasn't sure on how to deal with her strong willed daughter, and Carra still didn't want the young girls to do anything dangerous.

       Trying to mollify Carra, Lydia called up to Carra, "Salidia said it was alright if we came, as long a we take precautions to keep the girls safe.  We'll stay close to your stronghold, and only act if we outnumber them.  I'll do all the dangerous work, and keep the girls safe as just backup."

       Carra looked away dismissively while Lydia spoke, and only turned to face Lydia when Lydia finished talking.  Carra sneered at Lydia, "I have something fit for you and the children.  On the northwest, two crossing the stream in the 'Dip,' heading north.  It's the kind of thing you should handle instead of the men."  Then Carra turned and left Lydia and the girls in front of the Keep without saying anything more.  Before they left, Itatia said to Lydia, "That's the tone of voice and expression my mother uses when I've done something wrong, and she wants to show me the right way to do things."

       Lydia knew the area Carra mentioned.  There were a collection of hills to the north, but just before the hills rose up, there was a long depression, called "The Dip."  It was a little too far from Lucius stronghold, but there was a lot of grassland in the area, so they should be able to spot anything too dangerous from a long distance away.  Two ponds had formed in the depression, with a stream connecting them.  When they got to the stream, they saw water splashed up on the opposite bank, where some people and animals had forded the stream.  Lydia and the girls headed in the direction of the wet trail of water drops the marked the passage of the raiders.

       As the girls rode, they took up all the positions they learned to use in "attack" situations, with the best lancemen in the front and the best bowmen in the back.  The girls had changed their training just so they were better prepared to deal with thieves, and their hearts were pounding in adrenaline driven excitement.  But when they caught up with the raiders, they didn't know what to do. 

       Instead of attacking the raiders, all the girls began to laugh when they came up to the thieves.

       Up in front of them, two eleven or twelve year old boys were trying to drive three sheep up toward the mountains.  The sheep seemed to be winning the contest with the boys over where to go next, and the boys were having trouble making the sheep do what the boys wanted them to do.  At the moment, the sheep seemed to be in charge of the situation.

       The young boys wanted to do what their older brothers were doing, but they were finding the tasks more difficult than anticipated.  They had bitten off more than they could chew.  Specifically, three sheep that had minds of their own, and the sheep had their own opinions about where they wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon.

       Annunka had always dreamed of being a Heroine like the women in the myths and folk tales her mother recited.  But she had trouble making people take her seriously.  She always wore her heart on her sleeve, and her emotions were always plainly written across her face.  At times when she had a chance to impress people with her competence, she had a bad habit of giggling or screaming or crying.  Everybody had a habit of treating her like a young, sixteen year old girl, much to Annunka's frustration.

       But when Annunka looked at the young boys, it was her playfulness and sense of humor which took over.  Annunka looked at Dimita next to her, smiled and slid out an arrow to notch on her bow.  She playfully nodded her head toward the boys while holding Dimita's eyes, in a gesture meant to convey, "Let's Go!"  Annunka's and Dimita's horses exploded out of the group of girls who were just smiling and laughing at the young boys.  Annunka and Dimita galloped toward the boys.  When they took off, the rest of the girls kicked their horses forward, to gallop off behind Annunka and Dimita toward the boys.

         All but Thalia.  She was laughing so hysterically, she couldn't control her horse.  He slowly trotted off after the other horses, but increasingly falling further and further behind them.  After all, the horse was no fool.  Why gallop when you had a heavy human being on your back, when you can trot after everyone else at a nice, leisurely, comfortable pace.

       The boys jerked around at the explosion of noise behind them.  In panic, they saw a troop of Romans galloping at them.  They turned, and ran.  Annunka galloped past the boy in back, and raced ahead of the boy in the lead.  She pulled her horse to a stiff legged stop while she pointed her drawn bow at the boy.  The boy was crying, with huge sobs racking his body.  The second boy had turned and started to run toward the far side when Annunka galloped past him, but Dimita angled toward the side and cut him off.  Dimita sat on her horse in front of the boy, bow drawn and aimed at him.  Poking the arrow tip in the direction of the other boy, she motioned the second boy toward his friend and Annunka.  He meekly started toward his companion, terrified and crying wildly.  The other girls pulled up to surround the boys.

       A few moments later, Thalia's horse casually ambled up to the other horse.  When he reached the group of other horses surrounding the boys, the horse stopped, just because the other horses had stopped and most of the time he did what the other horses did.  Thalia sat on the horse, with a hand clasped to her mouth, trying not to make too much noise and muffle any sounds she made as she laughed away.  The other girls weren't much better.  Even the usually serious Julia and Calista were trying to stifle little giggles.

       With a maniacal look on her face and pitching her voice low, Annunka leaned over to bring her face close to the boy and melodramatically hissed to the oldest boy, "I kill all the thieves I catch!"  She jerked her shoulders upward just to add emphasis to her actions, changed her expression to an angry look, and snapped her bow up to point at the boy's face, holding the position as if taking aim at him.  He screamed and raised his hands to cover his face.  She dipped the bow down and fired the arrow between his feet.  Shot with full force from just a short distance away, the arrow buried itself deeply into the ground, and the shaft vibrated from the violent stop, producing a "thummmmmmmmmmmmm" humming sound all could hear as it vibrated.  In the back, Thalia leaned to the right and dug her right knee into her horse and kicked.  The horse obediently turned to the right and walked away from the others.  As the "thummmmmmmmmmmmm" of the reverberating arrow dramatically filled the air, Thalia couldn't take it any more without laughing out loud.

       Still leaning over toward the boy and using the same low pitched, melodramatic voice, Annunka twisted her head to the side to ask Dimita, "How do you want to kill them?"     Taking her cue from Annunka, Dimita answered in the same kind of voice, "Let's pull off all their fingers and toes one at a time until they bleed to death."  A loud giggle escaped Paulina, and she doubled over on her horse, her torso shaking with muffled laughter.

       With a maniacal look on her face, Dimita twisted her face to Annunka, "Maybe we should make them slaves and beat them everyday."   Annunka answered, "I don't know.  They look too skinny to make good slaves.  Killing them is much easier and more fun."   Annunka turned to the other girls and asked, "Does anyone want them as slaves?  You can beat them everyday and make them cry."  Julia had regained her composure and calmed down.  She kicked her horse up to the boys, "I don't know.  Let's see how strong they are.  Boys, take off your shirts so I can see your muscles."  Julia pointed to some bushes behind the boys and said, "Throw your shirts over there."  They did.  Then she added, "Take off your sandals and throw them over there too."  The boys sat down, took off their sandals, and stood up again, throwing their sandals into the bushes.  Julia disdainfully said, "No, I don't want them.  Too skinny to make good slaves.  You can kill them."  Julia circled her horse to rejoin the surrounding group of girls.

       Annunka turned to the boys, "You're not worth wasting an arrow on.  Get out of here.  If I ever see you around here again, I'm going to cut your feet off so you can't come back here again!  Go!"   The boys took off running up the trail toward the mountains, occasionally hoping when one of them stepped on a sharp stone as they ran along barefooted.

       Lydia smiled and said to the group, "We can handle twenty raiders like that everyday, and not even get our clothes dirty.  Juli, why did you have them take off their shirts?"  "Wait till they get home and their mothers ask them, 'Where are your shirts and sandals?'  When their mothers get done with them, those boys will wish we made them slaves and kept them here with us," Julia answered.  Lydia smiled at the well thought out idea.

       They were on Lucius's estate and Lucius was Itatia's father, so Itatia knew the estate like the back of her hand.  She broke up the idle group by saying, "Come on, I think we have a flock of sheep pastured over this way."  The group surrounded the sheep on three sides and herded them in the direction Itatia had pointed.  They came around a little stand of trees to come face to face with a group of around ninety Cimbri warriors in front of them.

       The two groups came to a stop, staring at each other.  They were separated by a distance a man could throw a stone with a sling.  In the front of the group of Cimbri was the same young boy who had escaped when Lydia and the girls had ambushed the six Cimbri men.  He raised his arm and pointed at Lydia, and then he shouted out something in the Cimbri language as he pointed at Lydia.

       Lydia had several nightmares about this same meeting.  In the nightmares, she unexpectedly came face to face with a big band of Cimbri, with that same boy in the lead.  At the boy's call, the big band of Cimbri charged at Lydia.  In the dreams, when the boy raised his arm to point at her, she had woken up screaming as the Cimbri poured toward her. 

                       ..........................

       The instant Itatia saw the Cimbri, an image flashed into Itatia mind, without any conscious effort on her part.  It was the best route to dodge around the side of the Cimbri and then swing back towards her father's stronghold.  In a flash she saw the whole route in detail.

       "This way,"  Itatia screamed.

       It was an odd collection of Cimbri behind them.  When Lydia and the girls killed the five Cimbri men, the news of the massacre was carried back by the young boy.  The families of the five men were both stricken by the deaths, and enraged at the loss of husbands, brothers and sons.  Their deaths alone stoked the fires for revenge.  But to have the men killed by women added shame to the deaths.  Family pain was multiplied by family dishonor.  The whole Cimbri valley felt disgraced by the death of five of their men at the hands of women.

       Men who would not normally take part in a retaliatory raid participated in this revenge attack against the Romans.  Older men who should have left the fighting to the younger members of their family felt a need to avenge the deaths of their sons, and to wipe the family's name clean of disgrace.  It violated the sense of dignity they claimed as "Men" to be killed by "mere" women.  They wanted to restore their family's name to a place of honor and respect.  Younger boys who were not ready to take on the role of warriors were there to avenge the deaths of their fathers or uncles or cousins, and these boys felt humiliated that Cimbri men were murdered by women.  The younger men and the boys wanted to wipe clean this disgrace to Cimbri manhood.  The younger men felt the Roman woman made a mockery of their manhood.  Pride and anger drove men to join a mob that normally would not have attracted them.

       The Cimbri group had men in their prime, the strong, skilled warriors the Cimbri sent out to fight for them against other tribes.  Most of these good warriors were from the families of the murdered men, but a few unrelated men participated just because of the great insult to Cimbri honor.

       Some were fathers and uncles of the slain men, and these were men past their prime, but they were permitted to go so they could restore the dignity of the family name.  A few were older boys, not yet men, but they were permitted to go because of the great insult heaped upon their fathers.  The Cimbri felt these boys had a right to avenge the stain of dishonor which disgraced the men killed by women.  Even their armor reflected their status.  Some of the older men had passed on their armor to their sons, treating the armor like a family heirloom passed down through the generations.  Many of the older men wore odd collections of mismatched armor scrounge up from any source they could find.  Some of the younger ones also wore ill fitting and mismatched armor, when they put on any armor they could lay their hands on.  These older boy had not achieved their majority, and they had not received the armor that would mark their passage into adulthood.

       And their horses matched their armor.  The warriors in their prime rode good cavalry horses, the best of the horses in the Cimbri valley.  The others rode the best saddle horses they could scrounge up.

       As they raced away from the Cimbri, Lydia held her prize winning Arabian back so she would be at the back of the girls.  Of all of them, Lydia was the only one competent as a mounted bowman.  She grabbed her bow and an arrow, twisted in her saddle, and fired back at the pursuing Cimbri.  Her first arrow missed, but she was able to bring down a horse with her second arrow.

       They raced past three islands of trees separated by grassland and turned a little, with Itatia in the lead.  Now they were running down a long straight line of trees.  Lydia got a man in the leg and another horse with her next six arrows.  With horrible fear, Lydia realized some of the Cimbri had good horses, and their lead riders were gaining on the girl's horses.

       To slow the Cimbri down, three times Lydia pulled Zephyra to a stop, turned, and fired arrows back at the approaching Cimbri.  Not bouncing around on a running horse, these shots were more accurate.  The first time she did it she scored a hit with her arrow, but the men were so close she had to immediately kick Zephyra to a run again.  But it did slow the pursuing men down as they took defensive actions by slowing their horses down and raising their shield against Lydia's arrow.  The arrow shot opened a little distance between the girls and the pursuing Cimbri.

       The second time Lydia did it, the Cimbri were better prepared for it and they weren't taken by surprise.  They did slow their horses, but they immediately started to fan out to the sides to encircle the stationary Lydia.  The ones on the outside continued to run their horses around Lydia.  Lydia had to kick Zephyra to a run as soon as she got off her shot, or the men would have closed around her from both sides.

       The third time Lydia did it, she had to kick her horse on before she even got off a shot.  The Cimbri had figured out a counter to Lydia's move.  They had fanned out to chase her in a wide line.  So when Lydia did stop, the men on the distant wings didn't even slow down when Lydia pulled up.  On the outside, men were galloping in toward her on the right and left side, and if Lydia didn't immediately start running again, the men on the sides would have swung in toward her to come at her at a gallop from two directions.

       This first group of Cimbri were good warriors and they knew what they were doing.  It didn't take them long to counter Lydia's tactic, and Lydia was forced to abandon it.  But Lydia's stationary bow shots did delay them a while, and it had opened up a wide gap between the girls and the following Cimbri.  The girls were now way ahead of the Cimbri.

       Lydia unleashed her Arabian, and the prize winning mare quickly left the Cimbri behind her.  Compared to Lydia's galloping Arabian, the Cimbri seemed to be loping their horses.  Lydia quickly caught up to the girls, with the Cimbri way behind them.

       Up in the front, Itatia pulled around the long, straight strand of trees and headed into a wide expanse about two and a half leagues long, covered with islands of trees separated by grass.  Past that, the country would open up to all grassland, with her father's stronghold a league distant across the open expanse of grass.

       Itatia knew she had a slow horse.  Itatia and Trivi were both big women and they had a good 20 lbs. or 9 KG on the next biggest girls.  The weight difference alone was slowing her horse.  Training with each other, the girls all knew what each other's horses could do.  Itatia looked behind her.  On both sides were Calista, Krista, Paulina and Julia.  They had the fastest horses, and they were holding their horses back to follow Itatia through territory which was unfamiliar to them.  When they started out across the two and a half leagues of scattered islands of trees, Itatia repeatedly flung her arm forward, pointing in the right direction to go.  Itatia wanted the others to escape, if the Cimbri caught up to her slow moving horse.  Calista, Krista, Paulina and Julia saw Itatia pointing, and they unleashed their horses.  Slowly their horses inched up to Itatia and then passed her, going in the direction Itatia directed them.

       As they raced along the straight line of trees, Lydia watched the men behind draw up closer and closer to her.  With dismay that twisted her soul, Lydia realized, "They're going to catch up with the girl's slow horses before we get in sight of the stronghold!"  If they could get in sight of the stronghold, the Sentries on the stronghold walls would see them galloping toward the stronghold, and Carra could sent out warriors to help them.  Black smoke from the stronghold would signal the Dragoons to come there to help.

       Several ideas flashed through Lydia's mind.  "The girls aren't good enough with their bows on horses to defend themselves!"

       "I can't make a dent in this number of men before they reach the girls!"

       "When they reach us, the girls aren't strong enough to use swords and shields in a mounted cavalry fight!"

       Pain crushed her heart.  She realized, "We're in a life and death fight against overwhelming numbers!"

       `When Lydia turned to ride across the wide area of grass and trees at the back of the girls, with the Cimbri getting closer and closer to her, there was no stronghold in sight.  Any hope Lydia had of outracing the Cimbri back to the stronghold was dashed.  With dismay, Lydia screamed to the girls ahead of her,  "We're going to have to stand and fight so they don't catch us on horseback!"

       All the girls turned to look back at Lydia with fear in their faces.  Calista, Krista, Paulina and Julia were just two horse lengths in front of Itatia by this time.  "Get into the trees!  Hornet's Nests!  Work as teams when they get to us!  Janae, Free," Lydia shouted to the girls up in front of her.

       Although the men were still a good distance behind the girls, Lydia wanted them to have enough time to get into position.  Lydia knew that with the slow horses the girls had, and the fast horses some of the Cimbri had, they would catch up to the girls before the girls crossed the wide expanse of land in front of them.

       "OH, GODS," Annunka screamed in fear, realizing they were going to have to fight the horde of men behind them in hand to hand combat.

       The girls turned and headed toward the nearest cluster of trees.  Lydia's command to use the "Hornet's Nest" was a command to use a defensive formation they practiced, intended to catch enemies in a cross-fire of arrows.  The tactic used trees.  Trees impeded horses in a cavalry charge, and made the horses slow down as they charge up to the girls.  It would be difficult to charge at a girl with a lance, if the girls were standing among trees.  The tactic had a "fall-back" position in a worst case scenario of not eliminating all their attackers with arrows.

       Calista, Krista, Paulina and Julia, in the lead, picked the biggest stand of trees near to them.  The group of trees they were heading for was not ideal for use in a "Hornet's Nest," but they didn't have the time to pick and choose the location.  They had to take whatever was available and make do with it.  The big cluster of trees among the many islands of trees was a little too far forward and isolated for the tactic, but in desperation the first of the girls headed toward it.

       The position of the girls in the fleeing group of women was a matter of luck.  It depended upon how fast each individual girl's horse was, the girls with the four fastest horses headed toward the first cluster of trees.  The next four fastest girls headed toward a second cluster of trees, which was further back than they wanted, but they had no other alternative.  The girls with the four slowest horses arrived last and they headed toward a cluster of trees behind the second group to take the last position in the "Hornet's Nest."  If they had time to pick and choose the location, they would not have picked this spot.  The first group of girls was too far forward from the other girls.

       When the girls reached the trees, they threw their shields and lances to the ground, grabbed their bows and their quivers, and jumped off their horses.

       Each group of girls knew each others strengths, and they each knew how accurate with a bow the other girls were.  Everyday they stood next to each other on the practice grounds shooting at targets with their bows.  They instantly arranged themselves according to their abilities, depending upon the individuals within each group.  The only thing the girls had to do was glance at the faces of the girls around her, and each knew who were the best with a bow in their particular group.  The best two bowmen took the back positions, and the other two made sure their lances and shields were handy nearby on the ground, and they took position in front of the two girls behind them.  Then the two girls in front and the two girls in back both turned, preparing to shoot their arrows at the approaching Cimbri.

       Lydia was riding in the back so she could protect the girls in front of her with her bow.  When she saw the first of the girls reach the trees, she reined in her horse

       Lydia was still out in the open when she reined in her horse, and she had not reached the trees.  She was standing a stone's throw in front of the trees.  Alone.  Exposed.  Out in the open.

           Lydia was standing in front of the girls so she could protect them as much as she could from the pursuing men.  She wanted to kill as many of the Cimbri as possible before they reached the girls.  She intended to sacrifice herself to save as many of the girls as she could.

       Their final positions in the "Hornet's Nest" looked something like this, with Krista, Paulina, Calista and Julia being too far forward to best use the tactic:

                                         Lydia        

        (1st. group)

     Krista  Paulina

     Calista Julia

                                                     (2nd. group)        

                                                    Alisa  Kaylin

                     (3rd. group)    Dimita Annunka

                   Trivi Itatia

                   Janae Thalia

       If they had time to pick and chose their location, they would have selected a place that allowed them to arrange the groups something like this:

       (1st. group)                                (2nd. group)

   Krista  Paulina                                    Alisa  Kaylin

   Calista Julia         (3rd. group)   Dimita Annunka

                    Trivi Itatia

                    Janae Thalia

       This was Lydia's first experience in a fight with large groups of people, squads and platoons, and what she expected to happen was wrong.  She expected to fight one man after another, killing as many as she could before they reached the girls, but instead of being able to fight any of them, she was only the initial target of all the charging men. They took one woman warrior as insignificant.  They wanted to get to the big group of girls so they could kill as many of the woman as they could.

       There a period at the very start of the fight when arrow fire from all the girls held the Cimbri back for awhile.  But once the Cimbri broke through arrow fire, Lydia's naively conceived plan didn't work as she intended.  Lydia met the charging Cimbri ineffectually dodging around and got to fight few Cimbri.  When the charge of the Cimbri at the girls was finished, Lydia was left standing alive but alone in a forest of lances driven into the ground around her, a distance in front of the girls, with all the Cimbri behind her swarming over the girls.

       Lydia's command to fight as teams was also undermined by Lydia's lack of experience.  So many men charged at the girls, some of the girls were forced to fight as individuals with the many men running at them.  Two men would charge a team, and each girl was forced to fight the man coming at her.  In the melee that followed some girls were able to fight as teams, but some girls were forced to fight one on one single combats.  Luckily for the girls, the Cimbri horses were a mixed lot, so some of them had good horses while other had poor horses.  They arrived at the girls in a widely strung out line.  The chase covered so much ground that wide distances separated the Cimbri with good horses from Cimbri with slow horses.

                       ............................

       Kaylin was in the 2nd. group of girls.  Reinforcing Lydia's command to form Hornets Nest, Kaylin called out at the top of her lungs, hoping all the widely spread out girls would be able to her, "Cross fire on the lead riders!  Everyone on bows at the start.  When they get to us, front girls to lances and shields!    Help each other!  Help each other!"

       Alisa was also in the 2nd. group, standing next to Kaylin.  She added to Kaylin's instructions, calling out as loud as she could,  "Remember our training!  Remember our training!"

       Calista was in the 1st. group of girls.  She was in the back, because she was a good shot with the bow.  Calista was angrier than she had ever been before in her life.  When someone is attacked in a mortal fight, the anger evoked is magnitudes greater than any other anger they have ever felt.  A mortal attack is like nothing else a person experiences.  No anger is like the anger you feel when someone tries to kill you.  It is all consuming.  Everything else in the mind dwindles to nothingness beneath that anger.  Only the hot, burning, raging anger to counterattack is left in the mind.  Calista felt a hundred times greater anger than she had ever experienced before in her life.  But Calista was still clear headed and brave.

       Calista was good with tactics, and the other girls knew it.  She realized that there were too many of the Cimbri for them to handle with bows, and that the Cimbri would overrun their position.  She picked up where Kaylin's instructions had left off, to deal with the Cimbri when the Cimbri eventually charged up into their position and in amongst them.  She recited the rest of "Hornet's Nest" tactic to her particular group, filling in what Kaylin and Alisa left out, "Kris, when the first man gets to us, you pull him up with your lance.  I'll be right behind you with my sword and shield.  If you don't kill him outright, I'll run around behind him to get him in the side when you bring him to a stop.  Pauli, you take the second man to run at us, and then, Julia, get your sword and shield and get him from the side when Pauli makes him pull up with her lance."

       Practical, clear headed, brave Julia was also in the 1st. group of girls, standing behind Paulina.  She looked at the horde of men charging at her and the three girls standing around her, and she didn't delude herself about their chances.  Julia expected that all of them were going to die.  There were just too many Cimbri.  But she was fiercely determined to fight like a Fury and kill a dozen of them before she died.

       Feeling that she was going to die there, Julia felt tremendous rage.  She didn't want to die, and she raged at the men coming at them, hating them for what they were going to do to her and the other girls.  Her face was a snarl, and her eyes blazed like hot coals.

       They had a few moments before the Cimbri caught up to them and came within bow range.  Paulina was in a front position, in the 1st. group.  Paulina always felt protective of the other girls.  Lydia was out in front of them, in the open.  As she watched, Lydia swatted the rump of her Arabian with her bow, to shoo the horse away before the Cimbri arrived.  Paulina called, "Lydi, come back with us!"  Lydia ignored the call, notched an arrow and took a defensive stance with her bow.  From the side, Krista said, "I think she's going to stay there.  It looks like that's the position she wants to take."

       Paulina turned to look behind her.  Both Calista and Julia had angry expression, but they were also calm, and they radiated raw defiance.  Some people get frightened when they are attacked.  Some people get angry.  These girls were all from the latter group.  Their courage gave Paulina more courage herself.  Paulina thought to herself, "I'll give you plenty of cover, Juli, to shoot that bow, until they come right up to us."   Without saying anything, Paulina reached back to give Julia's hand a squeeze.  Then Paulina turned forward and prepared herself to use her bow on the Cimbri.

       Krista was also in the front line of the 1st. group.  In the few moments they had before the Cimbri arrived, she glanced to her right and a little behind her.  A little less than the distance a man could throw a stone with a sling, the 2nd. group of girls had pulled up to take their positions in a group of trees a little behind them and to their right.  Although one of the girls in that group was kneeling and the other bent over at the waist, Krista recognized Kaylin and Alisa.  With attention to detail, Kaylin and Alisa were precisely arranging their shields and lances at their feet, so they could be instantly grabbed without any fumbling.  Behind them stood Dimita.  As calm as if she were on the Training Grounds, Dimita was precisely adjusting the position of her quiver so she could reach for arrows without delay or any fumbling.  Beside her stood Annunka.

       Annunka had a frightened expression and she was staring at the approaching Cimbri as if she was hypnotized.  That didn't bother Krista.  Krista knew that the moment the action started, Annunka would explode into a frenzied amalgam of screaming, crying, and ferocious fighting that was fearless.  Annunka's fears were always replaced by raw, blazing emotions once things started to happen.  Annunka was always a caldron of roiling emotions, one replacing another as the situation changed.

       Krista looked behind her, a little to the left.  Also a short sling shot in back of her, the 3rd. group of girls were the last to take up position.  Itatia and Trivi were still pulling lances off their horses.  They had mean, angry expressions, like they were ready to pull the heads off the Cimbri with their bare hands.  Krista felt good seeing the two big girls behind her.  Whether it was big, brawny men or skilled warriors they had to fight, Itatia and Trivi would cut them down to size, and the two big women could handle more than their share of the Cimbri for everybody.  Behind them was Thalia.  She was just slinging her quiver over her back.  Thalia had a maniacal expression with her lips pulled back as if she was going to laugh a diabolical laugh.  Nothing new in that.  Krista had to stop a moment to laugh to herself.  Thalia always looked like she was going to laugh, whether it was joking around with someone or in excitement over a horse race or prospect of a fight.

       Next to Thalia was Janae.  Janae had the same kind of maniacal expression as Thalia, a wild, crazy smile; but Krista knew a different kind of emotion lay behind it.  Janae had a bottomless pit of rage to kill the bastards who hurt her and her family, and Janae wanted to kill, and kill, and kill, and kill.

       Krista was a little surprised to see Janae with the other three.  Lydia gave the command, "Free," to Janae, meaning Lydia wanted Janae to fight as a free agent rather than take position in a formal formation with an assigned position.  Janae must have decided to start the fight as an archer.

       Instead of a quick glance Krista gave to the other girls, Krista took a moment to seriously wonder about Janae.  Janae was the first of them to achieve the speed of Talig's training.  Janae was now like Lydia, incredibly fast.  "How are you going to fight," Krista thought, and she wondered how effectively Janae would be fighting with her newly acquired speed.  Although Krista felt brave and not afraid, a discordant emotion escaped her, different than all her other emotions.  A stab of fear flashed through Krista, and she thought, "Janae, save us!"

       Krista looked forward, slipped out an arrow and notched it.  There were no words attached to it, no specific idea that occurred to her, but Krista felt a pervasive feeling To Fight!  Fight!  Fight!  A couple of moments later, Krista raised her bow and careful took aim at the lead Cimbri warrior who was charging toward Lydia.

       Although it wasn't necessary, Calista felt a need to reinforce what they intended to do.  As the men raced at them and approached bow range, Calista called, "Bastard's Strike."  Paulina immediately followed with, "First Man!"

       "Bastard's Strike" was a tactic learned from the Aquitani, who had cruelly murdered the girl's brothers months ago.  One archer would shoot his arrow at an enemy, forcing the man to move his shield to protect himself from the arrow flying at him.  In close succession, a second archer would wait for the enemy to move his shield to block the first arrow flying at him, and then the second archer would fire at an exposed place not protected by his shield.  The girls practiced this with one of them shooting her arrow at an attacker's hips or stomach (which was usually covered with a breastplate), and the second girl would wait a second and then shoot her arrow at his face or neck (which usually had no armor protection) when the man lowered his shield to protect himself from the first arrow flying at his stomach.  Paulina's call, "First Man," claimed the lead rider as her target, telling Krista and Calista that they should aim for the second rider.

       Off to their right, in the 2nd. group of girls, Alisa called out to the girls around her, "First Man!"  Behind them in the 3rd. group of girls, Thalia called out, "First Man!"

       The call of the three girls effectively sealed the fate of the first man of the Cimbri.  He was a dead man before he got close to them.

                       ..........................

       As the Cimbri were chasing behind the Roman woman, they saw the Romans start to pull up to stand and fight, a good distance in front of them.  As the Cimbri closed the distance, all the Romans pulled up to dismount in among trees.

       When the Cimbri got close, they saw a single woman standing alone in the open, and to her left a group of four women standing close to each other.  Most turned to the single woman before they turned back toward the bigger group.  Some turned toward the bigger target.

       Krista, Paulina, Calista and Julia had the greatest number of Cimbri men charging at them because they were the first girls the Cimbri men saw.  They were located in that advance stand of trees which was too far forward ahead of the other girls.  Alisa, Kaylin, Dimita and Annunka, in the 2nd. group, got the next largest number of Cimbri heading toward them, because they were the second closest group and second easiest to see.  Trivi, Itatia, Janae and Thalia, in the 3rd. group, had the least number of Cimbri heading toward them because they were the most distant from where the action was taking place, and they were the hardest to see.

       This was the result of the poor selection of location the girls had to choose from.  Everyone knew Krista, Paulina, Calista and Julia position was too far forward, and they should have been along side and in line with the 2nd. group with Alisa and Kaylin.  But the girls had no choice.  They had to make do with using the place they were trapped in.  If Krista, Paulina, Calista and Julia were along side of Alisa's and Kaylin's group, the Cimbri were more likely to see both groups and they were more likely to split up more evenly between the two groups.  Trivi's and Itatia's group, the 3rd. group, would be easier to see, too, framed between the other two groups, and they would probably have gotten more Cimbri men heading toward them.  Instead, a lot of the men ganged up on Krista, Paulina, Calista and Julia, and ignored the other groups.

       As the first Cimbri man drew within bow range of Lydia, they pulled to a stop for some reason.  Lydia shouted something at them, and then, suddenly, the Cimbri charged at Lydia again.  The lead Cimbri man saw Lydia aiming a bow at him.  He raised his shield to protect himself.  When she fired, he had time to block the arrow.  But as he drew closer and closer to Lydia, he came within bow range of the 1st. group of girls, then within bow range of the 2nd. group of girls, and finally he came within bow range of the last group of girls.  It took seconds for his horse to cover the distance so he was within range of all the girls.  While he was still way in front of Lydia, he had six girls aiming their bows at him, two girls in each group.  These were the girls in each group who claimed, "First Man!"  They could shoot at him from three different directions.  Since Krista had claimed, "First Man," in the first group, Paulina and Julia next to her sighted their bows on the second man.

       With the first arrow fired by any of the girls, Krista surprised Calista a little, firing earlier than Calista expected.  Calista fired her arrow a little late.  The first man saw an arrow flying at this stomach, and he dropped his shield to block the arrow.  Almost immediately, a second arrow flew at his head.  But he just managed to raise his shield and twist his neck to the side before the arrow hit.  Calista had the head shot because she was better with the bow than Krista, and Calista took the harder of the two targets.  This was why the best girl with a bow took the back position.  Almost immediately, as he came within range of the 2nd. group, a third arrow flew at his stomach from the side, fired by Alisa in that group.  As the man lowered his shield to cover his hips from the third arrow, a fourth arrow drove through his neck, fired by Dimita standing behind Alisa.  It got him in the neck as he was lowering his shield to protect his hips.  Alisa and Dimita had their timing down right.  The man went down before he even got close to Lydia.

       Krista and Calista, Alisa and Dimita, Itatia and Thalia all shifted their aim to sight on the third Cimbri man and waited for him to get within bow range.

       Beside Krista was Paulina.  She released an arrow at the stomach of the second Cimbri when he came within range.  Almost immediately Julia behind her let fly at the man's throat.  Julia got him before he could raise his shield up from his stomach.  Paulina and Julia, Kaylin and Annunka, and Trivi and Janae all shifted their aim to the fourth man charging toward Lydia.

       In a little bit, the Cimbri would arrive in larger numbers.  Than, it would be difficult for the girls to distinguish the order of the men charging at them.  A lot of men would be coming at them from several different directions at once.  A call would go up from all the groups, "AS TEAMS!"  Then, the lead girl in each team of two would take aim at the nearest man to her.  Her partner behind her would look to see which way she was pointing her arrow.  Her partner behind her would take her cue from the girl in front of her, and the second girl would point her arrow at the man her partner was aiming at.  The lead girl in each group would select their target, and the second girl would watch where her partner was pointing, and she would aim at the same man.  The girls would help each other with verbal cues.  A lead girl would pick her man and shout, "Red shirt," or "Black shield," or "Battle Ax!"  Something distinctive about the man.   The girl behind her would see one of enemies in front of them wearing a red shirt, and she would answer, "Got him!"

       A lot of Cimbri started to arrive.  On the right side in the 2nd. group of girls, Alisa saw a lot of men heading toward Krista's and Paulina's group, the 1st. group, with some heading toward Lydia; and none heading toward them.  Alisa decided upon an atypical procedure to handle the unusual situation created by the poor selection of their location.  She alerted the girls with her, "I'm going to cover Paulina's girls.  Kay, cover Lydi."  Alisa and Dimita turned to shoot at the men streaming toward Krista's group, the 1st. group, and Kaylin and Annunka turned to shoot at the men heading toward Lydia.  In back of them, Trivi's and Itatia's group were doing the same thing, since none of the Cimbri men were heading toward them.  The 3rd. group also broke up to one team protecting the 1st. group and one team protecting Lydia.

       In a little bit, the Cimbri men would start to notice arrows coming from the side and back, and Cimbri would head for the other groups of girls.  Then, the 2nd. and 3rd. groups would be forced to protect themselves from the men coming at them.

       The Cimbri being killed by arrows were the best of the Cimbri warriors, the cream of the crop.  Those men had the best of their cavalry horses, the fastest of the Cimbri mounts, while the older and younger of the Cimbri men rode whatever mounts they managed to scrooge up, mostly slower horses.  It was lucky for Lydia and her girls.  The strongest and most skillful of the Cimbri men were being killed by arrows, and the girls wouldn't have to fight them in hand to hand combat.  They would only have to fight the weaker and less skilled Cimbri in hand to hand combat.

       As paired arrows streamed out from the three groups of girls, bodies were starting to pile up in front of Lydia and Krista's group.  The "Hornet's Nests" were working as intended.  Arrows were used to cut down attackers before they reached the girls.

       Occasionally, they missed their arrow shots at their targets.  Heads and throats were hard targets to hit, and some men managed to jerk their heads to the side before arrows hit them.  But the girls continued to shoot at him a second time.  The odds improved for the girls on the second shot!  The men were now closer to them.  It's easier to hit something close to you than hit something far from you!  And the men had less time to react to the arrows flying at him!  With a closer target to shoot at, they got him on their second try.

       This tactic of using archers to cut down charging cavalry is an old tactic.  Armies have been using it throughout history.  Cavalry have been mowed down before archers in countless numbers, by unrecorded numbers of armies.  Lydia and her girls made a slight improvement in the tactic.  Firing two arrows in close succession made it difficult to block the second arrow.

       Two lines of bodies started to form in front of Lydia and the first group of girls, as the fastest of the Cimbri horses raced up to the girls.  The first men to arrive had no chance.  Each man had several teams of girls, plus Lydia, aiming at him, one team from each of the three groups.  If one group didn't get him, another group got him.  And if they didn't get him with their first arrows, they kept firing at him until someone finally got him. 

       The only thing that would save the Cimbri men was when the girls didn't have time to aim at him.  Later, many men would arrive, and many men would charge the girls at the same time, and the girls wouldn't have time to sight on all the different men.  But while the men arrived in a strung out line, the men were dead men.  The girls had time to aim at him and as he got closer and closer to them, the girl's chances of getting him improved, and his chance of blocking an arrow diminished.

       But the inevitable started to happen.  More and more Cimbri were arriving.  Two bypassed Lydia to head straight at Kaylin in the 2nd. group, while the girls were aiming at men in front of Lydia and the 1st. group.  Then, a third headed toward Kaylin.  Kaylin cried out to Alisa, who was looking in a different direction toward the 1st. group of girls, "Lis, they're starting to come at us!"  Kaylin and Annunka dropped the first Cimbri heading toward them.  Alisa looked over her shoulder to see Kaylin taking aim at the second Cimbri coming toward them, while a third was heading toward them unopposed.  Alisa called, "Di," alerting Dimita that she was changing her target.  Alisa aimed toward the third man coming toward them, and Dimita followed her lead.  In a few moments a bunch of Cimbri were heading toward them.  As more men started to come at the 2nd. group, Kaylin called out, "As Teams!"

       Behind them, Trivi's and Itatia's teams, the 3rd. group, were still protecting Krista's group and Lydia, while no one was coming in their direction.  At the beginning of the fight, Lydia had six pairs of girls protecting her with arrows: both pairs of girls in each group.  A lot of men were dying in front of Lydia, without any of them reaching her.  The line of bodies in front of Lydia grew.  Then Lydia went down to two pairs of girls protecting her, one pair with Alisa's group and one pair with Trivi's group.  At this time, Krista's group, the 1st. group, had to turn to protecting themselves, and they could no longer protect Lydia.  The 1st. group had four pairs of girls protecting them: their own two teams, plus a pair from Alisa's group, the 2nd. group, and a pair from Trivi's group, the 3rd. group.  Then Lydia was down to one pair of girls protecting her, a team from Trivi's group.  Krista's group, the 1st. group, was down to their own girls, plus the other pair from Trivi's group.  Alisa's group, the 2nd. group, were busy protecting themselves and they could no longer protect the other girls.

       Trivi and Janae, in the 3rd. group, were still covering Krista's group, the 1st. group.  Three Cimbri were coming at the 1st. group.  Krista and Calista, in the 1st. group, brought down one of them.  Paulina and Julia, in the 1st. group, were aiming at the second man.  Unfortunately, Trivi and Janae, in the 3rd. group, couldn't see where Paulina and Julia were aiming, and Trivi and Janae were also aiming toward the second man.  Four arrows flew at him, all almost simultaneously with each other.  He went down with an arrow in the throat.  A second arrow missed his head by a finger's width when the impact from the arrow in his throat violently jerked his head to the side.

