Marching With Caesar- Pax Romana by R. W. Peake

Author:R. W. Peake [Peake, R. W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: legionaries, ancient rome, General, titus pullus, roman legions, history, caesar augustus
ISBN: 9781941226117
Google: kAJbCAAAQBAJ
Publisher: R.W. Peake
Published: 2015-03-16T04:18:34+00:00

"Is it true?" I demanded once more, even as, in a corner of my mind, I castigated myself that me barging in to demand an explanation of men who were my superiors was becoming a habit that could prove very harmful.

The only difference with this occasion was that I was not standing in Corvinus' office. Instead, I sought out my new Optio, who I knew would be in his quarters, like all of us. Of course, because we were restricted, I had to wait until after dark, sneaking from my hut and clinging to the shadows to make my way to his quarters, the hardest bit sneaking past the provosts that were still posted outside of Urso's quarters. Perhaps this seems to be not only reckless, but foolhardy, as on the surface, it would give Caecina, in the role of Sergeant, a perfect excuse to sound the alarm that I was violating orders and was out of my quarters. Fortunately for me, there were far too many examples where the highest-ranking man responsible was punished along with the miscreant, meaning I was gambling that it was a risk Caecina would not take. In fact, I was so confident I made no attempt to slip out silently, although being in the bunk immediately next to him meant leaving undetected was next to impossible, especially given the circumstances of our conversation earlier. What did surprise me was that, although I knew he was awake, he did not say anything; I just felt his good eye following me as I pulled on my tunic and picked up my boots before walking down the length of the hut, although I did so on the tips of my toes as quietly as possible. Arriving at Asinius' quarters, I was relieved to see the flickering of a lamp throwing its light underneath the door to his quarters, although it was no guarantee it was his lamp. Although cognizant there was an inherent risk in entering this hut, since all of the occupants inside reported directly to Urso, nothing I had seen or heard gave me any pause that Flaccus, Capulo, or even Titius, the Tesseraurius, were part of Urso's operations. Still, my heart was in my throat as I rapped lightly on the door. I heard some shuffling, then what sounded like a chair being pushed back from the table, followed by footfalls, and the door opened, but just a crack.

"Pullus?" Flaccus' face was just visible in the narrow gap, and he was clearly surprised. "What are you doing here? You know none of us are supposed to be out!"

"I need to see Asinius," I said, but when he made no move to open the door, I almost panicked; just down the street, I could hear the thudding sound of boots, signaling the approach of the provosts who were patrolling the streets, looking for exactly the sort of thing I was doing. "Please," I begged, "you know me! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important!"

I could see he was not pleased but he relented, pulling the door open and stepping out of the way.

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.