“We didn’t want you going by yourself,”Lucullus said with a grin. “We came to protect you.”
The fact was I did not mind the company, andit was not a bad idea to go with others. Continuing north up theroad, we reached the spot where the road bent around the base ofthe mountain, giving us a clear view of Serdica and the road out ofthe city. Pulling up for a moment, we sat regarding the city, butother than a lingering pall of dust hanging above the road leadingup to the gates, there was no sign of any Serdi force. We resumedup the road, following it around as it turned east along the baseof the slope that marked the beginning of the peak. After a bit, wesaw the 13th formed a short distance north of where theThird and Fifth had built their blocking position, looking likethey had been pursuing Thracians back toward the city. Drawingcloser, I could see dark shapes on the ground, scatteredimmediately behind where the 13th was, becoming morethickly clustered up the slope toward the Cohorts of the8th. It was clear that there had been some sort ofaction, and I just hoped that most of those bodies belonged to theenemy and not to us.
Unfortunately, a fair number of the menlying on the field did belong to us, most of those coming from thetwo Cohorts of the 8th. As I had feared, they had comeunder a heavy attack by a mixed force of Serdi infantry and cavalrysent from the city, Tertius Pilus Prior Julianus estimating perhapsthree thousand men altogether. The Third and Fifth had sufferedslightly more than a hundred casualties between them, more thanthirty of those dead and, of the wounded, about fifteen that wouldeither die in the next few days or were too badly injured to returnto duty. However, the Serdi had paid a much heavier price; theofficial count was more than six hundred Thracians left dead on thefield, and gods only knew how many wounded were carried back to thecity. The 13th had arrived before the fighting was over,and naturally, Flaminius claimed that their presence had been whatsaved the two Cohorts of the 8th. Not surprisingly, bothJulianus and his counterpart in the Fifth Cohort Septimius hotlycontested that, insisting that the Thracians were already in theprocess of falling back to the city when the 13th showedup. The discussion became so heated that it took me physicallyinterposing myself between Flaminius and Septimius, telling both ofthem that I did not care how it happened.
“What’s going to be recorded in the campaignrecord?” Septimius asked, not backing down an inch. That was reallythe crux of the issue, at least as far as the Centurions wereconcerned. Since an official account of this engagement wouldundoubtedly be recorded by the scribes in the Praetorium, itwas understandable that both parties were interested in how itwould be described, both for reasons of pride and also because itreflected not only on the Legion but on the Centurions. Whereasbefore the right to select Centurions had been completely withinthe authority of the Legate commanding a Legion, usually with therecommendation from the Primus Pilus and Pili Priores, that powerhad been increasingly shifted back to Rome, and supposedly theSenate. Which of course meant Octavian, who apparently reviewed therecords of every candidate for promotion within the Legion, atleast if rumor was to be believed. In the event that a Centurionwas struck down while on campaign, the Legate still had theauthority to promote a Centurion into the fallen man’s spot, yetdespite the fact that it had been permanent and binding before, itwas now considered a provisional promotion, pending approval fromRome. Depending on the circumstances, a man could serve as aCenturion for months, if not longer, before word came back that hispromotion had been approved or disapproved. I thought this was ahorrible idea, because the men knew that their Centurion might notbe in command of them permanently, and would act accordingly,depending on the rumors about whether he had the money to bribe theright people. It also encouraged the kind of corruption that sawunworthy men like Natalis put into the Centurionate. While I hadnot heard at that point of any case where a Centurion had beenforced to relinquish his slot after word from Rome arrived, I wassure it was only a matter of time before it happened. And oneconsequence of this new policy was that Centurions were now moreinterested than ever what was recorded in the Legion and armydiaries, and was what led to this current disagreement. Only when Iassured both parties that I would make sure that what was enteredwould reflect well on both Legions, without detracting from thehonor and prestige of the other did I avert a confrontation,despite having no idea how I was going to accomplish my promise. Isent Lucullus galloping back up the direct route to the northerngate of the fortress to bring the orderlies and stretcher bearers,and Flaminius graciously volunteered those orderlies attached tohis Legion, along with some of his own men to act as bearers. Thishelped smooth things over, and I reminded myself to thank Flaminiusfor the gesture later. Seeing that all was in hand, I decided tokeep up the pressure on the Thracians, instructing Flaminius toconstruct a camp directly straddling the road to Serdica, at apoint roughly halfway between the edge of the mountain slope andthe city walls, a distance of perhaps two miles, with the roadserving as the Porta Praetoria and Porta Decumana. The camp wouldnot be fully fortified, at least at first, and I knew this wassomething of a risk, so I instructed Flaminius to dig his ditch toCaesarian proportions, confident that would be enough to discourageany temptation on the part of the Serdi to mount an assault oftheir own, at least for the time it took to pull up stakes at theother camp and bring all of the baggage and rest of the
