• Why me?

    You here this alot from people lately. and as i lay in bed i find myself wondering that exact same thing.

    Why me?

    Perhaps i should start at the begining.

    I cant tell you when i was born or where for that matter. The truth is that i dont know myself. Along some point in my life i had become amnesic. One of the strongest memories i have is from when i was a child. i was born under unusual circumstances, my unique fur color of black fur and white strpes making me somewhat of an outcast.

    I also am able to recall a time when i was older and just new to being a soldier.

    i can not tell you how much time had passed between each of those memories, but i can tell you that my memory gets really fuzzy after that.

    my story begins after i had allredy been alive for quite some time. How long i cant say, but i can guess that a couple centuries have passed. Im standing on a battlefield, overlooking the mayhem left by our most recent battle with the germanic peoples and my fellow roman soldiers. i had probably spent the past hour or so looking for any soldier still alive. enemy or ally made no difference. i had found one soldier, one of ours, but as i held him he took his last breathes. so there i was standing on a hill as my unit commander, a large grey wolf with a missing left eye, walked to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

    "come tiger," he told me. "there is nothing more you can do here. the troops wish you at the camp. they wish you to join in their celebration of victory tonight." i looked at him then and tried not to laugh. victory. there can be no victory in a battle if both sides loose life. but i nodded and let him lead the way.

    as we left the field i look down and notice an arrow stuck in the dirt. to this day i am unsure as to why i did what i did. after looking at the arrow for a few seconds i bent down and picked it up, moving aside some dirt andplacing it in the hole. after covering it over again i nodded and turned to follow my commander once again.

    as i approached the area of withe cloth tents i smiled a little as the sound of the units celebration reached me even this far out. as i entered the the gathering i was pervaded with goblets of wine and platters of food. i felt honored that they should wish me there, not even being a roman by blood. but i drank and celebrated with the men, but being alive as long as i have i had a tolerance greater than many men. maybe its because of that that i was able to notice them.

    they had us surrounded. and none of the other troops had noticed, being too busy with the celebration and "other" activities. i had enough time to stand and warn the few near me as i drew my sword before they attacked. it was caos. my unit was completely caught off guard as the germanics attacked. i felled the two that were after me and looked around. i noticed taht enen with the ambush our attackers were having a hard time. i smiled. this would be their mistake. my unit was of the elite. even with drink and heavy with food we stood a good chance of winning.

    yet as good as my unit was, we suffered heavy losses. as we drove the last germanic back we had diminished in ranks terribly. of all of the 50 soldiers in our unit, less than twenty remained. i stood in the middle of camplooking around. the ground littered with the bodies of or own soldiers and the enemies.

    it took a whole of a few seconds to survey the aftermath before i started ordering those around me to begin clearing the camp and setting the graves. i kept expecting to see my commander walking around and helping the bodies of our fallen comrades, but he never showed. the reason became clear the moment i saw the snow white leopard coat of our senior veteran walking to me with the commanders helm.

    i stared at it for what seemed like an eternity, before taking it and turning to my new second in command. "show me." i followed him to where they had found the commanders body, pierced through the back.

    "they could not take him, " my lead said "not as he was. i saw how they pierced him from the rear as those up front distracted him. i am sorry for your loss commander. i knew how you two were as brothers." that was it. those few little words erupted in me. the loss of my commander came with two things. one i had taken his place as commander, but in doing so i had lost a very close friend and brother. i had a million emotions running through me but remained complacent as i turned to my new second in command. "order a runner tocarry news of the ambush to the main army." he nodded and left to do his task.

    i stood there for a while and watched as the took my commanders body and carried it to his grave. i had to use all the will power i could muster not to show my troops my sorrow. taking the helm that belonged to my predecessor, i threw it under my arm and turned to those still standing and addressed them. "today we have suffered great and heavy losses! includng that of our commander. the germanic peoples will regret ever attacking this camp. we will march for the main army, and join them as they travel to the germanic borders. there we will revenge upon them our sorrows and anger for what has happened this day. now speed. we must clear this camp and break it by sun up if we are to join the main forces in time."

    i smiled as a small cheer erpted from my troops before getting back to work with new vigor. it took several days to bury burn and take carte of the bodies in the camp. by the time we were ready to march to join the main forces a runner had arrived bearing a letter from the army commander. taking it i read it to myself first, not liking what it had to tell. looking around at the eager faces of my men i waved the letter. "we are being ordered back to rome to replenish our ranks. soldiers. our revenge will have to wait. we are going home!

    even as my troops erupted in cheers and joy, i could not take part. for we would be returning only to requit more to send to slaughter. i did not like it. but orders were orders. we were going home.

    end part one.