“You expect us to up and move one-third of our best smiths and all of their tools?” one of the men asked indignantly, raising his bushy eyebrows.
“I told you, you will be well paid for this,” Sacrovir continued smoothly. “It would not do for the Romans to start sticking their arrogant noses into our affairs. They may ask questions were they to find out that we are mass producing arms and armor.”
“So you really do intend to go through with your little rebellion,” the fat leader said.
“Indeed I do,” Sacrovir replied. “For too long our nobles and our people have been subjected to the hypocrisy of Roman rule. You yourselves are of the patrician class; you pay Roman taxes and are subject to their laws. And yet you are denied the most basic rights which your so-called peers in Rome entitle themselves to! Think of this as your duty to your nation and your heritage to help us throw off the yoke of imperial oppression.” He snickered inwardly, seeing the patriotic spark in their eyes.
Such men were sheep. Sheep lured by want of money. He was now able to lead them around by the nose. Provided the ring was made of gold.
“Gentlemen, I cannot stress enough how much secrecy is paramount in this contract. Hence, I do not ever want to see any of you here dressed so ostentatiously again. Once your men are established and have their smiths moved to their appointed location, we will discuss the remainder of the contract and how much they will be required to manufacture. In the meantime, here is a down payment for the movement costs, as well as a little stipend to make the effort worth your while.” With that he snapped his fingers and a servant appeared from a dark corner of the room, bearing three small scrolls. He handed them to Sacrovir, who in turn handed one to each of the men.
“What are these?” Bushy eyebrows asked.
Sacrovir rolled his eyes in disgust. “How far do you think you would get if you left here bearing gold?” he asked condescendingly. “There are thieves and brigands in this part of town who would have your gold and your heads before you could shit yourselves in terror. Consider yourself lucky that you were not robbed on the way here. Read them. I assume each of you knows how to read.” They read their scrolls and looked at each other amazed. The quiet guild leader smiled greedily.
“These notes bear my seal, which you will each take to a separate bank to withdraw your money. I have accounts all over the province, so no one will take any notice. You have five days to get your smiths and equipment ready to move. On the fifth day, I will send messengers and escorts.” He rose abruptly to his feet, signaling that the meeting was over. “Do we have an agreement, gentlemen?” Each man extended their hands to him, which he grasped firmly as he ushered them out to where it was still raining. A smug grin then spread across his face. Florus would be pleased. After all, he was helping to finance this venture and would want to see measurable progress. The manufacturing of so many arms and armor would take time. However, time was something Sacrovir felt comfortable he had.
Statorius sat on top of the desk in the century’s main office, scribbling notes onto a large parchment. Gathered around were all the section leaders within the century. It was the first such meeting Artorius had attended. Though Magnus would be acting in his place soon enough, he felt he should at least attend a few of the section leader meetings to make certain he knew how things operated. Around the end of each month, the tesserarius would call together all of the decanii in order to establish the duty and training schedules for the next month. Each section leader had a wax tablet and stylus with which to take his notes.
Statorius seemed to be checking off all the applicable days of the month, his brow wrinkled in thought. Finally he spoke.
“Alright, let’s get started. The first thing I need is three guys for latrine duty from the first till the fourth. Ostorius, I’ll need two from you and, Praxus, I’ll need one from you.”
“I know just who I’m going to give you,” Praxus replied. “Got somebody on my ‘shit list’, no pun intended.”
That got a slight chuckle out of some of the men, though it was a well-used joke. He and Ostorius gave the names to Statorius, who wrote them down on his roster.
“Okay, next we’ve got stable duty on the third,” the tesserarius continued. “Rufio, I’ll need one of your men for that. And, Artorius, I’ll need two men for road repair on the sixth.”
Artorius looked at his list of names briefly. He was short two men as it was and, with Macro’s assurances, he hoped Statorius would not overtax him.
“I can give you Valens and Magnus,” he answered.
Statorius nodded and wrote the names down.
“Oh, and I’ll need one more from you for latrines again, this time from the sixteenth to the twentieth,” Statorius added.
“I’ll give you Carbo.”
This caused the tesserarius to chuckle. “He’ll love you for that,” Statorius remarked. “He complained to me for an entire week once when I put him on latrines.” “What did you do?” Artorius asked, intrigued.
“I volunteered him for latrines for the next six months. I have to say I don’t think anyone in the legion knows the intricacies of our sewage system better than Carbo,” he snickered.
After about an hour the roster was finalized for the next month. Artorius made sure to keep from offering up Decimus for any details, seeing as he was an immune and, therefore, exempt from fatigue duties. Magnus’ elevation to immune status was to take effect on the seventh, so Artorius knew he could still be used up until then. As soon as Statorius called the meeting, he made his way towards the door.
“Sergeant Artorius!” the tesserarius called after him.
Artorius closed his eyes and for a moment froze in place, thinking he was in trouble. The room emptied as he walked over to where Statorius still sat on top of the desk. He clasped his hands behind his back, waiting for his superior to speak.
“I see you are catching on,” Statorius began.
“It’s coming along slowly but surely, sir,” Artorius replied.
“Come off it, Artorius, you don’t have to act so formal around me,” Statorius replied. “I heard you impressed Macro with your conducting of weapons drill with the recruits.”
Artorius shrugged at that. “I spent so much time out there with Vitruvius that it all kind of came naturally. To tell you the truth, I’m a bit nervous about everything. I have the men’s trust, though I feel I’m putting up a front of false confidence most of the time. Was it that way for you?” Artorius was indeed feeling overwhelmed by his duties. Before, when not on details or mandatory drills, he had had quite a relaxing time when the legion was in garrison.
The operations tempo had slowed considerably since the wars against Arminius and the Cherusci had come to an end. Now, when most of his soldiers were enjoying leisure time, he was working on training schedules, detail rosters, and conducting lesson plans for the recruits. He truly cherished his off time, and he was finding that as a decanus he had much less of it.
“It took some time,” Statorius answered. “After a while I got used to it. I admit I was not tasked nearly as much as you. Remember, I did not have any additional duties, like you do. Things will slow down once the recruits finish training. How much longer do they have?”
“Six weeks,” Artorius replied. “They’ve only just started working with me.”
“You need to let me know when they are ready to move past the training stakes. I need to put that time on the duty roster as well, so that we can assign sparring partners for your recruits.”
Artorius made a note of it on his tablet. Just one more thing to try and remember, he thought to himself.
“Now that you mention it, I’ll have to get with Pilate and see when he can schedule a time to conduct basic artillery training,” he said out loud as he made more notes. As he started towards the door, Statorius grabbed him by the shoulder.