Lyrics - Blood Slakes The Sand At The Circus Maximus by Bal-sagoth

THOUGHTS
OF
AN
ICENI
GLADIATOR,
AWAITING
THE
OPENING
OF
THE
ARENA
PORTCULLIS:
MEMORIES
OF
REBELLION (
CARNAGE
AT
CAMULODUNUM):
ICENI
MESSENGER:
Hearken!
The
Ninth
Legion has been put to the sword!
The war-
Chief of
Queen
Boudicca:
Onwards to
Camulodunum...wet your swords!
Redden the earth with
Roman blood!
I remember the carnage at
Camulodunum...
The glorious clash of
Celtic sword against
Roman gladius,
The pride in the eyes of our war-queen
As we hacked down the
Imperial
Eagle,
And the severed heads of centurions gaping atop our spears.
BLOODSHED
AND
BATTLE: 61
AD (
C.
E.)???
We certainly taught the arrogant invading dogs a lesson, at any rate.
The omens and portents spoke of vast bloodshed and great carnage,and after our slaughterous victories at
Camulodunum (the
Templeof
Claudius burned wonderfully!),
Londinium and
Verulanium,the cursed
Romans finally dared to meet us honourably upon the fieldof war at
Mandeussedum.
They sent fifteen thousand legionaires,their armour gleaming like gold in the sun... but it would still yield to ourswords and spears, no matter how it sparkled.
The
Roman scoundrel,
Governor
Suetonius
Paullinus,battle-scarred from his campaigns against the
Druids,was able to choose the ground upon which to make his stand,and so it was that he selected as the battlefield a narrow valley,fronted by a flat plain, with dense woodland at its rear.
Aye...
Mandeussedum, "the place of the chariots"...
I remember it vividly.???
We were swelled by our victories,empowered by our noble cause,enraged with the battle frenzy;thirsting to take as many
Roman headsas our bright blades could sever!
And yet we were perhaps somewhat overconfident that day...
ABDUCTED
FROM
THE
ICENI:
In the aftermath of our defeat at
Mandeussedum,
I was captured by
Romans with a veiled intent...(though three of them died at my hands in the attempt!)
Nero was growing bored with the gladiators,slaves and lion-fodder at his great
Circus,and so had requested
Suetonius
Paullinusto provide the citizens of
Rome with new entertainment...
The
Emperor had heard much of the wildness and fighting spiritof these barbaric
Britons who had brought such woe to his far-famed legions;these painted, pagan tribesmen who had resisted the
Empire's iron fistwhere the glorious phalanxes of the
East had not."
Agents of the
Imperium... hearken to my words",
Nero had demanded."
Bring to
Rome some of these tribesman for the
Games.
Let us pit themagainst our most ravenous beasts and our greatest gladitorial champions."
And so
I was taken in fetters aboard a
Roman trireme,the blood of slain legionaires still crusted upon my thews,
I was taken far from the fens of my beloved homeland,to tread the sun baked sand of the
Circus
Maximus...to fight for my life in the
Imperial
Arena.
ARRIVAL
AT
THE
CIRCUS
MAXIMUS:
The
Circus
Maximus was certainly a splendid sight,
I'll admit.
A vast colosseum with great stone columns and tiers,huge ornate arches and mighty statues of grey marble.
Countless people filled the seats surrounding the sandy floor of the
Arena...and in his opulent royal enclosure, flanked by gleaming guardsand grovelling lackeys, sat the great
Emperor himself...
EMPEROR
NERO:
Fight, barbarian outlander!
Please us, and mayhap
Mars will smile on thee this day!
ICENI
WARRIOR:
Bah!
I do not hail to your
Roman gods, and you are not my emperor!
By
Cernunnos, the blood of my enemies shall stain the sandof this cursed arena red this day!
THE
COMBAT
COMMENCES:
They unleashed the lions first.
Hunger maddened beasts,goaded into a frenzy by the cruel point of many a pilum...
And yet my own hunger, the hunger for revenge, was greater,and my honed steel was sharper than bestial fang and claw.
And so they ranged their finest warriors against me.
Three more iron gates around the arena yawned open,and they strode from the colosseum tunnels amidsta cacophony of cheering from the assembled
Roman spectators,urged on and showered with mar tial adulation from the massedarena crowd, who howled their bloodlust without cessation.???
Far above, upon his great dias,the
Emperor gave the signal for the combat to begin,and with the battle-lust engulfing me,with the red mist swirling before my eyes,
I vowed to my northern gods that
I would show these leering
Romans the fighting spirit and battle prowess of my people...
I would leave the arena littered with the bloody corpses of my opponents...
I would cast off the imperial fetters and return to the fens!
Aye,
I would escape, and make all
Romans fear my name,and compel
Nero to rue the day
Julius
Caesar had first orderedhis legions across the grim grey sea to my ancient island...
Blood
For
Boudicca...
Carnage
For
Cernunnos!!
To be continued...

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