Chapter 59: The Conspiracy of Aetius
The carriage swayed and moved forward slowly. Outside, there was chaos. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 14th Roman Gemini Legion fought desperately with the Burgundians outside the carriage. Flesh and blood kept hitting the wooden boards outside the carriage. It seemed that the Burgundians had already reached under the carriage.
Livius was desperately trying to clear the way for the carriage, but there was no sign of Aetius in the carriage. So why was Livi so desperate? Was he also deceived? Or was this a farce with a high cost? Then what about the scout who reported it?
"Luga, is it true that Marshal Aetius is not among them?"
Femio looked around with lingering fear. There was indeed no one else here except the three of us. Could it be that Aetius disguised himself and escaped in the chaos?
"I'm not sure about that," I answered him, and at this moment my mind suddenly flashed back to the scout with a pierced neck who had handed the parchment to the carriage.
"Parchment, parchment!"
I was mumbling something to myself, looking around, and I actually found the rolled-up parchment on the carpet at the window of the carriage. I didn't even open the envelope, so I quickly went over to pick it up, thinking that since this was a document that had been submitted, and there was no sign of Aetius around, could I open it and take a look?
Without any time to hesitate, I opened the parchment directly. I wanted to see what was written on it! I quickly removed the beeswax sticking to it and opened the parchment. The result was beyond my expectation, or I just thought so in my heart. I couldn't tell. The parchment was empty. There was really nothing written on it.
"Maybe the light is too dim."
As I was talking, I thought of Lenin's deeds of writing letters with milk in prison, so I tried to secretly open the window to see through the sunlight what magical things were written on the parchment that I didn't know yet. But as soon as I opened the window, a poor guy was beheaded outside, and blood splashed all over my face, which scared me so much that I quickly covered the window.
It seems that there is no chance to verify it. I almost laughed out loud for my suicidal behavior just now. Since it can be concluded that there is nothing on the parchment, then by analogy, Aetius is not on this car at all. Then where is the chief centurion Guy? Shouldn't he be standing in the front row of the square? But when the scout was killed, our centurion came back, but where was he? Looking at the blank parchment in my hand, I can't help but think of the parchment that the messenger gave to Guy in the camp at that time. I am afraid that the real answer to this incident is on it!
"Alas, we were deceived!"
I let out a long sigh and wondered why I couldn't see the chief centurion during the break. It turned out that the guy had already run away with the flag, and maybe he had met his treacherous master now.
"What? What was cheated?"
Andrew just came back to his senses from his Dionysian dream and looked at me in surprise.
"What I mean is that we have become pawns abandoned by that bastard Aetius. But now we are burning ourselves and playing a key role in Aetius's next plan."
The two of them were stunned and stared at me. I knew they didn't understand what I meant as well as I did. To put it simply, this carriage was a piece of fat meat deliberately placed in front of a hungry wolf, and the three of us were right in the middle of this fat meat.
"Wuwuwu~~ I shouldn't have come if I had known! What military position, what Senate troops won't go to the battlefield, it's all a lie!"
Fermiou understood what I meant. It was nothing more than that we were the bait to fall into the Burgundian ambush. After hearing such bad news, he didn't care about anything else and sat on the ground crying loudly. It turned out that this guy came in through the back door.
"Then what should we do, Luca? We will die if we go out now. Staying here will at least make us die later." Andrew casually took a piece of silk and wiped the blood off his face. Silk is a real treasure. I think the price of selling one of them could give us a good meal for the next one or two years. After he wiped it, it's worthless! "I think we should get out quickly. In this way, as long as the phalanxes outside are defeated, we will be trapped in our own trap. It's better to go out and pretend to die than to stay here now!" My words immediately attracted Andrew's nod of agreement. As for this kid, Fomio, it's obvious that he's a clerk. Now I just hope that this guy doesn't fail at the critical moment.
I went over and grabbed Fermiou's mail and lifted him up. "Now is not the time to be afraid. We must escape!" After saying that, I nodded to Andrew. Andrew understood and drank the wine in the pot in one gulp. He threw the pot away, picked up Fermiou's shield, shouted "Let's fight!" and rushed out! Before Fermiou could shake his head, I had already pulled him to follow behind Andrew.
As soon as I got out of the carriage, I looked around and saw Burgundians everywhere. The weapons in their hands were even more varied. Could it be that after so many years, they have not made any progress at all?
Livius led his cavalry, and there were only four or five of them left. They simply dismounted and let the four or five soldiers lead the way. They pulled the reins of the four horses pulling the cart and moved forward little by little. The surroundings were in chaos. The neat and tight formations of the squares had long since disappeared. Now each soldier was fighting on his own. The Romans and Burgundians were fighting each other, and the scene was very chaotic.
"Hey! What are you three doing?!"
As soon as I came out and hadn't even stood firmly, I saw the traitor Levi pointing at the three of us and questioning us loudly.
"What the hell is this to you!"
I refuted him without hesitation, grabbed Fermiou and got off the carriage, and Andrew took the lead. When he saw a Burgundian holding a woodcutting axe and shouting as he rushed towards us, Andrew did not hesitate at all, and swung his shield to knock the Burgundian down. Before he could stand up to resist, I had already stabbed him in the chest.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
"Luka, where are we going?"
Andrew turned around and asked me. I handed his sword back to him and said, "I don't know. Just run in the direction you're going back. Didn't you see that traitor Levi was running that way?"
"Okay! Luka, you better follow me closely!"
Andrew put his sword on his waist, held his shield forward, and pushed forward. If there were Romans in front of him, he would use his shield to push them away. If they were Burgundians, he would chop them down with his sword. Now we must gather the remaining Romans together so that we have enough strength to rush out! "Romans!" I raised my sword and shouted, "If you want to leave here alive now, follow me!"
"Orius Luca!"
As we kept moving forward, I heard someone calling my name. I turned around and saw the traitor Livius. He kept pulling the carriage, but the Roman soldiers around the carriage were all dead or wounded, and the ignorant Burgundians had already rushed onto the carriage.
(End of this chapter)