The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 6

ALEX COLLECTED THE items she needed on the table. She'd already changed out of the roughly made pants – the hand-stitched leather would be too strange – and had pulled on the new tunic Verus had given her for sleeping over the long dress she'd worn before Hludwolf had taken her. If she kept her hair up like this, and wore the caligae, she would just look homeless if she couldn't find anything else. The cloak would be strange in her time, but there was no way she was going without the guarantee of warmth, the weather was too cold. Besides, she was planning to just steal clothes, so what she was wearing now wouldn't make much difference.

        She grabbed a page and wrote a quick note so Ixillius would have something more than Verus's fevered word that she was coming back. Alex left her armor and clothes neatly lying on her pallet, and then packed her grooming knife and comb with some food and water in an empty satchel. She opened Verus's trunk and took out two gold coins from his purse, knowing her gigno would pay him back for whatever she spent, and put both aureus in her cloak pocket.

        She set the note close to the healing supplies. Marcus would be able to do the healing for the time she was gone, so hopefully Verus wouldn't get worse. After a short hesitation, she took off the purse holding her wedding ring and tied the lace to the hilt of the jian, setting the sword on the table with the note. No sense in looking homeless but wearing a purse – she' d just get robbed – and she knew Ixillius would keep everything safe until she came back. Her quick preparations done, hoping not to appear in somebody's living room, or so far from anyone that the trip was in vain, Alex closed her eyes and started thinking about how desperately she needed Mikey.

                                                                ***

        Ixillius arrived as planned at Verus's tent. He was exhausted from the day and hoped that Verus was doing better. He braced for the wary look Alex would give him; even after she'd let him hold her earlier, she'd still been angry. Once his thoughts had calmed, her fury had been plain. What had he been thinking? He hated the things he'd said yesterday and tonight, so couldn't really blame her for how she looked at him now. He'd just wanted answers. Fool, he chastised himself.

        Knowing he'd be more exhausted after the wound was cleaned, he stopped at his own tent to unpack personal items and found everything already out. He would have to thank Quintus for that small favor once the Optio arrived from sending the men who were still standing on the road to their dinners and beds.

        Max and the mare were standing nose to tail, nearly asleep in spite of the sparring that was happening nearby. The next two days of rest would help all the horses they'd brought from rescuing Alex, he thought as he walked to Verus's tent.

        His next thoughts remembered the past weeks and he just wanted his Alexandria again. He hadn't slept at all last night, his arms too empty, and the rumors naming her as his woman were spoken as old news since he'd opened the Training Ground to civilians – something of greater interest to talk about. Alex's answers would come in time, Verus was right, and Ixillius was decided to wait. Unless she was driven away completely... the small voice in his mind whispered. He held on to the thought that she'd leaned into him earlier, that even while so angry she'd wanted him to hold her. He was a fool, Verus was right about that, too, but he was her fool. He greeted Marcus, who was standing outside the entrance to Verus's tent.

        "They are in conference?" Ixillius asked quietly, his thoughts immediately turning to the Auxiliary Legate and a quick stab of jealousy knotted inside him.

        "I announced my return, but there was no answer," Marcus replied in the same soft tones. Ixillius listened, but all he heard was fitful snoring.

        "You didn't check?" Ixillius asked.

        "That's not my place, sir," Marcus replied, his face coloring brightly in the firelight, making Ixillius stare. "The Lady makes very little sound when washing," the Optio finally mumbled.

        Ixillius grinned and clapped Marcus on the shoulder. The tent was quiet when he went in, Verus's snoring the only sound, and Verus the only occupant of the main area. Ixillius checked the washstand and Alex's room, and then looked in the second private room where Verus normally slept. Only Verus was in the tent. Ixillius went back and looked at Alex's room, seeing her armor neatly sitting on her pallet and nothing amiss, except that her armor was here and she was not, and the tunic she slept in was gone. The rip in the tent that she'd been stolen through was repaired. The soap she preferred over oil for washing was sitting on the washstand, but the comb he'd sent to Verus for her was gone.

        He went to Verus's room next, and this time saw the First File's trunk was open and Verus's purse was sitting at the top. His gut starting to knot, Ixillius found Verus's ledger and read the accounting, then quickly counted the purse and discovered two aureus missing. Enough gold to pay ransom on a 10th cohort. He put the purse and ledger away, closed the lid, and scrubbed his hand over his face.

        Verus was restless when Ixillius came back into the main area, mumbling now instead of snoring. He was probably going to wake soon. Ixillius scanned the area, his eye falling on the table. He swallowed hard and stepped over, seeing and picking up the note with his name on the outside in Alex's poor writing. The things for the healing were neatly arranged in a small space, the rest of the table covered by a map of the local area with her sword across the middle. His hand was shaking as he unfolded the page. After a few tries on some of the wording, he eventually got the meaning of her short letter:

Husband,

I am leaving to get help for Verus. I will return before the second day ends. Marcus will do the healing while I am gone, as he did this morning.

I prayed and I do not like the answer, so now I will demand.

I love you.

A.A.

        Ixillius itemized in his mind what he had seen inside the tent and realized she had taken only her Roman clothing, her comb and small grooming knife, the rations from the table, and her cloak. His small purse that Verus had given back to her yesterday was tied to the hilt of her sword. With a sinking feeling, he felt the purse that Verus had found and kept safe after she'd been stolen. The iron wedding ring he had given her was still there with her mother's medallion. He crumpled the note in his hand, cursing everything that he could name. He couldn't have missed her by much, and the men in the Training Ground outside would know which way she had gone. He stepped outside the tent and called over the nearest men.

        "When did Lady Avilia leave?"

        Marcus slouched as the men Ixillius had asked called to their companions, all of them eventually agreeing that no man had seen her exit the tent, though all knew when she'd entered. Marcus slipped into the tent after Ixillius quietly asked him to check for any tracks that might explain what had happened. After a few moments, Ixillius stepped inside. Marcus looked at him in bafflement.

        "She's still here," he replied, gesturing at the ground. Ixillius held out the crumpled note. Marcus paled as he read, his eyes wide when he finally looked up. "I swear, sir," he pointed at the ground again, "she never left."