Blood Upon The Ground – (Answers for Aragorn) The Deserters Journey Homeward - Pt III Aragorn wanted to shout at the deserter, just tell the tale about the attack upon the estate Averius. But Aragorn had served the empire now for eight years and could see this young man was tire of the entire killing associated with warfare.
So why the attack upon the estate Averius, had their leader known they were attacking kinsman of the leader Arverni?

So many unanswered questions, so perhaps with some patience the deserter will answer them all, if not I can always turn him over to Prince Vertixongius.

The deserter requested some water and to sit down, not being chained to the post, Aragorn looked at the keeper, unchain him from the post and get him some water and send someone for some food also Aragorn wanted this interrogation over with. Aragorn had business to attend to and some dispatches to send off when the facts of this incident were known.

The deserter sat down and drank the water greedily and Aragorn decided to wait till the deserter had eaten some food before questioning him anymore. After the deserter had finished Aragorn looked at him, now continue your tale, from when your group finally stopped for the evening and there were only 60 Cantabri present.
Where you weren’t certain what happened to the other 25 but they wasn’t with you.

The deserter started his tale again, a little more relaxed and at ease,

So the next morning we continued in a southwestern direct knowing that it would lead us back to Hispania and home once again. As our supplies became less and less our group became more daring and entered into small village and towns without any garrisons.
I just wanted to return home and didn’t worry if I would be killed today or would I kill today, though others in the group didn’t share my opinion. Killing had become easy for them, to easy for me to understand, nor want to understand.

Our group had been in Gaul now for 5 days and wearing our Roman uniforms still and acting like regular cavalrymen, so that other wouldn’t take notice of us.
None of the villages or towns refused us anything, perhaps thinking that we were still legionnaries and easier just to give into our demands then have some Roman cavalry troop set fire to the village as we always entered in villages after sunset carrying torches making it more difficult to describe members of our group.

We only traveled at night, so as not to be seen by to many people, as the ninth day in Gaul approached, so did our group enter into the ancestral lands of the Arverni. Some of the more elderly members of or group recognized the terrain, they became more aggressive toward the villagers and people we encountered.
The next village we came across in the Arverni region, I thought we was going to burn it to the ground, by the way the others was acting. But our leader rode up to villagers working late in the fields and asked where their Lord’s house was located.
He stated he had an important document for their lord and it was urgent for him to receive it. Not thinking the villager gave directions to our leader, and I wondered if this person didn’t wonder way there was sixty cavalrymen to deliver a message for their Lord.

We rode through the village in regular formation, our eyes looking around at what was available if we needed it or desired it.
The villager’s lord was about an hour’s ride away by horse, so no warning would be given by the village of our approach.
A boy was promised a sesterces for guiding us to the lord’s estate. The boy was a good guide and we rode an hour’s ride, straight from the village and to within 3435 pedes of the estate.
Our leader called for a halt and for everyone to dismount and rest the horses in a small clearing to the left of the road. Oh course sentries was posted encase someone came along to the estate.

The boy was proudly telling all of us, what he knew about the Arverni’s, Lord Averius, that their was five members of the family Averius still living at the estate.
That Lord Averius, had between twelve and twenty workers on his estate and that the main estate was suppose to have only two gated entrances. The boy couldn’t describe what was inside the gates of the courtyard of the estate or elsewhere within the gated estate.
Our leader reached into his tunic and tossed the boy his promised sesterces, then as the boy turned his back and started walking back to the village, our leader made a signal and the boy was grabbed, his throat was slit and the boy’s lifeless body slumped to the ground.

In war I could see killing an enemy, but this blood feud between the Cantabri and the Arverni was crazy, the killing of an innocent child was wrong. But I was with this group of Cantabri and there wasn’t anything I could do to stop it from happening.
Our leader sent out scouts to make certain that the boy had told the truth about the entrances and when the scouts returned to confirm that he had indeed told the true. Our leader drew up plans of the attack in the ground, describing how twenty men would enter the estate with him. Another ten men at each of the other entrances and the other twenty surrounding the estate in all directions at a distance to make certain that there wasn’t any hidden escape tunnels.

COMING SOON

Blood Upon The Ground – (Answers for Aragorn) The Deserters Attack on the Estate - Pt IIII

author Aragorn and trying to read his faxed notes to get this posted for Aragorn is Gaius