Soldier of Rome: The Legionary (The Artorian Chronicles) (15 page)

“
Here we are, men,” Flaccus said. As the tesserarius, it was his responsibility to supervise the work detail. “Alright, all sections fall in online, parallel to the road. Each soldier will take a five-block section. Once the area has been cleared and leveled, we will begin replacing the stones. Any questions?”

As Artorius and the others in his section fell in on their piece, he looked at what would need to be done to fix the road. He had never done this kind of work before, and it wasn’t what he’d expected to be doin
g as a legionary. He mentioned this to Valens, who happened to be working next to him.

“What, you think all the roads that hold the Empire together just magically appeared?” Valens retorted sarcastically.

“No, I just thought that perhaps we used slave labor,” Artorius replied as he started scraping and clearing away loose rubble with his shovel.

Valens scoffed at that.
“Slaves cost money. They are expensive to feed and house. And besides, their workmanship leaves a lot to be desired.”

“That’s no joke,” Carbo piped in. “You let slaves do any kind of construction like this, and you end up redoing it yourself anyway.”

“I know what you mean,” Magnus said. “My father tried using slaves in his textile mill for a while. Thought he would save money on labor. Instead he almost went completely bankrupt.”

“What happened to the slaves?” Artorius asked.

“Most he sold to some gladiator trainer,” Magnus answered, “though a few of the women he kept, saying that we needed extra maidservants. To be truthful, they weren’t much good at housekeeping, either. Come to think of it, the only place I ever did see them go was his bedroom.” Magnus furrowed his brow in thought as some of the legionaries that were listening burst into laughter.

“You’d be surprised at the number of skills required of
a legionary that have nothing to do with fighting,” Valens continued. “Leatherworking, metalsmith, stoneworking, surveying, cooking, these are all skills that make the army flourish.”

“And if you excel at any given skill that the army is looking for, there can be incentive pay and special duty in it for you,” Carbo said. “Notice how Praxus and Decimus are conspicuously missing from this detail?”

“Not to mention every other less than desirable detail.” Valens added.

“I had noticed that,” Artorius replied.

“That’s because they are on what is called
immune
status,” Valens said. “Praxus is an expert at curing and working with leather, so while we get to do details such as this, he gets to work in the leather shop, working on packs, saddles, straps for armor and sandals, that kind of stuff.”

“They get out of all the less desirable duties, plus they get paid more than the rest of us,” Carbo remarked, somewhat annoyed.

Artorius just laughed as they went back to working on the road. By the end of the day their section of the road was repaved and ready for use. As soon as they arrived back at the barracks, Artorius decided to check the duty rosters before heading to the bathhouse. Duties for each individual soldier were posted a month out. He looked down the list, interested in what duties everyone else had drawn. Gavius had been tasked to work in the bakery for the next week, while he and Magnus were tasked with road repair for the next two days, and then rampart repair along with the rest of the section, minus Gavius and those on immune status. Praxus would be in the leather shop, while Decimus would spend three days assigned as the centurion’s aide before spending the rest of the week in the armory. He was surprised to see that all duties ended that next week, on the last day of February. After that, all soldiers were listed as
in century
on the roster. It could mean only one thing.

Chapter VII: The First Campaign

On the East Side of the Rhine Bridges, Germania

March, 15 A.D.

***

It had been a long day, and Artorius was glad to be able to lay his head down and get some sleep. He thanked the gods he did not have watch duty that night either. The days before had been spent packing all of their equipment into their carrying sacks, loading the baggage carts with tents, food, and provision, as well as all of the artillery wagons. They
formed up with the rest of the army early that morning and had just managed to reach the east side of the Rhine before setting up camp for the night. Eight legions were camped there, along with a huge number of auxiliaries and cavalry. Their camp was enormous. One could not hope to make it from one end to the other without a horse. In the morning, the army would split into two groups. Four legions plus the bulk of the auxiliaries would head east with Germanicus to destroy the Bructeri. The remaining four legions, to include the Twentieth, would head west to wage war against the Cherusci. However, that was tomorrow. Right now sleep was all that concerned Artorius.

