Hello everyone, I hope you all have nice holidays (or that you don't have to work too much).

Here is a new chapter that was quiet hard to write… Well, the repression that Caesar organised against the Belgian tribes was a very important part of the Gallic Wars, so I had to talk about it, but that's one of the saddest episodes of the book. It was difficult to find a good balance between the violence of the repression and its political aspect.

So, please enjoy this new chapter.

Oh, and a new very important historical character is about to make his debuts.


Chapter twenty-seven: How did it end up this way?

The Belgian army was in a total debacle. Caesar's cavalry broke their line without effort. Within a few hours, they were all dispersed and we could finally rest in peace. It was finally over.

All the survivors of the seventh legion's camp got food and drink while the leaders were brought to our great consul's headquarters. Caesar and all his most devoted soldiers were there, at the exception of Quintus Labienus. They explained us that the camp he was controlling on Treviri's land was also attacked by the local tribes and that the army had to move right away to rescue them as well.

I don't really remember what happened next. All kind of contradictory orders and screams started running into my head, but I couldn't focus on any of them. I was just too tired but I needed to think of what to do next. Belgica's project of uprising had not necessarily failed with that siege. She wouldn't be easy to calm down. It was far from being over. My head was aching. As the noise got stronger, pictures started dancing around me, pictures from my city, my senate…

"Lord Rome? What's going on?"

It was the last thing I managed to hear. A few seconds later, I collapsed.

When I woke up, I was laying alone in a tent. I could feel I had only a few citizens near me. What did happen to me? How much time did I sleep? I quickly heard that someone was coming. It was Gaul, as pretty as ever and who still seemed to be five-month pregnant. Well, no wonder. I was a young country, but I knew how are born the baby-nations. Gaul might well be pregnant for an hundred years.

"Hi Rome, do you feel better?"

I did not answer. I did not want to move. I was still tired of all this war and did not want to fight anymore.

"It consoles me. At least, you are not agreeing with him."

It aroused my curiosity.

"What am I not supposed to agree with?" I asked.

"You haven't heard?"

"Please… how much long did I sleep. I remember the headquarter tent, and everyone's talking, but then everything turned dark."

"So you don't know what Caesar is doing?"

"I still have a headache. Can you put some wet cloth on my forehead?"

She sighed and obeyed. The pain was fainting. Gaul healed me kindly. How could I not go better with such good care? Then, she took my cursed hand and removed my bandages. Her face turned blank.

"Rome, do you have any idea of what's going on in your city or in you peninsula?"

"How can I know? Caesar left me in Belgian territory for the winter. I got attacked and couldn't think of anything else than survive your sister's fury. I was trapped and hadn't any news from the outside world. And when it was finally over, I broke down and collapsed. How in the world can I know what are my bosses doing?"

She gave me a sad look and showed me my arm. I froze. The curse had spread almost to the shoulder.

"I know the war against my sister may have a role in the progress of the curse, but it is not just her fault. You won't solve your crisis by using her as a scapegoat."

"Gaul, just as I told you, I don't know what you are talking about. I survived an exhausting siege for ten days. I collapsed right after and I don't have a single idea of what's going on."

"Rome! Your boss has decided to kill Belgica and you dare say you ignore it?"

"What?"

Of course I didn't know a thing about what my consul decided during my convalescence. But during my sleep, I had nightmares about Carthage's death. It must have been a sign.

"Gaul, just tell me what's going on!"

"Your boss ordered three legions to annihilate Eburones' tribe while the others are ravaging the fields of Belgica. He's going to kill my sister just as he did with Tenct…"

She stopped, realising her sister may not have the chance to be reborn just like Tencteri. I saw tears in her eyes. I understood what she was trying to do. I got up and began to get dressed.

"So, do you mean you are begging me for mercy?"

"You don't need to be so rude with her."

"I stop you right there. Belgica and that Ambiorix guy prepared a trap in order to kill eight thousand of my men. She was planning to destroy my legions one after another and the gods know what would have happen if we didn't manage to contact the other camps. I can't underestimate her anymore."

"Rome, don't you see what Caesar is doing to you? He wants to take control of you with his army. By using so much violence on a foreign province, he wants to show everyone that he's able to do that wherever and whenever he wants, even in your peninsula, even in your huge and mighty city. Rome, how much of our people will be sacrificed for his own political goals?"

I shook my head while trying to put back my bandages on my black arm. I didn't want anyone to know to what extend the situation was grave.

"Gaul, Belgica wanted to play in the big league; she's now playing in it. Maybe that now, she's realising what it means to stand on her own."

"You don't have to kill her!"

"Vae Victis, my dear. In the big league, the fate of the looser is ten times worse. But you are right on one point. Caesar's reaction may be the cause of the acceleration of the curse, so I will talk to him… But you know the rules of "nations". We can't go against the will of our rulers."

And I left the tent under the eyes of a scandalized Gaul. One of her men arrived to comfort her. I heard my sweet lover say: "That's useless, Vercingetorix, let's go home…" I didn't realise I had just made my biggest mistake of all the Gallic Wars.

When I finally found Caesar, he was talking with Labienus, Cicero and some other lieutenants. Apparently, things weren't going that well. They explained me the same thing as Gaul; that they planning to exterminate Ambiorix's tribe. They had given orders to the other tribes of Belgica to hand them over every refugees, but since many refused, we had to punish them as well. Caesar paid a special interest to the Treviri which had teamed up with the Eburonnes. Labienus was planning to pursue the leader Indutiomaros and kill him once and for all.

