his footing the way I almost had, except they went tumblingdown, losing their grip on their shields. I had no time to see whathappened to them, but I heard at least one man unleash a horriblescream when a Thracian spear thrust into his body before he couldregain his feet. Then we were smashing full force into the Serdiline and again my bulk proved to be extremely useful. Putting myshoulder behind my shield, I used it to batter into a Thracianwarrior who had gotten slightly ahead of his comrades, knocking himbackward off his feet. I had a glimpse of the man’s face, his mouthopen in surprise as he caromed off two other men, one of whom wasrunning forward with his spear held out in front of him. The pointof his weapon went straight into the back of the man I had knockedaside. He let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain, his eyes openingwide as he was killed by one of his comrades, while the man who hadinadvertently stabbed him was thrown backward as well. The thirdman had suffered a glancing blow, causing him to stagger a bit,forcing him to drop his shield lower to maintain his balance,giving me all the opening I needed. Using an overhand thrust acrossthe top of my own shield, I aimed the point for the opening justabove his mail shirt and underneath his chin, watching it punchthrough the soft hollow just below the bony lump of his throat thatall men have. Before his face could even register that he had beenkilled, I had withdrawn my blade, the point now bloody, turningback to the second man who was just now trying to wrench his spearout of the back of his fellow Thracian. I saw his eyes catch mymovement, and he yanked desperately on the shaft of his weapon,causing a gurgling scream from the man he had accidentally stabbed.Before he could recover his weapon, I had stepped forward, bladeback in first position. I punched my shield forward, hitting him onthe side of his head with the boss. The blow stunned him, for aninstant stopping him from pulling on his spear, while my arm was ablur of movement, making another thrust, this one the classicunderhand that is the first one Legionaries are taught. The pointof my sword shot from underneath the lower rim of my shield,striking as quickly as any serpent, and I felt the instant ofresistance of my blade punching into the man’s groin, just abovehis cock. He sucked in a huge shrieking breath, his face twistingin agony, letting go of both spear and shield when I twisted theblade free, causing even more damage when I did. As quickly as Ihad struck, I had withdrawn my blade and was again back in thefirst position, smelling the shit from his punctured bowel, knowingthat his waste now coated the point of my blade. All along theline, men had engaged, and I could feel the presence of Macrinus tomy right, holding his own shield close to my unprotected rightside. I was on the far left, with the remnant of the wall just ahalf dozen paces to my left, and I knew that I needed to get closerto it in order to protect my left. Even so, I saw two men trying tosqueeze me from that side, so, without thinking, I suddenly lunged,again putting my shoulder behind my shield before either man couldreact, pinning them with my weight against the wall, the manimmediately next to me squeezing the man to his right, who was nowsmashed flat against the wall. I had moved quickly enough thatneither of them could bring their arms to bear. I pushed againstthem with all my weight and strength, rewarded by their gasps as Icrushed the breath from them. Pinning them with my weight andprotected by Macrinus’ shield to my right, I twisted around to giveanother overhand thrust down over the top of my shield. TheThracian immediately next to me was unable to lift his shieldprovided I kept pressing against him, and I felt my blade’s pointstrike the metal of his scaled armor, resisting the pressure for aninstant. I grunted from the effort, pushing down hard with mysword. My point punched through the Thracian’s armor, next strikinghis collarbone, breaking it as I continued to press down with allof my strength. Giving a sharp cry, his eyes rolled back in hishead and I felt his body go slack, his now-dead weight pulling downthe man next to him who was still pinned to the wall. Then, with aquick thrust, I removed this last threat to my left, allowing me tomove so the wall was against the left edge of my shield. Macrinuswas working quickly and efficiently, showing that he remembered howto use a shield as well or better than any ranker, punching outwith it as an extension of his hand. We were not having it all ourway, and I could hear men crying out in our tongue when theysuffered a blow from a Thracian spear or sword, and by sheer weightof numbers, the Thracians were able to hold a line extending fromwhere I stood on the far left against the ruins of the gateway.Their force was arrayed in a slightly inward crescent shape to theright, a short distance past the other side of the gateway whereour men had managed to push forward a bit. More men of the FirstCohort were joining the fight once they ascended the ladders toreach the breach, and I could hear the shouts of their Centurionstrying to get men organized into our normal lines of relief. TheThracians were putting up a ferocious fight, however, keeping upconstant pressure on all of us in the front line, making itpractically impossible for a relief to start.
All three men I had dispatched had beeninstantly replaced, and I could see one large Thracian, waving hislong, curved sword and shouting what sounded like orders pushinghis way to the front. He was tall enough that our eyes met abovethe heads of the rest of the men and, by unspoken agreement, hebegan moving in my direction
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