Blood of the bull

CRASH. Projectiles from the Roman catapult attack smash into the large walls of the mighty Sarmizegetusa Citadel of Dacia, a stronghold of concrete and brick with archers lined atop the walls, firing arrows into the sea of Roman soldiers. A siege on its third day, the Roman attackers frantically try to break and scale the castle walls as the Dacian army desperately fight to defend their city. A red sky caused by the afternoon sun contemplated with the glow of fires raging from inside the walled city, generates a hellish landscape. With vultures circling above, occasionally swooping down to feast on the decaying bodies.

Watching from atop of a cliff that looks into the valley of the assault, Commander Lucius sits silent on his dark brown stallion, his red cape draped over his golden armour whilst his elite entourage of soldiers and priests stand at the ready. He examines the columns of troops in his command, as the wind will occasionally carry the sounds of screams and battle cries. His attention is momentarily disrupted by the sound of thunderous galloping approaching, though not alarmed being that he could sense it was Roman. It was one of his generals, Trajan, making his way back from the front lines of battle.

“My lord, the men are frustrated and agitated. Their morale is dropping as we can’t seem to find a way through the walls.” Trajan says with concern. Lucius closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, inhaling just as the wind brushes his face before responding.

“The winds of magic are strong today. Is it not, Thatius?” He says with confidence, luring Priest Thatius into the conversation. An older man which dons a white and gold robe, standing a few feet behind Lucius.

“It is, my lord” He responds as his long grey hair and beard gently billow from the breeze. Lucius swings his horse around to face the priest.

“Then we shall perform a blood ritual. Bring me a bull” Lucius commands, sending one of the soldiers to the nearby camp to fetch the animal.

“You know what to do” He says to the priest.

Shortly after, a number of men arrive with a bull bounded in rope. Although calm, the men take care in not to agitate the large animal as they lead it to their commander. Lucius orders his men to stand back and give Thatius enough room to perform the ritual. Thatius approaches the bull and runs his hand across its body whilst humming words of sorcery. A ceremonial dagger is used to make a small cut to extract some blood from the bull, bleeding a few droplets onto Thatius’ hand. The men pull on the rope to restrain the bull. Unnerved, Thatius’ humming gets louder as the wind speed starts increasing as he walks to the edge of the cliff whilst rubbing the blood into his hands. Some of the soldiers look up at the sky, anxious from the unnatural change in wind speeds. Lucius displays a slight smirk as he knows the ritual is manifesting. Thatius slams his hands together and shouts an ancient word of power, causing a shock wave of psychic energy to emit, nearly knocking over some of the soldiers and causing dirt and sand to fly into the air. They watch as the energy shoots into the valley and runs through the attacking soldiers like a strong breeze, eventually slamming into the walls of the castle, with the force of a thousand bulls. Causing the structure of the wall to collapse into a screen of dust and smoke.

“Into the breach. Charge!” One of the front line generals shouts, as the hoard of Roman soldiers spill into the city and begin their reign of destruction, their built up frustration leading to a frenzied attack. Thatius collapses to the ground and gasps for air, as if a large portion of life force was extracted from him. Lucius trots past him.

“You have done well today, Thatius. Go back to the camp and rest” Lucius orders, as he and his elite team begin their way to the now conquered city.

“Is no more magic required today, my lord?” Thatius asks, his energy drained, barely being able to string the sentence together. Lucius looks back at Thatius, the fearless commanders eyes pulsate a glow of white before he responds.

“Not from you”