Withthe ceremony done Bitt’s group was led off to the left while the prey
specieswere led off to the right. The fox turned and looked back at the prey
tiros. Hewondered if he would ever see the rabbit again. “Bitt,” the
centurion ordered. “You’re nothere to gawk.” “Yes sir!” They were lined
up on one side of the paradeground so that the centurion was standing in the
shade of the only tree. “Here is your uniform,” the centurion said. A
legionnaire walked down the line ofrecruits. He came to Bitt and shoved a pile
of clothes into the fox’s hands. Bitt found it consisted of:1Tunic, linen,
red.1Cape with hood.1belt, leather with dangly bits in front1pair
sandals,1wooden canteen2pieces of oddly shaped linen cloth. He held up the
tunic and found it was prettyshort. It wouldn’t even go down to his knees.
“Where is the rest?” “You’ve been issued everything,” thecenturion snarled.
He eyed the tunic carefully. On closerexamination it didn’t seem to get any
bigger. “Where are the pants?” “Pants? You don’t need any pants,”
thecenturion countered. “A tunic is good enough for me and its good enough
foryou.” The wolf was wearing a red tunic held inplace by a leather belt
whose buckle was of silver chased with gold. All he hadon below the tunic was a
pair of sandals on his paws. Bitt had traveled light. Aside from
severalshirts and tunics he had three pairs of pants and a pair of shoes. Also
he hada knife, fork, spoon of pewter, a small bronze bowl to eat from and brush
andcomb all of which were stuffed into a large satchel made of linen. “This
is Vinius,” the centurion said andpointed to one of the people standing nearby.
“He is the Decanus of your newContubernium.” The figure that stepped forward
was acanine. The dog had thin fur the color of bleached sand and a bushy tail
thatcurled up so much its tip rubbed the back of the red tunic he was wearing.
“Do you speak Aramaic?” The canine asked in somewhatstilted Latine. “A
little,” the fox responded. “I do speakLatine well.” The canine just scowled
at him. “You’d bestlearn it. Not only do all the civilians speak it but most of
the legionnairesas well.” “I’m good at languages,” Bitt responded. “Ihope
so,” Vinius responded darkly. “What did you bring with you?” Vinius askedas
they walked. “Aside from that satchel.” “Just the essentials,” Bitt
answeredhonestly. “Some boots, a few tunics and pants and a knife, fork and
spoon. Ohand a brush and comb.” The Decanus nodded. “Traveled light?
Good.You’ll need to get an extra tunic or two and another pair of sandals,”
Viniuscommented. “Also you might want a decentchest to store things in.
There’s a place outside the gate I’ll show you.” Thebarracks was a long low,
one story structure with white plastered walls andlined with doors. The place
was alive with people. Wolves, dogs, lions,leopards and other species that Bitt
didn’t recognize were moving about. Somewere in armor and some weren’t but all
were plainly legionnaires. The fox triedto take it all in and noticed one fact.
“No Long Ears?” Bitt asked. “What?” The canine asked. “Sorry,” Bitt
responded. “All I see arecarnivores. No herbivores?” Vinius pointed to
across the open paradeground. “They are in the second century.” “They two
don’t serve together?” Bitt wassurprised. Vinius cocked his head to one
side. “Ofcourse not. They’re in different centuries.” “They do in the
Tenth,” The fox countered. The canine came to a halt. “Well. This isn’tthe
Tenth. Now is it?” He snarled. He shook his head. “No sir. No it’s not.”And
the two kept walking. They were greeted at the door by a tall lionin full
armor and weapons who was just leaving. “This is Tossius,” The Decanus said.
Vinius pointed to a leopard seated on abunk. The feline was wearing a
somewhat battered tunic and was cleaning hisarmor. But the feline seemed to be
more interested in the jug next to him on thebed. “That is Eteiwi.” He
pointed to the fox. “Eteiwi, this isBitilus our newest Tiro,” “Most just
call me Bitt.” Bitt bowed to the feline who only nodded hishead in response.
