who said being a legonairre was fun?

chapter 1

i knew then. i am not going to survive this one. i am tiberus, a roman legion. and this is my story of how i escaped the gaulish hordes without 3/4 of our legion.

"well, all i can say is that disapine is paramount when one is facing and enemey like the gauls." said our vetern sergent yelled to us as we lined up on that sunny august afternoon in my home town, Ostia Antica, which was a busling port.
"you have gone though the gruling training. now, you go go though the grueling fighting." he gave a meaningful smirk to the corpal, also a vetern. i glanced at augustus beside me. from the vineyards outside the city, we had always know each other, but i had always acted as an older brother to him. came natural when we were kids, as i was 5 years older than him. unbeknown to him, i had sworn to his mother that i would protect him. he was staring straight ahead.
"tiberus, you bag of #! is augustus better looking than me?"
"in fact sarge, he is!" the group s'n-word'ed
"right! i have 'ad enough of your cheek!"
"sorry sarge." the sarge was an easy going type, and let it pass over.
"you do 2 guard dutys tonight!"

10 days of hard marching to gaul later, we had our baptism of fire. the sargent and corpral weren't goin to let them get away with it though.
"LINE UP! LINE UP! WHAT THE # ARE YOU DOING IOANNES? GET BACK IN LINE!"
the enemy were going to make a fight of it; they were lining up apposing our legion, ratting shields with spears and shouting. the ground was flat, and the sun in there eyes, with the wind blowing on our backs. our commander drew his gladius.
"ready javalins!" a captin shouted down the line. the order was repeated by the sergents.
"ready javalins!"
"tiber!, tiber!" said augustus beside me.
"yeah?"
"whatever happens, i'll stick with you, you stick with me. cover each others backs, remember?"
i grinned nervously. "go for it!"
we picked up our javalins. the enemy charged.
"steady... steady..."
i picked out one. his spear in hand, and his body gleaming in the sun.
"steady...steady..."
he was shouting something as he and the rest of the rabble ran. the adrainlin kicked in. the fear disappeared.
"steady...steady..."
"remember tiber!"
"NOW!" i threw my javalin, and it added to the swarm traveling towards the enemy. mine hit its target. the warrior screamed as it hit him in the chest.
"NOW!" we threw our second javalin. mine missed, landing tail up in a flurry of dust.
"DRAW!" i was glad the sardge was here. i drew my gladius. the sun glinted off of her beauty. i picked up my sheild.

the enemy crashed into us. the arregsive shouts sometimes punchered by the scream of a dying man. the clang of metal upon metal, and chop of flesh being parted.
a warrior came at me, stabing at me with a dirty spear. i caught it neatly like we'd been taught, and , to my utter surpise, the man fell dead, and a gladius appeared through his chest with a splatter of blood. the blade withdrew, and augustus appeared behind him, wide-eyed with terror, his blade, armour, face, covered in blood.
"augustus!" i thurst him out the way and caught a stroke of a blade on me sheild, and automaticly stabbing with my own. the warrior died on my blade, as it went up into his stomach, twisting as it did. his warm bllod gushed on my hand and arm, we were as close as lovers. i looked into his face, he looked back with an expression of shock, anger, and pain. the battle seemed not to move around us. he looked at me.
"b...b...bastard!" he whispered
i grinned like we'd been old freinds after the other has lost a game of chess. i pulled my sword out, and he screamed with pain, and closed his eyes.
"reform! reform!" yelled my sergent "form on me!"
augustus, who looked as if he had troubles of his own, grabbed me and pulled me out of the trance i was in.
"#ING MOVE!" I obeyed. the enemy were running!
"reform!" the enemy were running!
"VICTORY!" I cried, and it was taken up by the men of legion vii
"VICTORY! VICTORY!"

