It was then that I’d asked for more information about Helena, but none had come. I’d then asked for an update on Agrippina, asking if she was treating them well. All they’d said was that she was, but it wasn’t like she interacted with them much. I then asked about the status of the camp, which was met with very dour looks all around, but again, no explanation. I’d taken a deep breath, upset at their silence, but remembering Merlin’s advice about not letting my thoughts eat away at me, and asked no further questions, understanding that an explanation would come soon enough.
I only hoped it came sooner rather than later because my absence from the real world had left me confused and disoriented. My body felt weak from a month of inactivity and my mind couldn’t understand that. The more I thought about it, the more disconnected I felt, like my mind and my body had been separated and could no longer function optimally together. It was an odd feeling, made worse by the fact that I didn’t understand why I wasn’t dead.
A month of complete inactivity and a lack of food and water should have left me a withered husk, but my only conclusion was that Merlin had somehow provided my stomach with sustenance and my muscles with mild stimulation to keep them from atrophying completely, although it hadn’t done much to keep my beard from growing out. Unwanted facial growth or not, I was thankful, because with the way my friends were acting, I was pretty sure I was going to need my body in working order sooner rather than later.
But despite how horrid my body felt and how drained my mind was, I was grateful for the simple fact that my friends hadn’t abandoned me. After everything I’d done in the past few months, I wouldn’t even have been upset had they simply forgotten about me and moved on. I’d done more than my fair share to earn their distrust and hate, done purposefully on my part or not, and I was grateful for their loyalty.
They’d never understand, but still I rode my nameless horse to where Santino rode his own, near the tip of our tiny formation. When I arrived, he glanced at me and nodded in welcome, but didn’t seem nearly as cheery as he usually did.
“Got a minute, John?” I asked.
“I’ve got more than I know what to do with, Jacob,” he said, leaning over to nudge me with an elbow. “All thanks to you.”
“About that,” I said, “I can’t thank you enough. All of you. After everything I’d done, I’m surprised anyone cared enough…”
“Shut up with that shit, Hunter,” Santino said, although he didn’t sound overly angry. “We’re not stupid. The orb is one hell of a drug. It fucked you up, and we weren’t just going to abandon you. What kind of friends would abandon their crack addicted friend to get worse and worse and not doing anything about it?”
“I guess I never really thought about it…”
“Then of course there’s Helena to think about,” Santino continued. “Honestly, I’m pretty sure most of us would have just left your ass to the wolves after all the shit you did, but you know better than all of us just how scary she gets when she’s angry, so we couldn’t just leave you. She wouldn’t let us.”
I smirked, easily able to imagine a pregnant, and therefore very quick to anger, Helena.
“And Agrippina?”
“Oh that bitch wouldn’t let us leave either,” he said, fidgeting atop his horse. “She digs you, Jacob. Always has. I’ll never understand what it is, but she’s got a hard on for you, my friend.”
I rolled my eyes. “After all this, you still don’t know what…”
“Of course I know!” Santino exclaimed. “Shit, Jacob, I just wanted to describe her as having a hard on, is all. That’s funny stuff.”
I patted his shoulder.
“That’s right, Jonathon… that’s very funny stuff…”
“Damn right, but it’s not like we saw her much while you were gone,” he continued. “She stayed in her praetorium most of the time, only rarely coming to ask for an update on you.”
“Who’d she talk to?”
“Archer mostly, to be honest, which we all found kind of odd. Sometimes Vincent. Once me, but that didn’t end very well…”
“Was she ever in the same room with Helena?”
“Are you kidding?” He said with a quick laugh. “Do you honestly think Helena would ever voluntarily be caught dead in the same room with Agrippina? Hell no, especially not these days when it’s not so easy for her to stab Agrippina in the throat anymore.”
