As if reading my mind, I heard Romulus say, “Maybe they’re cooking us dinner.”
This was met with a laugh by all of us; I think it was probably more hearty than the joke actually deserved, yet it served to relieve some of the tension as we waited to hear what we were about to do.
I do not know how much time passed, but finally the Primus Pilus came back then ordered our cornicen to sound the assembly for the Centurions of our Legion, who quickly moved to gather around him to get instructions. Craning my neck, once again I was thankful for my height as I peered at the group of Centurions, watching them nod in acknowledgement of what the Primus Pilus was telling them. After just a moment, the group of men broke up, and all 59 Centurions came striding back to their respective Centuries. The Pilus Prior came to us and bellowed in his command voice, “Listen up ladies, we're going to be making a marching camp, but it’s going to be a little different than usual. We're going to create two camps, with two Legions in each camp. We're pairing up with the 9th, which is just coming up now.”
Pointing to an area some distance away, when we looked over to where he was indicating, we saw a group of men that are part of the advance party. Their job is not only scouting for campsites, but also to provide any engineering and pioneer work to clear the way for the Legions should the terrain require it. To this point in our march the terrain, despite being hilly in places, consisted of low scrub vegetation, with only occasional patches of woods that we could easily bypass. It was not until we were in Gaul that I saw the real value these men provided, when we would advance through forests that lasted for days, but here in Lusitania it was not necessary for them to clear the way. Instead, they would usually have our camp boundaries already staked out and ready for us to start entrenching and building, except on this day they were held back from their normal task until the army had arrived and Caesar decided what to do. Now, they were using their instruments to survey and mark out our camp.
Continuing, Pilus Prior Crastinus said, “The way it’s going to work is that we're going to stay here in formation, while the 9th makes the camp. Same for the other two Legions; one works, the other watches. The one thing that we're going to change is that we're changing to single line to extend our coverage of the ground here.”
What this required was the Legion to counter march, in this case to the left, and extend the spaces between each Century so that the second Century of each line could then move forward and to the oblique to fill in the space created. Consequently, instead of three lines of double Centuries, we would have three longer lines of single Centuries. Although it did not provide the depth, it would extend the coverage, making it harder for the barbarians to sally forth and move around our flank. As far as we were concerned, the news could not have been better; no digging, no carrying, no chopping for us! It was hard for us to contain our grins, but the Pilus Prior saw some of our expressions and snapped, “Go ahead and laugh now, because sooner or later, Fortuna is going to piss all over us.”
That killed the mood of joy immediately, because we knew he was right. Not for the first time I cursed the Pilus Prior and his talent for taking the fun out of any occasion.
It was more than a full watch past dark before we were given the order to fall back and into the camp, and while nothing exciting happened, we still learned a valuable lesson that day. Even when one is standing still, when it is a requirement to stay vigilant and ready to go into action at a moment’s notice, it can be just as tiring as making a camp. I for one was surprised to find how fatigued I was, but the others confirmed that they were in the same state, making me feel somewhat better. Additionally, we were ordered to have no fires either, confined instead to chewing our fat bacon and gnawing at whatever bread we managed to keep to the side. That night the guard was doubled, so the prospect for sleep was not auspicious either. All in all, our first sighting of the enemy was proving to be more boring and troublesome than anything else. While we sat in a circle outside the tent finishing what passed for our meal, the Pilus Prior came by, accompanied by Optio Vinicius. He had just been to the command group briefing, and was spreading the word about what we could expect the next morning, and he called all of the men in our Century to gather in the Century street, then motioned for us to sit down while he talked. Squatting in front of us, we could just make out his bulk by the light of the half moon and the glow of the few torches that were allowed to be lit along the walls.
“We attack at first light,” he announced, causing all of us to stop chewing our food to listen intently. “The engineers are going to be busy tonight making scaling ladders, and we’re going to assault the town from two sides. The artillery will begin a barrage a third of a watch before first light, and soften up the defenses. I doubt that what we have with us will be big enough to knock down any of that wall because it looks pretty strong, so it'll probably be the ladders that'll get us over the quickest. The 8th is going to use the ram,” he was referring to the mobile ram that was broken down and carried as part of the baggage train, “to assault the main gate, which is the most heavily defended. The other two Legions will be support, which is why we're in the camp together.”
Suddenly, I understood why two camps were made, and in the darkness I could just make out Vibius’ face and saw that he recognized it as well. Thinking about it more, I realized that the 7th and 8th’s camp was directly in front of the main gate of the town, while our camp was arrayed opposite the side of the town where we would be assaulting. Maybe this Caesar did know what he was doing after all.
The Pilus Prior paused a moment to let all this sink in before finishing, “You’ll receive more detailed orders in the morning, but I just wanted all of you to know now what was going to be happening. In the morning we’ll assign the sectors of the wall and who'll be the first over it. So get some sleep, because tomorrow is a big day.”
With that, he stood and strode off, leaving us to talk excitedly to each other. Looking over at Vibius, he gave me a tight smile, his teeth shining dully in the moonlight.
“I bet we’re one of the first over the walls,” he said, his voice quavering just enough so that only I, his closest friend who had known him for all these years, would recognize the fear in his voice. I felt my throat constrict, so instead of answering, I just nodded.
“That just means my first Corona Muralis”, Didius’ voice cut the air between us; neither of us had realized that he was within earshot or even listening.
Feeling the familiar tickle of my anger rising, instead of lashing out, I replied as coolly as I could, “Or you’ll be the first man dead.”
I could see the whites of his eyes as he glared at me angrily and snapped, “As you could be Pullus. Don’t forget that.”
Then he turned heel to stalk away, but despite feeling a little sense of triumph for having rattled him, his words and the warning of Optio Vinicius collided in my mind, sending a shiver up my spine. Was I going to have to watch both my front and my back, as the Optio had warned me?
There was little sleep that night, I suspect by any of us in the army, with the possible exception of the veterans. The Centurions certainly did not sleep; they were prowling around the camp, checking on the men in their Century, conferring with each other about the coming day. In our tent only Calienus lay snoring softly, oblivious to our whispered conversations. Vibius tossed and turned for a while, and I could hear him mumbling to himself, while I lay just staring at the roof of the tent, trying to think of other things that had nothing to do with what was happening in just a couple of watches.
Finally giving up his attempt to sleep, Vibius rolled over to face me and whispered, “Do you have it in a safe place?”