Chapter 18 - Prima Disciplina
It was only a hours march to reach the Mustering Fields.
Palinus had only ever seen them from a distance in the odd times he had left the city to go to the river or just go out exploring. They were out in the plains to the northwest amidst a bend in the river and a wall of wooden posts with a fortified wooden gate. Behind the wall an occasional building poked over and a wooden fort stood on a tall hill dominating the fortified area.
Marching through the gates Marius saluted the pair of older soldiers standing beside the gate with his hand to his chest. One wore a Legion uniform, its iron and gold gleaming in comparison to the leather armour the man in Auxilia uniform wore.
From behind the other boys in the line Palinus copied the salute as best he could, but he noted that Bruchts and Rufian didn’t. Palinus got a bad feeling when he saw a cruel smile from the soldiers and a snigger from Marius.
“Halt!” Marius ordered.
The boys came to a poorly coordinated stop as Rufian walked into Bruchts back.
“Welcome to Prima Disciplina conscripts!” A booming voice came from one of the soldiers as the boys turned towards them.
“I am Centurion Armiger of the Legion.” projected the soldier in the legion armour with a booming voice and an ugly glint of malice.
“I am Auxilia Optio Magunnus.” The Auxilia soldier spoke with a gravelly tone but no less volume. “We will be your superior officers in your interim training cohort for the duration of your training here.”
“I thought we were leaving…” Rufian started speaking but realised his mistake as the three senior soldiers fixed him with a hard glare, but it seemed he couldn’t stop himself as finished his sentence. “... the capital?”
“It seems we have an impatient one.” Armiger said.
“We will quickly correct that.” Magunnus added. “Conscript Bruchts, Conscript Ramirus, step forward.”
Bruchts took a pace forward and stood at attention with his hands by his side. His crisp movement making Rufian look clumsy as he failed to recognise the unfamiliar use of his family name.
The two soldiers marched with neatly synchronised steps to stand with the Centurion in front of Bruchts and the Optio beside.
“Conscript Bruchts. For failing to recognise an officer you will receive one lash.” Centurion Armiger shouted in Bruchts’ face. The teenager paled, but didn’t flinch.
The Centurion and Optio snapped their feet together in unison and turned to march into the same positions surrounding Rufian.
“Conscript Ramirus for failing to recognise an officer and for failure of respect you will receive four lashes.” The Centurion gave a vicious smile as he gave the sentence and the two ranked soldiers snapped their feet together again and marched themselves to be standing in front of the boys.
“Decio fall in.” Decurion Marius ordered and Rufian was quicker on the uptake this time as they both stepped back into line with Palinus.
“Salute!” Marius yelled and the boys put their fists over their heart as quickly as they could.
“Repeat after me!” Armiger started, holding up a tablet with a reverent expression and a tone that reminded Palinus of priests in the temple.
“I swear that I shall faithfully execute all that the Emperor commands!”
“I swear that I shall faithfully execute all that the Emperor commands.”
The boys repeated and as they spoke to words Palinus felt a swelling of his essentia, as if the words were spoken with his essentia as well as his voice
“That I shall never desert the service so long as Erulea stands!”
“That I shall never desert the service so long as Erulea stands!”
“And that I shall not seek to avoid death for the Erulean Empire!
“And that I shall not seek to avoid death for the Erulean Empire!
With the final word spoken the weight on his essentia ceased, but where his essentia flowed through his heart he felt something like a ring of lead around the channel.
“You have now sworn the sacramentum, and are reminded that you are bound by the laws of service. I will now read articles relating to punishment that apply to you:
For acts of minor insubordination and failures of duty or respect the punishment will be flogging at the discretion of the commanding officer before the soldier's century, cohort and or legion.
For acts of moderate insubordination and failures of duty fines may also be levied as well as flogging at the discretion of the commanding officer.
For repeated or gross acts of insubordination and failures of duty the commanding officer may demand sureties including retaking the sacramentum.
For acts of treason or theft the punishment will be drowning within a sack of serpents. If serpents or a body of water is not practicable death will be administered in a method of the commanding officers discretion.
For acts of desertion or dereliction of duty the punishment is Fustuarium or Bastinado, wherein the soldier will be stoned or bludgeoned by their decio, century, cohort or legion until their death.
Punishment that results in the soldier's death must be assigned by a court martial of…”
Palinus struggled to pay attention as his body became uncomfortable standing still for so long, he also felt drained from the sacramentum as if they had been running. The Centurion recited the martial laws in intricate detail for at least ten minutes without stopping and the man’s ability to do so without referencing the tablet in his hand as he instead maintained intense eye contact with the boys was impressive.
