Chapter 17

They rode for four days and four nights to reach Calabria.

Very little words passed between them as they galloped through the forests and woods, passing villages and temples along their way.

But neither of them stopped to pray because they knew the place they were heading to was long bereft of worship.

The medicine for the camp was tied safely around the buckle of her sword strap, bouncing against her hip as they hurtled down the path, the moon lighting their path.

It would be a few hours until Krista and Diomed located the road which connected the north with the southern provinces.

A few miles from the small town of Cirò, Krista slowed to a comfortable pace and directed her horse down the path.

The sun was rising over the hills behind them bathing their backs in warmth but despite this a cold shiver ran down Krista’s spine.

Sensing they were close, Krista was not prepared for what she saw as they followed the bend and came to a sudden halt at what lay before them.

Krista had seen carnage in her short life but this was something even Pluto would have shrunk from.

Krista gazed at the bodies of men, women, and children that littered the ground before them.

The blinding sun illuminated all of their faces, forcing Krista to see each and every one of the people she had failed.

Their blood had soaked into the ground. It covered the trees and dried upon the victim’s bodies until their skin looked more red than pale.

“Oh, Jupiter,” Diomed whispered in grief as he slipped from his horse.

Krista joined him upon the ground to mourn the death of over a hundred innocent people, slaughtered for trying to reach her.

They could barely walk a few feet without stepping upon another young person that been cut from their life so abruptly.

Mothers were cradling their infants; husbands were holding their lover’s hands and all the while they were being slaughtered.

Their bodies acted like a map as they stretched further down the path but it was when Krista raised her eyes skyward that she saw the true horror.

Oh Gods.

She paused and gazed at the bodies before she closed her eyes, hoping against all odds that this was nothing more than a bad dream.

But as her eyelids fluttered open, she was once again affronted with the vision of people nailed to trees.

Dozens of people had been shot with arrows, nailing their bodies to the tree trunks forcing them to look upon their families that lay dying on the ground beneath them.

One woman had an arrow pierced through her eye just for fun whilst a man beside her had been castrated with his genitals stuffed inside of his mouth.

And still, he was forced to hang there; his hands tied behind his back as he choked to death.

Turning in a circle, Krista saw not only one atrocity but half a dozen; people were hanging from ropes, others had their limbs hacked off and more.

Diomed sensed that she had stopped and followed her gaze to look upon the same horror with outrage.

“Krista,” Diomed whispered forcing her to turn towards the archer, “Look,” He nodded to a piece of wood that had been nailed to a tree beneath the corpse of a young girl.

She was barely eight years old; her blonde hair stained red from blood as her dress had been ripped from her bones, exposing her naked body to their views.

But it was not the slice across her throat that caught Krista’s attention but the wounds across her abdomen that drew Krista in.

As she stepped closer, Krista could see that the wounds were actually a pattern made of slashes inflicted by a dagger.

And as she looked past the poured blood that caked the girl’s body, Krista froze.

Because there, engraved upon her torso, was a name. Her name.

Krista.

And beneath her body was the sign that informed passing people exactly why these people had died; because they were going to join the rebellion.

This was a warning to everybody who was thinking of opposing the regime.

Releasing the reins of her horse, Krista walked back towards Diomed and the people that hung, suspended from ropes above their heads.

Removing her sword from its sheath, Krista cut the rope that had been fastened around the base of the trunks and released these people from their binds.

Her heart was aflame with anger at the torture these innocent people had endured.

She could feel Diomed watching her as she cut the ropes, the people falling rapidly to the ground.

Krista would not leave them here to be seen like this. They deserved better.

* * *

Dianna needed to be patient.

All good things came to those who waited. Dianna remembered her mother saying that.

Her mother had waited and the man she loved had become Emperor; she had gotten the home she always wanted and the security his position provided.

As Dianna thought this she realised that she needed to wait as well.

She had not gone through everything at Marcus Threasius’s villa to surrender now. She had killed a Roman soldier, a crime punishable by death, and earned Krista’s trust only to give up.

She was closer than she thought to achieving her goal and once she did she knew her Aunt, the Empress, would pardon her for her crimes.

After all, Dianna would be the hero who brought the Emperor’s killer to justice and Auntie Pompeia could not ignore that.

And so Dianna waited.

For two weeks, she rose every morning and aided with those who were too weak to feed themselves.

She cleaned rags, boiled water and cooked.

And when she went to bed she thanked the Gods for sparing her from the illness so that she may carry out her duty with her full strength.

