Page 90 of Scorched Earth
They were harder now. Stronger. More skilled. Yet that wasn’t what Felix meant. “I think perhaps it’s time the Thirty-Seventh becomes that legion again.”
A slow smile formed on his friend’s face. “Agreed. But it has to start with you.” He rose to his feet. Reaching into his belt pouch, he extracted a heavy gold bracelet and set it in front of Marcus. “I found this in the command room. I know Austornic has been meddling, but his intentions are in the right place.”
“I know.” Taking another drink of water, Marcus said, “Assemble the Thirty-Seventh outside of camp. I need to talk to them.”
After Felix left, Marcus picked up the gold bangle, turning it over in his hands. There was nothing he could do that would ever make him worth Teriana. Nothing that he could do that would ever outweigh what he’d done to Lydia, and even without the rules imposed on him by the Empire, no future possible while he held that secretfrom her. He needed to stay away from her because he didn’t trust himself around her.
Yet that didn’t mean he needed to make her life worse.
Donning his armor and weapons, Marcus shoved the bangle into his belt pouch. Flinging open the door, he said to Gibzen, “Get Teriana and Quintus a room inside the fortress.”
The primus’s mouth twisted. “But you—”
“Do it. And someone get me my horse.”
Men hurried to obey as Marcus strode through the fortress, then out the doors. His hangover reared its head as brilliant rays of sun stabbed him in the eyes, but Marcus ignored the pain and shoved his helmet on his head. The camp was a flurry of activity as his men flowed out the gates, the men of the other legions watching with interest.
Descending the steps, Marcus found Servius standing at the base, holding the reins of a mare with a coat of an alarming shade of gold.
“Your old horse is lame,” his friend said. “So I bought you a new one. Isn’t she a beauty? They breed them in Gamdesh.”
Marcus stared at the tall mare. Her coat was so shiny she reflected the sunlight as though she were made of metal in truth. “Interesting choice.”
The horse stomped her feet and squealed, then tried to bite Servius’s arm. He only laughed. “She’s got good spirit, and she’ll make you look good.”
What she looked like was a mount that was likely to toss him into the mud at her earliest convenience. “Maybe—”
Servius leaned closer. “What I’m told is that there’s something special about this breed. They don’t make people sneeze.”
Thatwas an enticing attribute. Marcus frowned at the horse, wondering if not sneezing after every ride was worth the target such a mount would paint on his back. Taking the reins, he said to her, “You cause me trouble and horse meat will be on the menu.”
She pinned her ears and tried to bite him, Servius laughing as Marcus scrambled into the saddle. He ignored the wave of dizziness that came over him, and urged the mare into a trot toward the gates, his bodyguard formed up around him. Felix was waiting, his friend reining his own mount between Marcus and Gibzen. “Nice horse.”
“Servius’s choice.”
Felix laughed, then heeled his mount through camp. From the back of the tall mare, Marcus saw Teriana’s familiar form. She held a gladius in one hand, and Quintus was gesturing wildly as he explainedsomething to her. Though she no doubt had seen the party, her eyes remained fixed on Quintus, chin bobbing up and down as she listened to his instructions.
“You know who she reminds me of?” Felix asked, and Marcus winced internally that he’d been so obvious.
“No.”
“Agrippa’s girl. The laundress. She used to watch us train for hours on end. I always figured she had a thing for legion boys, so I never did anything about it. You remember her name?”
Marcus blinked, seeing the pretty Bardenese girl in his mind, her eyes wide with fear because she’d just dumped a bucket of water on his feet.
“Silvara,” Gibzen said from where he rode next to them. “We used to see the little chit mimicking us in the woods when she thought no one was watching. Agrippa even let her play dress-up in his gear one time; I heard Yaro and Quintus talking about it.”
To do so was against legion law, so Felix surprised Marcus by snapping, “You’re awfully well informed of other people’s business, Primus. Move off—this conversation doesn’t involve you.”
Gibzen’s glare was murderous, but he moved back a few paces. Only then did Felix retrieve a page from his belt pouch. “I bring it up because more supplies arrived via the Bardeen stem, including an update on the security at Hydrilla. The rebels have been increasing their attacks on supply caravans, which is why we only received half of what we should’ve. They’re led by a young woman who fights with a Thirty-Seventh gladius, and you’ll never guess what her name is.”
“You aren’t serious?” Marcus snatched the page, scanning the report, none of the decidedly bad news resonating as his eyes stalled on the description of the rebel leader.Prisoners were given over to questioners, who discovered the rebel leader goes by the name Silvara.
“Do you think Agrippa is helping them?”
Marcus reread the page, then shook his head. “No… No, they’d know these supplies were for us, and while it’s one thing for Agrippa to have deserted, it’s another thing for him to willfully attack the Thirty-Seventh’s supply lines. That’s no better than sticking knives into our backs.”
“So you think he’s dead?”
