More Story Than Truth
Centurion Montano led his century through the final clearing in the woods after using a wilderness shortcut in the night. He'd been marching along the 285 for approximately three days before, but found the shortcut along that section of road after passing the outpost at Fairplay. Montano's experience battling all across Colorado over the years made him one of the few living possessors of knowledge about the many guerrilla paths hidden throughout Colorado's wilderness. Though he was able to pass much of the time needed to traverse the highways south of Fairplay, he needed to rest his unit and found a decent stretch of highway to put a temporary halt to his battered unit's forced march.
It was the mid afternoon and he felt a drop of rain land on his exposed arms. He wished his sleeves had remained intact because Montano was beginning to fondly remember the feeling of being on fire as he looked at the burn marks along his charred sleeves. Although, he no longer needed to force himself into finding joy in the misery because he'd made it to a decent enough place of rest. As he ordered his battered force through the clearing, he looked upon the distant river of crimson with relief. He'd finally found a good spot on the old 285 for sufficient rest and even possible re-equipping if the other battered centuries at the stretch were any indication of assistance. Montano made up enough time with that little shortcut and thought about how all he would have to do is go the opposite direction of the troop columns to reach Mesa Verde. The journey was still so far, but at that spot along the highway, it was time for that much-needed rest.
Montano ordered his battered century to camp alongside the highway on a section of the open plain and that is exactly what happened. As his unit rested, Montano planned to use this time to figure out exactly what was needed to re-equip his unit since the trek to Mesa Verde would need to be a rapid one. Montano's small personal tent was the first to be erected as he continued to assist the tattered remains of his unit. There at that camp off the 285, Montano ordered the servant Raquel to await him in the tent and do what she could to prep a place for him to focus on his reports. It wasn't long before the Centurion's soldiers had the little camp all set up since his 32nd Century went from 115 to exactly 33 in a space of a week and three days. So, once he was done assisting in the camp setup, Montano felt the freezing rain stop and gave one last order to the sole survivor of his original staff before resting. He told Falco to request a supply assist from some of the other battered centuries at this rest stop. The young senior he pulled from the child ranks years ago marched off to make the requests from those other units, knowing to leave the passing forces alone.
Though the other centuries at the rest stop had looked like they were no strangers to the Meat Grinder, the other units were in far better states than Montano's unit. He knew that the other centuries would not have soldiers to spare, but supplies were something that all centuries could usually offer, especially since they'd certainly seen Montano's arrive. Montano took a little bit of pride in having such a battered unit, but he knew that those centuries at the rest stop likely had prior engagements with Caesar's opposition still hiding all over Colorado. Though the other units were worthy of praise in their own right, the state of Montano's unit said without saying that they had recently fought under The Monster of the East. So, with Falco asking the other centuries for supply assistance, Montano ordered his unit to rest up while he figured out the best means of carrying out his current directive. Centurion Montano finally entered his personal tent, to the warmth of a fire, and Raquel the servant who, though a slave, looked as though she'd been in the legionary ranks of the last battle. He nodded at the woman and took his place at a small patch of dirt where his papers sat upon a cardboard box next to his sleeping roll.
30 minutes after taking his seat, and after going over his status reports and unit inventories twice, he had a solid idea of how to carry out his objective. There simply wasn't much he could do other than return to Mesa Verde like he'd been instructed to by Carnifex. He knew Carnifex had continued the march to Denver and Montano still felt honored to be under his leadership during the brief excursion to deal with the *Name Erased* tribe. At the same time, that didn't prevent him from wishing the battle hadn't taken such a toll on his force, not to mention the other event that diminished his headcount. Montano was more eager than ever to join The Butcher in Denver, but his orders were to reequip his unit, and Mesa Verde was the only place able to resupply and reman a century in the 32nd's condition. The only problem was that Mesa Verde was still a three-week march, and there were innumerable amounts of potential delays between Mesa Verde and his current spot on the 285.