I nodded and joined him in laughter, although not quite so enthusiastically. The idea of Agrippina spending so much time with Archer worried me. What was her angle there? And the answer to why exactly she cared so much about me at all continued to elude me. I wasn’t sure if she would be sticking around once I returned to camp, or what she would do when I told everyone what I’d experienced, and that uncertainty didn’t exactly leave me feeling optimistic.
“Nothing’s happened to anybody, right?” I asked after a moment. “Is Artie all right?”
He squinted at me. “What? No, she’s fine. You think we wouldn’t tell you if something had happened to her?”
I shrugged. “It’s just that your entire sit rep has been lacking in information, Santino. I just want to know what’s going on.”
He scoffed. “Won’t need us to tell you soon enough, buddy. Just find your inner chi or whatever and get ready for it.”
There was no point in asking what the fuck that meant, so I tried to roll my shoulders, which I managed to do uncomfortably, and looked away. Something really big must be going on to have Santino acting this way, so I settled myself like he suggested and tried to clear my mind. I was still processing every single word Merlin had told me and every single image he’d shown me, trying to understand it, and use it to my benefit. If everything really was as simple as finding the red orb and using it and the blue orb in conjunction to get home, great, but I wasn’t nearly ready to believe my life could ever be that easy.
Something was bound to go wrong with Merlin’s plan, or he’d purposefully left something out of it, so I had to be ready. I had to stay focused and keep myself from being lulled into a false sense of complacency, but as we approached the edge of the forest, I discovered there would be little chance of that happening any time soon.
Agrippina’s camp of Praetorians was under siege.
Maybe two miles off in the distance, her small camp was surrounded by an army of enemy soldiers. A trench system travelled the circumference of the camp, and fortifications dotted its long, circular line. It was an impressive sight of siege warfare, one I hadn’t expected from whatever natives called this part of Britain home.
And there was a perfectly good explanation for that.
Because the besiegers were not native Britons at all.
They were Romans.
I dropped my head in defeat at the sight of it.
“Who’d I piss off this time?” I asked.
Santino chuckled. “Who do you think?”
I barely needed to. “Galba?”
“Galba.”
“When did he show up?” I asked, lifting my head to better analyze Galba’s forces.
“Little over a week ago,” Santino replied. “And believe me, he didn’t come bearing gifts.”
I raised an arm and pointed toward his army. “What the hell’s he even doing here?”
“He’s come for Agrippina,” Santino answered, but he didn’t seem finished with his answer.
“And…” I prodded.
“Well, Jake, he’s come for you too. Apparently, he’s a little sore at how you treated him last time. But don’t worry, he doesn’t even blame you.”
“He knows I was affected by the orb?”
“Oh, that? Fuck no. He doesn’t know shit about that. No, he blames Vespasian for giving you so much power and shit to do. Seems Galba’s about ready to march on Rome himself, take things over, use Agrippina as leverage, and… well you know, put Vespasian’s head on a spike… right next to yours, of course.”
I looked at Santino with a mixture of surprise and confusion.
“He tell you all that?”
He shrugged. “Not in so many words, but you know Galba. He’s about as blunt as my elbow and not nearly as eloquent. I got the gist.”
“Yeesh,” I said, more surprised than worried. “I didn’t think the guy would take it so personally.”
“He’s a Roman,” Santino said. “They take everything personally.”
“Good point,” I said, but then the worry started to settle in. “So how are we going to get through all that?”
Santino reached out and clapped me roughly on the back, so hard that I almost fell off my horse. “Why do you think Helena made me spend sixteen hours a day waiting for your sorry ass? For my health?”
***
To this day, I still found it surprising when I had to be reminded of how useful Santino could be. Sneaking into a hostile Roman encampment was never a very good idea, but unlike the last time I had to do it, at least Santino was around this time.
He led us around Galba’s trench, giving it a wide berth as we snuck toward a section that seemed less dense. At least, that’s what Santino told me was the reason why we spent an entire hour sneaking through the shadows provided by the tree line, but I didn’t question him. I still felt slow and dazed, and my mind’s lethargic state hadn’t improved much since leaving the clearing. Galba’s Romans could have been flying for all I knew, so I simply followed while Bordeaux and Boudicca did the same.
