Constan said, “How can ye be in bloody love when you haven’t even spoken to her yet?”
Baltazar answered, “I don’t know, I just knew in my heart that I was.”
Constan muttered, “That’s daft.”
Athos said, “Now who’s interrupting?”
Constan responded, “Fair enough, lad. Continue Baltazar.”
Baltazar nodded, “She then took a step forward and pushed me. I fell backward into the water. After she had finished giggling at my plight, she offered me a hand to help me up. I figured turnabout was fair play, so I took it yanked hard! As I hoped she tripped over the edge of the fountain and fell in! Not to be outdone she hooked her leg behind mine and swept me off my feet! I landed in the water right beside her. Laughing, she leaned her head toward mine.”
Before Baltazar could continue Constan said, “Finally we’re getting’ somewhere.”
Baltazar continued the story, “Our eyes locked and I leaned my head toward her. That was when she squirted me right in the face with a mouth full of water.” Everyone within earshot groaned in disappointment and then started laughing.
Athos asked, “So then what happened?”
“We just started laughing and splashing each other with water. The rest of the people in the square thought we were nuts, except for Nikas. He just shook his head, smiled and kept walking. After several minutes of splashing each other, we finally got out of the fountain. Both of us were soaked. At that point, Liana spoke to me and introduced herself. Over the following weeks, we met at the fountain every day at around the same time and talked.”
Constan interrupted again, “Clearly I was too soft on ye if you could have the energy to go cavorting with the young lass every day after our drills.”
Baltazar replied, “Oh no, you did an excellent job of running me, ragged everyday old man. I was just so excited to see her when the time came the fatigue just washed away.”
Damon said, “Oh man, he’s got it bad.”
Constan said, “Aye.”
“Then one evening she told me, ‘I never thought I would find myself falling in love with a soldier, but you are different. Somehow you managed to let me in through a crack in that hard soldier exterior of yours.’ I told her that she had a way of melting through my defenses.”
Nikas said, “Well played.”
Indignant, Baltazar said, “Who isn’t listening to the story?” With that statement, the entire 2nd Kentarchia burst into laughter.
Huffing and puffing like men that did not know where their next breath would come from. The men’s shoulders were slumped and their feet dragged on the ground. Completely spent, from their long march, the men of the 2nd Kentarchia arrived back at their barracks.
Their barracks building was a simple structure within the confines of the 5th Parthica’s fort. As they marched the last few hundred feet their home, Athos looked around at the fort. He remembered back to his first lesson about the mighty structure from Constan, “The fort is a giant square. Inside the units are housed in the standard marching camp layout. Each night when on the move we will build a marching fort for protection. This tradition dates all the way back to the time of the Republic. The idea being that a Roman army cannot be surprised and destroyed while they sleep because every night they would sleep safely within their marching fort. To keep everything as standardized as possible, the barracks are laid out in the exact order that the 5th Parthica deploys inside a marching fort.”
Constan paused for effect and then swept his arms wide to indicate the fort, “This extra practice will help us to deploy rapidly into our completed marching fort. It also gives us practice at assembling as quickly as possible from the same spot every day. This extra bit of efficiency could be the difference between a successful defense, and death at the hands of our enemies.”
Constan paused again, produced a flask, took a long pull from it, and continued, “A Kentarchia consists of one hundred men, who are housed in ten whitewashed rectangular buildings. The ten men that sleep in each building form the core building block of the Kentarchia, the Kontoubernion.”
He took another pull from his flask. Athos and Baltazar gave Constan a disapproving look. “Don’t look so shocked, lads. A man needs to continuously lubricate his pipes to keep them in good working order,” Constan chuckled at his joke.
They marched on his silence. In time Athos’ mind started to wander once again. Luckily his mind snapped back into reality just in time as Nikas barked the halt command. Athos, Baltazar, and Constan stood at attention sweating profusely from the intensity of the sun and their recent efforts in the desert.
Nikas paced back and forth in front of the men and yelled, “You girls look pretty beat from our little stroll in the wilderness!” He then lowered his voice, “Apparently I have been far too soft on you. I don’t understand how a little extra exercise could wear you out so much,” Nikas frowned, “What am I going to do with you sluggards?” He paused for effect and snapped his fingers, “I know! How about tomorrow we just skip all the drilling and just start with a twenty-mile stroll through the desert?” As Nikas grinned the light from the Sun created an evil gleam in his eyes.
The men of the 2nd Kentarchia groan in response to Nikas’ pronouncement. “What, you don’t like my idea?” Nikas responded with an expression of shock on his face. The shocked look quickly turned to a grin, “Ok I hear ya, men. Since you gents don’t like the idea how about we make it twenty-five?”
Constan stepped forward from the formation, “Permission to speak, sir?”
“Granted,” said Nikas.
“Sir, I think that is an excellent idea. These young pups don’t know what it was like to have to march thirty miles and fight a battle against a massive Persian host. They simply don’t know how easy they have it. I think your idea of a twenty-five-mile march through the desert is an excellent idea.”
Nikas grinned, “See men if you had the proper amount of seasoning, like Constan here, you would see how benevolent I am, dismissed!” The men let out a sigh of relief and disappeared into their barracks.
Chapter 2
Nasir squinted as he looked down the road. He was trying to identify a group that was approaching the border post, he commanded, through the haze induced by the intense heat of the Sun overhead. In front of him was a rutted, well-traveled road of dirt leading into the heart of Arabia. The winding rock strewn path was surrounded by cliffs on both sides and represented the only known way through the Sarat Mountains into the Roman Empire in the region.
The border post behind him consisted of a wall across the mountain pass that stood about six feet high. The wall, crumbling in places, looked like it had been built back in the time of Emperor Trajan some five hundred years prior. A rampart about three feet high, also made from crumbling stone, allowed the soldiers to stand behind the wall and look down on whoever was on the other side. Built into the wall was a wooden door that had seen many decades of use. The merciless rays of the sun had faded the door to an almost white color.
Behind the wall on the Roman side was the beginning of the Roman Road that stretched from this simple Arabian border post to the port city of Aqaba on the Red Sea. To the right of the road was a disintegrating building front carved into the cliff face where Nasir and his garrison of nine soldiers spent most of their time when they were not on duty. As Nasir watched the group make steady progress toward him, he thought to himself. Probably another caravan of goat herders looking to trade skins and cheese for Roman tools. He rubbed his hands together and smiled greedily at his next thought, or maybe they bring some herbs and spices from Felix Arabia. Nasir’s face held the smile at the thought. If that’s the case I’m going to need a bribe to let them into the Empire. The Emperor is not the only one who should collect a duty on such things.