Chapter 20 – Learning The Lines

The squad came to a halt on a low hill close to the fortress of Honor. This was the closest of the three fortresses, with the other two being Fortuna and Vita.

From the hill they were standing on, they could see the whole fortress, even though it was still quite a distance away. From here they could see that this fortress was built in the same way that Veritas was built, with straight and short streets, that were built to ambush attackers at every corner. They couldn’t see from here, but there would probably be no windows on the ground floor either. On top the buildings had flat roofs, from where the defenders could rain down death on any attacker stupid enough to enter the fortress.

But to get into the fortress, one had to make it past the defensive walls. The walls were even higher than the walls of Veritas, meaning that they were at least a dozen meters tall. The things were also almost half that in width, to allow for a lot of soldiers to pass each other. Then there were the towers, massive things that were twice as tall as the walls, and protruded out of the walls for several meters. This gave anyone on top a great field of fire for any ranged weapons. The entire fortress was surrounded by a ditch the width of the walls that was filled with flowing water from the nearby river.

“Wow, now that’s an impressive castle.” Sam said to herself.

“What’s a castle? That is the fortress of Honor, the eastern fortress of the legions.”

“Uhh, a castle is a small fortress? In my world they were built to control an area for the ruler of the land, and to protect the people in the event of an attack. Some countries built a lot of them so that the people had a place to flee to in the event of an attack.”

“Small is not something you would want when the undead attack. Without enough defenses and soldiers to hold out, you would be overrun easily.”

“Maybe, but they were not to defend against undead. Most of them conquered easily enough, if one wanted to waste the resources on them. A lot of the time an invading army didn’t have the soldiers to waste, or the time it took to take them. Defending against undead is different, since it doesn’t matter how many are lost in the battle.”

“Then how about just having a high leveled soldier use a siege spell? That’s the bane of most fortifications. Even some of the rare undead can use them.”

“No magic on my world, remember. So it would be fighting between people that were level one without any skills or magic. That makes it a lot more difficult to scale a wall.”

“I’d hate your world.”

Not long after that they marched through the streets of the fortress. Even though everyone kept calling it a fortress and corrected Sam when she called it a city, it kinda looked like a city. Yes everything was made to be defensible, but there were still shops and stalls everywhere. Apart from the defensive layout it had everything a city needed. She didn’t really see the difference between Honor and Veritas. Both were made in the same way, both had all the things a city needed, but still one was called a city and the other a fortress.

While Sam was contemplating about the two places, they had arrived at the headquarters of the fifth legion. There they had to report to the duty centurion.

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“Sir, training squad seven, one, one, reporting.”

“Ah yes, you’re taking these recruits to have a look at the real soldiers of the legion.” Then the centurion looked at the recruits. “Did you guys know that the fifth has the lowest casualties of any of the legions? When you’re done with your training you would do well to join us. You’d stand a better chance of living through the duty decade than if you’d join the fourth like this one.” With that he pointed at trainer Quincy.

“Yes, well lucky for us that we are the legion recruiting this year, isn’t it? At least with us they will learn how to do what’s needed instead of the bare minimum.”

“You! That’s insubordination!”

Before the centurion could say more than that he’s interrupted by trainer Quincy.

“Is it? Maybe you would like to have a training match with me to settle it?”

Immediately the centurion backed down. “No that’s okay, I know how you training types work. You don’t fight fair and then beat the crap out of us real soldiers. I’ll register your squad for a tour, I’ll appoint a guide for you. Report here tomorrow at dawn.”

With that the centurion turns his back to the squad, most of whom are a bit confused about how the centurion talked to their trainer.

Once outside they immediately tried to get some answers, but their trainer didn’t even look like he heard their questions.

The next morning it was still dark when they arrived at the headquarters. Their guide was already waiting for them, and immediately wanted to leave. Luckily trainer Quincy knows the tricks of the trade, and tells the man to hold.

“Hold right there, soldier! You will wait for me while I report inside.”

Immediately the trainer went inside to report. If he hadn’t done that, and they went with the guide, then they would probably have been punished for not following regulations. The centurion did order them to report at the front desk.

Soon though, they were on their way with their guide. The man was called Soldier Don, and he wasn’t the most talkative person. The first hour and a half the man only spoke about a dozen words.

When the sun was at its highest point, they finally arrived at the front lines. The first that told them so, was the camp of the fifth century of this part of the line. Apparently the tribune in charge was not stationed in this area, so they didn’t get to see his camp. The camp of the reserve century was neat and tidy, but the soldiers were all a bit too relaxed as far as Sam could see. No way that these men would be ready to fight any sooner than an hour at least. This meant that if the centuries on duty would be in big trouble if they had to wait for reinforcements.

Only half an hour they saw the next camp. This was the camp of the two centuries on duty on this mile of the wall. This one was not nearly as tidy as the camp of the reserve century, but the soldiers in the camp were all ready for combat. Every single one of them had their armor on and at the least their swords buckled on. They would only need to get their shields and other cumbersome weapons from one of the weapon stands to be ready to reinforce their fellow soldiers on the wall.

The squad followed soldier Don to the center of the camp, where they found the centurion in front of one of the biggest buildings. Apparently one of the sentries had already notified him about a group of soldiers arriving.

“Sir, soldier Dan in charge of this training squad reporting in. I’ve been tasked to show these recruits around the front lines to see how real soldiers fight off the undead hordes.”

“Right, in charge are you, soldier Don. Which idiot made the mistake of giving you a command?”

When the soldier only sputtered a bit, trainer Quincy answered the centurion.

“Centurion, I’m afraid that there has been a mistake. I’m Trainer Quincy and these are my recruits. The centurion on duty in Honor ordered us to take a soldier as a guide. I’m not sure what the problem is with soldier Don and Centurion Pike. I guess they have some trouble with the fourth legion or such.”

“Ah yes, centurion Pike lost two of his brothers in the fourth some years ago. Since then he has had some trouble with the soldiers of that legion. Luckily for you, I don’t have a problem with you or your legion. I have read the reports of that day, and not only the official reports. If you ask me you did the right thing, centurion Quincy.”

“I lost that rank a long time ago centurion, and I made sure that our legion has gotten the best trained recruits that I can make.”

But then, while the trainer is still speaking, he is interrupted. With a deafening sound the alarm is raised.