> 3rd Legion
>
> (Abbreviated | III LEGIO, Bloody Third, Old Sister, Lucius Legion, ‘Scarlet Legion’, Double L. Also LL, III-LG)
>
> Panthera Tigris | Reddish bronze and gold standard representing the head of a snarling Blacktiger, very similar to Regia’s gold non-snarling banner, the royal Aldenus family crest and the First Legion’s emblem used in banners and armour. After 193 the banners and armours changed to use the more easy to mass-produce IIILG logo, leaving only the officers and the First Cohort still using the more difficult to maintain tiger embroidery and engravings (mainly on the shoulder guards). It remained present on the crimson shields though throughout the campaign and is being used also on liturgical symbols today.)
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> -
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> Organizational chart*
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> To summer of 193 NC
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> (Overall strength ~3628 *
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> -Legio general staff not included, supply train personnel not included)
>
> -2800 legionnaires,
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> ~828 other units
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> (250 mixed cavalry, ~200 heavy Slingers, 250 Scouts and Rangers, 200 Engineers, 28 medics)
>
>
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> -
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> Legatus Augustus | Lucius ‘Bloody Tiger’ Aldenus –also Praetor Maximus after 191 NC
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> (To differ from the Governor ‘Legatus Proparetore’ rank Macrinus of Greater Kas started using.)
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> Aide de Legatus Legionis | Marc Gripa
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> Tribune Honoraris | Galio ‘Old Oak’ Veturius
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> (Broad Band Tribune – acting Legatus in absentia after 192 NC)
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> 1st Prefect | Varus ‘The Book’ Trupo (Lesia. Baron Trupo’s of Flauegran, disinherited second son. One of the three powerful Wine Barons.) Also Scribe de legionis
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> 2nd Prefect | Julius Draco (Whitetiger, Regia. Son of Baron Vibius, the Duke’s Shield.)
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> 3rd Prefect (of engineers) | Potis Durio (Lastport, Lesia. the fourth Durio of distant Lastport to reach the rank of Prefect in a Legion and the second to do it whilst serving with the Legion’s Engineers after his great-grand uncle Tito Durio.)
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> Centurion (of Medics) | Dottore Silvio Marianus (Decorated for bravery in the field)
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> LID officer | Vibius ‘Vulture’ Ramirus, (Legion Intelligence Department). A Centurion equivalent rank in the registry.
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> Aide de LID | Sirio Veturius
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> Quartermaster | Ramsey Kolt, also Keeper of the Purse
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> Panthera Tigris Signifer | Brim Solomon (Lesia)
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> -
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>
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> 1st Cohort
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> -Gold Standard
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> Monikers -Red, ‘Old’
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> Strength 850
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> 1st ‘Agricola’ Century Centurion, Primus Pilus| Simon Gata -400 legionnaires (in four 100-strong Maniples)
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> 1st Decanus| Brevis (first ‘Kato’ Maniple). A decorated minor officer. Mentioned in the dailies.
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> 2nd Decanus| Herius Asina (second Maniple)
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> 3rd Decanus | Mede (Third Maniple. A gold Phalera recipient. Cited for misconducts twice. Mentioned in the Legion’s Report twice.)
