>
> Dark leather under the pauldrons, but me cuirass has faded
>
> Eighty coppers worth o’ fate, but Krakenhall stands unraided
>
> Cracked is the Scutum, leakin’ in the rains,
>
> But in the sound of the drum, on old boots wit fresh hobnails
>
> The unit marches morning-noon an’ rest o’ day,
>
> A way’s away, a way’s away!
>
> As far as Jelin’s edge
>
> An’ back to Regia’s sands
>
> to attain Legatus’ pledge
>
> an’ lay the king’s sword in his hands
>
>
>
> -
>
> Eighty Coppers
>
> III Legio marching song
>
> (Different versions of the song exist)
>
> Since 190 NC at least
[https://i.imgur.com/OVhjxYG.jpg]
----------------------------------------
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Decanus Lucas Kato
Lord Nattas Man
Part I
-Veturius-
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
> 3rd Legion
>
> (Abbreviated | III LEGIO, Bloody Third, Old Sister, III-LG,
>
> Panthera Tigris | Bronze and gold standard representing the head of a snarling Blacktiger, very similar to Regia’s non-snarling banner, the royal Aldenus family crest and the First Legion’s emblem)
>
>
>
> Organizational chart
>
> 2nd month of winter 191 NC
>
> (Overall strength ~2968
>
> -Legio general staff not included)
>
> -2240 legionnaires,
>
> ~728 other units
>
> (150 mixed cavalry, ~200 heavy Slingers, 250 Scouts and Rangers, 200 Engineers, 28 medics)
>
>
>
> -
>
> Legatus Augustus | Lucius ‘Bloody Tiger’ Aldenus -Praetor Maximus after 191 NC
>
> Aide de Legatus | Marc Gripa
>
> Tribune Honoraris | Galio ‘Old Oak’ Veturius
>
> (Broad Band Tribune –unofficial until 192 NC, also acting Legatus after 192 NC)
>
> 1st Prefect | Varus ‘The Book’ Trupo (Lesia) also Scribe de legionis
>
> Centurion (of Medics) | Dottore Silvio Marianus
>
> LID officer | Vibius ‘Vulture’ Ramirus, (Legion Intelligence Department)
>
> Quartermaster | Ramsey Kolt, also Keeper of the Purse
>
> Optio | Potis Durio (Engineers)
>
> Panthera Tigris Signifer | Brim Solomon (Lesia)
>
>
>
> -
>
> 1st Cohort
>
> -Gold Standard
>
> Monikers -Red, ‘Old’
>
> 1st ‘Agricola’ Century Centurion, Primus Pilus| Simon Gata
>
> 1st Decanus| Lucas Kato (first Maniple)
>
> Legionnaire| Mede
>
> Legionnaire| Petrus
>
>
> 2nd Decanus| Herius Asina (second Maniple)
>
> 2nd Century Centurion| Marcus Antonius Merenda
>
> Decanus Domus
>
> 3rd Century Centurion| Artur Mangas
>
> 4rth Century Centurion| Servius Capito
>
>
>
>
>
> -
>
> 2nd Cohort
>
> -Gold Standard
>
> (Monikers Blue, ‘Sula’)
>
> 1st Century Centurion| Gnaeus Ennius
>
> 2nd Century Centurion| Josi Vala
>
> 3rd Century Centurion| Ardi Damian
>
> 4rth Century Centurion| Spurius Dio
>
>
>
>
>
> -
>
> 3rd Cohort
>
> (Moniker Purple, ‘Lucky’)
>
> 1st Century Centurion| Cassius Falx
>
> 2nd Century Centurion| Placus Lepidus
>
> 3rd Century Centurion| Julius Sepofa
>
> 4rth Century Centurion| Jorgen Osmond
>
>
>
>
>
> -
>
> 4rth Cohort
>
> (Monikers Kas, ‘the young’, Macrinus Lads)
>
> 1st Century Centurion| Sextus Silvius
>
> 2nd Century Centurion| Keegan Dixon (Kas)
>
> 3rd Century Centurion| Jason Gordon (Kas)
>
> 4rth Century Centurion| Kaleb White (Kas)
>
>
>
>
>
> -
>
> Legio Scouts
>
> Centurion| ‘Frostworm’ Kaeso
>
>
>
>
>
> -
>
> Legio Cavalry
>
> Decurion| Kent ‘Thin-knees’ Long.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -
>
> Legio Slingers
>
> Centurion| Mamercus ‘Unhurried’ Sorex
>
>
>
>
>
> -
>
> Legio Engineers
>
> Optio | Potis Durio
>
> Centurion (of engineers) | Sid Toma (Lesia)
>
>
>
>
>
> -
>
> Legio Medics
>
> Centurion | Marianus
>
>
>
> -
>
>
>
> Detailed:
>
>
>
>
>
> Legion Scouts
>
> (Strength ~250 warriors,
>
> (150 of Lady Faye Alden’s warband
>
> -various mixed units of fighters,
>
> mainly axemen- under Logan ‘Gray’ Barret and ‘Hulking’ Layton.)