In another part of the camp, the lamps were still lit in a large headquarters tent. Inside, Germanicus, Severus, and the legates of each legion were planning the specifics of their missions the next day. They
would mainly involve long road marches deep into enemy territory. Contingency plans had to be made in case Arminius got word of their intentions and mustered a large force against them. This was highly unlikely. However, they still had to plan for it. It was more likely that the Germans would set up ambushes along the routes, using hit-and-run tactics against the Romans. Of course it was also just as likely that the Cherusci and Marsi did not know of their presence, and they would be able to conduct the first phase of their operations unopposed. Only time would tell.

Artorius awoke to the sound of the Cornicens’ horns. Though the day before had been
long and hard, he was surprisingly refreshed. The weeks of training, right before going on campaign, had done him good. He and his tentmates got up, dressed, and proceeded to pack their tent and all of their gear. Gavius and Valens were cooking breakfast for the crew when Flaccus came walking down the line, talking to all the groups in turn.

“Statorius, just so you
r men know, we’re moving out in about an hour,” he said, “Apparently the cavalry screen found some scattered villages about half a day’s march from here.”

“Are they Marsi or Cherusci?” Statorius asked.

“They couldn’t tell,” Flaccus answered. “We definitely know they aren’t friendly, though. There are no friendly tribes on this side of the river. We know that some of the Marsi were settled to the west, we just didn’t think they had migrated this close to the Rhine.”

“They’re getting bold,” Vitruvius said as he walked up.

“They won’t be once we get done with them,” Statorius said.

Vitruvius smiled
wickedly. “Yes, it has been a while since my sword tasted fresh meat,” he said, his right hand rubbing the pommel of his gladius.

“A few scattered villages? You’ll be lucky if you get to kill a cow, Vitruvius
.” Flaccus said.

“
It’s still fresh meat, isn’t it?” Vitruvius laughed.

Artorius listened to the conversation in silence as he helped his friends load their tent onto a waiting cart.

“So what will this mean for us?” he asked Praxus.

“Could mean a couple of different things, none of them very exciting though,” Praxus answered. “When we’re dealing with villages on a punitive expedition
, the first thing we do is cordon off the entire area. Nobody gets in and nobody comes out. We then send an assault element through that clears the entire area of anything living. Once done, they set fire to the place, and we move on.”

“So we just kill everything in the village?” Magnus asked.

“Pretty much,” Valens answered. “Of course sitting on the cordon is boring as hell most of the time, though assaulting a village usually gets messy. Moreover, there is not a lot of glory and prestige to be had in killing a few farmers and some livestock, mind you. Occasionally you’ll get lucky and find something worth pilfering.”

Artorius thought about Valens’ words. Would this be how he got his revenge? By killing a handful of farmers and burning their crops? He still held out hope that the Cherusci would come and face them on the battlefield
, and that they would be able to exact their revenge properly. It was not that he had any issue with the killing of Germanic farmers, far from it. All were guilty, and all would be punished. He just figured that a major battle would resolve the issue that much quicker.

Just outside where the headquarters tent was being dismantled, Master Centurion Flavius Quietus was reviewing the plans for their part of the operation with the Cohort Commanders. Normally this task would fall upon the Commanding General, but since Severus now had four legions plus auxiliaries to command, the task fell to his subordinates. As chief tribune, Strabo was technically the one left in charge of the legion. However, he was wise enough to allow those with the proper experience to plan the attack. Flavius took a staff and drew a rough overlay of their sector on the dirt. He drew up prominent terrain features, to include
the placement of all the known settlements.

“Gentlemen,” he started, “this is our sector for this operation. It is not very large, and
to be honest, using an entire legion for this is overkill. However, we are in enemy territory, and there is no way of knowing for sure what we will be up against.

“We will leave here
with cohorts in a column. First Cohort will provide the vanguard; the Sixth will provide rear security for the baggage trains. Auxiliary infantry will provide security on our flanks and the cavalry will screen our front.

“Behind this ridge, the cavalry will hold fast and await our arrival. They will then take the long way around the settlements, utilizing the woods for cover, finally pushing out past the villages
, and continuing to screen our front. The auxiliary infantry will push out on the flanks for at least a good mile and prevent anyone from entering the area. This gully on the northeast side leads away from the village. This is their most likely route of escape, should they become alerted to our presence. The First Cohort will secure the gully and make certain no one uses it to escape. The Second, Third, and Seventh Cohorts will conduct the actual sweep of the area. The Third will take the right, the Second the center, and the Seventh will take the left. The rest of the legion, minus the Sixth Cohort, will provide the close cordon of the area and ensure that nothing escapes. The Sixth will set up security around the baggage trains, one terrain feature behind the eastern section of the cordon. Once the sweep is complete, the assault elements will form back up in a column, the rest of the legion collapsing on them. Once the auxiliary infantry have joined with us, we will push forward to where the cavalry should have our campsite staked out. It is about half a day’s march from here to the ridgeline, so we’d best start moving.” He then took a few moments to answer any questions the Cohort Commanders had. Soon the legion was on the march.

