The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 35

        "Bras-us," she slurred again, but less this time, then sighed, frustrated, muddled. "Ix-illi..." she couldn't wrap her tongue around his name. "Ix ..." she started again. "Ix-silly ... Ha!" she barked out a single laugh. "Silly. Alex is 'silly'. 'Is silly us' ..." she chuckled, her words and thoughts slow enough that the pun was funny to her.

        Brasus tried to pry her fingers out of his shirt but she gripped harder, trying in vain to form a word that never came. The men spoke around her, and Brasus left off pulling at her hand. Alex closed her eyes again. They were starting to ache. She needed to sleep more.

        "Expergiscimini, Alexandria." Wake up, Alexandria.

        "Non," she groaned in reply, her gigno always wanted her up so early. "Nulla doctrina hodie." No teaching today.

        Her head rolled forward and she tried to curl back against him to sleep more. She didn't want to run the twenty today, she just wanted to sleep. He held her back, trying to force her to stay up.

        "Non currit," she argued, "me dolet." No more running, it hurts.

        "Debes, Alexandria. Expergiscimini." You have to, Alexandria. Wake up.

        "Viginti, quod nimium distat." Twenty, it's too far. "Nolo hodie." I don't want to today.

        She knew she was whining, and that it rarely worked, but maybe today they wouldn't have to run if she could figure out a way... The vision faded back into forgotten memory as she blinked her eyes open, the shapes around her shapeless and unfamiliar.

        "Gigno?"

        Her whole body hurt too much. She curled in on herself, the groan in her throat breaking into a choked sob. The hands holding her shoulders slid around her back and pulled her into a solid chest. Strong arms held her close. She was surrounded by the smell of safety.

        "Possedi vos. Es a periculo tutus." I have you. You're safe.

        The voice rumbling through the chest she leaned on was trembling, the heartbeat fast. She tried not to cry as the words were repeated over and over, whimpering with the effort until sleep mercifully pulled her down again.

                                                                ***

        Ixillius didn't look at his friends as he gently laid Alex back down on the bed. He didn't know how old she'd been in her dream just now, but the arguments were those of a child who was begging not to run a Legionnaire's daily training. His heart was splitting in his chest. Up until the end of the evening meal today he'd been happier than ever before in his life, now everything was splintering apart.

        He slid off the bed to kneel beside it and pulled the blanket back up to cover her. His Alexandria. She reached for him in her sleep. He gave her his hand and she clung to him, whispering his name over and over until she started to snore softly. He pressed her fingers to his bowed forehead.

        "She speaks the language well for someone unable to understand it," Verus observed coldly.

        Brasus remained on one knee and turned to the other two men at the table, clamping a hand on his friend's nearest shoulder. Ixillius didn't make any motion to reply, his regular response when leaving Brasus to make his own decisions. Verus returned his stare, calculating and compiling more than what was needed right now. Quintus simply looked shocked at her conversation.

        "Get out," Brasus growled at the two other men.

        Quintus stood immediately, turning to the door. Verus halted him with a touch.