>
> + 100 Rangers
>
> under
>
> Centurion | Kaeso
>
> -Note: Centurion Pike’s Rangers were transferred to the IV Legio
>
>
>
> -
>
> Legion Cavalry
>
> (Strength 150 mixed riders,
>
> included thirty men & women of Legatus’ entourage)
>
> Lady Faye Alden (Nord) –not active after Krakenfort-
>
> Decurion | Kent ‘Thin-knees’ Long (Nord)
>
>
>
> -
>
> Legion Slingers
>
> (Attached short range unit
>
> – Semi-autonomous, usually deployed by the Legatus.
>
> Only unit employing women and men under sixteen)
>
> (Strength fluctuating due to casualties, usually ~200 men and women)
>
> Centurion | Mamercus Sorex
>
> -Note: Centurion Joe Fallon’s Slingers unit was attached to the IV Legio
>
>
>
> -
>
> Legion Engineers
>
> (Leather aprons, ‘Bestia’)
>
> 50 Legio Engineers (the majority from Lesia)
>
> + 150 apprentices (engineers, blacksmiths and carpenters included)
>
>
>
> -
>
> Legio Medics
>
> 8 Dottore and surgeons
>
> ~20 nurses
>
> The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
>
>
>
> -
>
> Around two thousand civilians (some soldier families), merchants and technicians (Civilian blacksmiths, carpenters, laborers, Armorers, hunters, trappers, whores, musicians etc.) following in the supply train. At least two hundred various-sized carriages and wagons carrying mostly foodstuff, cots, leather tents, precut wood, tools and weapons –including ten siege engines/scorpios - among other things.
Darn nail, Lucas Kato thought.
It had broken though the sole of his boot and kept poking at his right foot for the last couple of hours. His feet finding rock and holes in a rhythm it seemed, since they left the finished part of the road behind. The snow making everything appear deceptively flat.
Kato opened his mouth to order a stop, the wind blasting frozen bits of snow and pebbles on his face, but Mede beat him to it.
“South Fort!” the legionnaire bellowed ever keen eyed and the Decanus grunted as he couldn’t see anything from the rear of the maniple.
“Maniple stop the march!” Kato barked.
Hurrying to the front of the unit an ordeal.
“Are you sure about it?” he asked Mede.
“Black smoke Decanus, no one camps this time of day but ‘em fort dwellers.”
Kato grunted and eyed the three smoke columns rising to the sky.
“Should we march on?” Mede asked annoyingly.
“I’m thinkin’ about it!”
“What’s to think about?”
I’ve a bad foot.
“Go on then Mede,” Kato grunted through his teeth and waited as much as he could afore going after them. At least he could have his foot looked after at the Fort, rest a bit, he begrudgingly decided.
Sack full of cack as pillow.
----------------------------------------
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Commander Tanicus, a forty year old Lorian from Bisonville a village located right on the south banks of Picker’s River, at the disputed border between Asturia and Pascor –basically a flat field knee-deep in cow turds and grass, no one was willing to relinquish to the other- rushed to greet them at the entrance of the small square wooden fort.