       No one was covering the third Cimbri charging at them.  Krista dropped her bow to grab her lance and shield.  Krista stood in front of Calista to protect her with the lance.  The man saw one of the Roman women pick up a lance and point it at him.  He changed his line of attack to head toward her, and he raised his shield to protect himself from her lance.  Before he got to her, an arrow slammed into his face.  When the man shifted his attention to aim toward Krista, Calista had a clear shot at him and he didn't notice Calista aiming at him.

       In the back at the 3rd. group, Itatia and Thalia were still covering Lydia, but now so many men were charging past Lydia that Itatia and Thalia sometimes couldn't see her for all the men riding around her.  There were so many men around Lydia, Itatia and Thalia could no longer effectively protect her.  Cimbri off to the side of Lydia were blocking shots at men close to Lydia.  Thalia thought that Lydia was a dead woman, surrounded by too many men to fight off.  "Go to Pauli.  We can save some of them," Thalia called forward to Itatia, hoping to save the most number of girls she could.  Now Trivi and Janae, and Itatia and Thalia were protecting Krista's group.  With the added bow power, they were able to keep any Cimbri away from Krista's group.

       They had killed around forty Cimbri with arrows, as the men galloped toward the standing archers.  It helped the girls immensely that the Cimbri arrived at them in a strung out line.  None got near the girls.  Pretty, damn good!

       Even better, the men killed with arrows were the best of the Cimbri.  The best of the Cimbri got the best of the Cimbri horses.  The fastest of the cavalry horses were reserved for the best warriors.  Normally, a fast horse was an advantage to a warrior.  In this case, the fastest horse brought the warrior in front of Roman bows.

       For the girls, it meant that the remaining men were the older men and young boys, the men riding the poorer horses, the slower horses.

                       ...................................

       Paulina, in the 1st. group, was the first to run out of arrows.  "I'm out," she called, while leaning down to pick up her lance and shield.  It was only for a moment.  Julia had just two more arrows than Paulina, in front of her, because Julia just happened to ram a couple of more arrows into her quiver in the morning.  Then Calista besides them called, "I'm out," while stepping forward to change places with Krista.  Calista picked up the lance and shield in the front, while Krista stepped back to continue using her bow.  Then Krista ran out of arrows.

       On the other side Alisa, Kaylin, Dimita and Annunka, in the 2nd. group, started to run out of arrows.  In the back, Trivi's and Itatia's 3rd. group had the most arrows.  In the initial part of the attack, the 1st. group and 2nd. group took out the charging Cimbri, leaving the 3rd. group without anyone to shoot at.  Since the other groups were shooting men first, Trivi's group, the 3rd. group, were left standing around with arrows in their hands and no targets.  The 3rd. group was now using those unspent arrows to protect Krista's group, the 1st. group.  The most men were heading toward Krista's group, the 1st. group.  Then, the 3rd. group ran out of arrow.

       In the 3rd. group, when they ran out of arrows, Janae called out, "I'm free," alerting Trivi, Itatia, and Thalia that she was leaving them.  Janae sprinted toward the 1st. group, Krista's group, to help them since they had the most men coming at them.  Janae headed out from the trees and she ran alone across the open grassland to get to the girls in greatest danger.

                       .............................

       Paulina and Calista, in the 1st. group, had lances and bucklers, in front of Krista and Julia, who were using bucklers and swords.  When the first of Cimbri galloped up to them, Paulina stepped out from the trees in front of the other girls to catch his attention and she aimed her lance at him.  He saw her when she came out from the trees and he turned his horse toward her.  He aimed his lance at her and raised his shield in front of himself.  He was right handed and held the lance on the right side of his horse.  Paulina intentionally moved sideways to him as he closed with her, forcing him to shift his lance to his left side as Paulina moved sideways toward his left.  His lance and shield were now on the left side of his horse.

       When Paulina moved to the man's left, it had a second affect besides luring the man to change the position of his lance.  The man was now moving at an angle away from the girls hidden in the trees.  The more Paulina moved to the side with the man following her, the more the man turned at an angle away from the girls in the trees - and the more he turned his back to the hidden girls behind him.  If things worked out as planned, he would have to twist on his horse and look over his left shoulder to see the girls left behind as he angled away from them.  If things worked as planned -- 

----- his back would be toward the girls behind him.         

       As Paulina move sideways and drew the man to the left, Julia waited a few moments and then followed the man from behind with her sword and shield, from a distance.  As the man followed Paulina, Julia moved where it was even harder to see her, to the man's right side since he was looking at Paulina on his left.  When the man drew abreast of Paulina, he was forced to stop his horse to keep from running past Paulina.

       When the man stopped, Julia sprinted toward him from the back and to the side right of him.  He heard the second girl running toward him from the other side.  His lance and shield were on the left side of horse, trying to get Paulina with her lance, who was moving sideways to him.  He twisted on his horse as he heard Julia running up to him on the right, and he pulled his lance to the right side of the horse, but it was too late.  Julia was now at the side of the man and his horse.  She was within the length of his lance.  The only thing he could do with the lance was try to swat at her with the middle section of the lance or poke at her with the butt of lance.  The tip of his lance stuck way out from his horse, while the girl was standing right next to him.  His lance was too long to even jab at her feet with the tip.  The arc he could swing the lance hit the ground before it got back to her feet or legs.  With the girl standing next to him, he couldn't afford the time to drop his lance and grab his sword.  He had to defend himself as best he could, with what he had, his lance.

       He held his shield with his left hand, and he twisted his arm across his chest to cover his right side with the shield, but he could only reach as far as his right side with the shield and it was awkward for him trying to move the shield in that position.  With the man only able to cover his right side with his shield, and only able to poke at her with the butt of his lance, Julia moved further behind him.  She reached up over the horse's rump to stab him in the back, below his back plate.

       The girls always aimed for gaps in the armor.  Armor was made in sections.  A breast plate, a back plate, hip armor, thigh armor, grieves.  The different sections of armor were strapped on separately.  Styles of armor varied between tribes, and even within tribes.  Some armor was better than other styles of armor.  Some armor provided overlap between sections.  Others didn't.  An overlap of sections impeded movement.  Arms, legs, heads, etc., could move more freely if there was no overlap, and the armor was lighter and less tiring to wear.  On the other hand, overlapping sections were safer but more restrictive and more tiring to wear and use.  Men choose the advantages and disadvantages of one type of armor over a different type.

       Although the girls used steel swords like Talig and his men, the men had the physical strength to drive steel through iron and bronze body armor.  The girls didn't have that strength.  Even with bronze body armor, it was uncertain if they had the power to pierce the armor plate.  Rather than take a chance, the girls aimed for gaps where flesh was exposed between armor plates, depending upon the type of armor they were dealing with.

 

       Across the field, the girls were using this tactic of girls working together in teams.  One stood to the front with a lance and attracted the charging man's attention and drawing the man to her.  As he closed with her, she moved sideways, on the side opposite to his lance, and it forced him to move the lance to the other side of his horse.  Her partner followed at a distance, being sneaky and trying not to be seen.  When he stopped his horse, the second girl ran at him from the other side.  Before he could stop her, she was beside him where he couldn't use his lance or shield to effectively block her.  She got him in the back, where he couldn't cover himself with the butt of his lance in his right hand or shield held in his left hand.  He could reach his left arm in back of himself to cover his back with the shield, but than she could go for his right side below his breastplate or any gaps in his armor around his right shoulder.  There was always a gap around the elbow which could be slashed with the sword.  That wasn't a fatal strike, but it did cripple the sword arm of the man.

       While the man concentrated on the new, second girl to run up along side of him, the first girl in front of him could move forward to strike at him with the lance.  Between the lance wielding girl in front of him and the sword wielding girl at the man's side, he had no chance of surviving.

       The good thing about the tactic was the use of the sword and shield, rather than a lance, by the second girl.  The sword could be used close up, while a lance held in one hand by the man could only ineffectively swat at someone standing besides him as he sat on his horse.  The only difficulty was when a man continued to circle the first girl with a lance, rather than coming to a stop.  But then the lance wielding girl could always bring him to a stop by closing with him, and trading lance jabs with him.  A man sitting on a horse could only ineffectively jab at her with the lance while he was standing still, and that was easily blocked with her buckler.  While he jabbed at her with his lance, the second girl closed with him on the other side with her sword.

       A man could try to escape by kicking his horse forward when the second girl ran up to him.  But the first girl was standing in front of him with her lance.  She could jab her lance at him as he came forward.

       The only way a man had to escape was keeping his lance and shield pointed at the girl in front, and kicking his horse forward when he heard the girl running up from the side.  If he looked to the side when he heard the girl running up to him, he was a dead man.

       Salidia and Romans in her valley used this strategy over and over again in many of their tactics.  They used a team of two people to come at the same man from two different directions at once, and strike at him from two directions simultaneously.  Simply, they ganged up on their enemies, two against one.  Not incidentally, they formalized this into established, formal tactics that they practiced over and over again, until everyone became practiced and good at their part in the attack.  And they had time to make improvements in the tactics while they worked out kinks before they went into battle.

       The lance and sword attack was a very effective tactic.  It was called, "The Thorn and Snake."  (The thorn bush brought the man to a stop, while the snake waited hidden in the bush to strike the man when he came to a stop.)  With their bows, and team work of lance with sword, the girls were dropping a lot of Cimbri.  Not one girl was hurt.  Not once did they have to pit their strength against a man's strength, nor vie with a man over who had the most skill with a sword.

       Tactics alone were keeping the girls alive while Cimbri men were dying.

                                       Chapter 17

       But more and more Cimbri were pulling up to the girls. 

       Paulina and Julia, in the 1st. group, were paired together, Paulina with the lance and Julia with the sword.  They had taken down two mounted men who charged them with the "Thorn and Snake."  Paulina had gotten one of them, when he looked to the side as Julia ran up to him.  Paulina stepped forward and stabbed him in the shoulder when he looked toward Julia.  When he was stabbed, he twisted around forward, grabbed his shoulder, and went to lean down in pain.  As he leaned down, Paulina got him in the throat with a second thrust of her lance from the front.

       On the next new man who charged them, their third man, Julia got a strike in his back below his backplate, but it wasn't a fatal wound.  Desperate to escape Julia and another sword thrust, the man threw himself to the side of his horse, falling down on the ground.  With one hand holding his wound, he tried to draw his sword with his other hand as he scrambled to his feet.  When the man fell, the horse was between him and Julia, blocking Julia for a moment.  The horse ran forward at a diagonal, getting between the man and Paulina, now blocking Paulina from reaching him.

       Obstructed by the horse for a moment as the horse moved around, Julia was delayed from getting to the man as he tried to get to his feet.  When the horse cleared the area, Julia started to run toward the man to finish him off.

       As Julia was waiting for the horse to get out of the way, the man was scrambling to his feet.  Julia, at his side, had just stabbed him.  He was trying to put as much distance between him and Julia as he could as he drew his sword.  He was running forward, pulling out his swords, and looking over his shoulder for the girl, Julia, who just stabbed him.  He wasn't looking at Paulina, in front of him, as she thrust her lance at his throat.  His horse blocked his view of Paulina, and he didn't notice her standing behind his horse.  He was focus on the woman who stabbed him.  When the horse cleared the way, Paulina stepped forward to strike.  He was stabbed to death by a thrust through the side of his neck by a woman he wasn't even looking at.

       Julia was waiting for the horse to clear the area so she could get this man.  Then, Julia started to run at him, while Paulina was also closing on him from the front.  Something very strange started to happen to Julia as she ran toward the man.  It seemed to her that all the din and roar of battle fell silent behind her.  It was like a great Silence filled the space in back of her.  To her, she felt everything suddenly became quiet behind her - suddenly absolutely silent.  It also seemed to her a Blackness swelled up behind her until it loomed over her head.  It was all very strange, a preternatural occurrence that never happened to her before.  Julia felt as if Death was behind her.  The great Blackness and Silence seemed to fill up all the area in back of her.

       Julia stopped and looked over her shoulder.  Two body lengths in back of her a man was galloping at her with a lance aimed at her back.  In a reflexive spasm, her leg muscles snapped closed and she leapt forward before the conscious thought flashed into her mind.  As she leapt forward, she next instinctively twisted to her left without thinking, to move to the side of the man.

       Blinding, searing pain exploded upward from her right leg, then claws of fire seemed to pull her leg down to the ground with irresistible strength.  Julia reached back and felt a lance in her leg.  The man dropped it after he stabbed her.  She had leapt forward so fast, he couldn't get her in the back.  He was forced to lean forward and thrust the lance toward her so he could even reach her leg as she turned to the side.  Julia grasped the lance and jerked it out of her leg, not because of any thought, but because she felt, "Nothing should be sticking in me!"  It was unnatural - not right - that something should be sticking in her.  It just "wasn't right" to have it stuck in her.  Julia went to take a step, but fell to the ground when blinding pain filled her mind and forced out any other thought from her consciousness.

       By this time, Paulina had killed the third man.

       After the new man, the forth man, lanced Julia, he dismounted to finish her off with his sword as she lay on the ground with his lance in her leg, but as he drew his sword from it sheath, his horse spooked and bumped into him, making him stumble forward.  His horse spooked because Paulina was running at it.  The man recovered his footing after his horse pushed him, and he turned to get Julia.  When he turned around, he came face to face with Paulina, who was in the process of thrusting her lance at him.  Then it was his turn to feel claws of fire ripping at his throat, and pain filled his mind, forcing any other thoughts from his consciousness and filling up every bit of his awareness.  And it was Paulina's third chance to get a man who wasn't looking at her.

       "Juli," Paulina screamed, running over to her friend and kneeling down to her.  "My sword," Julia screamed in fear.  A crushing, overwhelming realization that she was crippled filled Julia with horrible fear that she couldn't

protect herself anymore, and that left her feeling naked ...vulnerable ....exposed ...defenseless ...in danger!  Paulina looked around, saw Julia's sword, and got it for her.  Without thoughts, Julia's fears diminished, her breathing slowed, and her posture relaxed a little when she wrapped her fingers around the sword's hilt.  She wasn't "naked" anymore.  She had some way to defend herself.  Pauline got her buckler and gave it Julia.  Julia slid her arm into the forearm strap of the buckler and closed her fingers around the handgrip, and felt her fears recede with the familiar, comforting feel of the handgrip within her hand.  It was as if she grasped "Safety" when her hand closed on the buckler.

       With her fears that she was defenseless assuaged, Julia could think more clearly.  "Go help the others.  I'll be alright," Julia said to Paulina.  "No!  I'll stay here with you," Paulina shouted.  "I'll pretend I'm dead.  Help the others.  I'll be safest when you kill all the Cimbri," Julia countered.

       But before Paulina could even answer, Julia shouted out, "Pauli!"  Julia broke up what Paulina was trying to say, her face a tableau of fear.  Paulina snapped her head around to look where Julia was looking.  A man was running at them with a sword and shield.  Paulina had laid her lance down beside Julia when she was retrieving Julia's sword.  Paulina bolted upright from a kneeling position to run at the man, drawing her sword in a smooth, practiced move.  She slowed when they drew close together.

       Paulina was Presphene's daughter.  In honesty, Presphene did favor his daughter when he gave the girls lessons in swordsmanship.  He spent more time with her, he was more patient with her mistakes, and he was gentler and more supportive - of her feelings - when he taught her things.  Paulina was the most skillful of the girls with a sword.

       When she came face to face with the man, she was startled to see she was facing someone her own age, a boy of around sixteen or seventeen.  He made a wild overhead swing at her.  With skill that was quantums above the boy's ability, she rotated her buckler overhead by turning her forearm at the elbow as she raised her left arm to block his sword.  Almost simultaneously, with only a short delay between the two moves, she raised her right arm and rotated her forearm to her left.  It looked like she rotated both forearms to her front, so her hands were in front of each other, the left coming into position before the right.  Her buckler in the left hand blocked his sword, and an instant after the sword came to a stop, he right arm rotated before her in front of his sword.  Her blade cut off his sword hand at the wrist.

       It wasn't necessary for the sword strike, but she continued the swords swing downward until the sword was behind her.  That pulled her right shoulder behind her and down, and it twisted her left shoulder to the front.  She complimented the movement by twisting her torso down and to the right.  It was a windup.  Explosively, she twisted her torso back up and to the left while she flung her left arm outward, back-handing her buckler into the side of his head.  Her buckler was driven by the power of her rotating torso, and shifting her weight from in back on her right leg to forward on her left leg.  At the same time her left shoulder was twisting around, her right shoulder was also pulled to the front.  With the power of her rotating torso, and weight shifting to the front, now she drove her right arm forward to drive her sword into his stomach.

       Paulina checked the sword thrust before the sword plunged into the boy.  It wasn't necessary.  No use wasting energy in a fight.  The boy was collapsing to the ground, unconscious from the buckler blow to his head.  The inexperienced boy stood no chance against her.  She could have dropped a tough, determined, full grown man with the move, considering the power she developed by throwing her weight into the windup.

       "Pauli," Julia screamed from the back again.  Paulina turned and saw another man running at her.  She ran toward him so he couldn't anticipate her initial attack position, and slowed when she neared him so she could have her feet solidly underneath her when they engaged each other.

       The man running at her wasn't an inexperienced boy.  He was one of the best Cimbri warriors.  He wasn't related to the any of the five Cimbri men killed by Lydia and the girls, but he decided to take part in the revenge attack because of the great clamor that arose in the Cimbri valley over the slaughter of five men at the hands of women.  He was a vain man, interested in embellishing his own reputation among the Cimbri.  He wanted to claim he killed one of the Roman women, so he could enhance his reputation among his people.

       When he first approached the Romans on horseback, he saw the line of bodies a distance in front of one of the women.  He was an experienced, good warrior, and he pulled up his horse rather than rush blindly ahead into a trap.  As he watched, he saw other men caught in a cross fire of bows from behind the woman.  He realized the area in front of the woman was a death trap of arrow fire for anybody that rode into it.  He mistakenly believed the lone women in front, Lydia, was sacrificed as bait to lure men into a cross fire of arrows from behind the woman.  He thought the Romans were willing to have this woman killed as bait to set up their trap.  Not true, but close enough!

       He circled his horse, to flank the Romans and come at them from the side.  Unfortunately for the other Cimbri, he thought in terms of "Me.  Me.  Me.  What can I do for Me."  His first thought was how he could avoid their bows, and how he could still get one of the women to add to his fame among his people.  He could have stayed in front of the Romans, and warned approaching Cimbri of the trap up in front of them.  He didn't.  Instead he rode around to do what he wanted to do, get one of the women so he could boast of his conquest.  Following Cimbri men rode into the arrow cross fire without any warning of the trap in front of them.

       By the time he safely circled around to the side, some of the men were getting close enough to run their horses at the women in the trees.  Already wary of the women's prowess with a bow, he watched for a moment instead of doing something foolhardy.  He was glad he waited.  Again he saw the women bring down man after man, pairing their arrows together so men had no chance against the two arrows flying at them simultaneously.   He now understood how the women had killed the first five men.  It was no fluke these women killed five men.  They were damn good bowmen, with good tactics.  He had no wish to face one with a bow in her hand.  As an experience warrior, he knew they would have to run out of arrows sooner or later.

       He stood on the side watching the fighting as he waited for them to run out of arrows.  He wasn't going to be one of the fools with an arrow in his throat.  Finally the women started to run out of arrows.  Already impressed by the women's skill, he watched men ride up to the women.  He had no qualms about watching other men die, so he could learn from their mistakes.  Again, he was glad he waited.  He saw the women ganging up on men, two against one.  "Damn," he thought to himself, "They're good.  Good tactics."  He didn't want to come at one of them, while a second woman circled around him to come at his back.

       Now cautious about the women, he watched them fight other men for a while.  He didn't want any unpleasant surprises when he tried to get one.  As he watched, he thought to himself, "If ever we have to attack them, I may arrange to go off buying horses that day."  He was glad none of his people saw him playing it smart on the outside.

       They were skilled, but they were just women.  They could be overpowered just using muscle.  Although they were skilled, they didn't seem more skillful than him, and he was much stronger than them.  He realized the women could kill men because, whatever they did, they ganged up two against one.

       He decided he could get one, if he got one alone without a buddy backing her up.  This man was a vain and selfish man, but he was also a brave man, and he wanted to boast he killed one of the women.  He was a man willing to take risks to get what he wanted.  The women knew what they were doing, but he could just bull her down with more strength.  (If he had seen Lydia or Janae fighting, he would have changed his mind.  He was no fool, and he wasn't willing to fight someone like Lydia or Janae.)

       He looked around, and saw one woman alone, without a buddy backing her up.  He watched her kill a young boy.  "It was stupid to let the young kids come.  They don't know what they're doing," he thought to himself.  She was skillful, more skillful than the other women, but she was just a girl and much smaller than him.

       When she was looking in a different direction, he started to run at her.  He carefully watched her as he ran, so he could identify which sword maneuver she used a quickly as possible.

       Paulina's first men were young boys or middle aged men, past their prime.  Not the kind of men a tribe would send out to fight their battles for them.  It wasn't much of a thought, it just flashed through her mind and then it was gone, but she wondered to herself, "Where are their warriors?"  If she devoted some time to ponder the question, she would have been grateful her men weren't their best fighters and instead they were easy, but she didn't even devote a second thought to the question.  It was just a question that flashed though her mind for an instant.

       As she ran at this fifth man, he didn't start with the brash attack of the last young man.  The older men had tried to throw themselves into a violent initial attack that almost had the feel of desperation to it, as if they were aware they no longer had the power of their youth, and they hoped a sudden, violent attack would quickly overwhelm the girls without requiring a long, drawn out fight.

       This fifth man didn't launch himself into a brash attack.  Instead, he slowed when he closed with her and cannily watched her, as if he had confidence in himself to sustain a long, tough fight to come out the winner.  Paulina looked at his face, a man 26-28, a man in his prime.  Not an older man or an inexperienced youth.  This was one of their warriors.

       Paulina, too, slowed as she ran at the man, as she always did to get her feet solidly underneath her when the fighting started, but she wasn't willing to launch into an immediate attack against a possibly skillful opponent.  The man did the same thing.  Her other fights had started with a quick clash of arms.  This fight started with the man and the woman warily circling each other, not out of fear but because they both knew they were facing a skilled and tough fighter.

       Her father taught her that fights between skilled warriors were about two things.  The first was tactics.  The warrior with the best tactics won.  The second was practice.  "Practice things so much you can do them without thinking.  Have a hundred things you can do without thinking," he said to her, and he had her practice drills for hours until she could do the moves in her sleep.  Other factors were strength and endurance, but that was no where near as important as skill and the ability to react automatically without having to stop to think about what you were doing.

       When it came to a contest of tactics, her father taught her, "Lure him.  Trick him into the place you want him.  Then get him."

       As the two warily circled each other, Paulina thought, "He's waiting for me to make the first move!  Why?  He's a man.  He should be confident that he can easily overwhelm mere women."  Paulina suddenly realized, ""He knows I'm trained!  He watched me or one of the other girls fight and he knows we're not rookies!  Crap!!!  No simple little tricks with his one.  He knows I'm going to try to trap him with some good sword play.  I'm going to have to use something real sneaky on this bastard."

       As Paulina circled the man she waited until she stepped on her right foot.  Suddenly, she lunged at the man, pushing off her right and stretching out to land on her left foot.  As she did, she suddenly thrust her sword at his stomach.  That was a little hard to do.  Now resting on her forward left foot, her left shoulder was forward.  To strike with the right hand, she had to twist her torso around to bring her right shoulder forward.  It meant she couldn't reach as far forward.  She could reach further if her right foot was in front and her right shoulder faced him.  She didn't care if it was a bad position for a right strike.  It was a feint.  He blocker her with his shield, held at his waist.

       She immediately pulled her arm back and slashed at his head since his sword and shield were now at his waist, where he moved them to protect himself from her first strike.  All together, it was a feint at his stomach to immediately change directions and swing at his head.

       When she lunged for his stomach the man was a little surprised, because she was in a bad position for a right strike.  The thought, "Odd," went through his mind when she stood on her left and struck with her right.

       The man was waiting for her to try to trick him, and he wanted to force her to make the first move.  He circled her and circled her, waiting for the tension of the situation to break her.  He waited for her nerves to break from the tension.  "Break, stupid!  Break!  Get sooooo nervous you can't take it anymore and finally do something out of nervousness," he thought to himself as he circled her.  He believed the anxiety of the situation would goad her into making the first move.  When she struck at him, he laughed to himself, and thought, "You couldn't take it anymore, could you!  You got so nervous, I made you do something."

       Her strike was odd, and he was alerted that something was fishy about it.  He was suspicious of her strike.  When she suddenly changed directions to slash at his head, he was prepared for it.  He easily snapped his shield up to block her, since he was prepared for something by her odd strike.  He smiled to himself.  He expected her to try to trick him.  Her strike for his stomach was to make him think she was going for a low strike, while she really planned to go for his head.

       When her slash at his head was deflected by his shield, Pauline let her sword swing downward toward her feet in a circular path, and she leaned back shifting some of weight back onto her right foot behind her and her shield at her waist.  It was important that the downward path of her sword was circular and her weight was equally spread between her left and right foot.

       He expected her to try to trick him.  This was it!  She feinted and then went for his head.  Now she was standing with her shield down and the sword swinging toward her feet.  With her sword and shield down, he immediately swung his sword up and then down, in an overhead slash at her.

       Paulina had thought, "He knows I'm going to try to trick him!"  Her plan was to get him with a four part attack, not a two part attack.  Her initial attack was only part one and two.  She made him think her first two moves were her "trick."  It wasn't.  It was only to lure him into the position she wanted.

       Her father had told her, "Trick him.  Lure him into the position you want, then strike when you get him in the right position!"  Her first two moves were to lure him into an overhead strike at her.  And that's what happened!  With her sword swinging downward and her shield at her side, he swung for her head.  But Paulina also knew that the more complicated and trickier things became, the more chance there was of something going wrong.  If things were simple, there was less chance of something going wrong.

       Her third move was very dangerous.  It was very hard to do, and there was a big chance that it wouldn't work right.  Her left leg would be badly cut up if she did this wrong.

       As her sword swung down, she continued the swing straight up again.  It was like she swung her sword in a big circle, first going down and then immediately up again.  She didn't lift her shield upward as "back-up" or "insurance" if she missed with her sword.  If she didn't catch his sword with her sword just right, his sword would slash into her head or neck with nothing to stop it.

       As his sword started to come down at her, her upward swinging sword smashed into his sword from the side.  Since he was taller than her, she had to catch his sword toward the front of her blade.  The taller man swung his sword from a height way over her head and beyond her reach.  She had to wait until his sword was coming down before she could reach it.  And it was crucial she catch his sword near the tip of his sword, so she could control where his sword traveled.  The timing was critical.  So everything intersected at the right places, her sword had to smash into the side of his sword as his sword came down, so she could get near the tip of his sword.  She had to get him at just the right time as his sword flashed down.

       The two swords smashed into each other a hand's width down from both their tips.  Since the swords were going down and her's going in a circular direction, her sword first smashed into the side of his and than shifted to the back of his sword as the swords rotated in a circular path.  Her sword deflected his sword to the side.  She continued the circular swing of her sword, pushing his sword from the back in the same direction as her sword was moving.  It was soo dangerous for her as the swords swung down past her left leg.  It was the reason she had to catch the swords near the tip.  She had to control the line of travel of his sword.  The two swords arched downward, swinging between both their legs.  The swords flashed by just a few finger's width in front of her leg.  If she didn't control his sword tip, it would have sliced into her leg, badly wounding her and crippling her.

       She continued the circular swing of her sword, forcing his sword in the same direction from the back.  She continued it until her sword was at waist height pointing to the side, and his sword, too, was a waist height and point to the side.  His right arm was now across his body, pointing toward his left because she pushed his sword to the left!

       When the swords flashed past her leg, Paulina immediately smashed into him, pushing off her right leg, pivoting on her left foot, and turning sideways as she rammed into him.  She held her shield at her waist.  This was the reason she didn't use her shield to block his sword.  Her shield was at her hips and she threw all her weight behind her hips as she smashed into him.

       "Aaahhhww," he cried as his arm was crushed between his body armor and her buckler.  Viciously, she continued to push into him, taking some short step as she threw all her weight into her hips, and squishing his arm with her buckler.  She kept on pushing and pushing against his arm, wedging his arm between her buckler and his body armor as she threw all her weight into crushing his arm.  His arm went literally numb from the pressure and he couldn't feel his hand any more, from being crushed against his armor.

       Paulina now had him defenseless, with his sword arm pinned against his armor.  As she pushed into him with her buckler held in her left hand, she twisted her sword around to point at him and tried to stab him in the side.  He saw it coming and blocked her sword with his shield held in his left hand.  With spur of the moment reactions, like the blink of an eye, she took advantage of the situation.  The instant her sword was deflected, she saw her chance and smashed her sword down, knocking his sword out of his numb hand.  All the time she was doing this, she continued to push into him, pinning his right arm between her buckler and his body armor.  He was off balance, his torso leaning forward, while she was pushing his hips backward.

       He made a spur of the moment decision of unknown wisdom.  It may have been good or bad, with no way of knowing.  He dropped his shield to grab at her sword arm with his hand.  But when he reached for her arm, she pulled her arm back away from him.  He didn't get her arm but it did do one thing.  When he reached for her arm, it shifted both their centers of gravity.  His forward.  Her backwards.  With some momentum now behind him, he started to push forward into her, pushing her back.

       This is what he planned on doing from the start, and it just fell into his lap unintentionally when he reached for her sword.  It added new momentum to the struggle between them.  He had planned on just bulling her down with superior strength.  He thought he could counter her sword attack with his counter attack, but she had fooled him and caught him with a surprise, four part attack.  In the end, she disarmed him; and now she had a sword and he didn't.  But he could still do his original plan, overwhelm her with brute strength.

       This is what always frightened the girls, being in a wrestling match with a man, rather than dealing with him with superior speed or sword play or tactics.  As he pushed against her trying to bring her down, she pulled her arm back, then violently went to punch him in the face, with her sword held in her fist.  The blow stunned him, leaving him groggy, but it didn't take much brains to bull her down.  Although he wasn't thinking too clearly, he continued to push forward.

       She started to trip as she went back.  In the position they were now in, she was too close to point the tip of her sword at him.  Her sword was too long.  As they struggled backwards, each taking several steps as the action moved backward, twice she brought her sword hilt down on him to bash him with the butt of her sword, the first one leaving a bloody gash in his face, and the second one coming down into the back of his neck, bruising neck muscles and ripping the skin open.  The second blow to the back of his neck was a good, powerful blow.  She was able to put a lot of her weight into it, and she had a clear swing so the blow had velocity behind it when it smashed into him.

       She felt herself falling down as they struggle with each other, both pushing against each other and their feet becoming entangled.  As she fell, she dropped her sword and grabbed for her knife.  It was a smooth, practiced move, and in an instant she had the knife out.  Even before she hit the ground, she was swing the knife at the gap between his back armor and hip armor, but when they hit the ground, the impact jolted her.  The impact ruined her aim.  Her knife hit his back armor, not the gap between iron plates, slid down his back place and plunged into his hip in the gap between the armor but at a shallow angle.  A shallow angle not able to inflict much damage.  A bad cut but not a crippling cut.  "OOhhhaa," he yelled in pain.

       She was pulling her arm back to stab him again a second time, fiercely determined to kill the bastard.  Before she could, he grabbed her arm with his left and punched her in the face, knocking her out.

       He knelt there a few moments and then slowly got to his feet.  He was frightened, nervous, scared.  She had almost killed him.  He thought he could match her skill with a sword, and counter her attack, but she turned out be more skillful than he could handle and she disarmed him with a tricky combination.  If she wasn't a small woman, she could have knocked him out with her blows to his head, and she would have killed him in the struggle afterward.  As it was, she was a hair's breadth away from killing him with her knife.  Blood dripped from his face and mouth.  Two teeth were knocked out by her sword hilt when she punched his face.  He couldn't turn his neck to the side without crippling pain from the blow to the back of his neck.  He felt bad pain in his hip and blood running down his leg.  He was shaking in fear from a case of "nerves," sacred from almost being killed.

       "Damn, fuckin' women," he thought to himself.  "If ever they attack another bunch of our men, I ain't coming back here again.  Someone else can teach them a lesson.  Not me, again," he thought.  He looked at the woman lying on the ground, now starting to get angry at her for almost killing him and scaring the shit out of him.  This was the closest he ever came to being killed in a fight.  "Come here you little fuckin' bitch," he growled.  He limped over to her, his hip feeling worse when he walked.  His sword was someplace around here, but he didn't know where it landed after she knocked it out of his hand and then pushe each other around for a while.  With his hip cut up, he didn't want to walk around looking for it.  When he moved, he tried to hold his head as stiff as possible.  Moving his head up or down or right or left sent stabbing flashes of pain through him.  He stiffly went behind her, and slowly, stiffly pulled her upright by her hair.  He pulled his arm back, and as much as possible without moving his head or hips around too much, he punched her in the back of her neck, trying to break her neck.  "Aaahhha," he cried at the pain of moving fast.  In spite of the pain, he felt he had broken her neck when he punched her.  He let go of her hair and let her slump to the ground, satisfied she was dead.  He stood there a few moments before moving, in dread of the pain he would feel in his sore neck and cut hip when he finally tried to walk.

                       ............................

       Trivi, Itatia and Thalia had just run out of arrows, and they were about to the leave the position they had taken up as the 3rd. group.  Janae had already left them, to function as a "free agent."  They had protected the 1st. group with the last of their arrows.  Now they were about to run to the 1st. group after abandoning their bows, when a Cimbri noticed them coming out of the trees, and he charged at them on horseback.  This was the first man to charge them on horseback.  He was closer to Itatia, and Trivi and Thalia backed up into the trees again pretending they were afraid, to make the man more confident in attacking a single woman without support.  Itatia took the "Thorn" position, with a lance and buckler, to entice the man up to her.  When he started to get close, Itatia started to move sideways.

       In the trees, Thalia smiled at Trivi and playfully said like she was playing a game with the man, "I'm going to surprise the shit out of that guy," and she took off to sneak up on him as he started to come to a stop by Itatia.  Trivi just had time to whisper to Thalia, "I got your back," before Thalia slipped out of the trees into the open.  Trying not be seen, Thalia hunched over and tried to sneak up to the man as he focused on Itatia.  Thalia treated the start of the fight like it was game.

       "Son of a bitch," Trivi cried out.  "Where the shit did he come from," Trivi exclaimed.  A second man nobody had noticed was charging at Thalia, who was now out in the open with only a sword and shield.  "HHHaaaaa," Trivi shouted as she charged out of the woods toward the second men, to get the man's attention and draw him away from Thalia.

       Although Trivi was running at the second man's left side, Trivi raised her arm up as if she was going to hurl her lance at him.  He held his shield on his left side, and probably could have deflected a thrown lance.  But Trivi pretended she was going to throw the lance to make the man turn to her, since she was an imminent threat to his safety.  It worked.  The man turned to defend himself against the woman who was about to hurl a lance at him.

       Trivi lowered her lance once she got the man to turn toward her.  When they were alone, the girls had no tactics to deal with a mounted attack other than what any warrior did when a man on horseback with a lance charged at them.  Trivi would have to trust to her own strength and skill with arms to deal with him.  He wouldn't be naive enough to charge her if he saw her bury her lance butt in the ground, if he had time to see her do it.  Trivi shifted her grip on her lance, tossing it up just the littlest bit to immediately grab it again a little behind the middle.  She came to a stop and stood her ground in front of the charging man, with her small buckler held up in front of her, and her lance gripped at her waist.  She had run to the side to position herself to stand on his left side.

       Since the woman held her lance near the middle, the man now had a longer lance than her.  When he galloped up to her, Trivi threw her buckler outward, deflecting his lance to the side.  Not only did she throw her buckler outward, but she also started to twist toward the man when she swung her buckler toward him to deflect his lance.  As she pivoted, she thrust her lance between the horse's legs, until the tip of the lance buried itself in the ground just on the other side of the horse.

       The horse tripped on the lance thrust between his legs, going down and throwing the man over the horse's head.  When the horse's legs hit the lance, they hit with such force, it slammed the lance against Trivi's hip so hard, it knocked Trivi off her feet, and shattered the lance in two near the tapered tip.  Trivi expected the lance to smash into her, but it surprised her when the force was so great it knocked her down.  Trivi scrambled to her feet, still clutching the broken lance in her hands, and ran at the man before he could get to his feet.  The man flew over the downed horse at the speed the horse was running and came to a sprawling heap, while Trivi was only knocked to her side.  The man had risen to his knees when Trivi ran up behind him.  Still holding the lance in both hands, Trivi used the broken lance as a staff held in both her hands.  She slashed the bottom of the staff upward, catching the man in the side of his head, below the chin.  The blow was so strong, it spun the man around, and he landed on his back.  The man was unconscious from Trivi's strike, but Trivi straddled him, with her legs on both sides of him.  Still grasping the lance with both hands, she raised her arms over her head, and then drove the lance down.  The butt of the lance smashed into his forehead, between the eyes, killing him.

       Trivi turned around to look at the scene around her.

       "Juno," Trivi tried to exclaim, but nothing came out of her mouth.  Instead, Trivi screamed, "Aaaaaahh!"  Across the field, at the 1st. group of girls, Trivi saw a man holding an unconscious Paulina by her hair in front of him.  In the millisecond it took for the scene to register in Trivi's mind, Trivi realized the man was pulling Paulina up to a kneeling position.  Instinctively, Trivi was running toward Paulina without consciously making the decision to do so.  As Trivi sprinted toward Paulina, Trivi saw the man pull his arm back to punch Paulina in back of her neck.  As she watched, he smash his fist into the back of Paulina's neck.  The impact of the blow drove Paulina's upper torso forward, while her head snapped backward at an acute angle.

       Thalia had started from the woods to circle the man Itatia was bringing to a stop.  As Thalia tried to sneak up on the first man, she heard Trivi scream from the woods.  She turned, to see a second man charging her on horseback, while Trivi charged at the man from the woods.  The sword has limited offensive power against a mounted lanceman unless he can be brought to a stop, and she was little help to Trivi.  Thalia watched for the outcome of Trivi's attack.  There wasn't a sliver of doubt in Thalia's heart or mind that Trivi had the ability to handle the man.  Thalia had unquestioning faith in Trivi's abilities, but she watched to see if Trivi could use help in finishing the man off.  She smiled to herself when she saw Trivi trip up the horse, and she felt a thrill of pride, and excitement, when she saw Trivi finish the man off, using her broke lance to bash the man's brains in.  Inside, Thalia was in awe of just how good Trivi was.  That was a brillant move, tripping the horse with a lance thrust between his legs.  Except for Itatia, none of the other girls had the strenght to withstand the power of the lance when it smashed into Trivi's hip.  Then Thalia turned back again to help Itatia finish off her man.

