Final Campaign Read online

  Also by R.W Peake

  Marching with Caesar®-Conquest of Gaul

  Marching with Caesar-Civil War

  Marching with Caesar-Antony and Cleopatra, Parts I & II

  Marching With Caesar-Rise of Augustus

  Caesar Triumphant

  Critical praise for the Marching with Caesar series:

  Marching With Caesar-Antony and Cleopatra: Part I-Antony

  “Peake has become a master of depicting Roman military life and action, and in this latest novel he proves adept at evoking the subtleties of his characters, often with an understated humour and surprising pathos. Very highly recommended.”

  Marching With Caesar-Civil War

  "Fans of the author will be delighted that Peake’s writing has gone from strength to strength in this, the second volume...Peake manages to portray Pullus and all his fellow soldiers with a marvelous feeling of reality quite apart from the star historical name... There’s history here, and character, and action enough for three novels, and all of it can be enjoyed even if readers haven’t seen the first volume yet. Very highly recommended."

  ~The Historical Novel Society

  “The hinge of history pivoted on the career of Julius Caesar, as Rome’s Republic became an Empire, but the muscle to swing that gateway came from soldiers like Titus Pullus. What an amazing story from a student now become the master of historical fiction at its best.”

  ~Professor Frank Holt, University of Houston

  MARCHING WITH CAESAR

  Last Campaign

  By R.W. Peake

  Marching with Caesar® –Last Campaign by R.W. Peake

  Copyright © 2013 by R.W. Peake

  Smashwords Edition

  Cover Artwork by Marina Shipova

  Cover Artwork Copyright © 2013 by R.W. Peake

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing, 2013

  For John Somers, USN

  1924-2013

  And

  Robert “Curtis” Graham, MSGT, USMC (Ret.)

  1945-2013

  They Will Be Missed

  Foreword

  Well, here we are. At the end of a long, long journey that began with a wide-eyed but ambitious young man, eager to make his fortune. In many ways, I feel like this description suits both the character of Titus Pullus, and me, his creator. While it hasn’t taken 42 years, I do feel that the development, and all that I have learned in the subsequent eighteen-plus months, parallels the journey of Titus Pullus.

  So much has happened since I released Marching With Caesar®-Conquest of Gaul, in April of 2012, that it’s hard to distinguish fact from fiction. Readers took to my story of a simple, but remarkable man who was a witness to the most turbulent and historically impactful period of Roman history, when the Republic died and became the new, budding Empire. And they took to it in a way that surpassed even my wildest imaginings, and for that I have you, dear readers, to thank. You’ve not only enabled me to continue along this new path, what will be in essence my fourth and final career, but you’ve validated something that I found hard to believe when I heard it from others, that I have a talent for telling a story. I epitomize the truism that it’s better late than never, and in all honesty I don’t know if I would have been ready for a life as a full-time writer and all that comes with it before now. Regardless of when it happened, I am extraordinarily thankful that it happened at all, and that all the “problems” I have are what would be considered good problems to have.

  Although Final Campaign is the end of Titus’ journey, it’s not the end of the Marching With Caesar® series; I am already hard at work on what right now I am calling “Next Generation”, with Titus’ nephew and heir Gaius Porcinus and his family as the focal point of the story. For Final Campaign, I used the same sources that have fueled the previous five(!) books, relying heavily on the works of Cassius Dio, who provides the only narrative about the trial of Marcus Primus. My characterization of Marcus Primus in the book is wholly my own, although I have to believe that it’s not that far off the mark; anyone who was stupid enough to cross the man who was known as Augustus by this point can’t have been the brightest spark in the fire, so to speak. Also, my conjecture about the real target of the trial and everything involved in that is also my own invention, but the events that transpired from the trial, concerning the main actors in this drama, are all real.

  In late September and October of this year, I had the opportunity to travel through a part of the countryside that is a feature of this book, along with the previous book, Rise of Augustus, and although it doesn’t have a direct impact that can be seen in the pages of Final Campaign, it not only will be very useful for the next installment, it gave me a deeper appreciation of all the challenges Titus and the men of the Legions faced. Particularly in the area around modern-day Sisak, or Siscia as it was known then, about 60 kilometers south of Zagreb, it’s easy to see why both Augustus and Tiberius had trouble keeping the area pacified. It’s a terrain made for an insurgency, with steep, forested slopes, pocket valleys and hidden draws, where small groups of men can hide for days without detection, even with today’s technology. It’s easy to imagine how difficult it had to be for the men of the Legions.

