Centurion by Simon Scarrow Page B

prices. All the while the number of stragglers increased and by the time they reached Chalcis, three days after leaving Antioch, Cato saw from his strength returns that eight men of the Second Illyrian had failed to reach the camp in time for that morning’s roll-call. He sat in the shade of the palm trees that fringed the small lake on whose bank the town of Chalcis squatted. Like the other towns that had been founded on the ancient trade routes, Chalcis profited from levying taxes on the caravans of camels that passed through its territory, and its inhabitants lived with an enviable degree of comfort. But now, news of the revolt in Palmyra and rumours of the inevitable conflict between Rome and Parthia had unsettled the people and small crowds gathered to watch the Roman column as it marched up to the town and halted to rest and fill its canteens and spare waterskins at the lake.
    Cato could well understand their anxiety. The isolation that made peace so profitable for Chalcis also made it vulnerable in time of war, and its strategic importance meant that it would be contested by both sides.The income from trade would dry up and the town faced hard times, if it survived at all. Cato focused his mind on the strength returns on the waxed slate that Centurion Parmenion had brought to him.
    ‘Eight men now. I wonder how many more we will have lost by the time we reach Palmyra?’
    ‘Shall I send a cavalry squadron back to round them up, sir?’
    Cato considered this for a moment and shook his head. ‘If they’re able to, they’ll find us. But I’ll not lose any more men than I have to by sending out search parties. Mark them down as absent without leave. If they fail to catch up by tomorrow morning then put them down as deserters.’
    ‘Very well, sir.’ Parmenion scored a note on his tablet and Cato watched him for a moment before speaking in a low voice.
    ‘What’s the mood of our men?’
    Parmenion looked up at his commander, then glanced round to make sure that they would not be overheard. ‘Not too bad, considering.’
    ‘Considering what?’
    Parmenion nodded towards the legionaries sitting beneath the palms a short distance from the men and horses of the Second Illyrian.’There’s still plenty of bad blood over that business in Antioch. The legionaries are needling our lads at every opportunity. Frankly, they’re spoiling for a fight.’
    ‘Who, our men, or Macro’s?’
    ‘Both.’ Parmenion wearily rubbed the bristles on his chin.’Wouldn’t take much to set them at each other’s throats.’
    ‘We must see that it doesn’t happen,’ Cato said firmly. ‘I want you to pass the word on to the other centurions and their optios.We can’t afford any trouble. I’ll come down like a bloody avalanche on any man who causes a fight. Make sure that’s understood.’
    ‘Yes, sir.’
    ‘Very well then, Parmenion. Carry on.’
    His adjutant closed his wax tablets, saluted and then strode off towards the handful of mule carts that carried the cohort’s records, pay chest and small stock of spare weapons and rations. A party of auxiliaries was busy loading the filled waterskins and baskets of fruit and dried meat bought from the market in Chalcis. Cato regarded them for a moment, and wondered briefly if he had allowed for adequate supplies to see his men across the desert to Palmyra. It had been a difficult calculation. Of all the supplies that a commander had to provide for his men, water was the most onerous, thanks to its weight, and propensity to find the means of spilling or leaking. If they carried too much water on the carts it would slow their progress. But if too little was loaded and the column was delayed by a sandstorm, or enemy action, then it would run out and the men would suffer the agonies of thirst that desert conditions swiftly made so acute.
    A flash of red caught his eye and he saw Macro emerge from the city gate, striding back towards his column. As he reached the carts Macro caught