Chapter 5

  Shortly before sunrise, the army set off, and a little less than half an hour later, they arrived at the agreed-upon location. Tense silence had accompanied them the entire way, and Livia had also been lost in thought. Again and again, she had gone over her battle plan to make sure she hadn't overlooked anything. She signaled her soldiers, and they spread out in units within the forest that surrounded the vast clearing, hiding under the cover of darkness. Livia and the two senators also positioned their horses, and once again the exhausting wait began.

  Two hours later, it was finally time. They heard the horses, the thundering hooves, and the raucous laughter of the Vandals, who were not exactly quiet as they fought their way through the underbrush. She nodded to the unit next to her, whereupon one group after another readied themselves for battle. She waited until the barbarians reached the center of the clearing, then raised her sword.

  "For honor, for our people, for the Emperor!" she shouted, and a deafening roar echoed as the legions poured out of the forest and formed into cohorts with battle cries.

  "Quincunx!" commanded Livia, and one by one, the soldiers hurled their javelins at the approaching Vandals, who had surprisingly regrouped quickly. Subsequently, three light javelins from the other soldiers in the cohort followed in quick succession, to injure or kill the enemies. Before the barbarians could properly regroup, the unit withdrew while other squads advanced on the flanks.

  Meanwhile, their enemies had begun to strike back. Hissing arrows shot through the air, and Livia quickly raised her shield to avoid being hit. The soldier next to her, however, was not so lucky. With horror, she watched as an arrow pierced his torso, and he fell to the ground with a terrible gurgle, trampled by his own men. Quickly, she tore herself away from the sight and instead focused on the archers. Since the Vandals had failed to form a formation in time, it was easy to take out the nearly unprotected archers. With a powerful thrust, she threw her pilum and hit one of them right in the heart. Her own heart grew heavy with it, but she had no time for such thoughts now. It was either them or us, and Livia was clearly for us.

  She saw that some of the mercenaries were following her example and systematically neutralizing the archers.

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  Then the armies clashed. With a terrible clatter, the swords of the two enemies clashed against each other, pain-filled screams, heavy panting, and the smell of blood filled the air.

  "Rotate!" she called after a while and let out a whistle. Immediately, the exhausted fighters in the front row withdrew to the back row, where they recovered until the rotations brought them back to the front.

  Livia didn't know how much time had passed, but it felt endless to her. She had already rotated the soldiers so many times that she could no longer count. Despite the recovery phases she had thanks to her tactics, Livia felt the weakness that gradually took hold of her. The sword in her hand seemed to grow heavier and her strikes weaker. She wondered how much longer they would have to hold out, for although they had already killed a lot of barbarians, it seemed like new ones kept coming. More hours passed, and she could barely stay on the horse. Blow after blow, she struck at the barbarians, parried attacks, and dodged swords. More than once she was hit, but fortunately not so hard that it caused serious damage. Due to the adrenaline coursing through her body, she no longer felt the initial pain. Like hypnotized, the next blow was the only thing she could think about.

  Suddenly, her horse stumbled, and she barely managed to hold on before falling off. One of the vandals had struck her horse, which fell to the ground with the next blow to its flank, burying Livia beneath it so that she could no longer move. Intense pain radiated from her chest throughout her entire body, and she was sure that some ribs, if not even her leg, were broken. But that wasn't the worst part. The man who had killed her horse now approached her with a disgustingly malicious grin, his eyes sparkling crazily. Desperately, she tried to free herself, but it was far too difficult. Panic overcame her.

  She had to be able to do something!

  Suddenly the man sank to his knees, his eyes wide open, a sword protruding from his chest. It seemed as if time stood still as Livia and the vandal stared at each other, now there was no trace of his bloodlust, only sheer fear and pain. Excruciatingly slowly, his death struggle unfolded before her eyes, and she felt an indescribable sense of relief when he sank dead to the ground. Gasping, she struggled for breath. The horse lying on top of her cut off her air, and her vision began to blur.

  She still felt two strong arms pulling her out before she finally sank completely into darkness.