  My location and description of Serdica is somewhat problematic, and I would like to take a moment to explain. Serdica is modern-day Sofia, Bulgaria, and although my description of the terrain is accurate, the fact is that the modern city of Sofia is located more than ten miles from the base of the mountains to the south that play a role in the story. Consequently, I moved the location of the ancient city a bit farther south, closer to the mountains, and for that I hope readers will forgive me. It’s also true that there were a number of gold mines in and around the area of Serdica, but I never found anything that would indicate the discovery of a rich vein of ore was discovered during the time period of Final Campaign.

  One of the challenges that has been a feature of this book and the last one is trying to track the progress of the transformation from the Roman Army of the Republic into the Imperial era with which most casual readers are familiar. As fully-formed and well-documented as the Legions are starting with the Augustan era, what’s not so clear is how these changes came about. As I’ve been doing throughout the books, my main goal is to try to present readers with an idea about how matters might have transpired, based on my own experiences as a career Marine. Namely, very few changes are made out of nowhere, but in a process of trial and error, where the transformation is more gradual, through fits and starts rather than just suddenly appearing, seemingly out of nowhere. My hope is that I’ve communicated this sense to the readers.

  Finally, as always I want to thank what has become a solid team that have helped make Marching With Caesar® the success that it is. My editor Beth Lynne of BZHercules for taking my freak-outs as publication date approaches in stride, and my phenomenal cover artist Marina Shipova, for putting a face to Gaius Porcinus, and in particular Sextus Scribonius, who has become one of the most commented-on characters in the books. Also, my team of advance readers: Joe Corso, an author in his own right; Stu MacPherson, who has been one of my most steadfast and honest fans, from the first book; Ute St. Clair, who served as editor for Caesar Triumphant and whose knowledge of the period and players is absolutely vital to keeping me honest and consistent; Margaret Courtney, who I know is hard at work on her own book which I can’t wait to read! But there is one of my advance readers who, unfortunately and to my great sorrow, wasn’t able to read the last installment of Titus’ story. Robert “Curtis” Graham, MSGT USMC (Ret.) was another of my early and most ardent fans, and was one of the original members of what has become a group of readers whose eye and judgment I trust implicitly. He had also become a good friend, and so it was with great sorrow when I was informed by his wife that he had finally lost an epically heroic battle against cancer. As I said, we had become friends and corresponded regularly, and never did I hear him complain about what had to be a horrific burden, and he only referred to his condition in passing, as a nuisance that had to be dealt with and nothing that he couldn’t defeat. Instead he wanted to talk about Titus, and the journey that he was on, and like all us old Marines, reminisce about our respective time in our mutually beloved Corps. I know it’s a standard line to say that someone will be missed, but I can assure you, and his family, that I will miss hearing from Curtis, and I already do.

  Semper Fidelis,

  R.W. Peake

  November 10, 2013

  Marching with Caesar –Last Campaign

  Chapter One –Last Campaign

  Chapter Two – The Thracians

  Chapter Three – Naissus

  Chapter Four – Who Was Titus Pullus?

  Chapter 1- Last Campaign

  Time is a funny thing. Some moments drag by, the passage of the sun through the sky seeming to have come to a total stop and you are convinced that you are trapp
ed in a moment that will never end. Other times, it seems that you blink your eyes and days have passed. This is what seems to have happened during the next five years of my time as Camp Prefect. It was like I lay down to sleep one night, then awoke the next morning only to realize with immense surprise that years had gone by. Oh, there were certainly momentous occasions and interesting events that took place; Gaius Porcinus, my nephew and heir and Centurion in his own right, and Iras had the first two of their six children, the firstborn being a boy that they named Titus Pullus Porcinus in my honor, and I love that boy more than life itself. Most importantly, for Gaius in particular, my estimation of Iras’ pregnancy just proves that men have no eye for such things, because young Titus was born nine months and two weeks after Gaius had returned from Rome.

  Soon after young Titus came along, Iras became pregnant again and bore Gaius a daughter, naming her Valeria after his mother, whom he and I had not seen for more years than either of us cared to remember. Also during that time, Gaius’ father, Porcinus, died, but I am somewhat saddened to say that Gaius took his father’s death with relatively little emotion. Despite the fact that Porcinus had been a good father and even better husband, at least according to Gaius, he and his father had never been close, and I suppose I bear some responsibility for that. As I had come to learn, my life and career had captivated young Gaius’ imagination from an early age, and the idea of life as a farmer left Gaius dead inside, much as it had me. I felt badly about this, because Porcinus had been so much of a better father than Lucius had been to me, to make it not even worthy of comparison, but who can explain the mysteries of how the human heart works?

  Sextus Scribonius, my best friend who I had met when we were both wide-eyed tirones during the dilectus of the 10th Legion that was raised by Gaius Julius Caesar in Hispania so many years ago, returned to his status of Evocatus. Taking up tutoring the children of some of the Centurions, this surprised everyone but me, who knew that of all the things that Sextus Scribonius could do, teaching was perhaps his greatest talent.

