The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 8

IXILLIUS STARED AT the delivered meal, as Alex had said she would arrange. The map, proof that she'd at least planned her departure, had been moved aside and only three servings set on the table. Her final words to him of "Then I will demand" were hard in his memory. He scrubbed his hand over his face and sat on the stool Quintus pointed him to. None of them felt like eating, but all of them needed to.

        Verus had been beyond agitated when he'd woken and Alex was gone. He'd demanded to know where she was, said something about her fading away, and then blamed Ixillius for not bringing her back from being stolen as events blended together in his sickness. He'd then begged Marcus to write a letter to Avilius, explaining that Alex had been stolen, that the letter he'd sent with Ixillius was meant only to frighten Chlodochar into helping, not to cause a war between the allies. Quintus had interrupted and forced Verus to drink the draught, threatening to call in the younger man's father when Verus wouldn't drink, lying that the senior Celsus was with the Legion.

        Marcus cleaned the wound, confirming the amount of pus was less than this morning, and Quintus took the soured rags out to bury. Ixillius had studied the map on the table while Quintus was gone, ignoring Marcus, and Quintus had pulled out two other maps when he returned for further speculation of where the Lady may have disappeared to. None of them mentioned Verus's rantings that she had vanished.

        Then the meals had arrived and Quintus had rolled up the maps and set the stools around the table so they could sit and eat. By the expressions they each wore, Ixillius thought, the meals might as well be ashes.

        Much later, when he lay down to sleep, the thought that itched at his mind since returning to his tent came back again; the image of Max and the mare standing, nearly asleep. Any time Alex left their sight without going into Verus's tent, they always looked in the direction she had gone, waiting for her to return. But tonight they'd stood there dozing, facing opposite directions, and her kite was nowhere he'd seen. He curled tighter as sleep pulled him down, the memory of Marcus telling him that Alex had never left the tent turning into a dream, and the dream quickly spinning into nightmares.

                                                                ***

        Alex loaded her English with her gigno's thick accent as she thanked the shelter caretakers for the night's sleep, ensuring that she sounded excessively foreign to everyone and nobody else talked to her as she left. She put a couple hundred euros in the donation box, making sure she wasn't seen, and set off for a nearby café. The slanted glares she'd gotten from people who'd seen her come out of the shelter disappeared quickly in the crowd, so she squared her shoulders and walked as if she was going somewhere – just not right now. Her gigno had taught her the trick for blending in with any crowd and the ruse had always served her well.

        She bought water and fruit for breakfast, doing a search on her phone for the nearest library while she ate and coming up with two good options within easy walking distance: a public library and a small college. The public library was less risky, but the computers had reservation schedules. The college would want a student ID, but there were multiple computer labs for studying that she could stay at for the day without being noticed. The college had a small grocery, as well, so she wouldn't be trapped trying to eat at a restaurant.

        She memorized the map of the campus and how to get there and then set off. She was able to join the general flow of young adults, engaging with a few in conversations about classes and complaining about homework.

        She followed along close to a group and got into one of the study labs with no trouble. A few random logins locked a computer, and then she approached the person who was obviously working here. A vacant stare, a worried expression, feigned bad English, and a broken excuse about her login not working and her project being due and the woman, not bothering to hide her disgust at being interrupted, signed Alex in as 'Guest' at a computer as far from her desk as possible before going back to her own studying.