Blog number 6

I thought I should say a little bit more about the central character in Legionaries of the Boar for those you who have looked at the "sneak peak" and wondered. Velio Pinneius is a young drill instructor, a tesserarius, roughly equivalent to sergeant major, so he has quite a lot of authority even at a young age. He has been recruited to the instructors team because of his skill with  the Roman short short - the gladius. His best friend is Marcus Hirtius and the two of them find themselves part of a small patrol led by an ambitious young tribune who believes the remains of the lost Ninth legion should be found and recovered, even although thirty years have passed since it failed to return to its base.  Unfortunately for Velio he has already made an enemy of the tribune by wounding him during a sword lesson. All this talk of a lost legion is an unwelcome distraction for the exasperated commander tasked with building the new line of defences for the emperor Antonine. For Velio and Marcus their first job is staying alive.