Snippet #2404618

Cadeyrn steadily, but carefully trailed the Legionnaires as they in turn, trailed Sorcha, sure that he knew what they were up to but wanted to catch them in the act to make certain.
The snow, and his experience in the field aided him in hiding the sound of his footsteps, allowing him to close a bit of distance to size up the soldiers, knowing he would have the element of surprise, but unsure if he should risk the venture to his horse to claim his weapons.
[iToo risky, Sorcha could get hurt. Perhaps I can take a Gladius or two if I act quick enough.][/i] Cadeyrn began to silently berate himself, knowing he should have at least brought Cailiean and the smaller Warrior's longbow.

Just as he suspected, Sorcha caught on to her pursuers, who began picking up speed as she turned to move between the smithy and a stone storage building. The Romans dropped the subtle act and began calling to her and whistling as they all but sprinted between the two buildings. Cadeyrn felt his blood boil and his pulse pick up. The Celt got a running start and clambered up the side of the stone building, which was a good 18-20 feet in height and shed his cloak from around his neck and shoulders, crouched down and moving swiftly across the building.
Looking down, he spotted the soldiers, who had Sorcha cornered but she appeared to be putting up a fight with the small dirk clutched in her hand. One of the legionnaires lunged towards her, and the knife skid off his metal helmet as she stabbed at him. He knocked the small blade away, to which Sorcha responded with a swift right hook to the mans jaw, knocking his armored head into the wall with a Clang!. The Roman cursed loudly and recovered quick enough to give her a stiff backhand with his gauntlet, knocking the smith's daughter to the snowy ground.

Cadeyrn released a bellow of rage and leapt from the roof, clenching his fists together as he fell on the soldier, clubbing the back of his unprotected neck and laying him low, face down in the snow. Before his victims fellow's could react, the larger warrior whipped the short-bladed gladius from the Legionnaires belt, and stabbeded him through the shoulder blade and into his heart. pulling it out and brandishing it in spinning circles as a challenge to the other four Romans.
One of them reacted rather quickly, lunging at Cadeyrn and stabbing at his center mass. Cadeyrn reacted with reflexes unexpected of his size, turning to the side and catching the Soldiers sword arm between his larger bicep and abdomen, trapping it and jamming the tip of his gladius at the base of the Soldiers helmet, instantly killing him as he severed the smaller mans brain stem. He then released him, allowing him to fall to the ground as he turned to the remaining three, who for all they were worth, looked rather hesitant.
The hesitation only lasted a few seconds before all three of them charged him.
Cadeyrn answered the rush by taking a step forward, planting his booted foot in gut of one of the Roman soldiers, sending him into his comrade who was bringing up the rear and effectively turning this into a brief one-on-one match.
The remaining soldier was foolish not to fall back and wait for his two stunned friends, instead coming in with a well-aimed slash at the Celt's throat, to which Cadeyrn simply leaned back, evading the slash and countering with a thrust. The Roman proved that perhaps he wasn't a fool as he deftly parried the thrust, his blade pointed down and followed through with a diagonal over head slash when he brought the weapon around from the parry, never pausing. But Cadeyrn proved to be his better, catching the blade on his own and pushing it up with little strain, using one arm against the soldier's two. He then gripped one of the Roman's wrists with his free hand, pushing it up even farther to make more room for his next strike, which was a headbutt directly into his opponents nose.
On impact, there was a sickening crunch and a spray of blood on Cadeyrn's chest , neck and face as the Roman reeled back. He didn't get far before Cadeyrn leaned forward and grabbed him by the top of his armored chest piece, pulling him forward while simultaneously thrusting with the gladius, impaling the Legionnaire and picking him several inches off the ground before tossing him off the blade and against a wall.
About the time the Roman hit the wall, the two other Soldiers had fully recovered and were again coming after the lone Celtic warrior who readied himself to meet them. The three exchanged blows with their gladius's, steel ringing on steel mixed in with cries and grunts of exertion, all in all, probably attracting much attention from Romans and Celts alike in the village.
Cadeyrn received a few stinging strikes, drawing blood on his chest and arms but nothing serious, all the while doing just as much damage to his two opponents and still keeping them at bay.
Finally, the Warrior found an opening. He parried a hard thrust, throwing one off balance and struck him in the jaw with a hard left-hook spinning through the strike and knocking him out cold. Cadeyrn recovered just in time to narrowly dodge a slash aimed at his head by the other Roman soldier, ducking underneath the arcing blade and coming up with a counter attack, slashing upward and opening the Roman's throat from collarbone to chin, spilling blood all over the snow and Cadeyrn's arm.
The Celt finally turned toward Sorcha. "This won't be allowed to go unanswered. Find a place to hide outside of the Village, I'll come for you whe--". The warrior was interrupted by a shout of surprise, which when he turned, appeared to be coming from a Roman Hornblower. The young Roman raised the signal horn to his lips, shortly before Cadeyrn's Gladius sailed through the air and struck the man in the gut, a bit short of the original mark due to the Gladius not being balanced for throwing and thus allowing the Hornblower to scream in agony, carrying an alarm just as loud as the horn that fell from his hand as he fell to the ground.
Soon after, the shouts of the rest of the Roman cohort began to close in.
"Sorcha. Make your way to the Hall and alert my men of what has happened. They will take up arms. Go!", He commanded as he picked up two Gladius's from a couple of other fallen Romans and took up a combat stance.