Chapter 39

"Halt!" Polonius ordered as they reached a flat level halfway up a mountain.

Turning his horse, Polonius pulled the cape around his body and looked down over the country they were gratefully leaving.

Past the large expanse of trees lay a clearing. From this height, it looked like nothing more than a strip of land in the middle of a sea of green.

On one end of the strip was camped part of one of the largest armies the world had ever seen, and on the other were a handful of rebels.

He wasn't too far up that Polonius could see that Octavia had begun to empty her camp; half of her men were moving into the forest, away from the battlefield that existed between the two armies.

Polonius frowned. He wondered what Octavia thought she could achieve by splitting her army.

"Sir," A guard called from behind him, "We must go. The ship shall be arriving shortly."

"Yes," Polonius turned his horse back towards the trail, "We head for the ship."

* * *

Octavia raised her hand to her forehead for the tenth time, running her fingertips over the small bump that had risen there from Krista's rather barbaric tactic.

"Are your men in place?" She asked Hadrian as they marched through the camp, passing soldiers as they headed for the front gate.

"They are heading into the forest now," Hadrian assured her, "I will be following shortly."

"Good," Octavia dropped her hand and rested it on the sword at her hip, "The plan is falling together nicely."

Hadrian agreed when he looked ahead and spotted a dishevelled vagrant running through the camp towards them.

Hadrian hurried in front of Octavia and drew his sword when the man drew too close, his body covered in dirty rags.

"Halt!" Hadrian ordered him and he stopped, his chest a few inches from the tip of Hadrian's blade.

The man looked straight past Hadrian towards Octavia, gasping for breath.

"The children . . ." The man panted.

"Yes?" Octavia waited, sweat running down her back underneath the many layers of armour.

"They're gone!" Varinius shouted, "The children are gone! Lazarus and Marcia have left with them."

Octavia pursed her lips for a moment, "No matter."

Varinius frowned, "I thought . . ."

"It would have been efficient to eradicate the problem all at once, but it is of no importance-"

"-Let me go after them, Commander," Varinius begged her, "Give me a horse; I know where they're heading."

Hadrian, who had now lowered his sword, shook his head at Octavia, "Our resources are already stretched."

Octavia seemed to weigh up the decision for a moment before she decided in favour of Varinius.

He was a skilled Roman guard that, when she had asked, had been the first to volunteer to spy in the enemy camp.

"You shall take one horse only," Octavia told him, "Change your clothes before you leave, I wish for Lazarus and Marcia to know exactly who it is who are killing them."

A cold smile spread across his lips as he gave a small bow, "Yes, Commander."

Octavia and Hadrian stepped around him when she turned back, "Varinius?"

"Yes?" He spun to face her.

"I want you back before the second wave commences," Octavia told him, "Hadrian shall require his horse for the attack."

Varinius stared at Hadrian before the pair left; Hadrian was now the one holding the smile.

* * *

Frieda's quiver was rammed with arrows once more as she and Diomed led their party out of the fort and towards the west flank.

Adjusting the belt across her hips, Frieda secured her sword into place.

"Maybe you should climb another tree?" Diomed suggested as they stopped halfway down the slope, less than half a league from the fort.

If he looked to his left, Diomed could just see past the corner of the fort to the front entrance whilst, to his right, was an open field before a line of trees.

"No," Frieda answered his question as they came to a halt, the men and women gathering behind them, "I'm staying right here."

"Good," Diomed smiled, "You need to be kept an eye on."

Frieda laughed, trying to remain confident, "So says the man with one hand."

Diomed pressed that one hand against his chest and tried to appear hurt by her words, "You wound me."

Frieda's smile was lost when someone behind her shouted something about the roman camp.

Looking across the open battlefield, Diomed and Frieda saw what it was that concerned him so much. The Roman gates had opened and Octavia's men had begun to march out in perfect ranks.

They could only watch as the field, once green and brown, was introduced to a whole different colour; the colour of red.

It spread across the area like a disease, as the army split itself into three sections, mirroring Krista's own divisions on the battlefield and lining up opposite them.

Diomed looked to his left and saw Krista; she was stood further down than anyone else. She would meet the Roman's first when they attacked.

Then he looked right and saw Frieda, his wife, and he felt himself become calm once more.

Her blonde hair, as long as it had been when they first met blew softly in the wind behind her, glowing under the sunlight and he could imagine seeing her stood on a field of sand in the Colosseum.

Years had passed since that day, and they had a family now, but Diomed felt young once again and there were adventures still to be undertaken.

Adventures they would do together, Frieda's eyes seemed to say as she turned to look back at him.

*

Leonidas and Cato were only a few minutes into their journey and already they wanted to hang Gallus up in a tree somewhere far away.

Or, if they could not hang him up, then maybe they could co-ordinate a strip of fabric around his mouth to keep him from speaking.

"So, have you done this before?" Gallus had to run to keep up with them, "When? Where?"

Cato looked at Leonidas, begging him just to punch Gallus out. They would probably be doing him a favour if they did.

Leonidas sighed, "If by 'this' you mean heading away from the battle with a secret second army, personally, no, we haven't. Though Krista has had some experience with it."

Cato and Leonidas shared a look as they remembered the past.

Gallus frowned, "I don't understand how it works."

The group behind them grunted their disapproval.