“… if a penalty of death is administered and the soldier escapes their death, they will not be pursued and another attempt on their life will not be made. However, they are banished from Erulea until they are pardoned by a Legate or the Emperor himself.
“Hail Emperor Septimus!” Centurion Armiger finished.
“Hail Emperor Septimus!” Everyone else echoed the cry,
“-Emperor Septimus?” Palinus joined late.
He didn’t want to stand out but questioned whether they didn’t know the emperor was deposed or there was something else at play.
“Decurion Marius.” Centurion Armiger said and the Centurion and Optio marched crisply for a few steps then suddenly started walking normally as though a stick holding their spines vertically was removed. They almost immediately started talking casually and laughed at something as the boys stood, still at salute.
Marius waited until the officers had walked away.
“Laxarte.” Marius ordered them to relax their salute, and then ordered a sharp right turn “Ad Dex. Dex!”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Palinus struggled with left and right as it was, the use of the old language threw him right off and he turned left instead of right, leaving him facing Marius who chuckled and gave him a wink before Palinus realised his mistake and turned back the right direction.
“Quick March”
They marched through the secondary gate and finally got a full view across Mustering Fields from inside the wall.
Ahead they saw the Centurion and Optio walking towards a set of albumstone buildings that looked like offices, meeting spaces and several forums from tiny to massive with rows of seats set around a stage or lectern. The area was landscaped beautifully with olive trees and tasteful shrubberies amongst sweeping lawns. The grass was emerald green and manicured which was wholly out of place in the Erulean summer and clashed with the natural browns of the plains grass and bushy forested area they saw around the hill with it’s wooden fortification that looked even more impressive from within the camp.
They marched past the official looking buildings along gravel paths towards one of dozens of identical wooden structures. They looked like enormous barns or squat warehouses with groups of ten to a hundred young people marching in and out accompanied by soldiers.
The soldiers were easy to pick out with their full uniform compared to the conscripts wearing a uniform light brown tunic with a leather belt.
The boys soon learnt why the conscripts uniform fit so badly on many as they marched into the storage yards.
“Halt!” Marius stopped the boys just inside a bustling square. Ahead they saw tables piled with tunics, belts and parts of sandals. It looked like a mess, but there was clearly a system as each station was attended by an Auxilia soldier, who shuffled around the piles and put things in order as they waited.
“I am not surprised to see you come in late again Marius…” A soldier in an Auxilia uniform approached them with a board and a piece of vellum pinned to it. She had thick dark hair that was barely contained with a thick braid pinned up. She officiously checked the list she carried and eyeballed the boys as she spoke to Marius.
“You know how these youngsters are Armicustos Cico, it’s hard for them to leave their mamas,” he replied.
“So hard for you to leave your amphora more like...” She laughed, turning to the boys. “Undress quickly and when I say, go place your items in those boxes.”
They only hesitated for a moment before Palinus, Bruchts and Rufian started undressing. While they did so the Armicustos briefed them.
“You aren’t on parade here and we aren’t going to offer you more lashes unless you do something dumb. Cooperate with my team and you will be fitted as best we can. I say this only once: Do not complain, or I will fit you in a sack and wooden shoes.”
“Conscript Palinus!” She pointed to a box, and scowled as he struggled to untie off his tightly bound sandals. “Hurry up boy.”
“Do we keep our weapons?” He asked.
“Did I say, ‘place your items in those boxes, except your weapons?!’” She replied with a flat tone and more volume than necessary, making Marius chuckle.
The boys were bustled along the line once they stowed their stuff. It was a blur of activity as they were thrown a tunic and were only given a moment to pull it on before a belt was thrust into their hands and they were pushed onto a bench.
As they sat doing up their belt a pair of soldiers knelt in front of them. With practised efficiency one quickly grabbed a foot and held up leather soles against it, he would swap the pads from a box beside him out until he found one roughly the right shape, then with one smooth motion cut the excess leather off with a blade sharpened with a subtle ars. He passed the leather sole to the other soldier as he completed the other foot.
With the leather sole in her hand the soldier used a device that punched several holes through the sole and poked a length of leather through. She placed the sole against the boys feet and channelled essentia, Palinus didn't catch where the calculii she used was but the effect was instantaneous as the length of leather curled around the boy’s foot and looped itself through the holes in the sole to make a perfectly fitting sandal.
“That’s amazing!” Palinus said as he watched her fit a sandal to his foot.
She gave him a wink, “This is nothing.”
The boys marched out wearing their first uniform. The tunic itched and Bruchts’ and Rufian’s hung too low, needing a ridiculously large size to fit over their bulky frames.
