The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 2

        The questions had started this morning at the same time as the day's march. After two hours, he'd had to send Brasus forward to Verus, under the thin excuse of ensuring the return message to the First File's short note was delivered, to get his friend clear before the Optio lost his temper. Soon after, word had come back about a difficult area on the road where frost and mud were making a bad combination. One cart had already been abandoned, the oxen having torn the shaft out and the wheels too deeply stuck for men to lift, and there were already mutterings among the men – even the locals – that none wished to return unless the road was properly finished.

        Now the midday meal was approaching and the march had slowed to a crawl as the front of the Legion fought through the half-mile of deep mud. Ixillius had been spared questioning for the past half hour, the Inquisitor instead singling out man after man of the 6th and 4th and asking after their Centurion's character. For a moment, he'd actually thought Marcus Lucilius – his Guard Commander – was going to punch the Inquisitor as the Senate's man interrupted the repacking the century was doing to minimize and balance the loads on the carts and animals in preparation for the mud that was now only about an hour ahead. Quintus had stepped in, smoothly drawing the Inquisitor's attention, and had been steadily conversing with the man for the past ten minutes, putting his Evocatus standing to use and keeping the Inquisitor well away from the actual work that was being done.

        Lucilius had been running the century for the morning while Ixillius was otherwise occupied. His quick report on the activities that were completed, underway and planned left Ixillius with little question that he had recommended the right man to serve as Optio for Verus. He'd seen to his own packing while he had a moment, ensuring his horse would not be overtaxed and helping balance the cart bearing his things, and then returned to his Guard Commander.

        "How fairs Caeles Aelius?" Ixillius asked. He hadn't yet had time to speak closely with the man who would become his Guard Commander once Lucilius moved to the 1st and 1st. If I'm not whipped and demoted for murdering the Inquisitor, Ixillius thought grimly.

        "You'll not be displeased with him, sir," Lucilius replied as they worked through their century, checking horses and carts and men to make sure the preparations would be in place when their time came to cross the mud.

        "I've yet to be displeased with any man in my century, Guard Commander. Answer the question plainly."

        "He does well." Lucilius cracked a grin up at his Centurion. "If I ran him any harder this morning, he'd turn into the only mule of the only whore in Hauptlager."

                                                                ***

        Alex finally found a way to sit in the wagon, propped up with the blankets, where she stopped feeling like her teeth were going to rattle out of her head and the general ache that was her body eased completely. Max kept poking his head over the side of the cart, nipping at her clothes and pulling at the blanket. Now that they were together, he looked as bored as she felt. She tried to listen to Verus and Brasus, but they spoke lower whenever they noticed she was listening. They were going to have to start communicating with body language or psychic powers if they got any quieter, she thought.

        So far, all she could figure was that they were talking about Ixillius. More things that she wasn't supposed to know for whatever reason. She caught a few of the words as Verus was talking, more things like 'search' and 'trouble', but she couldn't grasp the full context. She'd been able to speak with Quintus for a few moments last night before Verus had noticed, learning that Ixillius had been disowned by his father, but not why, and now there was some kind of investigation going on. Last night, Quintus and Verus had shown more concern about the disowned part. Today, Brasus and Verus dropped their voices low about the investigation part, Brasus's hand gripping the hilt of his sword whenever he spoke.