The Eagle and the Wolves

Chapter Six

The sun had not yet reached the top of the depot palisade when Centurion Macro emerged from the headquarters building. He was in full uniform, from nail-studded boots, silvered greaves, chain-mail vest with its harness of medallions, right up to the transverse crested helmet, gleaming dully in the shadow of the ramparts. In his hand was a vine cane, symbol of the right conferred upon him by the Emperor, Senate and People of Rome to beat the otherwise sacrosanct body of a Roman citizen. He twirled the cane between the fingers of his right hand as he marched up to the silent mass of natives gathered together on the depot's training ground. Since news of the formation of the native cohorts had spread from the Atrebatan capital, thousands of men from the surrounding lands joined those from Calleva in coming forward to be selected.

After nearly two months in hospital recovering from his head wound, Macro felt good to be getting back to the familiar routines of a centurion's life. No, he corrected himself, barring the odd skull-splitting headache, life didn't just feel good, it felt bloody marvellous. He puffed out his chest, whistling contentedly to himself as he approached his new recruits.

Centurion Cato was standing to one side of the crowd, talking with Tincommius. It was the first time that Cato had worn the uniform and equipment of a centurion and Macro thought it suited him no better than that of an optio. Cato was tall and thin, and the chain mail seemed to hang on the youngster rather than fit him. The vine stick was held awkwardly and it was difficult to imagine Cato wielding that across the back of some recalcitrant legionary, or even one of these natives. Cato's recovery in hospital had been unkind to his already skinny body and the muscle wastage to his legs was evident in the way that the back of his greaves actually overlapped slightly.

Tincommius, by contrast, was evidently in rude health, and though even taller than Cato, he was broad in proportion and looked like he might be quick on his feet as well as strong. The young Atrebatan nobleman had been tasked by his king to serve as translator and advisor, and was keen to learn the ways of the Roman legions. Tincommius could only have been a year or two older than Cato, and Macro was pleased to see them laughing together as he strode over to join them. Let Cato befriend the man then; it would save Macro having to. The older centurion had an instinctive distrust of most foreigners, and all barbarians.

'Gentlemen,' he called, 'we're not here to crack jokes. There's a job to be done.'

Cato turned to face his superior and stiffened to attention. Even though both men held the same rank, seniority counted for everything, and Cato would always be outranked by Macro, unless – by some perverse whim of providence – Cato was given command of an auxiliary cohort, or promoted to the First Cohort of the Second Legion, neither of which was remotely likely for many years to come.

'Ready, lad?' Macro winked at Cato.

'Yes, sir.'

'Right then!' Macro tucked his cane under one arm and rubbed his broad hands together. 'Let's get 'em in formation. Tincommius, how many of this batch have any military experience?'

Tincommius turned to the crowd and nodded. To one side, haughty and aloof, stood a small band of men, perhaps twenty or thirty, all in the prime of life.

'They're from our warrior caste. All weapon-trained from childhood. They can ride too.'

'Good. That's a start then. Tincommius?'

'Yes?'

Macro leaned close to him. 'Just a word about protocol. From now on, you're to call me "sir".'

The Atrebatan nobleman's eyebrows shot up in astonishment. To Macro's intense irritation Tincommius glanced questioningly over towards Cato.

'You look at me when I'm talking to you! Got that?'

'Yes.'

'Yes, what?' Macro said with a menacing edge to his voice. 'Yes, what?'

'Yes, sir.'

'That's better! Now don't forget.'

'Yes… sir.'

'Now, then. The rest of them – what experience have they got?'

'None, sir. Nearly all of them are farmers. Should be fit enough, but the nearest they've ever come to a fight is keeping foxes out of their chicken coops.'

'Well, let's see how fit they really are. We can only afford to take the best so we'd better start weeding out the rubbish. We'll use your warriors to form the rest of them up. Get 'em over here. Cato, you got the pegs?'

'Yes, sir.' Cato nudged a small sack with his boot.

'Then why aren't they already set out?'

'Sorry, sir. I'll see to it straight away.'

Macro nodded curtly and Cato snatched up the bag and strode off a short distance from the native volunteers. He stopped and rummaged inside before drawing out a numbered peg, which he thrust into the ground. Then Cato took ten paces and planted the next peg, and so on, until there were two lines of ten pegs each; enough for the first batch of two hundred men. Over the next few days the two centurions would recruit twelve centuries of eighty men, nine hundred and sixty in all, from the far greater number that had responded to Verica's call for volunteers. The mere promise of good rations had been enough to attract men from all over the kingdom.

'Tincommius!'

'Yes, sir.'

