Soldier of Rome: The Last Campaign (The Artorian Chronicles) by James Mace

his mother; his father being killed in battle before he was born. He explained how when she was dying she told him all about his Roman lineage and that he should seek out his father’s brother, Artorius.
    “I wondered,” Marcia replied. “From the looks of you both, I did not think him old enough to be your father.”
    “It’s true,” Metellus remarked. “He is only eleven years older than I, but no less of a father for that. As for my mother, she never remarried, and she never ceased loving the man who sired me, that I was also named after.”
    “At least she kne w what love was,” Marcia said.  “How did you know where Artorius was?”
    “I didn’t, or at least I wouldn’t have, had not my father’s former centurion sent a letter to my mother, telling her that he and Artorius both served within the same legion. Because my father was dead, I had no proof that I was a Roman, so I did the only thing I could think of an d enlisted into the Auxilia.”
    Upon Marcia’s further insistence, he told her all about his fi rst year as an auxiliary infantryman, and how at the Battle of Braduhenna, he and about thirty other troopers were separated from their unit and, by chance, ended up fighting alongside Artorius and his legionaries, on the extreme right of the entire army.
    “We were both badly wounded that day,” he explained. “Honestly, I don’t know how it is either of us survived. The war against the Frisians ended soon after and, while convalescing, I was able to finally meet Artorius in person and tell him who I was.”
    “And he believed you?”
    “According to him, my resemblance to my father is uncanny. Several years later I met my grandfather, and he said the same. At the time, however, I knew I needed something I could show him. What I had were a series of letters he had written to my father, when Artorius was a young boy and my father was a soldier in the legions. My mother never got rid of them, perhaps she knew that someday I would have to find my uncle and claim what was rightfully mine.”
    They continued to walk in silence for a few minutes as Marcia tried to take in all that he had said. It was a clear night, and the crescent moon glowed off the water as the waves lapped gently over the sand. Metellus was momentarily startled when he felt her reach over and take his hand.
    “And now you’re a centurion in the legions!” Marcia noted respectfully. “A pity we could not have met much sooner.”
    “There is time,” Metellus said. “I have another three weeks left on my leave before I have to start my journey back to the Rhine.”
    “Then we’d best make the most of it,” Marcia replied with a smile. This walk with the young centurion seemed to be exactly what her wounded soul needed. Since she was a young girl she had longed to find the man she thought was her father. Finding that he was not had shattered her hopes, and yet now she dared to think that perhaps events were transpiring as they were meant to.
    Guide me, mother , she thought wordlessly to herself.
     
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    Chapter Endnotes:
    1 – Bordeaux, France
    2 – Silchester, England
    3 – The Brigante Kingdom covered much of what is now Northern England, as well as portions of the Midlands. Their capitol was in what is now Yorkshire. A tribe of the same name also controlled several counties in Ireland, though if these were the same people is unknown.
    4 – English East Midlands

Chapter VI: A King in Exile
     
    The Imperial Palace, Rome
    July , 41 A.D.
    ***
     
    It had been twenty-six years since Verica had succeeded his elder brother as king of the Atrebates. They were but one tribal kingdom among the many that inhabited the Isle of Britannia. Originally of Gallic and Belgic origin, they were a conglomeration of various peoples who came to be ruled by the kings of Atrebas. One of the smaller kingdoms on the isle, their far more powerful neighbors constantly pressed their borders. Verica’s twenty-five year reign had been one