By the time we ran out of tree line to hide within, I started questioning Santino’s entire plan, but then I watched as he dismounted from his horse and made his way toward a large clump of bushes hidden behind a denser part of the tree line. I watched him approach them and waited while he got down on his hands and knees, and crawled into the thicket. Moments later, he emerged dragging a large satchel behind him, swearing at the same time as he wiped a droplet of blood from his face from a wound he must have sustained in the bushes. Once he was clear, he stood and angrily threw the satchel in front of him. Bordeaux and Boudicca knelt beside it and pulled sets of legionary armor from within, followed by swords and other equipment.
I stared at it, not quite understanding at first, but Boudicca looked up at me and noticed my confusion.
“They will conceal our identities, Hunter. A disguise.”
Santino knelt beside her and looked up at me. “What part of that didn’t you get?”
I shook my head as though I was snapping myself from a day dream. “What? I got it. No problem.”
“Are you certain you are well, Jacob?” Bordeaux asked.
“Hmm? Yeah. I feel fine. No problem.”
Bordeaux and Santino traded glances as the latter stood, hefting a set of armor in his hands. He walked around Boudicca and threw it at me atop my horse. Unprepared for it, I made a sluggish grab for it, but managed only to slip from my horse and tumble to the ground in a heap. I hit roughly and meekly coiled into a ball, thinking to do nothing more than just lay there. I wasn’t upset or sad or angry, I was just tired and confused, unable to get a grip on reality. I heard a slight crunching in the snow beside me, so I opened my eyes to see Santino looming over me. He placed his hands on his hips and shook his head at me.
“Jeez, Hunter, let’s not make a big scene out of this,” he said as he reached down to help me up. “This’ll be an easy one, and I’ll hold your hand the whole way. Don’t worry your pretty little self one bit.”
***
And Santino had been right, but at least he hadn’t held my hand.
We’d waited until night, and then some, before beginning our infiltration of Galba’s camp. At first, I’d wondered about Bordeaux and Boudicca, neither looking anything like your typical Roman because of their size. I was less concerned by Boudicca’s femininity since she filled out her armor as well as any man I’d ever seen, but still she and Bordeaux, and myself as well for that matter, were far larger than the average Roman. Santino, who stood just shy of six feet, fit in well enough even though he was still a bit tall for your average legionnaire, but the rest of us stood out like a kiwi in a fruit basket…
Okay that probably wasn’t the best analogy.
Boy I was out of it…
But, as Santino had assured, our little operation had gone off easily and quickly. Not a single legionnaire glanced twice at our quartet as we marched into the nearest fort strung along the entrenchment surrounding Agrippina’s camp. We’d left our horses strung up near Santino’s cache of legionary gear so it was just the four of us, and at least we looked the part. Once in the trenches, we simply walked toward a spot that Santino had identified long ago to be a weak point along their lines, and crawled our way toward Agrippina’s fortifications. Once there, we crept along its perimeter, having already been identified by our own people thanks to an IR beacon Santino carried with him, and simply walked through the porta praetoria.
Once inside, I dropped every bit of extraneous gear I had and sprinted in the best approximation of the term toward where I remembered my friends had made camp. I passed by dozens, if not hundreds, of Praetorians and legionnaires as I ran, each pointing at me like they were seeing a ghost, knowing who I was but not expecting to ever see me again, I supposed. But none moved to stop me, not that any of them would have been able to as I barreled like a drunken bull in a china shop toward Helena.
I stumbled dozens of times as my head felt light or empty or heavy all at the same time, or as leg muscles would tense up and threaten to cramp on me, and I fell completely into the cold snow at least three times along the way, one time falling into a pair of my legionnaires as I careened into their tent. They helped me up, dazed and confused as to the fact that it was me who had fallen into their quarters, but had simply gotten out of the way as I shrugged them off and continued my trek.
