CHAPTER SIX: WAR PLANS

  Centurion Lucilia Durum had taken up camp outside of Villa Saxa, a village in a rocky area above a lazy unnamed river that wound its way from beyond the Shifting Wall. Marcus said the river would merge later with another, then another, before they would pour into the ocean. Men and women sat along the bank with poles, trying their best to catch something fresh amongst the thin stream.

  A bell rang as the entire retinue broke the horizon, the clang of it harsh against the quiet evening. Figures burst around the well-organized tents, spears and shields quickly gathered as two lines of legionnaires quickly formed around the front of the camp. Cassius had a brief swell of pride at his fellow soldiers' discipline, even if they lacked the grandeur of the mounted private warriors of the Triticum family.

  “Shit. They woke the centurion,” Marcus said as the wide form of Lucilia Durum shoved through the ranks to stand before the two lines to look toward the procession. She was dressed in a simple tunic belted with a wide belt and leggings with her sheathed sword in her hand.

  “She looks pissed,” Cassius agreed, the frown on the wide woman’s face easily visible even from a distance away.

  “Just let Marcus talk. When she’s busy eating him, we run away,” Valeria said with a straight face. Cassius choked a laugh out as they drew closer. The two files waiting for them split to the sides to form a channel, spears and shields in perfect position while the senator led their party through the honor guard to stop before the centurion.

  “Senator,” Lucilia said, her voice deep with a rasp to it as she looked up toward the mounted senator. She bowed her head minutely, hardly enough to show acknowledgement let alone respect or deference. It was as close to an insult as one could leverage toward a senator without actually insulting them. Cassius couldn’t see the senator’s face, but he was certain the vain man would not be happy.

  “Centurion.” The anger in the man’s voice was easily apparent. Lucilia stared at him unimpressed, waiting for him to say something else. It appeared that the senator couldn’t or wouldn’t say anything though. Vira nudged her horse forward and pulled her helmet off, a wave of sweat matted dark hair fell free.

  “We have grave news, centurion. We wish to gather and give counsel.” Vira spoke respectfully and Lucilia slowly nodded, slightly deeper than she had for the senator.

  “Come then,” Lucilia finally said, backing up and allowing them entry into the camp. Senator Hadrianus snorted angrily as he raked his heels across his mount’s ribs, sending a spray of stones as the horse shot forward and into the camp. Vira was calmer, simply kneeing her horse forward as the parade of bodies surged forward again.

  Legionnaires looked at them curiously, but no one broke discipline to ask where the rest of the file was. The borders were deadly and patrols could often disappear or come back missing members, even if they were routine.

  Every camp was built around the same grid pattern with the command tent in the center of the camp. Hadranius went straight there, throwing the reins toward an attendant who exited the tent, and stormed in without saying another word. Cassius winced at the man’s foul mood, his attention so focused on the senator he forgot about the centurion as she suddenly appeared next to the small formation.

  “All dead?” The question was whispered low enough that nobody could hear aside from the four legionnaires.

  “Yes, ma’am. A swarm of summoned monsters. We haven’t found the summoner,” Marcus whispered back just as quietly.

  “May they find peace.” Lucilia said nothing less as she hurried ahead of the cluster and went straight toward her tent, entering with Vira as the noblewoman took her time dismounting to not hurry Lucilia. Or to make her uncle wait, Cassius realized.

  “The legionnaires with us too. They will tell the story better,” Vira said, turning her head and waving at them before the quartet could disappear into the crowd. Marcus spat a curse but the four of them moved in sync toward the tent, opening a flap and stepping in.

  As a command tent for only a centurion, the tent wasn’t large enough to hold a full war council. Even the four of them, Vira, senator Hadranius, and centurion Lucilia made the tent crowded. Her attendant followed after her, standing in the corner in case he was needed.

  Over the next hour they spoke of what had occurred at the granary and the battle after. The nobles spoke of the other villages raided and the dead they’d found. The centurion didn’t ask questions, just stood nodding along as she tapped one thick finger on her chin as she listened. She’d at least set down her sword on her stretched out cot. Cassius was not called to speak, for which he was grateful. Marcus spoke for them, detailing everything that had happened in the battle for the granary.

  “Were the imps in the room when you entered?” Lucilia finally asked. Marcus froze, thinking on it for a long minute before he turned to Cassius and the others.

  “No. The door was shut when we left the room. We opened it up when we retreated. I saw no other way for them to enter,” Cassius said, riding to his companion’s relief.

  “And when you finished killing them, the runes died?” Lucilia continued. Marcus nodded quickly in affirmative.

  “Something to keep in mind. If they can be brought back through the markings or if they hadn’t been summoned yet at all. If they hadn’t been summoned, then it was a trap for your file. Why?” Lucilia asked. Vira and Hadranius looked at the group and waited for them. Cassius felt the tension build as nobody spoke, growing upon him until he couldn’t stop the words from spilling free.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “The imps were growing quickly eating their wounded. If it was a trap, which we don’t know if it was or if they can be summoned through the runes, then it was to grow them on our strength,” Cassius surmised. Lucilia looked at him with a hint of satisfaction in her features.

  “And why would you try to level summoned animals?” Hadranius asked, scorn in his voice as he turned to glare at Cassius.

  “I don’t know, senator. I don’t know the requirements for further blessings for a summoner,” Cassius said instantly, bowing his head deeply toward the senator. Lucilia could stand as proud as she wanted, Cassius had no family or a legion to call upon to protect himself.