“Another Tiro to worry about.” “As warm and friendly as always,”
Viniussnarled. Decebalus was relatively tall and fromlooking at him Bitilus
was reminded of the gray wolves back home. But he wasthinner and could be
described as lanky. His fur was a light brown except alonghis back where it was
dark to the point it could almost be black. Their part of the barracks and
Bitt’s newhome was a large room. The walls closest to the door were lined with
racks andtables holding the legionnaires equipment, weapons and armor. The back
part wascrowded with five sets of bunk beds. Against one wall was a small
stove. It wasreally just some stones carefully mortared into a little walled
fire pit barelyankle high. To boil water you placed a pot filled with water on
the stones andit was positioned so the flames just touching the bottom. Just
the rightheight. To grill something they used either a wire grill or a metal
plateplaced on the walls. Simple but practical and it worked fine. Bitt was
assigned 2 pegs, a section of shelfand square of floor space for his tunic &
cape, helmet and shieldrespectively. “What is this?” Bitt said and held up
one ofthe odd, roughly triangularly shaped pieces of linen. “That is your
subligaculum,”the hyena answered. “And exactly what is a subligaculum?”
Heasked. “It’s a loin cloth,” The hyena explained.”Haven’t you ever worn one
before?” “I’m from the north” Bitt explained. “Wecover the important body
parts. What isn’t covered in deep winter will freezeand fall off.” Several
of the legionnaires winced and theothers laughed. “Your biggest enemy here,”
the lionexplained. “Is the heat. Trying to keep cool.” “How do I put this
on?” The fox asked. “First, tie the strings around your waistwith the long
part hanging down back, covering your butt. Next, bring the longpart between
your legs and pull it up behind the knot you tied in front. Thendrape it over
the ties so it forms a loincloth,” the lion responded. Bitt stripped out of
his pants and tunic andstood naked for a moment as he looked at the loin cloth.
It seemed to be allcords and odd shapes. He fumbled with it for several minutes
as everyone elseoffered (unwanted) advice. Finally he got it on in something he
believed wasthe right way. It seemed mighty small and left more of hisbody
exposed than he would have preferred. “How does it feel?” “Drafty,” the
fox responded. “I’m not usedto being this naked.” “I thought all you
barbarians fought naked,”the jackal laughed. Bitt shook his head. “We
stopped runninginto battle naked a long time ago.” “They really did it?”
Kegan asked.Surprised. “I thought it was just a story.” The fox shook his
head. “Oh no. It wastrue!” “Why? Why run into battle naked?” “It was an
ego thing,” the fox explained.“I’m so tough I don’t need armor.” He waved his
hands. “Makes no sense to me.If I am going into battle I’m making sure all the
important parts are covered. Noone does it anymore. Except my uncle Keagan. He
NEVER wears any clothes.” “Ever?” The hyena asked nervously. “Never. Even
in midwinter,” the fox shookhis head. “But Mom says he caught a fever as a
child and it effected his mind.” “Maybe you should send him a few
loinclothes?” the hound joked. “The whole clan would be grateful if he
didwear them,” Bitt responded. The lion pointed to the fox’s right armwhere
there was a long thin scar. “That,” the fox said and ran a finger
slowlyalong the scar. “A Mintiri spear did that.” “The Mintiri are?” The
hyena asked. “Rude neighbors to the north,” the foxanswered. “They’ve always
been trouble. Raiding and stealing but lately they’vegrown bolder and more
violent.” The rest of the group nodded in agreement.“We all know how that
feels.” “A good-sized group had raided clan farmsalong the border,” the fox
explained. “They weren’t just looting and stealingcattle. They were killing
people. So we had to stop them.” “It was decided that I was finally
oldenough to take part in real combat,” the fox said. “I was to go on a raid
tostop the Mintiri.” “How did you feel?” The lion asked softly.He was
watching the fox intently. “Excited, nervous, confused, proud andterrified!”
