The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 32

THE RIVER CROSSING was less dramatic than had been threatened the previous evening. After a breakfast that included fresh deer meat, Alex led the mare across first, followed by Brasus and Ixillius leading the stolen horses they'd been riding, with Max following in the rear when Alex called to him. The mare led strongly, and Max threatened from behind whenever one of the stolen horses balked. Once they were across, Max trotted to the mare and Alex to check up on his women. Alex grinned at the looming stallion and scratched his chin, sweet-talking to him in her mother's language. In short order, the mare pushed in and nuzzled for ear rubs, which Alex freely gave.

        "I've never seen warhorses act like that," Brasus finally admitted, keeping his voice low so Alex wouldn't overhear. "Especially not that one," he nodded slightly toward the mare.

        "She owns me beyond question. She tamed Verus," Ixillius stated with half a shrug, also quietly. "The horses are no different."

        "Celsus Calix?" Brasus asked, his voice rising in volume out of surprise. Ixillius nodded once, keeping his voice low when he answered.

        "Marcus stated easily that Verus sought her opinion on Legion matters, and appeared to think nothing of listening to her advice himself. The messenger took his leave from her first, knowing both of us are of higher rank than him, as well."

        "Yes," Brasus scoffed. "The messenger. The way he stared at me still leaves my guts uneasy and my wits worried."

        "The rumors must be growing, although I've no idea into what." Ixillius frowned as he checked over his gear again. They mounted their horses in silence. Alex was already sitting Max, ready to start the day's march. Ixillius knew Brasus was waiting for him to finish the thoughts to some kind of ending point, but he couldn't yet as he hadn't reached any conclusion of his own. He had suspicions, a few that he knew Brasus would share, but nothing yet to base an accusation on. He had to see what the reaction was once they rejoined the Legion, and he needed to talk to Verus.

                                                                ***

        Alex liked the routine of the days. Riding or jogging along on the road was easy and the winter weather continued as mild, but still cold enough to keep the mud to a minimum whenever they were off the road. There were more days of weak sun than cold sleet and getting laid almost every night wasn't exactly a drawback. She and Ixillius still argued about whether or not she would be going back to stay with Verus, but that seemed more out of habit than anything else.

        The horses held out well, even on reduced feed for a day or two whenever supplies ran low, and there were more people on the road than she'd expected that agreed to trade so they didn't completely run out of supplies. Although the matter was a small thing to Brasus and Ixillius, Alex was very pleased with how lucrative a steady supply of fresh meat was – especially when well-cut. They'd each gotten heavy wool under-tunics for a deer's hind quarters from one merchant with a family to replace the thin ones Alex had scrounged up, and Ixillius and Brasus had also gotten togas, tunics and proper leg wraps so they could get rid of the remains of the German clothes they both hated. Ixillius had frowned that Alex chose to keep wearing her pants and shirt beneath her tunics, but didn't say anything until they were well away from the merchant.

        Alex traded a whole side of a wild pig for a thick wool rug. Brasus had complained about that for the rest of the day, after she completely repacked the mare and used the rug to stop the bundles from rubbing, until Alex laid the rug out for all three of them to sleep on that night. He never said a word about the rug after that.

        Twice during the weeks that passed they'd woken to the short screams of attempted horse thieves, but they'd yet to have any horses missing in the mornings. Alex had gotten good at quickly cleaning blood from the legs of the mare.