"Cultello est omnis capit" by Adrian M

“Titus, Titus, Titus…” Yelled the swarming mass of roman legionaries. They had just been to battle and were cheering in glee at their praetor, who won them the battle. He was legendary. His swordsmanship was the greatest in all the Roman Empire, his cunning outsmarted the best, and his leadership allowed him to conquer the land. He was standing at the top of the hill in his purple cloak, and allowed the cheering to go on for thirty more seconds. Then, he raised his hands and everyone became silent.

                  I spoke “today, we have won a great victory, and tomorrow we will win another but this is not the end. We will conquer all of the land in the name of Rome!” “Senatus Populusque Romanus (The senate and the people of Rome)” “Senatus Populusque Romanus” the legionaries chanted back. I dismissed them and they proceeded to the victory feast where they bragged about what they did during the battle. I went straight to my tent and laid down. Sleep wouldn’t come to me, and as the feast died down, I thought of the battle. The clashing of metal, sword on Scutum (roman shield), and the cries of pain abruptly cut off by a fatal blow. I shuddered. I was just about to close my eyes when I saw my tent flap being pulled back and a figure dressed in a black toga enter. I wondered how the intruder had gotten past the Praetorian Guard. I slowly reached for my knife so I wouldn’t alert the intruder that I was aware of their presence. My hands found the hilt and I leapt up and slashed at the intruder. He lept back with a nimbleness that I hadn’t expected, and at the same time parried my attack with ease. I kept slashing and forcing him back out of my tent and into the open. I managed to slash at him and grab my sword by the opening of my tent. Throwing my knife at him, I then unsheathed my sword with a flick and gave him a cut on his upper bicep. He seemed shocked by this and drew his sword. He tried to thrust but I parried easily and slashed his right arm. At this time most of the camp had woken up to the sound of clashing metal and came to watch. They could see that the attacker wasn’t a big threat, so they stood there and watched. The attacker came at me with an overhand cut and I had barely enough time to bring my sword up to block him. We were locked at the hilt, each fighting for control when I kicked him in the knee. He then fell on the ground where I then relived him of his head. I picked it up by the hair and tossed it to one of the guard. “Put that on a spear at the border of the camp.” I then turned to return to my tent when I felt a knife slide between my ribs. As I fell, I saw my most trusted friend standing over me with a face of stone. My last view of the world was him spitting on the ground, inches from my face.