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> 2nd Century Centurion| Marcus Antonius Merenda (One of three legitimized bastards of Sir Seleucid Merenda ‘the Potent’, Lord Commander of Cartagen’s Royal Guard. The members of the Royal Guard –King’s or Queen’s own- weren’t allowed to marry in the Three Kingdoms) -150 legionnaires (in three 50-strong Maniples)
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> Decanus Domus (First Maniple)
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> 3rd Century Centurion| Artur Mangas (A decorated officer)
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> 4rth Century Centurion| Servius Capito (A decorated officer)
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> 2nd Cohort
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> -Gold Standard
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> (Monikers Blue, ‘Sula’)
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> Strength 650
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> 1st Century Centurion| Gnaeus Ennius – 200 legionnaires (in four 50-strong Maniples)
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> 2nd Century Centurion| Josi Vala – 150 legionnaires (in three 50-strong Maniples)
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> 3rd Century Centurion| Ardi Damian
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> 4rth Century Centurion| Spurius Dio
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> 3rd Cohort
>
> (Moniker Purple, ‘Lucky’)
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> Strength 650
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> 1st Century Centurion| Cassius Falx - 200 legionnaires (in four 50-strong Maniples)
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> 2nd Century Centurion| Placus Lepidus - 150 legionnaires (in three 50-strong Maniples)
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> 3rd Century Centurion| Julius Sepofa
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> 4rth Century Centurion| Jorgen Osmond
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> 4rth Cohort
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> (Monikers Kas, ‘the young’, Macrinus Lads)
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> Strength 650
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> 1st Century Centurion| Sextus Silvius - 200 legionnaires (in four 50-strong Maniples)
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> 2nd Century Centurion| Keegan Dixon (Kas) - 150 legionnaires (in three 50-strong Maniples)
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> 3rd Century Centurion| Jason Gordon (Kas)
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> 4rth Century Centurion| Kaleb White (Kas)
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> Legio Scouts
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> Centurion| ‘Frostworm’ Kaeso (A highly decorated officer. Also cited for multiple misconducts.)
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> Decanus | Kiri Dosser
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> Placus
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> Goff
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> Legio Cavalry
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> Decurion| Kent ‘Thin-knees’ Long. (A decorated officer)
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> Flavius Nasica (Croton, on loan from Bernard Holt)
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> Legio Slingers
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> Centurion| Mamercus ‘Unhurried’ Sorex (A decorated officer)
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> Legio Engineers
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> Prefect | Potis Durio
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> Centurion (of engineers) | Toni Drano (Lesia, recently promoted.)
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> Legio Medics
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> Centurion | Marianus
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> Detailed:
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> Legion Scouts
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> Strength ~250 warriors,
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> (150 of Lady Faye Alden’s warband
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> -various mixed units of fighters,
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> Mainly axemen- under Logan ‘Gray’ Barret and ‘Hulking’ Layton (Mentioned six times in the dailies, the Legion’s detailed reports when in campaign.)
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> + 100 Rangers
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> Under
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> Centurion | Kaeso
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> -Note: Centurion Pike’s Rangers were transferred to the IV Legio
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>
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> Legion Cavalry
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> (Strength 250 mixed riders,
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> Included thirty men & women of Praetor Maximus’ entourage and 50 men-at-arms under Flavius Nasica of Croton)
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> Lady Faye Alden (Nord) –not active after Krakenfort-
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> Decurion | Kent ‘Thin-knees’ Long (Nord)
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> Legion Slingers
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> (Attached short range unit
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> – Semi-autonomous, usually deployed by the Legatus.
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> Only unit employing women and men under sixteen)
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> (Strength fluctuating due to casualties, usually ~200 men and women)
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> Centurion | Mamercus Sorex
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> -Note: Centurion Joe Fallon’s Slingers unit was attached to the IV Legio permanently after 193.
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>
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> Legion Engineers
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> (Leather aprons, ‘Bestia’)
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> 50 Legio Engineers (the majority from Lesia)
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> + 150 apprentices (engineers, blacksmiths and carpenters included)
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> Legio Medics
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> 8 Dottore and surgeons
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> ~20 nurses
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>
> 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 and fifty various-sized carriages and wagons carrying mostly foodstuff, cots, leather tents, precut wood, tools and weapons –including sixteen siege engines/scorpios - among other things.
[https://i.postimg.cc/7LWZTCtY/Oras-Navel-to-Old-Fort.jpg]
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Praetor Lucius Alden
Durio’s road
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-
Third month of winter, 2nd month in the year of the new calendar 193
Code named 18 (plus) 2, sixty days into the eighteen month offensive.
Durio’s Road (the rough cut opening through the mountain paths)
Seven kilometers from Oras Navel dry basin
One kilometer from the south turn towards the Goat Plains,
& the gates to the uncharted underground labyrinth Ebenezer Framtond had claimed it led him all the way to Lesia, without anything else to collaborate it other than a habitually cursing dwarf that spoke little else in Common.
