Free Soldier of Rome: The Sacrovir Revolt (The Artorian Chronicles) by James Mace

extra duties, you get paid more than the rest of us section leaders. For example, Rufio has been in the army for over fourteen years, four as a decanus, yet with your incentive pay you make about a third more than he does. Statorius’ way of thinking, the highest paid sergeant needs to be the one who sets the highest standards. And to be quite frank, I agree with him.”
    Artorius nodded. “Believe me, they make certain I earn that incentive pay. I’m just glad Vitruvius kept good notes. Otherwise, I’d be completely lost as chief weapons instructor.”
     
    “Oh, come on! Why do I have latrine duty next month?” Carbo complained.
    “Keep whining and you will have it every day for the next six months,” Artorius answered. He was mildly irritated and was in no mood to put up with any of the incessant bickering and complaining that usually followed after the duty roster was posted.
    “Better yet, spend less time getting drunk and learn a skill so that you don’t have to show up on the duty roster anymore,” Decimus taunted.
    This elicited a string of colorful profanities from Carbo. Decimus’ schedule for working in the leather shops, a skill which had given him his immune status, as well as incentive pay, was given to Artorius at the start of each month by the primus ordo who supervised all of the legion’s specialists.
    Artorius shook his head and left the room. He noticed that Magnus was not in the barracks. Not that it mattered. Magnus was the least likely to complain about anything, no matter how unpleasant. Artorius figured that was why he did not like the thought of giving the less desirable details to his old friend. Old friend . The term sat hard with him. Though Magnus was one of his closest companions, he had to make it a point to not show favoritism towards him. Everyone knew the two were best of friends, However, Artorius could never allow it to show when it came to things such as assigning duties, otherwise he would lose the confidence and trust of his soldiers.
    It certainly wasn’t easy adapting to the change from legionary to sergeant .
    H owever, it was something he was just going to have to get used to. He would need to talk to Magnus soon. He had yet to tell him about Macro elevating him to immune status. Artorius smiled at how ecstatic Magnus would be, particularly when it came to the extra pay.
     
    While the decanii of the Second Century had been at their meeting, centurions and options of the entire cohort were in a meeting of their own. There were six eighty-man centuries within the cohort, which fell under command of the centurion pilus prior, who also commanded the First Century. Valerius Proculus was the pilus prior for the Third Cohort, and had been for some years. A veteran soldier in his forties, his gray hair was just starting to recede from his forehead.
    “As you all are fully aware,” he began, “it has been some time since we last crossed the Rhine in any force to let the barbarians know we are still here.”
    The centurions and options nodded in agreement. All had fought against Arminius, the hated war chief of the Cherusci who had orchestrated the Teutoburger Wald disaster eleven years previously. Centurion Platorius Macro, Commander of the Second Century, had survived that disaster. The campaigns against Arminius had been fierce and brutal, many thousands of barbarians paying the ultimate price for their treachery. Though Arminius himself had eluded capture, the Cherusci were completely shattered and had scattered to the winds. The Battle of Idistaviso, near the Weser River, had broken his army; the assault on the Angrivarii stronghold annihilated his people.
    “The commanding general thinks it is time for us to reconnoiter east of the Rhine,” Proculus continued, “so that we may not only show our presence to the Germans, but also see to it that they are not massing against us again.”
    “How large of a force are we talking about?” Centurion Vitruvius asked.
    “No