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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3446650" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 142THE MEN OF THE LEGIONDar had not chosen the three legionaries by accident.Following his initial encounter with the former commander of the Border Legion, the bowl-shaped valley of the legion camp had been thrown into chaos.  Noncoms had rushed about shouting orders, and common soldiers and officers alike had run about as they hastened in their preparation for departure.  A particular building, half-buried in the hillside overlooking the camp, had seen a particular intensity of foot traffic.  Men had come and gone in a steady stream, often leaving with burdens wrapped in sackcloth, or entering with items and leaving without them a few minutes later.  Inside, the place had been crowded with crates, barrels, and other sundries, packed close around the walls.  Legionaries came and went, exchanging words with the lean man standing to one side of the place, his iron eyes weighing every detail of the men who entered.  The light was weak, cast by a few tallow candles set into niches in the walls, but it had been enough to reveal the twin brands blazed into his cheeks; the mark of a convicted thief. The branded man had worked quickly.  Goods and coins exchanged hands quickly, the men turning and departing as soon as their business had been completed, only to be replaced by another.  The thief was assisted by a pair of brawny youths who moved gear out of the containers into the hands of the soldiers, as needed.  The coins all vanished into the pockets of the thief, as if by magic. A tall man whose head and shoulders were masked by a cowled cloak entered, ducking as he passed through the crowded lintel.  “All right, move it along, move it along,” the thief said, chivvying the men who moved past the newcomer toward the exit, their business just concluded.  “Kalend?” the newcomer asked, his head still low, although the rafters inside were high enough to provide sufficient clearance. “Yeah, what you got?” the marked man said.  “I’m sorry to rush things, but we’ve got to get moving, I’m liquidating everything at reduced prices.  The new colonel...”He trailed off, as he looked at the newcomer, who had still not straightened to reveal his face.  “Ah,” Kalend said.  “Welcome, Colonel Dar.”The man now did stand fully, pulling back his hood.  Kalend’s two assistants pulled back in alarm, and those legionaries waiting behind him very suddenly decided that they had to be someplace else, now.  Kalend just looked at his superior officer, his eyes calm.  “Is there something I can do for you, colonel?”Dar reached over and yanked open one of the crates.  He took a look inside.  “Illegal dealing in legion supplies during a time of war is a capital offense,” he said simply. The two young soldiers blanched, but Kalend merely nodded.  There was a dagger on the small table beside him, but he made no move for it; he reached slowly into his cloak, drawing out a fat purse.  He dropped it onto the knife; the purse landed with a fat clink.  “You see these marks, colonel,” he said, turning his head slightly to clearly show the brands on his cheeks.  “I spent a great deal of time trying to hide them... until I finally realized, one day, that they merely identified what I am.”Dar regarded him for a long moment.  Finally, he gestured to the two soldiers.  “Get out of here.  Tell Sergeant Callus to get a crew up here, to clear out these supplies.”The two men let out a pair of audible sighs of relief and exited with great dispatch. Kalend said nothing, waiting.  Dar motioned to the purse.  Kalend tossed it over to him.  Dar looked at him, and after a moment the thief drew out another purse, which went over as well. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear,” Dar had said.  “I am going to need every single man for what we’re heading into, but I am neither forgetting, nor forgiving.”  He extended a finger and pointed to the thief as he pocketed the two purses.  “Your life, it belongs to me now.”Kalend nodded.  “Fair enough.”* * * * * True to Dar’s initial word, the first lines of soldiers and animals had been moving through the mountains by the time that the sun had disappeared behind the line of peaks to the west, trailing a long stream of auxilaries, pack animals, supply carts, and camp followers.  The latter had been forced to hurry to keep up; their new colonel had set a harsh pace, one that had sparked more than a few complaints from the men of the Legion.  But after word had spread of how their new commander had handled the reluctance of the old, nobody had offered an official protest.  They had maintained their march until the twilight had deepened almost to full night, setting camp in the foothills already a good distance below the mountain valley.  Exhausted even from the half-day’s march, and sensing that even longer days were ahead, the men of the Legion had staked their tents and retired to an exhausted rest. They had been right about the tenor of the march, and the will of their new commander.  The pace was even rougher the next day, and their supplies and support had fallen further behind as they reached the lowlands and really began to eat up the miles.  A number of men had fallen out, unable to continue, but every time someone had flagged, it seemed that Dar had been there.  He had a horse, but the colonel walked as often as not, and those who faltered had to face their leader’s cold stare.  A few had been left behind to catch up with the supply train, but the majority of those who’d had problems rejoined the column, digging deeper into reserves of energy to somehow keep on going. They had pushed on that day until they came to one of the small, scattered settlements that lay in the shadow of the Galerr Mountains.  The place had been barely long enough to even be called a “village” proper, occupied by only a few dozen steaders.  The Legion set up camp in a ring around the place.  The steaders had protested when Dar had claimed their animals and extra food supplies for provender for his men, but they had been wise enough not to press their complaints too aggressively.  