III Legio Castrum
( walled main marching camp)
Legatus Legionis Headquarters
Early evening, the end of the military briefing
-
Lucius finished up Kaeso’s rough drawing from his advanced scouting mission, blew on the parchment to clear some of the excess coal away and stood back on his folding field stool. He glanced at the crude black and white map for a brief moment and then tossed it over the table to Sirio who picked it up with a nod.
The scribe would work with the cartographers on adding the details to their field maps.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“The matter of enemy patrols seems a poor excuse for not bringing us some more accurate numbers. All these retiring and rotating units seems a bunch of nonsense. Might as well hop on a horse and see for myself milord,” Galio griped, weathered cheeks covered in grey growth. The Tribune was approaching fifty, though he kept the matter out of discussions.
“Kaeso was under orders not to engage, or be seen,” Lucius reminded him and eyed Ramirus over the table. “Let me sleep on it Tribune,” he offered to palate the old officer.
“Of course. Praetor, I shall take my leave,” Galio said and got up. Trupo standing right after him. Prefect Draco was dealing with camp matters and Durio was still in the field overseeing the road construction. They couldn’t finish it whilst on campaign, but the engineer wanted to take measurements and leave instructions for a second group of engineers that were coming from Anorum in order to help build Storm’s Rest. Lucius was going to use them first to fix their main line of supply, as the passage through the mountains was difficult for the wagons.
And people.
“Sirio, let’s go my good lad,” Galio said to his nephew, but Lucius intervened as he had need of the LID officer and scribe.
“Stay Sirio.”
Sirio nodded a panicked look on his face. Lucius waited for the two senior officers to leave his headquarters small hall and turned to Ramirus.
“How many are missing?”
“Three. Two Nords and a Lorian,” Ramirus replied checking his notes.
“Same unit?”
“Aye, Praetor.”
“We didn’t have problems with Northmen deserting afore,” Lucius murmured thoughtfully. “Is it the prospect of battle? Have the rumors spread?”
“Not really. The vast majority have no idea where Cartagen is, or how Regia’s shores look,” Ramirus replied and eyed the nervous Sirio. “Officer Sirio has some input here I believe.”
“Speak Sirio,” Lucius urged him patiently. “We can find solutions to life’s mysteries if we act and make mistakes, but we will remain ignorant if we stay comfortably idle.”
Sirio cleared his throat, the attempt failing and turning a deep red, but he pushed through, his voice a squeak. “We are too far away my lord.”
“From the North?” Lucius asked getting his meaning.
“Aye. This is the first winter that most men have seen no snow. It scares them for the future.”
“It snowed a bit yesterday,” Lucius noted.
“Not by their standards Lord Alden.”
“What’s the other reason?”
“Most have a lack of coin,” Sirio blurted out.
“They lived on the merchants salty prices in Storm’s Rest,” Lucius said and hearing the door opening turned to see Faye standing there. “Everything is expensive for a reason, it’s the frontier Sirio.”
“Every city they’ve been to has cleaned them out,” Ramirus added. “I understand Asturia, but it happened in Anorum. Fancy houses, late night venues with live bands and nice smelling girls with shaved legs and armpits,” the LID officer stopped horrified realizing Faye was standing at the back of the room, a cup of wine in her hands.
“I’ve always shaved me legs Ramirus,” Faye retorted. “Did it wit a small sharp knife and cleaned the blood wit snow. Ye perhaps had northern female bears in mind?”
“Apologies Lady Faye,” Ramirus replied with a grimace. “Was speaking in jest.”
Not to your Praetor you didn’t, Ramirus. She isn’t stupid.
Faye continued. “Now me armpits I only cleaned up for yer Praetor as the mail bits on—”
“That’s quite enough Faye,” Lucius intervened. “We are now sufficiently informed on your hygiene routines.”
“Am I lying?” Faye retorted narrowing her eyes.
“Never,” Lucius said and shook his head smiling. “Mister Ramirus please wrap up your argument. I’ve one pregnant complaining wife and you’re looking to create me problems with the other.”
