[Mkguild] Roman story part 32

[cokane8116 at aol.com]

   There was never an actual formal surrender. The fighting just graduallydiminished as the legions slowly swept the city. Larger pockets of resistancewere bypassed until the smaller ones had been taken. Then those were graduallyground down.    Bitt picked up his pen again and added more.“Dear Lord. What a bland statement forsomething so terrible. Every street and building was bitterly contested.Fighting raged from floor to floor and room to room. The streets were piledwith debris creating roadblocks that had to be taken one at a time. Peopleclimbed to the rooftops and rained death down onto the attacking Legionnaires.And when they ran out of arrows and spears they threw bricks, stones, rooftiles and they even levered down sections of the walls themselves. They tookthe city but the legions paid a high price.”    He put down his pen and waited for the inkto dry before continuing his reading.    Thedefenders died hard and honorably. They fought well. There was not one part ofthe city that was not contested and all had to be taken by sword and pilum. Allexcept two places.    Thefirst was the great Library itself. The Legion was forbidden under pain ofdeath from getting anywhere near it. That place was to be taken by the forcesof the Magna Bibliotheca - the grand library of the empire alone.    Bittunraveled more of the scroll as he read and a small page of parchment came intoview at the bottom. Someone had carefully placed the parchment there. Curioushe picked up the small piece and found there was writing on it. It was done isa spidery scrawl so unlike the rest of the scroll. So very unlike the writingof a professional scribe.    “Istill remember the day the city fell. Many memories haunt me but one stands outamong the rest. Technically the city had fallen and the worst of the looting andkilling had ended. The survivors on both sides tended to their wounded. Thefighting for the Library continued at a ferocious rate. Everyone had beenordered away from it and even the Legionnaires gave it a wide berth. In frontof the main entrance was a plaza. A large group of Legionnaires had gathered atthe far edge (outside of arrow range). They had set up a group of chairs,tables, couches and even blankets laid on the paving. Many were wounded andwere being tended by the medicus; the healers. Others just seemed to be tired.At first the group was angry and gave me and my cousins a difficult time butfood and drink were brought out and soon the mood mellowed.   “All eyes were turned to the Great Library and the events happeningthere. The outer wall was breached and the fighting moved into the courtyardbeyond. And then into the interior of the main building itself. The soldierswere intently watching and would shout and cheer at a particularly exciting orinteresting scene. They cheered the loudest when someone died. It seemed to belike some sporting event. Like watching their favorite team playing. At first Iwas angry at them for cheering the deaths of people from a fellow clan andthose just defending their homes. But then I noticed they cheered the loudestwhen an ATTACKER died. When someone or something from the Grand Library waskilled or destroyed. Some were even keeping count. Others were betting on whowould get killed next!”   “Only later was it explained. When the final assault on the city wasplanned the Commander had asked that the powerful troops and forces of theLibrary take part. The giant and ogres would have smashed the walls easily. Andthe summoned and undead things would wreak havoc on the defenders. ManyLegionnaire lives would have been spared and perhaps more of the defenderswould have surrendered in fear of them. But that was not to be. “Your pettydesires are of no concern to me,” the Grand Librarian said. “I care only forwhat truly matters; the utter destruction of the true enemy. I will not wastemy power on small, trivial things. The city is yours; if you can take it. Donot annoy me again with such stupid requests or your death will be slow andpainful.” So the attack went on without them. I will admit to pride in knowingthat clan and kindred killed many legionnaires. Some say as many as eight inten died in the assault. Many of the survivors blamed the deaths of theircomrades on the Library. ‘If those ogres had been there to smash down thebuildings we wouldn’t have had to clear them one at a time. A library magecould have taken down that damn doe easily. Instead I lost ten goodlegionnaires before we managed to kill that mage.’ I heard those and similarwords many times.   “Worse still; afterward the Grand Library accused the legion of stealinggoods that rightfully belonged to them. The fact that those goods belonged toneither and had been looted from the dead bodies of the true owners was ignoredby the Library.”   “Legate Tetrinius took a careful count of the forces the Library broughtto the city and how many they left with. He noted that many did not survive.The Grand Library people looted the library and left with surprising haste. Noteven lingering to be certain that the Cairrge Brachaidhe was truly wiped out.That surprised everyone. They went to all that effort to defeat their enemy anddidn’t inflict the killing blow. Many said they no longer had the forces to doit. Too many had been killed. Most exciting was the rumor that the GrandLibrarian herself had died. She was last seen by the legion entering thelibrary they were attacking. Certainly, no legionnaire ever saw her again aliveafter that.”   ‘Trevonna Dalachaie’    There was nothing else on the parchment. Noteven a date.    Carefully, so as to not damage the writingalready there he added his own. “Thisbares out what we know. The Magna Bibliotheca withdrew with unexpected haste.And they did not bother any of the clans for several decades. But they arestill about. And we fight them still.    He finished reading the history.    What was left of the legion wasunceremoniously sent back to Gamellae with little thanks from an ungratefulemperor. Upon arriving home they found that the Parthians had used theirabsence to attack and raid. It took two years of hard campaigning to drive themback. Rebuilding the legion back to full strength took almost a decade. In someways it never did fully recover.
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