TWENTY: FORK IN THE ROAD

  “You wish to retreat after the first day?” The voice belonged to one of Vira’s nobles who had clustered around the small planning area Marcus had created. Night had crept into the forest like a fog, only a pair of small fires in the leeway of trees giving light.

  “No, but we have wounded and no way of healing them. Two of your retainers were injured, three of my legionnaires are dead and six more wounded. Ten of our number are no longer able to fight after our first skirmish,” Marcus said. Cassius' sympathy for the centurion was only growing as the man looked aged further and further the longer he held command. An air of exhaustion was exuded as the veteran legionnaire looked everyone over.

  “We are down to thirty-seven healthy combatants, five porters, and those damn mules. They have two more of those oversized imps, which mind you, one of them took a quarter of our strength. Not to mention another of the killers who the centurion couldn’t best, and the summoner himself,” Marcus continued.

  Around the small fire Marcus had gathered Vira and two of her retainers and then Cassius, Pius, and Valeria to himself. The obvious trust he put in his former file was apparent and Cassius had heard more than one complaint about it already. Without any true file leaders though, nothing would come of it.

  “Most of the horde is dead and they are fleeing,” the young nobleman argued back. Heads bobbed in agreement as Marcus grit his teeth, the grinding loud enough that Cassius could hear it from across the fire.

  “It matters not if they are fewer in number. Without a true officer here to combine our strength, each of those beasts will cost us a dozen men. We’d be ruined just killing the beasts,” Pius said, speaking calmly as he pointed it out.

  “We didn’t realize how strong they were. The summoner must have sacrificed his numbers for strength. Even then, those griffons killed nearly forty of the beasts,” Vira said. Another round of nods.

  “We can always send the wounded back with the porters. String up a few litters, send a small guard, and push back beyond the wall. Two hours travel in the morning and they’d be safer,” Cassius felt inclined to say.

  “We’d lose even more warriors that way,” the nobleman sneered.

  “It is our duty to care for the injured,” Marcus snapped back, his temper obviously frayed.

  “Currently we are a punitive expedition. That is what we set out to do, but it has become clear we lack the strength to do that,” Valeria reasoned.

  “We leave the wounded here with the porters and push ahead. Meet them in battle and see that we are their betters,” the unnamed nobleman spoke over her.

  “Peace, Titus. Let all speak here,” Vira calmed the nobleman who grimaced but nodded in agreement.

  “We break into a smaller group. Strip the mules of their goods, establish the camp here. Send runners back to guide either the tribune or senator here with reinforcements. A small group of volunteers follows after, our strongest fighters,” Cassius said.

  “You are often trying to split away from your brothers,” Pius remarked and all three of the other legionnaires glared at him.

  “It is what makes sense. We fear the summoner gathering his own reinforcements, but we lack the strength to best him. Let us shadow him at least. If they get too close to their home, then we can strike and hope to overwhelm them. If not, then we can lead the reinforcements toward them and defeat them in good order,” Cassius reasoned.

  “Scouts it shall be then.” Marcus’ words stopped the discussion as everyone nodded. If in the formation of plans voices were allowed, then after they were decided dissent was not welcomed.

  “Cassius, I will ask you once more to go forth since you are so ready to split from your line. Pius or Valeria?” Marcus asked the duo.

  “I will go,” Valeria said, nodding rapidly as if trying to convince herself. Pius gently slapped her shoulder while eyes turned to look at Vira.

  “If you are to stay here Marcus, then I shall take command of the scouts. Titus and Leto shall go with me,” she said.

  “Go and rest then. I shall ask for another of your coterie to escort the wounded out,” Marcus asked. Valeria nodded in assent and then the plans broke down to who would do what and what supplied would go with whom.

  The huddle broke apart, everyone searching for their bedrolls, but Marcus held a hand out to stop Cassius from leaving. Valeria waited a second, but Marcus shook his head and the other legionnaire walked away.

  “What was the skill you pulled out of the griffon?” Marcus asked once they were alone. Cassius opened his mouth, shocked and trying to figure out what to say.

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  “You aren’t in trouble. Pillage on the battlefield is the right of the legion. Nobody slew the beast so it was free to be claimed by any. I just need to know to shape my own plans,” Marcus said tiredly.

  “It’s called [Hunter’s Sight]. Vira suggested it’s either a sight or analysis skill,” Cassius said.

  “She’d be more knowledgeable than I am. Have you used it?”

  “No, sir. I didn’t want to draw attention to it,” Cassius said.

  “Wise. But, I need to know what it does if I can plan around it. Who knows, maybe you will be able to become a true attendant,” Marcus said.

  Cassius looked at Marcus and thought of what he wanted to do. Skills were fairly intuitive, a guiding sense that could lead a warrior to using it with little training. Fully exploring a skill's depths could take years, but to activate it was the work of a tendril of thought. Mana slid through him, not the thick rush of his other skills, but a quiet pressure that built around his eyes.

