Centurion

All around Cato and Macro the officers punched their fists into the air and echoed the cry. After a quick glance at Cato Macro followed suit and joined in the cheering with a lusty roar. Cato sighed and shook his head before joining in half-heartedly. Not for the first time, despite his hard-won sense of himself as a soldier, he felt detached from the hardy professionalism of the other officers. Up on the podium Cassius Longinus was milking the martial mood for all he was worth, turning to one section of the audience at a time and thrusting his sword up in the air. At length he sheathed the weapon and stood back from the podium as the senior centurion of the Tenth Legion stepped forward and slammed his vine cane down on the flagstone and bellowed, 'Dismissed!'

The officers turned and began to shuffle towards the doors, talking animatedly about the prospect of a new campaign. It would be the first action that many had seen since their posting to the province of Syria. The wary balance of power that had existed between Parthia and Rome since the days of the first emperor, Augustus, had finally crumbled. The long game of diplomacy and subterfuge that had been played out between the agents of the two empires was over and now the clash of great armies would decide the conflict.

'Prefect Macro! Centurion Cato!'

Cato started at the shout echoing off the walls and with Macro he turned to see the senior centurion staring at them. 'Remain behind!'

'Shit,' Macro muttered as the nearest officers briefly shot them curious looks. 'What now?'

Cato shrugged his shoulders and began to ease his way through the crowd leaving the hall as he led the way towards the podium. Cato saw that Longinus and Legate Amatius were watching as he and Macro strode towards them. They stood before the podium as the last of the officers left the hall. Longinus nodded to the senior centurion.

'That's all.You may leave.'

'Yes, sir!' The centurion saluted smartly and turned to march after his comrades, nailed boots echoing across the flagstones. He left the hall, pulling the doors closed behind him, and then Longinus turned to Macro and Cato.

'There's one other matter to be resolved before my army goes to war. I have decided the fate of Legionary Crispus.'

All three subordinates stared intently at their commander as Longinus continued. 'In view of the gravity of the offence, and the utmost need to preserve discipline given the present circumstances, I have decided that Crispus must be put to death.'

'No!' Amatius shook his head. 'Sir, I protest.You gave me to believe that he would be spared.'

'I said no such thing,' Longinus snapped. 'Did I?'

Amatius sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. 'No, sir. But you implied it.'

'Implication is not proof.' Longinus glanced meaningfully at Macro and Cato before he continued. 'Crispus will be broken by the men of his century, before the assembled ranks of the Second Illyrian. At dawn tomorrow. You will communicate the news to the prisoner, Legate, and see that he is held securely until the execution is carried out. I have heard of incidents when condemned men have escaped in the past. If Crispus is permitted to abscond, then the men assigned to guard him will take his place. Make sure that they understand that. Clear?'

Amatius swallowed his anger and turned to Macro with a bitter expression. 'I imagine you're delighted by the news.'

Macro stared back for a moment before he replied, 'If you imagine that, sir, then I fear that you will never understand the soldiers that you command.'

Amatius glared at Macro for an instant, then turned back to Longinus and stiffened his back. 'Is that all, sir?'

'That's all. Have Crispus' comrades report to the parade ground outside the camp at first light. They are to wear tunics only and be issued with cudgels.'

'Yes, sir.'

Amatius' tone was subdued and Cato could well understand why.The haughty legionaries would be humiliated by appearing before the auxiliaries of the Second Illyrian without their armour and weapons. That was quite deliberate. Army discipline demanded that the comrades of a condemned man shared his shame so that they would be sure to punish him for humbling them. In future, they might be more careful about letting another man commit an offence that would rebound on them. Since Amatius would be obliged to lead the party from the Tenth and bear witness to the execution, he too would take some small share of the shame, hence the smouldering hatred in his eyes as he glared at Macro and Cato briefly before striding from the hall, and slamming the door behind him with a crashing boom.

For a moment nothing was said, then Macro dipped his head in acknowledgement to Cassius Longinus.

'Thank you, sir. It was the right decision.'

'I don't need you to tell me that,' Longinus snapped.

'Very well, sir. But thank you anyway.' Macro paused. 'Is there anything else?'

'No. Just make sure this doesn't happen again. I've had enough of the pair of you interfering in my business in Syria. If it hadn't been for the Parthians I'd have got rid of you. By now you'd be well on your way back to Rome to report in person to that snake, Narcissus. As it is… I need every man I can scrape together to face the Parthians. There's no question that I would defeat them if I had the reinforcements I asked for. But there's only the three legions and a handful of auxiliary units available to take them on. The odds are not good.' Longinus smiled coldly. 'So if I succeed then the glory is greater. But if I fail, then I shall draw some small comfort from the knowledge that you two will be dying alongside me.'

Cato wondered at the change in Longinus' mood from the triumphalism of his address to his assembled officers. Then he realised that this was what Roman aristocrats trained so many years for: the perfectly pitched performance to win over their public, despite any personal misgivings over the cause that they were promoting. And Longinus had been persuasive enough, Cato reflected. It seemed that Cato alone had not been swept along on the wave of his rhetoric. Even Macro, who knew of the governor's dubious political manoeuvres, had been momentarily carried away by the prospect of action and glory.

'Leave me,' Longinus ordered. 'Go and make your preparations for the execution.'

He gestured casually towards the door. Macro and Cato stood to attention, saluted, and turned away, marching in step as they left the Roman governor of Syria alone in his makeshift audience chamber.

In the thin light of pre-dawn the men of the Second Illyrian were stirred from their tents by the harsh cries of their optios and centurions as the officers strode down the tent lines, yanking back the tent flaps and bellowing at the rudely awakened men inside. Hurriedly pulling on their rough woollen tunics, boots and chain-mail corselets, they emerged into the cool air before cramming on their skullcaps and helmets and tying the chin straps. Lastly, they gathered shields and javelins and took up their positions in the centuries forming in front of the tents. The cavalry squadrons, with their longer blades and thrusting spears, formed up on the flanks. Their mounts would not be needed for the assembly to bear witness to the execution, and they remained tethered in the horse lines, chewing contentedly on the barley in the feed bags that had been brought to them as soon as their riders had risen from their tents.

Macro, with Cato at his shoulder, paced down the lines inspecting his men. The execution of Crispus would be a formal affair. Even though the legionary was a condemned murderer he was still a soldier and would be accorded appropriate respect even as he died.Though the man he had killed was one of their comrades the men of the Second Illyrian would pay Crispus the honours due to a fellow soldier passing from this world into the shades. Every man had turned out neatly and had made sure that his helmet had been polished the night before, along with the trim and boss of his shield and every clasp and decorated facing of his scabbard. Macro regarded them with pride. He could ask for no better body of men to command, even in the legions, he admitted grudgingly, though he would never own up to such an opinion in public. The blood he had shed in the Second Legion and the comrades he had lost over the years had left him with an engrained love of the Eagles he had known for so long.