"It's essentially a trap," Cato rolled his eyes as they explained it again, "Krista and the others will draw Octavia in, and once all of the Romans are focused on her, then we will emerge from the forest behind them, trapping them in."

"They'll be getting attacked from the front and behind. They'll have nowhere to go." Leonidas added, turning them up a small slope as he followed the markers he had left for himself a few days previous.

Gallus was still frowning, staring at the ground.

"What do you not understand about it now?" Cato nearly shouted at him.

"Why did Krista keep it to herself?" Gallus asked.

"She didn't," Leonidas and Cato replied harmoniously.

"What do you mean?" Gallus asked them.

"Krista and Argyle created this plan together," Leonidas told him before he moved on ahead, scouting the area.

Cato took Leonidas's space next to Gallus.

"Argyle knew about this?" Gallus seemed emboldened by the news, feeling now that he was still following his dead commander's wishes.

Gallus had idolised Argyle.

"Yes, so, if this fails I am going to blame him, okay?" Cato gave Gallus a wide smile before he set off to join Leonidas, no love lost between him and the dead Gaulish commander.

Gallus kept back from Cato as their group reached the small clearing where they were to wait. Gallus knew about Argyle and the problems he had caused between Cato and Leonidas, though they seemed as strong as ever.

Gallus envied them their connection.

"What now?" Someone else asked this question.

"Settle in," Leonidas sighed, "We'll be in for a long wait. I'll take the first shift and wait for the signal."

"Get some rest," Cato advised them as Leonidas brushed his side, "You're going to need it later."

Cato looked at Leonidas but found he was instead looking at the sky.

Peering through the gaps in the canopy above, Cato could see grey clouds beginning to form.

"Storm's coming." Leonidas muttered when a continuous, monotone noise filled the air around them and seemed to shake the branches on the trees.

The sound belonged to a horn. The battle had started.

Cato turned and looked back the way they had come where, in the distance, rested the battlefield and their friends, "It's already here."

* * *

"Lazarus? Lazarus?" Cassia reached down and shook her brother's shoulder, "Lazarus!"

"What, Cassia?" Lazarus shook his head a little as he walked beside the horse, leading them down the path.

It was wide enough the horses could have led themselves without wandering off pace, but he could hear his mother's voice in his head.

It didn't matter that he felt like he was betraying his own existence, he had to keep his siblings safe.

"I said- Lazarus!" Cassia moaned when her brother shook his head once again, "You're not listening to me."

"Sorry," Lazarus rattled, right then he did not feel like listening to his sister complain about being hungry when people were being killed right now.

"Hey, Cassia?" Marcia's voice interrupted his sister.

Cassia adored Marcia, whether it was because she was simply another female or because she carried sword, Lazarus highly suspected the latter, and turned in the saddle to face her.

She almost unsettled Zeph in front of her as she did so.

"Do you reckon you could lead the horses for a minute as I talk to your brother?" Cassia slipped from the horse.

"He doesn't seem to be listening to me," Cassia nodded and reached out her arms for Lazarus to lift her from the saddle, "Good luck."

Marcia handed her reins to Cassia who took the reins off of Lazarus as well and walked ahead.

Marcia and Lazarus waited until she was far enough away so that she couldn't overhear before they followed, "They'll be alright, you know."

"I should be back there," Lazarus told her.

Marcia nodded, she felt the same. Her mother had raised her to defend those that could not defend themselves, and yet now she ordered her away from the battle.

"I feel the same," Marcia told him, "But we must follow their wishes."

"Why must we?" Lazarus turned to her, "Leonidas told me before we left that nobody and nothing should stop you from following your destiny."

Marcia saw the fire burning in his eyes.

"Marcia," Lazarus pressed forward, "What if this is my destiny? What if it is yours?"

She had to look away from the intensity in his eyes.

Her heart ached and she looked back the way they had come. She had been within a hair's width of her first true battle.

Memories of being in Octavia's tent and the brand on her arm reminded her of the consequences and the pain that such a decision could bring, but her yearning for battle outweighed her fears.

She licked her lips and looked back at Lazarus.

He could see in her eyes that she wanted the same as he did.

"We cannot go back now," Marcia lifted her arm in the direction of Cassia, Zeph and Ahern who were nearly fifteen feet ahead of them, "We have to keep them safe."

Lazarus knew she was right and ran a hand through his hair.

He didn't say anything when a new sound hit his ears; it was the sound of hooves against mud.

Marcia heard it a second after he did and they both lifted their heads and looked in the direction they had come from.

They turned slowly as they spotted the first glimpse of a horse's snout through the gaps in the trees, speeding around the bend.

Lazarus reached for his sword as Marcia armed her bow.

The horse left the bend and came into full view; the dark horse was speeding towards them carrying a Roman guard.

Marcia raised her bow and the Guard pulled his horse to a stop.

His helmet held only one slit, which exposed a pair of eyes in shadow.

The sun was rising higher behind him as none of them spoke.

Marcia narrowed her eyes as she focused on the Roman's gaze, somehow feeling as if she had seen such a pair of eyes before.

"Lazarus?"

That was Cassia, calling from behind them in worry.

And then, as if Cassia's voice had brought him out of a trance, his horse reared up onto its hind legs and charged at them.

Marcia let an arrow fly before she hit the ground.