Chapter 116 Gathering Evidence Part II

After the Frumentarii under Falconius’ command had negotiated with the Eastern Limitanei for their defection, the part-time soldiers had embarked on a quest to recover the signed documents, which acted as written evidence of the Eastern Roman Army’s wrongdoings.

The man who was leading them was a middle-aged tribune by the name of Publius Portius Laenas, he had decided in his infinite wisdom that the risk he would have to undertake to infiltrate the castra, and seize the incident report about the border skirmish was well worth the reward.

Falconius had offered refuge, as well as a job in the Western Roman Army. For a man of Laenas’ position, that meant he would likely be placed in command of a village. After all, in the west, under Marcellus’ reign, Rome had become a military dictatorship where military officers ruled over civil affairs.

That was well worth the risk of getting caught from the perspective of the part-time tribune. While Laenas had volunteered to undertake such a risk, he had ordered his fellow defectors to round up their families and meet with the Western Roman Frumentarii on the outskirts of the village. The moment he got his hands on the evidence, they would smuggle themselves out of the town and into the west.

Laenas’ heart palpitated heavily as he approached the Castra with a stoic expression on his face. He just needed to get into his office, grab the documents, and smuggle them out of the fortress without alerting anybody’s presence. In theory, it was simple enough, but the fear of getting caught made him perspire heavily as he saluted the sentries and walked past the entrance.

After entering into the Castra, he did not sigh in relief, rather; he stood alert as he walked towards his office with a confident stride. If he gave off the slightest impression that he was nervous, he would immediately come under suspicion.

Luckily for him, he was a high-ranking officer, and because of this, most soldiers would salute him without questioning the man. As he marched through the courtyard, he gazed at the sight of the men who had taken part in the border conflict. Their unit was being heavily punished with physical labor.

The group of men wore their armor as they carried heavy stones across the Castra to reinforce its declining walls. Everything was in disrepair during this dark century of the Empire’s history. It was amazing that they could even afford to repair the walls of a frontier outpost such as this.

Laenas ignored the struggles of his soldiers before quickening his pace as he approached the interior of the fortress. Eventually, he arrived in front of his office, where he used his key to unlock its doors before entering the room. He did not hesitate to shut the door behind him before he searched frantically for the documents that he needed to prove the guilt of the Eastern Roman forces.

Lying on his desk was a mess of papers. In fact, the entire office was in disarray. Despite the clumsy interior, Laenas quickly found what he was looking for. Apparently, he had his own way of organizing because he did not spare the slightest bit of energy searching through the mess to find what he needed.

The document had the signature of the Dux, who was responsible for the defense of this section of the border. This report contained the exact details of the incident and the punishments that were given to the various men who had taken part in the border conflict. It was the most damning piece of evidence that could be used against Constantinople in their efforts to defame Marcellus and his people.

After confirming this was indeed the document he was looking for, Laenas folded it nicely before stuffing it into his satchel. The last thing he needed was for the rain to fall upon it, and mire the ink. After safely stashing the evidence away, the tribune quickly departed for the door, whereupon opening it, he came face to face with the Dux, who had several armed men by his side.

The sudden appearance of his commanding officer, along with so many armed soldiers, nearly gave Laenas a heart attack. However, he quickly saluted his superior and remained silent. The Dux returned the man’s salute before addressing his reason for visiting.

“Tribune, I did not expect to see you here… I thought you were looking after the troops in the village? Honestly, I don’t care. I’m here for one reason. The Emperor has requested that we destroy all evidence of what occurred at the Border. My men here will seize all relevant documents and burn them out back. I meant to inform you after we had finished our work, but since you are here, I figured you might as well know.”

By Emperor the Dux really meant the regent. Though Laenas could care less about semantics while he was sweating profusely. If he was caught smuggling such a sensitive piece of evidence, he would certainly be executed. However, he had no choice but to submit to the Dux, thus he quickly parted ways for the soldiers to do their job.

“By all means, take what you need.”

The Dux snapped and the armed guards entered the room, searching through the piles of evidence, taking whatever they thought was damning and hoarding them away in boxes. While this was going on, the Dux made small talk with Laenas, who remained silent.

“Honestly, once this headache is over, I think I will need a stiff drink. I can’t believe that idiot Rufius caused me so much trouble, and didn’t even live long enough for me to execute him. Luckily, I have you to do all the paperwork, or else I would be in serious trouble. Though honestly Laenas, you really need to organize yourself better. This is going to take a few hours to clear up!”

Laenas chuckled as he heard these words before reassuring his superior that he would do better in the future.

“I will take your words to heart and improve on my organization skills.”

The dux nodded his head in agreement before responding to Laenas’ comments.

“See that you do, anyway I don’t mean to keep you here all day. I’m sure these centurions can handle this matter discretely. You should also get back to work.”

After saying this, the Dux departed, leaving Laenas to sigh in relief. The tribune glanced back upon the centurions, who were prying through each document to determine what needed to be destroyed before walking out of the castra and back towards the village below.

Laenas did not relax until he had successfully regrouped with Falconius and the others. After meeting in the village, with his family, and those of the other deserters, Laenas handed the document over to the Frumentarii with a wide grin on his face.

“If I was a second later, this document would be lost. The Dux has ordered that all evidence of the border incident be destroyed. I ran into him on my way out. So, can we please get the hell out of here before they discover this document is missing?”

Falconius looked over the document and grinned with satisfaction when he realized just how damning it was of the Eastern Roman Army. After securing it away from harm, he ordered his frumentarii to pack up their things and depart. It did not take long for the caravan to leave the village, and when they did, they would not feel at ease until they had crossed into the borders of the Western Roman Empire.