  The blanket of darkness around the camp faded away until it was a twilight gray, hard to see but possible. Each of the two fires were brighter, not burning his eyes, but uncomfortable to see. Cassius slowly looked around the camp before his gaze landed on Vira, who stood tall by her own campfire as she talked to her small coterie and the porters who slept near them.

  LEVEL 10

  Her ranking didn’t surprise him as much as seeing it did. There felt like there should be more to be seen, but Cassius’ strength wasn’t enough to properly see it. It felt like standing on the edge of a stair, but in his mind. No matter how he teetered though, he couldn’t go over the edge and see the hidden information.

  “I can see levels,” Cassius said, snapping his head back towards Marcus. The legionnaire had his own level ten floating above his head.

  “That is it?” Marcus asked.

  “I can see better in the dark. Not as if it was day, but much better. It feels like I should be able to see more, but can’t push through to it,” Cassius admitted.

  “Level disparity or your mastery of the skill is too weak. Based on that alone though, you will make a good scout. Now, listen to me,” Marcus said, hand wrapping around Cassius’ shoulder and pulling him to the side.

  “I don’t want you to play the hero warrior, do you understand? Quietly keep track of them, use the skill of yours. Don’t let the strata lead you into a premature death so they can bask in glory, alright?” Marcus said.

  “I have no desire to die, sir. We’ll be careful,” Cassius promised him.

  “Few desire to die, but it comes all the same. We can only hope it is the tribune who arrived first and not the senator. We need a true centurion here, or at least a skill shard so I can properly command us. If I had [Meld] like Antonius did, it would have been different,” Marcus finished nearly silently, looking into the darkness of the woods.

  “You did well, sir. I doubt that Antonius would have been so willing to chase after the summoner,” Cassius said. Antonius had been a professional legionnaire and skilled, but he had been a cautious, defensive man.

  “Maybe it would have been better if we’d just waited. Fortified the gate until it shifted away. Let someone else take charge,” Marcus said, turning around so the two of them were looking at the shrouded shapes of the three dead legionnaires at the edge of their camp.

  “It is our duty to protect the republic. Letting that monster flee and gather more of his brethren would have cost us more lives,” Cassius tried to reassure the older man.

  “Maybe. Or maybe the griffons would have eaten him, or one of the other monsters out here,” Marcus said.

  “If you start second guessing yourself now, you’ll never stop. We can only move forward,” Cassius said, filling a level of annoyance at the older man’s apparent doubt. Marcus snorted and looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

  “When did you grow so wise?” he asked sardonically.

  “Regrets and second-thoughts are a luxury. Have them once we are back and behind the legion’s defenses, not out here,” Cassius said. It was similar enough to his own life on the streets, where inaction was more lethal than the wrong action. One must move to survive, to linger around without motion was to invite death.

  “You are right. Which is sour on the tongue to say. When you leave in the morning I’ll send the wounded out and find a defensible position further west. If in three days you have not found where they are headed, come back to us,” Marcus ordered, a hint of steel back in his voice as he straightened, shedding the doubts that plagued him like rainwater off a duck.

  “Yes, sir.” Cassius thumped his fist against his shoulder in salute and turned away, heading back toward his own small sleeping spot. Valeria and Pius had brought his pack and he desperately wanted to lay down and sleep for a few hours. Both of the veterans waited for him in the near dark.

  “How is he?” Pius asked as Cassius settled himself down, pulling his bedroll free of his pack and laying down on it.

  “Nervous, tired, doubts himself,” Cassius whispered back. The two other legionnaires weren’t Marcus’ attendant, but they were his closest confidantes.

  “He has had to shoulder a heavy burden. As have you,” Pius said. Valeria grunted in agreement as Cassius stared up into the sky. With his skill active he could see the glimmer of stars beyond the boughs of the trees, thousands of prickling lights that lit the heavens like fire.

  “I will perform my duty,” Cassius said. He didn’t want to speak of it, the weight of the sudden change of course. It had been less than five days since the file had been killed in the granary and he’d already fought multiple battles, received blessings faster than almost any legionnaire he knew of, and had found the favor of one of the strata. Even if Vira had become more cautious around him since their disagreement.

  “As all should be. Do not forget who and what we are. We fight as one, our strength is in the legion. Discipline will best strength,” Pius said, sounding like he had said the words a thousand times. Cassius grunted in agreement, but as he closed his eyes he thought of how the imps had slaughtered their numbers.

  Discipline could cover the gap in strength, that was a given Cassius knew. They had brought down the higher leveled monsters without many problems. But he thought more of why they couldn’t both be strong and disciplined as he slowly fell asleep under the stars.