The Augur
The start of the Civil War was the best day of my life. Since then I have become more powerful then I would have ever been under the Praetors. They suck the power out of everyone else that wishes to rise to the top.
I have my own army, fully equipped with the best armor and weapons of the once-great New Rome. A few times there are some bigger problems that we face, but who doesn't have to?
It's either the Ex-Legionnaires complaining and starting fights or entire squads disappearing and dying outside the walls. I suspect those fake Romans to be the cause of the latter one. Those idiots, who follow a Praetor instead of me. We found an entire squad of people dead, only a kilometer away from our walls. There were no survivors, or if there were, they didn't come back to us. Their leader, Brutus I think his name was, was found lying with his men on the ground. For some reason, his entire head was black and crumbling. One of the soldiers touched Brutus. Since then the soldier has died from this same black substance. His body dissolved. Strange.
All the equipment was stolen off of the corpses, probably taken back to be used by those Greek-Lovers. It doesn't matter, I have most of my army still here in this fort, numbering in the One thousand the last time I checked. The number grows every day, as more and more ex-soldiers return from the outside world, getting our call for help. Let the Praetor attack this fort. It will hold its ground against any number of soldiers.
I was thinking about a plan to place a moat around the Fort when someone walked in.
"Good evening, Pontifex." The Voice said.
"Hello Valentina, what brings you here?"
"I'm back from the mission you sent me to."
"Oh, really? And what's the result?"
She took a deep breath, and then gave me the report.
"I was able to find out many things. For instance, yesterday one of our squads was destroyed while they tried to ambush a scouting party. Their equipment was carted back to their camp."
Just as I thought.
"Continue."
"I was able to cause some Chaos, even if I'm not Brutus." She Grinned.
"How did you do that?"
"I planted Bombs in Their Command tent as well as the tent of Gloria. A portion of the camp was destroyed by the fire, Gloria is dead, along with eight others."
That news actually surprised me, for I never thought that Valentina would be able to do something as big as this. Gloria, Finally dead.
"Sadly, they appointed a new Praetor. If the name means anything, then it's Drake Viscount."
"Well, that's not really a surprise. He was always trying to be the first in everything, even before the war. Yes, Continue. A minor annoyance, that's all."
"I tried to assassinate him during the funeral of the old Praetor, but the knife failed to connect with the target."
"What happened there?" It was rare that Valentina failed an assassination. She could always surprise me with her mastery of the art of subterfuge.
"There is someone in their camp who is stronger than anyone I have ever felt before. He's from the Greek Camp, but I don't know who he is. He nearly caught me, and I could only stop him when I drained his energy. I couldn't keep his power for it was such a large amount, that it was eating me up inside. I had to disperse it. He is dangerous, I can feel that."
"Thank you, Valentina. He'll be the main priority when they attack."
"How did you know that they're planning an attack?" She asked, slightly miffed that she didn't get to say it.
"Sacrifices can show many things." I said, "You should get some sleep, you must be tired after this mission."
"Thank you, Pontifex." She bowed her head and then left. I noted that she had a slight limp on her right leg.
I let out a sigh.
"She's good?"
"Yes, Dravin, she's good."
"You sure boss?"
I turned around and faced my bodyguard. A descendant of the Germani, strong, and extremely loyal. That's why I chose him.
"We need as many people as possible for the oncoming attack. Leave the people alone, don't kill them."
Dravin grunted and walked back into the shadows of the first column.
I walked to the body-sized window that was placed into the wall facing a drop to death.
"Let them attack..." I mused.
In front of me, my massive army hurried around camp, the orders to reinforce the Fort already passed around.
Daniel
I was still sitting on the ground, sipping the canteen of Nectar. I summoned my Sword back, but I regretted it instantly. It literally hurt just to summon back my weapon, that's how little power I had left. While I sat there, the medics rushed over to the guard who was stabbed by Valentina. He was pronounced dead as soon as they got there. After a few minutes, I had regained most of my strength, so I stood up. I then started pacing round and round, anger boiling inside me. No-one could get away with taking my powers. I stabbed my sword into the ground as hard as I could and growled.
"Dan, don't get angry. You tried your best, and at least you saved Viscount." Sophia told me.
"And two people died instead of him. Is his life really worth two others?" I said, putting my head in my hands.
"Losing him would have been a massive blow to the Moral. Viscount is the glue that is keeping this place together."
I kept pacing round and round, blowing off steam, when a soldier arrived.
"Sir, the Praetor requests your presence at the courtyard immediately."
"Great." I laughed, but there was no humor in it. Viscount had left ten minutes ago without saying anything.
I walked back the way I came until I saw the Centurions Standing around in a Circle.
Viscount nodded at me.
"Is there a spy in our midst?" He asked once me and Sophia had joined the circle.
"No." Everyone chorused, even me and Sophia. Viscount closed his eyes and touched his tattoo. The tattoo on his forearm started glowing. He winced for a second until the glowing stopped. He then opened his eyes.
