First Spear

Book excerpt: First Spear: Rudimenta preludes Julius Caesar’s Commentaries by focusing on the regular soldiers serving Rome in Spain and Late Republic Italy. Heavily researched on actual historical events, Rudimenta targets fans of historical fiction and romance. 63 BCE: Gaius Crastinus, Titus Pullo, Lucius Vorenus, Publius Bacculus, all of whom eventually follow Caesar into Gaul, are recruited in Baetica, Spain, where four thousand tiros must be trained by too few centurions. Centurion Marcus Petronius has decades of experience in fighting, but Tribune Lucius Cotta has ideas of his own, putting the two at odds during weeks of brutal training where recruit Crastinus emerges as a trusted leader and the first to be promoted. Meanwhile, provincial Quaestor Julius Caesar has military aspirations of his own, but little training or experience. While he and his comrades complete their training, Crastinus must also watch over Caesar. Dispatched to Cadiz, Crastinus thwarts a street robbery, rescuing Cornelius Balbus and his beautiful daughter, with whom he falls hopelessly in love. The Senate suddenly orders VIII Legion to Italy, where a disgruntled Senator Lucius Catiline plots rebellion against the Republic. Can VIII Legion survive crossing a grueling Spanish desert and treacherous winter Mediterranean to preserve a republic they’ve never seen?