I do not know why I was surprised; inhindsight, I should have not been expecting anything other thanthis. But, in the moment, that did not stop me from uttering astring of curses that threatened to beat any previous attempt atsetting a record I had attempted before. Swinging my legs off mycot, I sat for a moment, trying to think of the best course ofaction. My first instinct, as always, was to go charging into thePraetorium to confront Primus and demand if this was true,although I was certain it was. Fortunately, I quickly dismissedthat idea, knowing that it would probably cause more harm than justabout anything else I could do. Finally, I decided that for once Iwould let someone else do the dirty work; not particularlyhonorable, I know, but I was so worn down from dealing with Primusby this point that I suppose it was an easy thing to convincemyself that I deserved a respite. Leaving my tent, I made my way toMacrinus', who I trusted more than anyone else currently with thearmy with the exception of Gaius and Diocles, of course, but therewas no way I was going to involve either of them. I found himsitting with Flaminius and, on the spot, I decided to include thePrimus Pilus of the 13th as well.
"What brings the Camp Prefect out on thisfine evening?" Macrinus asked, and I noticed that his speech wasslightly slurred.
Not that I found any fault with him being inhis cups; I had long since taken the measure of Macrinus and knewthat he would never let his off-duty pursuit of Bacchus interferewith his duties. Besides, in that moment, I rather envied him, butI had upheld my vow to not drink to excess and was not willing tobreak it, no matter how much the idea appealed to me. At least atthat point.
"I'm glad you're in a good mood," I replied,my tone matching my grim humor.
His face fell, his eyes searching my face asI tried to gather my thoughts.
Finally, I opted to just come out with it.When I was done, the two men sat there with identical expressions;stunned, angry, bewildered all at the same time. Finally, Macrinusbroke the silence.
"Marcus Primus has to be one of the mostprofoundly stupid men in Rome," he said bitterly, to whichFlaminius nodded in agreement.
"Stupid he certainly is," I agreed. "Buthe's also in command."
"And that is something else I'llnever understand," Flaminius added bitterly.
For several moments, none of us spoke, eachlost in our own thoughts that I am sure ran along similar lines.Besides the insult to the memory of our fallen comrades, about whomthis whole campaign was supposedly all about, there was a practicalproblem. And, being honest, this was what concerned me, andMacrinus and Flaminius more. To this point, this campaign had seenvery little profit for anyone other than Marcus Primus, and while Iknew that the enrichment of the men marching for him did notconcern him in the least, it should have, if for no other reasonthan turning around now would mean he would have a very, very angryarmy at his back. Given all that had happened, from his firstfarcical and ill-omened display in front of his men during hisinspection, to his blurting out his unfortunate remark about themen who volunteered to assault the fortress with me committingsuicide, all three of us knew it would not take much to have amutiny on our hands.
"So what do we need to do?" Macrinus askedquietly, and I could tell that he understood that the burden wasgoing to be on his and Flaminius' shoulders.
Thankful that I did not need to spell outwhy I did not want to be directly involved, I simply said, "I thinkyou need to approach Marcus Primus and simply ask what his ordersare once we take delivery of the Serdi loot. If he asks why youneed to know now, just explain that you want the time to prepare sothat you'll be ready to resume our pursuit of the Triballi."
Flaminius glanced at Macrinus and gave ashrug.
"That sounds simple enough, and it makessense. It's natural for us to assume that we're going to do what hesaid we're going to do. So," he finished, "we ask him when we'llget back on the march."
"No." I probably said this more sharply thanI needed to, but I wanted to make sure there was no room for error."You have to be more specific than that. You have to actuallymention our pursuit of the Triballi. Otherwise, you leave him someroom to wriggle, and I'll tell you now that as stupid as he is inmany ways, he's one slippery bastard. No," I repeated. "Youmust mention the Triballi in particular."
Once I explained it, I could see they bothunderstood.
"So when do we do this?" Macrinus asked.
Considering for a moment, I decided, "Firstthing in the morning. He's even more useless and combative at thistime of night."
"Will you be there?" Flaminius asked.
"No." I shook my head. "If I'm anywherenearby, it will just make it worse. I'll be in my tent, but," I wasstruck by a sudden inspiration, "I'll have Diocles there instead.He blends into the background nicely. In fact, I doubt Primus evenknows he's with me."
With a course of action decided, I bid thetwo of them to return to their drinking. I am afraid that neitherof them looked particularly happy to do so; somehow, I think theylost the taste for it. When I returned to my tent, I told Diocleswhat was going to be taking place. He was not eager to do so, buthe understood the need. Or at least, he said he did.
I was in my tent, pretending to be absorbedin the same book I had been reading the night before, when Dioclesbrought his news, when Macrinus, Flaminius, and Diocles showed up,every one of them wearing the same grim expression.
"Well, your slave was right in what heheard," Macrinus said, and I had to catch myself from correctingMacrinus about calling Diocles my slave, knowing that it wasneither the time nor the place to do so. "Primus has no intentionof continuing