At the end of our last battle, the group were elated. Morale was on a high, and the sergeant had to stop over-confidence with sharp words.
“you lot are gonna get killed if you don’t do your job! The gauls are not beaten!”
On the second day, we were traveling though the forest that would soon hear the sounds of roman woodcutters. For now though, it was eerily quiet. Nothing stirred. The trees rustled over our heads, and the legion was quieted. I was walking beside Andreas, who had introduced himself as an honorable thief.
“what you gotta remember, is that is ok to steal a loaf of bread for your staving family. It only becomes wrong when you get caught!”
“you what?” said Felix on my right “that’s wrong!”
“it is when you’re the victim.” I turned to the speaker behind me
“and you have personal experience?” I asked “Tiberius by the way” I held out my hand and he shook it
“Gaufridus. Yes I have personal experience.” the group was listening to him; and he did not seem to be enjoying the attention. “yes, that’s why I joined the legion.”
“oh get on with it man! What’s the story?” said Ewen
“as you all know, I live near here, and when I was a child I used to play in these woods. Well, I married a girl in my village…” Cornelius wolf-whistled at this “shut up man!” Andreas said “go on”
“anyway, we lived together for 2 years” I could see a tear glistening in his eye now, and could see he was fighting it back. “we had a girl. One day, I went out wood cutting, and when I came back…” he sniffed convulsly, and shook his head. Phillipus, the huge man that was his best friend laid an arm around him and patted his shoulder. The guys were looking at Gaufridus with respect; all but one.
“look at him crying the bastard!” scorned ioannes Phillipus reacted. A big hairy fist went into his mouth.
“you have not heard the story!” I broke it up.
“leave it man. He’s not worth it.” to Gaufridus: “go on” with a sniff he answered. “they were dead. The whole village. The women raped, my girl… my baby had a …a… stab though her heart…” he could no longer control himself. The tear ran down his face to wet his Armour. Phillipus patted him on the shoulder.
“that’s why you joined the legion” said Augustus. Gaufridus nodded.
“Andreas, why did you join?” I asked.
“I joined because I had no choice” he admitted “it was join the legion or face the death penalty after I stole that gold statue from the temple.”
“that was you?” ioannes asked “never would have thought you had it in you”
“I thought It was food…” I said
“well, what if your family don’t like bread? Umm… what if they like gold?”
“yeah…” I said skeptically
“and then you sell it for a moderate price?”
“that’s not honorable!” said Antonius
Everyone else laughed. “you should have been a politician!” I said “as for you Antonius, who cares?”
“I do” he said
“Tiber, tell ’em why we joined” whispered Augustus to me
“nah, its stupid”
“com’n!”
“what’s that… Tiber?…” said ioannes laughing , blood from his mouth dripping everywhere.
“Tiber?” said Felix
“yeah Tiber, short for Tiberius” said Augustus.
“mind if I call you that Tiberius? it’s a bit shorter.” said Felix
“not at all” I said. By dusk, the whole group where calling me Tiber. I didn’t mind; after all, it was my nickname. The conversation continued around the camp fire.
“what made you join Phillipus?” Andreas asked.
“I joined because Gaufridus joined, he was not the only one that went wood cutting that day. “
“so you…”
“yes. No, I don’t want to talk about it.” the men fell silent for a while.
“why did you join Antonius?” Felix asked. I could tell that they were going to be friends, as the had the same ideals and morals.
“for glory, and to prove to my dad that I can fight.”
“ha!” said the sergeant as he walked in. “all you will find here id mud, blood, and discomfort”
We grinned. He had brought two flagons of wine with him.
“a sarge! Were did that wine come from?” I asked. he glanced at the bottom;
“doesn’t say, there’s just a stamp on it.” he showed it to me. It was of a house on a hill over looking the vineyards. I recognized it at once.
“Augustus! Have a look at that!” I said. he looked.
“well I be damned! My family made this!”
“all the better! Now open it up!” yelled Cornelius. The group chucked.
Augustus opened it and took the mugs from everyone accept me, and poured it out. For mine, I had some water.
“Tiber! Why aren’t you drinking?” Andrea’s observed.
“I can’t!” I said with a grin
“why?”
“he fell in a vat of wine when he was a kid-never liked it since, have you Tiber?” said Augustus.
I shook my head. “anyway, try walking with a headache!”
The group laughed and emptied their mugs. I did the same.

i think that i have reached a dead end... writers block. feel free to add on writers!