The Baby and the Battlefield

Chapter Forty-one: A Bad Mistake

Vitus pulled his blue cloak closer about his body. The wind was biting, and still threatened to soak his bones in ice. These tiny, piercing raindrops would turn into snow at any moment, he was sure of it. He sighed, wishing the cloak had a hood, or that he'd had the sense to take a better one. In his haste he had grabbed the first at hand, and it was thin and he was cold. He sunk his chin close to his chest, so that little more than his dark hair showed over the high collar of his cloak, and he cursed the wind, and the task that had brought him out in this weather.

Why on earth would Aemilia want to see him on a day like this? And why here, on this blasted hillside nearly an hour from town? How did Aemilia get here, for that matter? Vitus hadn't realised that her duties ever brought her this far from the capital. For years, he had only seen her at the beautiful temple complex outside the Emperor's main palace, in the capital. Vitus knew Aemilia's duties did bring her out into the country towns, but this was more than a day's travel away. Still, he was excited to see her. It had been months since he had seen her last.

Vitus looked up, tears streaming from his eyes due to the biting wind. Finally, he had reached the odd jumble of rocks that marked dead centre of the field. He still couldn't tell why that dear young fool of a fiancée would want him to meet her here. This place seemed forsaken by the gods themselves in this weather! He squeezed in between the stones, hopeful that the open space in the centre was protected enough from the winds to actually be warm.

"Aemilia?" He called.

The words had no more than left his lips before a sudden dull pain bloomed at the back of his skull. For a moment, the stones seemed to waver and swim in front of his eyes. Then he saw nothing.