War in the Wilderness (Path of Nemesis Book 2) by Lofthouse Adam

Author:Lofthouse, Adam
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2019-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

XIV

April AD 171 – Germania

(Two years later)

Trudge, trudge, trudge. The army moved at a steady pace, dust clouding the air from the dried mud roads. Trudge, trudge, trudge. Albinus was glad he was in the front rank of his legion’s column, the dust spiralling around him was torture. His throat was raw and felt cracked like the sun-baked mud he walked on, his eyes lined a crimson red and stinging like he’d been stung by a bee. The gods themselves only knew what it must have been like for the men at the rear.

Four legions marched in the unseasonably warm spring sun, over twenty thousand men, plus thousands more auxiliaries. The dust clouds would be seen for miles. The hooves of the cavalry thundered in his ears, messengers galloping up and down the line to keep the high command up to date with the latest news from the front.

Four weeks they had been marching. Four weeks of nothing but the foot-destroying trudge of the march; the back-breaking labour of building a full marching camp each night – trenches dug for the wood of the walls, defensive ditches in front of them, lilies carved from smaller branches and forced into the mud using human shit as a lubricant. It was Albinus’ first taste of life on campaign, and not for the first time in the last three years since signing up, he was sincerely regretting it.

Trudge, trudge, trudge. He marched on the far right of the column, level with the front rank, as was his given place as the First Century’s tesserarius, or watch officer. Taurus marched to his front, his face set in a scowl as always. Rullus was just behind him, the cohort’s standard proudly hefted on his right shoulder.

‘Fucking dust is crazy eh?’ said Fullo, scarf wrapped round his face, squinting into the dust.

‘Sure is, brother! Can’t believe how warm it is. Gonna be horrid come summer if we don’t get some rain!’

‘How much longer we marching for then? Feels like we’ve been at it forever! Be glad when the old Germani finally decide they want a ruck!’ Fullo scratched at his face. Albinus watched as the white, livid scars appeared on his forehead, the red clay from the dust being wiped away.

It had been nearly three years since Albinus and the rest of the Fourteenth Legion had stood in battle and fought Balomar and his horde. Albinus was still having nightmares about that day; the scar on his face still burned whenever he thought of the spear point bursting through cheek, tearing skin and rupturing tissue as it dislodged his teeth. The pain in his right shoulder still got so intense it would lock in place and only with the help of his tent-mates and a considerable amount of wine could he dislodge it again. For all that was horrid about the monotonous march through the scorching wilderness, nothing it could throw at him would be worse than the bowel-clenching, bladder-filling, heart-thundering feel that shuddered down your spine when a barbarian horde charged at your shield.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.