  “Please senator, why would an enemy of the republic try to strengthen themselves?” Lucilia said with enough scorn in her voice that everyone flinched. Cassius didn’t know where the centurion was able to draw the courage to stand against the senator, to humiliate him even, but it was shocking. Enough so that Hadranius stood there with his jaw flapping like a fish pulled from water.

  “Enough uncle. These are not the halls you wield power in. This is a war room, let the warriors do their job,” Vira scolded. Hadranius’ mouth snapped shut and he leaned back, arms crossed across his powerful chest as rage filled his features. The good senator kept his tongue though.

  “We will send runners to the cohort quarters and rouse the tribune. In the meantime, double patrols and we start searching along this road,” Lucilia said as she grabbed a rolled up map and let it flop open. She stabbed a finger at a marked road, the same road that Cassius’ file had been patrolling.

  “We came from here,” Vira said, leaning over and pointing further down the road. Lucilia grunted and went to her pack, pulling some stones free and placing them down on the map.

  “Sacrificed villages here and here. The granary is there,” Vira said and they slowly formed a line of destruction.

  “Hostus, where was that gate reported?” Lucilia said, her finger roamed along the map, a frown on her broad face. Cassius tried to slowly slip away, but the movement caught the centurion’s eye and she shook her head. His feet stilled as he waited while the attendant pointed toward where the Shifting Wall was.

  Cassius could see the line it was forming and felt his stomach sink as he saw where the line was going. Further away from the cohort and the rest of the legion. The sinking further only accelerated as Lucilia’s wide finger kept moving across the map and ended at a point where the Shifting Wall and the edge of the peninsula connected.

  “That’s Villa Ore Mundi. The edge of the republic, but it’s a nicely sized town,” Vira said.

  “It’s completely undefended and filled with higher leveled farmers and stone masons. If the summoner is trying to level his monsters, then that’ll be a feast,” Lucilia said. She closed her eyes and wiped at her face before looking toward Hostus.

  “Prepare the men to march an hour before dawn,” Lucilia ordered. The attendant nodded and departed without another word.

  “Are we going to be moving just off of this?” Hadranius asked, a single eyebrow raising up. Cassius’ loathing of the man was only deepening the longer he was around him.

  “I am. I will send runners to inform the tribune of this escalation, but I shall move now,” Lucilia replied cooly.

  “I do not think I can commit my men to this. I will follow after the line of destruction. I believe they will head back toward the gates and escape into the wilds,” the senator said.

  “Uncle,” Vira began but Hadranius cut her off with a cut of his hand.

  “We combined our forces, but I have plenty of my own silver to spend on guards and don’t need my sister's largesse to protect my people,” Hadranius snarled, his face twisted in a rictus of rage as the earlier embarrassments reared their head again. Cassius kept his face still, even if he wanted to strike the senator. Vira’s face slowly drew tight, blank as a porcelain mask as she nodded once.

  “So be it uncle. You have cast your lot and I shall remember this and will be sure that my sisters and mother hear.” That was enough to make Hadranius pause, but his anger carried him past his better judgment, sweeping out of the tent in a swirl of robes.

  “Can’t stand that bastard,” Lucilia said calmly as her shoulders slowly sank as she relaxed.

  “He had grown rather pompous, but he dotes upon my elder sister and my mother so they allow him his trespasses. This is a step too far though,” Vira said, shaking her head in disbelief.

  “How much of your column was his?” Lucilia asked.

  “Too much, but our [Medicus] is his wife. I doubt you have a [Medicus] with you,” Vira said, to which Lucilia nodded her head.

  “Legionnaires know their job and the price. We shall march regardless,” Lucilia said.

  “As shall we. We should find a stone so your soldiers can receive their blessings. They slew many of the beasts,” Vira said, turning to the quartet who still stood there in silence.

  “They didn’t use the [Farmer] stone?” Lucilia asked. Cassius turned to Marcus, wondering why they hadn’t used it while he was recuperating.

  “Something was wrong. We couldn’t connect to the stone,” Marcus said. The temperature in the room dropped as both of the women stared at him with intense expressions.

  “Why wasn’t that in your report?” Lucilia asked before Vira could say anything.

  “I have only received blessings upon the [Legionnaire] stones. I thought it was because I held the wrong class,” Marcus replied. Both of the women looked at each other and shook their heads before looking back at the map.

  “This changes things, but just reassures me of where they are striking. Villa Ore Mundi holds a county stone. If they can disable the stone, then they could cut off all of the class stones in this region,” Lucilia said, her finger moving in a wide circle.

  “That is a large leap in logic, centurion,” Vira said, but her eyes were on the circle that Lucilia had just shown.

  “Levels can be earned by rampaging across the borderlands. They are wide and scarcely patrolled. But if this is something more…organized, then this is an attack upon our ability to connect to the system. Then Villa Ore Mundi is the perfect target,” Lucilia explained.

  Cassius looked to Marcus but the man’s face had become granite. All three of the veteran legionnaires were silent as they looked at the two women. Both of them were leaning over the map and looking at the closeness of the Shifting Wall and the borderlands. A finger traced a road that led from Villa Ore Mundi that headed south where it would connect to a crossroads. A crossroads that would lead directly to the heart of the republic, Aurum.