Free Marius' Mules II: The Belgae by S.J.A. Turney

back, raised
his head, took a deep breath, laid his hands on the table before
him and tapped rhythmically.
    “ Your face is a mess, Fronto.”
    “ Yeth, thir.”
    “ Any point in me asking?”
    Fronto
swallowed noisily.
    “ Twipped on a wabbit hole, thir.”
    Caesar stared
at him.
    “ Stop that. You sound like an idiot.”
    “ Thir?”
    “ People always resort to slurring and impedimented speech when
they have a nasal injury or a heavy cold. It’s all psychosomatic,
just like limping. Force yourself to talk properly,
man.”
    “ Yes, general.”
    The look of
startled realization on Fronto’s face threatened to make Balbus
laugh. Caesar pulled himself straighter.
    “ Alright, gentlemen. Time for action.”
    The three men
blinked and Caesar nodded, as if in answer to an internal
question.
    “ Firstly, tell me about my two new legions.”
    “ Well…” Balventius leaned forward. “I think we’re narrowly
avoiding serious trouble, particularly with the Fourteenth. It’s
ridiculous, general. They’re encamped between all the other
legions, but none of them will even exchange a greeting with the
new men. Everyone looks down on them. And it’s not helped by the
fact that the new legions are staying firmly in their own camp and
not even trying to interact. Hell, sir… they don’t even speak Latin
when they’re amongst their own.”
    Caesar
frowned.
    “ That’s not good at all. I’ll have to do something about this.
Or rather, perhaps I should say ‘I’ll have to have something done
about it.’”
    The other
officers’ turn to frown.
    “ Caesar?”
    “ First let me explain the two legions to you. I know you’re
aware of their origin. However, you won’t have the details. Neither
of them currently has a legate assigned. I was, unfortunately, a
little tied with potential recruits. I would have preferred all
Latin speaking recruits and to have filled every centurion and
optio role with a veteran from Aquileia or Cremona.”
    He sighed.
    “ Unfortunately, I couldn't find enough suitable men. So, what I
have done is given preference to one of them: the Thirteenth has
all Latin-speaking legionaries, and each officer is a Roman
veteran. I don't want to assign any of my current staff to them, as
most would take the assignment as a demotion, given the Gaulish
nature of the Thirteenth.”
    He smiled and
shifted his gaze between the two legates.
    “ So, for the time being, I want you two, Balbus and Fronto, to
maintain command of the Thirteenth between you, as well as your
own. You have the patience to work with them. I want them fully
Romanised, integrated into my army and proud of their eagle. You
two can give them that. Once they're settled and proved, I'll look
at assigning them a legate of their own.”
    Fronto and
Balbus looked at one another. The older legate raised an eyebrow
and Fronto shrugged, immediately wincing at a number of bruises and
pulled muscles from his ‘fall’.
    “ We can do that, Caesar,” Balbus nodded. “And what of the
Fourteenth, then?”
    The general’s
expression shifted almost imperceptibly.
    “ Sadly, the Fourteenth will take considerably more effort. Only
around a half of them speak Latin with more than a few words. Less
than a quarter of the centurionate are Roman veterans; the rest are
minor chieftains among the Aedui. In all, while they’re trained as
legionaries, they still think and act like Gauls. The chief trainer
at Cremona says he’d trust them to keep formation in battle, but
that’s about as far as it goes.”
    “ So…” Fronto grunted, “basically they’re useless?”
    “ I wouldn’t say that.” Caesar smiled. “They shall be kept in
reserve. I’m going to give standing orders that they remain as camp
guards or take rearguard in battles to protect the artillery and
baggage trains… that sort of thing.”
    Fronto
nodded.
    “ I suppose it’s possible that that way they’ll learn
gradually.”
    Balventius
laughed; a harsh bark.
    “ And they