 | Day 1 |
Day 1
The Romans approached the fort in the early hours of the morning. Under the cover of darkness, siege engineers set up their machines, methods perfected during earlier sieges, were used to ensure the Romans had every advantage possible against there enemy, equipment was checked and silently men assembled to take the fort. There was no noise within the fort, no indication the Romans had been noticed. Archers moved into position in range of the walls waiting, for the signal to attack, Legionaries, clad in shining armour took to the field, two legions, of Rome's finest men, ready to fight and die for their country, horses were saddled up and prepared by their masters, the Roman war machine was ready, all that was needed was the right order.
The sky was suddenly set alight, a huge ball of fire, launched from an onager, closely followed by a second, rose into the sky, seeming to almost hang there for a moment illuminating the battlefield. The great balls of flame, soon started to sink and plummeted towards the village. Two immense crashes resounded from within the fortifications, followed by a huge pall of smoke rising into the sky, screaming could be heard from within, and shouts as the seemingly unprepared Lusitanians woke, to find themselves under attack.
Whilst this confusion happened within the walls, outside the fort, the Romans acted as a well oiled machine, archers started to release volley upon volley of arrows into the fort itself, and legionaries prepared for the assault.
One onager fired again, this time it flung a heavy rock towards the fortifications, the rock glanced of the top of the wall, ripping apart the top of the fortifications, before flying into the village itself, causing further damage, the second however was more accurate. It hit the wall dead centre, wood splintered and buckled under the great force, cracks streaked out along the side. The archers kept up their deadly volley, hoping that their arrows would fly true and spell death amongst the defenders.
The sound behind the walls, started dying away, less screams could be heard, and the fire died down, the smoke started to clear inside the fortifications, and the oppressive heat seemed to diminish.
The onagers struck again, the rocks hitting the battlement with an almighty crash. The walls ripped apart by such force, crashed to the ground and finally silence fell upon the battlefield. Everything seemed to stop as the poorly built wall, crashed into the ground. As one Legionaries and Levies rushed the gap, pouring through the remaining defences of the outer wall. Horns were blown, and great shouts came, as they entered, each man eager to do his duty to Rome.
The Romans were met by half burning embers of the village, coated in soot and pockets of smoke. Yet they could see no defenders, they walked forwards into the streets, confused, as they passed through the burning houses, they saw ahead of them the smaller inner wall, which wouldn't last long under direct assault. Suddenly, a great shout could be heard from within the half destroyed houses. A great host of Lusitanians rushed out from amongst smoke covered streets. One thousand Lusitanians hidden, since before the assault began, now took to the streets, catching the Legionaries and levies by surprise, Two hundred archers stood upon the inner wall, raining death upon the Levies and legionaries who had rushed through the gap, the Roman archers quickly retaliated causing many deaths amongst the defenders. Only seven hundred Romans had entered the fort so far, five hundred levies and the rest Legionaries. Fighting was brutal, in those first few hours, Lusitanians fighting for their homes and families, Romans for their lives. Many Romans fell, however the number of Lusitanians soon dwindled, they had got the advantage of surprise, but Romans were constantly reinforced by their men outside.
By late evening, only small pockets of resistance remained in the outer ring of the fort, some Lusitanians had retreated into the inner layer of the fort and the Romans mostly had control of the outer layer, however they remained pinned down by archers on the inside wall. An obstacle that would have to be dealt with, should the Romans want access to the rest of the city. The inside area was garrisoned by Levy infantry, whilst the Legionaries prepared outside for the next day.
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| Day 2 |
Day 2
As the last remnants of the fire, claimed the last of it’s fuel, a few of the Lusitanian soldiers roused themselves, they had a job to do. Quietly, in the early hours of the morning they roused a few of the women and sent them down the Baet river to collect supplies for the Lusitanian’s. The women understood the risks yet they undertook the task. The Romans had not thought to block the river, and the opportunity for extra supplies would not go amiss.
Preparations were being made by the Lusitanians, a great ditch was dug right next to the wall, and filled with stakes of wood. The Lusitanians had known what was coming and they had prepared. They had seen Romans worked well together but apart they were easily crushed, they could win this, if only they had time. Great balls of hay coated in tar were placed at the top of the escarpment, fire brackets stood nearby, showing the intention of this. 400 Archers took to the inner wall in preparation for the coming onslaught of Romans and Celts, and the winding pathway up to the main city was fortified heavily. The Lusitanian’s were prepared, they understood the land, all they needed was for the Romans to make one mistake and they could win.