My legs were starting to work properly again, but after another two minutes, I was left panting for breath as I finally arrived at our small community of displaced time travelers and reality hoppers. Arrayed around a fire situated at the center of our half-moon setup of tents were Vincent, Wang, Stryker, Cuyler, and Artie. They sat discussing something in low tones with morbid body language, but it was Artie who noticed me first. She shot to her feet and stood there, gaping at me, while Vincent and Cuyler noticed her diverted attention and stood more slowly. Stryker and Wang were the last to understand what had distracted their companions, but Artie was already running toward me as realization set in.
Like M.J. in his prime, dunking from the three point line, she leapt into the air and threw her arms around me. I was momentarily distracted by her appearance, having been too focused on Helena to really understand who she was and why exactly she seemed so interested in my arrival. I nearly dropped her, my body still artificially weak, and while my first instinct was to throw her off and continue my search for Helena, I held onto her just as tightly as she clung to me. I found myself touched at how quickly Artie had responded to my arrival, even though it was also easier to remember now that she wasn’t actually my sister.
But she was a pretty good substitute, I had to admit.
“Jacob!” She practically yelled into my ear as she hung off me. “What happened to you?? Where did you go??”
“It’s a long story, Artie,” I said as I reached a hand up to hold her head against my shoulder and pressed my cheek against her hair. “And an unbelievable one, but I have to see Helena first. Where is she?”
Artie pulled back but gripped my arms with her hands. She looked at me briefly, absentmindedly brushing my new beard with a hand, which was a grooming choice I wasn’t sure she’d ever seen before, but then she looked toward the same tent I’d found her in with Helena and Wang a month ago.
She tossed her head toward it. “She’s right where you left her, Jacob. I… I don’t want to worry you but she hasn’t been feeling well lately.”
I looked toward the tent. “Is she okay? The baby?”
“It’s… It’s just that the past few weeks have been difficult.”
“How difficult?” I asked, snapping
my head back toward her.
“I don’t want to say. I think it’s best if you talk to Wang.”
I moved my head to look around Artie and saw the small Brit standing apart from the others now, his expression no different than Artie’s. I closed my eyes and nodded, their moods infecting my own, but then I gave Artie a supportive smile.
“It’s all right, Artie. Everything will be fine.”
She managed a small smile as well, but then she released my arms and stepped away. I watched her walk around me toward Santino, who reached out and gave her a small and innocent hug. It seemed just as brotherly a gesture as my own embrace with her a moment ago, but even if it hadn’t been, I didn’t think I minded anymore.
By the time I turned back around, Wang was already approaching me. I took a step toward him but he gestured toward Helena’s tent and stepped to his left, angling us toward it. I walked with him but before he led me inside, he stopped me by clutching my forearm with a hand.
“Wait, Hunter,” he said quietly. “Listen, Helena’s okay, but the last few weeks have not been easy. She’s very weak and I’ve forced her to stay in bed.”
I nodded slowly, taking it all in. “And the baby?”
“I… I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I haven’t been able to get the ultrasound device working again and it’s not like I can run blood work here, and…”
He trailed off, which wasn’t something I wanted to hear.
“And?”
“His heartbeat is erratic. It goes in and out, but I don’t like what I hear. There’s a possibility she may deliver prematurely and there’s nothing I can do if that happens. Or, and I’m rather worried about this, it may come down to a Caesarean section, and there isn’t even a Roman or Celtic midwife around here to help if…”
Again, he didn’t finish his thought, and I had to force myself to stiffen up and keep myself from falling apart then and there. This was the last thing I wanted to hear after everything I’d just been through, the last thing I even wanted to think could possibly happen, let alone learn was happening. It was too much, especially now, but I felt my mind hardening again and I surprised myself when I didn’t crumble under Wang’s news.
Praetorian Series [3] A Hunter and His Legion Page 47
