Her nostrils flared with what seemed like anger.
“My father do this.” Amarra tapped the damaged skin, a fierce look in her eyes. “He did this, not High Father. Understand?”
Karus gave a sudden nod. He recalled the ruined temple to the High Father and what Jupiter had said about Amarra alone remaining faithful. The full implication hit him. Amarra’s father had been the one to not only imprison her, but also destroy the temple. And if he was understanding correctly, it was all because of her faith.
“Your father ruled this city, didn’t he?” Karus asked in Latin.
“Ruled?” She turned to him, a question in her eyes, almost rolling the Latin word around her tongue. “Ruled?”
“A king, perhaps, a leader of the city?” He pointed at the ground beneath them. “He ruled Carthum before leaving. Do I have that right?”
“Yes,” Amarra said, the sad look still in her eyes. “He leader.”
“Of Carthum?”
Amarra nodded.
In his service to the empire, Karus had seen some fairly awful things. Still, it did not stop him from wondering what kind of a man would lock up his own daughter and leave her to starve or face the mercies of the Horde. Clearly, Amarra’s father was a hard and unforgiving man.
“He won’t ever hurt you again,” Karus said, looking at the woman who had captured his heart. “I won’t allow it.”
Amarra turned to him, her eyes searching. She leaned in close and reached a hand to caress his stubbled cheek. The sadness gave way to a gentle tenderness, then a trace of a smile.
“Funny man. High Father protects me.” Amarra grinned at him. The grin was infectious. “But you can, too. If want.”
He pulled her close and kissed her. Her lips were soft and warm, inviting. She pressed in close against him. After a moment, she broke the kiss and leaned her head against his chest as he embraced her. She shuddered slightly.
“Are you sure this is right?” Karus asked.
“What you mean?” Still in his embrace, she looked up into his face, her brow furrowing.
“You are High Priestess now,” Karus said, pulling apart from her. His gaze strayed to the crystal staff that lay in the corner. Jupiter had given it to her as a spear. A few hours after she had taken it, somehow the spear had transformed itself into a staff. It throbbed and pulsated slowly with an internal blue light that radiated outward. The staff was imbued with the great god’s power. It filled him with a sense of awe just knowing from whom it had come. He turned back to Amarra. “Do you think the High Father will become angry with us? For this? I am just a soldier.”
Amarra touched his chest with a hand. “You more than soldier.”
“And you are High Priestess.”
“Excuse me, sir.”
Karus turned to see one of his clerks, Serma, standing in the doorway. He felt himself frown at the untimely interruption.
“Yes?” Karus asked, forcing the irritation away. “What is it?”
“As requested, sir,” Serma said. “Centurions Dio and Felix have arrived. They are waiting for you with Centurion Pammon in the great hall.”
“Thank you,” Karus said with a nod. “I will be along shortly.”
“Yes, sir.” The clerk gave a salute and left.
Karus watched the clerk leave. A thought occurred to him as he turned back to Amarra.
“Your father ordered the evacuation of the city?” Karus asked.
“Evacuation?” she asked. “What you mean?”
“Leaving the city. Your father made everyone go?”
Amarra nodded. “Big battle with Horde. Far away. We lose. Father say go and people go.”
It was Karus’s turn to nod.
“Is that why the temple was destroyed?” Karus asked. “Is that why your father pulled down Jupiter’s temple?”
“He want High Father to save people,” Amarra said. “But people no believe.”
“Why not tell me before?”
Amarra chewed her lip a moment. “I no trust yet. Now, I trust and more.”
It was as he had thought. He could not fault her for that.
“Are you certain about this—us?” Karus asked, turning back to Amarra. His gaze swept down to the sleeping dragons once again. With the transporting of the legion to this strange world, he wasn’t sure about anything anymore. They were a long way from Rome and would never be going back. Worse, there would be no help coming. The legion was on its own and so was he.
Amarra reached up and turned his head to face her.
“High Father love us both,” she said, intently. “He want us happy. Trust in that.”
“If you say so,” Karus said.
“I do.” Amarra stamped her foot on the marble for emphasis. “I do. It okay.”
She reached up and gripped his face with both hands and pulled him to her. She kissed him again, a brief peck on the lips, then turned back out to the garden and the dragons.
Karus almost let out a sigh.
“Are you certain we must both go to the Fortress of Radiance?” Karus asked after a moment. “I would feel more comfortable taking a cohort or two with me and you remaining here in the safety of the city.”
“No safe anywhere. We must both go and get Rarokan,” Amarra said. She touched her chest again. “I feel it. We must. You no take soldiers. Too far and Horde in the way.”
“But by dragon?” Karus said, his gaze swinging back to the creatures below. “Surely there is another way?”
By us, human, Kordem, the green dragon, said in his mind without untucking his head from under his wing.
Karus almost jumped. He had not realized the dragons had been listening. It still surprised him that they spoke to him in his mind.
“Yes, yes, by dragon,” she said, clearly having heard too.
“If the gods had meant us to fly, they would’ve given us wings,” Karus said.
“High Father sent us dragons instead,” Amarra countered.
