The old man hobbled down the road...

"Men! We have been set up for an ambush, there are enemy soldiers hiding in the bushes to either side of the path ahead. Scouts, I want two groups of five men to sneak up on either side of these bushes, some distance away from the path, and set fire to it. This should provoke enough of a reaction to flush those men out of there." The scouts silently moved into the bush and obeyed their command.

Aurelius yelled as soon as he saw the flame take hold. "Archers! To the front line! Load your bows! Hold…" soldiers rushed out into the path to flee from the fire, only to step into the premise of the line of fire. "Loose your strings men!" Aurelius yell thundered through the serene silence of the forest, now ablaze with the sounds of fire and cries of battle.

He watched as his archers each hit their mark with incredible ardour and dexterity and he knew that he had trained them properly. The men fell in swathes, cut off from shelter by the fire, and helpless to drive off the deadly rain of arrows that showered them from afar. Some of the enemy soldiers, however, kept their wits, and banded together with their shields, successfully grouping together and organizing a charge on the archers, who still sowed death to their comrades with deadly precision.

"Heavy infantry! Take position in front of the archers! Charge!" Aurelius unsheathed his long sword, a fantastic weapon shining blue in the light and glittering with the precious stones and golden hilt at every flash of sunlight, and whirled it high above his head. He charged, with his heavy infantry division behind him, mowing down the enemy ambush force like an inexorable machine of destruction. Those that had regained their wits fought back the advances furiously, locking shields and throwing themselves in the fray, fighting with all the valour that comes with sheer despair.

Aurelius swung madly with his shield and sword, cutting down all those that came near him, and the enemy soldiers were astounded by the strength and courage of this old man, who was virtually an unstoppable adversary. Aurelius crushed a man with a tremendous blow from his shield, sliced in two another who was blocking his path, and ran through yet another with his sword. The last one had no thought of fleeing or surrender, and rained down vicious blows from his sabre towards Aurelius. Aurelius stood his ground and parried at the blows with his sword and fought back with furious abandonment, finally pushing his sabre away with a thrust from his shield, and he spun around swinging his sword which made contact with the back of the soldier’s neck.

A cheer rose from the ranks of the men as they realised they had won their first battle, and many more to follow thought Aurelius, as he stood, fresh with wounds from the battle and still as stout and robust as the youngest of the men with him.

He was immensely impressed with the outcome of this battle, the casualties were minimum, and he’d not lost any men in this strike. They’d shown their indomitable combat skill and ability to follow orders in this battle and Aurelius was very proud of his army. He knew, however, that this was no simple undertaking and that he would not be so successful in all the raids to follow.

His eyes scanned the landscape and he caught sight of the bent figure of Pelias, in full battledress and leaning on his spear, wearing a grim smile on his face.