“Decanus,” Tanicus said gruffly, his darker skin making it look like an Issir might have fooled around with one of his ancestors. “That’s a lot of men.”
“Where the Decanus goes, his maniple follows,” Kato grunted, a grimace of pain on his face. “With heavy winter here, I’ve orders to inspect the forts commander.”
As absurd an order as it sounded.
But as the saying went, the army always reacts a month late to the elements.
“Eh, nothing is moving out there,” Tanicus said, receiving a hefty amount of murmurs from the freezing legionnaires. “Bring the men inside Decanus. Just about feeding time.”
“Mede!” Kato barked, cutting through the murmurs.
“Move ‘em in sire?” Mede asked tauntingly.
“What the fuck do ye think? Fancy a walk around the walls?”
Mede didn’t even hesitate.
“Maniple moves forward! MOVE IT!” Mede bellowed and Kato turned to the heavyset Tanicus, the man’s bear hide coat nigh impressive and probably super warm.
“May I have use of your office?”
“I was about to climb the tower, but sure,” Tanicus said gracefully. Decanus glanced at the sole timber watchtower apprehensively afore going after him. The guard standing up there covered in heavy hides looking more like a frozen boulder than a person.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Kato bandaged his foot and fixed the nail on his boot, hitting it with the pommel of his sword under the amused eyes of Tanicus.
“Supply problems?” The commander asked him with a small smile.
“New pair, but that’s a lot of road to cover from Kas, so new pairs get old fast,” Kato grunted and reached for his cup of warm ale. He had it slotted in the fireplace of the crude, but well-built commander’s office. “How’s the fort?”
“Cozy, but it’s not a palace,” Tanicus replied with fake modesty. “We just barely finished it afore the first snows. Northwatch sent working crews to help.”
“How are the locals there?”
“Unhappy, but satisfied for breathing still,” Tanicus said callously. “About a hundred guards are stationed there to keep them safe and checking up on Eaglesnest.”
“No guards stationed in the city?”
“For the better,” Tanicus shrugged his shoulders. “No one wants to stay near that hag. People tend to get sick if she casts her eye on ‘em.”
That’s a strong deterrent, he thought.
“Uhm,” Kato murmured, the warmth lulling him to sleep. He’d slept for about an hour whilst marching, just as all good legionaires know how to, but it is a low-rest sleep this.
It can get ye tired as quickly.
“You missed the patrol,” Tanicus continued. “They left about six days afore you arrived, poor lads got caught in weather on the march.”
“We all did,” Kato reminded him sourly.
“Of course, but then legionnaires are paid better.”
Not really, Kato thought.
“As you said commander,” Kato retorted. “Yours is a cozy job.”
Someone banged on the door.
“Yes!” Tanicus barked, very annoyed at the interruption.
“The watchtower reports men and animals on the path sire!” A soldier yelled from behind the unpolished wooden door.
“A Caravan?” Tanicus chanced getting up, a frown marring his square face.
“Don’t believe it sire.”
“Fuck’s sake, go and check it out then!”
“I’ll go see what’s going on,” Kato said and got up with a grimace of his own.
His one of pain and not annoyance.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
“What’s all the fuss about Decanus?” Mede asked him chewing on a piece of hard black bread, he’d dipped in warm ale.
“After me,” Kato grunted, the cold of the yard blasting him in the face again ruining his mood.
“I’m eatin’ sire,” Mede argued.
“My boot in yer face soon enough. MOVE ye spoon!” Kato retorted irate without turning to look at him. He reached the gates and spotted the animals coming down from the path, a couple of soldiers leading them.
“That our boys?” Tanicus, who’d followed him outside, asked. He’d forgotten to throw his heavy coat on and was shivering now with the rest of them.
Haha.
The guard blinked once and then nodded.
“The patrol lads. That’s Vocula for sure sire.”
“What is Vocula doing back so soon?” Kato asked, wiping some of the slowly forming frost off his face.
“I’ve no plauguin’ idea,” Tanicus admitted. “We don’t issue horses to the patrol Decanus.”
