TWENTY-TWO: HUNTED

  “Where are they?” Vira asked tiredly as she perched against a tree, her chest heaved up and down as she struggled to catch her breath. The rest of their party were in the same straights, leaning or on a knee as they fought to regain their breaths. Cassius looked behind them, a headache blurring his sight, as he tried to find whatever it was that hunted them.

  If they rested for more than a few minutes, the darts would begin to come screaming in. Valeria and Cassius’ shields were riddled with them and Leto’s chestplate had a lung scratch along it where he’d managed to use a skill to prevent himself from being pierced.

  Without the light of the sun, the shadows in the forest were too thick to see through without [Hunter’s Sight]. Cassius had been forced to keep the skill active their entire flight or they risked falling into a pitfall. He’d yet to glimpse the hunters who pursued them though.

  “Nothing. Same as last time,” Cassius said between huffing breaths as he made sure to keep his body covered by either the tree he leaned against, or his shield. Three of the bolts had found permanent homes in his shield, to wedged into the wood to pull free without stopping and working them free. The best he could do was break them, leaving the shafts behind as they continued to run.

  “They’re directing us somewhere,” Vira said, straightening up as she looked around the forest.

  “What do you mean?” Titus asked. With Leto’s damaged armor Cassius could finally tell the two men apart.

  “Everytime we stray too far to the west, they send darts our way. They’re pushing us directly north,” Vira said. Cassius thought over their attacks and couldn’t help but agree with the noblewoman. They hadn’t been attacked since they had turned north and every one of the bolts was easy enough to stop as long as they paid attention.

  “What is it they’re herding us to?” Leto asked as he surged to his feet. In the gray light of the skill, Cassius could see the anger on the man’s face.

  “How should I know? Unless we can find them and confront them, then there is nothing we can do,” Valeria snapped.

  “I was not speaking to you, plebian,” Leto snarled. Cassius could see the two of them on the verge of striking each other, exhaustion and frustration boiled over.

  “Enough. We know their plan, now we must either be ready to encounter what they lead us to, or foil it. Now is not the time to kill one another,” Cassius said, his voice low and commanding as he tried to imitate how Antonius had sounded giving orders.

  With the advantage of being the only one able to see, he watched as the two of them reeled backward as if he’d slapped them. Vira cocked her head and had a wry smile on her face as she nodded unseen.

  “As the legionnaire said. Now is not the time for squabbling. We will head to their trap, but be wary. We push directly north,” Vira ordered. Cassius nodded and grabbed at his nearly empty canteen, draining it in a single gulp as he pushed off the tree and took the lead for the group.

  The woods of the wilds were easy enough to traverse, the distance between the giant trees giving large pathways. A canopy so dense it had strangled the growth of most of the plants on the ground, only the years of built up fallen leaves, tree limbs, and even partially decomposed trees blocking his path.

  Cassius kept his head swinging back and forth, trying to see their invisible attackers, but there was nothing to see in the gray light of his skill. It caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end the longer they ran without feeling the next attack coming.

  On and on they ran, stopping frequently to catch their breaths. If they stayed still for too long, bolts would start to land amongst them and forcing them forward again. Cassius’ mana was running low, even with his sight taking so little, and trails of hot liquid seeped down his face and over his lips. He licked it away and iron tang of blood overwhelmed him.

  “I can’t keep going. My mana is gone,” Cassius finally admitted as he let the skill go. Pain he hadn’t even known was there vanished as he lost all sight in front of him, the world turning black as he slammed off of a tree.

  “Cursed gates, it is dark,” Cassius swore as he slumped down, trying to regain his breath.

  “Everyone, take a break,” Vira ordered as she grabbed Cassius’ shoulder and lowered herself down to her knees.

  “We are only an hour or so till dawn, do you think you can push on?” Vira asked. Cassius scoffed a bitter laugh as he grabbed her hand still on his shoulder and used it to trace across his face.

  “What is this? Tears…no, that is blood.” Vira wiped her hands on his cloak, the movement shoving him back and forth.

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  “You don’t happen to have any water, do you?” Cassius asked, voice dry from the harsh run.

  “No more than a mouthful,” Vira said, but she still offered him her canteen. Cassius took it without a word, drinking the body-hot water with a sigh of pleasure. It did little to quench the thirst he’d built, but it did curb it enough that he could think.

  “Just walk slowly. I’ll use my spear as a walking stick. We will just have to trust that they won’t kill us for walking slowly,” Cassius said, rising to his feet with a groan of pain. He could feel the blisters on his feet, broken open and staining his boots.