The Romans roused themselves later than the Lusitanian’s, in there mind the battle was already won, they had seen how few enemies there were and bolstered by their pyrrhic victory the day before, they believed that the battle was easily won. Celtic infantry, who the night before had taken to the smouldering houses of the outer city to avoid Lusitanian snipers, now took to the streets preparing for the days battle, no enemy could be seen over the walls, and the order to form up came.
The sense of victory was short lived however. Lusitanian archers took to the walls, quietly, unnoticed by the Celtic warriors, who were eager to get to the fight. As one the four hundred archers on the walls, stood, took aim and fired into the massed ranks of there enemies, causing horrific injuries and many deaths, from behind the inner wall came another volley of Arrows, a further thousand Lusitanian Archers quickly firing to catch the enemy by surprise. At first the Celts were shocked, screams rang out from the dying, and amid the continuing hail of arrows, they fled the outer city, some taking refuge in the charred houses, some choosing to head outside and regroup there.
The Romans, positioned outside the city knew nothing of this, yet when they saw the first soldiers rushing out the city, they realised something was wrong. The tedious inspections of kit and equipment was stopped, as the realisation that the battle was about to continue hit them. The Legio VII, was given the task of relieving the Celts trapped within, along with the support of five hundred archers. Almost half of their missile troops. The Legion entered the city with shields raised above their heads, protection from any missiles, that might be shot at them. The roman archers, then returned fire upon the defenders. Most hit the wooden wall, but along the line of Lusitanian archers, gaps appeared.
Whilst this was occurring, the roman general decided to send one thousand celtic cavalry, 3,000 celtic Levy infantry, 2000 celtic Normal infantry and 678 archers, the remainder of their archers, around the left flank of the enemy, and the city, to the opposite side of the Hill fort, establishing a pincer movement, to trap the enemies inside. The Lusitanian commanders, on top of the huge escarpment could see every move the enemy made, and was able to prepare for it accordingly.
The thousand Lusitanian archers behind the wall, at a signal from their chief retreated to the opposite side of the River, across the great bridge, that spanned the width in the middle of the town. As these men passed, they saw the houses of the village being weakened by soldiers, ready to collapse at any moment, small boats were scuppered along the river to prevent the Romans getting them, and ditches were dug and filled with stakes to provide the Romans with a nasty surprise.
Once the Romans had retaken the outer city, they prepared there Onagers to attack. The great machines, flung rock over the expanse of the battlefield dealing extensive damage to the fortifications. Wood splintered and the walls shook. And finally after three hours of constant bombardment the wall collapsed. The Legionaries prepared themselves for the inevitable battle, and all but one hundred archers retreated from the walls, to the safety of the river. The remaining Celts within the city, about three hundred of them were ordered to head through the gap first. The archers did not fire upon them, and ahead of them they saw a hundred Lusitanian Levy soldiers. Eager to prove themselves in battle, and angry at the death of their comrades, they rushed forward, over the gap, and into the newly dug ditch. Very few were impaled by the stakes however many of them, became stuck by a black substance at the bottom of the pit. They gave no thought to this however, and soon they were rushing up the other side of the bit, to fight the Lusitanian’s. A bloody battle ensued, many men killed, confusion reined, the Celts coated in the black substance could not tell each other apart, and many fell to a friends blade that day. Soon enough, the Lusitanians were defeated, and the Celts, roared in triumph. It was now time for the Legion to enter. Ten centuries entered through the gap, and strode towards there allies, the Celts. The Lusitanian, archers, who were still playing dead upon the walls, could see this, and waited for the moment to strike. The Romans easily dodged the spikes, however due to their heavy equipment and armour, they quickly became bogged down in the tar. When the last of the ten centuries entered the ditch, the archers struck, quickly and without mercy, they began picking off the bogged down Legionaries. The other centuries quickly seeing this, assaulted the walls, hoping to dislodge the archers, once and for all. They reached the top of the wall and quickly dispatched many of the archers. However they saw something in the distance which, made their hearts sink. They knew what was in the pit along with their friends, and seeing that lone Lusitanian standing next to the brazier, a flaming arrow notched in his bow, they realised that these barbarians would stop at nothing to win. What happened next, would stay with these men forever, A thousand of there friends burning in a pit, broke their resolve, and disheartened them greatly.
