Lucius looked out through the half open flap of the tent. Horns were sounding the call to muster at arms. He hadn't slept well. Not only was he tired and blistered from days on the march; the rumours were getting worse. This was supposed to be an easy posting – garrisoning some town in southern Gaul shouldn't have been any cause for worry. But every day the locals seemed more surly and uncooperative, even hostile. And now the stories they were hearing, claims that it was not Vercingetorix who had been captured at Alesia, that he had escaped and was raising a revolt, stories that had seemed absurd only days ago, now seemed increasingly likely the further into Gaul they marched. And just last night the sentries had reported significant activity in their vicinity. Lucius clambered out and headed, bleary eyed, to the muster point.
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Half an hour later, the sun still low in the sky, Lucius was marching with the rest of his cohort towards a low rise a few hundred paces ahead. Dust clouds to his front confirmed the rumours; the Gauls were in arms and moving rapidly toward the same objective. To Lucius' right were another cohort of legionaries and beyond them, several cohorts of Auxilia, tough foreigners that Lucius had never before spoken to. At the far right, he could just make out the ranks of the Auxilia Sagitarii, covering the more broken ground on the flank, where an orchard could well be used as cover by the Gallic rebels. To the left stretched out the ordered ranks of the rest of the legion, and beyond them, Equites alares and the two allae of Equites Sagitarii. Reaching the summit of the hillock, he barely had time to take in the sight of the teeming Gallic cavalry facing his own army's few horsemen before a cry went out from the equally numerous Gallic infantry rapidly closing in on him and the rest of the legion. It was barely an hour after dawn and already today felt like a bad day.
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Fighting commenced with a little insignificant skirmishing on both wings, between Gallic javelinmen and Roman archers on the Romans' right, and Equites Sagitarii and Gallic slingers on the left. However the main combat was soon to be joined, as the Gallic infantry hurled itself against the Roman position right along the line. Lucius witnessed the overrunning of cohorts to his right and left as the ferocity of the barbarians induced panic in the ranks of the Romans, all those ancestral fears of Gallic terror made real.
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On the left, the Roman equites drove straight toward Vercingetorix (for he it indeed was) and his cavalry, making significant initial inroads and the Roman horse archers drove back the slingers but they were trapped and defeated by the numerous Gallic horse that swept in from the flank.
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On the right, the Auxillia tried to hold the line but at one point the Gauls swept away some of those troops also.
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Near breaking point, the Roman cause looked hopeless. Gauls on the left were looking to exploit the gap there, while on the right, the Roman cavalry's progress was too slow, as the victorious Gallic right wing cavalry regrouped to move unopposed into the flank and rear of the Roman cavalry. In the centre, the cohorts of the legion were barely holding on.
However, Roman resilience in the face of adversity was as renowned as Gallic fury. Slowly but surely the Auxilia began to regroup and take the battle to the Gauls. On the slopes of the hill, the legionaries gradually took the initiative too and Lucius' cohort held on, while others drove back and scattered some of the Gauls, before falling onto isolated groups and destroying them.
On the left however, the Gallic cavalry under Vercingetorix held on just long enough for additonal cavalry to arrive and charge the rear of the embattled Roman equites. The Roman cavalry was all but destroyed. But just as Rome's resolve evaporated, Lucius saw for himself the death of the great Gallic chieftain who had led the assault on the Roman centre. A great cheer went up as the Gauls' determination left them and the attacks petered out along the line.
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Wary bands of Celtic warriors drew away, covered by their victorious cavalry. Slowly they backed further and further, leaving their dead and wounded to the now eagerly circling crows. Yet the Romans too were exhausted, relieved merely to have largely survived the onslaught. They too withdrew to their camp; barely able to retain a semblance of order, they too left their comrades on the field to fend for themselves as best they could. Both armies would lick their wounds and consider their options. The Gauls had shown that their revolt was a serious one. Vercingetorix was still free and word would spread that he had once again upheld Gallic pride, which would almost certainly rally more tribes to his banner. All Gaul was turning hostile. For Lucius, the idea of a quiet posting , sampling the cuisine and enjoying the sights was but a distant memory. Casting a watchful glance over his shoulder, he distractedly stirred the broth of fermented fish sauce and foraged cabbage in the pot.