"It doesn't seem like it is going so bad…"

"Well, we tried to pursue the Eburonnes in their forest…"

I understood. I remembered how hard it was to fight in Britannia's woods. To catch Belgian warriors dispersed into the wild was easier said than done.

"We have seen neither Ambiorix nor Belgica since the rescue of the seventh legion," Cicero added.

I sighted. Belgica was furious against me because I was retreating and now she was on the run as well. And knowing her, she would be very difficult to catch. She had already shown me she knew her woods as her pocket. It would take years before catching all of the rebels. So much time and strength wasted.

"Who spoke about catching them?" Caesar said. "We don't have to catch them, we have to kill them. We just can burn the woods or starve them to death. They won't survive that long into the wild."

I frowned. Was he really serious about those massive executions?

Caesar seemed to read into my mind.

"My lord, those barbarians did something unforgettable. Those bloody and dirty barbarians deceived you and trapped an entire legion before slaughtering our fellows without mercy. Those nasty traitors deserve to be treated the same way. We have to do an exemplary punishment in order to teach to all those under-men who are the real masters in this land!"

A few months earlier, I would have totally agreed with him. But now… How could I explain it… Belgica hat put so much determination in her fight for independence that I felt she had earned the right to some respect. But my consul always considered her folk as a bunch of beasts just good to be sold on a slave market. I can't deny I used to think like him before. I thought for a very long time it was normal to enslave the conquered people since they were too weak to stand against me. Slavery used to be very natural to me, but since the resurrection of Tencteri as Gallo-roman, or maybe since Spartacus' uprising, I realised all those men were worth something. So, I couldn't avoid but feel bad for Belgica, even after all what she did to me. I still blamed her for starting that hopeless uprising, but I had to admit that nothing of this would have ever happen if I never came to this land.

"Lord Rome? Do you hear me?"

I woke up. I was still in my boss's tent. Everyone was looking at me. It seemed like they were waiting for me to say something.

"Sorry, but what did you say?"

Caesar wrinkled.

"I was wondering if you would take part in this operation."

Now I was the one wrinkling. Was he expecting me to be the one executing Belgica?

"Those bastards killed our brothers in the most criminal way; we must get our revenge. Her uprising may well be a sparkle that can flare up the entire Gaul. We must put out that spark. Don't you agree? Personally, I won't rest until Ambiorix dies under my sword."

I finally understood what he was expecting from me. In his plan, I have to murder the wildcat. And after I kill my rebellious province, he will claim himself as my avenger and use that to get a new consul's mandate. What a disgusting plan! I so hated to be a puppet in the hand of this man. But I had no choice. I was HIS country.

"I want to find and arrest Belgica. That's all." I answered carefully.

He smiled and sent me in one of the legions in charge of destroying the Ardennes's forest. I didn't protest. After all, as a nation, I had to obey my leader. But after a few days, I couldn't handle it anymore. We burned nine villages in four days. I saw the soldiers killing old men, raping and cutting off the throat of women… they even threw little children in the houses they sat fire on. They did all of this without hesitation. How was that possible? How could my men do such horrible things? I, their nation, didn't want to be such a monster. I was supposed to be the most civilised country on earth, not the bloodiest one. My black arm itched again. I understood what was going on with my body and why I had collapsed at the end of the seventh legion's siege. My people were strongly divided on the fate which we reserved to Belgica. Some were on Caesar's side and the others were thinking that there had been enough killing like that.

Some memories of Carthage came back to my mind. At that time, I heard some nasty rumours about him. I was even told that he sacrificed children. That's was one of the things which convinced me to kill him, but after the final battle, I didn't find any proof of their stories. After a few years, I understood my leaders manipulated me and told me those false stories in order to turn me into a bloodthirsty beast. Those guys just wanted to control the Mare Nostrum and they didn't care about what was going on into my mind. They didn't see I was turning crazy with all this blood, plundering and this violence. All what mattered to them was to get Sicilia and the monopole of trading roads. None of them worried about the hundreds thousand of peoples I killed… and that I was starting to enjoy the killing…

I watched two soldiers dragging a twelve years old girl out of a bush and trying to get her undressed. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I didn't want to become the monster Caesar wanted me to be. I drew my sword and I beheaded the two men. The little girl screamed in terror as she was splashed by the blood. I looked at her. She looked at me, too scared to move.

"Listen, poor little thing. I am going to close my eyes and count to five. If you are still there when I reopen them, I will give you a painless death."

And so did I. I closed my eyes, counted, and when I looked around me, the girl was already far away. I watched at the men I had killed. They were my own men. How did it end up this way? It wasn't my fault. All what I wanted was to become friend with the Gallic sisters. I wanted them to live peacefully at my home. I wanted to love them. But it wasn't in Caesar's interest. He needed ferocious enemies to earn more and more fame. I remember how he always tried to convince me that the Gallic Sisters were perfidious… He knew the tribes would start new riots sooner or late, but he didn't strike at the root of evil because it would give him the opportunity to make new slaves, plunder more villages and renew his consul's mandate. Gaul was right. That general I used to like so much had sacrificed Gaul's inhabitants for his own purposes.

I realised I hated Caesar.