Historical Article: The Watchman
On his way there, he passed a crumbled section of the city wall. Fearing he may be moments away from being overtaken by raiders, he drove the donkey on faster, cursing. Arriving at the unassuming orange and brown brick structure, Pietro was horrified to see the windows smashed and only one portly guard posted outside.
“I pray you aren’t alone,” said Pietro condescendingly.
“Father! No, no, I’m not alone, the others are inside guarding the crucifix and the mosaics,” answered the guard.
“How many?”
“About twenty, Father.” Pietro’s eyes grew fiery. “Twenty! I ordered at least double that number! That jeweled crucifix is worth more than all your lives combined! Where’s your captain?”
The guard stuttered, now more frightened. “He, h-h-hasn’t reported yet, s-sir.”
Pietro was livid but he had to move on. It had taken him far too long to check on the first three sites because of the sorry excuse of a mount that he was given. “You better pray that we can hold off this siege. If not, you had better pray that you die in it. No one is to get through to that crucifix!” Pietro did not even wait for a response from the guard and spurred the tiring donkey on. As he rode away, a few more guards came outside. One snickered when he realized that it was Father Pietro and muttered, “I’ve never seen an ass ride an ass before.”
The rumbling of enemy artillery grew louder and louder as Pietro made his way through more of Ravenna’s dark lanes, cursing as he mentally noted that he still had more than half his sites to visit. They included the Archiepiscopal Chapel and the Mausoleum of Theodoric, the latter’s construction of which Pietro personally supervised. He uttered a prayer for both fine buildings.
His mutterings were suddenly drowned out by the screams of dozens of scared women and children with blackened faces. They rushed by Pietro and almost knocked him off his mount as he turned a blackened corner, fires raging in a group of former wooden apartments. Looking above to the walls, he could make out a struggle between Ravenna’s urban guard and a handful of Eastern troops.
Damn it all, Pietro thought as more panicked citizens ran past him. Horses and dogs ran by as well, finally panicking his donkey enough to throw the old priest off. Pietro cursed again as he stood up and wiped himself off, pushing people out of the way, as he tried to make his way ay least to the Mausoleum, his most prized project.
He had dedicated his whole long life to make Ravenna a city worthy of a visit from the Saints and Jesus himself. Now he could barely aid in the defense of everything he had built against the Easterners: beautiful shrines to the real Christendom, monuments to true Emperors like Theodoric. Pietro even had plans stored in his chamber for two grand basilicas.
As more and more people fled from another breach in the wall, and more fiery projectiles landed within Ravenna’s walls, Pietro cursed the city’s inhabitants. Damn them all! True citizens would aid in the defense of their great city, not flee like animals! True citizens would give their lives for the beauty he had helped give them!
At that moment, as Pietro’s ire and resentment reached a fever pitch, a troop of over 100 Eastern heavy infantry stormed through the breach about 100 yards ahead of him as more flaming projectiles soared overhead. Pietro cursed again for what must have been the hundredth time that night. This time he damned his own bad luck.
About the Author
Lloyd Sabin has recently earned his MA in History from Rutgers University and is presently searching for a permanent teaching position in the Lower Hudson Valley of New York State. He is currently a freelance slave of the publishing industry working as a desktop layout editor, and longs to liberate himself. For additional amusement, he is also constantly trying to keep his wife from sealing up his computer room with bricks, rooting for the Yankees and Jets, hiking, biking and reading as many books, on any number of historically based topics that he can get his grubby mitts on. He is currently playing: Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots, Medieval: Total War XL, Pirates! and the Thief franchise.