       Before Thalia's mind even took in what was happening with Itatia, Trivi's second scream snapped Thalia back to look at Trivi again.  Thalia saw Trivi staring off into the distance, and then Trivi started to run.  Thalia turned to look in the direction Trivi was headed.  Thalia saw the man pull Paulina to her knees by her hair.  He pulled his arm back to punch Paulina in the back of her neck!

       Thalia was running behind Trivi, without thinking.  Her fear for Paulina was excruciating and overwhelming.

       Itatia was moving to the side of the man charging her with a lance.  When he pulled up close to her, he slowed his horse.  The man heard hoof beats heading in his direction, and then a scream from close by from the woods.  He turned to see what the hoof beats and scream were about, but instead he saw another woman, Thalia, sneaking up to him with a sword and shield on his right, now just a short distance away from him.  Thalia's closeness to him electrified his body with fear.  Thalia was just a few body lengths away from him, hunkered low in the grass.  He hadn't heard her run up to him.

       The man in front of Itatia turned to the side, to see Trivi charging at another Cimbri behind him.  Then he saw Thalia kneeling in the grass close by him.  He was holding his shield upward in front of his chest.  It covered his lower face and front of his shoulder.

       Taking advantage of the man's distraction with Thalia kneeling in the grass close to him, Itatia stepped forward and thrust her lance at him.  He was turned slightly to the side, looking at Thalia behind him but his shield blocked most of her usual targets.  Itatia thrust at the only vulnerable spot she could reach, at the gap between his backplate and the shoulder armor he was wearing, on the back side.  It wasn't much of a target.  Her lance slid in between his back and his backplate, parallel to his back.  Her lance stuck through behind the man's back from his left shoulder to almost reach his right shoulder.  The lance only cut up his back a little bit because it was moving parallel to his shoulders, but her lance was now wedged between the man's back and his backplate.

       Itatia pushed her lance forward, and started to go around the back of his horse.  With the lance stuck in the man's armor, it levered the man around and twisted him on his horse.  By the time Itatia got to the back of the horse, Itatia twisted him off the horse.  She abandoned her lance because it was wedged between the man's back and his armor.  As she ran to the front to get him, she drew her sword.  The man was trying to get to his feet, as he turned to face Itatia coming up behind him.  Itatia swung at his neck.  The man put up his hand to protect himself from the sword swung at his neck.  Itatia's sword cut off his hands as he raised them in front of his neck, and the sword continued back to cut his neck open, half it's width.

       Itatia didn't notice Trivi's second scream.  She was too absorbed in her own fight.  She looked around nearby for Trivi and Thalia, but didn't see them.  She raised her eyes to scan the landscape further away from her.  She saw Trivi and Thalia running toward the 1st. group of girls.  Itatia ran to catch up to Trivi and Thalia.

       Trivi got to the man and Paulina as the man released Paulina's hair.  Paulina slumped to the ground, with her head twisted back at an extreme angle.

       The man stood still for a little bit after killing the bitch because of the pain he was in after the fight.  Suddenly, he heard running coming up behind him.

       Trivi still had her broken lance in her hand.  She flipped it up to hold in both hands.  When she got to the man, she pushed the lance forward, across the man's back from one side to the other.  She rammed into the man before he even had time to look behind him, getting him just as he started to belatedly and slowly twist his head around.  He stumbled forward under the impact.  Trivi was following him as he stumbled forward, and immediately slammed the lance across his back a second time, holding the broken lance in both her hands across his back and pushing him forward again.  The man was a full grown, big man, but Trivi herself was a very big woman, and damn strong!  She drove the stumbling man head first into a tree in front of him.  With the lance held in both her hands, Trivi pinned him against the tree with his face squashed against the tree.

       Thalia, running right behind her, caught up with Trivi as she pinned the Cimbri face first against a tree.  Thalia plunged her sword into the man's waist, between breast plate and hip armor.  Thalia wasn't laughing anymore.  When Thalia was actually fighting, she always had an angry expression on her face.  It was only during breaks in the fight that she looked excited.

       The man screamed, "Aaawwhh," at the pain of Thalia's sword thrust, and was about to slump to the ground, but Trivi grabbed him and twisted him around to face her.  She slammed the lance across his throat again and pushed, holding him by the neck as his legs gave way beneath him.  He tried to push the lance from his throat as he also scrambled to get his feet underneath him, but the woman was too strong and she continued to strangle him.  With an angry look, Trivi watched his face as he strangled to death and his tongue turned purple as he gurgled and gasped from the lance pressed into his throat.  "I'm going to tell Pauli I watched your tongue turn purple as I strangled you to death," Trivi hissed at him in rage.

       Trav let the dead man slump to the ground and turned around to look at a limp Paulina lying on ground.  "Ohh, Paulie!  Hhaaaa," she screamed in pain.  Thalia knelt down to stroke Paulina's cheek.  "Ohh, Pauli," she too moaned.

                       .............................

       When the first of the men, the young boy, ran at Julia and Paulina, Paulina left Julia lying on the ground so she could fight the boy.  Julia watched Paulina fight the boy.  Julia's injury left her feeling very vulnerable, and unable to defend herself very well.  It undermined her confidence.  She fearfully watched Paulina fight without her normal confidence.  If Julia wasn't hurt herself, she would have faith in Paulina's abilities, but Julia's injury colored her feelings, making her worry about everything.  Now, she was afraid for Paulina as she fought.  Julia's transferred her fears about herself to her fears for Paulina.  Julia felt vulnerable; she projected that to feel Paulina was vulnerable.

       When Paulina dropped the boy, Julia felt tremendous relief, as if there was real chance the inexperienced boy might have defeated skillful Paulina.  When the second man ran at Paulina, Julia was even more frightened for Paulina.  The second attack just multiplied Julia's fears, as if the fear over the first fight just piled on top of her fear for the second fight.  Julia watched the second fight with twice the fear she watched the first fight.

       When the second man dropped Paulina, Julia panicked.  Julia was usually defiant when threatened, and usually Julia could coolly plan out what to do in a practical manner.  This wasn't how Julia was acting now.

       Julia desperately tried to get to Paulina so she could protect her for being hurt more.  It's wasn't logical.  It didn't make sense.  It was all emotion, with nothing reasonable about it.  All Julia's fears about herself were now extended to fears about Paulina. 

       Julia tried to drag herself across the ground to Paulina before the man hurt Paulina any worse.  Julia couldn't walk.  She couldn't cover the distance involved in ten minutes of struggling to crawl along the ground.  Not having any idea of First Aid, she didn't apply a tourniquet to her leg wound or even bandage it.  She was losing blood as she moved and she was getting weaker and weaker.  There was a good chance she would pass out from blood loss before she covered the distance.  If she did make it to Paulina before she passed out, she would be too weak to offer any threat to the man hurting Paulina.  Even if she got to the man in time, she couldn't fight the man with her sword and shield while she was lying on the ground.  She would have been useless coming at the man by crawling at him on the ground.  None of it made sense.

       Julia threw every drop of energy in her body trying to get to Paulina in time, and she desperately dragged herself across the ground to get to Paulina.

       Even after the man smashed Paulina in the back of her neck, Julia continued to frantically crawl to Paulina.  Julia refused to think Paulina might be dead.  Julia was sure Paulina was only unconscious.  Julia wanted to protect Paulina from anyone else who might hurt her, until Paulina regained consciousness or somebody else came to help them.  None of it made sense.  Julia was willing to die to do it.

       Julia saw Trivi and then Thalia run up to kill the second man.  "Trav," Julia weakly called to Trivi.  Trivi thought she heard her name called, looked around, but didn't see anyone.  "Trav," the call was repeated.  Thalia looked again and saw Julia sitting on the ground a distance from them, propped up on her arms.  Thalia ran to Julia, Trivi following right behind her.

       When Thalia got to Julia, she cried, "Juli!  Your leg!"

       Julia ignored the question, instead asked Trivi, "Is Pauli alright?"

       Trivi was afraid to say she thought that Paulina's neck was broken, and that she was dead.  She just looked at Julia with a frightened expression.

       Julia read Trivi's expression.  "She's not dead!  She's only unconscious!  Take me to her," Julia screamed.

       Trivi was big and strong enough to pick up Julia.  Thalia went to take Julia's sword and shield, to carry them for her, but Julia refused to let them go when Thalia went to grab them.  Trivi carried Julia over to Paulina, and gently laid her down beside Paulina.

       As Trivi and Thalia talked to Julia, Itatia ran up to them.  Seeing Trivi and Thalia talking to Julia, Itatia thought it best she take a defensive posture, to guard them if some Cimbri came at them.  As the other three talked, Itatia stood next to them with her sword and shield, looking around the area for anybody coming at them.

       As Julia sat on the ground next to Paulina, she said, "You go.  I'll stay here and protect Pauli if anyone comes at us.  I'll play dead, but if they come close to us, I can fight them."

       Thalia thought Julia was in no shape to fight anyone, and she was afraid that if a Cimbri saw her moving around at all, the Cimbri would come over to kill her.  "You promise you'll play dead and not sit up or move around or anything, just lay down like you're dead," Thalia asked Julia.  Julia nodded.  Trivi knelt down to cradle Julia's face in her hand, "Honey, we'll be back as soon as we can.  You just rest as much as you can and get your strength back.  Play dead, like Tali said.  DON'T MOVE AROUND!  JUST LIE STILL, LIKE YOU'RE DEAD!  Understand me?  Love you, Honey," Trivi said as she stood up.

       When Trivi and Thalia stood up and turned away from Julia, Itatia turned to them, and in a businesslike manner, pointed to two men dismounting near to them.  Julia watched the three run off to get the two new men.  Julia laid down over Paulina, shielding her with her own body.  She played dead, but every fiber in her body was listening to the sounds around her.  If any Cimbri came close to them, Julia intended to jerk herself upright and stab them.  In a little bit, Julia passed out, lying across Paulina to defend her.

       Itatia lead the charge at the two men she saw dismounting, with Trivi and Thalia strung out behind her.

       The nearest man, really a boy of around seventeen or eighteen, saw three women charging at him in a strung out line.  Since they were only women, he felt he and his uncle could easily kill them, to avenge the death of his father.  He got out his sword just in time as the first woman rushed up to him with as overhead swing.  He was shocked at the strength of the woman's blow.  It drove his blocking arm back and down.  Then he lost consciousness as a buckler smashed into his face.

       The second man, the uncle of the boy with him, saw three women running at him and his brother's son.  They reached his nephew first, one of the women, Itatia, swinging at the boy, and then almost immediately after, belting him in the face with her small shield.

       The second woman was a few steps in front of him!

       He trust his sword at her chest.  She, Trivi, blocked his sword with her shield, and countered with an overhead slash at him.  He managed to block her swing with his shield just in time, but he was frightened when he felt the strength of her blow.  He never expected such strength from a woman.  Blinding, unbearable pain electrified his body as the third woman, Thalia, ran up to the two of them and drove her sword into his armpit below his shield arm, above his breast plate.

       Trav, Tat and Tali turned to look for the next man to attack.  They wanted to find a single man or two men together, so they could use their superior numbers to gang up on the Cimbri.

                       ..........................

       Like Paulina and Julia, their companions from the 1st. group, Calista and Krista worked as a team using the "Thorn and Snake" when Cimbri first started to ride up to their position.  Three men were charging at the two women.  Suddenly, arrows cut down the first man and third man, fired by Janae and Thalia in the 3rd. group.  The 3rd.group had the last of the arrows, and they were still trying to protect the 1st. group.  After this, the 3rd. group was down to one arrow.

       The remaining Cimbri continued his charge at Calista and Krista.  Calista had the lance, and Krista pulled back, as if she was afraid and wanted to run away.  Calista was moving to the man's left, and trying to bring him to a stop.  It was easy to do.  Two runaway, riderless horses ran across the area, forcing the Cimbri to rein in to avoid a collision.  With the man forced to stop, Calista closed on him from the front.  Krista took advantage of the man's distraction with the runaway horses and sprinted at him from the back.  It was a bad decision to run at the man instead of sneaking up to him.  The man heard Krista running up behind him, and he turned to see who was coming up behind him.

       Normally, that would have been good.  While the man was distracted by Krista in the back, Calista would have a chance to stab him with her lance in the front.  As Calista stepped forward toward him.......she heard hoof beats pounding up behind her.

       Calista spun around to see a Cimbri galloping at her with a lance leveled at her chest.  This second man was pinning Calista in place, with the first Cimbri behind her, and she couldn't back up to escape the new man.  Calista could clearly see his face.  He was young, maybe a year younger than Calista.

       Without any attempt to deceive Calista of his true target, the inexperienced boy held his lance pointed steady at her chest, allowing Calista to anticipate the lance's line of travel.  He didn't even try to ruin her sense of timing by thrusting the lance forward at the last moment.  Calista easily threw her buckler outward and down, driving his lance into the ground beside her.

       When the boy raced past her, Calista tried to get him with her lance at the same time she deflected his lance.  He had a large shield, too cumbersome to make a good cavalry shield and really a poor choice to use on a horse, but it did have the advantage of covering most of his torso.  Calista aimed for his stomach in spite of the shield protecting him, but just as he went past her, she jerked her lance upward to go for his unprotected face.  It was a tough shot.  Because she was on the ground and he was sitting above her on a horse, she only had a few degrees of angle to point her lance at her target.  When Calista changed her target, the frightened boy managed to jerk his head to the side and he raise his shield just a little bit.  It blocked her lance.  Unexpectedly, either because it was a poorly made shield or an old one, her lance plunged through his shield to come out the other side.  With her lance embedded in his shield, it was jerked out of her hand when he went past.  Both were now without lances.   When Calista deflected his lance, his lance tip buried itself in the ground, and the lance was jerked out of the young man's hand when it came to a sudden stop.

       The boy pulled his sword and turned his horse to come at Calista a second time.  When he got close, he swung at her wildly.  The poorly aimed swing came at her head, and Calista only had to duck down a little to let the blade flash over her head.  Calista withheld a strike, because all her possible targets were covered by the boy's armor, and Calista didn't trust herself to have the strength to pierce body armor with her sword.

       He continued past her, and turned his horse to come at her a third time.  The young boy learned from his last mistake, and this time he swung at her body, but it was still a wild swing, with plenty of "wind-up" to alert Calista to the sword's line of travel, and she easily anticipated what he was going to do.  She jumped back and easily threw her buckler outward to deflect his sword.  As his arm flashed by her, Calista struck her sword at the underside of his upper arm, which wasn't covered in armor.  She managed to catch his arm, but things were moving so fast, she could only get the edge of his arm, not a crippling strike.

       When the skilless boy's swing at the woman was deflect and the slight wound to his arm distracted him, the boy clumsily let his sword swing behind him, without checking its momentum, and the sword sliced into the back leg of his own horse.

       When the sword sliced into the horse, the horse kicked.

       The kick nailed Calista in the chest, on the right side, breaking four lower ribs.  Standing behind the horse when the boy went past her, the kick caught her completely by surprise.  When the boy went past her, she thought she had a few moments respite, and she didn't anticipate anything happening.

       In spite of wearing chest armor, the horse's kick broke bones behind the armor.  A horse's kick isn't like a kick from a person.  A person's foot is bone and flesh and flexible.  A horse's hoof is only hoof and bone, rigid and inflexible.  It's easiest to think of the hoof as solid bone driven by muscles much stronger than a person.  When Calista was kicked, it was more like a bull of a man pumped up on steroids swung a baseball bat into her side, full force.

       "Aaahhh," Calista screamed, clutching her right side with her right hand and backing up, barely able to breathe.

       The boy felt his horse kick and heard the woman scream.  He looked behind him and saw the woman tilted over, holding her side.  The horse continued to kick, and the boy bailed off the horse to come at her with his sword.

       When the boy came at her, Calista was in agony.  With every move she made, the ragged, sharp edges of four broken ribs cut and lacerated the tissues and muscles around them.  The boy made a wild overhead swing at her.  She raised her buckler overhead to block the blow, and she hobbled backwards, clutching her side with her right hand.  Every move she made caused her to scream in pain as the sharp edges of broken bone cut into her side.  For all intents and purposes, Calista had four naked knife blades inside her.

       At his next blow, she raised her buckler with her left hand to block him, and tried to follow up with a right swing with her sword.  "AAhh," she screamed in pain as she raised her arm when the upward movement of her arm pulled the broken bones the greatest distance possible inside her chest.  The sharp pain she felt made her slow down as she lifted the sword, and the boy was able to swing his sword down into her sword, knocking it out of her hand.

       She hobbled back with only a buckler to defend herself.  Although she blocked his swings with her buckler, he continued to throw overhead blow after blow at her, instead of using his left arm to control her shield.  She continued to back up under a rain of skilless swipes coming down at her, blocking with her left arm and buckler.

       Even though Calista was in pain and backing up, she was incensed and enraged.  She thought to herself, "This skilless little punk is going to kill me?  This little piece of shit who can't swing a sword is going to get me?"  She was enraged that a little moron who didn’t' know what he was doing was going to kill her.

       Enraged, she screamed, "Aaaawww," at him and changed from backing up to lunge forward at him as he drew his sword back for another swipe at her.  She flung her buckler at his head, trying to catch him in the side of the head with the edge of her buckler held sideways.  In spite of the pain, she reached for her dagger with her right hand and raised it overhead to stab him as she charged at him.

       He twisted his head and turned sideways to her when she lunged at him, seeing the shield coming at his head.  Her shield smashed into his neck instead of his head because the boy had managed to tilt his head in time.  Her shield bruised his neck muscles but didn't knock him out.  She brought her dagger down into his shoulder, which he had defensively twisted toward her, the dagger plunging down into his deltoid, accurately aimed to go between his shoulder armor and breastplate.  She would have gone for his neck, but it was just a little too far away for her to reach.

       "Aaaahhhaa," he screamed in pain as her dagger drove into his shoulder.  Every move she made with her right arm caused waves of horrible pain to explode in her chest as broken rib ends cut tissue around them, but she was fighting for her life and Calista swung her knife in spite of the pain.  He twisted around to face her as she drew her arm back overhead for another strike at his throat.  Even though he had a sword in hand with which to stab her, he moronically punched her in the face instead of stabbing her, punching her before she could deliver her second strike.  He was able to beat her to the punch because the tremendous pain in her side was slowing her down.  The blow knocked her out and she collapsed to the ground, falling on him and sliding down him as she went unconscious.

       Her forward momentum had carried her into the boy and she rolled down him to land on her back, laying sideways to him at his feet.  With his shoulder hunched up in pain, he thrust him sword at her neck.  Like all the other things he did, it was skilless and wildly inaccurate.  He really was a young boy with little training, and he was unable to do what a fully trained grown man could easily do.  Instead of striking the near side of her neck and angling down into the middle of her throat, the inaccurate thrust grazed the far side of her neck and plunged into her trapezius, to come out the back side of her shoulder.  Blood poured out to cover her shoulder and neck.

       The pain in his arm was overwhelming.  Instead of checking to see if she was dead, he staggered off to find a horse, clutching his left arm with his right.  He did find a riderless horse and he struggled to mount with his injured arm.  After a struggle with some unsuccessful attempts, he realized he couldn't mount the saddleless animal with his injuries.  Luckily, he saw two other Cimbri men riding up to the trees.  He called them over, and they helped him up onto the horse

       If her broken ribbed didn't force her to hobble around, Calista would have jumped forward fast enough to get the boy with her knife.  It was the horse, not the boy that got Calista.  But it was Calista's tremendous courage and aggressive personality that kept her alive.  In spite of the pain, she charged the boy to stab him in the shoulder.  It was the pain in his shoulder that made him stumble away from her before checking if she was dead.  If the pain had not crippled him, he might have struck her more accurately or had enough wits about him to check if she was dead.

       Calista lay bleeding and unconscious, but alive, in the field, because of the wound she inflicted on the boy.

                       ..................................

       Janae was a caldron of rage and anger.  People she cared about and loved were in danger from the bastards that lived around them, her major fear.  She had taken her lance as she ran across the grassland to get to the first group of girls, but as she ran, she threw the lance away.  She was developing the same preferences as Salidia and Lydia.  No one told her to do this, she was just developing her own preferences over time.  Like Salidia and Lydia, now that Janae had the tremendous speed of Talig's speed training, she was starting to like using a knife as her favorite weapon.  But she kept her sword at her side as she ran, just in case she had to deal with several mounted men.

       All the speed trained women developed a preference for the knife as their weapon.  It had to do with the mechanics of moving at tremendous speeds.  Unless the tip of a sword or lance was precisely aligned with the direction of a strike, Physics got itself involved in everyday life.  "Static inertia" became something the women understood, even thought they didn't know they knew it.  "A body at rest tends to remain at rest unless acted upon by ......"  As the hilt of a sword was accelerated, the metal at the tip would resist movement because of its static inertia.  A little "vector analysis" of a hilt moving forward while the tip resisted movement, at an angle to the movement of the hilt, would show that the tip would veer off to the side.  Unless attention was directed to precisely aligning the tip of the sword in the direction the hilt moved, the tip consistently veered to one side or another.  A fast strike with a sword made it difficult to control the tip of the sword so it struck its target.  It could be done if the girl took the effort of precisely aiming the weapon in the direction of their thrust.  But most of the girls took the attitude of, "Why bother?"

       A knife was easy to control.  It was so light, it was easy to control its slight mass with a twist of the wrist so the knife tip struck its target.  Besides, most speed trained people develop the habit aiming their hands at their targets.  Maybe it just something about the training methods or just human nature, but most speed trained people think in terms to hitting their targets with their hands.  A knife is just a slight extension to this that can be controlled with a passing thought.  Janae was like Salidia or Lydia or any of the speed trained girls, the knife was just easier to use and control.  No precise aiming the sword tip.  No worrying about a sword tip veering off to the side during a fast strike.  And because they depended upon their speed to dodge enemy strikes, they didn't need a sword to block or deflect a sword coming at them.  At worst, they had arm guards to do that.  Topping it all off, all the twisting, turning, jumping, and moving at fast speeds was a tremendous aerobic drain on their bodies.  Why carry surplus weight that they weren't going to use while the Dimachaeri style of fighting made enormous demands on their lungs.  The fighting style they used was best done carrying as little weight as possible.

       Janae was now like Lydia, also able to time and coordinate moves down to milliseconds.  The mechanics involved again forced itself into the girl's lives to make itself felt.  Talig always made the girls practice two fast strikes in a row just to accomplish this goal.  To make a strike, the girl first aims.  That's just a glance at the target and it's done almost instantly.  Then the thought, "strike!"  Then the idea, "retract."  That's not really a thought.  The arm naturally recoils at the completion of the strike because of the tremendous forces involved.  The arm naturally "rebounds" after the strike.  The speed trained person waits for the "feel" that the arm had returned to its starting position, and they "know" their arm is back from the strike and ready for the next strike by the "feel."  Then aim at the second target.  Again, a glance done in milliseconds.  A second thought, "strike."  Wait for the "feel" that the arm is back.  Next comes planning the next move the girl intends to make.

       For two fast strikes, they think "aim," "strike," "recoil," "aim," "strike," and "recoil."  The speed trained person knows these are the six separate steps they use to make a double strike.  They think about these six steps as they do them because each is a separate action requiring thought before the girl can proceed to the next step in the sequence.  But they must all be done in milliseconds.  "Doing it" FORCES the person to increase their sense of timing down to milliseconds so they do the six separate steps at the right time during the sequence.  If they don't wait until each step is completed and start another step prematurely, they get "sloppy."  They start to make mistakes and miss their targets because they strike before properly aiming, or have their arm go in the wrong direction because it hasn't returned yet to the proper position before beginning the next move.  So they have to complete each step separately so they accurately hit their targets.  All the speed trained girls could coordinate moves in milliseconds.  Their actions, executing the six separate steps, forced them to develop this ability and they became accustomed to doing it by the things they did as they practiced.

       As Janae ran across the field, her whole world was a rush of millisecond long images.  Her mind focused on one sight, then another, each glance only taking a fraction of a second before she shifted her attention elsewhere.

       Each glance was an instantaneous assessment.  Was what she saw an imminent threat?  What was she seeing?  Another girl in trouble?  A vulnerable enemy?  Each of her glances were an assessment that occurred in a flash of time and yielded a decision to act or not.  In the time it takes to read this sentence, Janae glanced at forty things, and she made a fifty decisions.

       Now her body responded in instantaneous moves to her decisions.  Block.  Turn.  Thrush.  Pivot.  Forward.  Backward.  It was wrong to call these decisions to act "thoughts."  They were no more "thoughts" than an eye blink is a "thought" in reaction to something touching the eyelashes.

       Lydia knew Janae was now speed trained.  Lydia knew Janae was now a lethal whirlwind on the battlefield.  Her command to Janae, "Free," was intended to unleash Janae on the Cimbri.  Janae would be a "Free" agent during the fight so she could kill the most Cimbri possible.

       Janae and Lydia were now the best chance of survival for the other girls.  Janae and Lydia had to mow down Cimbri after Cimbri, before the other girls were overwhelmed by superior numbers.  The only realistic threat to either Janae or Lydia was if two warriors simultaneously attacked either of them.  And even than, the two men were in greater danger of dying than either of the two speed trained women.

       Although Janae was now speed trained like Lydia, Janae was not as good a warrior as Lydia, and it had nothing to do with Lydia's greater training or previous experience in single combats.  Janae wasn't as big a woman as Lydia.  Bigger Lydia had a greater reach than Janae.  Lydia could fatally strike at an opponent from a greater distance, and that enabled her to take advantage of more opportunities when they presented themselves.  Janae had to be closer to an opponent if he made a mistake.  Many times an opponent would make a mistake, and Janae was unable to exploit the opportunity because she was too far away, while bigger Lydia would have been able to effectively, and fatally, reach the man.  In practical terms, it meant Janae took more time to kill an opponent because she had to both wait for the man to make a mistake and  she had to be close to him at the same time.  During this fight with the Cimbri, Lydia went through Cimbri men faster than Janae, while Janae took more time with each man.

       As Janae ran alone across the grass, between two distant islands of trees, a Cimbri spotted the lone woman running out in the open.  He turned his horse toward her.  She saw him galloping toward her.  He was right handed and Janae moved to his right.  She wanted him to hold the lance on the right side of his horse.  As he galloped up toward her, he leveled his lance at her chest.  Janae noticed he was young, around her age.  In spite of the lance aimed at her chest, Janae raised her buckler up high close to her face and turned her left shoulder to him.  When his lance was less than an arm's length from her, Janae flashed her buckler down on top of the lance, knocking the lance tip down into the dirt.  She was able to drive the buckler down fast enough to catch the lance so close to her because of her newly acquired speed.  The lance was jerked out of his hand when it came to a sudden stop as the lance tip buried itself into the dirt.  (All the girls were trained to drive their opponent’s lances down during a cavalry charge.  It not only blocked the lance and protected the girls, but it also disarmed their opponent.)

       An instant after she slashed the buckler down, she struck out with her right.  The boy was wearing grieves and thigh armor so there was no target for her.  She held her knife to the horse's flank.  None of the girl's liked to hurt the horses needlessly, although they would kill an enemy's mount without a second thought if they thought it was useful to them.  But gratuitously hurting the animals was abhorrent to all the girls.  Janae didn't strike the horse deeply, but she held her knife to cut about two fingers width deep into the animal.  As the horse ran past her, she held her knife against the horse's side which left a slash down the side of the animal from behind the boy's leg to the bulge created by the horse's hips.  It wasn't a fatal wound.  The horse would easily heal from it.  It was about an arm's length cut down the side of the horse.

       The horse started to buck wildly from the pain.

       Janae waited for the boy to be thrown off the horse.  With a cut like that, the horse wouldn't stop bucking for a long time, and sooner or later the horse would dump the boy.  He had the heavy weight of his armor to deal with as it bounced around, and a shield in his hand.  He had to go down.  All the weight from the armor, and the shield, plus the boy's own body, meant there was a lot of kinetic energy bouncing around in different directions and it was nearly impossible to control all of it at once.  Just staying on a bucking horse without armor is hard enough.

       When the boy finally went down, Janae started to double step toward him.  She had an angry look on her face.  Not rage.  Anger.  Rage would mean her feelings were overwhelming her.  The look of anger meant she was thinking about and concentrating on what she wanted to do rather than be overwhelmed by emotion.  She was all "intention" and cold blooded "purpose" as she went at him.

       She had a right shoulder, right foot lead with her right arm held relaxed and downward with a moderate bend at the elbow, and her right hand held against her hip at the top of the thigh.  Her left arm was bent at more than a ninety degree angle at the elbow with the buckler held at her waist.  Her left hand reached more than halfway across her stomach, so both her hands were in line with each other above her right thigh.

       This was the favorite attack position of all the speed trained girls, especially the knife fighters, two hands at their waist, on the right side, with the left a little higher than the right, right shoulder lead and double stepping forward.  It characterizes most speed trained fighters who can snap their right arms up with lightning speed.  Given a choice over what they could do, they always choose this position.  It gave their right hands their maximum reach forward.  The position was the same position Talig taught the girls as the start of the fundamental killing stroke he taught them, The Snap.  From that position, they snapped their arms upward toward the throat.  This was a simple extension of the arm upward, using their deltoids to raise their upper arms and extending the arm by straightening the elbow.  Their triceps were trained to jerk closed with tremendous speed to shoot their arms forward.  Training the triceps and deltoid to rapidly contract was the #1 goal of "speed training."  The left hand was held in position to block either upward or downward.  This position was also the starting position for a right, twisting spin out to the right side, their favorite second move, and exit from close contact with their opponent, after the killing stroke was completed.  After the spin out going past the man's side, the girl was left facing the man's back, where they were able to strike him a second time from behind, if necessary.  In addition, facing him in the back, they were in the best opposition to block any counterstrikes the man might be able to make.

       With her arms held low at the start, it had the additional benefit of encouraging the man to make an overhead strike at her, the favorite position of their opponent that they liked to exploit.  With an overhead strike, the man would pull his right arm and shoulder back, leaving their necks very exposed.  If the men held their arms at their sides, it was easier for them to scrunch up their shoulders or raise their arms to protect their necks from a strike to the carotid.  If they drew their arms back for an overhead strike, their right hand was a distance from their necks and in a bad position to block a strike to the throat.  It had the added benefit that most men counterbalanced the backward swing of their right arm by extending their left arm forward at the waist....another bad position to protect their necks.  So the girls tried to lure their opponents into making an overhead strike against them.

       The vast majority of the men they fought had no idea that the girls were speed trained, and they had no idea of how fast the girls could make a strike.  They were caught completely by surprise, and unprepared, by the girls lightning fast moves.  Surprise, too, was a vital component in the speed trained girl's attack.

       Janae closed with the boy slow enough to allow him to get to his feet and prepare himself.  She had literally dozens of attacks she practiced with the men to use against a standing opponent who was waiting for her.  This was her first hand to hand combat with speed.  She didn't want to improvise something on the fly as she rushed at a man scrambling to his feet.  She wanted to use something she had practiced and practiced and practiced.  Something she had absolute confidence would work.

       Janae had practiced this attack with all of Talig's men, Cetus, Titus, Presphene, etc.  Each man defended against it in his own personal style.  Now that she had speed, she could beat Rufus, her father Atus, Lucius, Marcus, and Titus, even when they tried to block her.  Only Talig, Presphene and Cetus were fast enough to dodge or block her strike and these men had lightning fast reflexes that would put a cat to shame; and with a little more practice she was sure she'd be able to get Presphene and Cetus.  Janae had total confidence in what she could do with this attack.

       As Janae slowly closed with him, waiting for him to get into the position she had practiced for, she watched his face.  As she waited for him, Janae face changed to a calm look with just the slightest sneer of contempt.  There is a look some warriors get, and sometime sadists have the same look.  It is a calm and focused look of intense concentration, with just the slightest look of the contempt and the dislike they feel for their victim.  In their mind they know that in a few moments they are going to inflict terrible pain on their victim and there is nothing the victim can do to escape it.  They are watching the face of their victim; they are intensely focused on the fear and pain they expected to see in their victim's face in the next few moments.  They want to see the pain in his eyes when the pain begins.  Janae watched the boy's face, to see the pain in his eyes, when she started to hurt him.  She was waiting to see his eyes overwhelmed in pain.

       He was wide eyed in fear, with the pupils of his eyes dilated, and there was slight trembling of his face.  He was scared.  Maybe because of the skill she showed as she unhorsed him, while he mistakenly thought a woman would be easy.  Maybe this was his first combat.  Maybe he was a coward and forced into this revenge attack against the Romans because of the tremendous social outrage the Cimbri felt over the murder of their men.  Maybe he had no confidence in his abilities.  Whatever it was, he was afraid of what was about to happen.

       Because of his fear, he made some mistakes.  As he drew his sword, he ineptly drew his arm upward at a slight angle to the sheath so the side of the sword jammed against the sheath half way up.  The sword stopped moving and he had to frantically readjust the angle of his arm to free the sword.  When the sword was almost clear of the sheath, he prematurely tilted the sword to point at her before the tip came clear of the sheath, and the tip became jammed against the rim of the sheath a second time.  He had to fumble around with the sword again to get it clear.  When he cleared it, the sword trembled as he pointed it at her and his eyes were wide in fear.

       

       Now that the boy was prepared for her, she closed on him, at first outside of sword's reach and then she moved within reach of his sword.  He pulled his sword back for an overhead strike at her because she was a vulnerable target with her arms held low.  Janae forced him to make a strike against her when she got dangerously close to him as she closed the distance between them.  When he did start to pull his arm back for a strike, she suddenly lunged forward, with her left leg extended behind her and landing on a bent right knee.  At the same time, she snapped her right arm toward his throat and her arm shot at him with tremendous speed, and she sliced his carotid open.  Just like she had practiced hundreds of times.  Her strike was so fast, he didn't have time to react.  She cut his throat open before he could move to block her.  She watched the sudden flash of overwhelming fear that transformed his face when he felt her knife slice his neck.

       Almost without exception, all victims of a cut carotid clutch their throats after the strike.  In the entire history of Salidia's valley, only a handful of men continued to fight for a little bit after their throats were cut.  Virtually every man grabbed his throat.  The boy fell to his knees with a look of terror on his face and he clutched his throat, as blood under pressure from an arterial wound forced itself out from underneath his hands.  In a little less than a minute, he collapsed face first into the ground, left unconscious from the rapid loss of blood to the brain.

       Janae was standing close to the man, and blood under pressure sprayed out for a distance from the arterial cut to wash across her waist and lower arms and run down her legs.

       This was her first kill in hand to hand combat, and the emotions of the moment overwhelmed her.  For a few moments, she didn't think about the other girls.  For a few moments, she seriously just looked at him.  This man wanted to kill her, her family, her friends.  Now he was dead, and he would never hurt anyone again.  That's what she thought as she looked him, "You're never going to hurt anyone else again," and she felt rage at him for wanting to hurt her and her's, and satisfaction that he was dead and no longer a threat to the people she loved.

       Then the moment passed.  Thoughts of the other girls rushed back into her mind to jolt her out of her concentration on the boy.  She turned and urgently ran to get to the other girls.  She saw an older man pull up his horse to dismount to her left.  She changed directions and headed toward him.

                       ..............................

       Krista was working with Calista in the 1st. group using the "Thorn and Snake."  Calista had the lance and Krista had the sword, and they brought their man up to a stop.  The man heard Krista running up behind him, and Krista hoped Calista could get him in the front while he looked at her, when a second man unexpectedly came at Calista from another direction.  Calista had to handle this new man, the second man, leaving Krista alone to handle the first man they brought to a stop.

       Krista sprung forward, to get close to the first man, but when she did, he kicked his horse forward to escape her.  Out of the corner of her eye, Krista saw a young boy ride at Calista.  The boy made a wild swing at Calista's head, and Calista easily ducked down below the swing.  Krista's attention went back to her man.

       As soon as he got clear of her, Krista's man immediately turned his horse around to come at her with his lance again.  The man only went a short distance out from her before he turned his horse back at her, so the horse didn't develop much speed as he came back at her.  Without the speed of a running horse, the man could only jab his lance at her with the speed developed by his arm thrusts.  The man reined his horse around her, circling her and poking his lance at her.  Krista had no trouble deflecting the slow lance thrusts with her buckler.  In fact, it was ridiculously easy for her to do.

       She blocked a lance thrust, and went to close with him, but when she did, he kicked his horse straight forward out of the circle he was running with his horse, rushing past her at an angle and out of her reach before she got close to him.  As soon as he was clear of her, he turned his horse back at her to resume circling her and poking the lance at her.  He seemed content to jab his lance at her while he circled her, maybe believing one of the lance thrusts would get her sooner or later.  But when she closed with him, he kicked his horse forward at an angle to her and ran away.

       Krista felt she was in a fool's game with this moron.  He was circling her on his horse, making ineffectual lance jabs at her, but running away when she tried to get close to him.

       Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two new men galloping up to her position and then start to rein their horses in, apparently going to stop and dismount.

       Krista felt she had to get rid of this moron before more and more men came to surround her.  She made a desperate lunge forward, gambling the man would act as before by trying to run his horse away from her instead of using his lance to get her as she came forward.  She pushed forward off her left leg to land on her right as she flung her sword outward.  In that position she had the greatest reach, but her buckler was behind her.  If he reined his horse away, she was safe.  If he drove his lance at her, her buckler was behind her and he would get her.  He tried to get away from her.  She swung her sword into the horse's neck, cutting its trachea.

       The horse spun around in a tight circle, choking on its own blood, while the man tried to stay seated while centrifugal force caused him to tilt outward.  Finally the spinning horse went down.  As the horse was going down, the man tried to jump off.  The horse fell to the outside of the circle he was running, the same direction that the man was leaning.  His right leg hit the ground but his left leg was still caught on top of the horse's shoulder, as the horse slowly crumpled to the ground.  His legs were spread apart, like a wishbone being pulled part.

       Krista wasn't going to miss this opportunity.  She was beside him before his right leg even hit the ground.  A simple swing at his neck with her sword left him with the same fate as his horse.  She turned around to face the direction where Calista was.

