Corbus nodded, then said in a deep voice that did not matchhis youthful appearance, “It is my duty, Mother. I understand our history. It’spast time we took our revenge. We will make the streets slippery with blood andhang those corrupt dogs by their togas, as our ancestors would have demanded,”he snarled.
“That’s my boy, my Germanic champion,” Amalia crooned. Hiseyes closed and he shivered. “Now, let’s leave, and continue our preparationsin a more suitable environment.”
Again swathing themselves in their cloaks, they exited theroom, slipped out of the Atrium, and faded into the anonymity of theBrittenburg night.
Chapter 5
“Gather ’round, gather ’round, you men.” Drill InstructorVespasinus held a length of steel and iron up in front of him. “Anyone knowwhat this is?” He looked expectantly at the legionaries assembled around him.
“A plumbata,” one of them answered, and several othersnodded.
“Yes. And what is that?” the instructor prodded.
Julius spoke up. “It’s a short javelin that can explode oncontact. Or it can penetrate an enemy shield to slow their attack.”
“Good, good! Excellent answer, Recruit Caesar. That’sexactly what I was looking for. Each man in a legion is armed with two of theseweapons. But-” he looked around at the green legionnaires “-the smart soldieralways carries a few more. There are two variations of plumbatae: the firsttipped with an explosive canister, the second topped with the standard softiron shank.”
He moved over to the shooting range, where several strawdummies awaited destruction. Grasping a plumbata in one calloused hand, hesaid, “This shaft has a single-use explosive component attached at the top. Ourartificers and engineers designed it so that it will explode upon direct,forceful contact with a hard surface, most likely an enemy’s armor, or hisshield. Upon impact, the blast is funneled toward the enemy. It’s strong enoughto in all likelihood kill anyone within an eight-foot area, with afragmentation radius twice that. It’s reliable 95 % of the time and, when usedin combination with others, can sweep even an armored front line clear in asingle volley.”
Hefting the plumbata, he took a few quick steps and hurledit downrange. It struck one of the straw dummies in the torso. Bang! Thedummy exploded into thousands of pieces. Bits of straw and canvas floated aboutin the air as pieces of jagged metal tinkled to the ground. The gatheredlegionaries cheered.
Vespasinus gave a half-bow and quipped, “Thank you, thankyou, encore performance at seven for those interested. Now men, pick up aplumbata shaft. Each shaft has a screw attachment at the top.” He gestured toseveral crates full of plumbatae that other instructors had opened withcrowbars.
Julius walked over to the nearest crate and helped pass outseveral of the weapon shafts. Finally, he took one for himself and walked overto the rough line that the men had formed along the near end of the range.
“What I am showing you now are the two varieties ofspearheads that can be placed on the plumbata,” the instructor said, holding upa foot-long, finger-thick iron shank emerging from a cylindrical tub. Hedemonstrated screwing the shank onto the pole, then he unscrewed it. “That isthe simple plumbata shaft. It will bend upon hitting an enemy shield,making the shield unwieldy and throwing the bearer off balance. Smart warriorswill drop their shields. Dumb ones will carry the awkward weight along. Eitherway, you will have an advantage over them.” He displayed a wolfish grin, andthen tossed the plain plumbata shank to another instructor, who deftly snaggedit out of midair.
Vespasinus began screwing a heavier diamond-shaped explosivetip onto the plumbata, saying, “Each component will attach to the shaft by wayof the screw. This is a black gunpowder fragmentation warhead.”
Other helpers walked along the line, passing out similarspearheads; Julius listened as he carefully screwed on the dangerous warhead hewas given.
“The shafts are designed to withstand the pressure of theexplosion. Realistically, they tend to take some damage, but about half of themcan be reused. Remember, the trigger requires a straight hit; glancing oneswon’t do the trick.” Turning, Drill Instructor Vespasinus stepped to one sideand bellowed, “On my order! Ready plumbatae.”
Julius and the others balanced their plumbatae onopen palms next to their ears. Instructors scurried down the line, helping toadjust the position of each plumbata. Several men nearly dropped them,snatching them up at the last second. The instructor waited until they were allprepared before belting out his next words.
“A volley is far more devastating than a single hit,remember that! Now-ready, THROW!”
The missiles arced raggedly from their line, followedseconds later by a rolling series of explosions. Julius instinctively threw hishand up before his face as dust, dirt, and straw flew everywhere. When theexplosions stopped, the instructor pulled a lever on the wall. A mechanicalalarm sounded. Several large fans slowly blew the smoke and floating debrisaway so that the soldiers could see the results.
Julius gaped with the others. Wisps of smoke still rosegently from the craters where the straw dummies once stood. Vespasinusmotioned, and the recruits followed him forward over the fragmented ground.Squatting, he scooped up a small piece of jagged metal, tossing it from hand tohand to cool it down. “This is what happens when the warhead on the plumbataexplodes. The black powder is triggered by the impact. The outer casingshatters, sending hot pieces of iron into bodies and armor and shields. Asingle well-placed plumbata can even take down an airship. A volley ofplumbatae will stagger an advancing enemy, wound their men, disorganize them,hurt their morale, and deal them a psychological blow.” He delivered the speechin the cold, hard manner of a man who has seen it happen before.
He pointed to one of his students. “You, Recruit Gven …Gwyen-What in Jupiter’s beard is your name?” he finally snapped.
“Sir, it’s pronounced Ven-durn; it’s from my great-uncle.”
Vespasinus tossed the piece of iron to Recruit Gwendyrn.“Sorry ’bout the horrible name. Now, if you please, imagine that going throughyour shin, Gwendyrn. At this instant, you’re wounded, thrashing about, possiblyeven injuring other men with your movements. You’re bleeding out and yourcomrades are worried about you, so they want to take you back to the medico.”He looked around at the others, pointing to Gwendyrn. “How many men do youthink it will take to get him back to a first aid station?”
Julius shrugged with the others, his leather tunic shiftingon his shoulders.
“Get on the ground and let’s see how people react to thesituation,” he told Gwendyrn. “Thrash around so it looks like you’re injured.”
Gwendyrn lay down and began feebly moving his legs. “Ouch,ouch!” he said with limited enthusiasm.
Instructor Vespasinus walked over to him. As the remainingrecruits stood watching uncertainly, his leg swung back, then he kickedGwendyrn right in the knee with his iron-toed nova caligae. Julius grimaced;that would leave a brutal bruise. Gwendyrn screamed and grabbed his knee, nowwrithing around in pain. Vespasinus stepped to one side and looked around.“What are you waiting for? Get him behind the line!”
Julius and several other recruits quickly reached down tolift the struggling man. An explosion suddenly erupted to their right.
“What was that?” Julius shouted, ducking over Gwendyrn’smoaning, still writhing form. The other recruits had either crouched or droppedflat to the ground, below the trajectory of any shrapnel. The injured man wascompletely forgotten. Julius looked wildly at the instructor. “Was that anaccident?”
“This is not some pansy walk in the forum, recruit!”Vespasinus yelled from the safety of the wall. “Get your armor-clad bodies ingear! Move, move, MOVE!”
Julius grabbed Gwendyrn’s arm. Several other recruitsgrabbed the downed man and lifted him, then began dragging him toward the lowwooden wall that separated the free fire part of the range from the safe partof the range. A plumbata went sailing over their heads, followed by anotherexplosion. This time, Julius heard the whine of shrapnel behind him. “Gofaster!” he cried out.