The Celts, on the other side watched in dismay as there allies burned, then from behind them they heard, shouts, and horns. A thousand veteran soldiers were rushing there position, some fought but many fled, towards the pit, they gave no thought to the flame, no thought to the stakes, there only thoughts were about the blood crazed mob, baying for there blood.
At the end of day two, the Romans now have the entire outer and inner walls to themselves, the Celts took the back without any resistance and now own one those outer walls on the North side of the river. The Romans have the South side, however there is a gap between them, the river. The only crossing place is the bridge. The Romans, would drown in their heavy armour in the deep river. The only crossing point is the bridge, in the centre of the town.
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| Day 3 |
Day 3
Throughout the night the Romans had worked, dousing the fires, clearing the dead and creating a pathway through the outer city for their Onagers to go through. Makeshift bridges had been set across the ditch, where many had died the night before, and camp had been made on the plateau by the escarpment. The other half of the army remained inside the fortifications, on the other side of the plateau in the hope that they hadn’t been noticed. Waiting for the right order to encircle the huge fort up ahead. The army was then told to rest until morning, before they moved to take the bridge and the southern part of the village.
The Lusitanians had also been busy. In the early hours of the morning the women had arrived back with the supplies that were needed, though there wasn’t much, it was enough to last the Lusitanians a few hours. After they had delivered the supplies, the Lusitanian men sent away as many of the women and children as they could as to escape, the battle that was soon to come. Fletchers had worked all through the night, stringing bows and making arrows, in preparation for the siege, huge boulders had been rolled to the top of the pathway up to the main fort, if anyone attacked up there they would be crushed. As they had done the day before, the engineers weakened the structures on the North side of the river, to prevent the Romans gaining any advantage by hiding in them, and the bridge was sabotaged, should any great weight be placed on it, it would fall into the river, taking any crossing at that moment into the murky depths. With sharpened swords, strung bows, the Lusitanians were ready to fight.
At ten ‘o’ clock, the Roman Legionaries roused there men, the Celts and Romans both prepared to move into the southern side of the village, the place that unbeknownst to them the Lusitanians had booby trapped the night before. Six thousand Celtic troops were sent forward, three thousand Normal and three thousand Levy. A few hundred Levy soldiers were sent to investigate any threats in the houses. However the sabotaged houses collapsed on them, killing many, after the first few attempts, they gave up trying to take the houses, they realised no one could be inside as, as soon as they entered it would collapse. They moved forward to take the bridge, checking the ground for any traps, they had learnt what to expect by now, and were wary of everything. Once they had reached the bridge they started to secure the South side, in preparation for the legions to join them.
The Lusitanians at the top of the hill saw this and dispatched 2000 archers to the bottom of the hill to the Northern side of the River, they were to ambush the Celtic and Roman soldiers, to try and draw them across the sabotage bridge. They also saw the Celtic army on the Northern side of the escarpment preparing to encircle their city, and they readied the defences to deal serious damage to these attackers.
The Roman legions marched forward through the village streets. The broken, dispirited Legio VII Gemina, followed closely by the as yet untouched, Legio IV Hispania. These men were followed by the six hundred strong Roman cavalry, whilst the engineers moved their Onagers forward, into the main plateau so that they were in range of the huge escarpment. The Legio Gemina moved forward to help the Celts secure the bridge, as they did this the Lusitanian archers started firing into the massed rank, screams of soldiers were heard, and a few tried to take refuge inside the buildings, which then collapsed on them. The Legio Gemina was in disarray, they had been ordered not to cross the bridge, and so melted into the side streets, away from the deathly hail. The Romans then moved the rest of their archers on the Southern side up to attack the Lusitanian archers, four hundred and eighteen men, to deal with five times their number. They fought bravely, exchanging arrows over the vast expanse, but by mid afternoon, most had died and those that were left, routed. They had caused over five hundred casualties in the Lusitanian ranks, and this was a Valiant effort from the decimated archers.