The fox answered. “So, with a score of my family and friendsincluding my
father, two elder brothers and fourteen cousins we set off.” “It was two
days of running and searchingbefore we caught up to them. There were only a few
ways to cross the river. Sothe 10th legion set themselves up at two of the
fords and we guardedthe third. It was our luck that they came to ours.” “The
fight was chaotic,” the fox shook his head.“I remember a lot of screaming,
shouting and running around. Suddenly a tallwolf came charging at me with a
spear.” The fox shivered. “I still remember how he looked. Down to the
smallestdetail.” “Did you kill him?” Bitt shrugged. “I don’t know. He
stabbed meand I stabbed him. I stumbled backwards and lost him in the
confusion. I meantto kill him then with all my heart. But now I hope I didn’t.”
“Just remember one thing Bitt,” Vinius saidfirmly. “This is not a duel. The
point is to simply kill the enemy. In battleyour opponent is there to kill you.
You have to kill him before he can killyou.” “And if you don’t,” the hyena
added. “You’llget yourself and probably some of us killed too.” Bitt leaned
forward, closer to the hyena.“I am aware,” he growled. “Of that fact. But it’s
one thing to say you willkill someone and another to do it for real for the
first time.” “All that will come with time and training,”the decanus said
interrupting the two. “During the swearing in,” the fox said. “Wewere
standing in front of that statue. “The Legatus didn’t say the emperor’sname."
"He couldn't remember the name of thedead emperor,” the lion commented. “So
who is the emperor on the statue?” Thefox asked. The lion and hound both
shrugged. “We don’tknow either.” “You don’t know?” The fox
askedincredulously. “Isn’t it inscribed on the base?” Shaking of the head
was their answer. “Itwas there once but someone chiseled it off.” Thefox
gave a bark of laughter. “I guess someone didn’t like him.” The hyena
shrugged. “Just some long deadrabbit.” “Where are you from?” The jackal
asked andpassed a jug to Bitt. Bitt took a sip from the jug and found
itcontained a white liquid that tasted like a fruit drink. But this one had
astrong kick to it. “What is this?” Bitt asked as he handed thejug back.
“Date Palm wine,” Grattius explained as hetook the wine jug. “Interesting
taste,” the fox asked. “What’sit made from? Not grapes.” “It’s made from
dates,” the jackalexplained. “Where are you from?” Bitt pointed off to
the north west. “Theempire calls it Magdaburgum.” Rolozius leaned toward the
fox. “And what doyour people call it?” “Tirontach. It’s always been called
that andno long dead, Imperial, Long ear is going to change that,” Bitt said
with moreanger than he had intended. The hound laughed. “Sounds like you are
madat the empire.” “Notthe entire empire,” the fox explained. “Just one of
its rulers.” “A long dead one I hope,” the hyena asked. “Of course. I’ve
got no grudge with thecurrent one,” Bitt answered and hesitated. “Ah.” “You
don’t know the current emperors name doyou?” The hyena commented with a touch
of humor in his voice. Bitt leaned closer. “Do you?” He asked in acold tone.
A cold silence and tension filled the room. “Does it matter?” Philippus
interjectedputting himself between the two. “They change emperors so fast why
bother?Besides we haven’t had an order from the capital in decades. We fight
and dieto protect the empire and it’s like we don’t exist.” The fox laughed
a humorless laugh. “I knowthe feeling. Last year we received a message from the
Emperor for governorPlebinius.” “And?” The fennec asked. “Plebinius, May
God rest his soul, diedfifty years ago,” Bitt explained. The hyena just
shook his head. “I thought wewere the only ones the empire forgot.” “No
memory, no gratitude,” the fox muttered. Kegan took a sip of wine. “The
locals hereare grateful for all we do.” “We ARE the locals,” Tossius
countered. “Athird of us here are the children of legionnaires. And the rest
were all bornhere.” Bitt nodded. “That’s the 10thback home too.” The lion
stood and held up his cup. “Here!Here! To governor Plebinius and all those who
serve.” Bitt lifted his own cup. “To all of us whohold back the chaos.”
****************
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