Raquel was in the middle of bathing with a small bucket of water when Montano was done with his work. He watched the woman clean herself as he thought more about how unfavorable the state of his unit was. His orders were short, return to Mesa Verde, gather the troops to fill his century, and return. The only big issue still was the fact that Mesa Verde was a three-week march at minimum and he knew Carnifex was leading the 12th and 19th Cohorts around Denver as he sat there.
He knew three weeks wasn't that long, but that didn't account for the return trip that would likely be slower with a full force. Coupled with that, he'd served under The Butcher enough times to know that he had a habit of destroying enormous tribes in nearly a quarter of the time it would take other commanders. The task of replenishing his century and the need to return to The Monster's command was almost enough to cause anxiety. Montano then considered how he could find a bolstering century somewhere along the line, but bolstering centuries were limited, especially this far into Colorado. Because of that Montano's options remained limited. So, with every intention of returning to Lanius' Cohorts as quickly as possible, he did not know what to do about the situation other than go to Mesa Verde with hopes of stumbling across a bannerless column of soldiers to request replenishment.
Not long after Raquel had dressed herself, the Veteran Decanus Falco entered Montano's tent. Begging pardon for the intrusion, Falco got what was requested and gave his greeting before tossing the Centurion a thick long sleeved red tunic and pair of wooly black gloves accompanied by the words,
"The 59th across the highway had articles to spare for all in your century."
Montano began taking off his upper armor and threw the thick sleeved shirt on top of his half burnt garb to keep layered as he said, "Give the 59th my gratitude."
Falco replied with a fist over his heart, "Of course, My Centurion-"
and Montano added, "Did they have anything else to spare?"
"Beyond cold weather gear, the 59th granted us 80 rounds of .357, 100 rounds of 10mm, 50 rounds of 14mm, 65 rounds of 12.7, 23 infantry spears, 6 10mm machine pistols, 5 14mm pistols, 6 weapon maintenance kits, 10 sacks of healing powder, 15 bottles of bitter drink, and 2 chests of rations for march..." said Falco as if going down a memorized list.
Montano's eyes widened and before Falco could go on, he asked more to himself than to Falco, "So generous of them?..." Then met Falco's face with the question, "Did you get the Centurion's name?"
Falco halted his list and replied, "Centurion Sereno of the 59th said he has no use of the supplies he spared. He explained his unit is awaiting new directive from an expected Century and gave over the portion of his rations as punishment to his force."
Montano spoke to himself, "That takes care of equipment and elements protection... At least for the 33..." He paused again before asking his second a question whose answer he already knew, "I don't suppose he had soldiers to spare?"
"That is correct, My Centurion. What he allowed the 32nd is the equipment and arms from the 59th's involvement in a prior engagement. Although he did order me to inform you that his five armorers will have a look at any armors in need of light repairs or welding" said Falco directly.
Montano thought again out loud, "The armor of my legionaries' are beyond repair in a timely manner. We'll get new protection in Mesa Verde to accompany the legionary requisition..." Then, meeting Falco's eyes again, he said, "Run back over to the 59th and give Centurion Sereno my gratitude and request a sum for me to owe. I will see that the aid is distributed correctly, but return to me immediately. I'll have more use of you before night falls."
Falco saluted again and was dismissed. As Montano put his armor back over his new thick layer, he tossed the tattered blanket on his bedroll over to Raquel, who caught it as her master said, "Update my inventories with the supplies Decanus Falco described."
Montano stood up from the bedroll and Raquel wrapped the blanket over her shoulders as she nodded at him and took her seat at the crude cardboard "desk" space. Montano went to pick up some of his canteens resting near the fire pit when he turned to see Falco enter again.
Falco shuffled into the tent accompanied by the Prime Decanus he put as vexillarius. Before Montano could ask Falco how his task could've been completed in under two minutes, Falco said, "Centurion Montano, there may be something you should see outside."