  In the larger world outside of Siscia, Octavian had absented himself from Rome, as he had promised when he relinquished his power back to the Senate, going to his province of Gaul and setting it to rights. The whole region had been severely affected by the neglect and turmoil of the civil war, and had generally been neglected by Rome, the internal struggles having taken all of the attention and resources of the great men. With his usual efficiency, Octavian reorganized the provinces, sending the most corrupt administrators packing while conducting a complete inventory and census. There was a brief rumor that he planned to invade Britannia again, but that came to nothing, which was fine with me, because I had no desire to see that island ever again. Affairs in Rome began to settle down, the Senate becoming more accustomed to conducting business without Octavian sitting in the Princeps Senatus chair, yet he still cast a long shadow in the form of Marcus Agrippa and Gaius Maecenas, who had remained behind in Rome.

  In Siscia, Gaius Flaccus Norbanus had also settled into his role of Legate, matters developing into a routine, with first one Legion, then another spending time out at the outposts on the frontier, each one rotating back after a period of a couple of months. The reforms Octavian had instituted were still taking shape, and there was an element of hit and miss with some of them. All in all, things had become so that I could have performed my duties in my sleep, with some days having a dreamlike quality to them that made me wonder at times if I was awake at all.

  That was why the day I was summoned to the Praetorium by Norbanus, not the father but his son, who by this point was Proconsul of Asia, did not seem any different than any other day and, making my way there, I imagined that it was little more than some routine matter.

  “There’s a new governor in Macedonia,” Norbanus told me the instant I arrived, waving a scroll in my direction.

  I suppose I should take this time to explain the organization of this part of the Republic during the period of time of Augustus’ seventh and eighth Consulship, or more commonly known as the first years of his reign. Pannonia and Dalmatia were not yet Senatorial provinces, meaning that they did not require the post of Praetor, although Norbanus the younger, like all Legates appointed by Octavian, was vested with Proconsular powers. Macedonia, to the south, was a Senatorial province and as such required a Praetor. This was what Norbanus was referring to now with obvious disgust. At first, I did not understand why he was so upset, but when he went on to explain, it soon became clear.

  “The new Praetor is Marcus Primus, and he was given Proconsular authority,” Norbanus said.

  Norbanus had no need to explain further the cause for his dismay; simply put, he was now outranked, since a Praetor armed with Proconsular authority is higher in our hierarchy than a Legate is, even if that Legate also had Proconsular powers. Despite understanding why Norbanus did not like it, I still did not see why he was glaring at me from beneath his eyebrows, which were wiggling all over his forehead like two caterpillars. This was a trait that he had inherited from his father, and even though he was younger than I was by several years, it made him appear much older. Which, I suppose, was a good thing for his command presence.

  “And he's just sent orders to me to send two Legions to him immediately.”

  This was a surprise and it explained why Norbanus was upset, but I still did not see what it had to with me.

  “It appears that he has some sort of plan that he says was approved by Augustus. What’s interesting is that he asked for you. Actually, he ordered me to send you and your friend, the Evocatus. What’s his name?”

  “Scribonius.”

  “Yes, that’s it. Anyway, he didn't say specifically why he needs half of my army so desperately, but he did say something quite mysterious.”

  I did not see how things could be more mysterious than a peremptory order to send half of the Army of Pannonia out of its territory, but Norbanus turned out to be correct.

  “Primus says that you and your friend will understand why you've been summoned when you get there, and will thank him for it.”

  “When do we leave? And where are we headed to in Macedonia?”

  “Immediately of course.” Norbanus gave a harsh laugh. “When have you ever seen orders that say that you can leave at your leisure?”

  Looking back down at the scroll, he found the relevant passage and grunted.

  “You're to report at Philippi, of all places.”

  Norbanus pierced me with his gaze, his eyebrows beetling together.

  “Do you have any idea what's going on, Prefect?”

  I honestly did not, and I said as much, which did not please him. I am not altogether sure that he believed me, but at that moment, I was as mystified as he was about these orders.

  “Well, you better go make your preparations,” he said irritably, shooing me out of his office with a wave. “I have to decide which two Legions to send.”

  “I suggest the 8th and the 13th,” I offered, and he looked at me in some surprise.

  “The 8th? They’re my best Legion. I can see sending the 13th. They’re in better shape now, I'll grant you, but they’re still a mess. But why would I send my best Legion along to serve at Primus’ whim?”

  “Because according to that letter, it’s not coming from Primus, but Augustus. And if that's true, and I don’t think Primus would just make that up, do you want to be seen sending your inferior Legions to help the man picked by Augustus himself to run Macedonia?”