Final Campaign

put Naissus to the torch, not really seeing anypoint. I also knew from experience that while we rounded up thebulk of the townspeople, inevitably there would be those whomanaged to escape, either by hiding themselves so well we could notfind them, or they managed to flee before we surrounded the town.When Marcus Crassus had taken the town, he had purposely left abouta third of the inhabitants behind; this time my best guess was thatit was perhaps a tenth part of the population. By the time we brokecamp, it was almost a week from when we were ambushed and, withsome help, I managed to climb aboard Ocelus, who was in much bettershape than I was. His sutures had already been removed, but Diocleshad fashioned a piece of padding that lay between Ocelus' hide andthe saddle, which he continually tried to snatch with his teeth atinopportune times by twisting his neck so that he essentially waslooking back at me. This would have been more amusing than anythingelse if it were not for the fact that my injured leg was in theway, and he did not seem to care all that much that shoving hismouth in between my leg and his side caused me a great deal ofagony. Finally, in exasperation, I yanked the padding out fromunder his saddle, and that stopped him.

Plodding along, just in front of the baggagetrain, were some five thousand prisoners, a much larger number thanI would have thought. As we learned, despite Crassus' depopulationof the town, people from all over Moesia came flocking back toNaissus to take advantage of the abandoned houses and glut of jobsthat are a requirement to run a town of any size. Perhaps best ofall, there was a large number of men, which I attributed toMacrinus and Flaminius being able to curb the men's bloodlust afterthe town fell. Specimens like the ones sullenly marching along, therattle of their chains traveling all the way up the column, makingan almost musical sound, would fetch the best possible prices fromthe slavers waiting in Siscia. The only sour note was there werenot enough women to suit the Legionaries' tastes, which turned outto be a problem that reverberated all the way up the ranks to me.Not surprisingly, there was more than the usual number of quarrelsduring the aftermath of Naissus falling, and while most of themwere resolved without being brought to my attention, there were twocases where the ultimate tragedy occurred, when two men slew theirrivals for possession of the maiden in question. There was one suchcase from each Legion, and one of them was not really a surprise;there had been bad blood stemming from some long-forgotten disputebetween the two Legionaries of the 13^th, culminating inone man plunging his dagger into the eye socket of the other. Itwas the case in the 8^th that was the tragedy,particularly because it occurred in the Century of the Fifth Cohortthat had already suffered the loss of their Centurion and theignominy of losing their standard, although it had been recovered,found in the great hall of the town. These two men were closecomrades, but something had happened during the ambush thatapparently was the cause of some sort of falling-out between them.None of the other men in their Century knew exactly what hadhappened, or at least that was what they claimed; I suspected thatthis was one of those matters where none of the Centurions orOptios involved would ever know the truth. What everyone agreed onwas that things had been extremely tense between the two since theambush, and the dispute over the woman was just a catalyst.Ultimately, it did not matter; one man killed the other, stabbinghim in the chest with his sword. Then, realizing what he had done,the surviving Legionary broke down and tried to use his sword onhimself, but was wrestled to the ground and disarmed by his shockedcomrades. Frankly, they did not do me any favors, for it would havemade matters much simpler if they had let him end himself. Despitethe fact that the regulations are very clear, as was thepunishment, I had decided that this was one time I would pass theproblem along, ordering only that the two men were kept in closeconfinement and under guard for the rest of the way to Siscia.There, I would turn their cases over to Norbanus to decide theirpunishment as he saw fit. I had enough blood on my hands at thispoint, and knowing that I was at the likely end of my career, I didnot want one of my last official acts to be the execution ofLegionaries of Rome. Otherwise, I was cautiously pleased with theresults from our assault on Naissus. Between the sale of the slavesand what the men had taken in loot, the report I had received fromthe Primi Pili and Pili Priores was that, other than the problem ofthe women, the men were happy with their shares. That was at leastone problem solved, or so I hoped.

It was the end of September that we arrivedin Siscia, and in a similar manner to what had taken place fiveyears before, when I brought the army back after Marcus Crassus wasrelieved, it was a smaller version of a triumphal parade. Men fromthe Legions left behind were lining the streets, along with theirfamilies, and the families of the men of the returning Legions,making for a festival atmosphere. For most of the returning men, atleast, but while it was hard for me to share in the men's elation,I did forget my own troubles when I saw Iras, holding Gaius'youngest in her arms and, standing next to her, was my firstborngrandson, named for me.

"Avus!"

Somehow, I heard his tiny voice cut throughthe tumult of all the adult voices calling out to loved ones, butmy heart seized when, before Iras could react, young Titus camedarting out of the crowd, clearly intent on being the first togreet me. Even under the best of circumstances, this would havebeen somewhat dangerous for a young boy to get underfoot, but whatmade it even more so was because I was in the middle of