Knight of Rome Part II by Malcolm Davies

Author:Malcolm Davies [Davies, Malcolm]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The atmosphere was a little subdued the following day. The release of the pent-up resentment the men had felt against their enemies and the aftermath of the adrenalin rush in combat left them feeling flat. Another fifty Romans had lost their lives in the final battle, among them a burly, one-eared legionary. Thirty were wounded, several of whom would either die or never be able to serve again even if they managed to hang on to life. Five horses had been killed or had to be destroyed. The German auxiliaries skinned and jointed them to add to their rations. Otto’s auxiliaries who had been in the camp throughout the siege returned to the relieving force which would be leaving the next day.

Otto sat in what had been Aldermar’s cubby-hole office in the stables and looked up at the sky. He had been shocked at the state of the camp when he rode in; makeshift defences and half of the roofs gone, debris everywhere. It was difficult to picture it as it had been when he had first arrived and marvelled at anything so huge, so populous. He shook his head and laughed at how little he had known then. But he had no time to spare for musings. He had one hundred and twenty men and one hundred and forty horses to settle-in and no roof.

Crucial repairs were already under way. Men were in the forest cutting trees for lumber in addition to the fifty useful logs the Marcomanni had conveniently rolled in the ditch where the Porta Principalis Dextra had once stood. They had been dragged free, with some difficulty since half of them were slippery with olive oil. The carpenters were now sawing the best of them into planks. The air was full of the scent of pine and sawdust but underlying it was a cloying stink of burning bodies being carried on the breeze off the funeral pyres. Legionaries with scarves tied across their noses were clearing Boxer’s Canal. The broken hurdles both sides had used to cross it were slung onto the fires where the rotting corpses were being consumed until only clean ash remained.

The bellowing of Titus Attius occasionally burst on Otto’s eardrums as some unfortunate legionary met with his disapproval. Lucius was busy with the repair fatigue parties, Soranus was closeted with the quartermaster running through manifests and Tertius resting; his shoulder joint was still painful. Of Quadratus nothing was to be seen. He had shut himself in his office with his clerks to write up his report and despatches. His guards had been told to admit no-one to the Praetorium until further notice; no matter who, no matter what their business.

“Does that include First Spear Centurion Attius, sir?” his guard commander asked.

“Of course it does, I said no-one is to disturb me,” the legate replied shortly.

His men smirked at the thought of their commander telling Titus Attius to go away and come back later, “Rather him than me,” they all thought.

The first raindrops fell on Otto where he sat.

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