Chapter 1: Arrival
Caesar watched the city intently, his scouts had reported to him that Vercingetorix's forces would run out of water within a week. Gaius Julius Caesar Had taken it upon himself as Consul of the Roman Republic, to conquer new lands such as Gaul for the glory of Rome. He had been sieging Alesia for over a month, and it finally seemed like the Gauls would have to either surrender, or die of thirst.
Satisfied, Caesar then ordered his Legate Marian Postumus, to have the legions begin their evening preparations of cooking food and starting their night watch. Everything during the siege so far had gone in his favor and he was confident his legions would be able to hold off Vercingetorix's demoralized army another week for their surrender. Outside his tent, Caesar could hear the laughs of his men and the clanging of their weapons and armor as they began to unwind for the night. It would take nothing short of a curse from the Gods to ruin his siege, he thought, as he began to undress and prepare his bed. "Even the mightiest soldiers need their rest." Caesar thought as his head hit his pillow and he began to drift to sleep.
Caesar was suddenly awoken by the confused shouts of his men, causing him to shoot out of bed and frantically adorn his battle armor. "Really? A night attack? The Gauls must really be getting desperate now." Caesar though to himself, just as a scout burst into his tent.
"Forgive me commander," the scout began. "It would seem that the gods themselves have decided to intervene in our victory." the scout stated.
"What happened? are you telling me those desperate barbarians are actually breaking out of our siege?" Caesar demanded, with rage in his voice.
"No, actually none of us are quite sure what's happened." The scout told giving Caesar a confused look. "A colorful vortex appeared in the sky over our encampment, before crashing down on our position. No one was hurt and none of our equipment was damaged, although we were all blinded for a few seconds as our eyes adjusted to the new land."
"New land??" Caesar asked, his anger gone, replaced by his own confusion.
"Yes. It appears the Gods have taken us from Alesia and placed us down in a colorful landscape. What's weirder though are the reports coming from our Equite soldiers..."
"What happened to them?" Caesar asked, wondering how this situation could get any weirder.
"I-I think you should see for yourself, sir."
The scout gave a quick bow and left the tent, giving Caesar time to finish getting dressed and splash some water on his face. As Caesar departed from his tent, the blazing sun immediately blinded him. When he had retreated to his tent presumably only an hour or two earlier it had been nightfall, but now it appeared to be midday. Once Caesar's eyes adjusted to the sight, he immediately noticed the lack of both the inner and outer walls he and constructed to siege Alesia. Next he noticed that he and his encampment were sitting atop a lush green hill, rather than a muddy plain that Alesia sat on.
Caesar then noticed the Equite Commander of Legio Gemina XIII, Titus Antoninus, approach him and give a quick bow.
"Commander! would you follow me to the Equite's stables? We have a... situation." As Titus and Caesar strode towards the stables, he scanned the new landscape more. There were few trees in the area, which itself was quite flat. There appeared to be a small village in the distance along with a mountain far off. Caesar decided that after he addressed whatever was happening in the stables, he'd send out his scouts to gather more information.
Titus reached the large tent of their makeshift stables and halted. "The horses sir... appear to have been cursed or maybe even blessed by the Gods."
"What the hell do you mean?" Caesar demanded.
"See for yourself, sir." Caesar then pushed the tent open and immediately froze up. In front of him, he saw a few Equites talking to what appeared to he the horses, except they were tiny, colorful, had enormous eyes, but weirdest of all they could speak. They appeared to speak in perfect Latin and were conversing with what appeared to be his equally confused equites. The longer Caesar looked at the former horses, the weirder they got, as he noticed some had wings and some had horns, but all of them had a strange picture on their flanks. Each one was different, although most seemed to be of a weapon or armor piece.
"From our brief conversations with our horses, none of them seem to have any memory of before we got here. They all surprisingly seem just as intelligent as our men" Titus reported.
"Are they our enemies? You said they had no memories, right? Perhaps if the Gods have truly blessed our horses, then we can still use them." Caesar pondered.
