TALES OF THE VIOLII
AN: Thank you guys that reviewed the first chapter of Tales of the Violii it means a ton to me. Thank you, enjoy and R/R
Shizuru had not gotten proper sleep for nearly four days. The harsh mountain regions would make most proper men of the Roman Empire fall to their knees at beg the Gods for a quick death, and sadly Shizuru Viola Fujino was no different. The Roman Legion had been marching for nearly six months already and morale was progressively decreasing. Be it from the snow storms that constantly ravaged the lands to the bandit raids that occured almost periodically, three in just the past month. Of the original 8000 legionaries only 7200 remained.
Shizuru rides around her exhausted troops on her white horse, in her golden armor she looked like a goddess of sorts, or she would, if she didn't look like she was about to pass out on the ground. She does one last look around before dismounting her horse. "Okay men! fortify for the night, Caligula you're first on guard duty." She calls out to the first century who repeats the message to the other cohorts.
She sighs. 'I despise the life of a military commander so. I haven't bathed in nearly 4 months.' Shizuru scans the area once again, giving every detail careful attention as she was accustomed, from two men chatting to the artillery men dismantling their onagers and ballistae. She turns her military adviser, Yukino, who appears to be doing the same thing she is although she seems awfully secluded, surrounded by the dark trees. 'That is quite odd.' Shizuru questions the suspicious actions of her adviser in her head. She almost silently creeps up on her from the side and hides in the bushes.
A blonde female Bestarii Gladiatrix* steps out of the shadows of the trees in the grove and moves to approach Yukino from behind, Shizuru out of instinct draws her bronze sword. The Gladiatrix taps Yukino on the shoulder and steps back as if waiting for a reaction, which she soon gets when Yukino whirls around to face her with a guarding stance raised. She drops this almost as quickly as it was raised. "Haruka!" She exclaims excitedly. The Gladiatrix, Haruka, responds to her by wrappinng her arms around the short haired brunette and kissing her softly at first until Yukino throws her arms around Harukas neck and makes them fall down onto the dew coated grass.
Shizuru could not believe her eyes. A slave and a nobel, caught in such a romantic entanglement. In sheer surprise Shizuru audiably gasps and takes a step backwards where she ends up stepping on a stick causing it to crack loudly. Shizuru stands up in panic and turns to run but stops at the couple frightful eyes staring up at her.
Yukino nearly jumps off the Gladiatrix and frantically pleads to Shizuru. "Please General do not say a word to anyone about us." She has unshead tears waiting to be spilled in her eyes. " I beg of you," She bows down and starts kissing Shizuru's leather sandals, covering her already filthy deep purple and white stola in mud. Shizuru stares down at her with a look of disbelief, which quickly turns into a glare. "Strategus, stand and explain yourself." She demands in a harsh tone. Yukino starts to stand but cannot find the strength to do so. Shizuru scoffs. "How many times are you planning to disappoint me Strategus? First you decide to hop into bed with a slave and now you are not even strong enough to stand up." She kicks her in the solar plexus. "I hope you understand the severity of your crime, were I any other commander I may just kill you here and now. Since I am such a kind commander I think a beating will suffice. " She kicks Yukino in the head knocking her over.
She turns her head slowly. "As for you Slave." She approches Haruka. "State your name and nationality." She commands. Haruka stands and glares at Shizuru. "Haruka..." She pauses and grinds her teeth and bites her lip hard enough to where it bleeds. " Haruka Armitage." She leers at her with her teeth gritted. Shizuru grins almost savagely. "As in the Topaz Knight of Macedonia? Gods you are far too cruel to this poor soul, first she looses her Empire and now. Her life." She swings her sword at Haruka who dodges it and punches Shizuru in the nose. The sickening sound of bone cracking echos into the night as Shizuru stumbles to the ground and fades from consciousness.
Haruka rushes over to Yukino. "Yuki?! Yuki wake up." She holds Yukino close to her well endowed chest. Yukino stirs softly and turns her head to face Haruka. She smiles. "I'm alright Haruka. I'm alright." She says weakly.
Haruka holds her even tighter. "Thank the gourds." She picks up Yukino bridal style. Yukino chuckles. "It's Gods Haruka. ""That's what I said Yukino." She runs off into the forest.
Several hours later Shizuru awakes to the sound of shouting and swords clashing. She jolts up and looks around. 'Where...am I?' She wipes the water from the rain out of her eyes. She turns and faces the east. "It's morning." She states obviously. The sound of metal clashing gets closer. She darts around just as a fur clad man wearing an iron mask jumps from the bush swinging an ax at Shizuru. "swulta-wairthja wisan!*" The man shouts and dives at her again. She dodges and rolls to her sword about 15 ft away. The muddy water in the grass splashes up into her honey coloured hair and she brushes it out of her face leaving traces of mud on her face looking like the barbarians war paint.
The man goes in for another charge just as Shizuru reaches her sword but not quickly enough, the man swings his double edged battle ax down over Shizuru head narrowly missing. She sees the oppourtunity and knees the warrior in the gut forcing him off of her. She kicks her bronze sword into her hand and takes up a fighting stance just as he recovers and is ready to strike again. Shizuru turns and runs to where she believes the rest of her military is. She comes out right into the middle of her legionaries clashing shields with the iron masked barbarian horde. She looks around quickly and runs to find her horse.
When she comes upon her horse the poor creature has several dozen arrows stuck in its sides, Shizuru is furious now, her white horse of the rarest and best upbringing laying dead at her feet. She whips herself around at approaching horses, enemy horses. She braces herself for impact but it never comes. 'What it this treachary?' She raises her head above her arms to see why she is still alive. Her expression brightens immediatly. 'Triarii.' She walks to her spearmen and grabs the spear from a fallen soldier. "Ready men! Form the Phalanx." She commands her troops fighting off the enemy cavalry. They do as told presenting their deadly wall of pikes to their enemy. One by one horse riders fall against the spiked wall of death leaving a mountain of bodies. Only one rider remains. A the warrior, a female, steps down from her horse and calmly approaches her opposers. Her black and brown wolf pelts soaked in blood and her raven colored hair spilling out from behind her golden mask she raises her hands as if to surrender. Shizuru pushes to the front of her troops. "Who is that fool!?" She demands from the cohorts leader. He looks fearful as does the rest of his unit and ignores Shizuru's call.
Shizuru surveys her men quickly. "What is the matter with you men? You all look as if the Ferryman has come for you." She asks with no response again. The color drains from her face when she spots the flag rising just behind the rider. The wolfs head painted with white on the dark canvas with chains represents one thing, and one thing only. "The Hound of Duran!" One of the Triarii screams at the top of his lungs causing a panic to rise amongst her men. They slowly back up tripping over a body occassionaly however this does not stay, the mens' panic finally reaches its max and they drop their weapons and run as fast as they can knocking Shizuru over.
Shizuru watches the Wolfhounds approach slowly as she blacks out for the second time in the same day. 'Jupiter...protect me...'
AN: I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Im really not sure if I like the HaruKino bit at the beginning, but Im leaving it. As for the battle scene, I liked the way it turned out for my first one. :)
Dictionary:
Onagers: Catapult like artillery named after the wild asses near Rome because of the way they buck
Ballistae: Plural form of Ballista. A large crossbow that was mostly used as like a primitive cannon, aimed at infantry to skewer many in one shot.
Bestarii Gladiatrix: A female gladiator that handled beasts to use against his opponent or other animals, can also mean a gladiator who fights animals
"swulta-wairthja wisan!*: Rough translation of Gaulish meaning: Death comes quickly.
Thanks again for reading this, R/R -Chizu