The Tenth-Volume II — R.W. Peake

In VOLUME II of THE TENTH, the men of the Tenth Section, First Century, Second Cohort of Julius’ Caesar’s new 10TH Legion have survived the grueling training of the Roman Legions, and embark on Caesar’s campaign against the rebelling tribes of Hispania. As Titus Pullus and his new comrades will learn, as harsh and unforgiving as their training was, nothing can prepare them for the trial of combat, while experiencing the horrors and pain of losing comrades, witnessing the many gruesome ways there are to die in their world. Almost as disorienting for some is what it means to be the victor, where mercy is considered at best a useless quality, and at worst a weakness, as the new veterans learn about the darkness that resides within some of them as Caesar’s army methodically crushes the rebellion.They will also be exposed to the lot of the soldier of any age; days and weeks of mind-numbing boredom spent choking down dust as they pursue their quarry, ending each day on the march engaging in the back-breaking labor of constructing the famed Legion marching camp, punctuated by moments of terror, either in the form of an assault on a fortified town, or by sudden ambush by a wily, dangerous foe.Titus and the other new men will also learn that those men who boast about the deeds they will perform in combat rarely live up to them, if ever, while some men go even further, engaging in acts of cowardice that force their comrades to consider taking drastic action, including a member of their own section, forcing them to make a decision about whether or not to report their comrade to their Centurion, Gaius Crastinus, or take matters into their own hand.However, one member of the Tenth Section in particular will distinguish himself, over and above even the lofty expectations of some of his comrades and of his officers, and it is this campaign that will mark the true beginning of the legend of Titus Pullus, when he was just another member of the Tenth Section of the First Century of the Second Cohort of a Legion that would go on to attain legendary status on its own.