Artorius watched the countryside slowly roll by. The area had a lot of open ground, though it was still infested with
immense
forests that seemed to permeate the entire country. He half expected they would come under attack at any moment, that there would be hordes of barbarians storming their flanks. Of course, Severus was better prepared than Varus had been. Auxiliary infantry had pushed out on the flanks and cavalry screened their front. If any force did come at them, the auxiliaries would, more than likely, be able to repel it. And even if they weren’t, they would at least provide ample warning to the legionaries. With his mind at ease in terms of the danger they faced, his thoughts wandered to their task ahead.

“Think we’ll see any real action today?” he asked Magnus, who was marching next to him in formation.

“From what the veterans have said, I kind of doubt it,” Magnus answered. “Sounds like these operations are almost boring in nature. Kill a few farmers, torch their crops, and then move on.”

“That’s what I was figuring,” Artorius replied.
“Though, since neither of us has ever killed a human being before, it may be worth our while.”

Magnus gave him a searching look. “Anxious to exact your revenge, are you?” he asked.

“If only you knew,” Artorius answered. He was suddenly angry.

“Artorius, I’m your friend. And if I’m going to be able to help you in any way, you might as well tell me. What is it that burns inside of you? Everybody sees it. Praxus, Decimus, Carbo, heck
, even Sergeant Vitruvius mentioned something to Statorius the other day. He said  that in your little sparring sessions every week, which by the way makes me think you are either mad or have a high threshold for pain and a masochistic streak, you fly into a blinding rage each time you two come to blows. He said you mutter curses against the Germans, almost acting as if he is one of them.”

Artorius looked almost embarrassed.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Magnus continued, “Vitruvius thinks it’s productive. He just worries because you become so incensed that you lose focus. That’s why he thrashes you all the time. I’ve heard him say that you have more raw talent than any legionary he has seen in a long time. You just have trouble controlling your anger.”

“Alright,” Artorius said, “If you really want to know what fire burns inside of me
.” He then told Magnus about how Metellus had been killed in Teutoburger Wald, the subsequent death of his mother, and how he promised himself that he would avenge their loss.

Magnus was fascinated, though by no means surprised. “I
understand,” he said. “My ancestors in the far north were always involved in some kind of ‘blood feud’.”

“Make no mistake,” Artorius continued, “I think the army is the most honorable profession a Roman
in my position can choose. When this campaign is over, I intend to make a career out of this. Right now, the hardest battle I am fighting is not so much conquering my hate, but rather using it to my advantage.”

“If it makes you feel any better, you’re not the only one,” Magnus said.

Artorius gave him a puzzled look.

“I don’t mean me,” Magnus said when he saw the look of confusion
. “What I mean is; didn’t you ever think that maybe there are some soldiers in the legion who were actually there and
survived
Teutoburger Wald? Think about it. Tiberius welcomed the survivors back after the disaster. Chances are most of them are still around.”

“I wonder who they are,” Artorius pondered.

“That I don’t know,” Magnus answered.

They walked on in silence for the next few hours. Around
midday they came to the base of a ridgeline. They watched as several cavalry scouts rode towards the marching column from the ridge. They closed with the First Cohort and after a short halt, started leading most of the cohorts around the ridge to their places on the cordon. The Third Cohort stood fast, along with the Second and the Seventh. Macro had briefed them all on their mission before they moved out that morning. Now Macro and the other centurions had ridden forward to work out the final details of the attack with the cohort commander. A couple of scouts were there, giving the finer details of the cohort’s sector. Artorius and the other legionaries could not hear what was being said. From the centurions’ gestures it didn’t look as if they were overly worried about how the operation was going to go. Soon the centurions rode back to their units. There they dismounted and had soldiers take their horses back to the baggage trains, where the Sixth Cohort was stationed in reserve.