Rune and Ruin

Seeds of the Gods - 9 - Weeding

395 B.C.E. - The Warlord's Encampment, Outside the Gates of the City of Veii, Early Spring, Month of Aprilis

From Her Memory

Thania blinked, trying to keep her eyes open. The sway of the rough, wooden cart that she was riding in was by no means gentle, clattering over the ground roughly, yet Thania threatened to drop into exhausted sleep anyway. After a morning of plodding over the hills, Thania was positive that the wagon could be seen as a luxury. The road was so bumpy that Thania felt at times she would rather walk.

The girl who now served her as a bodyslave accompanied her, huddling next to Thania. With every jostle from the road her bony elbows and knees clanked into Thania's ribs. Thania wasn't sure how to feel about a slave having a slave. Then again, Marcus, the Warlord's bodyslave, was treated better than most of the legions' unranked soldiers.

Thania didn't have the heart to ask the girl to move away. The poor child could not have been more than fourteen years old and was already skin and bones. Worse still, her thin body rounded through her middle; her pregnancy was why Marcus selected her, though the cantankerous man would never admit to such kindness.

Thania winced as she caught another scrawny elbow in her side. Not, Thania thought, that her frame was much better. The townspeople in the Acera hills had been slowly starving from the near-constant warfare over the last decade, so hunger was nothing new to the Acera captives. Despite her increased food rations with the Warlord, she felt frail and she was tired even though she rode today.

Despite the roughness of the wagon, Thania still felt her eyelids droop with tiredness. In the warmth of the sun, she fell asleep, only awakening when the wagons stopped abruptly. The slave girl, Yanna, slipped her hand into Thania's. Looking down at her when she felt the tug, Thania's welcoming smile fell from her face at the girl's expression. The girl pointed to something behind Thania. Turning, Thania felt her stomach drop. In the distance was an Acera city. Although it was well over a league away, demon shifters filled the space in between their wagon and the city. The great legion spread out like the gods had tossed a red and smoke-colored blanket over the ground. Everywhere she looked, she saw men and armor. Great hulking siege machines lurked in the distance, silent at the moment, carrion birds glutted on their feast. Glinting in the fading sun were thousands of Tasuri armor and lance. She had never seen so many Tasuri legionnaires at once, before. Their own small group of prisoners was tiny in comparison. Her eyes were drawn back to the city, perched on the hill, its walls on fire.

"Veii," Thania breathed.

Thania clutched Yanna to her harder as the girl's coughs grew. Rubbing her back soothingly she waited for the fit to finish before offering her a drink. Thania's hand froze partway to Yanna. The girl looked at her quizzically for a moment before a stricken look crossed her face. The wagon slowed to a halt. The Runions were cheering. The chant of "Fyrrin" grew louder and louder. It had started at the walls of the city, before radiating out like the ripples on a pond. Soon the warriors surrounding their sad troop were cheering, their bellows drowning out the sobs and coughs coming from the stricken slaves.

It seemed to Thania to last forever before finally dying down to a dull roar. When it was quiet, she stood and peered out at the city in the distance. Fires still burned, but she could see that the great doors, nearly invisible at this distance when closed, were now open. The Tasuris had secured the city. Above every gate, red and gold banners fluttered. It was over. Veii had fallen.

As Thania watched, flames erupted throughout other parts of the city. The looting had begun, she thought, as she sat back down, refusing the offer of water from the Warlord's canteen a grinning belator offered her. An hour passed as she and Yanna waited to be told what came next. It was Marcus that finally came to their side to bring the news.