Whilst this was happening, the Celtic army moved to take the Northern side of the city and dislodge the Archers, on the southern side. As they moved towards the escarpment the remaining Lusitanian, archers numbering over one thousand, which had remained at the top of the escarpment, fired upon their unprotected heads. The archers travelling with the Celts quickly retaliated, however, the angle was to great, and many arrows simply bounced off the top of the huge cliff. Not long after they had started, the archers stopped, giving the Celts a short respite. Their relief was short lived however. The Lusitanians, lit the bales of hay that they had coated in tar the morning before, and started rolling them down towards the attackers. Sparks flew into the air, men screamed, horses bolted. The grass, of the northern plateau which in the Spanish sun had been dry, for almost a month now, quickly burst into flame. Huge clouds of smoke billowed into the air, fires raged amongst the crying soldiers. Then the archers started to fire again. Arrows like angry wasps, zipped through the air, adding to the general confusion. Soldiers choked on the smoke, which clogged their eyes, noses and mouths. They couldn’t escape the fires. The entire land was burning.
The Roman Generals saw the smoke and realised that something was happening. The Lusitanian archers on the other side of the river had retreated back to their fortifications. The emplaced Onagers now started to aim at the top of the escarpment, ready to rip into the enemies walls as they had done so effectively the day before. The first Onager fired, the rock shot out of the harness at high speed, travelling through the air at such a speed that had it hit the fortifications it would have destroyed them surely. However the rock hit the top of the escarpment with a huge crash, and split into many pieces, huge shards of rock fell amongst the retreating Lusitanian archers, killing many men, and maiming other. The second onager fired however its rock, sailed over the battlements, hitting their own celtic men on the other side of the huge fortress. The angle is to great, shouted one of the engineers to the General, there is no chance of us hitting the fort. They built it to far back from the rock to let us hit it from this angle, and any further back and our rocks will just sail over it. We need a new tactic.
By this time, what was left of the Celtic army returned, they had lost many men in the fires of the plain, and were now blackened with soot and weary. They travelled along the foor of the escarpment, to meet up with their Roman allies, by the village. Constantly being harassed by the archers above them. The Romans seeing their allies cross the lip of the escarpment decided to send their cavalry over to help mop up any remaining resistance within the city.
These Cavalry led by Senator Flavius Hispansis Drusus, Crossed the bridge quickly, and whilst weakened it did not yet break. The cavalry rode into the city. They saw a threat approaching their allies, which they had not yet seen themselves. Around three hundred Lusitanian veterans were, running down the hill towards the dispirited Iberians, ready to deal a crushing blow to the already decimated men. The veterans launched themselves into the ranks, screaming at their enemies, creating fear amongst them. The Lusitanians, dealt many casualties to the Celts. Their swords ripping through the Ranks, the dead and dying lay upon the ground. The dry earth became clogged with blood. The Lusitanians revelled in the Slaughter of their greatest enemies. Huge men, the best soldiers in the Lusitanian army, breaking through ranks, as easily as breaking through straw.
The cavalry of the Senator saw this dire problem. They charge towards the Lusitanian veterans. Resplendent in shining armour. Spears down in front of them, Their horses galloping, they braced themselves for the charge. As they hit the Lusitanian ranks, the front rows crumbled, men thrown into the air, landing heavily upon the ground breaking limbs, the horse rode onwards, the back ranks were hit by the spears, that the Romans were carrying, the spears splintered into the bodies of the barbarians. The Romans rode through, and wheeled around to charge again. This time the Lusitanians were ready, as the cavalry rode through, they stepped to the side of the lances, and cut through the bodies of their attackers. However the charge was still successful, and every time they cut through the enemies, they wheeled around to charge again. The enemy soldier lay dead upon the ground, their fur lined bodies, amassed on the ground, yet every so often lay the form of a Roman Cavalry soldier, whose once shining armour now was covered in blood and grime, but the cavalry had done it, heroically charging their enemies, and dealing a hefty blow.
The generals seeing this moved their legions forward over the bridge. The pounding of heavy feet, resounded on the wooden planks. The heavy armour of the legionaries, pressed down on the wooden planks, the tightly pressed formation of the infantry, walked along the wooden planks. The supports strained, the structure groaned, and ropes snapped. The entire bridge suddenly plummeted into the water, depositing Roman legionaries into the murky depths. The heavy armour dragged the men down to the bottom, the water churned with every man trying to kick his way free of the wreckage. Some made it back to shore, but many drowned in the River Baetis, miles away from home, they died alone.