“Apologies. I have nothing more to add Praetor,” Ramirus replied stiffly.
“And now I won’t get any more input,” Lucius told Faye and she approached with a scoff.
“I’ll trade input wit you don’t worry,” she teased and eyed a red faced Sirio. “You are married lad yes?”
“I am Lady Faye,” Sirio replied uncomfortable with her direct tone.
“Happy to see her soon?”
“Of course, if all works well.”
“That’s what they’re missing,” Faye told Lucius and sat on the table, the creaking worrisome.
I know Faye, but I can’t give them that.
I won’t lie to them also. Army life comes with a certain life-commitment, many are starting to realize now years in the service. It’s a lot of years left still.
Though Galio would argue they weren’t enough.
“I’ll see you gentlemen on last watch, good evening,” Lucius said dismissing them both.
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“Your slutty pregnant wife told me she feels like a widow but without all the perks,” Faye said twirling the wine in her cup and then leaving it on the table. Lucius got up and gathered the maps to protect them from an accident. He went to an open trunk and placed them inside.
“Wow,” Faye said on his back. “Yer concern chills me bones. It’s like I’m in the North again.”
“Faye, I have Marianus practically living here and he’s a difficult man to be around. Gripa asked for the day off and he doesn’t do that. So you know it’s bad.”
“Oh, come now. The man has been slaving for years,” Faye retorted. “Monica didn’t marry Marianus,” she frowned. “Damn, it doesn’t sound as bad right?”
Lucius sighed. “I’d like to sleep. We have an early meeting and I’m thinking to move into Oras Navel.”
“To fight Lesia again,” Faye said.
Lucius nodded and approached her working on the bindings of his armour.
“How far is Cartagen?”
“Very far still,” Lucius replied.
“How do they maintain two forces?”
“They are a kingdom with recourses,” Lucius replied.
“Do their birds fly further than ours?
“No, but they have many.”
“Can they take the city?” Faye had a flurry of questions all of a sudden, which meant she was nervous about something.
“There are two cities there close to each other. One is a port,” he started, but it was impossible to explain it. “Like Asturia’s but bigger, though located much further. The capital itself can last for a very long time, but the port can be taken.”
“They didn’t take it?”
“It was a partial success,” Lucius replied. “But I need better info. I also need to break through here, so I can guard Asturia’s flanks.”
“Asturia is months away,” Faye noted and hugged his neck with both arms. “Why trim the beard?”
“I’m not a Nord,” Lucius smiled seeing her expression. “Strategically we need to open a road to the sea, else Lesia will run circles around us. Everyone really.”
“How far to Sula’s city?” Faye murmured kissing him.
“From here to Kas almost,” Lucius replied biting her lower lip. “You could have said you used a razor that was too much.”
“Damn that’s far as fuck,” Faye groaned feeling his hands on her fit hips pressing. “I could have also knifed him in the face, but I didn’t,” she added hoarsely, then gasped and jumped on him locking both legs to his waist.
“You’ve retaken some of that weight wife?” Lucius asked her teasingly between kisses and soft bites.
“I think I’m pregnant again,” Faye murmured barely audibly and Lucius didn’t register her words until after their love session was well over.
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The next morning the Praetor left at first light careful not to rouse the sleeping Faye and rode to find Durio who hadn’t returned the previous night. He found the engineers half-way through the narrowest part of the natural path –Lucius was approaching from the north that hadn’t been worked on at all- where the walls came closer and a huge collapse had all but blocked the road completely.
He led Nightsilver carefully near the engineering crews working there all night, but a few kilometers from Oras Navel. Lucius still mourned the loss of Stormbolt, but told himself that a man that has two wives expecting shouldn’t complain.
Gods give same time as they take.
“That’s where Hermon’s large wagons got stuck. Fucked him up proper and gave Kato a fighting chance,” Galio Veturius commented pursing his mouth. “And there’s Durio all pensive and shit, about to tell us we can’t move forward. Milord.”
“Let’s hear him out Tribune,” Lucius cautioned him. “If Hermon did it, we shall do it as well.”
