Merula knew that he was in a precarious position. Caius Aemilius had fully expected Merula to hold the enemy back long enough for the main body of Catulus' forces to exit the Nymphaeum pass. This had proven more difficult than Merula had expected. The Illyrians had thoroughly outflanked them in the opening maneuvers of the battle. Merula had reacted quickly, and minimized the casualities as best he could, but the end result had been devastating. Merula and his command staff had withdrawn slightly to formulate a strategy -or a retreat.

"Macro, " Merula spoke is short clipped tones "we'd better do something or Caius Aemilius will have our heads if these Illyrians don't. You take half of the men, and I'll take the other half and we'll try to push them against the cliff face, outflank them on both sides, and then fight toward the middle."

Macro, one of the senior Centurions assigned to Merula, looked at his commander like he was a lunatic.
"Alright sir, but I don't think we have a chance in hell of beating them. We've lost more than half of our men, and the men we have are exhausted. That Illyrian cavalry is deadly!"

Merula nodded
"That they are, but we have a single advantage against them; they don't fight well in close quarters. If we can pit them up against the cliff face and then encircle them, they won't be able to move!"

"Aye sir, that could work, but they are a wily bunch and I very much doubt they'll let themselves be trapped in that fashion."

Macro had been wrong.
The Romans fought like furies, and while the Illyrians did their best to avoid being pinned, eventually they succumbed. It had been close, but when all was said and done, the Illyrians had been decimated. As the battle was coming to a close, the heavy sound of a legion force-marching could be heard, and in a short time the forces of Caius Aemilius Catulus were spotted coming out of the pass.

Macro and Merula had ridden toward the vanguard, Caius Aemilius at it's head. As they approached, Merula saluted. Caius Aemilius returned the salute and had merely said "Gentlemen?"

"Caius Aemilius," Spoke Merula, still winded from the battle "the pass is clear"



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Results:

The forces under Merula have very narrowly defeated the Illyrians. Casualties are as follows:

Illyrian:

272 Cav KIA, 251 WIA, 35 MIA (of these casualties, 293 of the killed and wounded came from missile fire).

Roman Forces under Merula:

Infantry 152 KIA 56 WIA 6 MIA; 662 still able to fight next round

Cav 68 KIA 23 WIA 2 MIA; 415 still able to fight (from an original force of 1800)

Archers 41 KIA 13 WIA 2 MIA; 291 still able to fight