'Position one of your warriors by each of those pegs. Tell them they're going to be my section leaders. Once that's done, take nine out of the rest and line 'em up beside the first man. Understood?'

'Yes, sir.'

'Very good. Carry on.'

Macro stood patiently as Tincommius led the volunteers over to the pegs and Cato then pushed and shoved his charges into position. The sun had long since cleared the ramparts by the time everyone was in place, and Macro's highly polished helmet gleamed as he faced the Atrebatans to address them. To his right stood Tincommius, ready to relay the centurion's words. To Macro's left Cato stood stiffly to attention.

'First thing!' Macro bellowed, then paused to allow Tincommius to translate. 'Whenever I give the order "Form up", I want you all to go to exactly the same place you are standing now. Memorise it!… Second, right now you're a fucking mess. We need to dress these lines.'

Tincommius paused before translating. 'You want me to translate all of that, sir?'

'Of course I bloody do! Get on with it!'

'Right.' Evidently the linguistic education of Tincommius had been more refined than vernacular. He shouted out in Celtic and there was a roar of laughter from the volunteers.

'SHUT UP!' roared Macro. The volunteers fell silent without the need for translation. 'Now, then, each man raise his right arm horizontally, like me. Your hand should rest on the next man's shoulder. If it doesn't, then move yourself until it does.'

The natives started to shuffle around the moment Tincommius had finished translating and a soft babbling of Celtic broke out.

'IN SILENCE!'

With stilled tongues they continued positioning themselves, all save one poor soul, who caught Macro's eye almost at once.

'You there! You trying to make a fool of me? Right arm, I said, NOT YOUR BLOODY LEFT! Cato! Sort him out!'

The junior centurion trotted over to the object of Macro's rage. The native was short and thickset, with a dull bovine expression of incomprehension. Cato resisted the temptation to give him a friendly smile by way of greeting, and pushed the man's left arm down to his side. He tapped him on the right shoulder. 'This one!' Cato said in Celtic.

'Right arm… right arm. Got it? Right arm up!' Cato raised his hand to demonstrate and the native nodded like an idiot. Cato smiled and took a step back before trying again. 'Dress ranks!… No, the right arm, I said! Like everyone else!'

'What are you doing, Centurion Cato?' shouted Macro as he stormed over. 'Here! Get out of my way. There's only one way to teach dumb bastards like him.'

Macro stood in front of the tribesman, who was still grinning, more nervously now.

'What you smiling at? Think I'm funny, do you?' Macro grinned. 'Is that it? Well, let's see how fucking funny you think I am then!'

He brought up his vine cane and slashed it against the man's left arm.

'LEFT ARM!'

The man yelped in agony, but before he could do anything else Macro whacked the cane against the man's other side.

'RIGHT ARM!… Now, let's see if we've learned anything… Left arm!'

The native quickly shot his left arm into the air.

'Right arm!'

Down came one arm, up shot the other.

'Bravo, mate! We'll make a soldier of you yet. Carry on, Centurion Cato.'

'Yes, sir.'

Once the volunteers could form up to Macro's satisfaction then came the time to assess their fitness. Section by section the Atrebatans led off into a steady run around the perimeter of the depot. Cato and Macro were posted diagonally opposite each other and urged each section on as it rounded the angle and started down the next length. In a short space of time the sections had merged into a stream of men, puffing and panting their way round the depot. As Macro had expected, the warriors clustered to the front, along with the fittest of the others and quickly began to move ahead of the rest.

'It's not a race!' Macro roared, cupping a hand to his mouth, 'Cato! Tell 'em I want to see how long they can keep it up. Slow 'em down.'

All morning he drove them on. After a while the first men began to drop out: the weakest and those too old to keep up. They were immediately escorted to the depot gates and shown out. Most took their rejection in good enough spirits. Some were evidently ashamed and snapped surly comments over their shoulders as they disappeared through the depot gates. The rest forced themselves to keep going, round and round, many with grim expressions of determination.

At midday Macro sauntered across the depot to join Cato at the parade ground.

'I think that's enough. We'll give this lot some food and rest and have a look at the next batch. Let me know how many we've got left as soon as you can.'

As the volunteers reached him, Cato waved them down and ticked the numbers off on a slate before directing them over to the headquarters building where some of the garrison were handing out flatbread and cups of watered wine. As the last man staggered away Cato made his report.

'Eighty-four remaining.'

'Any of Tincommius' warriors fall out?'

'Not one.'

'Impressive. Wonder how they'll do in full equipment? Let's have a look at the next lot.'