       Reflexively, without thinking, she snapped her buckler up to block a sword coming at her throat.

       She was in the middle of a sword fight with two men without a moment's warning.

       When Krista turned around, she turned to face two men swinging swords at her!  If her instincts had not kicked in to protect her face from something suddenly flying at her, she would have been dead.

       She backed up, just trying to understand what was happening.  The attack had exploded on her so unexpectedly, she didn't understand what was going on.  A man was on her left, swinging a sword at her.  Another man was on her right, swinging his sword at her.  Everything was happening so fast, she didn't have time to think.  A sword coming high on the left.  Block.  A straight sword thrust on the right.  Knock it down.  On the left, low.  Straight in on the right.  High on the left.  A swing on the right.

       Krista was backing up, as two men came at her on her left and right side.  Both were swinging at her.  She was frantically blocking the one on her left with buckler, and blocking the one on her right with her sword.  Swords were flashing at her from both sides.  She was in frenzy, trying to block everything flying at her.  There was no thinking.  There was no time to do anything offensive.  Just a frenzy of defensively reacting to things flying at her.

       Everything was fear screaming inside her.  She didn't even have the time to scream out loud.

       "Aaahh," she shrieked in pain.  A sword had trust through her right forearm.  It not only pierced her forearm, it was driven with such force, it pinned her arm to her breast plate and drove through to pierce the thin metal at the side of the breast plate.  The sword cut through the thin metal at the side of her breast plate like it was leather and it sliced into her side a little more than three fingers widths deep.

       The man withdrew the sword for another thrust at her, a "killing" strike.  She dropped her sword when she was struck through her arm.  She turned sideways to both of them, desperately trying to use her buckler, her one remaining protection to stave off death from two men swinging at her from two different sides.  Everything inside her was all fear that the two men were going to kill her.  With one shield to protect her from two men, she knew that in a few moments she would feel the blinding pain of a sword slicing into her.

       "Aaiiieeeee!!!"

       The men turned when a loud scream ripped the air close behind them, to see Janae running at them.

       What the men saw was enough to shock them and bring them to a stunned standstill.  Janae looked like something out of a nightmare.  She was completely covered in blood, like someone had poured a bucket of blood over her head, and it ran down to cover her every place.  Only her left calf, and lower back were clear.  Her eyes were skin colored orbs in a face covered with blood.  She had used her fist to rub the blood out of her eyes, and she wiped her hand on the only dry place on her, her back.

       Janae's advance forced the men into action, and it forced them into splitting up.  One ran at Janae, and the other turned to finish off Krista.  Krista was hobbling away from him, with her right arm clutched to the wound in her side, and left side and buckler facing him.  He threw a strike at her, and she blocked it with her buckler.

       "Aaaiii,"  broke the air very close behind him.  He turned to see Janae standing still and facing him three body lengths away, with his buddy motionless on his knees on the ground behind her, clutching his throat.  As he watched, his buddy fell face first into the dirt to lie motionless.  More blood than before was dripping off Janae, just running down her right arm and dripping to the ground from both her right elbow and right hand.  A more vibrant color of red and glistening look of moisture highlighted the new, fresh blood from the older deposits of blood that covered her.

       He couldn't help it, but was forced to stare at her right arm.  When the man turned to look at her standing still behind him, his attention was drawn to the only movement on the still figure, the blood running down Janae's arm and dripping to the ground.  When he first looked at her, the blood was running in a thin rivulet off her elbow.  Then the rivulet slowed, and the blood started to dip.  Fast drips.

       Janae saw this man stab Krista as she was running toward them, the very thing she feared and hated the most, someone hurting a person she loved.  HE was the very thing she hated the most.

       Janae had four kills by the time she ran up to Krista and the two men.  She felt invincible, that her speed

guanteed that she could act with impunity on the battlefield.  Like she was Achilles, but with an invulnerable heel.  Janae thought that very thought.  At her third kill, a grown man who was a good warrior - but - who was no match for her lightning fast speed, she looked at the dead man lying on the ground before her, and she raised both arms overhead, and shouted to the Heavens, "I AM ACHILLES!  I AM A FURY!!!"

       Janae stood before this piece of scum and turned slightly sideways to him.  She wanted to scare him, intimidate him, before she killed him.  She wanted to see fear in his face before she killed him.  She did a SNAP to the side, just so this man could see what she could do.  Her arm flashed out and back in a ~blur~ that was so fast it was hard to see.  Just a >---red streak---><<< of motion so fast it left the viewer unsure of what he had seen.

       This man's senses were amplified by adrenaline pumping through his blood.  She moved so fast it was hard to catch the details of what he saw, but he realized she could strike with un-human like speed.  So fast he could hardly see what she did......... let alone have time to react to it!

       He was terrified.  He realized he could not move fast enough to block her.  All these people truly believed gods, demons and monsters walked the earth.  He stared at the blood covered apparition before him like it was a demon, but the word or idea, "demon," never formed in his mind.  Only the feeling of fear filled him.

       Janae's breathes were coming in loud, audible gasps that could be heard a long distance away because she was in oxygen debt from all the running and fighting she had done.  "AAAhhaaaaa," "uuuUUHHA," "AAAhhaaaaa," "uuuUUHHA," escaped her as she gasped for breathe.  The apparition before him rocked back and forth as terrible noises escaped from it, as Janae's lungs drew in huge gulps of air with every breathe she took.  As he looked at this thing before him, with blood dripping off it and heaving with loud gasps of breathe, no words or thoughts were attached to it but only the feeling of terror.  Just an overwhelming feeling of terror.  Raw emotion without words.  The blood covered thing drew closer and closer to him while terrible noises came from it.  The thing rocked forward and back in rhythm with the noises.

       The "AAAhhaaaaa," "uuuUUHHA," "AAAhhaaaaa," "uuuUUHHA," of its loud inhalations and exhalations sounded like the thing was growling at him.  The anger Janae felt for this "killer" infused every fiber of Janae, and escaped her as she breathed.  Unintentionally, Janae inflected her voice to really sound like growls with every loud exhalation she made.

       Janae's movements made her appear more unhuman and frightening to the man.  Like a boxer who bobs and weaves before an opponent during a fight, Janae swung her torso a little left and right as she looked for an opportunity to strike the man on either the right or left side.  But not like any human warrior.  She slowly swung her torso left and right because the man was no threat to her.

       Magnifying the preternatural appearance of blood covering Janae, she didn't look like anything else on the battlefield.  Everyone else on the battlefield were recognizable warriors dressed in clothing, body armor, brandishing swords, shields, and lances.  Janae's clothes and armor were hidden under a covering of blood.  Unlike a warrior who holds his sword and shield in front of him, Janae's arms were held at her waist because she used a "SNAP" to strike.  And the blood covered thing didn't move like anything else.  It was just slowly bobbing left and right as it growled, instead of the jerky bobbing, weaving, swings, dodges, and counterstrikes of people in a fight.

       Janae was something never seen on a battlefield before.  Completely covered in blood, arms held at her side with no apparent weapon, growling, slowing swinging a little left and right as she approached.  Even her size made her dissimilar to other warriors.  She was more like a prowling, stalking animal than a person as she came at him.  Blood continued to drip off the apparition.

       The man watched the thing slowly, but relentlessly, draw closer and closer to him, as it growled and slowly swayed left and right.  The only identifiable human part of the thing was its eyes.  Hateful eyes glared at him as it approached.  The skin colored orbs and the whites of her eyes glared like beacons in the night against the dark colored, blood covered face.

       He was terrified.  He saw how fast she was!  He knew he was helpless before her!  He just kept backing away from her, his face a tableau of fear.  Just as Janae looked like nothing else ever seen on a battlefield before, the man felt the blood covered animal was nothing human.  Maybe if she moved her arms away from her body, he might have identified her as something human.  But her arms were held against her body, and camouflaged hidden beneath the same monotone color of blood that covered her everywhere.

       A man who believed in monsters and magical creatures backed away from Janae, sure she was some kind of bloody monster.  To him, she was some kind of blood beast.

       Janae enjoyed the look of terror on his face, and slowly started to double step toward him, to provoke a strike from him.........so she could kill him.  Instead, he seemed to grow smaller, hunkering down behind his shield to make himself a smaller target and holding his sword close by his face to block anything coming at his right side, while he nervously backed away from her.  The closer she got to him, the more the terrified man scurried back away from her, as if she were a true Demon.

       Janae leapt forward and did a "double strike" toward him, the thing Talig had her practice time after time to improve her sense of timing.  She pushed off her right foot toward his right side, and started to rotate as she moved.  A simple twisting "spin-out" to his right.  As she came around his right side, she deliberately made a slow strike toward his throat.  It was the usual "aim," "strike," "recoil," part of the six part sequence she was use to doing, but done slowly.  When he tried to push her hand away with his right hand, she did the other three parts of the sequence, "Aim," "s-t-r-i-k-e," "r-e-c-o-i-l," "aim," "strike," "recoil,"  the last three moves done fast.  After luring him into pushing her hand away with a slow strike, she cut into his right hand with the second fast strike when he reach out to block her hand.  Her knife cut through his wrist, slicing the tendons which activated the fingers and the artery of the wrist.  His sword fell from his hand.

       Janae landed behind him after the "spin out," and he turned to face her, holding his shield in front of him for protection.  He held his right arm in the same position it was before, hoping to use his forearm to block any strikes she made at his right, in spite of the wound to his wrist.

       She reached out to grab the back edge of his shield, and pulled on it, like she wanted to pull it further in front of his chest.  He was too big and strong for her to do that.  Instead, she used it as an anchor to pull herself around to his left.  It was a simple "spin out" to her right.  She used the pull of her arm on his shield to augment the thrust of her leg.  As she spun around his side, she struck for his throat.  The man was frozen in fear, and offered no defense to her second strike.

       Janae was smaller than Lydia, and she had to be closer to her targets to make her strikes.  All of Janae's kills were strikes to the carotid which resulted in blood under pressure spraying out from her victims.  She was also a little slower than Lydia.  She was within the range of the blood which sprayed out from the men, and usually she was below the blood as it arched toward the ground, because Janae was kind of short.  More blood usually got Janae because she was closer to her victims when she made her strike, and stayed near to them for more time.  In addition, this was Janae's first experience with combat with speed.  Lydia had learned she had to spin off from her victims if she wanted to avoid becoming blood soaked.  Janae hadn't learned this lesson yet.  Instead, she did the opposite, slowed down once she felt safe after she knew she made a successful lethal strike.

       More blood sprayed across Janae from this last man.

       Janae spun around and ran to Krista, as the man clutched his throat and slowly collapsed to his knees.  Janae raised and extended her arm to Krista as an invitation to Krista to lean on her.  In spite of her appearance, Krista recognized Janae by her size and shape the moment she saw her, and since Krista wasn't frightened by another woman, Krista had no need to project un-named fears and superstitions on her.  Krista wrapped her left arm around Janae's shoulder and shifted some of her weight to Janae.  Janae didn't know where to put her right arm, considering Krista's injuries and settled upon pushing up from under Krista's armpit.  "We got to hide you, Honey, come on," Janae gasped out to Krista.  There was a low bush a short distance away from them.  Janae started toward it, while Krista rested on her and hobbled forward holding her right side.  Not saying everything she was thinking into a clear exposition, Janae said, "The trees are too far," as explanation of what she was doing, thinking the trees were two far away for Krista to reach with her wound.

       "Thanks, Jani," Krista said to Janae.  "Ooooh, Honey," Janae managed to gasped out, now slowing regaining her breath.  What she meant to say was, "Oh, Honey, what else are we going to do but take care of each other."

       When they got to the bush, Janae let Krista down, "The Cimbri may come by here to see if their men are dead or alive.  They might want to take the bodies back with them.  Stay out of sight if they come by."  Krista realized the necessities of the situation.  She laid down under the bush as Janae started to cover Krista with broken branches from the area around them.  "I could still try to use my sword with my left hand," Krista said to Janae.  Janae turned and ran back to get Krista's sword and buckler.  She returned, gave Krista the weapons, and continued to try to hide Krista below the bush by throwing some branches over her.  "Honey, I'll keep my eyes on this spot.  If anyone comes around here, I'll be back here before you know it," Janae said to Krista.  "Go ahead.  I'll be alright.  Go kill the bastards."

       As Janae continued to cover Krista with branches, Krista said, "I was working with Cali.  I don't know what happened to her.  Last I saw, she had a boy on a horse with a sword."  "Where," Janae asked.  Krista pointed, saying, "Not too far away from where I was."

       The instant Janae felt Krista was safely concealed, she turned and ran without saying anything more, preoccupied with the need to look for Calista.  "Love you, Honey," Krista called after her.  When there was danger around her, adrenalin, fear, survival instincts and necessity drove her actions.  Now that she was no longer under immediate threat, hormone levels dropped, and exhaustion washed over Krista.

       Janae ran in the direction Krista pointed, searching the ground as she ran.  She saw nothing as she slowed down in the spot she thought the correct place, and she began to think Calista must be alright and off fighting in some other location, because she didn't see any disturbed ground.  Off to her right, the ground did look churned up by a horse.  She walked toward it.  The ground around her was covered in grass and some low growing ground plants.  At a distance the plants were high enough to obscured anything lying on the ground.  As Janae walked along, she thought she saw the gilt of steel and the red color they used on their tunics.  Janae broke into a run, agonizing pain growing as she ran forward.  There was a body on the ground.

       "Oh, my Cali," Janae moaned.  There were so many Deaths in Janae's life of people killed in battle that Janae couldn't handle the pain of an additional death.  She didn't go closer.  She saw the blood covering Calista's neck and shoulder and unmoving form and assumed Calista was dead.  Grief flood over her.  She turned around and looked at the group of trees near to her, where the 1st. group of girls had fought.  Toward the right side, she saw Alisa, Kaylin, Annunka and Dimita running across the grass toward the trees.  She didn't see the target they were running toward.  Since the four of them were together and able bodied, she didn't worry about them.  Four of them together were enough to safely defend themselves.  Julia and Paulina were someplace around this area and she wanted to find them.  They were alone, just two women, fighting all the men who concentrated on this area.  Toward the left side of the island of trees, Janae saw two men trying to help a wounded Cimbri onto a horse.  She sprinted toward them.

                                       Chapter 18

                 Lis, Kay, Di, Anni, and Teamwork

       In the 2nd. group of girls, Alisa, Kaylin, Dimita and Annunka, they had arrows when men began to charge at them.  As their arrows started to run out, they had four men galloping toward them in a group.  They took out three of the men with the last three arrows they had.

       Desperation over running out of arrows seemed to drive Dimita and Annunka to make exceptionally good shots with their last arrows.  With Alisa and Kaylin standing in front of them with lances, Dimita and Annunka held their fire until the men were almost on top of them.  The closer the men got to them, the less time the men had to react and block an arrow flying at them.  As the men galloped up to them, Annunka could see spit flying out of her man's mouth every time his horse's hooves pounded into the ground.  Annunka's emotions had changed from fear and dismay that they had to fight the men in hand to hand combat, to defiance and a blazing determination to stay alive, and finally rage when she saw all the Cimbri ganging up on the girls in the 1st. group.  Dimita's and Annunka's arrows flew at the men's faces when the men didn't have enough time to react and block the arrows.

       Dimita's hand flew back to her quiver and almost miraculously her index finger and middle finger came down around the end of the last arrow in her quiver, without searching around for it in the empty case.  Or maybe it was experience of where arrows tended to settle toward the low side of the case where Dimita habitually wore her quiver.  In a flashing circular motion, Dimita swung the arrow up out of the quiver, around to the front, and then back toward her, the notch of the arrow mating with the bow string without fumbling, only using the grip she exerted on the arrow with her index and middle finger.  It was all desperation and luck.  It was desperation that made Dimita fly through the moves of drawing an arrow.  It was sheer, dumb luck that the arrow notch aligned with the bow string.

       Alisa, in front of Dimita, had a snarl on her face and she raised her shield and lance and braced for the impact of the second man coming at them.  The man was so close, Dimita leaned back, bending her right knee in the back so that her whole body dropped lower at an angle to the back.  She looked like she was dropping down and back to give herself more distance from the man charging at them.  She shot upward, like she was almost shooting at the 11 AM sun in the sky.  The man was looking at Alisa, the woman with a lance in front of him.  His lance was a body length from Alisa when Dimita's arrow slammed into his face.  The man's lance banged into Alisa's shield, but the dead man's hand had already released its grip on the lance and the lance hit Alisa's shield with no weight behind it.  Dimita had to jump to the side as the dead man's body crashed into the ground where Dimita was standing.

       Annunka had one arrow for the two men charging at her and Kaylin.  After she dropped the first man, Annunka called out to Kaylin, "I'm out!"  Instead of that statement frightening Kaylin, it made her angrier.  For a moment before the first man fell off his horse, the first rider blocked the view of the second man behind him.  Kaylin took that moment to ram the butt of her lance into the ground behind her, making the lance a stronger and immovable barrier to the man charging at her.  But as she drove the lance butt back and down, the second man came clear of the man in front of him, and he saw Kaylin make the move.

       He had a counter to Kaylin's move.  Kaylin's move strengthened the lance's power to block the man, but it also meant less of the lance was sticking out in front of Kaylin.  The man released his grip on his lance, and quickly re-grabbed his lance closer to the butt.  His lance was now much longer that Kaylin's.  Kaylin saw him change his grip, but now he was only a second away from her and too close for her to do anything about it.  "Hhhuunn," Kaylin grunted as she braced for the impact.  Kaylin lowered her buckler from he shoulder to her chest, but continued to hold the buckler against body so she could absorb the force with her whole torso rather than just use her arm alone.  An instant before the lance struck, Kaylin twisted, and she successfully deflected the lance to slide off the side of her buckler.  Kaylin's contortions to avoid the man's lance, and the jolt to her body from the impact of the lance against her buckler, ruined Kaylin's aim, and she swung her lance at him too late to catch either him or his horse.

       When Annunka ran out of arrows, she leaned down to grab her lance and buckler, but as she did, she turned her head to watch the man bearing down on Kaylin.  When the man's lance skidded off Kaylin's buckler, it came straight at bent over Annunka.  Annunka violently jerked her back down lower as the lance streaked at her.  The lance hit Annunka's back plate, but at an angle and it struck where the steel was thick.  It skidded off Annunka's body armor as the man galloped past the two girls, leaving Annunka's backplate with a shinny scrape gouged deeply across the back of the metal.

       The man was shocked and dumbfounded by what just happened.  He was an older man, but he was a good warrior.  When the Cimbri first proposed this revenge attack against the Romans, he, his older brother and two nephews thought it would be easy to kill women.  As the four men first galloped up to the Roman position, bow fire protecting Lydia had stopped.  They charged Lydia, but she dodged their lances as they raced past her.  Before the older brother reined in to go back for Lydia a second time, he saw Kaylin's group off to his left, and he decided to skip Lydia to go for the bigger group of women.  He charged at Alisa and Dimita, and the other three followed him.

       This fourth man was stunned and shocked that the women just killed his brother and two nephews during their attack.  Everyone thought women would be easy to kill.  After going past the women, he turned his horse and pulled up to look at the scene behind him and the bodies of his relatives lying on the ground with arrows in them, in front of the women.  "What?  They got Salvic and Kenda and Kendric," he thought in utter disbelief.  Dimita was in the process of replacing her bow with her lance and buckler on the ground.  He watched what she was picking up as she leaned over.  If she stood up with a bow, he was going to turn and run like all shit before the woman could use an arrow on him, too.

       The woman picked up a lance.  He sat there a moment, unsure of what to do.  Part of him was fear that the women turned out to be deadly with their bows, but part of him was a deep, stricken pain that his last remaining brother was now dead.  Both his brothers were now dead at the hands of these bastard women.  He felt like he should charge them again with the lance because of what they just did to his brothers, but his pain over his brothers' death contended with his new fear that the women were so dangerous.  He sat there a moment in wide-eyed uncertainty over running away or charging them.

       The four girls also stood looking at him without moving, uncertain of what to do.  He was sitting still on his horse, facing them with a lance in his hand, a frightened look on his face.  They didn't know what he was going to do.  "Lances," Kaylin screamed, and she ran forward to hurl her lance at him.  After throwing her lance, she continued to run at him.  Alisa, Dimita and Annunka also started to run, to get a running start to throw their lances.

       The man was truly confused.  What had just happened was so opposite to what he expected, it took him a few moments for it all to sink in.  And the sudden, unexpected death of a brother and two nephews is a deep, strong emotional shock.  The sudden death of a loved one is an emotional shock that always brings people to a standstill.

       The man snapped out of his indecision as the four lances came hurtling at him.  He ended up falling from his horse, but not because any lances got him.

       The man jerked his shield up and twisted to his left toward the women to protect himself when he saw the lances coming.  His horse was also facing the women.  When the women threw something at him, the horse got frightened, and shied away from the women.  The horse went right to get away from the four things flying at him while the man was twisting left to face the lances; and as the horse turned and moved to the right while the man turned to the left, the two immediately parted company.  The frightened horse managed to clear the area before the lances came down, and the man was on the ground when the lances flew over him.

       After hurling her lance, Kaylin ran at the man and she saw him fall to the ground.  She wanted to get to him as fast as she could.  It would be easier to deal with him before he got to his feet.  She heard the other girls running behind her.  Using the fingers of her right hand, she rotated her sword in her hand so the blade stuck out from the bottom of her fist rather than extend out between her thumb and index finger.  She sprinted at him, not even slowing down when she got to him.  She didn't want to slow down to take a swing at him.  She didn't want to waste a precious half second coming to a stop.  She flashed by him without slowing down.  But when she did, she held her sword sticking out from the side of her.  He was getting to his knees as the woman ran at him.  He saw the sword sticking out from the side of the woman as she ran, the sword level with his throat.  He ducked down to save himself.  But not fast enough.  The sword slashed into the side of face, cutting into his cheek and across his mouth.  Not a fatal strike.

       Annunka was right behind Kaylin.  As Kaylin raced past the man, Annunka drew up to a stop and thrust her sword into the base of his throat.

       The other girls came to stop behind Annunka, and Kaylin returned to them.  Annunka turned to Kaylin, "We have to help the girls on the right!"  Dimita added, "Half the men went there."  Alisa exclaimed, "Lydi's alive!  They didn't kill her!  I saw her running toward the front of the trees over there to help the girls there."  Knowing Annunka and Dimita were best friends, Kaylin said, "You two work together.  I'll work with Lis.  Double Arm," naming the tactic they should use when they got to the Cimbri men.  "Double Arm" depended upon ganging up two girls against one man, one girl with a sword and shield, and the other standing behind her, supporting her with a lance.  It was intended for use in hand to hand combat with men on foot, rather than the "Thorn and Snake" which was intended for use against mounted cavalrymen.  They would thrust at a man in unison, both coming at him from different directions.  The lance at the back of the team was specifically designed to prevent a man from charging straight at the front girl and throwing his weight and strength at her to overwhelm her with his greater size.  Alisa added this tactics because she thought they might have to fight men on foot when they got to the girls in the 1st. group.

       "Spread out really wide when we're going across the grass.  Maybe we can lure a man out to us if he spots one of us running alone without backup.  Kay and I will start with lances, in case a mounted man charges one of us," Alisa amplified the orders.

       Without exchanging more details, Alisa and Kaylin started to run across the grassland that separated them from the 1st. group of girls.  Individually, they arranged themselves just about double the range they could hurl a lance.  After they split apart, Alisa was on the side closest to the opposite stand of trees, and she headed toward the front side of the trees, since she saw Lydia running in that direction, and because she guess Calista, Krista, Julia and Paulina would have used the "Thorn and Snake" in front of the trees.  When Alisa and Kaylin were about a two lance throws in front of them, Dimita and Annunka started to follow, also about two lance throws apart from each other.  This distance was far enough apart so the girls didn't look like they were together, but it was a distance they could quickly close to reinforce each other.

       Two brothers with two of their neighbors arrived at the Roman position a little bit after the fighting began.  The youngest brother of three had been killed by Lydia and girls.  The two remaining brothers heard that Lydia and the girls ambushed their younger brother with arrows.  The two men had no trouble believing that.  They employed a woman shepherdess who had successfully defended her flock against wolves with a bow.  They respected what this shepherdess could do with a bow.  The woman often got rabbits for dinner when she was out with her flock.  So these four men had no trouble believing that women could be good with bows.

       When they first arrived at the battle, the 1st. group of girls had run out of arrows, but the 2nd. and 3rd. group were still protecting Lydia and the 1st. group with their bows.  Lydia was the first woman they saw, and they charged at her with lance, but as they did, their lead rider, one of the neighbors, was cut down by four arrows that came at him almost simultaneously.  He had no chance against the four arrows that hit him almost the same time from two different directions.  "Another fuckin' Roman ambush," the first brother called out, not seeing where the arrows came from but remembering that they killed his younger brother with an arrow ambush.  They veered off to the right, to escape the archers, wherever they were hiding.

       Turning toward the right after Lydia, they were heading toward the 1st. group of girls.  As they rode toward the trees, they saw a lone woman (Paulina) standing alone in the grass, trying to defend herself with a lance against one their own men, who was charging her with a lance.  The oldest brother guessed there were no archers in this area since the woman was using a lance, and there were no archers helping her with the charging man.  "No archers!  Let's help him kill the bitch," he called out to the others.  But as they galloped at the fight taking place in front of them, their other neighbor was hit by one of two arrows that came flying at him from someplace in the front, fired by Trivi and Janae, who were in the 3rd. group.  "Shit!  More fuckin' archers," called the second brother.  They veered off again, afraid of being caught in another arrow ambush.

       "Let's see if we can find the bitches," the second brother said to the first, mistakenly thinking the arrows came from the trees in front of them instead of the next group of trees behind and to the left of them.  The two remaining men slowed down, and started to circle the stand of trees, looking into the first group of trees from the grassland, hoping to find the woman archers who were ambushing everyone while they stayed hidden in the trees.  They slowly circled the trees, carefully looking into the trees for the woman the whole time.  They got three quarters around the trees, almost to their starting point, without seeing any archers hidden in the trees.  "Maybe they ran out of arrows.  They were on horses.  They can't have that many arrows on them.  Let's go back to the front.  Once they ran out of arrows, they may have started to fight with lances, like that woman we saw when we first got here," the older brother said.  That was an accurate guess about what the 1st. group of girls had done.

       When they made that decision, they were on the side of the trees and facing the island of trees where the 2nd. group was hiding.  As they circled, now feeling safe that there were no archer ambushers, the brothers continued to look around to be safe from a sudden attack.

       "Look," the younger brother exclaimed to the older one.  He saw Dimita running across the grass toward them.  Searching the area around the woman, he looked for anyone else supporting her.  Way off to his left a good distance from Dimita, he also saw Annunka, running in the same direction.  They didn't see Kaylin and Alisa, who were now at the front of the trees and much further in front of Dimita and Annunka.  The trees blocked the view of Kaylin and Alisa in the front.  "Let's get her, and then we'll get the other one," the younger brother said about Dimita.

       They galloped off into the grassland, charging at Dimita with their lances.  The two brothers were beyond the age when it was wise for them to fight, but they had both been good warriors when they were younger.  As they charged Dimita, they spread themselves out so they were in line with each other and one would be on Dimita's right side and the other would be on her left.  They choose this attack position without talking about it because the two men were accustomed to fighting besides each other.  This position made it difficult for Dimita to protect her left and right side at the same time.  One or the other of the brothers should be able to get her as she defended her opposite side.  They intended to pin her between two lances.

       As the girls ran across the open grassland, they were watching for a number of things.  Each girl was looking 360 degrees around herself for any Cimbri charging her.  They were looking for Lydia, who Alisa said was alive and someplace in the front of the trees.  They were also looking for Paulina and Julia, and Krista and Calista, who they guessed were fighting in front of the trees with the "Thorn and Snake."  And they were watching each other, in case a Cimbri charged one of them.

       Dimita was the first to see the two men galloping at her, but she didn't call out to the others.  She knew the plan was to sucker a man out to one of them, so the other three could gang up on him by surprise.  As the men came at her, she moved sideways trying to get both men to one side of her, but she saw they readjusted their position to come at her from both sides.  That put her in a bad position, and she knew it.  She had to trust that the other girls would see what was happening and would come to her aid.  In fear of the deadly position they put her in, she could have called out to the other girls to save her life; or she could risk her life for a chance of getting a Cimbri while blindly trusting that the other girls would do their jobs.

       As Dimita prepared for the attack coming at her, she didn't bury her lance butt in the ground but held the lance at mid-point so it would be well balanced and most responsive to quick moves.  She intended to use her buckler with arm strength only to defend her left side instead of bracing it against her body.  That would allow her the most range to swing the buckler on her left to block however a lance was thrust at her on the left.  She intended to use her lance to defend her right side.  There was a chance she could swing her lance against the man's lance and knock his lance to the side.  She had practiced for this.  It was hard to do, but Dimita trusted in her training more than anything else.  In the back of her mind was the memory of being on the training grounds as another girl charged her with a lance.  What Dimita played in her mind was that instant she swung her lance sideways into the lance coming at her, and she relived the image of deflecting the lance to the side, during practice with the other girls.  She played it over a few times in her mind, that moment to swing her lance at the right time to deflect the oncoming lance.

       Annunka was running and looking ahead for Lydia, Paulina, Julia, Krista and Calista.  Then she glanced around Kaylin and Alisa for anyone riding toward them.  Then she turned sideways to check Dimita.  Dimita wasn't there!  Dimita had come to a stop, to brace for the attack, as the other girls continued to run on, unaware of what was happening with Dimita.  Annunka looked behind her, and she saw Dimita had come to stop and was braced for an attack as two men galloped at her!

       Annunka was running back toward Dimita without thinking.  She saw the men were ranged out to come at Dimita from both sides, and Annunka knew that was fatal for Dimita.  She had to stop one of the men, so Dimita would only have to defend against one man at a time!  From practice, Annunka knew the time it took for her lance to travel a given distance when thrown.  From practice, she had an idea of how long it would take the men to reach Dimita.  This wasn't science; it was guess work.  At the point Annunka guessed to be the right distance, she yelled, "Hhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa," as long and loud as she could scream and hurled her lance at the man on the right.

       Dimita was scared, but she also felt fiercely defiant.  She nervously glanced left and right, to determine whether the lance on the left or the one on the right would reach her first.  Her breathing was getting faster and faster as the men got closer and closer to her and her nerves were stretched to the breaking point because she knew this was a life or death moment for her.  Just before the men reached her, Dimita heard the sound of her best friend screaming behind her.

       The man on the right looked up at the scream, then violently jerked his horse to her right, pulling further away from Dimita.  An instant later, a lance hurtled into the ground where the man had been riding.  Annunka's flying lance had forced the man to turn aside before he or his horse was hit by the lance hurtling at him.  Annunka continued to run at the man with her sword and shield, to distract the man and draw him away from Dimita.

       Without thinking, Dimita turned to the man on her left just in time to deflect his lance with her buckler.  In that instant, she saw he had his shield in a good position to protect himself.  She plunged her lance into his horse's back leg.  The horse screamed, and pulled up to a stop, hobbling along on three legs for a short distance.  The man bailed off the horse, to come running at Dimita with his lance still in his hand.

       With the advantage of double teaming the first woman gone, the second man on the right decided to go for Annunka for a couple of reasons.  If he turned back for the first woman, Dimita, his horse wouldn't have much time to build up speed and it wouldn't be moving very fast.  If he went for the second woman, Annunka, he could charge her at a gallop.  Safer for him; worse for her.  Second, if he went back for the first woman, Dimita, the second woman, Annunka, would run up to the site before the first woman was killed.  It was more dangerous to deal with two armed women near to each other in a close, slow moving fight on the ground.  Who knows what would happen as the four people fought close to each other.  The two women could support each other, making them more dangerous.  It was safer to deal with the second woman while she was alone and he was mounted, charging her at a gallop with a lance.

       When Annunka saw the man kick his horse forward toward her, she knew he was abandoning Dimita for her.  Without turning to look in their direction, she knew her scream must have alerted Kaylin and Alisa, and she trusted they were now running back to help her and Dimita.  Annunka slowed down as she ran at the man, prolonging the time he would spend riding at her.  That would give Alisa more time to get closer to the man and more time to aim as she threw her lance.  As she guessed, a lance came flying through the air to strike the man as he galloped toward her, thrown by Alisa.  The man didn't see it coming at all, thrown by a woman he didn't see when he first galloped onto the field.  Annunka continued to run toward Dimita because Dimita still had a man running at her on foot.

       Dimita and the man she unhorsed were running at each other.  The man had his lance.  Dimita liked that.  A lance was easier to counter than a sword.  Both Dimita and the man held their shields and their weapons at their sides as they ran.  When they approached the distance Dimita usually slowed down, the man did something that caught Dimita completely by surprise, and almost killed her.  Completely in keeping with the rhythm of his swinging arms, the man threw his lance at her underhand as he ran.  The move was meant to catch Dimita by surprise, the man controlling the movement of his shoulder by not twisting it forward, and not straightening his arm when he threw the lance.  The man used his arm strictly as if he was just running.  Totally unexpected, the lance hurtled at Dimita's throat, while her arms were at her side.  Apparently, this was a trick this man used before because he immediately went for his sword without breaking stride, probably hoping the lance would confuse and even wound his opponent.  Dimita snapped her buckler up with blinding speed!  Talig's Speed!    The Speed that Lydia and Janae had!  Dimita's buckler streaked upward blocking the lance with that tremendous Speed!

       "IT HAPPENED," Dimita thought.  The event she had practiced for almost a year finally happened.  She got the Speed.  Dimita changed her position to a right shoulder lead with her sword held low at her right thigh.  When she got close to the man, she tried to execute a SNAP.   "Oh, Crap," Dimita thought.  Her arm only struck out at its regular speed.  Dimita knew this is the way it often went with the Speed Training.  Janae went over two weeks before she could do her second SNAP, after she did it for the first time.  After the first time it happens, it takes a while until the fast movements became dependable.  Dimita had just hoped against hope......

        Trying to do a SNAP left Dimita in a bad position, her arms were low and her buckler at her waist.  Just like it happened with Speed trained women like Lydia and Janae, the position enticed an overhead swing from this man.  She was prepared for that.  She knew, with her arms held low, she was just begging the man to throw an overhead strike at her.

       Dimita went back to what she trusted the most, her training.  Dimita practiced hour after hour because she trusted the training would let her handle whatever happened.  A few months ago, Presphene showed her a counter when she had a right shoulder lead and couldn't use her buckler or had lost the small shield.  It required a lot of skill, excellent timing, and flying through the different parts of the counter without hesitation, but Dimita practiced it over and over again until she got it right.  And then she practiced it even more until she could do it easily.

       Dimita threw an overhead block with her sword, but letting the man drive her sword down when the two swords clashed together.  As she dropped her arm, she guided his sword using her sword.  Moving her arm left or right let her align the position of the two swords relative to each other.  At the same time, she twisted her sword blade either vertical or horizontal, and tilted it up or down, to guide his sword tip to the inside of her hilt.  It had to be done swiftly, without thinking.  It took practice and practice to get use to handling all the different angles a sword could be swung, without thinking.  When the men's sword tip reached her hilt, she brought the swords to a relative stop by moving her arm in the same direction his sword was moving.  When his sword tip came to a stop along side her hilt, she lowered her arm so the outside of her thumb guard pressed down on his sword tip.  Everything had to done as fast as possible, and it took hours upon hours of practice to do it, done day after day.  Dimita had practiced all this until her arm was numb.  For days!

       Then Dimita twisted her wrist so her sword tip jammed against the inside of his thumb guard.  The two swords were now interlocked, blades crossed over each other and pressing in opposite directions against each other's thumb guards.  When the two swords were locked together, Dimita violently twisted her sword.  She did that by twisting her wrist and forearm, and added to the movement by jerking her right elbow upward and to the left, while she dropped her right forearm in the opposite direction, downward and to the right.  Her sword tip jammed against his thumb guard so forcefully and fast that his sword handle twisted in his grip, and the sword flew out of his hand.

       Dimita was left in an awkward position, with her elbow twisted up and in front of her and she should get out of this position as fast as possible, but it was alright because the man was usually stunned by the move.  More accurately, the men shifted their complete attention to trying to grip their hilts strongly enough to hold onto their swords as the swords violently twisted in their hands.  They had to shift their attention from their hand back to the fight, and Dimita could act while the man shifted his attention.

       Dimita had just rotated her forearm to the right.  Immediately, she swung her arm in the other direction, rotating the forearm to the left, and swinging her sword down.  As she did, she twisted and stepped from right foot to her left.  She was twisting out to the left.  As she did, her downward moving sword cut into the back of the man's thigh.  His thigh armor covered the front and sides of his thighs, but for comfort when he rode a horse, he wore no iron plates on the inside and back where his legs pressed against his horse.  Most men wore thigh armor like this, and it was a safe bet for Dimita that this would be the case.  With the sword cut to his leg, the man started to immediately collapse to the ground.  But the man was a tough man.  Not in terms of his physical strength.  He was aging, and he didn't have the strength of his youth, but in terms of his personality, he was a strong, tough mature man.  He ignored the pain in his leg and continued to fight.

       As the man suddenly collapsed, he threw his left arm out to grapple with Dimita and he managed to throw his arm around her waist as she was twisting to the side.  As he fell, he pulled her down to the ground with him.  This was something that didn't happen in practice, and Dimita was unprepared for it.  It was the difference between practicing drills and real life experience.  It was why experienced veterans were better than green troops; they had seen more of what happened in real life situations.  In practice, Dimita used a wood sword, and her opponents pretended to fall.  No one was desperate during practice.  People put their arms out to break their falls when they pretended to collapse.  This real life reaction of the man happened faster and with fierce desperation that didn't happen in practice, and it happened faster than Dimita expected.

       When the man pulled her down, he landed on his back.  Dimita fell forward, landing face first on the ground.  Dimita violently tired to struggle up, pushing herself up with her arms.  But the man rolled over on top of her as she tried to push up.  His weight crushed her down.  She was pushed face down into the ground with the man on her back.  This struggle on the ground between the man and Dimita was simply a contest of who was bigger and stronger, and the girls were at a disadvantage.  He reached down to strangle her.  She reached up to pull his hands off her throat, but his grip was too strong and she couldn't pull his hands off.  She gurgled and gasped for breathes as she continued to pull at his hands with her hands, and she violently tried to twist out from underneath him.