Accept it and leave us to sleep in peace, Kordem said. The Fortress of Radiance is where we need to go. When you are finally ready to leave, you let us know. We will carry you both. Until then, bring your worries elsewhere. It is too fine a day to ruin it.
There was a finality in the tone that suggested Karus was testing their patience. He took a deep breath and let it out. He spared the dragons one more look before turning to Amarra.
“I will be back later,” Karus said. It was time to see his waiting officers.
She gave him a nod but said nothing further.
Karus left her, bringing his troubled thoughts with him as he stepped off the balcony and back into his office. He made his way through the door out into the adjacent office where his clerks worked. This space was the beating heart of the legion, the administrative headquarters.
The quiet flurry of activity halted as he stepped into the large room. His four clerks, along with two messengers and Tribune Delvaris, stood respectfully. Karus gave the tribune a nod and made his way past them and out into the hallway. The guards at the entrance snapped to attention, along with a messenger who had just been about to enter the headquarters. The messenger stepped aside to allow Karus to pass.
Karus walked at a brisk pace through the palace toward the great hall. He found another pair of guards standing on either side of the double doors, which were open. Both guards assumed a position of attention as Karus approached. He offered them a nod and made his way into the hall.
No matter how many times he visited, Karus could not help but feel impressed. The battle standards and trophies of war that the Kings of Carthum had won over the centuries remained. Only the throne had been removed. In its place on the raised dais was the Ninth’s Eagle, along with all of the standards of the legion’s cohorts arranged around and below it. This hall had been a seat of power. Now it was the legion’s shrine.
Another four guards stood about the Eagle. They guarded not only the legion’s honor, but also Rome’s. An item had been added to their charge, the Key th
at Jupiter had given into Karus’s care. It lay on the dais next to the Eagle. The Key looked more like a king’s scepter rather than anything else. Karus wasn’t quite sure what exactly it did, but he knew it was important.
Pammon, Dio, and Felix waited for him farther down the hall around the map inlaid on the floor. They had come dressed in their tunics and without armor. Pammon was Karus’s second in command. Dio and Felix were trusted advisors, personal friends, and two of the legion’s senior centurions. He had taken to meeting with them here each morning, before his daily duties consumed all available time. Commanding a legion was not easy work.
Their faces were drawn and they appeared troubled. They had been talking softly amongst themselves but broke it off and turned to face Karus as he entered the hall.
“Gentlemen,” Karus said as he stepped up to them. He glanced toward the dais. The Eagle’s guards were far enough away he was sure they would not overhear their conversation. “You three look grimmer than a funeral procession.”
They said nothing at his attempt at levity.
“All right,” Karus said, letting out a heavy breath. “Let me have it.”
Dio and Felix looked to Pammon to start.
“The sickness, as you are aware, is continuing to spread,” Pammon said. “We lost another five men last night. Ampelius still has no idea what it is and, worse, feels there is no way to treat it other than to allow the disease to run its course and quarantine the ill. Those who have managed to recover are left in a weakened state. It may be weeks before they are able to return to full duty.”
This mystery sickness was perhaps the most worrying thing they had faced to date. There was absolutely nothing Karus could do to combat it other than what was already being done, and that certainly did not seem to be nearly enough.
“The only explanation I can think of is that this must be a plague that is natural to these lands,” Felix said, pointing down at the map. “With the rate the sickness is spreading, in another week or two our effective strength will fall below fifty percent. As of now, around thirty-five percent of the legion is ill, and that count does not include the followers.”
Two days ago, thirty percent of the legion had been affected. Karus rubbed his jaw. He could face enemy upon the field of battle, cross swords with evil creatures like orcs, and even fight a demon, but this was one battle that could not be handled with steel. His men were dying to this mystery illness, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to save them. Worse, the Horde was coming and Karus knew without a doubt that hard fighting lay in his future. He needed every single sword and shield.
He’d been blessed by a visit from Jupiter, known in these lands as the High Father. Amarra had been given a holy staff imbued with the great god’s power. They even had two dragons, which Karus could only describe loosely as allies in the struggle to come. If all of his men sickened, with many dying, Karus could not see how he could be successful in the tasks that Jupiter had set for him. The most important of those tasks was recovering Rarokan and, as incredible as it sounded, escaping this world to another.
“Perhaps Amarra should take a look at those who have fallen ill,” Karus said, at a loss for what to do. “She might know what type of disease this is and if there’s some way for it to be treated. These are her lands, after all.”
Pammon shifted his feet. It was clear he was uncomfortable with the suggestion.
“That is an uncommonly bad idea,” Dio said, speaking before Pammon could.
“You are afraid she may catch the plague?” Karus turned his gaze upon his friend. In truth, he had feared that as well when he had suggested it.
“No,” Dio said. “Amarra catching this plague might even be better for us.”
“How can you say that?” Karus said in a raised voice, feeling his face grow warm with heat. “She is High Priestess to Jupiter. We’ve been blessed with her presence.”
“We may see it that way,” Dio said, “but the men do not. No one other than you two witnessed this miraculous visit by Jupiter. Even with the glowing crystal staff, it is one thing to be told something or shown and another to believe and have faith.”