"Given their size and newly found intelligence, they haven't responded well to us trying to mount them, however, the soldiers currently speaking to them have been ordered to tell them of the glory and honor of Rome and ask that they will swear on oath of loyalty to you as our Consul." Titus told. Caesar stopped for a moment to take everything in.
"Before me I see some creatures that resemble pegasi and unicorns of legend. Do they have the powers they are rumored to possess?" Caesar inquired.
"We haven't asked them yet, but if so, I'm sure their new found abilities could prove quite useful" Titus posed.
Nodding, Caesar walked over to the nearest soldier who appeared to be wrapping up his conversation with the pegasi stallion he was speaking to. As soon as the Legate noticed him he bolted up, gave a quick bow. "Commander! The Horses here have been blessed by the Gods with speech, and used it to pledge loyalty to you!" The soldier excitedly stated.
"Are they willing to speak with me?" Caesar asked.
The soldier looked down to the pegasi and told him "Rejoice! The Consul wishes to speak with you!" the pegasi nodded, and Caesar took a seat on a small stool the soldier had used while conversing with the pegasi. Caesar look a moment to look at the pegasi in front of him. He had a light brown coat with a bright red mane and tail, with two crossed Gladii on his flanks. He was shifting nervously on the hay, sitting upright rubbing his front hooves together.
"You look pretty nervous, do you need anything? any water, food, or aid?" Caesar offered.
"I-I could use some w-water... Thank you." The pegasi stammered.
"Whatever you need, it shall be provided. Any who offer me their allegiance will be provided for."
"Thank you... Commander."
Caesar glanced at the stallion's wings and asked "Can you actually fly with those?"
"I'm... not quite sure actually. I have no memory or anything before only 30 minutes ago." The stallion explained.
Caesar nodded understandingly. "Until we figure out what's going on, you and your.. comrades.. may stay here in the stables, we will help provide proper bedding and supplies." Caesar offered.
"Very generous!" the stallion exclaimed. Caesar stood up and got ready to leave, but turned looked at the small horse. "By the way, what's your name?" Caesar inquired.
"I'm not really sure, Commander, like I said I have no memory beyond 30 minutes ago."
"Alright. How about you and your comrades help come up with names for each other? Once you're ready, my commander Titus here will guide you to the mess hall." Caesar said, glancing at Titus. Before Caesar left the tent, he ordered a soldier to give a bowl of drinking water to the pegasi he had spoken to.
Walking back out into the sunlight, Caesar glanced over to his scouts who were finishing up eating and preparing for their day. As Caesar strode over to them, their talking died down, and their lead scout, Gaius Valerius, stood up and bowed before Caesar.
"Once you and your men are finished eating and preparing, I want you to scout over near that village in the distance. Avoid Interaction with the locals, and report back to me if they appear to have a military force or not." Caesar asked.
"Of course, commander, we will gather whatever intel we can and return before nightfall." Valerius responded.
"Excellent. Once we figure out where we are and what's going on, we should be able to send a report back to Rome." The scout nodded in understanding, gave another quick bow and relayed Caesar's orders to his comrades. Satisfied with his orders and response to their situation, Caesar finally allowed himself to get some stew to eat before his daily meeting with his centurions in his tent.
Quickly finishing his meal, Caesar began to think about everything that had happened so far. "Me and my men are taken to a foreign land, and our horses have shrunk, become a multitude of colors and sprouted wings and horns? Why have the Gods done this? Were they angered by our actions? Perhaps another sacrifice to Jupiter will restore our favor..." Caesar thought. Shaking his head, he decided that meeting with his staff would help him choose the best course of action. Who knows, maybe while we're here, we could attain more land and allies for the Republic before we return."
Caesar stood up and began towards his tent where a few of his staff members had gathered. Before his tent stood Titus Antoninus, leader of the equites, Sextus Rufinus, first centurion of Legio Gemina XIII, Marian Postumus, Legate of Legio Gemina XIII, Gnaeus Rutilius, Military Tribune of Legio Gemina XIII, and Caius Longinus, Military Tribune of Legio Gemina XIII. Caesar immediately noticed with concern that none of his other leading officials from the other legions had shown up.