“Praetor, Tribune,” Durio saluted and stopped, his face pale and looking tired. Even worn out. The Prefect had half-a-pair of hobnailed sandals in his hands. An old weathered out and muddy leather thing he kept trying to clean with dirty nails. “Eh, we need to clear it a bit I’m afraid,” he said talking about the path. “The rains had brought more material down the slopes.”
“Huh!” Galio grunted and glared at the Prefect.
Lucius nodded and stared at the inhospitable mountain walls. Some parts of it sporting huge cracks that run to the rock-infested ground, others a pale white and deathly grey, or pure black boulders firmly creating vertical walls that reached as high as two hundred meters. The only route other than the collapsed half-blocked rocky path leading to Oras Navel was about three hundred meters ahead of them, an opening leading to the Goat Plains and then disappearing southeast into a labyrinth of canyons, or gorges.
But even if they weren’t heading there, they couldn’t reach it another way.
He furrowed his rich black brows and turned his blue Alden eyes on the engineers milling about to clear the ground of the bigger rocks. A couple of them lingering near the huge pile of collapsed debris, the small rise reaching easily fifteen meters and leaving a small wagon-sized opening at the edge of it, too close to the other vertical wall for all their wagons to pass.
And if, Lucius thought and watched Centurion Toni Drano, the man recently promoted after the loss of Toma who had fought across the river with Kato, sitting on a flat rock next to the debris and gaze unfocused at the distance.
“We could work on opening it some,” Durio offered sucking at the inside of his left cheek with his teeth. “Still the wagons will go through single file and the machines should stay behind.”
“That’s a hefty scoop of turds ye shoveled our way Prefect!” Galio barked grinding his teeth. “You’ll have us spend spring on the mountains as well? Is that it son?”
“Is the road opened beyond the collapse mister Durio?” Lucius asked calmly.
“Aye Praetor. But this goes on for a hundred and forty six meters,” Durio replied tensely, still working that military boot in his hands. Lucius noticed he wasn’t missing one. “The road cut beyond is three wagons wide but left unattended for years.”
An unkempt road is passable.
“Did you work the other part yourself?” Lucius asked and patted Nightsilver’s mane to ease his worry. There was nothing at the near for the horse to munch on, neither grass nor water.
“With the First sir, under my uncle,” Durio replied pensively. “We had to leave though back in the winter of 88 to come to Alden.”
Lucius nodded and stared at the debris. “This happened while you were working here?”
“Aye my Lord. An accident. We were breaking the limestone parts out to make a larger station here. We were working to reach the top and create a permanent lookout there, but a large sheet of it came down. Killed quite a number of the crew.”
“You found the boot here?” Lucius asked pressing his mouth.
“The other way of the narrows,” Durio replied hoarsely and stared at Lucius. “I think it’s mine sir. Thought I lost it, but it was under the rocks all along. Waiting.”
“See to clear as much as you can in the next three days Durio,” Lucio said hoarsely realizing how hard it must be for the engineers to return to this place. “I don’t care about the wagons, but I want the men to march safely through this spot.”
“I’ll do my outmost sir,” Durio replied and saluted. Lucius nodded and turned his horse to leave, a troubled Galio following after him, but stopped some meters later and turned his head around. Durio was still standing there with the ruined boot in his hands.
“The moment we break through Oras Navel,” he told him clasping both hands on the horn of his saddle. “You’ll turn around and come here to finish this part mister Durio. See you find those lost and given them proper honors. Those that perish performing their duty shall be honored. In the army a shovel and a pickaxe are as noble a tool as the legionnaire’s weapons and the tasks one undertakes with them are valued equally. You’ve built me a fine bridge Durio and you will built me a road here through the mountains, is that right?”
“Aye Praetor,” Durio replied moved at his words. “It shall be done.”
It wasn’t an attempt from him to lift the officer’s spirits.
Lucius had spoken from the heart.
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“It will be half a month for the wagons to go through,” Galio griped on the return trip. Their six man escort leading the way. “The war machines would stay on this side of the path and you’ll have to pray we don’t get spotted. If it doesn’t happen it would be nigh humiliating for them, seeing as their scouts would have to shove our lads aside to patrol up the path.”