"Good. Sorry, I just had to make sure. Let's begin." He cleared his throat. "We need to attack the Augur."
Everyone started muttering.
"Did I hear it right, He must be crazy!"
"We'll all die."
"He's lost it!"
And many more conversations like these started up.
"Everyone, keep quiet!" Viscount shouted while lifting up his hand. Soon enough, people calmed down.
"We must avenge our Brothers. We cannot allow this Civil war to keep going. We must stop, and the way to do it is to attack."
"And how do we do that?"
"In my spare time, I studied Temple Hill, which was converted into the Augur's Fort. There's one part of the wall which is built over a massive and abandoned Basilisk Nest. The Augur probably doesn't know this. We, however, cannot direct our entire force at that wall, otherwise, they can just move their superior army over to the weaker wall part, and we're screwed. Instead what we need is a distraction. What I believe we should do is attack their army with the Second Cohort and the Centuries Four and Five from the First Cohort, while Centuries One, Two and Three from the First cohort attack the wall with a bomb. We should give those soldiers all the good gear we can, so they can put up a good fight once inside the Fort. They then clear the walls and attack the army from inside the fort."
"Are you sure it'll work?" Grawon asked.
"I'm sure, yes."
"What about the First Cohort? We've lost a lot of Centurions who lead them. Flavius, Max, they're gone. You're the Praetor, and I'm just one man."
"The first three centuries will be lead by Melvin and Mary. I'd like the Primus Pilus to be Sophia."
"What?" Sophia asked.
"I'd like you to lead the attack on the weakened wall. Four-Hundred and Fifty men. You'll get Optio Stevens to aid you, along with the Two Centurions. I need someone with a good mind for strategy. A Child of Minerva would be perfect for the job."
"I-I..."
"What does Primus Pilus mean?" I asked.
"It means First spear or the Centurion of the First Century of the First Cohort."
"I don't know what to say to that." Said Sophia, continuing from where I interrupted her.
"We need your help."
She sighed deeply. "Then I'll do it. If it's so important."
"Now the only part we haven't discussed yet is how to get rid of the mines. I believe Sophia has an answer to that problem. Please tell us."
"This plan greatly relies on Nico, our Companion. He's the Son of Poseidon, so he's able to control water. If we can cause the Little Tiber to wash over the minefield, it could trigger the mines."
"That's pretty good. It could work."
The other centurions murmured assent.
Viscount turned towards me.
"When can we attack, when will the soldiers be ready?"
"If we start training every day, I'd say in a week they'd stand a chance to fight."
"Good. After we place the two Legionaries that died during the assassination attempt onto the funeral pyre, we'll clear the courtyard, and the training program will begin. Non-stop. We have five-minute breaks every hour."
"Okay," I said.
"One final thing. It seems all of our Lares have disappeared. I'm not sure why, but they aren't here anymore."
Most people shrugged.
"Dismissed."
Me and Sophia walked back to our tent, and when we drew the flap to the side, we noticed we had a visitor.
"Hey, did I miss anything?" Nico asked. He had a bandage tied around his head, but other than that he looked fine.
"Nico, you're better!" I walked over to him and clasped his hand warmly. Sophia ran over to him and hugged him.
"You missed a bit, but it's nothing too important," I told him.
"Nothing too important? The camp was set aflame, the old Praetor died, and Viscount became the new Praetor. Also, there was an assassination attempt, that Viscount only survived cause you were there. That's pretty significant."
I grinned.
"You've been Up to date I see. Yes, those all happened."
"Are you okay?"
"Nothing that won't heal. Two Innocents died though. Two people, I could have saved." I Cursed my incompetence.
"Listen, Nico, we need to talk," Sophia said, stopping Nico from asking me any more questions.
"About what?"
"How strong do you feel?"
"I'm pretty much okay."
"Good, I want to ask if it's okay with you. I have a plan to disable the minefield around the Augur's Fort, and it requires you."
"What do I have to do?"
"You have to control the Little Tiber, make it wash over the minefield."
"Seems easy enough. Sure."
"Thanks, Nico," I said, patting him on the shoulder.
"So what now?"
"Soon enough we'll have training. For an entire week."
"Why did I have to wake up today?"
"I'm not looking forward to Daniel's training regime either," Sophia muttered.
I laughed, "It won't be that bad guys, you'll see."
One Week Later
"My Fucking Legs, I can't feel them." Sophia moaned.
"Happens sometimes," I told her, my mouth full.
We were eating in the dining area, having finished the very last training session of the week.
"Soldiers, Listen up!" Viscount was standing on a table, holding a megaphone in his hands. "After a week of thorough training, we are finally good enough to fight the Augur!"
"HURRAH!" The soldiers cheered.
"We will show them what it means to be ROMAN!"
"YES!"
"In half an hour, we will march out of those gates to war, hopefully for the last time! FOR WE WILL RETURN VICTORIOUS!"
Everyone started cheering and clapping.
"Now go back to your tents and pack up everything. We won't leave behind anything."