       The man heard running close by.  He looked up to see Annunka a body length and half in front of him with her sword pulled back to swing at his throat.  She nearly decapitated him.

       With tremendous anger, Dimita pushed up and contemptuously shook off the men's legs from on top of her.  She was gasping too much to speak, but she reached out to squeeze Annunka's hand.  Annunka tenderly cradled Dimita's cheek with her hand, and then hugged her without speaking.  Kaylin and Alisa ran up to them.

       Two things happened to Dimita during this fight.  First, importantly, she broke the threshold with the Speed Training.  She was the second girl, behind Janae, to get speed.  It was with the left hand, but she was right handed, and it was a sure shot her right would pick it up soon.  It would take a while for it to become dependable.  Some time to work her legs, too.  But she had it.

       But secondly, Dimita changed how she thought during fights.  Before she used eidetic images of training sessions to plan what she would do during fights.  During this fight, when the man threw his first overhead strike at her, "muscle memories" took over.  A "muscle memory" of blocking an overhead strike controlled how she reacted.  The block that Presphene taught her was all done with "muscle memories."  Dimita had switched from thinking about what she did, using eidetic images, to reacting without having to think of what she did.  "Muscle memories" took over what she did in different situations.  That alone would make her tremendously fast even without Talig's Speed.

       The hundreds and hundreds of hours Dimita devoted to doing drills time after time finally conferred their ultimate benefit, she reacted without thinking about the hundreds of things she had been taught.  She reacted with "muscle memories" to the things that happened around her.

       Not counting Talig's Speed (which she would get in the next few weeks) Dimita was now a formidable fighter on the battlefield - because she could now react without thinking about what she did..... and the things she did were hundreds of highly skilled different tricks with a sword.  When she saw a sword coming down low or up high on the right, her arm just flew to the right position because she had done that hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times before.

       Janae and Dimita were the two girls who practiced the most, and they were first two to achieve Talig's speed.  And they were the first to benefit from the hundreds of hours of practice they put in; they reacted with "muscle memories" to things happening around them rather than thinking about what they did.  One by one, the other girls would follow behind them and achieve these skills.

       Kaylin contemptuously looked at the dead man who almost killed Dimita in hand to hand combat.  In a split second as she looked at the man, she thought to herself, "We can handle this.  We got them with the arrows, and we can handle them with team work."  Then, she spit out in an angry but confident tone, "Same as before.  Spread out.  Everyone with lances, if we can lure another man out to us.  When we get to the Cimbri, 'Double Arm' for the 'hand to hand.'"  The girls split up to continue their run to the front of the 1st. stand of trees.

                                       Chapter 19

                                         Lydia

       When the girls first started to come to a stop and take positions in the trees, Lydia pulled up and dropped her bow to the ground.  She threw her buckler next to the bow, and holding her quiver, she jumped to the ground.  As she hit the ground, she flipped her quiver over her shoulder and reached down to grab her bow.  Now ready to fight, she whacked Zep on the rump to chase her away.  There was an irrational and unlikely fear that the Cimbri would attack her horse like it was a person, a warrior, and she wanted to keep her beloved animal safe.

       A quick glance told her she had a few moments before the Cimbri arrived.  She looked to the first group of girls to pull up, and saw they had their quivers on, and had arranged themselves into two teams among the first of the trees.  In the same image she noticed their horses were running off to the back.  She glanced to the other side, where the second group of girls came to a stop.  Kaylin was still pulling her lances off her horse, Alisa was chasing her horse away, and Annunka and Dimita were throwing on their quiver.  They hadn't stepped in among the trees yet, but Lydia knew they would do that next.  Finally, Lydia looked directly behind her, and saw Trivi, Itatia, Thalia and Janae were just pulling up to their stand of trees.  Without putting any thought into it, she knew they would be in position by the time the men arrived.

       Lydia noticed Zep only ran off a short distance before coming to a stop.  The horse was still agitated and hadn't settled down to graze.  Lydia looked down, grabbed a stone from the ground, and hurled it at Zep, hitting her in the side.  "Go!  Get out of here, Honey," Lydia shouted at the horse.  Zep was frightened by the unexpected pain in her side, and started to run.  The mare saw a small herd of horses from the 3rd. group running off, and Zep ran to catch up to her friends.

       She turned around to face the Cimbri.  There were still a few moments until they arrived.  Lydia filled her mind up paying attention to small details about the men approaching her, their armor, the color of their shirts, the color of their horses.  She knew she was going to die there, and she didn't want to think about that, so she distracted herself by thinking of other things.  From the side, she recognized Paulina's voice calling her over to their group.  She didn't want to say, "No.  I'm going to stay here until I die," so she ignored Paulina.

       The first of the Cimbri to ride up to the Romans were among the best of the Cimbri warriors.  It was the same group which had quickly figured out a counter to Lydia's attempt to slow them down.  It was a group of six, and they were all older brothers and cousins of the five men Lydia and the girls killed in their ambush.  As good warriors, they rode good cavalry horses, and they left the other Cimbri behind them as they chased after Lydia and the girls on excellent mounts.  These were the men who had been gaining ground on the girls as they closed the distance between the two groups.

       These men all talked among themselves before making the raid on the Roman valley, intensely questioning the boy about the details of the Roman ambush.  They knew the details of what Lydia and the girls had done to kill their brothers and cousins, and they all realized the Roman woman were good bowmen.  The young Cimbri boy who escaped the ambush had told them this.  As good warriors, they wanted as much information as possible about what the Romans could do.  Most of the other Cimbri didn't know the details to this extent, and they hadn't closely questioned the young boy.  Many Cimbri only knew second hand accounts of the boy's story, and they varied widely in accuracy and what they included or left out.

       As these good men chased the Romans, they saw Lydia pull up and dismount way up in front of them.  As they drew nearer to Lydia, they were in time to see Trivi, Itatia, Janae and Thalia pull up in a grove of trees behind Lydia.  But by the time they got close to the Romans, Paulina, Julia, Calista and Krista had already taken up their positions in among the trees to the right of Lydia.  Kaylin, Alisa, Annunka and Dimita had also taken up positions in the trees to the right of Lydia.  So these men were unaware of the 1st. group of girls to the right, and the second group of girls to the left, who were standing surrounded by trees.  But they had seen the 3rd. group of girls way behind Lydia.

       The best of six Cimbri men was a man called Alrik, and he held up his arm as a signal to the others, called out to them, "Careful," and he slowed his horse to a stop way in front of Lydia.  "It may be another Roman ambush.  I saw Romans pull into that stand of trees behind that woman.  She's bait to lure us into their arrows.  We should circle this one, and come up behind those trees from the back.  We'll get the ones hiding in the trees from the back."

       "I want this one!  That's their leader!  I saw the boy point to her.  He said she lanced my brother in the back while he was trying to get away on foot.  She's the one we have to get," another Cimbri shouted.  A third Cimbri added, "She's the one!  I saw the boy point at her, too.  She's the one that lured them all to their deaths and bushwhacked them.  She has to die!"  A fifth Cimbri, Norval, turned to Alrik, "We knew we'd face archers when we came here.  The boy told us what they did.  I want that bitch!  I want to take her back to our people alive, tied over the back of my horse!  I want her to take a long time dying!  Those trees back there are a long way off.  As long as we keep our eyes open, we'll have enough time to get out of the way of anything they shoot at us.  If you're worried about archers, you circle around them, Alrik, but I want her!"

       Lydia saw the men pull up beyond bow range.  She wanted to kill them, but more importantly, she wanted to get rid of them before more Cimbri arrived.

       "Come on, you bastards, fight!  What, are you afraid of a woman, you fuckin' cowards," Lydia screamed at them.  She knew they were beyond bow range but she slipped out an arrow and fired it at them.  The arrow drove into the ground in front of the men.  "Fight, you bastards, fight," Lydia screamed at them.

       The Cimbri sat on their horses looking at Lydia standing far away from them across the field, and from that distance they knew they were beyond bow range.  Not one of them felt any fear when Lydia shot her arrow.  Not counting their anger, they were calm as they watched her arrow arch up into the air and then slowly tilt downward to drive into the ground before them.  Not one of them bothered to move a finger's width as they watched the arrow cross the distance.

       Every man there knew Lydia's act was solely a symbolic act of defiance.  They looked at Lydia across the arrow driven into the ground while Lydia defiantly screamed at them.

       "Hhhhaaa," Norval yelled, and he galloped at Lydia with his lance and shield.  Angry before he began, Norval lost his temper looking at the bitch standing in front of him and defiantly screaming at him.  What she had done was no more than a taunt to them.  Norval couldn't take Lydia, a mere woman, arrogantly and insolently defying him, A Man!

A woman!  Defying a Warrior!

       The other Cimbri followed behind Norval as he charged Lydia, including Alrik who was in the second position.  Lydia fired an arrow at Norval when he just crossed within her bow range, but he had a long time to react to it, and he blocked it with his shield.  With a snarl on his face, he continued his charge at Lydia, and Lydia reached back for another arrow.  Within a few strides of his horse, he came in range of the 1st. group of girls, and another couple of strides brought him within range of the 2nd. group of girls.  The other Cimbri came within bow range of the girls seconds later.

       "Crap," Norval exhaled when an arrow streaked at him from his right, where he didn't know archers were hidden.  He managed to block it, and just had time to twist his head to the side and pull up his shield when a second arrow flashed in from the right.  Without a moment's delay, another arrow flew at his stomach from the left.  While he tried to block it, a fourth arrow got him in the eye.

       Alrik didn't have time to register much emotion.  He saw Norval jerk his shield from the left to the right side of his body.  Alrik looked to the right to find out what made Norval change his shield around.  In that instant, Alrik instinctively snapped his shield over his stomach as an arrow streaked in at him from the same direction.  While he was trying to protect his stomach, another arrow drove into his throat.

       The third and fourth Cimbri were dropped by arrows as the men were in the process of trying to rein their horses to a stop.  They realized they were caught within bow range of Romans they hadn't seen on the right and left, and they were trying to turn back and escape.  The fifth Cimbri managed to turn his horse around when four arrows rained down on him.  With his back toward the archers and concentrating on kicking his horse to escape, he was doing nothing to protect himself.  His armor saved him from three of the arrows, but a fourth managed to slice into the gap between his backplate and hip armor.  That was lucky.  It had been fired at his stomach before the man turned his horse around.  He fell from his horse.  Lydia took out the six Cimbri.  The man had turned his horse around and was trying to escape.  Lydia aimed at his neck.  The arrow struck the neck, but because the man was leaning forward when the arrow struck, it drove up into his neck at an angle, and came out of his mouth on the side of his jaw.

       

       When Lydia gave the command to use Hornet's Nests, the girls were suppose to catch the enemy in a cross-fire, and the tactics was designed to allow the three groups to protect each other.  Lydia was surprised when she saw the groups were protecting her.  She intended they protect each other.  "Of course," Lydia thought, "they're covering me just like they cover each other."  She glance behind her to see all six pairs of girls looking at the area in front of her, and she realized all the girls were protecting her just like they were suppose to protect each other.  Lydia realized how effective that was.  She was bait to lure the Cimbri to their deaths.

       Another four pulled up to the Romans, and saw Lydia standing in a field with six bodies lying in front of her.  Like the men before them, these too were good warriors on good mounts.  They were younger brothers of the men killed by the girls, but the young men were not as experienced as their older brothers who just preceded them.  As younger men, they could not afford the excellent mounts their brothers could buy, and they followed the older men on slightly less quality horses.  They too heard the details of what the young boy said of the Roman ambush and that the Romans used bows.  The young men were wary of another ambush and pulled to stop when they saw the bodies before Lydia.  Their older, more experienced brothers had warned them of the possibility of arrow ambushes.

       "Come on, you fuckin cowards!  What are you afraid of," Lydia screamed at them.  They still held back, afraid of an arrow ambush because of the bodies lying in front of Lydia.  Lydia sprinted forward to the bodies of the men in front of her, her bow still in her hand.  At the bodies, she looked around.  The man who she shot in the back of the neck, with the arrow coming out of his mouth, was still alive, lying on his stomach with his head tilted to the side and moaning.  Lydia slipped her bow over her shoulder, and leaned over to grasp the arrow shaft.  With her foot on his neck, she viciously jerked and pulled the arrow out of the back of his neck.  The man screamed in piteous pain for a few short moments, and then passed out from the pain.

       Still, the four Cimbri stood off.  But they were enraged.  Lying on the ground, they couldn't identify the man, but it was likely he was the brother of one of them.  It ripped their hearts apart to hear the screams of the injured man, as Lydia jerked and pulled at the arrow in the man's neck.  "Bitch!  You fuckin bitch!", "Hhhhaaaa!", "Nooooo!  Nooo!",  "Stop!  You fuckin' animal, stop it," the four men shouted at Lydia, hearing the horrible scream of the man who was probably a brother.  Still they didn't come, afraid of another Roman ambush.

       Lydia looked around again, and saw the man with an arrow in his hip was still alive.  She grabbed a Cimbri lance and ran to him.  Standing over him, she raised the lance overhead and twice drove it down into his leg.  At each strike the man screeched in pain.  He rolled over on his back and put up is hands to protect himself.  "No!  No!  Please, no!  Please, please no," the man screamed at Lydia.  In spite of the man's attempts to stop her, Lydia forced the lance to the gap between his breast plate and hip armor.  Instead of a quick thrust, Lydia leaned her weight on the lance to slowly drive it into his lower abdomen.  "Aaaaahhhhaaaa," the man screamed in agony as the lance was slowly driven into his belly.  "Rolf!  Rolf," one of the four young men yelled, recognizing his brother’s voice.  He galloped at Lydia, unable to endure the horrible agony his brother was in.  These young men were unable to take the torture inflicted on their older brothers.  Lydia torturing their brothers in front of them was more than they could take.  All the Cimbri charged Lydia.  None of them got far.  They all fell within a short distance once they came within bow range of the 1st. and 2nd. group of girls.

       When they charge her, Lydia ran back a little to draw the men into bow range, but as soon as she got a little back, she turned to face them.  As she grabbed her bow off her shoulder and reached for an arrow, she relaxed.  Before she drew her bow, the four new men were dead in front of her.

       Lydia realized the Cimbri knew she and the girls used bows to cut the men down with arrows before they got close to the girls.  Four of the men in front of her had arrows sticking up into the air, visible to anyone looking at them.  Others had fallen to the ground with the arrows underneath them or pointing to the side.  She sprinted forward to the men with visible arrows, trying to get to them before another group of Cimbri pulled up.  As she ran, she searched the ground for a Cimbri lance, saw one, and swooped it up as she ran.  When she got to the first of the men with an arrow sticking up in the air, she knelt down and snapped the arrow in two near the man's neck.  She stood up and drove the lance into the man, so it rose perpendicularly into the air.  She ran to the other three men, breaking the arrows off and driving their own lances into them so that the lances stuck up in the air.  She drove a fifth lance into another man who didn't have a visible arrow.

       Let the approaching Cimbri see the lances, and not the arrows.  Let them think their friends were killed in a cavalry fight, not an arrow ambush.

       She turned and glance toward the strung out line of Cimbri approaching her.  It looked like a group of five in the lead.  Grabbing another Cimbri lance off the ground, she ran to a sixth Cimbri body and stood over him, with her back toward the approaching Cimbri.  As the pounding of their horse's hoofs became audible, she raised the lance up and started to repeatedly stab the man in frenzy, screaming the whole time.

       Lydia's ruse with the lances worked.  When the next group of men approached Lydia, they saw the lances sticking in their comrades and assumed there was a cavalry fight.  There were no horses in the immediate area, but they guessed Lydia was unhorsed in the battle, not that uncommon an occurrence.  A warrior in rage over a fallen opponent was also a common sight on a battlefield.  They charged Lydia.

       Lydia listened to the men galloping up behind her, at first pretending she didn't hear them.  When they were still a good distance from her, she jerked around, pretending she had just heard them for the first time.  She ran back toward the trees, as if running for her life.

       Lydia didn't look over her shoulder as she ran, and she took no defensive actions.  She put her trust in the girls that they would get the men.  She wanted to draw the men as far as possible away from the cluster of bodies of the first two groups of men.  If the bodies were spread out around the area, it would enhance the impression that men were stricken down in random locations during a cavalry fight.

       As she ran, Lydia was running toward the 2nd. group of girls.  She saw Kaylin, Alisa, Dimita and Annunka all aiming their bows toward the men closing on Lydia.  Lydia also glanced toward her right, to see Itatia and Thalia, and Trivi and Janae, with their bows drawn and facing her, but holding their fire.  If any men broke through the arrow fire from the 1st. and 2nd. groups, the 3rd. group stood at the ready as insurance to drop the men before they got to Lydia.  That was their job, insurance if any men got past the first two groups.  Lydia counted two flights of arrows fly in over her head, and she assumed two flights of arrows were also flying at the men from their right.

       Lydia turned around, and sure enough, there were four more bodies on the ground.  Their bodies were spread out across the ground in a line that stretched away from the original cluster of men.  That was the appearance Lydia wanted, men spread across the ground in different locations than the first two groups of men.  She sprinted forward again, to repeat the ruse with the lances.  As she ran, she saw two more groups of riders getting close, not too far

apart from each other.

       When Lydia ran at the bodies, she passed the two closest to her because she only had a limited amount of time to act, and stopped at the third, to break off the arrow and replace it with a lance sticking up.  Then she went on the man furthest from her.  In the few moments she had left, she tugged and pulled the man's body as much as she could manage to the side.  She didn't want to create a straight line of bodies.  If she could create three or four spread out lines of bodies that would appear a more natural result of bodies spread across the ground in random locations during a swirling cavalry fight.  The more spread out the bodies were, the better they created the impression of men killed here and there in a cavalry fight, rather than men who came within range of archers.

       The next group of three Cimbri were closer to her than she wanted when she grabbed a lance and stood over the man to repeatedly plunge the lance into him.  She repeated her performance of an enraged warrior venting her rage against her opponent, with her back toward the new men.  When the new group was a distance off, she acted as if she just heard them.  She left the lance sticking up out of the man, and this time, she ran toward the 1st. group of girls, to spread the new bodies in a new, different direction around the area.

       Four flights of arrows streaked in at the men and then stopped.  Someone had missed their shot.  Lydia had seen Paulina and Julia, and Calista and Krista aiming at the men as she ran toward them.

       Lydia turned around to replace arrows with lances, but as she did, she saw the second group of Cimbri almost there, without much time between the two groups.  This next group of men had arrived in time to see arrows in flight from the 1st. group of girls.  With their eyes, they traced the arrows flight path back to see Paulina standing in the trees, along with the other three girls with her.  For whatever reasons they had, maybe overweening pride, they decided they could handle archers.  They choose to charge four Roman women, rather than one Roman, wanting to kill the most women they could get.  They charged off toward the 1st. group of girls.  Their pride didn't prove adequate protection against arrows, and the paired arrows made it impossible for the men to protect themselves from two arrows flying at them almost simultaneously.  They fell with arrows in them, fired by girls in the 1st. and 2nd. group of girls.  The 3rd. group was still functioning as insurance, ready to shoot if a man evaded the first two groups of girls.

       Lydia sprinted forward again, to break off arrows, but she only got to the closest man to her before another group of Cimbri galloped up.  Lydia was alright with that.  With the first four groups of Cimbri to arrive, she had time to create the impression she wanted on the battlefield.  The outmost line of men, the first men the following Cimbri would see lying on the ground, had lances sticking in them, not arrows.  The first dead men in front of Lydia all had lances in them and they were spread out in widely separated locations.  If Cimbri made snap decisions when they first arrived, they might believe their companions were killed in a cavalry fight, not an arrow ambush.  Lydia might be able to trick men into charging her, unaware they were riding toward archers - if they made their decisions based on the first bodies they saw.

       A group of eight Cimbri galloped up.  Lydia acted as if she was afraid of them, and she turned to run away from them...................drawing them into bow range of the hidden girls.

       More and more Cimbri started to arrive, in groups of twos, threes, and fours.  These groups were composed of friends or relatives who decided to stay together and fight together since they trusted each other.  These groups were more concentrated, so two or three groups arrived in close succession.  They were the men who rode average quality horses, and as average mounts, the horses ran at roughly the same speed.  The fastest horses arrived in advance of the main concentration of Cimbri so the girls only had to deal with two, three, four men.... at a time.  Now this concentration of men meant the girls that to deal with eight, ten, twelve men at a time.  Men began to break through the arrow fire without anyone having the time to fire at them, and men began to get close enough to charge the girls on horseback.

       Lydia was unaware of how much time passed.  Everything became a flurry of events that took one or two seconds to occur, to be replaced by another event that took a second or two........an unending flurry of them.  She lost track of them all, as first she concentrated on one thing to immediate shift her attention to something else.  A man was charging her with a lance....she jumped to the side.  A man was riding past her on the left....she got off an arrow but missed.  A boy was almost on top of her with a lance....she twisted to the side and jumped up to grab his arm.....he fell to the ground....she ran at him.....she had an arrow in her hand and she drove it into his neck.....the sound of a horse behind....she lunged in the other direction to end up lying on the ground....she twisted and got to her feet....another man was coming at her....she swatted at his lance with her bow and twisted right....a man was riding past on the right....she reached for an arrow.....She was out of arrows.....she grabbed her knife....a man with a lance a little in front of her....an arrow flew into his mouth....a moment without anything happening..she looked on the ground for a Cimbri lance....a man coming at her before she saw a lance....another man hit the ground on her left with an arrow in him ....jump to the right for the man in front...the sound of galloping on the right....

       Another moment without anything happening....three men a distance off...she looked for a lance..one sticking in the ground on the left....breathe!  Breathe...don't go for the lance...breathe instead...the men are here...twist and jump right...they went past...where were they going?...arrows flew at them....the arrows got them.....galloping noise behind her........

       Another moment without anything happening....two men far enough away to rest a moment....a feminine scream on her right....WHO WAS THAT SCREAMING?????....turning to the right ....Paulina in the grass with a lance and a mounted man on her right....galloping noise close behind her....

       Dodging....turning....the men were going toward Kaylin...arrows...Kaylin was safe...the arrows dropped them...what happened with Paulina....Paulina was standing in front of the man and Julia was running up behind him ...safe??? ....Men around me????....Six!....scream at them...."Aaaaahhaa".... "Here they come!"...."Is there a lance around?"...No lance... "I can only dodge."........

       Another moment without anything happening ...Men???  Only one! ...What's the matter with that man?...He's coming sooo slow!!!???....He's soooo OLD!!!

                                                                                                       Lydia leaned over, her hands resting on her knees and let herself breathe a moment.  Lydia didn't know about the physiology involved, but glucose levels in her blood had bottomed out.  Lydia had the physiology of a professional athlete, which is what she really was.  She had the metabolism and respiratory system of someone who exercises for hours each day.  Her body was furiously converting stored fat into glucose.  On a cellular level, exceptionally large concentrations of mitochondria in muscle cells were racing through the Krebs cycle, turning adenosine diphosphate back into useful adenosine triphosphate, the stuff of ENERGY for muscle cell.  The massive numbers of mitochondria in her cells, which were converting ADP into ATP, were the result of the enormous amount of exercise she did everyday, and the large number of mitochondria provided her the stamina average people didn't possess.  All the result of exercise and exercise and exercise.

       Lydia's mind was focused on what she was doing, defending herself from the men charging at her.  One was coming at her, but she had a moment before he arrived.  She looked at the horse, wondering why the horse was taking so much time to get to her.  The horse's muzzle was almost white with grey hairs.  The area around his eyes was also white with grey hairs.  His mouth was covered in foam as the horse lumbered up to her, and the horse looked like it could hardly take another step.

       Lydia looked to the man.  So old.  He had no shield, just a lance, and he wore a breast plate but he had no helmet or grieves or arm guards or even a shield.  Tears were streaming down his face and he was crying as he came at Lydia.  His expression took Lydia back; she remembered Atus crying for his dead wife after the attack of the Aquitani.  This old man had the same expression as Atus had as he held his wife's hand that day long ago.

       The man was coming at her so slow, hardly more than walking speed that Lydia simply reached out to grasp his lance with her left hand.  She pulled the lance to her side, and pinched her left upper arm against the lance, to wedge it between her arm and her body.  Held solidly by Lydia's grasp on the lance, the lance was pulled out of the old man's hands.  When the lance came to a forceful stop, it suddenly shifted the old man's weight as he struggled to retain his grip on the lance.  As an old man, he couldn't move fast anymore, and a fast shift in his weight left the old man unable to quickly readjust his balance.  A quick shift in his balance was enough to trip the old man up and make him fall.  He tumbled from the horse when the lance was pulled from his hand.

       The old man's muscles had withered away with age, and he struggle to get to his feet with the little strength he had left.  He cried the whole time, as struggled to get to his feet.  He got to his knees, and then managed to bring one foot to the ground.  While he was on one knees and had one foot on the ground, he reached for a beat up, old knife stuck through his belt.

       Lydia didn't have the heart to kill the feeble, old man.  He was crying so piteously and mumbling something in his language that Lydia didn't understand.  Lydia walked over to him, and pushed him over.  He fell to his side, but when he did, he swung the knife at Lydia's leg and continued to ineffectively swat the knife at Lydia's leg while he struggled to rise again.  Lydia watched the old man try to get up with his knife in his hand.  She took a step back to stand at his feet, and stomped on his ankle.  He cried out in pain, but Lydia saw when he tried to get up again, he couldn't put any weight on the injured ankle.  She had sprained his ankle and he could no longer walk or put weight on his foot.  She had taken him out of action and he was no longer a threat, but she had done it without killing him.

       Lydia realized there were no more Cimbri coming.  The old man was the last of them.  She left the old man alive but crippled on the ground.  She ran to help the girls where the most Cimbri men seemed to go.  When she ran away, the old man lay on the ground, crying.  Over and over again, he said in his language, "You killed my boy.  You killed my boy."

       The action was so fast and furious, Lydia wasn't clear about all that happened.  For most of the attack, she had focused on things happening within a few body lengths around her.  She had a vague impression more men raced past her on her left than on her right.  For a few moments she tried to understand what was happening on the rest of the battlefield while she was busy trying to defend herself from the men charging her

       She looked around.  Her mind registered a lot of bodies lying near her, all Cimbri.  Without thought, she intuitively knew with certainty that they all had arrows in them.  Then she started to run toward the left because she felt more men rode in that direction.

       A good distance in front of the trees, there were five horses standing around.  Three men were standing and kneeling.  It looked like they were tending to two Cimbri lying on the ground.  Her impression was that they were aiding two stricken companions.  A question without an answer popped into her mind, "Why isn't anyone shooting arrows at them?"  Other thoughts ran through her mind: "Pauli, Juli, Kris, Cali are over there," "Where are they," "Why aren't they standing in the trees," "I remember!  Pauli was in the grass, 'Thorn' position," "Where did she go," "I should get rid of those three men," "I've never tried three men at the same time," "They don't look like big men," "The one standing looks young," "I HAVE TO FIND THE GIRLS!  PROTECT THEM!"

       She ran at the three men.  "They're too close," she thought, thinking two or more could strike at her at the same time.  But she kept running at them.  Since she pulled up at the beginning of the fight, she an imperative, driving conviction that she had to defend and protect the girls.  It was an overwhelming drive.  That need to protect the girls drove her to take the big risk of attacking three men who were close to each other.

       She was very afraid.  In her chest, there was that tingling feeling of fear that made her breathe faster and faster, and the tense feeling around her brow and corner of her eyes that marked facial muscles drawn into an expression of fear.  These were the visceral, physical feelings that accompanied the emotions of fear.  She knew what her feelings were.  She had felt them often, before this.

       FOR ALL THE FEELINGS OF FEAR THAT ELECTRIFIED HER BODY----HER ACTIONS WERE NOTHING BUT PURE COURAGE.    How she felt had nothing to do with how she acted.  And once her mind made the conscious decision to "strike!"----- her emotions completely changed.  ----Like a computer screen that displays one image, to refresh and instantly display a different image.----  Once she thought, "Now!  Strike," her emotions completely changed to pure Rage and she felt the "tunnel vision" of complete, exclusive focus on her man.

       The young man (18-19) who was holding the horses saw her running at them a short distance away.  Lydia watched him as she ran.  He reached for his sword on the left side with his left hand, but instead of drawing the sword, he drew the sword and the sheath  upward, pulling both out from underneath his belt.  Lydia had never seen that defensive move before, but it didn't slow her down.  Then he dropped his left arm down and back, while he reached for the sword hilt with his right hand.  While his left hand swung back with the sheath, at the same time he pulled the sword out toward the front with his right hand.  It was a smooth, creative move with his right hand holding the sword swung to the front while his left hand held the sheath swung to the back at the same time.  But Lydia was in no mood to compliment him on the good move, and she closed with him.

       The next thing he did brought Lydia to a stop.  As he pulled the sword out, he continued the movement to swing at her with a side, horizontal swing, as he stepped toward her.  As the right swing rotated his shoulders, he brought the sheath held in his left hand upward, using the sheath to block her.  The sword swing drove her back, while the sheath in front of Lydia was in the way of a counterstrike.

       Next he threw a diagonal swing at her from the upper right with his right arm.  When his left arm came up again, he had reversed his grip on the sheath so it stuck out from the top of his fist.  It was easy to rotate a knife or sword from between the thumb and index finger to sticking out the bottom of the fist.  Rotating in the opposite direction was very hard to do, let alone doing it with certainty during a fight.

       He came at her like a swimmer, swinging his arms.  First his right arm swung forward at her, then he immediately swung his left arm at her, using the sword sheath as a club to strike her, to instantly follow with another swing from his right.  Left, right, left, right, he swung his arms at her like a swimmer taking strokes.  It was all extremely skillful, and if the boy was facing an average warrior, he would have overwhelmed his enemy with the rapid flurry of slashes.

       But his swings were also rhythmic.  Swish. Swish. swish, they came at her at a constant rate.  Lydia timed his swings, and as his right swing flashed downward, and his left was just starting to rotate to the front, Lydia did a SNAP to the left side of his neck, while she jumped forward to his left, rather than a spinout.  (Lydia risked a left strike from him because a sheath might bruise her, but it wouldn't cut her.  She also choose an exit that faced forward because there were two other Cimbri somewhere behind the young man.  When Lydia first attacked the young man, she noticed the two kneeling men ran to get their shields.)

       Lydia's tremendous speed allowed her strike to streak into the boy between his swings.

       "Whoa," Lydia thought, the instant Lydia passed the boy.  A sword was streaking at her throat.  Lydia just had time to raise her left hand before the sword reached her neck.  The sword drove between her middle finger and ring finger as Lydia used her bare hand to swat the sword to the side.  Reflexively, she shot her right arm toward the man holding the sword.  He had a shield, but it was held low as the man reached forward with his right to stab her.

       Lydia violently jerked her torso backwards as a third sword swung toward her chest.  In an arch, it slashed into her above her left breast, slid across her chest, and just grazed her right shoulder as it flew off to the side.  Her body armor saved her.  A bright gouge was etched across the front of her breastplate.

       When the third man made a horizontal swing at her, he continued the swing past her.  That left him with his right arm across his body, pointing toward his left.  He was standing with his torso twisted, looking at her over his right shoulder.......so..........that was the end of him!

       Lydia looked at her left hand, expecting to see fingers missing.  The Roman weapons would cut off fingers like a hot knife going through butter.  NONE WERE MISSING!  Just the feeling of surprise filled Lydia's mind.  Blood was streaming down from her ring finger and dripping to the ground from her wrist.  From the location of the flowing blood, Lydia realized the sword cut through her ring finger, but it was stopped by the bone of her finger.  Her middle finger was covered in blood, but it came from the cut to other finger next to it.  Trying to understand what happened, she looked at the sword lying on the ground.  A curved cavalry sword, only sharpened on one side with the back left unsharpened.  That was why her middle finger wasn't cut off.  Lydia guessed, "It must be an old sword, and not sharpened in a long time."  That was the only possible explanation of why it didn't cut off her fingers.

       If she was in a kitchen, this would be a bad cut.  Considering she was on a battlefield, and people were having hands ....and heads....cut off, her cut was an insignificant scrape.

       She glanced at the young boy she first engaged.  Young.  Eighteen, she guessed.  Handsome, too.  Very handsome.  For a young man, he was exceptionally good with his sword.  He was just GOOD!  Except for Janae, he would have been a real threat to any of the girls.  Being an excellent judge of swordsmanship, Lydia knew he could have killed several of the girls in single combat.  For the sake of the girls, she was very grateful he was dead on the ground.

       (For the Cimbri, the loss of this young man was a big loss to their tribe.  He was the most outstanding youth born in their tribe in generations.  A superb athlete, fearless, and a natural leader.  He wasn't related to any of the men slain by the girls, but he came on the raid because several of his elders were coming.  Humbly, he felt he should serve his elders.  An unselfish, noble motivation....to serve his elders.  If he had lived, he would have become an unselfish, civic minded leader of his people and an outstanding warrior.  A historic leader in the history of his people.

       Unfortunately for him, this was the second sword fight he had in his life, and he had little real experience.  With more time to practice and get more experience, he would have developed into an outstanding warrior, and he would have given Lydia a run for her money.  It was just bad luck that the second fight he had in his life was against someone like Lydia, who he had no real chance of beating at this early stage in his life.  If he fought one of the girls instead of Lydia or Janae, he probably would have killed them, while he remained alive.  The death of this promising young man was a tragic loss to the Cimbri nation, but it was lucky for the Romans that Lydia was the one to fight him.)

       Lydia heard a distant, "Aaiiieeeee!!!"     Lydia recognized the voice.  It was the scream Janae usually uttered on the Training Grounds.  Lydia looked around.  Off to the back on the left side of the trees, out in the grassland, Lydia saw Janae was double stepping toward a man.  Even from that distance, Lydia could see Janae's right shoulder, the right side of her helmet and her right thigh were red colored.  Lydia categorized the red color.  She had seen it many times before.  It was the blood spatter from a cut carotid.  Lydia's mind didn't form any words.  A feeling of gratitude just filled Lydia that Janae was eliminating Cimbri for the other girls.  It never occurred to Lydia to be worried about Janae's safety.

       Lydia looked around again.  A short distance inside the trees she saw two men on horseback rooting around.  They were looking left and right down at the ground, and occasionally poking their lances into bushes.  They were searching for girls hiding in the woods!  Lydia was running at them.

       As Lydia ran into the woods, she made a lot of noise as she stepped on the dead twigs and branches that littered the forest floor.  The men heard her from a long distance away, and turned to gallop at her with their lances and shields.

       Lydia looked down on the ground.  There was a long, dead tree branch lying on the ground.  She picked it up and swung the long branch against the nearest tree.  This is a trick people who use firewood found in forests know, to save themselves time and effort chopping wood.   On impact against the tree, the dead, dry branch shattered into three sections, leaving Lydia with a short piece of wood in her hand while the other sections of branch flew off to the side.  When the lead rider drew near to her, Lydia drew back her arm and hurled the chunk of wood at the horse's face.

       A horse's nose and upper lip are very sensitive, maybe the most sensitive part of a horse.  People, who are relatively weak compared to other animals, can drive a horse crazy if they punch him in the nose.  He'll rear up into the air and gallop off worse than if you kicked or hit him anyplace else.  The wood smashed into the horse's nose.  The horse came to a sliding, stiff legged stop, reared into the air, and turned to bolt off to the side.  The rider was thrown to the ground.

       The rider lost his lance when his arm hit a tree as he fell.  He quickly got to his feet, but he backed up into the trees around him until he could draw his sword.  When he was finished drawing his sword, he changed from backing up to charge forward at Lydia.  There was a tree to the left of the man as he came forward.  Lydia choose the simple right spin out since it was such a dependable move.  She would have preferred a straight left pass which would leave her facing forward when she passed this man.  He had a buddy behind him on horseback, and Lydia wanted to face him.  But she used the right spin out because of the tree on the left side of the man.

       The right spin out produced it's usual results.  She picked off the man as she twisted around him.

       Sound behind her!  Very Close!

       She jerked around, just in time to catch sight of sudden movement on her right!  She leaned back -suddenly- to avoid whatever it was.  At the same she threw up her left hand, trying to protect her neck with her left arm guard.  Before she raised her left arm high enough to move her arm guard in front of her throat, she felt that sickening feeling of fear at the pit of her stomach that accompanies a deep, sharp cut to the flesh.  A deep, sharp cut to the flesh does produce a distinct, recognizable feeling, different from anything else.  The "cut" feeling came from her left hand.

       The second man saw Lydia throw the wood at his friend’s horse, and he realized Lydia would attack horses to the rider’s disadvantage.  She would use his own horse against him.  He swung off his horse to run at Lydia on foot.

       He arrived at the fight as it was taking place, and swung his sword at Lydia's neck at she twisted away from his friend.  She turned just in time to see the sword flying at her, and just managed to lean back enough to escape the sword swing.  When she leaned back, he immediately stepped forward to backhand his sword at her a second time.

       Lydia ducked backwards to avoid the first sword swing, and she took another step backwards to dodge back away from the second swing he took at her.  When the sword flashed by her the second time, Lydia shot her right arm forward to get the man over the top of his shield.

       Lydia looked at her left hand.  She had a second diagonal cut across her palm that ran from the base of her index finger to the bottom of her palm on the other side.  Blood poured out of her hand and dripped to the ground.  None of fingers were cut off.  Relieved because no fingers were missing, she thought, "Not bad."  She squeezed her fist closed hard, hoping that would help stem the bleeding as quickly as possible.

       While Lydia looked at her hand, she heard a distant

"Aaiiieeeee!!!"   from somewhere off to the right.  No specific thoughts or words filled her mind when she heard the scream.  She just felt a wordless "feeling,knowledge," an "awareness," that Janae was eliminating Cimbri, and a feeling of gratitude filled Lydia.

       Running sounds coming at her from behind, on the left!  Lydia spun around to defend herself.

       Trivi, Itatia and Thalia were running toward her through the woods!!!!!!!!!

       She ran to them!!!

       Lydia reached her right hand out to them, and said, "Oh! Girls!"  What she meant to say was that she was so relieved and grateful to see that they were alive.  They all looked into each other's eyes, each of them just overflowing from emotion.  Itatia reached out to put her other hand out on Lydia's arm, just because of all the emotions she felt seeing that Lydia was still alive.  "Jani's alive," Lydia said to them, knowing they started the fight together, and also that they were best friends.  "Yeah.  We heard her screams a couple of times.  That yell she uses when she attacks,," Trivi returned.