Dar had paid with the coin he’d taken from Kalend, which had at least mollified their protests somewhat.  That night, the legion had fallen into another exhausted sleep, but a commotion in the village had disturbed their rest just after midnight.  Dar had shown up quickly, a cloak hastily thrown over his muscled form.  A light drizzle had begun to fall, as he and several of his officers entered a sagging old barn in the back of the village.The barn had been occupied by several villagers, including the headman, a grizzled but broad-shouldered man who carried an axe handle as though it was a Legion broadsword.  He had been the one who had negotiated with Dar earlier, for the animals and foodstuffs.  Dar had taken in the scene quickly.  There was a girl, her hair and dress quite obviously mussed.  And one of his men, a muscled hulk clad only in a legion undertunic, flanked by armed soldiers.  “This bastard prick raped my daughter, colonel,” the headman had said.  “She gave it up, right eno—“ the legionary had begun, but was interrupted as Dar lifted a finger.  “Shut.  Up.” Dar had turned to the headman.  “We’ll handle this.”“But my daughter...”“We’re at war, steader.  You will be... compensated... for your loss, but I need to be on the road at dawn.”The man had not been happy, but he saw the look in Dar’s eyes, and did not challenge him.  Taking his daughter and his men with him, he had allowed himself to be escorted from the barn by one of Dar’s officers.Dar had walked over to the half-naked legionary.  “You are out of uniform, soldier.”“Sir, yes sir!” “What is your name?”“Arias Bullo, sir!”  “I have heard your name before, Bullo.  Your officers say that you are a fierce fighter.”“Sir, I like to kick some ass, sir!” “But apparently, your talents in the fight do not carry over to good decision-making.”  Dar stepped closer.  “Legionary Bullo, did I, or did I not, give orders that the legion wasn’t to mess with the locals?”“Sir, as I said, she came to me...”Dar smashed him hard in the stomach.  The legionary was as big as he was, but the blow blasted the air out of his lungs, and he fell to the ground.  “I don’t give a crap about some peasant wench, soldier.  Did I, or did I not, give orders not to mess with the villagers?”  The soldier managed to look up, but wasn’t able to respond. “Pick him up,” Dar had said to the other soldiers.  He turned to leave, but shot a look over at his officers.  “Give him fifty stripes in the morning, in the middle of the village.”  He started toward the doorway of the barn, but paused.  “I am going to need every man for what’s coming,” he said, looking at Bullo, but his words were meant for all of them.  “We are heading into some serious crap, mark me.  I need to know I can count on the men who have my back.”Bullo had been helped up by the soldiers flanking him, but now he shrugged them off.  “Sir, yes sir!” he rasped.  Dar nodded, and left.  * * * * * The weather had turned nasty.  Gusts of wind caused the walls of the tent to flap madly, and the flames of the two lamps flickered fitfully, casting everything inside into shadow. Dar looked at the man that had been brought before him.  The soldier was covered in blood and mud, and he looked as though he’d been trampled in a stampede.  He had been healed, but he still bore the marks of his wounds, his face and bare arms scarred with acid burns.  A faint trickle of blood trickled down his face from a gash over his left eye. “Legionary, I most assuredly do not need this crap right now,” Dar said.   The injured man did not respond.Dar looked him over.  The man had to be in pain from his wounds, but he did not quiver under the scrutiny.  “You’re a fighter, Travius, and I’m going to need every fighter I can get for what’s coming,” Dar said.  “But this is a legion, soldier, not a mob.  I don’t want a man at my back who will not follow orders.”Something flickered in the man’s eyes, but he remained silent.  Dar glanced over at his senior sergeant, a scarred man by the name of Callus.  He had already heard the legionary’s story from him before Travius had been brought in.  “Jovran was already dead.  All you managed to accomplish by your reckless charge was to jeopardize your own life, and the lives of your squadmates.”At that the injured man finally spoke.  “I had to try to save him, colonel.”  Dar rose from his camp chair.  He turned and walked across the interior of the small command tent.  “It’s true then, what they’ve said about the two of you?  Or are you going to deny it?”Travius looked up at him.  “I won’t deny his memory, not now, not ever, colonel.”Dar nodded to himself, and continued pacing across the limited interior of the tent.  “Personally, I don’t give a crap who or what you stick it in, soldier.”  He sat back down.  “But you disobeyed a direct order from your superior, in a combat situation.  Never mind that you killed those two ankhegs by yourself,” he added in a quiet undertone, almost to himself. Travius did not respond. “What am I supposed to do with you, Travius?  Captain Valdes has made it clear that he doesn’t want you back in his century.”“Because of what I am.”Dar smashed his fist down on his folding camp table, nearly unbalancing it.  “No, damn it, because you defied his orders!”  But the colonel frowned; he was too much a veteran of the camp life to deny that the man’s words rang of truth.  Prejudice, in this instance, could be lethal in some cases.  “As I said, Travius, I can’t afford to lose a single man.  Starting now, you’re in my century.  But let me be clear.  We’re marching into war, here.  I don’t want to hear a fricking peep out of your sergeant regarding you, do you understand me?”“Yes, sir.”“Ten lashes,” Dar said to Callus.  “Put him in Durvan’s squad, it’s understrength.  And have Callipetes look at those burns.”“Sir, yes sir!” As the sergeant escorted the Legionary out of the tent, Dar sat quietly, a contemplative frown on his face.  “Disobeying orders,” he muttered.  He looked around the interior of his tent, his gaze finally settling on Valor, the sword lying in its scabbard atop his cot.  He was tired, and they had a long march ahead again tomorrow, but he sat there and looked at it for a long time.</blockquote>

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