‘When is it to be done, sir?’ asked Cordus.
‘At midday, while the men are preparing their meal. You will have time beforehand to instruct those of your soldiers who are to aid you in this.’ Caecina’s smile was brittle, cold. ‘Questions?’
There were none.
‘When I return in one hour, you will have your lists ready,’ ordered Caecina. ‘There are writing tablets and styluses by the entrance.’
An air of foreboding, of doom, sank over the assembly as the senior officers made their way to one of the offices at the side of the hall.
Men were avoiding each other’s eyes, but Tullus and Fenestela shared a bleak look.
‘I never thought I’d see a moment like this,’ Fenestela said, muttering an oath that would whiten a man’s hair. ‘This ain’t what I signed up for.’
‘Nor I, but the situation’s like an abscess that won’t come to a head. Besides, Caecina’s given us the order,’ retorted Tullus, feeling angry, sad and resentful. ‘I can tell you the first four names to write down.’
‘Bony Face. Fat Nose and the twins.’ Fenestela swore again. ‘I’ll get the tablet and stylus,’ he said, and joined the queue.
Tullus had a sour, unpleasant taste in his mouth. He and Fenestela were about to draw up a list of men they intended to murder.
How had it come to this?
Chapter XII
The third watch had sounded by the time Caecina’s emergency meeting was over. Urging the officers to ready the best of their soldiers, and to fall on those who’d been selected when the signal came, Caecina had dismissed them. ‘The gods are with us,’ he’d called as the hall’s doors were opened. ‘Right always prevails.’
Caecina’s talk was hot air, thought Tullus, as he tossed and turned in his bed. None of the men in his old century had been chosen, a small thing to be thankful for, but thirty-eight names had been handed to him by the centurions of his cohort. Naturally, Bony Face and his associates featured high on the lists. There weren’t as many men mentioned as some of the other units, perhaps – Tullus had heard figures of fifty, and even sixty soldiers per cohort being bandied about – but that didn’t mean what faced them the next day wasn’t horrific. He had taken it upon himself to rid his century – Septimius’ former one – of its condemned men.
He didn’t sleep a wink.
If the night had been hard to endure, the day was no better. Red-eyed, weary, Tullus had decided on the unorthodox method of leading the soldiers of his old century, including Piso and the ones he’d moved into his new unit. The men who’d served under Septimius couldn’t be relied on to do exactly as he ordered. Tullus had to bring his trusted legionaries in on Caecina’s plan, override their shocked reactions and tell them that this was what had to happen. Upwards of ten seemed so reluctant that Tullus decided to leave them out of it, or at least to keep them away from the actual killing.
Then he had to get through the hours until midday. Tullus had no appetite – if he’d eaten, the food would have come straight back up again. Many of his old soldiers seemed to feel the same way. Tullus ordered them to their usual routine duties – a training session on the parade ground with their new centurion and optio. He spent an hour walking the cohort’s barrack blocks, scrutinising the legionaries as was his habit, and chatting in private with the officers. They reported that every loyal man had been told of Caecina’s plan.
As with Tullus’ soldiers, most had accepted their gruesome task. Some seemed nervous, to Tullus’ eye at least, but the men who’d mutinied didn’t appear to have noticed. Whether they would in the time before the trumpets sounded Caecina’s signal – the charge – was a risk they would all have to live with.
Tullus didn’t check on any of the rest of the Fifth’s cohorts, or the Twenty-First’s. He had his job, and the centurions of the other units had theirs. It was a shitty enough detail without worrying about men and things beyond his control. Once he’d satisfied himself that his co-conspirators were ready, he went to join his old century.
Time on the training ground helped. There was nothing like the dull monotony of marching to and fro, forming battle lines and engaging in simulated combat to make the hours go by. Tullus usually supervised these tasks, but this morning, he took part. He wanted not to have to think. Sweating, feeling his muscles work, having to bellow orders at the same time, kept his mind from the bloody job at hand. Up and down, over and back, marching as he had in his youth. It was good to realise that he was still fit enough to keep up with his men. I’m not done yet, Tullus realised with pride. He became so engrossed that it was somewhat of a surprise when Fenestela came from the barracks to find him. ‘It’s nearly midday.’
Tullus glanced at the sun, which had emerged from behind a bank of cloud. Fenestela was right. ‘We’d best get back.’ He ordered his soldiers to halt. Their perspiring, expectant faces regarded him as he stalked down the column. ‘This is it, you maggots. Things have been bad since the mutiny, haven’t they?’ There was a rumble of agreement. ‘I don’t like what we’ve been ordered to do any more than you do, but it has to be done. Let’s get it over with.’
No one replied – Tullus didn’t really expect them to – but there were no protests either. His men stood there, looking tense but ready. He wanted more than that. ‘Are you with me?’ he cried.
‘Aye, sir,’ Piso called out.
‘Me too,’ said Vitellius.
Ten voices joined in, then a few more. In the end, Tullus wasn’t sure that all of his men had answered, but most had. This wasn’t the time to make them shout back, as he did before a battle. They’d followed him through the mutiny. They were here, combat ready, and prepared to follow his orders. That was enough.
‘Form up, usual files. Follow me, and wait for my command. I’ll tell you which men are to die. Go in fast and sure. Gods willing, the dogs won’t know it’s going to happen until they’re already dead.’
The march back to the camp, usually a reason for good humour, was made in complete silence. Their iron hobnails crunched off the gravelled surface of the road. Leather straps creaked. Metal glanced off metal. Voices, both human and animal, carried to them from over the ramparts. Men called out to comrades, officers issued orders and mules protested – as they always did. Tullus listened, his mouth dry with tension, but could discern only normal, everyday sounds.
Under the arches of the main entrance, and into the main camp they went. Tullus headed straight for his cohort’s barracks. The avenues weren’t busy, but there were still plenty of legionaries about. The general indiscipline meant that no one had been able to come up with a plan to ensure that all the men, let alone those designated to die, would be in their quarters when the signal rang out. Most would, because midday was a traditional time to eat, but others might not.
If any of the whoresons aren’t there, we’ll just hunt them down, thought Tullus, trying not to think about how the mutineers could band together if they realised their intended fate.
At the barracks belonging to Septimius’ old unit – Tullus’ new one – Fenestela readied half the soldiers to move towards the other end of the long building. Tullus’ design was to wait with the rest by the nearest entrance, close by the centurion’s quarters. The narrow corridor between his unit’s barracks and the next was a natural space for men to gather in good weather, and today was the same. Indifferent glances met their arrival, but that would soon change if they didn’t disperse as normal. Troops didn’t ever linger about outside their barracks in full armour.
Tullus felt his heart beat twenty, then thirty nervous beats. His soldiers shifted from foot to foot. Fenestela’s gaze bored into the side of his face. Two men nearby stopped their game of dice to glance at the assembled legionaries; both frowned. Screw it all. We look far too obvious, thought Tullus. His mouth opened, ready to order his men into their quarters, but the resounding call of numerous trumpets silenced him. Over and over they sounded, not one of the usual daily summons, but the charge, something never heard except on the training ground or battlefield.