       "Help me find Pauli and Juli, and Kris and Cali.  I saw Pauli fighting out there," Lydia said, pointing out to the grassland.  "We got to help them.  A lot of men came over here," she continued.  Trivi got a painful look on her face.  "Lydia, Pauli and Juli are hurt pretty bad.  Pauli's not so good," Trivi said, afraid to tell Lydia that she thought Paulina was dead.

       Lydia's eyes squinted close a little in pain.  She asked, "Where?"  Itatia answered while pointing, "A ways out in the grass, off to the right side.  They're playing death if anyone comes by."  Trivi felt guilty over leaving Julia and Paulina alone, so she defended herself, "We had to find Kris and Cali and help them."  Lydia understood the bind they were in and the need to help both Krista and Calista, as well as Paulina and Julia.  She reached over to reassuringly hold Trivi's shoulder, and nodded sympathetically to her.

       "Go back to them and stand guard over them until we can get some help.  There aren't many men left.  I think we got most of them.  I'll look for Cali and Kris," Lydia said to them.  "We'll be alright, and we'll gut any bastard that comes around Juli or Pauli.  There are only a couple of the fucks left.  We got most of them," Thalia reassured Lydia.

       Lydia ran through the woods towards the left to find Calista and Krista, while Trivi, Itatia and Thalia headed through the woods to the right to go back to Paulina and Julia.

                       ..............................

       There were a few Cimbri still alive.  A few were men who were wounded by arrows but not killed.  They were trying to get back to the Cimbri valley.  Some of these died from their wounds before they made it back.  A few were men who veered off to the side or turned back and fled beyond bow range when they saw their companions stricken with arrows.  When the Romans ran out of arrows and the fighting seemed to stop in different areas, most of these men returned to their friends to see if they could help them.  They believed the battle was over.  These men were in the grassland, trying to help wounded friends onto horses and taking them back home.  Most of the men who wanted to fight the women searched the area until they found the girls.  And now........those men were dead.

       Alisa, Kaylin, Annunka and Dimita finally reached the first island of trees, after being delayed in the open grassland by Dimita's fight.  When they got to the area in front of the trees, Lydia, Trivi, Itatia, and Thalia were out of sight, hidden in among trees in the woods.  Janae was also out of sight.  She was on the other side of the trees from them.

       Alisa, Kaylin, Annunka and Dimita each looked around the empty grassland for Paulina and the others, but no one else was in sight.  Scared, Annunka cried out in fear, "THEY CAN'T ALL BE DEAD!"  With a worried expression Kaylin reached over to hold Annunka's shoulder, "Maybe they're off someplace else fighting.  I bet they're alright, just someplace else."

       While they were talking, Dimita was defensively scanning the area around them in case a Cimbri was galloping toward them.  Way off in front of them in the area where Lydia fought at the start of the fight, there was man apparently helping someone wounded on the ground.  Dimita caught the attention of the other with a hand gesture and pointed at him.  In a voice tinged with spite, Dimita growled, "Let's get 'im."

       "We got to look for the others.  They could be in trouble," Annunka answered.  "No.  Di's right.  We don't know what he's goin' do.  What if that's a dead brother or cousin over there with him.  Or if the guy he's helping dies.  He'll hop on his horse and gallop over here for revenge.  They're all dangerous while they're alive.  If he's over here with us in our valley......he's dangerous.  We don't know what he's going to do next," Alisa answered her.  Kaylin added, "Yeah.  We don't know what he's going to do next.  Let's get him while there are four of us and one of him.  Double Arm."  They ran at him.

       The man was leaning over a stricken man who was moaning loudly.  An arrow got the man in the mouth.  It came out the bottom of his jaw, and plunged into his trapezes just to the side of his neck.  He was leaning forward on his horse when the arrow got him.  His buddy was trying to figure out how to remove the arrow without hurting his friend worse.  Next to him, his horse was nervously prancing from foot to foot.  The air was heavily laden with the smell of blood, including horse blood.  The blood smell made the horse very nervous.  The noise of the moaning man and prancing horse masked the sound of the women running at him.  He only noticed the women when his horse spooked to the side, frightened by the four human beings running at him.  Surprised, the man jumped to his feet and drew his sword when he saw the women running at him.  He stepped forward to defend his friend.

       All the fighting they had done, and fear for their friends, left a deep reservoir of rage in each of the women.  They aggressively closed with him, spreading out a little to come at him from two different directions.  They were confident he stood no chance against the four of them.

       They were using the "Double Arm," Alisa with a sword and buckler in front of Kaylin who had lance.  Annunka was with Dimita, Annunka with the sword and Dimita with the lance.  Annunka's emotions flipped to match the new situations she was in.  She was in rage, her face a snarl, and she rapidly double stepped toward him, Dimita right behind her with her lance partially raised overhead.  Alisa was also closing with a rapid double step, Kaylin right behind her.  When they got within sword reach, Annunka and Alisa would slow down, while Dimita and Kaylin would close up to stand right behind them, lances held overhead.

       The man intended to fight them.  Hoping he could beat  small, weak women??????  In desperation because he didn't have another alternative?  Bravely?  But when he saw how the women arranged themselves, he got scared.  If he charged one holding a sword, the lance wielding woman behind her would stab him with the lance.  And he couldn't get to the woman holding the lance over her head because the one holding the sword and shield defended her.  And even if he did attack one of the teams, the second team would come at his back.

       He turned, and ran for his life.  Alisa and Kaylin were closest to him.  Kaylin pulled back her arm, and hurled her lance into the man's back before he got far.  Silently Dimita walked over to the man with an arrow in his mouth, and she plunged her lance into his throat.  They turned to walk back to island of trees.

                       .............................

       Lydia glanced at the woods around her as she ran through the small, little forest around her, hoping to spot one of the missing girls or a Cimbri.  She got out to the grassland in front of the trees, where she had last seen one of the missing women.  No one else was in sight.  Without a better alternative for something to do, she began to search the area for Krista and Calista.

       Suddenly, Lydia heard an "Aaiiieeeee!!!"   She turned and looked in the direction the scream came from.  Off in the distance on the left side of the trees, three horses were galloping away, two with riders, one riderless.  One of the riders wasn't hunched over his horse, but he sat stiffly upright.  He looked like he was wounded.  Janae was double stepping toward a man on foot.  From the situation, Lydia guessed Janae attacked three men.  Two fled.  She guessed one man's horse spooked, leaving him no was to escape.  Lydia started to run toward Janae to help her.

       Alisa, Kaylin, Annunka, and Dimita had just turned around to return to the island of trees.  This time, they saw Lydia standing in the grassland in front of the trees, but they were too far away to hear Janae's scream.  The four of them saw Lydia starting to run toward the side of the trees.  "Lydi," Annunka yelled at the top of her voice.

       Lydia looked over her shoulder when she heard her name called, and she recognized Annunka's voice.  In the distance, she saw Alisa, Kaylin, Annunka and Dimita running toward her.  She swung her arm overhead, gesturing them to follow her.  She turned to continuing her run to Janae, but when she did, she saw Janae spinning off her man, while the man fell to his knees.  Janae was safe.  "Jani," Lydia called.  Janae turned, saw Lydia, and started to run toward her.

       With four girls running toward her on one side, and Janae running toward her on the other, Lydia flung her head back, eyes closed, facing the heavens.  "Thank you, Juno, thank you, thank you, thank you," she whispered.  It was the most heartfelt prayer she ever uttered.   

       Annunka was the first to reach her.  Annunka just flung her arms around Lydia, hugging her and crying.  The other three ran up and wrapped their arms around each other in one big huddle.  Lydia just cried in relief that her girls were alive.  Just then Janae run up to them.  Alisa, Kaylin, and Dimita defensively looked up at the sound of running approaching them, but when they saw Janae, Kaylin called out, "JANI!!!"  Janae, Alisa, Kaylin, and Dimita rushed together to hug each other.  Annunka stayed holding Lydia.

       (None of the girls thought Janae's blood covered condition was startling.  They were all covered in blood to various degrees.  When they consciously directed any attention to the blood covering her, they drew the logical conclusion that she had a lot of kills.  Alisa was the only one to asked, with concern in her voice, "Jani, you cut someplace?"  Janae just shook her head, and said, "No.  No cuts.")

       When Trivi, Itatia, and Thalia emerged from the wood, they saw Lydia way off to the right searching the area around her.  They started searching for Julia.  They remembered the general area, but not the specific location.  Then they heard a "Lydi," and then, "Jani."  They turned to see Alisa, Kaylin, Annunka and Dimita running at Lydia from across the grassland.  "They're alive," Itatia called in tremendous relief, and started to run to them, but Trivi grabbed her shoulder.  "We have to protect Juli if any men come around her, and we still got to find them," Trivi said.  The three watched the reunion take place across of them, all with tears streaming down their faces.  When all the yelling and hugging died down, the three of them called over to the other group, and both groups waved at each other.

       "We got to find Cali and Kris.  Did you see them anyplace," Lydia asked the group with Alisa.  Janae reached out to hold Lydia's arm, "Lydi, they're both down.  I think Kris might make it, but I think Cali is gone.  I had Kris hide where the men wouldn't find her.  I left her to knock off the men around here."  "Oh, noooo," Lydia quietly whispered as Janae talked, and tears started to run down her face.  Annunka started to silently sob, while tears ran down Kaylin's cheeks.  "Where," Lydia asked her.  Janae pointed, saying, "Over there someplace."

       They follow Janae off to the side for a while, and Janae started to call, "Kris," "Kris."  Krista had passed out from her wounds.  "She's someplace around here.  Under a bush.  Look for a big pile of branches.  I covered her with branches."  They all started to search the area.

       In the grassland in front of the trees, all the girls were searching the area around them.  Then calls went up, "I got Kris!"  "Juli!!  You alright?  Juli?  Jul!  Juli's unconscious!"  "Pauli.  Pauli.  Lydi, Pauli don't look good." "Cali! Cal?  Cali ain't dead!!!  She's still alive!"

       As each girl was found, Lydia ran to them, to satisfy herself about their condition.  On their own initiative, girls split up to attend each of the injured women.  They tried to make the hurt girls as comfortable as they could.

       Paulina and Julia were lying together with Trivi, Itatia, and Thalia standing with them.  Lydia called Janae over to her, and she walked over to them.  "Trav, Tat, go over to that bunch of men over there and see if any of them have water bags slung over their shoulders.  We need something to drink and I want something for the girls when they wake up.  I left a real old man alive over there.  If you see him, stick him on a horse and point him back toward the Cimbri valley.  He ain't going to like it.  Force him."

       As Trivi and Itatia ran off to find water bags, Janae said to Lydia from behind, "We got get some help."  "Yeah, after we get something to drink we'll find a horse to go back to the stronghold," Lydia answered her.

       Lydia looked at Thalia and Janae standing around her, and relief flooded her, so grateful that they were alive.  But then she sunk to her knees beside Paulina and gently stroked her hair.  Thalia sadly said, "I think they broke her neck."  Lydia's hand swung to her side, and Lydia started to sob as she knelt beside Paulina.

                                       Chapter 20

                         In the Rest of the Valley

       One hour earlier.

       The 1st. Optio of House Guards was the duty officer for the Afternoon Shift, and he stationed himself on the Keep roof for his tour of duty.  A riderless horse casually trotted up the side of the stronghold, and turned into the Front Gate when she got to the front.  The horse leisurely ambled back to the Stable once she got inside.  The horse was hungry, and she knew the human beings in the Stable would give her half a bucket of grain and a rack of fodder once she got to her stall.  The horse happily walked into the Stable looking for the food she knew she would find there.

       When the horse turned into the front of the stronghold, the 1st. Optio just caught sight of it out of the corner of his eye, and he watched for the horse to emerge from the other side of the Front Gate passageway.  When the horse trotted across the Courtyard, the 1st. Optio's face contorted in fear, and he turned to shout, "Carra!"  He turned to the Sentries on the roof top.  "Light an Attack signal,"  he shouted to one.  To another, he shouted, "Go to my barrack and tell any Guards you find there to get themselves over here."  To a third Sentry he said, "Find Carra and tell her Tat's horse just came in alone, without anyone.  Make sure you're calm when you tell her!  Do you hear me?  Make sure you're calm when you talk to her.  Keep her CALM!  Tell her me and the others are going out to find Tat."

       When the Sentries took off, the 1st. Optio ran down the stairs to go to the Overseer and Slave Guard barracks.  A few of the Overseers and Slave Guards were men good with a sword.  A few, not many, but a few were good.  A few were Legionnaires who deserted their Legions before their levy was served.  A few were mercenaries who were tired of fighting all the time and wanted someplace safe to settle down and live out the rest of their lives.  These men couldn't get someone to vouch for their character, and they had to accept jobs as Overseers and Slave Guards.  He went to see if he could find a few that were good with swords.

       He emerged from the Overseer barracks with two men and was running to the Slave Guard barracks when another House Guard, a 1st Sergeant, intercepted him.  "What's up," the new man asked him.  "Tat's horse just trotted in, alone!.  Saddled.  Bridled.  With the reins dragging on the ground!"  "Shit," the new man exclaimed, with a scared look.  "Get our horses saddled," the 1st. Optio said to the other House Guard.  Pointing to the two men with him, he added, "Saddle some extra horses."  Then he seriously said to the man, "Check Tat's saddle for blood."  When he heard that, the new man just lowered his eyes down at the ground with a pained expression.  Then he ran to the Stable.

       When the 1st. Optio entered the Stable, with an additional three Slave Guards, the 1st. Sergeant met him, "No blood.  No wounds on the horse.  But the horse's hair was matted with dried sweat, from a hard run.  The saddle was stripped of everything.  Bow, arrows, lance, shield.  Everything gone.  If it was a fight on horseback and she got cut down, something would be left on the saddle.  Arrows, bow, a lance, something would be left on the saddle.  She got off to fight on foot, probably in a hurry since the horse was run hard, judging by the dried sweat on her, and Tat let her horse wander off.  If she was running hard, she was probably heading back here, where she would be safe.  I'll bet she was heading back here, and whoever was chasing her overtook her and the others before they could make it back.  The girls got off to fight on foot."  (House Guards were House Guards because they were damn smart men, and they understood what happened during battles.  They were battle tested warriors.)

       The 1st. Optio seriously listened to the 1st. Sergeant, nodding his head in agreement.  The 1st. Optio, too, was a savvy man when it came to fighting, and he agreed with the 1st. Sergeant.  When the horse first came in, the 1st. Optio suspected Tat and the others were probably dead.  But he didn't check the horse out.  Now he started to change his mind with the additional information, "She might still be alive, but mountless."  "Do you know where Lydi took the girls," the 1st. Sergeant asked the 1st. Optio.  The 1st. Optio answered, "The Dip.  Carra told Lydi about the boys the Wranglers spotted."  As the two men talked, all but the Captain of the House Guards ran into to Stable.  The 1st. Optio pointed to the horses as the new men came in, so the men could check their saddles for weapons.  To everybody, "Everyone take two extra water skins for the horses.  We may have to search a lot of ground for the girls."

       The Captain of the House Guards finally came in, with Carra.  The Captain was trying to calm down Carra, "We don't know anything yet.  The Sentry just said Tat's horse showed up.  The horse could have just wandered off while Tat and the other were having lunch.  Tat could be riding back here, now, on the back of someone else's horse.  We going to just check that everything is alright.  Don't get yourself all worked up over nothing."  "Then why did you light the Attack signal," Carra asked the Captain.  "I don't know.  I wasn't on duty.  Probably just to play it safe, and get us some extra men.  Carra, don't get all worked up for no reason until we find out what happened," the Captain answered.

        "I'm going with you," Carra commanded the Captain.  Instead of the placating tone the Captain used before, this time the Captain authoritatively said with finality, "NO.  YOU STAY HERE."  Carra's lip trembled in fear.  Since her stronghold was build and Baynor installed one of his men as her Captain, the man obeyed every command Carra issued, and he took the role of a subordinate.  This was the first time he disobeyed her, and took absolute command of the situation.  From this, Carra realized the situation was dire, and the man was acting as a military commander taking total control of the stronghold and all the people in it.  That was the House Guard Captain's job: take command of the stronghold during military emergencies.

       As the Captain talked to Carra, the 1st. Optio sent a Stable Boss to fetch the Captain of Sentries.  All the House Guards were leaving the stronghold, something unthinkable.  They had to fill the Captain of Sentries in on what was happening, and give her instruction on what to do while they were gone.  She would have to fill in the Lords when they responded to the Attack signal.  They would leave the Captain of Sentries in charge of the stronghold.

       House Guards were suppose to devote themselves to their strongholds, and nothing else.  The safety of the stronghold was their responsibility.  Period.  But they knew the girls with Lydia were all the daughters of the Lords and Ladies, and the Lords and Ladies would die to protect their children.  Finding the girls was more important to all the Lords and Ladies than anything else.

       The eleven men (Carra was short one House Guard) galloped off to find Lydia and the girls.  They headed for the Dip, which was the wrong direction since Itatia lead everybody on a detour to dodge around the side of the Cimbri, but as the House Guards rode, they saw an odd collection of horses off to their side, grazing in a field.  They headed for the horses, and didn't recognize any of the animals.  Besides, the horses were saddleless but bridled.  The Roman's used saddles.  A search around the area found the girls.

       The girls were two fields over.  When the House Guards passed the second field, they saw horses with saddles, which made them feel they must be getting closer.  Galloping into the field with the girls, the House Guard Captain quickly counted girls.  Nine standing.  "Oh, shit," the Captain cursed.  Four were down.  He quickly tried to identify girls as he rode up to them.  Although they were kneeling, Itatia and Trivi were easy to identify.  They were so much bigger than the other girls.  "Thank you, Mars.  A cup of wine tonight, and a ram for you when I get to a temple," the Captain thought to himself when he saw Carra's two girls were alive.

        Lydia was kneeling next to Paulina when she heard horses galloping up.  Thinking they might be more Cimbri, she looked up with a an angry look.....But they were House Guards!!!  She got up and ran to them.  "Taira!  Get Taira," Lydia shouted at them, and then she ran back to where she was before.  The Captain hopped off his horse, and pointed to the smallest Overseer there, "Take my horse.  Try Salidia's villa first.  If Taira isn't there, go to the Garrison."  Nodding toward his horse, he added, "You can run her flat out the whole way.  She'll make it to Salidia's.  Cut through the fields, not the roads.  Change horses at Salidia's if you have to go to the Garrison.  Tell Taira some of Lydi's girls are down.  We need all her potions and cures."

       To the other Overseer, "Get back to our place.  When the Lords get there, tell them Lydi's been in a fight, and some of the girls are down.  Make sure you tell Talig that Lydi is alright.  He'll have a shit fit if he thinks she's hurt.  AND TELL CARRA TAT AND TRAV ARE ALRIGHT.  CARRA CARES AS MUCH ABOUT TRAV AS SHE DOES TAT.  If Atus is there, tell him I spotted Jani and she might have some light wounds but she's up and walking without any limp or anything.  You lead the Lords back here after you fill them in."  Then, quickly as an afterthought, "And tell them I sent for Taira.  At Salidia's or else the Garrison."  The Overseer took off back to the stronghold.

       To the remaining three Slave Guards, he nodded toward the bodies out in the field, "Check those sons of bitches, and kill any fuckin' bastard that's still alive."  Then the Captain head over toward Lydia.

       As the Captain talked to the Overseers, one of the House Guards looked at the scene around him.  He was dumbfounded by what he saw.  He just exclaimed, "Jupiter!"  He reached over to grab the arm of the House Guard next to him.  That man followed the eyes of his friend.  Both men looked at all the Cimbri dead, both men wide eyed and open mouthed in surprise.  "There must be close to a century of men out there," the first man said.  The two men looked at the girls, finding it hard to believe what happened, and the number of men the girls killed.

       When the Captain got to Lydia, she was leaning over an unconscious Julia, who had been moved to lie besides Paulina.  She looked at him, "I don't know what to do.  What should I do?"  Taira offered to teach Lydia some things to treat wounds, and make some potions to take away pain, but Lydia hadn't set aside time for the lessons.  Now she hated herself for not learning them when she had the chance.

       Janae and Thalia, and Trivi and Itatia were also standing around the two girls.  They decided the unhurt girls should take care of the hurt girls, but they were standing around helplessly like Lydia, because no one knew what to do.

       The Romans had learned some practical things to threat sword, lance and arrow wounds.  With their Legions and expensive gladiators, it was a practical necessity.  In a little bit, Galen would write his papers, which would guide Western medicine for the next twelve hundred years.  Galen learned his trade as a physician by treating wounded gladiators.

       The Captain answered Lydia's question, "I don't know.  The physicians handle that.  Make her comfortable.  A lot of them are thirsty when they wake up, and sometimes they feel cold even when it's warm out.  That's a mean looking leg wound.  But if she doesn't get blood poisoning or a fever, I she might make it." the Captain answered Lydia.

       "What's with Pauli," the Captain asked Lydia.  Lydia had moved Paulina's head to a more natural position, thinking it would make Paulina more comfortable.  Lydia's lips trembled a little, and she said, "Trav thinks her neck is broken."  The Captain looked at Lydia for a few moments without speaking, struck by the implication that the girl was dead.  "This is going to kill Pres," he said in an angry tone.  "I like her mother.  It'll kill her, too," he added.  Then to Lydia, "Is she breathing?"  Lydia's face scrunched up, as if she was about to cry, and she shook her head ever so little in a negative manner, "I don't think so."  The Captain threw his head back and moaned, "Oooohhhhhh."  He asked rhetorically, "For what?  A few lousy sheep?"  That comment racked Lydia with guilt, and she began to softly cry silently.

       Then the Captain asked, "What's with those two?"  Krista and Calista were a distance away, but near to each other.  Alisa and Kaylin were with Krista, and Annunka and Dimita were with Calista.  Lydia answered, "They're both alive.  It's Krista and Calista.  Calista doesn't look bad.  Only a shoulder wound, and it looks shallow."  After answering, Lydia started sobbing, feeling responsible for letting the girls get hurt.  Thalia went to hold her.  Thalia was attending Lydia because she didn't know what to do with Julia.

       The Captain signaled his 1st. Optio over to him, "Go back to the stronghold.  Nora's alone (The Captain of their Sentries).  I want one of us back there just in case something happens.  But leave Nora on the Keep.  You find Carra and keep her calm."  He pointed to the girls across the field from them.  "That's Cali and Kris down, but they're alive.  When the Lords get there, fill them in.  Send messengers to tell their mothers.  Don't send a messenger to Hecate and Draena.  Let Pres tell his wife what happened to Pauli.  I don't know what to do about Draena.  Send some carts back here to get the girls.  Send some Wranglers back here for the girl's horses.  Go."

       Less than five minutes later, Talig and his men galloped into the field.  They went to Lucius's stronghold in response to the Attack signal.  They met the 1st. Optio en route, and he filled them in.  When the men dismounted, Dimita called Titus over to his daughter, Calista; and Itatia called Cetus over to his daughter, Krista.  The Captain said to Talig, "I sent messengers out for their mothers but I didn't know who to send to tell Draena.  I didn't think it should be a messenger."  Talig nodded in agreement.  Draena was a widow, her husband killed in the Aquitani attack, and a messenger seemed a cold way to let her know what happened.  From the side, Lucius said, "I'm close to Draena.  I have dinner with her all the time, and my wife goes over there every other day.  I'll tell her about Julia."  Lucius galloped over to his daughter, Itatia.  "Are you alright," Lucius asked Itatia.  When she nodded "yes," he leaned over to hug her without saying anything for a minute or two, and Itatia just hung on him without saying anything.  Then he galloped off to tell Draena her daughter, Julia, was hurt but alive.  They were only four leagues from Draena's stronghold.

       When Atus saw his daughter, she was almost completely covered in dried blood.  Sometime during the fight, she lost her helmet, and her hair was plastered down flat in blood.  During the fighting, she had rubbed her fist in her eyes to be able to see through the blood, and the area around her eyes was the only skin colored part of her face.  They were two wide, white orbs in a dark, deep red colored face.  Atus panicked when he first rode into the field and saw her for the first time.  He kicked his horse forward and galloped toward her shouting, "Babe!  Babe," his childhood name for her.  While his horse was still at a lope, he swung off the saddle to hit the ground running and he sprinted up to her.  "I'm alright!  I'm alright," she called, trying to reassure him.  He grabbed her by the shoulders and exclaimed, "No cuts?  You got no cuts on you?"  "No cuts.  I'm not wounded anywhere," she answered him.  Then he just hugged her to him, breathing deeply in sharp gasps, and she clung to him, and they just stood there for a while holding each other.

       Presphene jumped off his horse the instant he saw his daughter, and ran to her.  He fell to his knees, and was about to pick her up, when the Captain of the House Guards grabbed his shoulder.  "She might have broken bones.  It hurts them if you move the broken places.  I sent for Taira.  Let her check Pauli first before you move her."  Presphene just knelt beside Paulina, holding one of her hands, and sobs racked his body.

       When Presphene went to Paulina, Lydia couldn't bear the sight of men she loved hurt so much and crying over their daughters.  She got up and went to the side, to sit down and sob.  Thalia was torn between comforting Lydia, and staying with Julia.  Thalia chose staying with Julia.  Julia was hurt.  Talig had no daughter.  He was enraged that the young girls were hurt, but that would wait.  The injured girls took precedent over everything.  Talig knelt with Julia and stroked her hair because all the other men were with their daughters and there was no one to be with Julia.  Atus went to stand next to Presphene, not knowing what to do to comfort Presphene but feeling that staying with Presphene would provide some kind of comfort.  He just touched Presphene's shoulder once to let him know he was there.

       Twenty minutes later, Carra arrived, along with eight carts.  When the House Guards first left the stronghold, Carra had the carts prepared in advance, just in case some of the girls were hurt.  Carra had thrown wool stuffed pallets, blankets, and water jars into the cart, as well as brought a bunch of women from her stronghold.  When the Overseer messenger arrived at the stronghold, he found Carra and the carts already outside the walls just waiting for him.

       Carra's only concern was the girls.  The Captain of House Guards attended his Mistress when she appeared.  First Carra ran over to hug Itatia and Trivi, and then Carra immediately turned to the other girls.  Carra was about have the women load the girls into the carts when the Captain repeated his warning that some could have broken bones, and they should wait for Taira.

       A little after that Salidia galloped onto the field, without even a Bodyguard with her, but lead by a guide from Carra's stronghold.  She searched the field with her eyes, spotted Lydia, gave a sigh of relief, and then dismounted to go to each of the girls.  Calista had woken up, and they found out she had broken ribs when they slipped off her armor to make her more comfortable, and she told them she was very cold and thirsty.  Krista was still unconscious and quiet and still, but then she started to moan and move around a little, like she was having a nightmare, but she remained unconscious.

       First Salidia went to the girls in the field, and squeezed Itatia's and Trivi's, and Dimita and Annunka's, hands when she got to them.  Instead of her usual self, Annunka was dead serious and focused.  There was work to be done, and Annunka was devoting herself completely to the task she had, caring for Calista.  Salidia satisfied herself that Krista's and Calista's wounds didn't look fatal.  Then she turned to Julia and Paulina.

       As Salidia was going to Julia and Paulina, Taira pulled into the field in her chariot.  There were bags and bundles tied all over her chariot in a haphazard manner.  Taira untied a bulging bag from her chariot before she dismounted, and she first went to Calista.  As she ran to Calista, the contents of the bag jingled.  It was filled with small vials of a potion Taira made from the poppy plant.

       Taira handed the bundle to Trivi, and knelt to Calista.  "Where do you hurt, Honey," she asked Calista.  "My shoulder and my side," Calista answered.  The shoulder wound was obvious.  Taira could make out the entrance wound through the dried blood on Calista's shoulder, and changing positions, she could see the exit wound high up in the back, which reassured Taira that the wound was shallow.  Then Taira ran her fingers up and down, and back and forth, across Calista's clavicle.  Taira determined the clavicle wasn't broken because she couldn't feel any breaks in the bone.  "Where on your side to do you hurt, Honey," she asked again.  Calista indicated where she was hurt, and Taira ran her fingers along Calista’s ribs.  The fractures were pronounced and Taira easily found them.  "Honey, the sword cut isn't bad at all.  Your ribs are broken, but that's not bad.  You're going to heal up just fine.  You're going to be alright."  Taira reached over and took the bag from Trivi, and then she took out one of the vials.  "Drink this, Honey.  It will take the pain away.  It will make you fall asleep, but that's the way the magic works and it will be alright.  I'm going to see the other girls, but I'll come back and take care of you," Taira said to her."

       Taira got up and handed Trivi six vials.  "Stay with her.  If she hurts bad, give her a vial to drink.  It will make her fall asleep.  The magic is strong.  Strong enough to kill her if you give her too much magic at once.  Only give it to her when she is really hurting and only give her one vial at a time.  Wait a long time between vials, the time it takes for glue to dry when you fledge an arrow.  Her bones are broken where she pointed on her side.  Where she's all bruised on the side.  Don't push or pull on her there when you move her, and don't let the spot bend or sag.  I'm going to wrap her in bandages there.  It will hold her insides in place and keep the insides from moving around.  It will make her heal faster and better.  Tat, go to my chariot.  There's a big green bag there.  It's soft.  It has the bandages I want to use, as wide as a fist.  Bring it over here.  There are two blue bottles tied to the side.  Get one of those bottles, too.  After that, get me a stick from the trees, as thick as a finger, with a fork at the end.  I'm going to push the bandages underneath her with it so I don't have to move her around a lot.  I'll come back here when she falls asleep and put the bandage on then.  And I have something I want to put on the wound.  It fights blood poisoning and stops pus and fever from growing."

       "Trav, come with me and tell Anni what I told you about the vials.  Then come back here and stay with Cali," Taira said to Trivi and Itatia.  Then Taira and Trivi headed over to Dimita, Annunka and Krista.

       At Krista, Lydia joined them.  She listened to Taira, and tried to learn from her.  She listened to Trivi explain what to do with the vials when Trivi explained it to Dimita.  When Trivi returned to Calista, Lydia took the bag of vials, and when they got to Julia, Lydia explained to Janae what she had to do with the opium mixture.  Thalia, Kaylin and Alisa crowded around to listen. 

       After the fight, no one knew what to do for the injured girls outside of trying to make them comfortable.  When Taira went to each of the injured girls, the others desperately tried to learn for her, so they would know what to do next time.

       Julia was now awake but very weak.  "Where do you hurt, Honey," Taira asked her.  "My leg," Julia answered.  "No place else," Taira continued, and Julia just shook her head a little.  "Honey, I know this is going to hurt a little, but can you move your leg a little for me?  I have to see if any bones are broken," Taira asked her.  Julia cried out in pain, but she bravely moved her leg, and Taira saw Julia's knee lift a little upward, and saw her foot shifted position in alignment with the knee, telling Taira no bones were broken.  "Honey, you only have a wound in your leg, and I know it hurts, but I think you can heal up just fine as if nothing ever happened to you.  I'm going to give you something to take the pain away and make you sleep for a while.  I have something I want to put on your leg that keeps away fever and pus.  I promise you you're going to feel better in a little bit," Taira said to her and stood up.

       No one realized the urgency of treating injuries as quickly as possible, so Salidia asked Taira, "Is she going to be alright?"  Taira shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know.  With wounds like that a lot of times fever and sweating seize the girl in a couple of days, or pus grows or the blood is poisoned.  The gods will decide what happens with her, not me.  I will use the magic I have to fight these things, but sometimes my magic isn't enough.  If fever and sweating seize her, it depends on how strong a girl she is.  If pus grows on the outside, I can fight that and a lot of the times I win.  If pus grows on the inside, there is one thing I can try but it usually fails.  If the blood becomes poisoned, I have nothing.  What I can do is chase the pain away.  If she dies, she will not be in pain when it happens and she will not suffer."

       Taira turned to examine Paulina.  Lydia had seen Taira asked the girls where they were hurt, but Paulina was unconscious.  Lydia thought she was dead, and couldn't answer Taira's question, so she volunteered, "We think her neck is broken and she's not breathing."  "Noooo," Taira sadly exclaimed, and she knelt down to Paulina and held her finger beneath Paulina's nose.  She felt no breath.  Presphene was so absorbed in his grief that he was oblivious to everything happening around him.  He ignored Taira and quietly sobbed to himself.

       Taira rose, motioned to Janae to give Julia her vial, and went to return to Calista to bandage her ribs.  Julia weakly cried out, "Where are you going?  You haven't done anything for Pauli."  Taira felt sorry for Presphene, and didn't want to aggravate his grief, so she knelt down and quietly whispered to Julia, "I'm sorry, Honey, but she is gone and there is nothing I can do for her."  "She's not dead!  She's only asleep!  Look again!  LOOK AGAIN," Julia screamed.  In a manner that signaled resignation, Taira leaned over to check Paulina's breathing again.

       Taira rested her hand on Paulina's shoulder to keep her balance as she extended her other hand toward the girl's nose.  Her shoulder was warm!  Taira spun around to Julia, "When did this happen?"  "Late morning, before noon," Julia answered.  Taira snapped her head up to look at the height of the sun over the horizon.  It was around 2 o'clock.  Taira whipped out her knife, and rubbed the blade between the fabric of her gown, to polish it.  She held the blade beneath the girl's nose, and intently stared at it.  She spun to Salidia and exclaimed, "SHE BREATHES!"

       That roused Presphene from his grief.  He let go of Paulina's hand and reached for her shoulders, to hug her to him.  Before he reached her, Taira swung her arm, and backhanded his hands away, "Get away from her, Pressie!  LET ME WORK!"

       Taira gently slid her fingers beneath Paulina's neck and carefully felt the vertebrae.  From outside on the skin, there wasn't much she could feel, just the spinous processes and nothing else, but what she did feel felt O.K.

       Injuries to the cervical vertebrae were one of the few things people who live on farms or around stables have practical experience with.  Farms and stables always have a few dogs and chickens running around, and sooner or later some dog is going "to wake up on the wrong side of the bed" and go after a chicken.  Some farm or stable worker will turn a corner, and there on the ground before him will be a limp chicken lying dead in a pile of feathers with his neck bent around like a pretzel.  Fido is in for a whipping.  The farm or stable hand will pick up the chicken and drop it off at the kitchen to be that night's dinner.  And every so often, when the cook goes back to pluck the feathers, the chicken will be..... gone!  Instead, the chicken will be strutting up and down the kitchen floor and clucking away like nothing ever happened!  What happens is that the neck muscles go into a spasm as the dog thrashes the chicken around by the neck, and it is the muscle spasms that pull the neck around into an unnatural curve.  The chicken's neck isn't really broken at all, but the neck is pulled into an unnatural curve because of the muscle spans, while the chicken lapses into unconsciousness from the violent thrashing.  After a while the muscle spasm relaxes and the chicken regains consciousness.  And the chicken remembers how chickens are supposed to act.  It doesn't happen often, but people who live on farms or around stables will have seen it two or three times.  Ask them, and they will indeed tell you that chickens can rise from the dead!

       Taira turned to Presphene and took his hands in hers, "Pres, her fate is in the hands of the Gods.  They will decide if she lives or dies.  If she is strong, she will wake.  If the Gods have decided otherwise, she will die.  I can keep her strong while she fights to live or die.  She will not waste away and become thinner and weaker while she makes this fight for her life.  I will stay with her and keep her strong.  You must get me the things I need, and you and Hecate and I will stand by her while she makes this fight.  But it will be up to her to win or lose this fight."

       "I must threat the other girls first or there is danger of fever or pus or blood poisoning.  Then I will return to Paulina.  I must keep Julia with me.  She has a deep wound that goes from one side of the leg to the other side.  If she grows a fever or pus, I have a few things I can try to help her fight that.  Not blood poisoning.  But with pus I must fight it as soon as it starts, without any delays, before it spreads.  Julia must stay with me so I can check her wound often during the day."

       "Pres, take Pauli home with you.  Put her in a cart and go slow back home with her.  Go slow.  Don't bounce her around.  If something is broken in her neck, it will hurt her if you move the broken spot around, so don't let her neck bend much when you put her in the cart and don't let her neck bang side to side as you travel.  Keep her warm with blankets.  That helps.  Wait for me to finish with Julia, then put Julia in the cart with Pauli and take them both to your place.  Get me a flock of sheep, and have them ready for me to use.  Send someone out, and get me a lot of river reeds from that stream that's near your place.  Thick ones.  As thick as my fingers," Taira finished with Presphene.

       Then Taira knelt to Julia, "The Gods will make the final decision if Pauli lives or dies; but if she lives, she owes her life to you.  You saved her when I was ready to leave her.  I'm keeping you with me so I can tend your wound.  I'll send for your mother so she can be with you.  Drink the potion Janae has.  It will make you sleep, but that is good.  When you wake, you will be stronger."

       Taira stood and beckoned Janae to give Julia her potion.  Then she turned to Lydia, "You wanted to learn some of my potions.  You will learn them.  You are staying with me to get me the things I need as I work.  Go to my chariot.  There is a yellow bag there.  Get it.  There another blue jar tied to the left side.  Get it.  I'm going to need both bottles I brought.  Bring the bag and the bottle over to Calista.  I'll meet you there."

       Taira went to Calista.  Calista was asleep from the potion.  Taira wrapped the long bandage she brought around Calista's chest, and she wound it tight enough to hold the chest firmly but not so tight as to make breathing difficult.  That helped immobilize the ribs.  Taira had Trivi pull the bandage tight from one side, while Taira pushed the ribs around until she felt the fractured ends come together.  She pushed the ribs until she could no longer feel a break between the split ends, and then she wrapped the bandage around the spot to keep it from moving.

       She washed the wound with the liquid in her blue jar until she could distinguish the wound from the dried blood around it.  This would subsequently allow her to check the wound for the presence of pus.  The liquid was derived from the Witch Hazel plant and was an astringent, a mild antiseptic.  The Priestesses of Isis had used this potion for centuries and trusted its magical powers.  It helped ward off fever and pus and blood poisoning.  Taira was unaware of it, but the potion had high alcohol content.

       She dusted the wound in a yellow powder from her yellow bag.  It was powdered crystalline sulfur.  The Priestesses of Isis believed it to be magical and able to ward off evil.  It was useless.