“We will have to fight without the train Galio,” Lucius replied. “Only a few supply wagons would come with us. To stall is to give them time to count our numbers and change their plan if they have any. Among other things.”
“We also don’t know their numbers milord.”
“Better to play by the same rules.”
“We can’t fight more than two days in this manner,” Galio argued. “They’ll have supplies at the near and I’m talking weapons. Rations men can carry for longer.”
“This can’t be a grind,” Lucius said. “Time isn’t on our side and we’ve a long road ahead of us.”
Asturia is also sitting on burning coals with the Legion across the river.
“We don’t know if they’ll fight you’re correct Milord.”
“Oh, they’ll fight alright,” Lucius replied. “They need to stall us here.”
“They’ll never take the city no matter how long they stall us,” Galio said.
“Their plans are probably to control the Lorian Gulf and force Jeremy to negotiate.”
“He’ll never do it milord,” Galio argued with a scowl.
“Perhaps, or he may agree to some compromise seeing as he failed to reinforce the Barons,” Lucius countered and scratched his beard with his gloved fingers. “Did he really lose the ships outside Novesium?”
“Difficult to make sense of the rumors milord,” Galio replied. “By the time news reach Asturia and then us, lots of mileage has thinned the truth in them.”
“If they tried to squeeze Lord Sula from both sides, then Ursus has his eyes on Demames and not the Capital,” Lucius murmured. “Jeremy’s strategy is to hang on to the throne until the Lords give up and Lesia will apply pressure there.”
“A siege seems a mighty effort just to make a point milord,” Galio noted.
“Lesia gave the job to professionals,” Lucius said. “Those more qualified for the task. A military man will not shy away from taking more, if more is available, but I firmly believe their whole strategy is to threaten with the bigger price, in order to get what’s practical.”
“Cartaport?” Galio asked.
“Mmm,” Lucius replied.
“What happens if the generals in the field win the siege?”
“Then the King will accept the gift and even press towards Novesium,” Lucius said with a grimace of distaste. “I fear that if Lord Sula manages to pull a miracle out of the bag like his kin frequently does, we’ll lose more in the grand scheme of things.”
“Unless we win in two days,” Galio summarized it, since he by now understood Lucius far-reaching but structured manner of thinking.
Lucius nodded and clicked his tongue to hurry back to the camp, his answer all but lost in the sound of Nightsilver’s hooves galloping towards their escort.
“Or sooner.”
> In the winter months of 192 and 193 following the second phase of Mantel & Fiorin’s grand battle-plan doctrines, Baron Erasmus Feld of Frye’s Hold hard marching force from Dokamna was stalled to assist Lord Caxaton’s two thousand troops (a split force from the initial six thousand regulars out of Cediorum and Armium under Duke Roman II Lennox and Sir Darius IV Davenport) break through the Flower Heights forest.
>
> They had been caught there by a combined force coming out of Cartagen numbering three thousand (a thousand regulars from Two Rivers Castle under Baron Vendor and the two thousand royal guards of Cartagen under Sir Seleucid Merenda ‘the Potent’) and gotten himself trapped and unable to disengage.
>
> The initial plan had fallen apart when the two of the three prongs of the combined assault from sea and land -the 2nd Legion under Ettore Pintor had made it to the gates of Cartaport from the east road and smashed through in a ferocious night action- failed to coordinate and in the case of the fleet’s marines make it in time.
>
> The rest of the regulars of the second prong under Duke Roman and Darius attacked, sneaking through the Carta Gulf’s narrow strip of forested shores located in the south east of the city, the smaller naval yard’s gates there but failed to take control of them.
>
> The reason for that being part of the navy had been involved in a naval battle with Peter Brakis outside Novesium that was won by the Bank’s accompanying fleet, but with casualties. It forced the navy commanders to stall the transports to assist the returning damaged ships and pick up survivors. The delay ruined the timing of the thousand five hundred strong marine force that made their attack and landing after Duke Roman’s troops had engaged three days prior.