Kato rubbed his hands together to get his blood going and eyed the group approach. There was a third man riding one of the bigger horses, almost every animal heavily laden.
“Vocula what you got there?” the guard asked them when they stopped afore the gates of the Fort.
“What is he doing back more like,” his commander snapped stepping forward. “Something the matter wit the patrol?”
“The patrol is in Gudgurth Fort by now sire,” Vocula a man with Kato’s shorter stature replied, head and armour covered in a thick layer of ice. The man with them, got down from his horse clumsily and started cleaning himself up from the snow. “We found him on the path and the sergeant tasked us to bring him here.”
“Why here?” Tanicus barked.
Mede had started examining the horses, still chewing on his interrupted meal. Kato walked near him and very close to the thin young man.
“At his insistence sire. He’d been attacked on the path, some of his friends got killed,” Vocula replied and the stranger stepped forward, expensive pair of boots on his feet covered in frozen mud.
“What was that?” Tanicus barked and the young man intervened, a disconcerting smile on his face.
“I can clarify it gentlemen,” he said hauntingly and Tanicus frowned not expecting a civilian prying in military matters without being given permission. Kato took a quick step, raised his hand high and slapped him once right at the ear, bringing the stranger down on his knees immediately and quite unexpectedly as he hadn’t put much in the blow.
“Thank you Decanus,” Tanicus said. “Answer me query Vocula.”
“They fell into a trap, Kell’s warband he said,” Vocula continued, the young man slowly standing up on his feet moaning, the left side of his face red where Kato had caught him.
“There are bodies here Decanus,” Mede reported and Kato flinched in alarm. The legionnaire was still searching the horses a couple of meters from him.
“Dead?” Tanicus gasped and Kato checked to see what Mede had discovered.
Ayup.
“Frozen stiff, don’t see ‘em comin’ back anytime soon,” Mede elucidated and Tanicus stare turned into a glare.
“Please sirs,” the young man mumbled, his hands and feet shaking. “My name is Sirio Veturius—”
“Seize that lying creep Vocula!” Tanicus barked cutting him off and Mede moved casually behind Sirio and grabbed him by the collar.
“Can I—?” Sirio tried to say, but Vocula backhanded him once, splitting his lower lip and Sirio dropped on his knees again, Mede pulling him upright fiercely.
“Give me an explanation Vocula!” Tanicus growled, his blood boiling despite the cold.
“Told us he was bringing them to Kas sire,” the soldier replied tiredly. “The patrol will know more. If they found no other bodies then he’s lying.”
“Other bodies?” Tanicus snarled, the last thing he needed in the middle of an inspection from central command, was corpses dropping in his lap. “Good grief,” he turned on the bleeding and swelling from both sides of his face Sirio. Kato thought that curious as well. “Ye better give me a good explanation son.”
“Ahm,” Sirio mumbled, probably still shaken from the blows. He’d a bookish air about him, Kato didn’t much appreciate. “I was with Sibren Maats when it happened.”
“Maats is dead?” Tacinus growled.
“Unfortunately he is,” Sirio replied sadly and Mede frowned seeing him sniffling at the end of it.
“Couldn’t you bury the man?” Tanicus queried.
“I wanted to… but couldn’t break the ground enough,” the young man explained between sobs. It made everyone uncomfortable. When you get punished, do it wit a bit of dignity, Kato thought. Don’t go about inconveniencing other people fuck’s sake.
“Did ye kill them? Come clean. Don’t go to yer death tortured, it ain’t pleasant son,” Tanicus grunted not believing him.
“Of course not!” Sirio protested sounding desperate. “I’m trying to get to Kas—”
Huh?
Wait, what was that name he’d sprouted out earlier…
“Bring him inside,” Tanicus barked cutting him off. “Vocula see to the fuckin’ bodies! Escorting them to the fort for crying out loud! What were you thinkin’?”
Mede pushed the young man forward, basically carrying him by the scruff like a dog, but Kato stepped in his path and put a heavy hand on Sirio’s chest stopping them both.
“What was that name again?” he asked him.
“Decanus, I’m freezing my arse here!” Tanicus grunted irate behind him.