"Where are the centurions and legates of Legio IX Hispania or Legio XII Fulminata?"
Postumus spoke up saying, "Commander, since our arrival here, we have not seen our brothers from either legions. Is it possible that they perhaps were not taken here with us?"
Caesar thought about it for a moment, before starting, "Right. Seems we'll have to get started without them, perhaps they shall show up shortly?" Caesar mused.
The Six men entered the tent and took their seats around a now relatively barren table.
"Will Gaius Valerius not be joining us today Commander? I saw him while in the mess hall earlier." Rufinus questioned.
"I'm afraid not. I wanted him and his men to begin scouting as soon as possible so we can assess our situation sooner." Caesar responded. "Now, as you've all noticed by now, we are no longer in Alesia, and quite possibly no longer in Gaul. We should still have supplies for another two weeks on hand, possibly longer if we ration." Caesar opened. "Titus, would you inform us on the situation with the horses?"
"Yes, It would seem that the Gods have blessed our horses with a variety of gifts, some of which we are still unsure of--"
"What the hell does that mean? What 'gifts' have our horses been given?" Longinus Interjected.
"If you'll let me finish, I'll do my best to explain. Our horses appear to have shrunken in size considerably, such to he point I doubt we can ride them. Their eyes however appear to have grown, and now take up a large portion of their faces. Their manes are now colored exotically, and they have depictions of primarily weapons and shields on their flanks. Some have even been blessed with wings or even horns--"
"So you're trying to tell us that--" Longinus began, before Caesar cut him off by raising his hand. "Let him finish Longinus. He speaks the truth, I saw the creatures with my own eyes." Caesar stated, staring Longinus down.
"Yes. It appears we have been given pegasi and unicorns from the gods." Titus told. "However, strangest of all is that the horses have been given the gift of voice. The speak fluently, and appear to be relatively intelligent, some possibly smarter than some of the meatheads out there." Titus motioned. "They claim to have no memory prior to being transported here, however have all nonetheless sworn fealty to Rome. We don't know if the pegasi can actually fly or if the unicorns possess any power." Titus finished. After a brief murmuring between his commanders, Caesar beckoned for Postumus to give his report.
"I took a count shortly after we arrived here and were made aware of the situation. It seems the entire legion, 4473 men, are here and at your service, my Consul. Most of our men are in good health despite the long siege and are ready to fight for the glory of Rome." Postumus reported.
"Excellent, thank you for your report Postumus. Well? Rutilius? Longinus? What do you two consider to be our wisest course of action?"
"I believe it is in our best interests to make contact with the village in the distance, trade some goods, refill supply and get a proper bearing of where the Gods have placed us. Jupiter willing, we may return to Rome with allies willing to fight along side us." Rutilius responded.
"Excellent idea Rutilius, lets see what Longinus thinks."
"He is a fool my Consul! We might be hundreds of stades deep in barbarian territory for all we know! We should assert our dominance over the village and take what supplies we need from them. Each second we spend sitting here idly is a second they might be using to amass an army. We should set out tomorrow morning with our entire legion and take our information from their leaders!" Longinus responded with vigor.
There was a murmuring between his commanders once again, but Caesar interrupted saying,
"Well I certainly agree we shouldn't sit here idly. Once our reports are in from the scouts, we will know if they are amassing an army to fight us. If they are, I say we go with Longinus' plan. If not, we should try approach them peacefully by sending negotiators down to the village with our legion posted nearby incase the villagers decide to launch a surprise attack." Caesar decided. "That's all for today commanders, Tomorrow we shall decide our course of action. Oh! and before you leave Rufinus, please inform the other centurions of our plans, and have the men take a day off, but be ready to march at dawn. Nightly patrol will proceed as normal." Caesar demanded. As the men left his tent to begin their days, Caesar slouched over in his chair. "By Jupiter, I pray this journey doesn't get any weirder." He prayed as his mind thought again about the oddness of his situation.