Alright I lied since Pengy posted I may as well just make a new post myself instead of edit my old one.
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The next few days were days of relaxation for the most part and occasionally helping our mother if needed. We figured out that the woman with her was going to be joining us on our trip to HQ, which surprised me as I assumed woman weren't allowed to be soldiers. Leo didn?t teach me much of anything besides going over what I could already do, such as fighting with swords and bows. Just a review which greatly helped as fighting on instinct and familiarity of weapons alone sounded dangerous. He also covered survival skills, tracking, and many other things that came to me very easily. After a week Leo decided we should head out. Early the next morning we were all packed and having said our farewells to Mother, we loaded up in a wagon and were off.
The woman kept to herself at the front of the wagon, Leo and I sat in the back. Leo pulled out a map and laid it out in front of us. "We are here, kinda in the middle of nowhere... Rome is to the south, and HQ is in Venice right now. Used to be in Florence but they moved it not too long ago, Venice was an easy hiding place. We are unsure exactly where our enemy comes from but they have a pretty large camp set up in Greece and our sources indicate they marched to there from Persia. Our best bet is they come from the Asias." He pulls out a larger map of Europe and Asia; on it he uses his finger to draw a circle around India. Or what should be India.
"They came from all the way over there? How did they get through all the other countries?"
Leo glanced up at me, probably wondering if he taught me any geography, "Well not necessarily, our sources indicate that they came by boat. Shipping large numbers of soldiers from here-" he points at India?s southern most point, "to here-" then draws a line up to Iran, though probably isn?t now. "So they didn't force their way through that much land, actually Persia and Greece were the greatest challenges they faced. Atleast before coming here."
"But there are thousands of them still. If Persia and Greece were both challenges then how can there still be so many?" Even asking that I knew the answer.
"Strength, their unimaginable strength. Even in small numbers they can be quite formidable. But in large numbers like we last saw, they become nearly unstoppable. Greece and Persia were challenges because they managed to slow down the armies. Persia often attacked using raids, quick attacks that were meant only to slow them down and destroy their food. Greece united together, something that rarely happens with them. They always fought utilizing everything they knew. The Athens and Spartans combined proved to be a great challenge."
Our discussion continued on until we reached Florence where we stopped and rested for the night. I had learned many things from my talk with Leo. Strategies used by the Greeks to effectively fight with the upper hand at all times, how the Persians fought psychologically by raiding as the enemy travelled, and mostly about the enemy themselves. They numbered in the hundred thousands, each soldier wore heavy armor and wielded heavy weapons such as axes, hammers, and maces. But reports indicated that another force was on its way, reinforcements, that were much more versatile. Italia was proving to be the hardest opponent they had so far faced then again Leo said that we had some pretty strong allies. He also mentioned that we worked for some kind of organization and that the enemy was part of one as well. He said both of us were like factions and that there were about eight total, each with their own goals.
In the morning we were off again this time Leo had the woman ride in the back with us apparently his horses were smart enough to find Venice on their own. She didn't seem particularly happy with that.
"Alright first things first, what is your name?" Leo asked her after a few minutes of silence. She didn?t seem to want to talk to us at all but Leo obviously didn't like her not talking, "I can ask or order to do so, soldier."
"Mary, sir." She spoke coldly and reluctantly, obviously she didn?t like us. I couldn?t figure out why, before we started this trip she acted warmer to us.
"Well Mary it is nice to meet you. And neither of us are against a woman fighting so unless you have another reason to hate us then could you please not be so cold? Teamwork is important, Centurio."
Leo surprised her by what he said and even though she tried to hide it we both noticed. Sighing she slowly looked up at us, "Sorry I just assumed so. How did you know I was a Centurio, sir?"
"No need to apologize, sadly that is still a problem. And I don't know what Mother told you but obviously she was either being humble or just clueless. Probably humble. But the two of us are pretty high up there. Lorenzo is a Tesserarius and I am a Tribunus Laticlavius. Good bragging rights there!" She stared at him open mouthed and looked very unbelieving after a few seconds. I couldn?t understand why exactly.
We spent most of the rest of the trip just talking; Mary became a whole lot more friendly towards us in that time. But as we entered Venice she had to go back to guide the horses. Leo looked up at me expectantly the instant she started driving the wagon.
"What? You want something?"
"Well no, I just figured you were going to ask me a question."
Upon mentioning that a question pops in to my head, "Thanks for reminding me, Leo. I assume you know that it is about the ranks then?"
"Knew it, probably should have just answered the question instead of wait for you to ask it. It's pretty complex though, there are many ranks but for basics we are in the Upper part of the Military. Very high up actually, in terms of general ranking atleast. Tell you later though because it would seem we are there." The wagon had stopped and both Leo and Mary were getting out, I followed of course. I hop down and turn towards them finding myself looking at a sewer entrance.
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Well there you are, just so you know the ranks are subject to change. Couldn't find a decent website for that will have to go to library tomorrow.
Sir Adam of Peridot Nightmares Go visit the
Fan Fiction and Role Playing Forum and check out what is there maybe you will see something of interest and feel free to stay and have a cup of -insert beverage of choice here- and some cookies. It's on the house! Well it would be if I had a house...