“The name?” Sirio asked seeming desperate and utterly confused.
“You said Veturius, didn’t ye?”
“Yes, it’s my surname,” Sirio agreed eagerly, getting his hopes up.
“Any relation to the ‘Old Oak’?”
Sirio’s face fell, his hopes crashed.
“Ahm, I’m not sure…”
“The Tribune, ye share a name,” Kato pressed on patiently.
“I have an uncle, he served in the real legion… I mean,” Sirio cleared his throat realizing he’d put a foot in his mouth, Kato eyeing him, pondering whether the blubbering man needed another blow to the other ear to even things out in his brain. His words hadn’t won him any favor with those present. “He’s with Lord Lucius, a retired Centurion. They left together from Alden, it’s a couple of years now.”
A plate of cold cack.
“He got promoted,” Kato grunted and stared at an alarmed Mede. “Release him,” he barked over the objections of the commander. Mede did and the old Tribune’s kin collapsed on his knees again not expecting it.
So Kato ordered a chuckling Mede to resume carrying him inside the fort.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Kato’s mind was on his hurting leg, but he couldn’t remove his hobnailed boots again, so he waited for Sirio to finish his meal. The man was extremely slow at it, savoring each spoonful of meat soup.
He didn’t much look like ‘Old Oak’ truth be told. Of course he’d a full set of hair, the color a rich black and strangely combed back, but more so it was his character that just didn’t match the Tribune’s.
“So,” he started rapping his fingers on the large table inside the barracks. Tanicus wasn’t convinced Sirio was telling the truth and wouldn’t admit him to his office. “Your mother is the Tribune’s sister?”
“Mmm, yes mister Kato,” Sirio replied after gulping down a spoonful of his probably cold soup by now.
“How does that work? You lads are marrying each other on principle?”
“My family has a tainted reputation in some circles. It is very difficult to find good prospects. My father was a distant cousin,” Sirio explained. Not answering why a ‘not-so-good’ a prospect wasn’t considered. “Agreed to marry her near the end of his life, to preserve the name. She was thirty years younger than him.”
“As good an excuse as I’ve heard,” Kato mocked him.
“Ahm, I don’t understand mister Kato—”
“Better start stating my rank Sirio,” he cut him off. “Don’t go about cozying up wit people here without their consent. It’s frowned upon.”
“I understand Decanus,” Sirio retorted, adding a small smile behind it that opened his lip again. He put a towel on it with a grimace. “I need to reach Kas as I said.”
“To see the Tribune.”
“To see Lord Lucius.”
“Lad you’ll never get near the Legatus without seeing the Tribune. To tell ye the truth, you probably need to jump a lot more hoops than that. Make a petition, wait yer turn and such. Folk don’t go about meeting with the chief because they want to,” Kato told him. “And I don’t see you making it to Kas either.”
“It’s not a whim Decanus, but a mission. Lord Nattas expects me to speak to the… Legatus.”
“Who’s he?”
“The Baron of Moon’s Haven.”
Kato had no idea where that was.
“Ehm, Regia Master of Silence,” Sirio elucidated. “Former dowager Queen’s of Regia Shield. An important man.”
“Sounds like it,” Kato agreed. “So what’s the mission?” He asked him and heard the legionnaires returning outside.
Sirio stood back, keeping the towel on his lips.
“I can’t divulge the details Decanus.”
Kato nodded. Mede entered the barracks, a wrapped up object in a blanket under his armpit and came to the table.
“The men finished the burial Decanus,” Mede reported and Sirio nodded sadly. “We recovered a number of weapons from the horses. I kept them as it is unclear to the men, what the lad’s status is.”
“The man is the Tribune’s kin allegedly—”
“Decanus, I assure you! I’m telling the truth!” Sirio protested and Kato stared at him somberly for a moment.
“Whether you are or not, popping yer head in the middle of conversation won’t endear ye to anyone Sirio,” he cautioned him. “Now I would have asked Mede here to give you a good lashing out in the yard to get you all educated on the matter, but I’ll forget about it given that you’ve received some punishment already. Go on Mede.”