The Gods were on her side; they too wanted to see her succeed.

This disease was a sign; those who worshiped Krista had fallen ill and yet Dianna, who had spent all her time around the sick, had not succumbed.

The Gods were protecting her.

She just wished that they would have protected Artorius also.

* * *

Krista could see their faces.

She could see her name carved into the young girl’s body.

She found herself imaging the pain that poor girl must have felt and praying that she was already dead when they took their knife to her chest although she knew differently.

Now, as Krista rested beside their small camp fire, she looked into the flames and all she saw were the flames of the funeral pyre that reached into the sky and the smell of burning flesh.

Animals had ravaged the bodies causing the smell to overwhelm her but Krista persevered; these people had died trying to reach her.

They died trying to reach for freedom.

The least she could do was to give them a proper burial.

Krista was enraged by it all; her people were not animals! Slaves were not dogs that could just be slaughtered without anybody blinking an eyelid.

They had a right to live. Her people had a right to exist on this earth.

Glancing to her side, Krista regarded Diomed as he gazed into the very same flames as her.

He had been silent ever since they had left and his mind seemed clouded.

Unlike Krista’s mind; her mind was very clear on what she had to do.

Commander Gaius Aurelius had done this, under Pompeia’s orders.

And Krista knew what she had to do; she had to avenge these people and take Gaius off the playing board.

He needed to die.

But Diomed was not going to let Krista out of his sight; he would insist on waiting for the others to accompany them but this was Krista’s fight.

Her name was upon that girl’s body; it was a message directly to her.

She had caused this; she had killed those innocent people.

So she would be the ones to avenge them.

“We should get some sleep,” Krista informed Diomed as the moon began to drop from the sky ever so slightly.

“Yes,” Diomed frowned as he tore himself from his thoughts, “We should.”

Krista slipped beneath her animal’s skins and pulled the blankets around her shoulders, keeping out the cold as she waited for Diomed to sleep.

It felt like an eternity before she heard his familiar heavy breathing filling the air.

Waiting a few minutes longer, Krista slowly turned onto her other side and gazed at Diomed, knowing what she had to do.

Carefully stepping out of her bed, Krista turned and started to pack her things.

Keeping her feet silent, Krista packed her satchel and strapped it to her horse’s saddle.

Removing half of the rations from her satchel, she placed them inside Diomed’s and split the water skins when Diomed moved behind her.

Gazing over her shoulder, she watched Diomed turn in his sleep, revealing his branded arm to her naked eye as he did so.

Suddenly curious, Krista realised that she had not seen it properly and she wondered which master he had belonged to.

Crouching carefully by his side, Krista gazed upon his flesh.

The flames of the fire flickered against his shining skin, illuminating the brand across his arm. The letter 'M’ stood out to her but it was not what caught her eye.

Tilting her head to the side, Krista leaned in closer as she saw another marking lying behind his slave brand.

Krista could make out the tipped wings of an eagle and the edge of a laurel wreath.

A moment of confusion waved across Krista but the moment she saw the letter’s it turned into shock.

The slavery brand had melted most of the previous brand but Krista could still make out the lower bend of an ‘S’, the leg of a ‘P’, the tail of a ‘Q’ and the leg of the letter ‘R’.

SPQR.

Senatus Populus Que Romanus.

The Senate and the People of Rome.

Krista stumbled backwards as it dawned on her.

Diomed, the archer who had saved her life, was a Roman.

Gazing around her in shock, Krista focused on remaining calm and silent even as her mind ran wild.

He had infiltrated their camp! What had he told Rome?

Did Pompeia send him?

Was all of this a trap to separate her from Artorius and her generals?

Krista did not know and she couldn’t answer those questions but what she could do was put as much distance between her and Diomed as possible.

Taking both of their horses, Krista led them away from the camp and hurried through the forest.

Once she had reached the road, Krista stripped Diomed’s horse, leaving the saddle and reins beside a tree along with the satchel.

Standing to the back of the horse, Krista slapped the mare on her hind and watched her gallop off into the distance, leaving Diomed without a horse to follow her on.

Waiting until the horse had gone from sight, Krista swung herself up into her saddle and kicked her horse into a gallop.

She needed to get as far from here as possible before Diomed discovered she was missing and came after her.

It was a mistake that he knew where she was heading but Krista would be in and out before Diomed had a chance to catch up with her.

That was the plan but lately none of her plans seem to be going right.