Augustine was standing at the bow of the trireme, a gift from one of his most dedicated listeners. He had been preaching afar and was returning home with a smile of his face, though his ailment tolled him so. He could taste the salt in the air and it reminded him of the swift winds that blew in Hippo, his homeland. He had finally made it home. He decided he would praise in the temple when he returned to thank God for his surviving his sickness so far. It had been bad enough this time it forced him to return home. Land was spotted.
Within the hour he was on land again and from there he found transport home. The day was long and he had rested a time before he made his way to the temple. On his way he thought he saw dark beings on the horizon, but he disregarded it as a hallucination. As he opened the large double doors of the temple his aching bones creaked. He coughed and pain seared through his inflamed chest. He had decided he would need some time to himself to pray, so he threw a 2 x 4 on the hooks on the door to lock it.
Just as he kneeled to pray someone ran up to him from a passageway in the temple. He must have been in before Augustine locked the doors. He huffed and puffed from his run. He then gathered his wits and spoke. "Father, help, please."
"What is it you need?", inquired Augustine.
"My friend is ill and I believe you can cure him." was the reply
"I'm not sure I can, m' boy. If I could cure people I would have done so to myself by now. "
"I was told in a dream to come to you for help", stated the worried man.
Augustine now knew what to do. He stood up and was led to the worried man's sick friend. "Thank you so much", he said. "By the way, my name is Adam. My friend is Francis."
Along the walk to Francis, both Augustine and Adam thought they might have heard marching and low screams from afar, but they waved it away as little nothings in their ears. They looked at the weapons hanging on the walls and Augustine sighed. He had tried to convince the clergymen to take them down, but they just kept putting them up. When they arrived Augustine laid his hands on Francis, who looked very ill and shaken. He was bright red all over and unconscious. Augustine closed his eyes and recited the Lord's Prayer 7 times. When finished, he raised his hands. The man was looking normal again and woke up.
All were amazed, but there was little time for excitement. There was a large thumping sound from the corridor they had come from.
Augustine quickly started away to figure out the source of the noise and Adam and Francis followed. He took down a broadsword form the wall and casually walked with it to the source of the noise, the front door. He sensed danger. Adam and Francis felt it too and grabbed one-handed axes from the dusty stone walls.
This brought back to Augustine thoughts about his horrible past…
He had been the worst child a mother could know, he had done worse things than one could imagine, he had been completely horrible. He stole, he lied, he cheated, the whole 9 yards…It came to mind because he was fairly experienced with such weaponry because of these deeds.
Thank God for his mother, who prayed for him day and night the whole time…her prayers eventually came true. Augustine saw the light…
He so hoped that his fears were not true. He had heard of the Vandals pillaging and purging the area of everything, burning the cities to the ground and slaughtering all in it. He knew they were somewhat close, but they should not have arrived yet…
He would need to open a door to his terrible past, but he was afraid he would unleash something far worse than any Vandal.
They arrived at the door and it was being beaten in. They readied for the attack.
The door came down in the temple as the companions inside came down upon the Vandals. The Vandals were armed with spears, javelins, and for the elite, long swords.
Francis slashed down the closest Vandal with one swift swing, but did not regain balance in time and was taken by an elite, who took his head clean off.
Adam faired a little better, taking down two before being surrounded. He gave a valiant effort, but one axe against three javelins did no good.
During this time, Augustine had taken down 5 men and was continuing on his onslaught. He decided he was doing this for the temple, and all the religious books it contained.
Augustine stabbed one man arm and told him to leave before he was hurt even more. The man didn't listen and within seconds had a severed arm and a gash across his back. The blood flowed like the Nile. Not just because of what Augustine did to the Vandals, but what the Vandals reeked upon the city.
Augustine was regaining a thirst for such excitement. He searched out the closest elite and challenged him. For every attack of Augustine's, there was a parry by the elite. Longsword to longsword the battle was heated. Augustine faked a thrust to the left and jabbed at the right, finding a mark just below the Vandals heart. He thrust inward the elite fell. He pulled up the other sword and roared.
Augustine was crazed. The blood was as precious as ruby jewelry. He wanted more…more…
He would need some way to justify his actions, though, if he survived. He would tell them he was trying to save the town, that's it. He would look out the Vandal leader to finish it (although he wanted it to never end).
He boldly walked towards the leader, who was marked by armor far better than the rest and weaponry above all the others. The leader was atop a hill, surveying the field and aiding in the battle at the same time.
Augustine wiped the smeared blood of his swords on the ground and wiped the sweat from his face. His weak bones hesitated for a second, and cramped. He wasn't as young as before. He would probably not win this battle, but he would fight with honor.
He walked up to the leader and twirled his swords. The leader gave a gruff laugh and drew two javelins. The leader has distance, but eventually Augustine shattered the two staffs of the javelins. The leader drew a spear and a longsword, and slashed Augustine across his hip and side. Augustine beat the man across the face with the broad of one of his swords and toppled him. He crossed his swords in a X across the neck of the leader and prepared to do off with his head.
Suddenly a pain seared through Augustine above all others. A sword could be seen through his stomach. The acid spilled out from it and scorched his innards. Blood flowed from his wounds and his limp body fell over the incredulous leader.
The Vandals finished their assault and moved on, leaving a battlefield spewed with dark speckled blood and dead bodies.
Augustine's lifeless body laid with white knuckles from his grip of the swords, and he rigor mortised in that position. He was found with foam at his mouth…
Links for info:
"When did the Vandals first exist and what weapons did they use?"Online Posting. 1 Dec. 2008. Yahoo Answers. 14 Dec. 2008.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081130150746AAe4KyNO'Donnel, James. "St. Augustine of Hippo." Wikipedia. 14 Dec. 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine_of_Hippo
The sixth picture shows a floor mosiac. This was made around the second half of the 4th century A.D.
The ninth picture shows a Sarcophagus of Volusia. It was made around the early third century A.D.
