The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 12

ALEX IGNORED THE stares and fearful gestures, only returning greetings. Mikayla simply followed Brasus, keeping her eyes on his back, starting rumors by not acknowledging that any other people were there.

        They were over half way to Verus's tent when Ixillius strode into view. From his look and bearing, Alex didn't know if she was going to be welcomed or yelled at. He was dressed for training, and didn't slow his pace when he saw them. His eyes traveled over each of them, assessing, as they drew closer together. Alex felt her gut tighten, he looked upset, and she was expecting that he would end his thought process on yelling.

        Without slowing, he peeled off his helmet and slammed Alex into a kiss that left her breathless and tingling all the way to her toes. He broke the kiss but held their foreheads together.

        "Never do this again, Alexandria," he ordered in a harsh whisper. "Never go where I cannot follow. Swear to me that you will not."

        "I swear," she stammered, barely able to focus as he leaned back. Ixillius grinned down at his wife as she took a few more seconds to recover, his own relief at having her back where he could touch her finally easing the knot in his chest. He held the back of her head and leaned down to speak privately in her ear.

        "Who have you brought into my camp?" he asked.

        "She is the healer, Mikayla Wyss, I told you of," Alex answered, matching his volume.

        The healer that Alex had told him about, who performed surgeries. The surgeon from wherever Alex was from, where men grew stronger as they aged. He straightened and looked around at the small gathering of people that was quickly thickening, most just curious but some actively fearful. Brasus had turned his face but Ixillius could see the distress in his profile, his friend unsettled beyond the ability to hide his expression. Ixillius stepped back from Alex and faced Mikayla Wyss, holding out his right hand to her.

        "We are well met," he offered, speaking clearly for the benefit of the listeners.

        Alex spoke quickly in her mother's language. The surgeon's grip was a consistent pressure on his arm when she returned the clasping, her polite smile tipping to something he'd expect from Brasus as her gaze landed on Alex and she spoke. Alex's face flared into a brilliant blush.

        "She said 'we are well met'," Alex lied for the surgeon.

        Ixillius released the hand clasp and led the small group to Verus's tent without another word. Mikayla Wyss and Alex set the strange bags they carried just inside the entrance, and then the surgeon looked critically around the tent before crouching beside Verus and beginning her examination of the wound and the man, asking questions through Alex for his condition. After a short time, both women stood and conversed quickly together.

        "We will need one more the table, the same size," Alex relayed the surgeon's order, pointing at the table already in the tent as she started moving the stools away.

        Brasus left immediately and returned with the requested second table a couple of moments later. Alex had already cleared everything that they'd been using for healing with a swipe of her arm, and she directed the Optio to place the second table end to end with the first. One table was slightly lower than the other, but the surgeon approved the selection, opening her odd, short outer tunic with a downward gesture and a strange tearing sound before shrugging herself clear and throwing the tunic into a heap by the wall. Her under tunic was also of a fabric, style and color unlike anything either man had seen before.

        "Verus must go up, his head here," Alex pointed at the end of the lower table and then pulled the outer tunic she was wearing off over her head, the tunic beneath similar in style and fabric to the one Mikayla Wyss was wearing, but a differing color that was also very, very strange.