>
> A grieving Baron Valens –he’d just been informed of the death of his second son Prefect Declan in Maiden’s Wedding in Pascor- realizing this was a full on invasion left Cartagen under Sir Antony (his firstborn) after mobilizing its four thousand regulars to man the walls and the many gates. He followed Baron Vendor’s assaulting force to the Flower Heights and then traveled that same day to Cartaport.
>
> Seeing the 2nd Legion already inside the east part of the city, he ordered the troops engaged in the port district –assaulted by both land and sea- to retreat towards the slopes and North district. The two thousand regulars of Cartaport managed to stall the Legion’s advance in a brutal house to house and street fight. With the North Gates of Cartaport under his control –the gates leading to the Capital secured his supply lines- Valens pulled Vendor’s hard pressed force back up the slopes allowing Caxaton to get out.
>
> With the situation stabilized Valens would be busy in the next several months defending on multiple fronts. Cartaport’s North district with the reinforced with Vendor’s regulars local troops –around three thousand, the Grand Bridge over Mabindon to the west using Elysium Fort’s troops –around four hundred, the slopes leading to Cartagen and the Capital itself with six thousand combined normal and Royal Guard soldiers and knights.
>
> Leaving the lengthy matter of the events in Cartagen and Cartaport aside, the force out of Dokamna under Baron Feld after saving Lord Caxaton –he was to attempt to attack Cartagen from the northeast and take the Wine and Flower Bridges, but by the time he made it there the city was on high alert- marched to the occupied Old Fort to resume following the plan.
>
> Baron Feld had with him three thousand regulars and eight hundred cavalry.
>
> The predicament was that the force out of Flauegran that was supposed to hold the road and Oras Navel until they plugged the gap left by Hermon’s defeat, had turned restless. The Barons wanted to avenge the loss of income and the defeat of a large part of Regia’s navy had opened the road for a strike at the insolent Lord of the Ruins. This guarding force was comprised of 600 hundred troops out of Sava under Sir Jan Napoli, five hundred out of Sartor under Domus Trupo and a thousand out of Faro plus a hundred and fifty men-at-arms under Sir Paris Riveras.
>
> Anyways, the moment the Barons got wind of the Dokamna force marching up the New Legion Road they started withdrawing from Oras Navel. To their defense in the months since the battle at the Half-Bridge nobody had appeared to bother them but for several wayward goats out of the Goat Plains and the supposed appearance of a foul-mouthed dwarf that had scared a small patrol to death speaking with the voice of a giant.
>
> Baron Feld quarreled with the withdrawing Barons and begrudgingly continued up the path. It must be mentioned here that Domus Trupo ‘the Mustache’ has been accused of knowing the whereabouts of his brother but even if that was true and it isn’t, no one could blame him for not wanting to fight his bigger brother.
>
> Tribune Veturius characterized the performance and coordination of the Lesia forces as ‘outright embarrassing’, but it was mostly an unfortunate domino effect starting with Brakis surprise night naval action that derailed the well-thought out battle-plan, especially considering that the Bank of Trust’s winning naval force got lost months later somewhere in the Scalding Sea probably to pirates.
>
> As the military scholar Mantel commented later that year after an academy lecture, ‘it was never going to go smoothly. We didn’t expect it, but then again nothing really worked and we found ourselves with too many fronts to cover. Auspiciously Sula’s actions and the events in Novesium solved a part of our problems.’
>
> This optimistic outlook can be interpreted to mean that all other parts of their problems remained, or perhaps even grew.
>
>
>
> -
>
>
>
> Lord Sirio Veturius
>
> The Fall of Heroes
>
> Chapter II
>
> (Lord Lucius Alden,
>
> -also addressed-
>
> Legatus Augustus, Praetor Maximus
>
> Southern campaigns,
>
> Fourth & Fifth year
>
> Volume IX-X
>
> Eighteen Months Offensive
>
> Part I
>
> Section subtitle
>
> Twenty Hours
>
> Also known as the battle at Oras Navel
>
> -Prelude to the race down the slopes and the siege of Old Fort-
>
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