“Well, we found a sword in the bags that don’t seem like it belonged to an adventurer sire.”
Sirio stood up alarmed. Panicked being the more accurate word here.
Hmm.
“What of it?”
Mede placed the wrapped up object on the table and started unwrapping it. Sirio moved and put a hand on it to stop him from continuing.
Kato smacked his lips annoyed.
“What are you doing lad?”
“This is the king’s sword,” Sirio blurted out.
“The king’s, as in it’s very expensive, or…”
“Regia’s king was my meaning,” Sirio croaked, just as Mede removed his hand forcefully to continue unwrapping the weapon.
Kato stood back on the chair, everything creaking and the throbbing on his leg bothersome.
“I take it this is the mission?” he asked him and the young man nodded. Sirio looked sick and ready to collapse again, the left side of his face still swollen a bit and red.
“I must deliver it to Lord Lucius,” Sirio added without a breath. “Sooner the better.”
Kato sighed and rubbed his forehead with a calloused hand.
“Is he expecting it?” he asked tiredly.
“He knows about it for sure,” Sirio replied.
“Mede,” Kato started. “You’re bringing the maniple back. Tell Tanicus to prepare four horses for me and an escort.”
“You’ll ride back?”
“Yes, to make it there quicker,” Kato grunted, thinking of his leg.
“Tanicus won’t like it if we take his horses,” Mede argued.
“This is legion business, have him write to complain. With the amount of paperwork they’re dealing wit, he is to expect an answer sometime in the next year,” Kato retorted and got up his eyes on Sirio. “My lad, if yer lying and the Tribune confirms it, this whole matter will end very poorly for you.”
Sirio gulped down nervously afore nodding once with his head.
Good.
“Get yourself ready,” Kato told him and turned to walk outside.
“How much time do I have?” Sirio asked him and the Decanus paused unsure if he was jesting.
“The moment the horses are saddled we’re leaving lad,” he grunted and Sirio frowned, eyes full of concern.
“The day is all but over Decanus,” he protested.
“So is my patience mister Sirio,” Kato warned him, steel in his voice. “Get yer shit together, don’t forget to bring the sword, if ye know what’s good for you.”
There’s no way he’s related to the ‘Old Oak’, he thought marching outside. Unless all that inbreeding messed him up.
Ayup.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
The legionnaires gathered in neat rows at a trot, ready to take the road back to where they had come from in less than half a day. The thin sun almost completely hidden behind the mountain range and the cold biting. Better to freeze everything, than turn to snowing again, he hoped. Kato grimaced and glanced at a barking Mede getting the stranglers in line.
“Ready Decanus,” Petrus told him, standing stiff on his horse and Kato nodded. He checked his cheekguards binding next, fixed the woolen cloth on his neck and wrapped himself in the heavy crimson-red military cloak.
“Maniple marches forward!” Mede bellowed and the men started up the path, taking the north turn at the junction leading to Kas. A moment and the last rows started singing a familiar tune.
Dark leather under the pauldrons, but me cuirass has faded
Eighty coppers worth o’ fate, but Krakenhall stands unraided
“Petrus,” Kato barked giving the signal for their smaller group of men and animals to follow after them. “We pass them from the right side, keep it civil, we’ll open up after the ledge to make a bit of time afore nightfall.”
“We’ll travel in the night?” Sirio blurted out and Kato glanced at the frowning sturdily built Petrus.
“Legionnaire,” he ordered him. “Next time mister Sirio makes a comment, you tie him to the mule, so he can bring up the rear on foot!”
“Aye sire,” Petrus replied deathly serious and placed his horse next to the shocked Sirio’s mount.
“Right,” Kato said pleased he got that out of the plaguing way and clicked his tongue to get his horse moving. “Back to Kas it is.”
See what the other Veturius thinks about all this.
----------------------------------------
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read it at Royalroad : https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/46739/touch-o-luck-the-old-realms
& https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/47919/lure-o-war-the-old-realms
Scribblehub https://www.scribblehub.com/series/542002/touch-o-luck-the-old-realms/
& https://www.scribblehub.com/series/547709/the-old-realms/