* * *
As Junius and I met with Procillus, men were constructing the fortifications. The three of us walked along the perimeter of the camp. Legionaries were digging a trench, each with his own shovel and others from the fifth cohort were finishing erecting the palisade. We had drilled for so long that erecting a camp wall and digging a spiked trench around it was second nature to us all. The entire fortification took only an hour if done quickly but two hours if done at leisure such as this one. We were in no particular hurry although the light was rapidly failing and we had marched ten hours that day, making good time.
A little drizzle had begun to fall from an overcast sky and we wrapped our cloaks around us against the breeze that seemed to pursue us in our walking conversation.
'Aulus, the General tells me you have an education.'
'Sort of. I had a Greek tutor for a few years in my youth. He taught me much in a short time.'
'I think the best way for us to circulate tomorrow will be if we are on an inspection of equipment and supplies by order of the General. It would help if you kept some notes.'
'I'm not trained to be a scribe, you know.'
'No, but it won't matter what you write, most of our comrades can't read anyway.'
'Junius has some friends in the Lucullan legion, they're from the same part of Italia, and maybe that would be a good place to start,' I said.
'All right.'
'Why is it called the Lucullan? All the rest have numbers attached to the legions names' I asked.
'It's because, when the General first came out here, he came with a legion that he raised personally and at his own expense. He is a very rich man in his own right, even without the treasure taken in Pontus.'
'You mean he paid their wages?' asked Junius.
'And for their equipment,’ replied Procillus, ‘he is a remarkable man. I think the Senate opposed him and he ended up financing the legion at his own expense as a result.'
'So if you pay the expenses for a legion, the Senate don't mind what you do with it?' Junius said.
'It's a bit more complicated than that. Where shall we meet?' Procillus said.
'We can meet tomorrow at the Via Praetoria after the morning trumpet call, if you like,' Junius said.
'Very well, in that case I will get some sleep. Well maybe a little wine and a game of dice. Does either of you two gamble?'
'As a matter of fact,' Junius said, 'even though Aulus does most of the talking and writing around here I do the gambling. Lead on sir, I will be pleased to throw the dice and show you how we do it in the ranks.'
They walked off having an animated conversation about the rules and whether Venus was worth more than Mars on the dice.
They left me continuing on my walk around the outside of the palisade, which was virtually finished. Each legion had its own camp and I felt there was no likelihood of anyone attacking us so far from Armenia. I felt safe.
I stared at the ground and thought of the events of the previous night and how a single night can change all your thoughts, ingrained from months of ruminating. Sleeping with Hypsicratea that night had been like reaching the summit of a high mountain. I felt I was plodding, trudging the road downwards now. I desperately wanted to see her and touch her. I imagined the touch of her flesh against mine, the feel of my tongue against hers, and the closeness of our embraces. Visions of our lovemaking flooded my mind to the exclusion of all else. I could have been anywhere for all I knew. Anywhere except the royal palace at Sinope.
Fortuna must have smiled upon me that night, for an odd event saved my life. I slipped in some horse dung on a rock. It suddenly pitched me backwards. My left foot flew up in front of me and my right buckled beneath me with the suddenness of the slip.
My head whipped back hard. It contacted the bridge of my attacker's nose. It must have been painful for he dropped the knife.
I realised what was happening. I rolled away. I looked up. There were two of them. My movements blurred into the speed for which I had been trained. I drew my blade, rose and stood crouching slightly watching the scene.
Two large men, neither of them in military dress stood where I had been walking two seconds before. The uninjured one snarled and leapt forward. His sword moved quickly. I assessed him as an expert from the way he moved. It was relaxed and fast. Like a cat.
In his right hand, he had a knife. In the left, a Roman short sword. He crossed the few yards between us fast. He struck with the gladius left to right at my sword arm. I knew he was hoping to stab with the knife as I parried.
I moved back and to the side. He missed. My right hand moved to my left and I stepped forward. As my blade flashed, he yelped with pain. The knife went flying. I had him now and he knew it. He stood still. He waited for his comrade.
The other attacker had now recovered. He wiped his eyes and drew his sword. Blood streamed from his nose. He approached from my left, a little unsteadily. I had my back to the palisade.
With one left-handed attacker and one right-handed, it was hard to know which go for first. They made the decision for me. The left-hander misjudged me. He went at me fast. He held his sword low. He stabbed forward, ready to jump back. I moved, moved fast and sideways on. I parried and slashed my sword upwards from right to left. A cut to the throat and he fell, leaving the right-hander with the broken nose.
He was brave or maybe he was a fool. He knew I might kill him. He feinted to his left and came back with speed to his right. A side step and a thrust with my gladius and I had killed him.
He grabbed my right arm with his free hand as he sank to the mud at my feet, my blade tugging in my grip and withdrawing as he fell. His hand squeezed only for a moment and then all was still and quiet. An owl hooted in the background and I breathed long and deep. The whole fight took only seconds.
The Greek writers say that after great battles, heavy rain is sure to come. It rained hard then too, despite the size of my little skirmish and I smiled as I remembered Gennadius reading that passage. I wondered what had become of him as I distracted myself from what I had done.
I wiped my sword on the cloak of one of my assailants and made my way quickly to the gate. The sentry let me in although I could not recall the password. I was shaken and anxious.
Who they were was obvious to me. I was convinced they were the same ones who had accompanied Bassus on that day in the square, in front of the temple of Athena in Sinope. However, in the dark, all faces look grey and undecipherable.
I waited, listening to the sound of the rain as it splattered on the leather tent that Junius and I shared in the camp. I was still damp and could not dry off. In a tent, once you are wet you remain so.
Junius returned late and drunk. He stumbled over my armour as he entered and pitched himself onto his straw palette. He did not move except to turn once slightly to one side and vomit. He started snoring. It did not bode well for a night's sleep but I thought of the previous night and it guided me to pleasant dreams with no thoughts of violence or death for once.