"YES, SIR!" Chorused Nine hundred Soldiers.
Me, Sophia and Nico walked back to our tents, to pack what little stuff we had. The Ambrosia and Nectar we had brought was gone, taken by the medics to be used for the wounded, the drachmae were still with us though, seeing as how the entire Camp was still surrounded by some magical barrier. Viscount had said that Rebecca, the Ambassador of Pluto, had tried sending an Iris message to us when the Civil war started, but it didn't work. We didn't want to waste a Drachma to see if anything had changed since then.
For the first time since the scouting mission, I put on my robe. It felt good to be wearing it again.
I tied my scabbards around my waist, then I placed my swords in them. I sheathed my knives into the inside of my robe. Finally, I compacted my bow, a cool trick I learned from my father so that it fitted into my pocket. I could've slung it onto my back, but then I wouldn't have had been able to carry a backpack. My backpack contained my clothes, and basically everything else I had brought with myself.
Sophia was doing the same as me. She packed her bag with clothes. She had no armor, but she was going to get some from the Camp Prefect when it was time for battle. Her sword was in a custom scabbard around her waist. She had decided to name her sword Bolt because it looks like a lightning bolt. I personally thought that it was a lame name for a sword, but she had a sword in her hand at the time, so I decided against telling her.
Nico had the least stuff to pack. Clothes, a few drachmae, nothing special. He tied his Imperial Gold Sword around his waist.
We were ready to go. The Romans would deconstruct our tent, so we didn't have to do that.
"It's good to have you back with us Nico," I told him as we walked outside.
"Thanks." He replied.
Then we pulled away the Tent flap, and we saw that half the camp was already taken apart. The other half was in the process of being dismantled. Romans walked up to our tent as soon as we had stepped out, and they pulled a tiny lever on its side. The tent collapsed in on itself until it was a piece of cloth.
All three of us stared in disbelief at the piece of cloth in the hands of the Legionary.
The Legionary grinned, before putting it away into his backpack.
That. Was. Awesome.
We walked over to the gate, where already the Centuries were forming up. The entire Camp was gone, even the walls.
Finally, a few minutes later, a horn was blown, signaling that the march was starting. If you haven't looked behind you and seen nearly one thousand soldiers in armor march in unison, then you haven't lived yet. Us three marched beside Viscount.
Slowly but surely we made our way through the wasteland of the once beautiful city of New Rome. It took two hours, but we arrived at a position behind the Little Tiber, which could be perfectly defended. The fort was in the range of our eyesight, but we weren't close enough for their Ballistae and Scorpions. We started clearing the area of rubble for our tents and defenses. I must say that Romans are quick because, in yet another two hours, a new fort was set up, made out of earth and surrounded by a wooden palisade.
It was evening by the time everyone had settled down. The Augur didn't react with an army, yet. But it was clear that they had spotted us. On the walls, soldiers were running to and fro.
We were outnumbered.
"The Praetor calls for you." A Soldier told us.
"Thank you," Sophia said.
We arrived and sat down immediately.
"Welcome! Let us talk through the plan one last time. Cohort One, Century One, Two and Three will attack the weakened wall, the bomb is currently getting taken over by a small unit, while we're under the cover of night. It'll be easy enough to find. Cohort One, Century Four and Five you attack from the Right while Cohort two attacks from the left."
"What about the mines?" Grawon asked.
"I believe Nico will be dealing with them," Sophia said.
"Yep."
"Who'll be leading the Centuries?" I asked.
"Sophia will be the Primus Pilus, as discussed before. Cohort One, Century Two will be lead by Centurion Mary, and Century Three by Centurion Melvin. Century Four by Centurion Rodgers, Five by Centurion Fredrick. Cohort Two, Century One will be lead by Me, Century Two by Daniel, Three by Grawon, Four by Scott, Five by Wagner, Six by Taylor. Is everyone clear about this?"
Every Centurion nodded.
"And how are you so certain that the Augur's army will be outside the fort?" I asked.
"It's not good if a massive amount of Soldiers are crammed into a small space. He'll want to use his overwhelming numbers."
"True," I muttered.
"Any other Questions?"
Nobody said anything.
"Good, in that case, goodnight everyone. Dismissed."
Everyone got up, and we walked off to our tents, now newly set up. I fell onto my bed, and my eyes began to close.
"Goodnight everyone!" I said.
"Goodnight," Sophia muttered.
"Goodnight!" Nico whispered.
I fell asleep.
Sophia
I knew full well that I had to sleep, but I just couldn't. Too much had happened recently. Probably the most important thing is that I'm supposed to lead around Five hundred Soldiers against a fort that looks impenetrable. I'm the daughter of Athena, strategy is my thing, but controlling such a big force is hard without practice. I was doubtful I could even do it. Alongside this, I was also worried about Daniel. I mean, I saw him fight before, but this is different. He's charging headfirst against a force nearly double the size of theirs, just so I could lead an attack on the flanks.
Finally, my tiredness got the better of me, and I fell asleep, still troubled about tomorrow.