       Then she bandaged the shoulder and wet the bandage with her Witch Hazel extract again.  She told Titus, Calista's father, to take the bandage off four times a day to check the wound for pus or blood poisoning.  She asked him if he knew what blood poisoning looked like.  "Yes.  The flesh turns black and smells like rotten meat," he answered.  If he saw pus he was to summon her immediately, or if Calista felt pain deep within her shoulder or if she got feverish.  She gave him some bandages to use as replacements when he checked her wound.  She gave Dimita some extra vials of her poppy potion and told her to explain to Titus how it was used.  She warned him not to let Calista act brave and stoic and pretend she felt no pain when her side hurt her, but to rest and not do much until her side no longer hurt.  She told him a thick, rich stew was good for her.  Then she sent him home with his daughter.  She told him she would visit with Calista as soon as she could, but that Julia and Paulina had serious injuries and she had to stay with them while they were in danger.  Lastly, she told Titus she thought Calista would be fine and be her old self in a little bit.

       Taira repeated this performance with Krista and Julia.  Before she sent off Presphene she reminded him she wanted a flock of sheep and some reeds that grew in the stream near his stronghold.  She would return to her quarters at Salidia's stronghold and get some things she wanted, plus some clothes, and then return to Presphene's stronghold to attend Paulina and Julia.

       Salidia and Talig were nearby when Taira talked to Presphene, and Talig sent out a messenger to tell Draena that her daughter was at Presphene's stronghold, with instructions that the messenger was to watch for Draena if she was already in transit to Lucius's and Carra's stronghold.  Talig also sent out messengers to tell Seritonius, Annunka's father, and Tiberius, Dimita's father, that their daughters had been in a battle, but their daughters were alright.  All Talig's men, and Seritonius and Tiberius who galloped off at the news, joined their daughters and returned to their strongholds with them, Seritonius and Tiberius being the last to arrive and leave with their daughters.

       With all the men off with their daughters, that left Salidia, Talig, Taira and Lydia on the field.  Lucius was going to return to his stronghold with his wife and daughter, but he didn't want to leave Salidia, Talig, Taira and Lydia alone.  He left four of his House Guard there, with instructions that they stay on the side to allow the four really important people in the valley to talk in private.

       Now that they were alone, Salidia let her anger out.  "Is this what you wanted, Taira, when you said the girls should go out?  Four girls down!  Juli and Pauli look like they're going to die!  What's going to happen if Cali and Kris's wounds turn bad and they get fever or blood poisoning?  How will you save them then?  Every deep wound I've ever seen like Juli's has pus coming out of it in a few days and blood poisoning after that," Salidia screamed at Taira.

       "Look at that," Taira pointed to the two thick lines of bodies of more than forty men who had formed up before the 1st. group of girls and Lydia.  "Who can do that?  There's close to a century of men out on this field!  Can fifty of your Dragoons kill that many men?  Those twelve girls killed all those men!  Look!  The men in those two lines have arrows in them.  Can ALL your Dragoons kill one man with an arrow?  Look around here.  The girls killed the men around here with swords and lances.  They killed them with arrows and they killed them with swords.  Who else can do that," Taira answered Salidia.

       Then Taira turned to Talig, "I've seen you and Titus in the Coliseum, and I know how good both of you are, but I'm not sure you and your men could have come out better.  The girls cut the odds down in halve with their bows, before they had to use their swords.  Not one of you can use a bow!  You would have to fight a whole century with your men!  How well would you have done out here," she asked Talig.

       Then Taira turned back to Salidia, "Four girls are down?  Only Janae is speed trained!  How would they have done if they were all speed trained?  Would any of them been hurt if they were speed trained?"

       Taira turned to Lydia, "You're speed trained.  How did your speed let you handle the fight?"

       Lydia: "A couple of times I had two men coming at me together with lances and I was nervous, but I dodged them with room to spare when they got up to me.  With the hand to hand, none of the Cimbri were very good.  Only one kid was halfway decent.  I have tougher fights with the men when we practice every day.  None of the Cimbri were half as good as what we do on the practice grounds.  My kills were all easy.  One Cimbri came at my back while I was fighting another one, and he got close before I heard him.  I got a cut on my hand blocking him, but the kill was easy once I turned on him.  And to be honest, I was taking chances and doing things I would never do otherwise, but I wanted to protect the girls so much I really took some risky chances.  I did a "double strike" on three men standing near to each other, and they were really in a bad position for that, but I still managed to get them all.  I got another cut on my hand from that, but nothing serious.  But none of the Cimbri were good enough to take advantage of the other gambles I made."

       Taira asked Lydia, "How did Janae do?  Was she ever in real danger?"

       Lydia: "I only got a couple of glances at what she was doing.  It's hard to say from two quick looks.  Once I caught sight of her in front of an older guy with plenty of space to use, no danger, and I saw her use The Snap to get him.  He didn't move his hands a finger's width before she got his throat.  And once I caught sight of her on the side.  She was coming out of a right spin out, and the guy was behind her holding his throat.  The two things I saw her do were simple crap, with a lot of space to use, and she got her guys easy.  I'll tell you, when I looked at her, I never felt she was in danger.  She had room to dodge all over the place.  None of the Cimbri were near enough to get close to her."

       Taira turned to Salidia and she enunciated each word clearly and slowly for emphasis, ""Eleven girls fought without speed training, and they killed close to a hundred men.  Two fought with speed training and they were never in danger.  Right now - WITHOUT THE SPEED TRAINING - they are the best fighting force I have ever seen.  The best Egyptians I've ever seen, the elite troops, couldn't do what those girls did.  I'm not sure Talig and his men could have done better!  If they were all speed trained like Janae, NOT ONE OF THEM WOULD HAVE BEEN HURT!"

       Lydia interrupted, "Taira, to be honest, a lot of the Cimbri were young kids and old men, and they were easy.  If they were good warriors, grown, tough men, things would have turned out much worse.  And they came at us only a few at a time.  Even though there were eighty or so of them, we only had to deal with a few at a time.  It would have been worse if they all ganged up to come at us all at once."  But then Lydia turned to Salidia, "But I agree with Taira.  If the other girls got their speed like Jani, none of them would have been hurt.  If the girls had speed, they would only have the problems we three have, like someone coming up behind that we don't notice."

       Lydia continued, "And Sali, if we had the Arabians, I would have avoided the whole thing and let the Dragoons handle them.  I would have taken the girls back to Lucius's stronghold and not gambled on taking on that many men, but the Cimbri had some good horses and they over-ran the plugs the girls are riding before we could make it back."

       Taira: "You asked me what I wanted with the girls?  I want to see them on Arabians and all of them with Talig's speed training.  All of them like Janae.  Imagine what Trivi and Tat are going to be like with Talig's speed.  No warrior will threaten them.  No one will be able to stand against them.  And Sali, I have a potion and a ward that I used on Juli.  It's not certain, but she has a fighting chance of the wound not going bad, even with a deep wound like that."

       She went on, "Sali, I have to go to Pauli now.  It's going to be a real fight for that girl, but I can give her a chance of staying alive.  Sali, think before you forbid them to go out again.  Jani's just the first.  The others will be getting their speed soon.  They'll be a different kind of warrior than you or I have ever seen before.  You can't judge them like other girls.  They're going to be different than anyone else on a battlefield.  They can use bows, they can ride as cavalry, they can use swords and shields, and in a little bit they'll be able to fight as Dimachaeri."

       Taira turned to Lydia, "You can come with me if you want.  I have to make up more of the potion from the poppy to make up for what I used here.  And I need to make more of the Witch Hazel ward.  I'll show you how to make them and use them."  Taira got in her chariot to go to her quarters.  Lydia looked to Salidia for permission to go, and Salidia nodded ascent.  Lydia got in the chariot with Taira, and the two of them took off.

       Talig turned to Salidia, "Taira was right about one thing.  If the girls had their speed, I don't think any of them would have been hurt.  Lydi said Jani was able to keep them at a safe distance, and if they can't get close to her, they can't hurt her.  The Cimbri got them before they had the protection of speed, and you know what a difference that makes."

       All this was more than Salidia could emotionally handle at one time.  She wanted to rest, but there was no time for her to rest.  She interrupted what Talig was saying to pick up the theme which was important to her, "Come on.  I want to go to Pressie.  I'm so scared for Julia."  Salidia's lip trembled, and she said, "Everyone I've ever seen with a deep wound like that has died."  She went on, "I don't understand what's wrong with Paulina.  Why can't she just wake up?  If it's broken bones, why can't Taira handle it like a broken arm," she asked Talig.  Talig understood what a broke neck meant.  Today, tomorrow, the day after the girl would die without ever waking up.  She would just stop breathing without so much as a quiver.  It was just a matter of time.  But Talig didn't tell Salidia that.  He didn't want to make Salidia feel worse.  Instead he just shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't know.

       Talig turned to get Salidia's horse for her.  Instead, she walked along with him, talking.  He knew she liked to talk when something bothered her.  Talig liked to go off someplace quiet and be alone when something bothered him, but he knew Salidia liked to talk when something bothered her.  So he listened to her, letting her know he was paying attention to her.  "Hecate's going to be hysterical until Paulina wakes up.  When do you think Paulina will wake up?  Then Hecate and I can both be there for Draena.  One of us should always be with Draena.  This is going to be so tough for her.  First her husband, now her daughter.  I think Angela, Carra, and Caldera (wives of the men, whose daughters were unharmed) will come as soon as they can.  I bet Cornelia and Pacina comes too.  Maybe one of them should stay with Calista's and Krista's mothers until we know the girls will be alright............. "

                                       Chapter 21

                                             TLC

       "We must fight for the girls," Taira told the crowded room in Presphene's villa.  "They are like archers in a battle.  We must bring them the arrows they need to fight, once their quivers are empty.  We must bring these hurt girls what they need to fight," she continued.  Turning to Hecate, she said, "You must remain strong so you can get your daughter what she needs."  "Stay strong for your daughter,” Taira authoritatively repeated to Hecate in a strong voice.  Hecate's eyes were swollen from crying, she held both her hands to her mouth, and her whole body was trebling.  Presphene was standing next to his wife, holding her shoulders, but he wasn't in much better shape than Hecate.  Taira statement to Hecate was needed.  Hecate was close to losing it, on the edge of becoming hysterical.  Taira's instructions to Hecate gave her something to focus on, helping her daughter.  It worked.  Hecate's desire to help her daughter rose up and she forced herself to do what was needed to help Paulina.  By an act of will power, Hecate forced herself to focus on what Taira was saying and to be calm.  In spite of this, her eyes still ran with tears and her pulse raced.

       Next to Presphene and Hecate was Draena, Julia's mother, with Lucius and Carra standing behind her.  Carra, Lucius's wife, stood holding Draena shoulders and Lucius was ready to offer Draena any emotional support he could.  Marcus stood next to Presphene, for emotional support.  Pacina was also there, and she attached herself to Hecate.  Cingina, the Head Housekeeper from Kaylin's estate was also there because she developed close personal relationships with all these women.  Salidia was there ready to help anyway she could, and Lydia assigned herself as Taira's assistant.  Talig also stood behind Presphene.

       Talig's men and their wives, the ones who daughter were unhurt, rushed to the villa's of the man who's daughters were hurt, to help any way they could

       The young girls were also there.  While they were on the battlefield, they split up, two uninjured girls attending each injured girl.  The girls knew their mothers wouldn't be satisfied until they saw their daughters, so the girls first went home.  "Are you sure you're alright?"  "Yes, Mom.  I'm alright.  I didn't get hurt."  "You're sure?  You're positive you didn't get hurt?"  "Yes, Mom, I'm positive.  I didn't get hurt at all."  After the girls put in an appearance with their mothers, they rushed back to the girls they had attended on the battlefield.  The fourteen "new" Amazons, the ones that recently joined the "old girls," also rushed out to be with the injured girls.

       Even Seritonius's wife and Tiberius's wife, the mothers of Annunka and Dimita rushed out to help.  They weren't "Ladies," but they had the close bonds of being mothers with the other women.  That took some sorting out, messengers being sent out to different strongholds to find out who was where.  They split up to go to help Angela at Cetus's villa and Petra at Titus's villa because so many people were helping out at Presphene's villa.

                       ..........................

       "Everyone helping with Paulina gather around," Taira called out to the room.  Taira took both Presphene's and Hecate’s hands in hers, and she directed most of her talk to them.  Both Presphene and Hecate were trembling as Taira talked, but Hecate forced herself to focus on Taira's every word.

       "I have seen this several times in Egypt with warriors who were hurt in battle.  This is not simple sleep.  Paulina is between Life and Death, but we will help her."

       "Pres, Hex, I want to be honest with you.  Pauli's fate is in the hands of Gods, and Pauli's own heart.  They will decide if she lives or dies.  We can only help as she makes this fight," Taira spoke to them.  Presphene's eyes trembled and you could see he was holding back tears.  Talig put his hand on Presphene's shoulder.

       "We will keep her strong while she makes this fight for her life.  Most important is her lips.  Whoever is with her must watch her lips."  Taira ran her fingers across her lips.  "See how soft the lips are.  Her lips must stay soft like that.  We cannot let her lips get dry and cracked.  I told you this is not ordinary sleep.  She can be like this for days, and you all know what happens to you if you do not eat or drink for days.  Hex, you must watch yourself.  You cannot rub her lips every few moments to check them.  You will rub her lips raw, and then we cannot tell how her lips really are.  There is a sundial in every Courtyard.  You all know what an hour is.  Only check her lips once or twice an hour.  But you must check at least every hour.  If her lips become dry or cracked, then we must help her.  We will have to do this several times each day and night.  I will show you how to do it.  We will make sure she does not waste away from hunger and thirst, until she comes back to us."

       "I treated a man in Egypt who woke up after five days from a sleep like this.  He told me what happened to him."  Taira's voice dropped to a whisper, and everybody had to lean forward to hear her.  "He traveled to the AfterLife!  He traveled to the Land of the Dead!  He told me of going to a strange land, yet he lay in the bed for the whole five days.  It was his Soul which traveled to the Land of the Dead!  He told me he met his mother and father and his uncles in this land, and talking to them and hugging them.  They all died years before this happened!  He met many people who had died, in this land.  But they were all alive in this Land of the Dead!"

       Taira continued to talk in a whisper, "But he came back from the Land of the Dead!  While he was in the Land of the Dead, he heard his wife calling to him from far ..FAR.. away, but she sat right beside him on his bed holding his hand!  And he heard his children crying for him!  And his heart wanted to be with his wife and children so much, he came back from the Land of the Dead.  And then he woke up from this sleep of Death.  And that is the story of this man who was in the Land of the Dead!"  Taira sat back in her chair, and said, "We Priestesses learned much from this man.  When he was first hurt, he saw Ra ....our Sun Good....in the sky, and when he went to Ra, he suddenly found himself in the Land of the Dead where he met all his dead family.  We learned much of the AfterLife from this man."

       "I think it would be good if those who are with Paulina tell her they love her and miss her and want her to come back to them.  I am sure, from this man who was in the Land of the Dead, that she can hear you and it will sway her," Taira finished.

       "Now, those with Julia gather around.  You all must be Sentries for me.  Julia is like a sheep in a pasture, and we must protect her if bears or wolves come to attack her.  Her bears and wolves are fever and pus and blood poisoning, and we must fight these things so her wound doesn't turn bad.  If you see these things, you must be my Sentries and call me immediately so I can come and fight them."

       Taira took Draena's hands in hers, "Drae, some things I am good at fighting.  Some things are very strong and very hard to defeat.  We must watch her and be ready to act as soon as something happens.  The sooner I can apply cures and potions, the better.  I already applied a witch hazel ward that is very powerful, and it will help protect her from the wound going bad.  If we are lucky, her wound will heal without any problems, but we must be ready to act if something happens."

       Draena was in much better shape than Hecate.  She had a calm but slightly angry expression, and she intently focused on everything Taira said and did.  She sat forward in her chair, leaning in to be closer to Taira.  As Taira talked, Draena would nod her head, or say, "Alright," or "Yes," or "I understand," or "I will."  Carra, standing behind her with her hand on Draena's shoulder was in worse shape than Draena.  Carra acted as if her own daughter was hurt instead of Julia.  Carra's eyes were swollen from crying, and she watched Taira with a frightened expression.  Lucius, Carra's husband, was staring at Taira with the same kind of intense concentration as Draena.  He intended to take a post at Julia's side, the same as the women.

       "If the wound turns black, I have nothing to use, but I can do many things to stop that from happening.  If pus grows on the outside, I can defeat it almost all the time.  If pus grows on the inside, that is worse, but I have a few things to fight that and sometimes I win.  If fever seizes her, I have some potions to use.  It is good Julia is a strong girl.  I have seen that strong people are much better defeating fever.  Everyone here has had a splinter or a burn, and you know what it looks like if the injury get red and swollen.  That is usually the start of a problem, and you must call me immediately if you see that so I can decide what potions and cures to use."

       "I want you to take turns watching her wound, and if you see pus growing or redness or fever or blackness, you must call me immediately."

       She went on, "I hate to see the girl's hurt any more, so I keep the treatment as gentle as I can.  It hurts them if you rip the scabs off the wound, so I don't like to do that too often.  And I have found this is much better if you keep the bandage wet with the witch hazel ward.  The scab doesn't stick as strongly to the bandage if it is wet.  So I want you to keep her bandage wet with the ward and to only look at the wound occasionally.  An hour is good.  Even for the people who can't read, it is easy to tell because the shadow on sundial will fall on the mark below each of the numbers.  When the shadow hits the mark, check the wound.  At night, we must tell by the feel of it.  That will be good enough.  The goal is not to make Julia hurt too much, and if we wait for a while before we check the wound, that will do."

       Taira took both Draena's hands in hers, and said, "Drae, I can promise you that no matter what happens, Julie won't be in any pain and she will not suffer."

       Taira sat back and faced the room.  "Send for the Scribe.  I want him to write my instructions down, and make a second copy.  I want two girls who understand all that I have said.  You must take a copy of my instructions to Cetus and Titus, and tell them what I said.  If they see pus or redness or fever or blackness, they are to send for me immediately, and I will go to their strongholds.  But I think Calista's and Krista's wounds at not that bad, and I think they will be alright."

       Taira stood up, "Pres, did you get the river reeds and sheep I wanted?"  He nodded.  "Get the reeds and bring them to the Kitchen, and bring a sheep to the Kitchen too," she said to him.  Marcus volunteered, "I'll get them for you, Pres, where did you put the reeds?"

       To Cingina, Taira said, "Cinni, find the Head Cook and have her start a fire for me.  After that, find the Butcher and send him to the Kitchen."  Then, "Talig, have my horses watered and fed, but keep them in the Courtyard next to my chariot, with stable boys standing at the ready.  I want to be able to go to Cetus or Titus immediately, if they send for me."  Turning to Salidia, "Find Pres's Head Farmer for me, and have him wait for me at the room I'm using.  I'll need more of the potions I use.  I have samples of what I need.  I will show him the herbs I need, and he can send his Farmers out to find them for me in the morning."  "Lydia, get the bottle with the long spout I brought and drop it off at the Kitchen.  Then get some of the feathers I brought and the weak poppy potion.  Take them to Paulina's room.  Come to the Kitchen after you're done."  Finally, "Pres, Hex, take me to your Kitchen."

       In the Kitchen, Taira had the Butcher slaughter the sheep, and had him remove the stomach with the esophagus intact.  She had the Cook start a broth using the heart, and cook the liver.  Presphene, Hecate, Lydia and a few others followed what she did.  Using a mortar and pistil, she ground the liver up into a paste, and mixed it into the broth.  She fished the heart out of the broth.  "We Priestesses of Isis have used this broth for hundreds of years, and we found it works best if it is thin, like this," Taira showed them.  "Fill this jar I brought.  It is the right size to use."  Taira took the jar of thin broth and sheep stomach to Paulina's room, with everybody following her.

       In Paulina's room, Taira took a feather and wet it with the weak poppy potion.  "Sometimes the person chokes when we do this, so I wipe the throat with the feather.  Gather around and watch how I do this," Taira said as she swabbed the throat with the anesthetic mixture.  "Wait a little time for potion to work."  "Be gentle for this next part.  Remember her neck was hurt."  Taira took a reed, split a short length at the bottom to form a fork, and fed a leg of the fork into a little hole she cut in the end of the esophagus of the sheep stomach.  She folded the end of the esophagus back over the reed to completely enclose the reed end.  She swabbed the length of the esophagus with the poppy mixture.  "Gentle.  Gentle when you do this.  Go slow and don't force anything.  Remember this must be done many times, and you don't want to rub her throat raw."  She gently slid the esophagus down the girl's mouth using the flexible reed to push it, withdrew the reed which slipped out of the hole when it was pulled backwards, and pulled the esophagus back just a little bit.  That unfolded the little flap which was folded back to enclose the reed end.  Then she filled the sheep stomach up at the other end with the weak broth, pinching the opening closed when finished.

       "Remember, Paulina has not had anything to drink since she was hurt.  How thirsty would you be, after all that time?  How much have you had to drink since the battle ended?  We must give her something to drink.  It will not work if we just pour water down her mouth, but this will work."  Taira squeezed the sheep stomach, forcing the broth down into Paulina's stomach.  "Paulie hasn't drunken in all that time and she must be thirsty, so I want you to do this four times.  But you couldn't drink two water skins all at once, and neither can Pauline.  You must wait a little time between each time you do this.  Wait the amount of time it would take to walk around the outside of the stronghold and once around the Courtyard.  Than give her another stomach full of broth.  If her stomach is bulging, you are doing it too fast.  At sunrise, get a fresh sheep stomach and give her a fifth drink, and plan another two for lunch time.  Have the Cook keep the broth going and ready for us when we need it.  Use a fresh sheep each time.  We must watch her lips.  If her lips remain soft, we are giving her enough to drink.  If her lips get dry, we are not giving her enough, and we must increase what we give her."

       "Lydi, come with me.  The two returned to the room Taira commandeered, where the Head Farmer was waiting.  She gave him samples of the herbs she wanted, and instructed him to gather the herbs for her.  Then she and Lydia headed off to Julia's room.

       Inside Julia's room, Taira found Trivi, Itatia and Carra all asleep in chairs, with blankets draped over them.  Cingina visited each room after she finished her errands, with a HouseKeeper in tow.  She had blankets brought to cover the sleepers.  People were exhausted from their brutal day.

       A bleary eyed Draena sat next to her daughter, and Lucius sat nearby, exhausted but awake.  Two of the "new" girls, Cinna and Antonia, were also there.  They were fully awake and assigned themselves the task of helping any way they could.  They rose when Taira entered the room.  "Pay attention to what I do tonight and in the morning, and learn what I watch for.  You must learn all the danger signals when the wound is examined.  When you learn them, I will send you to Cetus and Titus to explain it to them."  Taira felt guilty over not personally attending Krista and Calista.  She overcompensated for it by sending them several messengers with instructions on what to do.

       Julia was asleep, from a dose of the opium mixture.  Taira examined the wound.  The wound looked red and angry, but it didn't seem quite as red or as angry as this afternoon.  If anything, the swelling seemed to have receded a little.  "This is good.  The very worse thing that can happen starts now and in the next day.  Redness and swelling are the first signs.  It is the start of the blood poisoning that will kill her in a few days.  If there is no redness or swelling in the next day, the very worse is past.  She can still get blood poisoning, but every day she goes without redness or swelling, the better her chances get.  Drae, in the morning when she wakes, insist she have something to eat and drink.  Make her, even if she isn't hungry.  A good meal, like a stew that is easy to chew and swallow.  It will make her stronger.  I will instruct the cooks.  Cinni, Toni, remember that."

       Two days later, Lucius burst into Taira's room, waking Taira and Lydia.  "Ti, I'm not certain, but I think the cut is a little red and swollen," Lucius shouted.  Taira and Lydia rushed to Julia's room in their sleeping gowns.  Taira examined the wound.  Every time Taira checked the wound, she noted the smallest details.  It was a little red and swollen at one edge of the wound.  "Lydi, give me you dagger," Taira said.  Just then, Salidia and Talig rushed into the room, but stood apprehensively against the wall.

       Lydia kept her dagger razor sharp.  And every time it was held against the fast moving mechanical grinding wheel they used to sharpen their weapons, red hot sparks flew off the blade, while the thin blade itself was almost heated red hot.  Every time Lydia sharpened her dagger, she unknowingly heat sterilized it.  No one realized the significance of that, but it helped Julia.

       Taira cut into the edge of the wound, where there was the slight swelling.  Just a little down, there was a small pocket of pus.  Taira used the witch hazel ward and a piece of bandage to scrub the area clean.  Some Priestesses preferred to cut the bad part out.  Taira preferred to try to clean out the pus first before she turned to cutting.  As she worked, she said, "Drae, Lusc, keep this area pulled open, so the ward gets to it.  Don't let the cut close up."  She bandaged up the wound again and soaked the bandage in the ward again.  Taira stopped at Salidia and Talig as she left.  "That's the best way to handle pus.  Get it as soon as it starts, before it grows and spreads," she said.

       All these people had ferocious immune systems, more robust than the average person today.  They were all survivors of a brutal elimination process.  All suffered the cuts and scraps of children, and had uncounted infections as they grew up.  Siblings with poor or average immune systems died, while only people with the strongest immune systems survived the maladies of childhood.  It was a time of horrendous childhood mortality.  People like Salidia, Lydia, Taira - all the people who survived to adulthood - had the strongest immune systems of their siblings, and their bodies rallied to defeat infections that killed their sibling in the past.

       Julia developed another infection the next day, but it was like a small acne pimple.  It was small and just below the skin surface at the edge of the cut, and Taira handled it like she did the other infection.

       At four days, the redness disappeared around the wound, and Julia had no fever.  Everyone gathered in Julia's room when Taira first checked the injury every morning.  Taira took Julia's hand, "Juli, I think you're safe.  I've never seen a wound go bad once the redness disappears and all the swelling goes away.  You’re going to heal up just fine.  Keep your leg bandaged and use the witch hazel, but you're going to be fine."  Everyone in the room started crying.  The usually strong Draena, who was stoic and a rock of strength for her daughter, just balled.  Salidia sobbed.  She had never seen someone with a deep wound like that escape infections which eventually killed them.   Primarily due to the high alcohol content of Taira's witch hazel brew.

       As soon as she finished with Julia, Taira had her chariot readied, and she galloped off to spend the rest of the day at Cetus's and Titus's strongholds.  She returned to Presphene's place hours after sunset.  When she came back, her chariot was driven by a nervous wagon driver from Titus's place, while Taira sat half asleep on the chariot floor.

                       ............................

       Taira spent a lot of her time at Presphene's showing Lydia and her girls how to make some of her potions and cures, and she explained how to use them.  Students included Carra, Draena, Pacina, and Cingina.    Camascene and Miridia, Head Stewards at Salidia's stronghold and the Garrison were summoned for the lessons.  When the girls made their trial batches of poppy flower potion and witch hazel ward, Taira had the girls send their mixtures back to the girl's own strongholds, to be used there if needed.  Lydia put some of each in a pouch on her saddle.

       At least twice a day Taira went to Paulina's room.  She let the others there administer the care to Paulina.  She only checked their work.  Paulina lost weight and there was drying at the corner of their lips.  It wasn't because Paulina wasn't kept hydrated.  They gave her adequate fluids.  The broth they fed her was an inadequate nutritional replacement.  It lacked vitamins and minerals.  Paulina was showing the effects of poor nutrition.  Taira's brew only delayed the inevitable, but it did keep her hydrated.  It bought Paulina time to recover on her own from the injury.  Without it, Paulina would have died the forth day from thirst.

       What Taira did do when she went to visit Paulina was pray.  She painted Egyptian religious symbols on Paulina and around her bed, and she said and chanted Egyptian prayers for the girl.  Several times she said to the people in the room, "Pray to your Roman gods for the girl.  Her life in their hands as much as my gods.  It's not in our hands."

       Late in the evening of the sixth day, Taira was in Paulina room, half asleep in a chair against a wall.  Several other people were asleep in chairs around the girl.  Taira heard a weak, "Mommie."  Taira snapped her head up to stare at Paulina, uncertain if the call came from Paulina or a drowsy sleeper having a dream.  Presphene jumped to his feet.  Paulina looked exactly like she did for the past six days.  Taira looked at Hecate.  Hecate was staring at her daughter, her eyes wide and her mouth open in surprise.  It was Hecate's expression that told Taira where the call came from.  Taira leaned her head back, eyes closed, facing the heaven.  "Uesat," she exclaimed, and started crying.

       After a while Taira said, "I want a few people watching her all the time.  Watch for the littlest movement,  a quiver of the lips, a flick of the hand, a little turn of the foot.  Take a lot of short turns with each other.  It's hard to stay awake doing that.  In a little bit we will learn her future and what the gods want for her."

       Taira believed that the girl's cry might be the last thing she did before she died or the beginning of coming out of her sleep.  Maybe soon, but within the next day or two.  Salidia rushed into the room and turned to Taira, "Is she alright?"  Taira shook her head, "I don't know.  In a little bit we will find out what the gods have decided for her."  Taira tended to be an optimist and she tended to see the glass as half full.  So she added with a smile, "But I have hope for her."

       Salidia talked to other people in the stronghold, and she now understood what a "Broken neck" meant.  She was terrified for Paulina, and she also understood that it was a miracle that the girl was still alive at six days.

       Taira was awake so much during that night that morning found her asleep in her chair again.  "Taira!  Taira!  Taira, wake up.  She just said, "Mommie," again and she moved her hand a little."  Taira sat bolt upright, almost fully awake.  "Hex, hold her hand and tell her you love her.  She wants to hold your hand.  Tell her to come home."  Taira turned to Salidia, "She's going to live."

       Talig was the most sophisticated when it came to broken necks.  He saw hundreds while fighting in arena and from training accidents in the ludus (gladiatorial training schools).  In the ludus, he saw lanistas (gladiator owners/managers) do everything they could to keep valuable pieces of property alive.  He knew a lot about that happens to people with broken necks.  "Is she crippled or can she walk," Talig asked Taira.  Taira turned to the people standing around Paulina, "Did she move her legs at all?"  They all shook their heads negatively.  Taira turned to Talig, "We'll have to wait and see."

       Later that night, about 10PM, Hecate was still forcing  herself to stay awake by sheer will power, holding her daughter's hand, and talking to her.  Hecate only left twice to go to the toilet, while Presphene replaced her.  "Remember that time we were going to Rome on the Apian Way, and we saw those strange men riding Camels!  They were so funny looking and walked so strange!  And you were just little, and asked me...."  "Mom," Paulina said, and rolled her head to the side.  Paulina's expression didn't change.  She only rolled her head.  "Yes, Honey?  I'm here.  What do you want?  I'm here, Sweetie....," Hecate kept saying.  Taira got up and went to the foot of Paulina's bed.  She pinched Paulina's foot hard...painfully.  Paulina's lips grimaced into a painful frown.  Taira turned to Talig, "She's not crippled.  She can walk."  It was late at night, but Taira said to Talig, "Go to Julia's room.  If she's awake, tell her she's saved Pauli's life and she's going to be fine.  If she's asleep, have someone tell her as soon as she wakes up."

                                       Chapter 22

                                   Life Goes On

       Talig and Lydia went over to Presphene's place.  Lydia tagged along with Talig just for a chance to chat with Hecate and visit with Paulina.  Presphene sent a message that he wanted to fire one of his new officers.  Presphene said his House Guard Captain was at a loss about what to do with the man.  Talig went over to see if he could talk to the man, and straighten him out before he was fired, because of all the trouble they had staffing the valley.  When they got there, Talig spotted the man on the Keep.  He identified the man by his uniform and rank.  Talig went up to talk to him.  Lydia popped into the Villa first just to say a quick, "Hi," and then she went back to join Talig on the Keep.

       Roman life was organized around rigid social stratification and patronage.  Although there were frequent examples of social mobility, such as men like Talig, the majority of people were expected to fill various niches in society based on their social class.  A person's social class predicted the jobs they would hold in life.

       One of Salidia's Patrician friends, Heppa, sent the man to Salidia because she knew Salidia was looking for people to staff her valley.  Heppa personally knew the man's family, and recommended he be given a job as a Captain, in keeping with his social class.  He came from the middle of the Equestrian class, the class made up the Military class of Roman society.  He was shuffled off to a stronghold that needed a Captain.  Pretty much, in keeping with the way Romans ran their lives.

       When the man arrived in Gaul, he felt demeaned when he found out he was being installed as the head of a bunch of lowly Slave Guards, but Salidia pay was generous and she offered a decent sized track of land along with the pay.  He schemed of expanding his duty to include more than just supervising a bunch of low ranked Slave Guards.  He had ambitions of becoming a Castorum (A "Camp" senior duty officer) for the stronghold, supplanting the House Guard Captain who was now senior officer on the estate.  He planned on putting a few hundred Milites under his command on the walls so he could branch out from the Slave Guards.  His plan was to replace the Slave Guards who were used to guard the stronghold walls with Milites, which he would command, after he convinced everybody that only Milites had the skills necessary to successfully defend the walls.  With both Milites and Slave Guards under his command guarding the stronghold walls, he believed he would be promoted to Castorum.

       Slave Guards were only sent to the walls during emergencies.  Sieges.  In normal times, only Sentries patrolled the stronghold walls.  When Talig got to the Keep Roof, he found all the Sentries clustered in the corners and Slave Guards on the walls.  When Lydia joined Talig on the Roof, she found him arguing with a man.

       "I want the women Sentries on this wall.  I want bows up here!  Send the men back to the fields where they belong."

       "Women are just going to run away screaming the first time they see an enemy warrior.  The first woman that gets killed up here, all the others are going to faint from fear.  You need men."

       "I told you, women sentries on the walls!  Get them out of the corners and spread them across the walls.  And send the men out to their jobs in the field.  When Presphene hires all his troops, he'll have over a hundred Sentries to man the wall if there's trouble.  Plus Mounted Sentries to help them.   And over 150 Slave Guards to join them when they're needed.  That's enough to defend the stronghold."

       "It's stupid to rest your safety on just women and Slave Guards.  You need real men up here, Milites, if you’re going to hold off a siege.  It takes real warriors to fight real warriors, not dames and men who only know how to push a bunch of slaves around all day.  I'm telling you you need real warriors if you're going to be safe."

       "Are you going to argue with me!  I'm Tribune of this valley, not you!  Now you do what I tell you, or you can find yourself another job.  I want to see those women on the walls tomorrow morning, and I want to see the men out in the fields.  Understand?"

       Talig turned to walk away.  As Talig headed toward the stairs, the Captain shook his hand at Talig in a "Fuck You" gesture and below his breath said to Talig's back, "Stupid gladiator" contemptuously.

       Lydia had been watching this exchange from a little more than a body length away.  At the "Fuck You" gesture, Lydia's head jerked back as if she had been slapped in the face.  For an instant, her eyes went round and her mouth dropped open in shock.

       There was a ~ blur ~ of motion that ended with Lydia extended forward on a bent right knee with her left leg stretched out behind her and her right arm reaching up and forward with her knife in the man's throat.

       The man was able to move about for about 30 seconds before he passed out, and he was dead a little more than a minute after that.

       From the side, the man's 1st. Optio shouted, "You fucking cunt, you killed him!"

       Again, Lydia's head jerked back as if she had been slapped, and she snapped her head around to face the 1st. Optio.  Her face had that shocked look on it again.   Starting on the bent right leg, she snapped up on her right leg, while pivoting on her foot and twisting her torso to the right and forward at the same time.  She was swinging her left leg around in a circle, causing her whole body to rotate ninety degrees.  She came down at the man's side, facing him.  She shot her left hand forward to grab the man's right hand as he reached for his sword to defend himself.  He was stronger than her, and he forced his hand back to his sword, pulling her left arm along with his.  But it didn't matter at this point.  His sword was still in its scabbard while she had made her strike with her right.  She deliberately cut his larynx open instead of going for the carotid.  He started to hemorrhage, blood running down the trachea, and into his lungs as he was forced to open his epiglottis to breathe.  He started to choke on his own blood.

       It took him over four minutes to pass out as he choked on his own blood.  That seemed like an appropriate punishment for calling her a "cunt."  He choked to death on his own words and blood.

       Talig hadn't seen the "Fuck You" gesture that sparked Lydia's actions.  He instinctively knew the flurry of rapid sounds behind him were the sounds of combat, and he spun around with his knife out.  He saw Lydia standing in a static position, her knife in a man's throat.  "Posing," he called it.  He knew she did that when she was angry at the person she killed.  He thought she did it because she liked to savor the kill.  Being stationary in a fight scared the hell out of Talig.  He had been in too many fights in the Coliseum to ever remain still during a fight.

       Talig didn't know what was happening, or who was a threat, although Lydia's second kill was self-explanatory.  He was facing the people on the Keep, not knowing where the treats were coming from.  The people he was looking at were all people he knew and trusted.  They looked as surprised as him and he dismissed them as a threat.

       Talig grabbed the only piece of information he knew for certain, "I can't believe what that man called you!  He deserved a slow kill.  I glad you did it.  What happened?"

       "That idiot gave you the finger.  I couldn't believe it when I saw it!  He just gave you the finger in front of everybody.  I never seen anything like that.  Insolent Bastard!  And what was all that arguing about over posting the Sentries?"

       I came up here to find all the Sentries on the bastions and Keep and none of them on the walls.  They guy tells me there wasn't enough Sentries up here to do the job right, so he saids he put his men up here to make sure the place was properly protected.  I know Pres only has fifty Sentries right now, but he's getting more.  Then the guy starts arguing with me that women can't really do the job, and we should get men to do the job.  He wanted to put full Legionary Milites up, like what you and I and Sali and everyone else decided didn't matter.  Like he had a right to tell us what to do.  I couldn't believe him.  I was going to fire him."

       "Who recommended that idiot?  I can't believe we hired him?  I can't believe Caigan let that man get to the rank of Captain.  I'm going to talk to Caigan find out how the Hades he put him in as a Captain.  Caigan's got some explaining to do.  I'm really disappointed in him for letting his happen."  (Caigan, Praefecti of the Slave Guards, was the immediate superior of the man and should not have permitted the man to have the rank of Captain.)

       "I think it was Sali's friend Heppa that recommended that man."