The Centurion made no word as he walked out the tent with his two subordinates. Upon exiting the tent, Falco gestured to the road, and following behind one of the standard centuries moving up the meat grinder was an enormous black cloud. The cloud got steadily closer until he heard a foreign noise that was so rare in his life that he couldn't quite place it. The noise was a constant echo rumbling across the plains and through the trees, getting louder as the cloud got closer. Montano stood puzzled for a minute watching the distant formation get nearer and nearer. Montano was too far off the road to see the staff or officer leading the column, but he saw the distant figure reach the little rest area and begin gesturing to the staff members. The staff began leading the tailing century to the open plain across the highway and that black cloud was closer than ever. Montano had no idea what could be carrying that kind of cloud and making that low rumble until he finally saw it.
The head officer was motioning towards the small field on Montano's side of the highway. Montano made sense of the noise as each vehicle turned onto the field and he grinned with pride at sight of those Legion chariots. The officer continued to signal the chariots and Montano watched each one creep slowly towards the open little plain next to his small encampment. Montano counted 14 Legion chariots park in three little rows less than 200 yards from his century. The man was so transfixed on those vehicles he almost forgot existed that he wondered who was leading them. When all the chariots were parked, Montano saw the commander of the force was still too far to identify. Still seeing that distant commander, Montano saw the man standing in the middle of the road, clearly ordering the enormous force following the chariots where to encamp.
Montano could hear Falco and his acting vexillarius telepathically asking that question, so he answered it, "Those are Caesar's war chariots."
Both responded almost at the same time, "Truly impressive, Centurion Montano."
Though the two were more focused on the rows of chariots and their crews dismounting, Montano was still more focused on the distant man leading that massive force. After a moment of silence, Montano told the young Falco, "Proceed with your directive and deliver my gratitude to Centurion Sereno..." then altered his prior instruction, "... Then find out who's leading that formation and report back to me."
Montano didn't get the name of who was in charge of that formation, but instantly knew who it was the second Falco reported back;
"... Elite Centurion Lord Interfector of Phoenix is in charge of that force across the highway. The Elite is further up the line for counsel with Caesar, but his force is on route to Denver to bolster the Cohorts under Carnifex and replenish any Centuries as needed. This is excellent news, My Primus."
"No. It isn't..." said Montano upon hearing the news. Falco paused, waiting to better understand how to agree with his commander but Montano was lost in thought.
Centurion Montano thought back to the previous evening after passing the outpost at Fairplay. He thought he saw the Interfector of Phoenix marching by himself up the road, but Montano had diverted his force off the highway only minutes earlier after seeing the landmark for that wilderness shortcut. If that figure he saw near Fairplay was in fact the Interfector, that meant there was only one other person who could be leading the Interfector's force, and that man was Centurion Aleron. It was then that Montano began thinking about the officer signaling the chariots and centuries where to go and he could easily see Aleron as that man just by recollection of the movements he made. Finally, Montano met Falco and said;
"I will be honored to requisition replenishment forces from Lord Interfector, but not his second."
Falco was going to add something, but the look on Montano's face said that nothing further was authorized to be stated. The young senior of Montano's staff briefly recalled the stories he'd heard about his commander and the rival, even remembering the incident he arbitrated nearly five years prior. He waited patiently for Montano, but it was no use because Montano finally gave a wordless dismissal of the young man and that was that.
Montano got up to take one last look out the tent flap as Raquel set out her sleeping roll right beside her master's. The sky was dark now, and Montano looked out at the small fires and encampment around the chariots sitting in that plain. He noticed soldiers from the 59th, and the other resting centuries including his own walk to the distant vehicles. Each soldier or group at the rest stop talked with the chariot sentries before going back to their unit quietly chatting about the inevitable doom of the Hangdogs of Denver.
Montano finally went back into his tent and secured the tent flap behind him before laying down with Raquel in the dim light. Montano stayed awake a long time, more planning the best route and means of getting to Mesa Verde than anything else until he felt it was time to shut his eyes. Before Montano fell into the world of sleep, his final thoughts were about how he and Aleron managed to keep it together during the fall of the Twin Mothers. Both were there to do a job, and perhaps this was the same, perhaps the rivalry was something that was more story now than actual truth. Perhaps there was no shame in requesting aid or troop replenishment from the man he fought so many times.
A/N: This was originally part of my next chapter, but I decided to split for length concerns. Don't be surprised if you see the other part in a few days :)