The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 14

BRASUS HAD BEEN standing close to the doors, hovering in the street just outside the inviting light and apparently waiting for Ixillius and Alex to come. The darker haired man was still grinning as when he'd helped them figure out how to get laid earlier, but refrained from saying anything and stepped in to flank Alex as they climbed the steps up to the bath's threshold. She noted he was armed, and that Ixillius also loomed close to her other side, both men watchful.

        So, they were expecting trouble.

        Just inside the bathhouse, everything had happened fast. Alex recognized from the village the holy woman's daughter, Hiltraud, immediately. When Hiltraud had seen Alex, she'd hissed. Alex doubted this was the trouble that Ixillius and Brasus were expecting, and noted that it didn't help their reflexes. As soon as she saw Hiltraud pull the sword of the man she was with, Alex took up Brasus's weapon in her own hand. The first blow was wild, the holy woman's daughter obviously wasn't overly familiar with the Roman weapon, whereas Alex had grown up with her gigno's sword in her hand and easily deflected the strike.

        Surprised and angry at suddenly facing an armed, competent opponent, Hiltraud retreated a couple steps into the bathhouse. When the young man whose sword she'd taken tried to grab her, she slashed out toward his torso. Driven by adrenaline and mortal danger, Alex darted forward, away from her still-standing escorts, and slammed blades with the bitch from the village that had held her prisoner. She knocked Hiltraud's sword away from the young Legionnaire, but not before he'd been cut.

        Suddenly someone screamed and people started scurrying and leaping away from the flashing swords. Hiltraud swung wildly with the short blade, conveying every movement clearly to her well-trained opponent. Alex kept her swings short and jabbing, as her gigno had taught her worked the best with his sword, using both hands for better control. It was quick work to start drawing Hiltraud's blood, benefitting from having tight blocks that quickly shifted to fast strikes. It was only a few steps to close inside Hiltraud's swing radius after knocking the sword she held into an overly wide recovery path. Alex was under Hiltraud's arm in an instant, driving Brasus's sword clean through the bitch's gut.

        Hiltraud grunted as the hilt Alex held impacted her stomach, the blade sprouting from her back. Alex spun to pull Brasus's sword free and get clear of any counter strikes that Hiltraud might try before the reality of being dead hit her senses. Keeping tight to the villager for the spin so as not to get clipped by an unexpected swing, Alex ended the motion behind Hiltraud and well out of reach.

        Alex stood at the edge of the pool, registering and ignoring the pain screaming through her body and forcing motion as if fully functional, Brasus's sword held close and defensively. The entire bathhouse seemed silent as the woman Alex had just run though collapsed to her knees, falling sideways onto the pretty blue tiles as her lifeblood ran out darkly, staining the grout. The sword she'd used to attack Alex clattered out of her hand.

                                                                  ***

        Ixillius had been as shocked as the rest of the people in the public bath as the slave woman attacked. The woman, having just had the look and manner of a pureblood Roman, had obviously been seducing one of the young patricians from the 1st and 1st. The woman's face had blanched of all color when she'd come against Alex walking in as she and her young prize were walking out. The woman had hissed, actually hissed, at Alex, then taken up the young patrician's sword and lashed out wildly.

        Ixillius moved first, knowing himself unarmed, as Brasus paused and groped for a sword that was no longer there. The duel was ending as quickly as it started, and the swordship of Alex he knew would impress and unnerve him greatly later, but right now one of the slave men had broken a handler's neck and was advancing otherwise unnoticed through the pool toward the fighting women. As the woman who'd hissed at Alex toppled, a hand shot out from the edge of the pool at Alex's ankle. Ixillius stomped the hand under his heel before the man could make contact. Alex spun at the man's pained grunt and brought the sword to bear on him where he crouched in the water.

        Ixillius saw the recognition in her face, then without hesitation she dropped low and stabbed the man in the bath through the neck. Just as quickly as with dispatching the woman, she pulled back the sword and stepped well out of his reach. The man's blood sprayed a mighty arc, then smeared the surface of the pool crimson. Ixillius released his hand and the body floated in the shallow water.

        Ixillius watched as Alex quickly scanned the immediate area for further threats and, seeing armed Legionnaires in various stages of undress from their interrupted bathing forming a wide ring around her, Ixillius and Brasus, let her arms sag. The sword tipped down, dropping out of an attack position. Ixillius noted she appeared to feel no threat from, or fear of, the armed men surrounding her. Just as she hadn't feared him when he'd jumped into the pit the day he'd released her, or any day since.

        No fear of armed men facing her. No fear at mortal combat. Her kills had been swift and smoothly executed, in spite of the injuries and weakness that he knew should have plagued her. The sword tipped toward the floor, but the blade didn't tremble or touch the tiles. Her breaths were deep and even, seemingly undisturbed though he could see the stutter and slight wince from her rib from how close he was. He had guessed that she'd seen a battle or two, and had training to fight, from the combination of what she'd told him in their table conversation and her lack of reaction to the kill at his side in the pit. Now, seeing his collar flash under her hair as her shoulders settled lower, he wasn't certain of anything.

                                                                ***

        Alex caught her breath and scanned the bathhouse. Eight half naked soldiers were surrounding her, all looking extremely unsure. She let her arms relax, but didn't dishonour the sword by dropping it. It had saved her life, after all. Brasus was nearby Hiltraud's body, advancing slowly and aggressively working to appear non-threatening. Ixillius was beside and slightly behind Alex, but close enough that she could feel him in her proximity.

        She considered for a moment the best course of action, then chose ridiculous and stumbled two small steps back so her shoulder impacted gently on Ixillius's chest, feigning shock and exhaustion. Ixillius caught her in one arm by reflex, sweeping the sword from her and smoothly passing it back to Brasus – who was suddenly close – with his other hand. His face was grim when he turned her head up to look at him, his eyes seeking answers and seeing beyond the dazed damsel ploy she was playing, but he said nothing. Instead, he added to the act and began to search her body for new injuries.

        "Alex!" a woman's voice called out.

        Alex broke from gazing gratefully at her recent lover and looked across the pool at the familiar woman wading across the public bath. Maria had been another slave at the village. She'd originally been born as a slave in Spain, owned by an overall good patrician family that provided supplies and wares often to the different Legions' front lines. She had been stolen over a year ago by a raid on her master's wagons as they'd come within a few days of Bonna. Maria skirted around the spreading blood and pulled herself out of the bath. She and Alex had been friends of a sort at the village, especially after Alex had saved Maria from the men's attentions a couple of times.

        Without pause, Maria strode forward and held out her arms wide, smiling. Alex returned the smile and pushed out of Ixillius's hold so she could hug her friend. Then Maria started talking to the men around them, not breaking the embrace for long minutes, and only when she was called to the young man that Hiltraud had injured.