The days battling was done, the Roman and Celtic forces, while sustaining heavy losses had still taken control of all the lower lands of the fort. The generals were realising now the true nature of their enemies. They knew they had two options. A costly head on assault, of the final stronghold, up the narrow path, they would lose many men but it would soon be over. Or wait the enemy out lay a proper siege, and concentrate most of their forces on the other Lusitanian forts, bypassing the city for now, leaving half the army to stop the defenders leaving. Whatever the decision the decisive day was tomorrow, day 4 of the siege would be the deciding day in the conquest of the Hill fort Cordoba.
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| Day 4 |
Day 4
“Brothers, gather round, let me tell you about the Romans, the men from the South, the men with the power over most of the world, the men who we SHALL defeat this day. They come at us in their multitudes, writhing, crawling worms, SCUM, they seek your homes, they seek your lands, your Women will become their property, your children will become them. If we fall today, they will take all that is good, all you have worked for, lived for, DIED for, away from you. Do you know what happened in Alanis, do you? They took our brothers, fathers, sons, from us, to the stinking crawling maggot holes of Rome, to die in the Sulphurous pits of the mines, in the disease driven Galleys of the sea and for the pleasure of the fat Roman, swine, who sit in their arenas, watching our Brothers, Fathers and Sons die. This is what they will do, if we lose today. I will say this now Brothers. This shall not happen, we are Lusitanian we are, Spanish, we are the children of the Gods. Our numbers, are few yet every man is worth ten of theirs. So brothers, Today we will, fight and die for our people and tonight we shall dine in the Afterlife” The bard roared “So man your posts and let these scum and their dogs, know their doom approaches.” With this the Lusitanians roared out, they could win this, would win this, or they would die trying. So in the dead of night, the Lusitanians were ready.
Throughout the night, into the early hours of the morning, the Roman Onagers, had been constantly firing up at the fortifications, in an attempt to crush the attackers, before battle commenced the next day. A few hours before dawn the Onagers stopped, they had run out of ammunition, so free from the sounds of battle, the Romans and Celts slept gaining the last bit of rest they could before the next day. Engineers worked tirelessly however, to bridge the River, the gap between the two camps was large, the Celts on one side, with the remainder of the Roman cavalry and archers, and the Roman legionaries on the other side.
Their peace did not last long however. The Lusitanians were putting to use the trick they had learnt the day before, the Celts camp lay just below there fortifications, and with tar stained bales of hay, and braziers of fire, they were ready to wreak havoc, one thousand Lusitanian veteran infantry also prepared to attack, quietly slipping down the steep cliff, daubed in mud, so as not to be seen by the Celtic sentries. Archers lined up at the battlements. They would crush the Celts here, there would be no survivors.
Suddenly without warning, huge balls of fire, shot down the sides of the escarpment, picking up speed quickly on the steep face, their flames burned continuously the tar, searing the ground as it passed. The first balls hit the Celtic tents, bouncing upon the ground, setting fire to the flimsy wood and cloth structures, one fireball shot into the horses stables, the horses terrified by the fire bolted, running down many of the Celts, who were trying to escape their tents, screams rang out, as men trapped inside their tents burned alive, those that tried to escape became tangled within the knots and pegs, tripping up and spreading the fire from one tent to another. The second wave of fire came, burning through the narrow avenues between tents, sparks flew as it some crashed into the food stores, burning the Celts supplies.
Then it was the turn of the veterans, huge men, battle scarred and mad with bloodlust ripped through the Celtic camp, slaughtering their unarmed enemies. Shouts were heard by the Romans, and they watched from the other side of the river as their allies were slaughtered by the enemies. Nothing could be done, the bridge was not yet finished, and the current was to strong. Many a brave man broke down that night, screams of their friends ringing in their ears.
Many of the Celts tried to Run, but their great leader rallied them, Geriatrix the fearsome warlord who had conquered many enemies, now stood strong in the face of his foes. His allies joined him, two hundred Celtic soldiers, the remainder of his decimated army, cavalry, levy and normal infantry, joining in a final stand. The Lusitanians started to rush them, yet they were stopped short, a horn was sounded from the escarpment, an order to run, what had their leaders seen, that would make them order this.
