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Contents ( 82)
  1. Under The Eagle
  2. Under The Eagle
  3. Under The Eagle
  4. Chapter One
  5. Under The Eagle
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Under The Eagle
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Under The Eagle
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Under The Eagle
  12. Chapter Five
  13. Under The Eagle
  14. Chapter Six
  15. Under The Eagle
  16. Chapter Seven
  17. Under The Eagle
  18. Chapter Eight
  19. Under The Eagle
  20. Chapter Nine
  21. Under The Eagle
  22. Chapter Ten
  23. Under The Eagle
  24. Chapter Eleven
  25. Under The Eagle
  26. Chapter Twelve
  27. Under The Eagle
  28. Chapter Thirteen
  29. Under The Eagle
  30. Chapter Fourteen
  31. Under The Eagle
  32. Chapter Fifteen
  33. Under The Eagle
  34. Chapter Sixteen
  35. Under The Eagle
  36. Chapter Seventeen
  37. Under The Eagle
  38. Chapter Eighteen
  39. Under The Eagle
  40. Chapter Nineteen
  41. Under The Eagle
  42. Chapter Twenty
  43. Under The Eagle
  44. Chapter Twenty-one
  45. Under The Eagle
  46. Chapter Twenty-two
  47. Under The Eagle
  48. Chapter Twenty-three
  49. Under The Eagle
  50. Chapter Twenty-four
  51. Under The Eagle
  52. Chapter Twenty-five
  53. Under The Eagle
  54. Chapter Twenty-six
  55. Under The Eagle
  56. Chapter Twenty-seven
  57. Under The Eagle
  58. Chapter Twenty-eight
  59. Under The Eagle
  60. Chapter Twenty-nine
  61. Under The Eagle
  62. Chapter Thirty
  63. Under The Eagle
  64. Chapter Thirty-one
  65. Under The Eagle
  66. Chapter Thirty-two
  67. Under The Eagle
  68. Chapter Thirty-three
  69. Under The Eagle
  70. Chapter Thirty-four
  71. Under The Eagle
  72. Chapter Thirty-five
  73. Under The Eagle
  74. Chapter Thirty-six
  75. Under The Eagle
  76. Chapter Thirty-seven
  77. Under The Eagle
  78. Chapter Thirty-eight
  79. Under The Eagle
  80. Chapter Thirty-nine
  81. Under The Eagle
  82. Chapter Forty

‘Oh great,’ muttered Macro. ‘Now we’re well and truly fucked.’

Under The Eagle

Chapter Seven

Once the cohort had left the base early in the morning the Second Legion settled into a normal day’s routine. Bestia’s recruits stamped around the parade ground trying to keep warm in between bouts of drilling, while the commander of the Fifth cohort took his men out of camp for the monthly route march that the army required of all its troops. This day the cohort was joined by the clerical staff from headquarters, grumbling bitterly that their excused-duties status was being ignored by Vespasian.

Watching from an upstairs balcony as the cohort, with the clerks sandwiched between the Third and Fourth centuries, filed down the Via Praetoria, Vespasian could not restrain a grin. The Second Augusta was his first legion command and he aimed to make it a success, even if that meant upsetting the headquarters’ clerks. Every man and beast in the Legion would be made fighting fit in readiness for the following year’s campaign. Moreover, due to the special nature of the operation outlined to him in the message sent by the imperial general staff, the men of the Second would need training in amphibious warfare. Soldiers, he knew only too well, had an innate suspicion of all things aquatic, let alone nautical. The settled garrison life the Legion had been leading for several years was not going to help matters, he reflected, sipping from a cup of heated wine. A rapid period of adjustment was required and the enforced exercise of the clerks was just the first phase in Vespasian’s programme to prepare his troops for the following summer. From now on, route marches and weapons practice would be doubled and no soldier or officer would be permitted excused-duties privileges.

As the tail of the cohort tramped past, Vespasian left the balcony and returned to his private quarters, closing the shutters. Spread across a large wooden table were the inventories he had ordered, as well as a series of missives from Rome providing details of the Legion’s relocation — the route they would take across Gaul; the supply depots on which the Second would be permitted to draw while on the march and notification of the amphibious warfare experts to be attached to his command for the duration of the campaign. The document that had set all this in motion was safely secured with his confidential papers in the chest under the table. From constant rereading, Vespasian knew the details by heart. Nevertheless, he removed the key from the chain around his neck and unfastened the lock. The despatch was folded round a scroll and the remains of the broken imperial seal of deep red wax were still fixed to the stiff parchment. Beside the scroll was another, smaller, document marked for his eyes only and written in a personalised code by the Emperor himself. Vespasian considered it for a moment with a pained expression, and then pushed it to the back of the chest before extracting the larger despatch. Flattening it out on the table top, Vespasian took another sip of warm wine and ran his eyes over the finely written script yet again.