  “Agreed. Everyone, up and close. Grab the person closest to you. We have an hour till dawn, we are going to walk now,” Vira ordered. The shuffling in the dark would have been humorous most days, but Cassius mind was a blurry fugue of exhaustion, the firmly planted butt of his spear the only thing keeping him upright.

  “Alright, Cassius. Keep leading us,” Vira said, her hand firmly wedged under the collar of his armor. It pulled it slightly, not enough to choke him, but the presence was felt with every step.

  They moved slowly, Cassius taking the time to shuffle the spear butt forward, but they continued to push forward. If they strayed off the path north, he didn’t know. No more bolts came flying toward them as they moved, for that he was grateful. Slowly the sun began to break the heavens, the darkness fading to gray and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they could see once more.

  “I need rest,” Cassius said, struggling to speak through his swollen tongue and dry lips.

  “We all do,” Titus complained. None of them had seen his face, the crackly blood he could feel dried under his eyes as his mouth moved. He had no desire for their pity, but the two strata’s constant complaining had begun to wear thin his patience.

  “Silence, all of you. Look ahead,” Vira said, releasing Cassius’s collar to point forward through the trees. Cassius blinked his bleary eyes as he followed her finger. Through the line of the trees he could see something large and blurry.

  “I can’t see anything,” Cassius whispered to Vira who had started to push forward.

  “You are blind?” she asked, horrified.

  “No, but it is a struggle to see far. Everything has turned into a smear,” Cassius explained, still using his spear to push forward.

  “It is just strain. I have the same problem when I read too long by candlelight,” Vira assured him, but there was a hint of nervousness to her voice that didn’t reassure Cassius.

  “What is it that you see ahead?” He failed to keep his voice low enough to avoid being overheard. Leto scoffed before he mockingly called out.

  “Do you have no eyes, legionnaire? It is a hill.” The man stepped in front of Cassius, nothing more than a silver blob that rapidly rolled backward as a gasp of shock came from him. A spark of bitter amusement flickered in Cassius’ chest at that, but he was too weary to truly care.

  “I’ll be fine. Get us to the hill,” Cassius said quietly. Valeria was there, her red cloak bright enough to tell her apart from the other four.

  “Come, grab my shoulder and I shall lead you now,” she said. There was a softness in her words that contrasted her normal brusque voice.

  “Blessings,” Cassius whispered as he followed after her.

  Light continued to infuse the world, brightening it as Cassius' eyes watered. He cursed and wiped at them as pain slowly built in his head as the sun rose higher and higher.

  “What bothers you?” Valeria asked as they broke free of the forest.

  “The light burns now. I can’t stop my eyes from watering,” Cassius told her. He was too tired to try to keep his words bundled away, to hide the weakness as they looked about the area.

  “It will pass,” Valeria said in an echo of what Vira had said. It sounded no more reassuring from her than it had the noblewoman.

  “What do you see?” Cassius asked.

  “The forest ends as if a line was drawn. This is not natural,” Valeria told him. She continued to move forward slowly, the ground shifted under their feet into a gentle slope that alerted Cassius to the fact they were climbing the hill.

  “Valeria, is this grass purple?” Cassius asked, staring down at the long stalks that ran along his legs.

  “That is not the only thing that is strange. Can you see the crest?” Valeria said. Cassius looked up from the grass and squinted his eyes against the burning light of the sun as they walked higher and higher.

  “Are those spikes?” Cassius asked, seeing the long wooden stakes clearly enough. They ringed the entire top of the hill in a textbook formation for a legion camp.

  “They are. Stay close to me. And do not stab me,” Valeria ordered, releasing him as she shifted her weight around to bring her battered shield to bear. Cassius stuck to her back, keeping his eyes on his own shuffling feet as the three nobles walked uncontested to the top.

  “Salutations to the camp!” Leto called out, but there was no response.

  “Has the fool been cut down?” Cassius asked as he looked toward where Leto’s voice had come from.

  “Not yet. It looks old, the grass has regrown around the base of the stakes,” Valeria said. She led him around the stake and Cassius ran his hand over it, knocking on it as he did so.

  “It is rotted,” he told them, speaking loud enough that the others could hear him.

  “This is an old camp, but it has a view on the forest. Cassius, I want you resting. Valeria, watch the forestline. Leto and Titus, look for water.” Vira’s orders were met with a grumble from her kinsmen who were just as tired as Cassius and Valeria, who had taken what they viewed as the easy tasks.

  “When your eyes are bleeding I’ll let you rest first, next time,” Vira snapped and that was enough to end the complaints.

  “Sleep,” Cassius said, sliding his shield, spear, and pack off in a few quick movements, slumping to the ground and fast asleep before his head hit his pack.