       "Well, that explains it.  We should only take men from Sali's man Stemdam down in Tuscany or Selie or Baynor and I was going to say Caigan, but I'm not so sure about Caigan anymore.  Sali put me in charge of the defenses and I'm going to have to put my foot down.  None of this stuff about Sali's friends telling us what rank she thinks the men deserve, and no more of her sending up a 'Captain' until we decide what rank the man should have."

       Lydia and Talig left the Keep discussing hiring high ranked officers for the valley.  And they sent a message to Caigan telling them they wanted an explanation of why the man and his 1st. Optio were installed as officers.

       And the story of what Lydia did when she saw someone fucking around behind Talig's back spread like wildfire from one stronghold to the other.

                       ............................

       Atus flopped down on the bench next to the front Gate, and sat pensive for a while.  A half hour or so before the afternoon shift change, Catana and Lena rode into the courtyard.

       Catana and Lena each sported bows and quivers on their horses, as well as the very long, thin lances used by the Amazons.  This was different than the weapons carried by most other Slave Guards.  Only a few Slave Guards here and there had bows.  None carried the very long, thin lances of the Amazons.  Slave Guards carried short, stout lances, used to chase down and kill runaway slaves in heavy brush.

       Slave Guards were paid an extra four sestertii a month if they learned to use bow at an Entry level for Sentries.  If they learned to use the bow well enough to pass a "Good" test, they got an extra ten sestertii, and they were assigned to the most dangerous slaves.  No one knew what to pay them if they learned to use the mounted bow.  No Slave Guard had progressed to that level of proficiency yet.  Instead, when Slave Guards got proficient with a bow, they usually transferred over to the higher paying, easier job of Sentries.

       After Atus had his little talk with Catana, her attitude about training changed.  She stopped resisting Cottus, arguing for her way of doing thing.  Instead she trusted what Cottus told her, and applied herself to everything he showed her.  She picked it up like a sponge, learning all he had to teach.  Soon she had learned all a 2nd. Optio could teach her.  When she practiced, she always practiced with Lena so her friend could also benefit from Catana's increased proficiency.  When the two of them started to get very good, Cottus said they should visit the Masters At Arms teaching at the Garrison when she had the time.  The Masters At Arms taught more advanced sword work, and the classes they taught were referred to as "Warrior Training."

       Two days a week, Catana and Lena went to the Garrison to attend classes there.  Instead of attending classes held by Cottus at their stronghold, she and Lena picked up bows and filled up time learning to use the bows, and soon they passed the Entry Test for a Sentry.  They continued to practice the bow, going for the "Good" level Test.

       When they went to the Garrison, they often had to wait around for the class to begin.  They often watched the women cavalry, the Amazons, practice as they waited.  Janae recognized the women from her father's stronghold watching from the sidelines, and Janae and some of her friends took the time to show them the basic 2 person charges used against cavalry, including the fundamental team attack of 2 women against one cavalryman known as the "Clean Scythe."  The attack was called the "Clean Scythe" because neither enemy warrior nor his horse was left standing after the attack.

       Atus made Catana the Shift Sergeant of the Afternoon Shift when her proficiency with weapons took off, and Lena was now a Decuriones or corporal in charge of Catana's old contiburium of Slave Guards.

       When Catana and Lena rode into the stronghold that day, Atus called them over, and motioned them to a seat on the bench.  "Presphene tells me he has problems with his Slave Guards.  They haven't been treated well by their Captain and they're discouraged and have no pride.  His Slave Guard Captain treated his Slave Guards like they were morons and useless as warriors.  Presphene needs a new Captain and 1st. Optio."

       "Catana, I was thinking of recommending you for the 1st. Optio post.  I was thinking it would be good if he had someone who knew this valley is the home of all who live here and we value all our people."

       Catana was stricken.  "I can't leave Lena and Milos and Matilda and Iolus and everybody else.  We all depend on each other.  What would happen to them if I didn't do my part of the work.  We're almost finished with our cabins.  Now we won't be able to move out to our plots like we planned."

       Atus: "Catana, I don't want to lose you.  I like you working here.  I'd be happy if you always stayed here.  But Pres has got a real problem over then, and seriously Catana, I can't think of a better person to help him.  Some of the people over there could get killed if they don't work together."

       Then Atus turned to face both Catana and Lena: "I know you all have your little group of friends out at the garden plots.  After the Afternoon Shift, could you and the others come over to the Villa and listen to some idea I have."

       "I already talked to Presphene about you and Milos.  Lena, you could be the Shift Sergeant for the Morning or Afternoon Shift.  You and Catana would be working side by side, you as Shift Sergeant and her as First Optio.  And Lena, Presphene said he thought Milos might fit in as his 2nd. Toolman.  (Toolmen were responsible for keeping the farming implements in good repair and sharp.  They oversaw specially trained slaves in sharpening the axes, scythes, etc. used for farming, as well as replacing broken handles and shafts, etc, on farm tools.  Toolmen worked along side of the slaves, doing the more difficult work while slaves did the simpler work.  Toolmen spent their days in one building, the Tool Shed, repairing and sharpening tools.  Milos would spend most of his day sitting at a bench while he worked with the broken tools.)

       When they told Milos of the offer, he got a pained expression.  "We can't leave here.  These are friends."  Iolus and the other treated Milos like any other man, and not like a cripple.  Once they saw he could watch the children as well as anyone else, and they got to know him, they treated him like any other member of their group.  He had found a purpose.  With Milos watching the kids, the others were free to work their garden plots on their days off.  And with Milos taking care of the kids for everybody, people got a little valuable rest when they got off duty.  Milos was treated like a valuable member of their group, special because he never had to split his time taking a tour of duty.  He was always available to watch the kids.

       That evening all 15 people from the First Single Parent House filed into Atus's Villa.  These people had formed a mutual help network to develop the land of their individual garden plots, and build their cabins on the property.  Four new people had joined the group, those who filled up the remaining four empty rooms in their building.  Helen and Lepitus got someone to change shifts with them for the Night Shift.  Milos was the 15th. member of the group.

       Atus: "Look, I know you all depend on each others out at the Garden Plots.  That you all pitch in to get the work done, and if someone is missing, work doesn't get done."

       "First, Catana and Lena and Milos aren't leaving your group.  They'll still be over here on their days off.  They just can't work over there during the rest of the week.  What if I let you use a squad of slaves at planting season, and harvest time to plow your fields and harvest your crops.  Would that make up for what Catana and Lena and Milos can't do?"

       Leda: "It's not the same thing, but I'd accept that.  That's not the problem.  Without Milos, none of us can get to the Plots on our day off.  Someone has to watch the kids while the others are out on the Training Grounds."

       Atus: "I don't know what to tell you about Milos.  The best I can come up with is asking Clodius over at the Garrison to keep an eye open for somebody that would fill Milos's place, another couple with a husband and wife, and send them over here if he finds someone good.  Clodius is a good man.  He'll work hard to help us out."  Everybody agreed.  They all trusted Clodius.

       Atus: "Look, here's the problem.  You all heard by now what happened over at Presphene's.  It wasn't just that the guy fucked around behind Talig back and Lydia got mad.  That guy fucked up the people over there too.  He treated his Slave Guards like they were morons and thought they couldn't fight worth shit.  The guy wasn't happy unless he had full Milites under him."

       Atus looked at Matilda.  "Do you think you can handle the slaves," he asked her.  Mitilda answered, "Sure! I can handle any crap they try."  Then Atus asked Iolus, "You feel safe out there?"  "Yeah.  We're a team, me and Matilda.  She's got my back," Iolus answered.

       Atus: "It ain't like that over there.  That guy fucked up everybody.  In order to put Slave Guards up on the walls, he split up Slave Guard/Overseer teams, and sent out slave details with just two Overseers.  In the mornings, he went into the Slave Guard barracks, and pointed out a bunch of men, and sent them up to the walls.  People didn't know who their partners were going to be day to day.  They had to go into the field sometimes with two Overseers and no Slave Guards, with a partner they didn't know.  Nobody trusts anyone anymore, because no one knows whether their partner is somebody they can trust or a stranger.  And nobody feels proud over there.  Their Captain didn't train them hard because he thought Slave Guards were just a bunch of morons.  Because the training was lousy, one Slave Guard would look at another Slave Guard and think, "You don't know what the fuck you're doing," and both of them would be right."

       "Now, people over there bitch about their partners.  I thought the best person for them was Catana.  Who knows better that we take care of each other here?  Who could show them better that the Slave Guards know what they're going with weapons?  Can you think of anybody better to show them what Slave Guards are about?"

       After a day of talking about it, they agreed, although nobody was happy with it....because nobody wanted to refuse Atus when he made a reasonable request.  Their decision had more to do with how much they liked Atus than satisfaction with the plan.  Atus treated them so well and fairly that no one was comfortable with the idea of being unfair to him.  They felt forced to reciprocate Atus's fairness.  Catana, Lena, and Milos would transfer to Presphene’s estate, but they would still be able to work their garden plots with the others on their days off.  And Milos would have a real job.  He could handle the work, which was mainly sitting at a bench replacing broken tool handles, and sharpening tools.  Even Milos reluctantly agreed.  Helen truthfully pointed out that all the children were getting older, and soon Milos wouldn't have any children to baby-sit.

                       ...........................

       Catana and Lena rode over to Presphene's to meet their new Lord, and to get an idea of their new living quarters.  This was the first time the two women had visited the stronghold on the far side of the valley, except for a brief visit by Catana when the stronghold was still under construction.  They were surprised when they got there.  It was identical to Atus's stronghold, with only the subtlest differences in the shades of color of the walls and bastions and Keep.  It was like somebody moved Atus's stronghold to the other side of the valley.  Only the outbuildings and landscape let the women know they were at a different stronghold.  At the Front Gate they saw a Captain of House Guards.

       "Well, you must be Atus's Slave Guards.  I thought you were a 1st. Optio," the man said when they rode up, noting Catana's insignia which identified her as a Shift Sergeant.  "I guess some promotions must be in the works," he added with a smile.  The man walked around the side of Catana's horse to look at the bow and quiver which decorated her saddle.  With exaggerated movements, he lifted one of the arrows a little out of the quiver, looked at it with raised eyebrows, and then let it fall back down.  And then with the same exaggeration, he ran his eyes along the length of the long Amazon's lance the woman carried.  Impressed by the unusual weapons for Slave Guards, he added, "Maybe you are a different kind of Slave Guard!"  He reached up to clasp her forearm, as Romans did in place of a handshake.  "I'm Ferrus," he said.

       "I'm Catana," Catana answered, taking a liking to the House Guard Captain.  "I'm Lena," Lena added, also liking the man.  "When you get settled in and feel comfortable, we should get together and have a talk," he said to them.

       "Alright.  I'll bring the wine," answered Catana.  "Wine," the Captain exclaimed, "I'm going to like you."  Catana and Lena smiled back.  "Presphene's in the Villa," he concluded.  "Thanks," answered Catana, and she and Lena rode over to the central building in the courtyard.  A House Guard sergeant was at the back of the Reception Room, and he came forward when the women entered the building.  "You must be the new Slave Guards.  Presphene's in the Private Dining Room.  Do you know where that is," he asked them.  Catana and Lena looked around.  It seemed like they were in Atus's Villa, but somebody had changed all the furniture, and put it in different places.  But the building itself was identical to Atus's Villa.  "Yeah.  I think so," answered Catana.  She and Lena headed past what would be the Dining Room in Atus's Villa, and then headed toward a doorway in back of the Dining Room.

       They heard women laughing as they approached the room, and an unexpected sight greeted them when they opened the door.  Two women were laughing together.  Lying on a couch toward the center of the room was a very frail, pale young woman wrapped in a blanket, and sitting on the floor next to the couch and holding the woman's hand was Lydia.  Lydia looked over as Catana and Lena entered.  "Ahh!  Atus's Slave Guards.  Come in.  Take a couch."

       Catana and Lena were nervous about Lydia.  Lydia often stopped at Atus's stronghold to talk to him, and the big Germanian would beam an ear to ear smile when he saw her.  He'd wrap his big arms around her, and swing her around in the air saying, "My Little Lion.  Come give me a kiss!"  And the two would walk around the stronghold arm in arm, joking and laughing with each other.  But the big hearted Germanian was that way with everybody.

       But they were constantly hearing things about Lydia.  They were at Presphene's today because she had just killed two men - Officers! - because of what seemed like an offense that didn't warrant a death sentence.  Talig and the Lords probably killed more thieves, but it was stories of Lydia's killing thieves that spread from stronghold to stronghold every few weeks.  And once when Lydia was at their stronghold, she had stopped in their Troop Kitchen, and emerged a little later shouting and yelling at Kamila, one of the cooks.  She slapped Kamila in the face, and knocked her to the ground, and continued to scream about how the scullery girls were being treated.  Lydia was very sensitive about how scullery maids were treated.  When Lydia was a slave, she had worked as a scullery maid, and now Lydia demanded that scullery maids in the valley be treated decently, and she was protective of them.  She even freed two after talking to them, and she commanded they be given paid jobs as goatherds, the easiest of the herding jobs.

       It seemed to Catana and Lena that Lydia was a dangerous unknown.  You never knew how she might act.  Everyone knew she had a hair-trigger temper that could explode into a murderous rage.  Only the Lords and Ladies and their families seemed utterly at ease with her.  They'd joke and laugh with each other, and played jokes on each other, and Lydia and the men would joke around with some rough-house clowning around.  But most people were scared of her.

       They guessed the sick girl on the couch was Presphene's daughter, Paulina.  A few months ago a terrible story flashed around the valley, from one stronghold to another.  It was a horrible story of the Amazons first big fight, before they had finished their training.  They said the women had been surprised by a large band of raiders.  Almost two centuries of warriors by some accounts.  They said the women tried to fight back as archers, but they couldn't get all the warriors with their arrows, and the remaining warriors overran their position.  They said there was terrible hand to hand fighting, with the young girls having to fight grown men for their lives.  The accounts were of Lydia killing man after man, as if she was one of the Furies come to earth.  Atus daughter, Janae, was said to have killed many men all by herself, like a butcher would kill sheep for a stronghold, until she was covered head to foot in blood.  The other girls threw themselves on the enemy warriors as groups of girls against each warrior, just trying to keep each other alive.  They escaped with their lives, but they had to send 4 carts to carry some of the injured girls to their father's strongholds.

       At first, Presphene's daughter was dead, killed during the battle.  But the Egyptian witch, Taira, came and using magic she breathed Life back into the dead girl's lungs.  Taira used her magic to pull the girl back from Death into the edges of Life again.  The Egyptian witch stayed at the girl's side for a week, never leaving her and strengthening her by magic.  The witch fought Death with her magic for the girl's life.  Finally, the Egyptian witch was able to pull the girl away from the grip of Death into Life again, and she was able to wake her from the sleep of Death.  At first the girl was crippled and couldn't walk, but the Egyptian witch used her magic again by chanting magic spells over the girl, and made the girl whole again by chasing away the Evil that made her crippled.  Now, they said, she was slowly recovering.  Catana and Lena guessed the weak looking girl on the couch was her, and they were staring at this dead girl who had been brought back to Life.

       "You're Atus's girls," Lydia interrupted Catana's and Lena concentration on Paulina.  "Yes, Mistress," Lena answered.

       Starting with the sergeant, Lydia asked, "What's your name?"  "Catana," was the answer, and then Lydia turned to the corporal, "And you?"  "Lena," the friend answered.  "Call me Lydi," Lydia returned.  "Yes, Mistress," Lena answered.  Paulina and Lydia laughed at the woman's nervous formality.

       "Tali told me.......," Lydia started to say, but Catana's and Lena's faces went blank at the name, and Lydia quickly rephrased her question, "Janae's friend told me she showed you some cavalry attacks."  "Yes, Mistress," Catana answered.  Both Lydia and Paulina smiled at the women's continued formality.

       "Were you two at the Garrison last week taking a sword lesson from Marcelius," Lydia asked them.  "Yes, Mistress," Catana answered.

       "I thought you looked familiar," Lydia said.  "Are you fast," she playfully asked them with a smile.  "I'm not, but Catana's kinda fast," Lena answered.  Lydia turned to Pauline, "Can I steal them from your father?"  In answer Paulina playfully stuck her tongue out at Lydia, and Lydia laughed.

       Turning back to the women, Lydia asked, "Why do you do all the extra training?  Do you want to want to be promoted and transferred over to the Amazons?"  "No, Mistress, we like working for Atus.  We wouldn't want to transfer to the Amazons at the Garrison and leave Atus's stronghold."  The answer surprised Lydia a little, first that the two women wanted to continue being Slave Guards when they might be promoted upward to the Amazons, and second that the women stated a desire to remain with Atus.  Lydia leaned back and seriously appraised the two women a moment.  Then she said, "That big, blonde bear is easy to like."  Both Catana and Lena smiled at the compliment paid Atus.  The women’s' smile at the praise of Atus told Lydia why the women wanted to stay at Atus's stronghold.

       Seriously, Lydia asked them, "Don't you want to come here to work for Presphene?  I understand it means promotions for you two."  "No, Mistress.  We took the extra training just so we could be safer.  The promotions don't mean that much to us.  We like working for Atus, and we like where we're living at his stronghold," Catana answered.  Lydia and Paulina seriously looked at each other, a little taken aback by this surprising turn in events.  They thought the two women would be eager for a transfer that results in a promotion.

       "Atus was right.  You are unusual women.  What would be the problem moving here," Lydia asked them.  "For one thing, we'd have to leave our friends," Lena answered.  "We all live at the same Single Parent building, and we made a pact with one another to help each other out at our Plots.  If we come here, there will be no one to help our friends with our share of the work," Catana expanded on what Lena said.  Lena added, "There won't be enough hands to get all the work done.  We have our cottages almost finished, and if we aren't there to help with our share of the work, nobody will be able to move into our new cottages like we planned.  And we put a lot of work into our cottages and we'd have to leave them."

       Seriously Lydia answered, "It is important to keep your promises to your friends.  How many of you are there that made this pact together?"  "Fifteen, counting my husband," Lena answered.  "He's the man Presphene is getting the job for," Lydia asked Lena.  Lena nodded.  "Vargus,"  Lydia shouted.  In only a few heart beats, the House Guard sergeant entered the room.  He had stationed himself close by, in the hallway at the back of the Reception Room, to be instantly available if Lydia needed him.  "Yes, Mistress," he said to Lydia with a bow.  "Vargus, could you please find out where Scipio is for me," Lydia asked him.  "Yes, Mistress.  The scribe will know,  He reads all the messages." he answered her.  Before he turned, Lydia asked him, "Has the messenger been here?"  "Twice," the man answered.  There were messengers who circled the valley twice each day, exchanging messengers between all the strongholds.  It allowed strongholds to send messages to each other and get replies in the same day.  "Alright.  If he's already been here two times, then there's no rush.  Take your time.  Ask the scribe to come here when he has some free time.  I have a message to send to Scipio," Lydia said to him.  He bowed to her and left the room.

       Lydia leaned back against the couch and seriously said to the two women, "You'll get your promotions whether you come here or stay at Atus's.  We need officers who are loyal to the people around them.  You're in this Villa today because the men before you had no loyalty to the people around them."  "Catana.  Lena," Lydia repeated their names, staring at first one woman and then the other, fixing the names and faces in her memory.

       A dark complexioned man and women entered the room.  The woman was carrying a tray of food.  The clothes they wore were just a touch different from what Catana and Lena were use to.  The man's tunic was just a bit shorter in length and in sleeve length, and it draped the man differently than the Roman tunics.  It made the garment look very attractive.  And the woman's gown was different, a slightly different cut to the bodice, and it draped the body in flowing folds.  Very attractive.

       Lydia's mood immediately changed at the entrance of the couple.  She got to her feet to make room for the man at the girl's couch.  She smiled and playfully said to the man, "Pressie, I'm gonna steal your new girls from you."  Years of being with Lydia let Presphene know when Lydia was teasing, and with a theatrical frown he grumbled something to her in a foreign language.  It ended with a smile.

       Lydia turned to Catana and Lena with a smile.  "I made him mad.  Every time I get him angry, he curses at me in Greek.  He thinks I don't know what he saids, but I know!"  The last sentence was directed at Presphene, and it made him laugh.

       Presphene sat on his daughter couch and the woman put the tray of food down on a table for her.  "They don't want to leave Atus," Paulina said to her father.  Presphene glanced at the women, and then said to his wife, Hecate, "The man has magic with women."  She smiled at him and nodded her head affirmatively.  Then she asked the women, "Is there anybody at your stronghold that Atus likes?"  Surprised by the personal question, Lena answered, "No, Mistress.  Not that I know of."  "Such a waste!  He's such a good man," Hecate said to her husband with a negative shake of her head.  "Well, you remember him and Grenda," Presphene said to his wife, remembering how much Atus had loved his wife.

       "Come with me," Lydia said to Catana and Lena.  They followed her out of the room.  The House Guard was standing right outside the door, and began to follow Lydia, to attend her for her stay at the stronghold.  She waved him back with a flick of her hand.  She walked out of the Villa far enough to be able to see the Slave Guard barracks.  It was identified by the Slave Guard pennant flying over the building.

       "I won't order you to leave Atus's stronghold if you don't want to," Lydia said to them, "Loyalty to each other is the most valuable thing we have in this valley.  Atus didn't recommend you for this job because you go to the Garrison for extra training.  He recommended you because you understand what is important to us."

       Lydia nodded toward the Slave Guard barracks.  "Those are your friends, too, although you don't know them yet.  They're discouraged down there, and no one trusts one another.  They don't trust each because their own officers betrayed them and treated them like they were jerks unable to do anything right.  They need someone who will be true to them and not betray them.  When they know their officers will be loyal to their interest, they will find their own loyalty and trust in each other.  When they know they can trust one another, their pride in themselves will come back.  They need you down there because you will be loyal to them like you are loyal to your friends and Atus,  They need you because they will see they can trust you not to betray them."

       She finished with, "Don't worry about your friends.  I will take care of your friends.  Think about what I have said, and let Atus know what you decide tomorrow."

       Then Lydia's mood changed again.  She became cheerful, and said, "Now, come inside and we'll get you something to eat and you can get to know Pressie.  He's a funny man.  If you tell him a joke every so often, you'll always stay on his good side."  Then she leaned in toward the two women and whispered in a conspiratorial manner, like a young teenage girl gossiping, "But he's cheap!"

                       ............................

       Back inside Hecate, Presphene's wife, ordered food for everyone.  If Catana took the job, she'd often be invited to dinner at the Villa, and as a 1st. Optio she'd be entitled to dine in the Officer's Mess instead of the Troop Kitchen.  Lieutenant rank or above went to the Officer's Mess for meals and were frequently invited to dine with the Lord or Lady.  The Villa cooks, the best cooks in the stronghold, made the meals for the Officer's Mess as well as the meals for the Lords and Ladies.

       Hecate quizzed Catana and Lena during the meal.  She had a hundred questions she wanted to ask the women.  She wanted to know about the meals served at Atus's stronghold.  She wanted to know if any of the Slave Guard or Overseer families grew specialty crops like fruits that they sold to Cornelia for meals.  She wanted to know how Cornelia was doing.  She had a dozen questions about Bruno, Atus's oldest son, because she seldom saw him since he had joined the Dragoons.  She was worried about Janae because she thought Janae had turned bitter after the death of her mother, and she wanted to know how Janae acted with Atus and Bruno in private.

       While the women gossiped about the things women like to gossip about, Presphene motioned to Lydia to go outside.  To Lydia he said, "You know how we talked last meeting about one of us being assigned to oversee a branch of the military?"

       The Lords and Ladies met once a week at Salidia's stronghold, and they discussed the valley and how the valley was going.  To prevent another meltdown like the breakdown of Presphene's Slave Guards, they decided to assign a Lord or Lady to supervise the Slave Guards, the Sentries, and the Dragoons, etc., the same way Salidia and Lydia oversaw the Amazons.  They already had Praefecti, like Caigan, assigned to most of these jobs, but they wanted to assign a Lord or Lady to double check the work the Praefecti were doing.

       Marcus was an ex-Legionnaire and familiar with military organization and he was assigned oversight of the Slave Guards.  The Slave Guards were organized and run like a military unit at each stronghold.  Cetus had proved himself an ingenious strategist and they put him in charge of the Dragoons, to double check young Julius, Talig's son.  Julius was a little young to be a Captain and Cetus was a steady hand for the young man.  If ever there was a war with a neighboring tribe, they hoped Cetus would be able to help young Julius with strategies while they were in the field.

       Lucius was an ex-Legionnaire and another man familiar with military organization.  They put him in charge of the House Guards so he could check how House Guards organized their strongholds and the troops under them.  Which used up all the ex-Legionnaire's among Salidia's men.  Rufus was also an ex-Legionnaire, but he had been assigned to oversee the vassal from their first inception.

       Even the widows Pacina and Draena got jobs, as the Ladies who now ran their husbands strongholds.  Pacina was put in charge of all the brood stock in the entire valley.  The brood stock generated all the animals they used in the valley.  Draena was put in charge of all the cottage industries, like potters and weavers, who produced all the artifacts they used to run estates.  Each was given a Praefecti grade agricultural officer, plus a separate Head Foreman and scribe to help them do the jobs.

       Atus was given the Mounted Sentries, since he was the man who developed their training program and helped creat the tactics they used.  Atus was a mercenary who had served as an Auxiliary for several Roman Generals.  He was a minor chieftain in his land and led a band of warriors who worked as cavalry for hire.  As a man familiar with cavalry, they put him charge of organizing and developing this new group of cavalry that the valley was now using.

       Which is how Presphene got the Sentries.  They were running out of Lords and Ladies.  So far, Sentries had been overseen by the House Guards who supervised all the troops within a stronghold.  But now they wanted to assign a Praefecti to the job full time, to go stronghold to stronghold checking the Sentries at each estate.  And they wanted a Lord to check on the work done by the Praefecti.  Who was Presphene.

       Presphene was a mercenary who commanded a group of Greek mercenaries who hired themselves out to the Romans as skirmishers.  When a Roman Legion was in its formal Battle Line formations, the skirmishers rushed out and into the enemy lines wherever there was a gap in the enemy formations, so they could disorganize the enemy lines by charging into the enemy warriors from their side.  As unlikely as it seems, ancient armies often deployed with gaps in their battle lines.  Ancient generals would march their troops against the enemy’s troops, and it didn't matter if there were gaps in the Battle Line.  The enemy came directly and purposefully to you, as the generals threw their troops against each other.  Presphene and his men were used to sprint into these gaps in the Battle Line and attacked the enemy from the side, to cause as much confusion and disorganization as possible.

       Presphene himself was a wizard with a sword, maybe the most skillful swordsman of Salidia's men.  Presphene's tremendous skill allowed him to rush into the sides of enemy troops, slashing, cutting and blocking as he dashed through the enemy, yet he and his men were able to emerge alive after churning through the enemy troops.  He was a magician with what he could do with a sword and shield, and he had cat-like reflexes.  Presphene was the major trainer of the girls Lydia was now leading.

       And like all of Talig's men, he was good humored.  When Talig first assembled his squad of Bodyguards for Salidia, he choose the most skillful fighters he could find in all of Rome.  But Rome had hundreds upon hundreds of the best warriors in the empire for hire, and Talig could afford to pick and choose from the best.  He choose men with the most skill, but also men who would be easily to get along with.  All of Salidia's men were among the most skilled warriors in all of Rome, but they were also good natured men who laughed easily.  Talig made sure his men were both skillful and easy to get along with.  Presphene's good humor made him one of Lydia's favorite people.  He cheerfully accepted assignment to the Sentries.

       Outside the room where his wife was talking to the women from Atus's stronghold, he asked Lydia, "What do you think of me using Paulina for my Praefecti.  Taira saids her neck is fine.  Paulina saids it doesn't hurt her anymore.  She getting up and around more and more, and she saids she wants to start practicing again.  In a couple of months, she'll be her old self again."

       "I don't see anything wrong with it.  What does Paulina say," Lydia answered.

       "I haven't asked her yet,  She's going to be like those two women inside.  She's not going to want to leave you and the other girls.  All the time, she tells me, 'I should start practicing so I can get back to the girls.'  Every time there's a report of you and the girls catching some thieves, she's 'Is everyone alright?  I should be there helping them.'  It drives her crazy being stuck here in the villa, and not being out with the other girls.  She acts like you're all going to die if she isn't there to help you and do her part."

       "Lydi, you're going to have to ask her.  She'll listen to you.  You're good talking to people.  If you don't say something to her, she's going to be strapping on her armor as soon as she can walk under its weight to join you and the girls again, and nothing I say will stop her."

       "Ohhh, Pressie.  Don't you think she should decide?  Or you and her talk about it?  I hate to get involved in decisions like this about someone else's life."

       "Lydi, it's going to kill Hecate if Paulina's goes out there again.  Those first six days when Paulina wouldn't wake up, I don't think Hecate stopped crying once.  She cried every moment of those six days, didn't sleep a wink, and when Taira asked for something, Hecate ran for it, and I mean she ran for it!  She didn't trust the slaves not to dawdle when sent to fetch something, so she ran for it herself whenever Taira wanted something.  I don't think Hecate can take it if Paulina goes out there again."

       "Lydi, if I forbid her to go, she's going to hate me for the rest of her life.  She's going to say I kept her from her precious friends.  If something happens to you or one of the other girls, I know what this Villa is going to sound like.  The halls here are going to echo with wails of 'I should have been there.  I could have helped them.'  And Paulina will blame herself for not being with you and the others, and me worst of all for forbidding her to go."

       Lydia took Presphene's hand in hers, "I talk to her, Pressie, and I'll tell Sali."

       She went on, "We haven't decided who's going to help Atus yet.  We asked him who he wanted as his Praefecti, but you know him, he just said, 'Whoever you decide on is fine with me.  Just send someone over and Corrie will make her feel at home.'  Sali wants to promote someone up from within the valley, rather than hire some stranger, like this last man here.  She was thinking of Julia, Aurelius's girl, because she's so smart and organized.  Salidia thinks Julia's such a good organizer, she hates just using Julia out in the field.  But Talig said Krista's starting to have trouble with the fast moves we use as Dimachaeri.  She's had a few pulled muscles, and Talig saids he's seen this before when he was in the Ludus.  Gladiator's would start to get sprains and pulled muscles from the fast moves, and once a weakness started, it just got worse.  He thinks Krista's sore shoulders are just going to get worse and worse and happen more and more often, and she'll have to quit the Elites sooner or later."

       "When we decide whether to give Atus Julia or Krista to help him, I'll tell Paulina we've also decided she'd be best helping you as your Praefecti."

       "Thanks, Luv," Presphene said, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

       "Those new women inside, they don't want to leave their friends at Atus's stronghold," Lydia said to Presphene.  "Seems they have a mutual help pact with some friends, and work together to get things done on their Plots.  They're afraid their friends won't be able to get all their work done, without these girls contributing their share of the work.  I was thinking of moving the whole group of them over here.  I'll sweeten the deal to make it attractive for them.  Have you got room for them, fifteen or so?"

       "I'm short everything.  I'll take whatever you got, Slave Guards, Shepherds, Dairy Maids, send them over."

       "I'm going to send Scipio over to look at what they've built for themselves over at their Plots, and tell Scipio to make them something better.  I was thinking cabins a little better than the ones they've built, maybe a barn or shed or two, and enclose all the buildings within a nice, safe wall.  Have you got some land for them?"

       "There's 4 leagues of empty borderland south of my boundary line.  Yeah, I got a little land for them."

       Lydia laughed.  "They're Slave Guards, so they have garden plots.  Double or triple the land for them.  As close to your stronghold as you can find."

       Lydia went on, "Pressie, keep tabs of these two women for me.  Let me know how they're doing.  They impressed me.  They could have transferred out to a higher paying job, but they decided to stay with the Slave Guards.  I'd much rather promote our officers up from within the ranks rather than hire some Equestrian we don't know.  I'm willing to pay them a little extra to get an Optio from the lower ranks."

       Presphene nodded agreement, "I like promoting up from the ranks, too.  They already have a stake in the valley, with their land and family here.  We already know their character and if they're dependable."

       "Don't worry about it," he said to her.  "In a few years, we'll be able to do that all time.  Right now we have to hire new people, but soon we'll have all the people we need.  Then we'll have enough people to promote everybody we need up from the lower ranks."

       Lydia grabbed Presphene's right arm with both hands, and nestled her head against his shoulder.  Then she gently pushed him a little, starting the two of them back to the Villa.  "You're right.  People we already know are the best people," she said to him, enjoying the feeling of being with an old friend. 

       

                       .................................

       As they rode away, Catana said to Lena, "Lydia's not what I thought.  I thought she was Salidia's aide because she's the second best Dimachaeri they have, and I thought Salidia kept her around because she's such a good killer.  Everything I heard about her!  I thought she'd act like a crazy person, loosing her temper and killing people for no reason.  But she was as nice to us as she is with Atus."

       Lena joined in, "Me, too.  I guessed she was nice enough when she was happy, but she went crazy when she was angry.  Like a mean drunk who is fine when they're sober, but who turns mean and cruel when they drink."

       "But she's smart," Catana picked up.  "She knows how to run troops.  That was a smart thing she said about the troops over there.  I won't have thought of it."  They rode on in silence for a while.  After a while Lena said, "She made the jobs sound important, like we'd be doing something important there."  "Yeah," Catana answered.  And they rode on in silence some more thinking of what Lydia had said to them.

       After a while, Lena said, "You're going to take the job, aren't you?"  Without waiting for an answer, she added, "What are you going to tell the others?...............What am I going to tell Milos?"

                       ...............................................................................

       Scipio and Gellius, Scipio's 1st. Optio, rode out to the cottages Lydia wanted him to check out.  This group of Overseers and Slave Guards had all their cabins grouped together in a square, and they had pooled all their land to farm as one large collective plot.

       Scipio to Gellius: "I've wanted to do something like this for a while.  We've got people all over the place building a cottage here and there, and the thieves have been getting worse and worse.  Sooner or later we're going to find some potter in his cottage with his throat cut by some thief looking for something to steal.  I've been trying to talk Sali into letting me put some walled enclosures to hold all the homes in one area.  Let all the people in one area put their cottages together, and let them walk out to their own individual plots when they want to work.  I can put a wall around a collection of these cottages and protect them from thieves during the night.  I've wanted to do this with our people (the vassals) who have their homes in the Vassal's Section, and the craftsmen in the Craftsman Section.  Instead of a bunch of cabins spread all over the place, it will be a dozen or so homes grouped together with a nice, safe wall around them."

       "Now I going to have a model to show Sali what I mean."  Scipio sat down and planned out an enclave that he could use to model that he wanted to show Salidia.  Squating down, he used a stick to draw in the dirt.  Fourteen two story cottages, each cottage with an oven.  He'd include a small, communal use barn, two storage buildings for field produce, two small granaries, a well, and room for a coral and firewood storage.  All grouped around a central square, with a wall running around the outside.  A little one person guard turret built on the wall by the Front Gate, and some sockets built into the wall so these people could build a catwalk or some Sentry Boxes on the other walls, if they wanted.

       Scipio got up and said to Gellius, "We'll move the slaves down to Pressie as soom as we finish that villa in the Freemen Section.  I'll make the drawings for this tonight.  Find out how many wagonloads of lime we have on hand.  Little buildings like these don't need big timber.  We won't have any trouble getting wood."

       Scipio got up and remounted.  He smiled to himself.  He had wanted to do something like for a long time, and now was his chance.  He was going to try to talk Salidia into letting him do this for his friends in the Vassal Section.

                                       Chapter 23

                        An Ending without an Ending

       There is no dramatic end to our story, no stunning

finale, no thrilling action sequence that comes to a satisfying conclusion.

       Things just putter along in the valley.  More personnel was hired.  All the buildings they wanted were built.  All their orchards were turning out fruits, and wheat and other farm produce were growing in the field, while livestock passively munch grass around the area in the correct numbers.

       Eventually all the strongholds get manned by all the people they intended to have at each stronghold.  Four years after Salidia got her valley, people walked around in fully manned strongholds, finished just the way they wanted them finished, and people's lives settled into unexceptional routines.

       In four years Salidia had transformed the valley she originally got into something dramatically different, and people lived entirely new routines that left them feeling that was the way they always lived.  Things just became boringly the same day to day, and people felt that was the way it should be.

       Of course, that's a boring way to tell a story, so in the next Tales, we throw a monkey wrench into the works.  In the next Tales, we stir things up and make some people very unhappy, and make them want to fix it so they can get back to their old, boringly the same routines.  In the next Tales we send some nasty men into the valley who make everybody very unhappy, and everybody wants to throw these nasty men out.  And people go about the business of giving these men the boot.  And some of our girls get a little "smart assed" and decide they know how to do things better than Salidia, so they go off doing things their way instead of how Salidia wants thing done.  Of course, they get their "comeuppance" for being such "smarty-pants," but in the end everybody just hugs and makes up with each other, and love is all around.

       But I think there may be a scene or two that brings people to shed a tear or two for the terrible price they have to pay to get back to normal, and the happy ending becomes bittersweet.

P.S.        There is a little sidetrack with Tales 4.5, but it is tangential to Salidia's story, and has almost nothing to do with Salidia and her people.  The people who live next door to Salidia go through some times that are kind of interesting, and Tales 4.5 is about what happens to Salidia's next door neighbors.  Not so dramatic as Tales 5.

       In fact it gets a little sexy, but in the end a woman comes out on top......of course.  But she has a hell of a time getting to the end of that story.  The poor heroine of Tales 4.5 is a modest, respectable girl who spends an embarrassing large amount of her time walking around nude, and having a lot of men being rude to her.  But in the end, they all realize they were wrong, and that they should apologize to her.  And she puts some clothes back on, and gets to walk around all modest and dignified again.

Author's Note: I'd love it if someone reviewed the        story.  It's hard to know if I'm going in the        right direction with the story lines without some        kind of feedback.  Sitting alone at a computer,        typing away, the only clues I have is writing        what I enjoy, and I have to guess whether anyone        liked them or not.

               Several stories were posted along with mine,        and if you noticed, none of them got reviews.  So,        if you liked any of my characters - or even hated        them - I'll offer up a wine libation to Zeus for        you if you drop a line, either a review at BDSM,        or an email.  And I'll tell all my friends that        you're the most wonderful person in all the world.         Promise!        All my friends!                     

                               tomg4262@gmail.com