The camp was stretching at dawn. The embers still smoked in the pits, and the centurions inspected the ranks in low voices. In the distance, the metallic sound of the standard flapping in the wind accompanied the steps of a column of legionaries beginning their march. Among them, beneath the gleam of the golden eagle of the Thirteenth, walked Sextus and Titus, shoulder to shoulder.
"Have you ever felt the weight of something sacred?" Titus asked, glancing up at the standard shining above their heads.
Sextus looked sideways at him.
"Right now. And I'm not talking about the eagle."
Titus smiled. He was no longer the same man who had arrived at the camp weeks ago. And Sextus, though still young, walked as if his shadow dragged history behind it.
In the command tent, Julius Caesar spread a map across a wooden table. Around him, Labienus, Fonteius, and several tribunes listened in silence.
"The Helvetii have been defeated and returned to their land," said Caesar, pointing to the mountainous region marking their former homeland. "The Boii, by my decision, will settle under the protection of the Aedui. Rome doesn't need more migrations. It needs stability."
"And the spoils?" asked Fonteius. "Will it be distributed today?"
"At dusk," Caesar replied. "With ceremony. This victory was not just tactical. It was a message."
Labienus crossed his arms.
"The Gallic tribes heard it. But new names are already being spoken. Ariovistus. The Rhine. Germans on Gallic soil."
Caesar nodded.
"Rome protects its allies. If a barbarian recognized by our Senate oppresses our friends… then we'll have to decide whether we follow the will of the Senate… or the will of Rome."
Silence followed. No one dared argue that logic.
The march continued. The sun was rising. In formation, Sextus glanced back. Not at the enemy. Not at the past. But at the symbol they now marched under. The eagle. Destiny.
"Know what I think?" Titus muttered.
"What?"
"That we'll end up right in the middle of everything again."
"Don't be ridiculous," Sextus replied, though deep down he knew it too.
And the standard advanced, high and unmoving, like a bronze beacon in a sea of men. The conflict with the Helvetii was closing. But Rome never sleeps. And already other names, other wars, were looming beyond the horizon.