The answer quickly became known to them, the Roman cavalry, who had made camp separate from their Celtic allies had roused themselves at the first screams, and now in full armour were charging the Lusitanian force. One hundred of the Lusitanian fighters, sacrificed their lives for their friends. Forming a defensive wall whilst their brothers in arms, ran back to the safety of the fortifications. The Romans charged the rearguard, cutting swathes through the great men, fighting raged, for hours, not one Lusitanian resting, faltering, surrendering. They would give no quarter, and as the last man fell the true extent of the casualties could be seen.
The rest of the force retreated safely to the safety of the fortifications, their sally had been successful, albeit costly. They now rested, for the days events that would now follow.
As daylight hit brow of the escarpment, the true extent of the damage was shown, skeletons of tents stood upon the uneven ground, charred bodies laying in the blood stained, blackened streets. The bridge that the engineers had worked on all night was finished, and just after dawn, the Celts crossed over to meet their allies, of the great hordes that had first joined them, just over four thousand remained, they had escaped the worst of the fighting and were downtrodden desolate, and scared by the prospect of fighting again. The Roman general gave them the permission to stay out of the final assault, unless they were truly needed by the Romans. The remaining Roman archers, then started firing upon the city, loosing arrow high into the air causing death to all those did not escape the streets in time. They did this until they had depleted all supplies of arrows. The Romans Legionaries then moved into place, and the Legio Gemina took the vanguard, marching steadily up the steep hill towards the gates of the high fort. As they reached the halfway point, Lusitanian archers started to fire upon the unprotected flanks of the Romans from the city walls, killing those who did not react quick enough. The Romans quickly formed a testudo against these attacks, and continued towards the top of the gates. After a few more volleys of arrows, the firing ceased. This gave the Romans hope, and they pushed on right into the trap, that had been set for them. Huge boulders, entwined in nets, lay at the top of the path. Burly Lusitanians standing next to the support ropes, brandishing huge axes, smiled at the Romans as they approached. The legionaries at the front saw this, and tried to get their friends to retreat, but they were too slow, the ropes were split, and the huge boulders, avalanched down the only path available, crushing limbs, and bones, cracking skulls, shields and armour, the stones plummeted, the testudo crumbled, and at once the archers started firing again, slaughtering the remainder of the Legion within minutes, The Gemina was routed, there general underestimated his foes, and had brought about the doom of his men. No more would he take the Lusitanians lightly, they were brutal, military geniuses, and his legion had routed. The second Legion fared better than the first. They formed the testudo befor the ascent. Marching steadily, the as yet untouched men of the Legio Hispania, marched up the body strewn road towards the fort. Very few arrows found gaps in their defense, and soon they had reached the great gates. Sappers quickly prepared to break through this last barrier, fires were lit on the wooden gate, and slowly the structure set alight, the gatehouse. Burning slowly. Finally with an immense crash, the gates burst open showering the Romans with sparks. As one, the Romans rushed through the gates, swords at the ready, shields protecting their bodies, the final battle was joined, at this moment, the Lusitanians had the advantage of numbers, yet the Romans, were superior in every other sense. The bravest men of a nation, fell that day, trampled beneath Roman feet, swords cracked, shields snapped and bows broken by the might of Rome. The ground became slippy with the blood of the dead, and slowly but surely the Lusitanians fell, under the Roman onslaught.
Whilst the archers were distracted, cavalry raced the gap towards the breached gate, joining the fray, against the Lusitanians. The fight lasted for hours. Until every last Lusitanian lay dead, upon the ground. The general surveyed he final battleground, and he asked his soldiers, were there any survivors. The man pointed at the huge kings house, in the centre of the fort. Two hundred veterans walled inside along with their leader, they would not surrender they would take as many as they could with them. That was all that remained of the Defenders, “What of the Women and Children” None the soldier replied, they appear to have been evacuated. “Very Well” the General replied, he knew he would lose many men in the attempt on the great house. His final words would seal the fate, of these heroic defenders. He had his victory but at a great cost, and as he surveyed his men, he spoke the last words of the battle. “Burn It”
The battle is finished, and now the soldiers must move on, to take the other settlements or risk being attacked by any Lusitanian reinforcements. The clock is ticking, and all hangs in the balance. Yet this battle is over, even if the war has only just begun.
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