Caesar smiled.
“Good to see you again Fronto. No doubt you have adventures to recount to us over wine later.”
He gestured at the various bloodstains on the officer’s clothes.
“It’ll have to wait for a moment, however, while we deal with these other horsemen.”
Fronto nodded and sank to the floor beside Velius. Ingenuus watched him collapse, shrugged and gave the order for the column to dismount.
“Fall out and find your units to billet with.”
Grinning he sat, crossing his legs, next to the others.
“You’d never make it in the cavalry, Marcus. That was just a nice country ride.”
Fronto growled at him and left it at that. Velius looked across accusingly at the cavalry prefect.
“Both of my buttocks have gone completely numb. And it’s a bloody blessing I tell you. Those last few miles I thought somebody was going at my arse with a branding iron!”
The three fell quiet at a gesture from Balbus, as the German riders approached the camp.
Caesar stood resolutely in the gateway.
“Why are you here?”
The six riders reined in before the party of officers, two of them watching with amusement the three men on the floor and the Roman column falling out, many of them stiff and painfully. One of the Germans walked his horse out in front.
“You Caesar?”
The General nodded.
“I am.”
“King Ariovistus say now time for you to talk. You and he talk, yes?”
Caesar squared his shoulders.
“If your King wants to meet with me on equal terms, then I agree. Five days from now, at a place equally distant from both our armies. Honour escorts only, though.”
The German looked confused for a moment, as though he were turning over the words in his head and translating them.
“Yes. Only horses. No legion. Just horse.”
Balbus realised that, as he spoke, the German was looking over the top of them at the array of heavily-armoured infantry lining the walls of the camp. He was surprised to hear Caesar’s voice in an affirmative.
“Agreed. Cavalry escort only.”
He turned to Longinus.
“Any appropriate terrain around here your scouts have found?”
Longinus smiled. He’d been scouting for good battle terrain on the General’s orders for a week.
“There’s a good plain around ten miles from here, with a small hill. Reminds me very much of that one where you talked to the Helvetii. North east from here.”
Caesar smiled back and then turned to the Germans.
“Did you understand that?”
“Yes. We see hill too. Meet there, five days, only horse.”
The riders wheeled their horses and rode away from the camp, back towards the German army so many miles distant.
Caesar smiled at Fronto. A moment later Longinus broke into a wide grin.
“What?”
Balbus reached down to help Fronto stand.
“I don’t think your cavalry days are over, Marcus. I think you’re about to become a ceremonial cavalry guard.”
Fronto turned and glared at the General.
“You can’t be serious. Longinus has plenty of trained cavalry and we’re infantry. Use him.”
Behind him, the officers could hear Velius muttering “my arse, my arse,” and feeling his rump.
Caesar grinned at Fronto.
“Ah, but I want the Tenth. He doesn’t want me to bring infantry, so I presume you’ve given him good reason for that. If he doesn’t want the Tenth there, then I do. Longinus, have horses transferred temporarily from the auxilia to the Tenth. I want the whole legion mounted and trained in the next three days to sit a horse like a natural.”
Longinus smiled.
“With pleasure sir. Any particular colour you’d like, Marcus?”
“Bastard.”
“My arse feels like it’s been kicked by Jupiter!”
Fronto rounded on Velius.
“Will you stop talking about your arse, please?”
Caesar took on a more sober look for a moment.
“Seriously Marcus, I want the Tenth there. You’ll have a few days to bathe, relax and recuperate, but I want your entire legion there. To start with, the three of you can join the rest of the command at my headquarters tent for a debrief and then some drinks. Later on, though. Get yourselves cleaned up first.”
Longinus took a lingering look at the two officers of the Tenth and turned to Caesar.
“General, I think it might be a good idea if I and a few of my prefects join the tenth at the conference. Prudent, I’d think, to have a few expert horsemen there.”
Caesar agreed.
“I think it’s a good idea. Pick a few good men to join us.”
As the General and most of the officers and men turned and disappeared into the camp, Balbus helped Velius up from the grass, smiling at the colourful collection of words the grizzled centurion knew. The two of them joined Fronto and Ingenuus as they wandered slowly back through the camp gate, Longinus’ men having taken care of their horses.
“I take it you’ve not been here long enough for a bathing area to be set up?”
Balbus smiled.
“No. There’s a nice cold stream that you just rode through though. It’ll get the dust off you at least. Where on earth did all those bloodstains come from?”
Velius sniggered and moments later Ingenuus joined in.
Fronto growled.
“One or two from a fight, but mostly from prickly undergrowth. I’ll tell you all about it later, but suffice it to say I wasn’t cut out to be a sneak thief.”
The four of them climbed the hill and Fronto could see the camp of the Tenth. Ingenuus tapped him on the shoulder as politely as he could.
“Have I actually been invited to the General’s tent for a drink, sir?”
Fronto smiled.
“Get used to it lad. You’ve got the makings of a fine officer. You’ll be seeing a lot more of us, I expect.”
Ingenuus swallowed.
“What do I do? Do I need to bring anything? How do I act?”
Fronto laughed.
“You don’t need to bring anything. Just wash and dress neatly and be polite.”
“And don’t make jokes about his nose or his hair” added Velius.
Balbus chuckled.
“Try not to yawn. That’s my main problem, but then you’re a lot younger than me.”
A voice called out from the gates of the camp further up the hill.
“What time d’you call this?”
Fronto looked up in surprise to see Priscus standing haughtily on the rampart next to the gate.
“Priscus. Hope you kept the Tenth in good order. I’m afraid we lost a few of them. Not many, but a few.”
The primus pilus smiled at the commander.
“Good to see you sir. You may have lost a few men, but I’d bet you haven’t lost as many as we have. I think I’d best bring you up to date on a few little details before you go and see Caesar.”
Balbus and Ingenuus stopped at the gate.
“We’ll see you at the headquarters later” the older legate said. “I’m going to take Ingenuus aside and give him some advice for tonight.”
As Priscus ushered Fronto and Velius into the praetorium of the Tenth and detailed the morale failures, conspiracies and replacement of officers, Balbus took Ingenuus to the camp of the Eighth. Balventius came to attention as his commander approached, but Balbus waved aside the formalities.
“Alright, young man. Don’t listen to Priscus, Velius or Fronto when it comes to dealing with the high command. Priscus isn’t a regular and is unused to this kind of thing anyway. Velius is a rude and outspoken old sod who the command tolerate because he so damned good. Fronto should know how to deal with them, but he has too much of a temper and is far too idealistic. He’s definitely in with the command, but he falls out with the staff often.”