"Flaminius." I owed him something, but I wasnot willing to voice my true reasons for passing the13th over, "this has nothing at all to do with the13th and its performance on this campaign. You and yourmen have performed in an exemplary fashion, and I'm going to makesure that's known when we return to Siscia. Not," I managed a grin,but it had a bitter edge to it, "that my word is going to mean muchnow." I could tell that Flaminius was trying to appear gracious,but I did not begrudge his disappointment, and I felt compelled toadd, "Remember that you and your men are going to split whatever wetake in half with the 8th. That should cheer the men up,neh?"
Turning back to Macrinus, I beckoned him tocome closer so I could share a word in private and, as he made hisway to my side, I dismissed the rest of the men.
When he stood next to me, I said in a lowvoice, "Macrinus, I have a favor to ask."
He did not appear surprised, but I wasreasonably certain that he was not prepared for what I was about toask of him. When I was finished, I saw that I was right.
"I suppose that could be arranged," he saidslowly, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at me with apeculiar expression. "May I ask why?"
"You can ask," I gave him a taut smile. "ButI'm not going to tell you."
Work was shifted to the single tunnel,Flavianus moving small groups of men from the other tunnels by anexcellent stratagem, having them crouch inside mantlets that othermen pushed from one spot to another. It was harder than it sounds,both for the men pushing and those inside, the former being forcedto push the wheeled covers over the rough ground, while the latterhad to squat and walk along with them. I could easily imagine thesweating and the complaining going on inside those mantlets, but Ialso knew the men understood why it was being done. I watched itall from my specially constructed perch, which was nothing but oneof Marcus Primus' couches that Flavianus had pulled from a wagon,placed atop a rostra of boxes. It was a subtle but humorous form ofrevenge from my praefecti fabrorum, sending a clear messagethat he had better and more important things to do. It took someeffort for me to get myself up there, but I did appreciate theperspective that being higher up gave me. The rostra and couch hadbeen placed just outside the camp walls, next to the trench thatthe men had dug leading up to the wall that paralleled those ofNaissus just a little more than a hundred paces away. The trenchwas there to allow the men to pass from the camp to their assignedduties, either in the tunnels, carrying the dirt, or manning thewalls under cover and safe from enemy fire. Arrayed along the wallwas every single scorpion both Legions possessed, twenty in all,and they had kept the Moesians from making any serious attempts tostop us from our work. They had attempted one sortie, but it endedbefore the Moesians had barely gotten out of the southern gate,thrown back under a hail of scorpion bolts and javelins from theguard Cohorts standing watch for just such an event. Otherwise, assieges went, it had been uneventful, and most importantly, quick.Just after sundown, Flavianus came to report that the tunnel hadreached its spot under the wall, and a cavity had been formed.While it was standard practice to create a breach that couldaccommodate a front wide enough for a tent section to pass through,since we were only going to be affecting one breach, I had toldFlavianus that I wanted it twice as wide.
"That makes it harder to predict when itwill all come down," he told me, tapping his stylus against histeeth as he alternated between talking to me and scribblingwhatever it is that engineers use to make sense of all the arcaneknowledge crammed into their brain. "I've never done one that bigbefore. With a normal breach, I could predict within a third of awatch, but with this?"
He gave a shrug as he glared at me fromunder his eyebrows, making me wonder if his major concern was moreabout his pride in his ability at prediction than anythingelse.
"I'll keep that in mind," I assured him."And I won't hold you responsible if your estimate is wrong."
That seemed to ease his mind somewhat, andhe walked off, grumbling again under his breath. Finally, I saw theone man I had been looking for, and my heart clutched at the sightof the tall, lean Centurion approaching.
"You asked for me, Prefect?" Gaius' tone wascorrect, as it always was in the presence of others.
"Yes, Centurion." I was no less so, but Iwas unsure about how to proceed.
Torches had been lit around my makeshiftrostra, and in the flickering shadows, I saw more than one figurethat seemed to have found the area right around my rostra a goodplace to stop and linger. One of those was Diocles, but he was theonly one I was willing to let hear what I was about to say.
"Leave this area," I commanded, and Libo,Lucullus, and Capito went wandering off, along with Macrinus andFlaminius, but I stopped Diocles from leaving.
If Gaius was concerned about my dismissal ofeveryone else, his face did not show it, and I beckoned him toclimb up to where I was sitting. Looking down at me, I suppose itwas the play of the light on his features that brought out hissimilarity to my sister Valeria, but in that moment, theresemblance was so strong that if I were still praying to the godsand following their guidance, I would have ascribed it to a signfrom them. It almost stopped the words from coming out of mythroat, and I swallowed hard, determined to get out what I had tosay. Now that only Diocles was nearby, I saw Gaius' posture soften,and I waved him down next to me, and