“Armicustos Cico yells just right.” Marius said with a lecherous grin as they gathered to leave.
“Mhmm,’ Rufian agreed and dodged the punch from Bruchts.
“Fall in.” Marius ordered his expression snapping back to business.
They marched along a path past several of the squat wooden buildings. Up close they could see through the wooden slats that served as windows into the buildings. Inside looked to be rows of identical rooms with five double bunks and a shelf. They saw each room was neatly made up and there were occasional hints of personal possessions like carved bits of wood, and the odd letter or drawing.
There were currently no people inside but Palinus’s guess that these were where the conscripts slept was confirmed as Marius marched them into a building that was nearly identical to the half dozen they had passed and more further along the path.
As they marched around the side they noticed painted numerals above the door:
Cohort II, Century VII
“This is the barracks for your Century here.” Marius said, as they stood outside the door “You’d best remember it now, if you are late because you are lost you will still be flogged.”
They walked through and Marius pointed out a door on their left.
“This is a female tent group, the women in your decio are in here. But you will never go in there, or you will be flogged. Do not go into another group's rooms or tent unless duty compels or you will be flogged, you may also be accused of theft and drowned in a bag of snakes.”
Down the hallway a room was pointed out that looked exactly the same as all the others.
“This is your tent group while you are here. You will meet the rest of the Century when they return from training.”
“When will that be?” Bruchts asked.
“Probably not until just before dinner.” Marius replied, “So you can take a nap while you wait, or whatever, so long as you remain in your room until you are called.”
With those instructions Marius walked off, leaving the boys in the room.
“It looks like some bunks are occupied.” Palinus commented.
“I guess the ones without the blankets must be free?” Bruchts conjectured.
It took them a while to figure out that the existing occupants of the room had spaced themselves out. They found a bunk each and sat, waiting for something to happen.
“A hundred people seems like a lot of conscripts.” Palinus said thinking about the size of the building as he looked out the slat windows at the identical building next door.
“... and that would be just our century. There are at least two cohorts of at least seven centuries other than ours.” Bruchts added.
“That’s hundreds of conscripts!” Rufian exclaimed, “ There can’t be that many people here.”
“That’s at least one thousand four hundred conscripts, assuming the cohorts are full. But we know they aren’t.” Bruchts corrected, gesturing at the several empty bunks.
“Uncle Ares said that the ‘forever camp’ was just for training and that we wouldn’t be here long. Though he also said that some misfits stayed here forever…” Rufian said. “He also said that I would probably wind up in a sack of snakes at the bottom of the river, and not to worry about it.”
They talked idly for several hours as the afternoon passed, speculating on the other people in their century.
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Palinus was woken with a rough shove.
“Wake up you cabbage!” an unknown voice yelled in his face.
Around him he heard a clattering as the building was full of frenetic activity and the tense voices of a lot of people trying to get stuff done and get somewhere quickly.
“Two Seven! Venite!” a yell came from down the hallway and the activity in the room hit another level as people streamed down the hallway while Palinus tried to collect himself.
He followed the press of bodies out the door and onto the gravel pathway. It seemed like everyone knew where they were going as the conscripts around him ran to a specific spot in one of three files
Trying to join the lines he was shoved repeatedly until every other recruit was in their assigned place in one of the three lines with Palinus, Rufian and Bruchts stood sheepishly beside them.
Optio Magunnus marched down the gravel path in front of the lines of conscripts. He brought his feet together to halt and performed a right turn to face the century.
“Century, Intente!” The Optio ordered and the century stood to attention. “Conscript Ramirus, Bruchts and Palinus. Venite ad Sin!”
Understanding from a little gesture that they needed to come stand next to him the boys awkwardly marched around the rows of conscripts standing to attention.
“Conscript Ramirus, Bruchts and Palinus. Intente! Salute!”
The boys stood to attention and gave a salute to conscripts standing at attention in front of him. Now that he could see the whole length of the lines he counted twenty two abreast with three lines meaning that there were sixty six in their century.
“Century Salutate!”
“Salutate!” The Century greeted the boys with a thump to their chest as they repeated the greeting.
“Conscript Caecilianus Dex. Move Dex!” Optio Magaunnus ordered the column, then turned to the boys and shouted in their face. “Conscripts Venite!”
With impressive efficiency about half the column in front of them raised their right fist to touch the conscript to their right and took a step to their right leaving a gap for the three boys to join.
As Palinus marched into the formation he saw a face that stopped him halfway through his stride making Bruchts and Rufian behind him run into his back.
“...Seline?”