“Karus.” Felix threw a quick glance at the guards by the Eagle and lowered his voice. “They see her as a witch, with you under her spell and the dragons her creatures. There are those who even think she is responsible for the plague that is afflicting our people.”
“That’s absurd,” Karus said.
“Regardless,” Felix said, “it is how many of the men feel, and as the sickness continues to spread, so will that belief. It could soon become dangerous.”
“You three don’t feel she’s a witch, do you?” Karus asked, his gaze traveling from one to the other, meeting their eyes.
“Of course not.” Pammon held up both hands. “With all that I’ve seen in the last few weeks and days, it is hard not to see Jupiter’s hand in our deliverance. It is very clear that you and the Ninth as a whole have been gods blessed.”
“And you?” Karus asked, looking to Dio.
“I think you are in love,” Dio said, with an expression that was almost pained. “It clouds your vision when it comes to the men and Amarra.” He paused, glanced down at his feet and the map, then looked back up. “That said, I do not believe she’s a witch. As Pammon put it, it’s clear Jupiter’s hand delivered us.”
“Karus,” Felix said, “we’ve been transported to this land, this world, seen creatures beyond belief, nightmarish even, and that includes the dragons. A sickness is tearing its way through the legion. You of all people should know how superstitious the men can be. It will be very hard to convince them otherwise that Amarra’s presence amongst us is a blessing and not a curse.”
Karus was silent for a long moment. His gaze traveled to the Eagle and then the Key on the dais.
“Do you see any way to do that?” Karus asked them. “Is there any way we can show them she is here by Jupiter’s grace?”
Dio glanced over at Felix, and then the two of them looked to Pammon. The senior centurion for the legion gave a slow shake of his head.
“I’m truly sorry, Karus,” Pammon said. “I am afraid nothing short of a miracle from Jupiter will do.”
“Like being transported from certain death to a new world?” Karus asked indignantly. “Is that the kind of miracle you are talking about?”
Pammon, Dio, and Felix said nothing to that.
“Well,” Karus said with more than a little dissatisfaction and frustration as he calmed himself down, “it bears some thinking on. I will keep her out of sight for the time being and as much as possible. However, I will ask Ampelius to spare some time to speak with her concerning the symptoms. Perhaps there is some treatment she is aware of that can cure those who have fallen ill. If there is, however unlikely, maybe that can help change a few minds.”
“Let us hope,” Pammon said.
“You still intend on leaving?” Dio asked bluntly, changing the subject.
They had spoken on this the day before. None of them were happy with the idea, Karus included.
“I do,” Karus said. “There is no avoiding it. Jupiter commanded me to go to the Fortress of Radiance and retrieve the sword. I must get it before we quit Carthum and travel west.”
“I don’t see how one sword can be so important,” Dio said. “I don’t much like the idea of you leaving the legion, especially now. The timing is terrible.”
“It must be magical, a holy relic,” Felix said. “Why else have you go get it? What did Jupiter call the sword?”
“Rarokan, the Soul Breaker,” Karus said.
“That sounds exceptionally cheery,” Dio said. “A frightening name for a mysterious sword. Where is this fortress?”
“I don’t exactly know,” Karus said, unhappily. “The dragons do, and that’s what matters.”
“You will be going with the dragons?” Pammon gave a slight shake of his head, as if he could not believe it.
“Yes,” Karus said, thinking that flying
seemed so unnatural, unreal. “And I’m none too happy about that. I’d rather take a couple of cohorts there myself if it were possible. Unfortunately, I am told by the dragons the fortress is very distant and to march there would take far too long. Worse, we would need to cross lands already controlled by the enemy. Even if we managed to get there, I am led to believe the Horde would arrive at Carthum before we could return. With any luck, according to Kordem, Amarra and I will be gone just five days, maybe six at the most.”
There was a brief silence, the other officers sharing brief looks. None of them were happy with Karus’s decision to go. In truth, Karus found little to be cheered about.
Pammon spoke first. “We must conceal your departure from the men. They’re already unnerved enough about Amarra and the dragons. It would only make things worse to see you and her flying off, almost as if you were abandoning the legion in favor of her.” Pammon hesitated a moment. “I would recommend you depart at night, preferably when the moon is low in the sky and it is difficult to see. We, along with your clerks, can cover for you while you are gone. Though we will need to bring in the other senior officers.”
“You are right,” Karus said. “They deserve to know.”
“Speaking of which,” Felix said, “when exactly will you be leaving?”
“In two days’ time,” Karus said, “after that group of refugees has arrived. They’re still heading our way, right?”
“Nothing’s changed. As of this morning, a report from the cavalry came in and confirmed they’re making a beeline toward the city,” Pammon said. “My guess is they’re probably hoping to find food and shelter here.” Pammon let out a breath that was laced with frustration. “Why delay leaving? Get it over with. I don’t understand why you do not wish to leave immediately. We can easily deal with these refugees and turn them away.”
“I am certain you could,” Karus said. “However, for our first meeting with another people of this world, I would feel more comfortable being present.” He paused for a heartbeat. It was time to share his thinking with them, which he had hesitated to do until now. “We may even want to consider taking them in.”
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