And so the process went on for the next three days, until Macro had his two cohorts. At dusk on the third day, a cohort of the Second Legion arrived to escort the supply convoy back to the legion. Every wagon that Macro could lay his hands on had been made ready and fully loaded with supplies. Vespasian would be able to maintain his army in the field for a few more weeks, but the men in the depot now depended upon the safe arrival of the next convoy from Rutupiae, due in less than twenty days. Only a small escort could be spared to protect it when it set out on the last leg of its journey from the fortress on the Tamesis. Unless a covering force from Calleva could meet it on the way, there was a good chance that it would be detected by the scouts of the Durotrigans and ambushed. With a thousand extra mouths to feed from the supplies in the depot the two cohorts were going to have to earn their keep.

'We're not going to be ready in time,' said Cato that night, as he sat at the table in Macro's quarters, eating cold chicken.

Macro and Tincommius looked up from their platters. Macro finished his mouthful and used the back of his hand to wipe the grease from his lips. 'Not unless we get the all clear to issue weapons we won't. Can't send men out armed with sticks and scythes – that'd be plain murder.'

'So what do we do?' asked Tincommius.

'We start drilling them. We've got some marching yokes on the inventory. I'll get the carpenters to cut them into lengths. At least we can begin basic sword practice.'

Tincommius nodded, and wiped his platter clean with his last hunk of bread. He pushed the platter away from him. 'Now, if you don't mind, sir, I've got to get back to the royal enclosure for the night.'

'What for?'

'The king's gathered some of his nobles together for a drinking session.'

'Drinking?'

'Well, there'll be dog-fighting, some wrestling and a few tall stories. But mostly drinking.'

'Make sure you're back here at dawn. We'll start training as soon as it's light.'

'I'll be there, sir.'

'You'd better be.' Macro nodded his head meaningfully towards his vine cane in the corner of the room.

'Are you serious?' asked Tincommius. 'You'd really strike a member of the royal household?'

'You'd better believe it, old son. The discipline of the legions applies to all men, or no men. That's how it is – how it must be – if we're going to sort out those bloody Durotrigans.'

Tincommius stared down at the centurion for the moment, and then nodded slowly. 'I'll be back before dawn.'

When the two Romans were alone Macro eased himself back from the table and patted his stomach. A burp rumbled in his throat, causing Cato to look up with a frown.

'What?'

'It's nothing, sir. Sorry.'

Macro sighed. 'There's that "sir" thing again. I thought you'd got over that.'

'Creature of habit.' Cato smiled weakly. 'But I'll work on it.'

'You'd better.'

'Meaning?'

'Meaning you've been a bit drippy these last few days. If you're going to help me train these Atrebatans so they can take on the enemy, you're going to have to buck up your technique.'

'I'll try.'

'Trying's not good enough, lad. Training men for war's a serious business. You have to be hard on them from day one. You have to punish them hard for every single mistake they make. Be as cruel and nasty as you can, because if you don't, then you place them at a disadvantage when they face the enemy for real.' Macro stared at him to make sure the point had got through. Then he smiled. 'Besides, you don't want them calling you a pansy wanker behind your back, do you?'

'Probably not.'

'That's the spirit. Decisive as ever. Now then, weapons drill starts tomorrow. You're in charge. I've got to catch up on some paperwork. Being a bloody garrison commander's a right pain in the arse. I've got to sort out accommodation and provisioning for Verica's boys. I'll have them issued with tents. They can set them up along the inside of the rampart. Then I have to make sure the inventory is bang up to date before we start issuing tunics and boots to the natives. Otherwise some bloody clerk on the imperial general staff's going to bill me for any discrepancies. Bloody auditors.'

Cato's eyes lit up as the obvious thought occurred to him. 'Would you prefer me to deal with the inventory? You can do the sword drill.'

'No! Damn it, Cato, you're a centurion now, so act like one. Besides, you know some of the lingo. Tomorrow, you're going to go out there and stick it to 'em. You can pick some men to help you, but you're on your own now, lad… Right, I'm off. You'd best get some rest yourself.'

'Yes. Soon as I've finished.'

Alone at the table Cato stared at his food, appetite completely gone. Tomorrow he would go out in front of a thousand men and tell them how to fight with the short sword of the legions. A thousand men; some far older, some with far more experience of fighting and none of them likely to take kindly to being given their orders by a centurion of two months' standing, who had only recently reached the legal age of manhood. He would feel like a fake, he knew it, and dreaded that most of the men on the parade ground would see through him in an instant.

Then there was the fact that the last three days had left him feeling drained. Two months of convalescence had weakened him dreadfully. His side ached abominably and Cato was beginning to doubt that any amount of exercise was going to make it comfortable.

04 The Eagle and the Wolves