Page 78 of Firebird
Stalking through the open courtyard where Caesar held his last feast, I steeled myself for what lay not far beyond the outer gate. I’d contemplated attempting to set my aunt free somehow multiple times. But my uncle kept her so well-guarded, I wouldn’t be able to do it without certain capture. It was one of the many wrongs I planned to set right whenever we’d implemented our plan, a plan I was becoming more and more desperate to accomplish.
Exiting through the garden’s back gate, I took the rough trail through the long grass, well-worn by my uncle’s visits to his sister. There, upon a platform he had constructed that jutted from the edge and hovered over the pit, stood my uncle, two praetorians, and Ciprian.
My steps faltered for a second but thankfully it seemed Ciprian was taking his leave. My uncle clapped his shoulder before Ciprian stepped away and onto the trail toward me.
His eyes widened slightly. He wasn’t expecting me. Then his expression relaxed into its usual arrogant sneer.
“Legatus, I hear you had trouble in Moesia.”
“Nothing serious, Ciprian. I didn’t lose as many men as you did in Macedonia.”
His smile vanished. “At least my men and I won the field.”
“Yourmen. Those weren’t yours. You’ve yet to lead a campaign of your own. You are merely prefect,” I reminded him.
“Not for much longer.” He stopped in front of me, blocking my path, and snapped the length of his black toga higher up his opposite shoulder. “Looking forward to your hospitality and getting a look at your slave girl soon.”
My entire body locked, muscles stiffened. Willing myself not to strangle him where he stood, I replied steadily, “I have no intentions of entertaining soon. There are more important things to do, like wars to be fought.” Just the thought of him ogling Malina made me sick with dread.
“That’s what you think.” He laughed and walked on by me. “Go talk to your uncle.”
It took far more energy than I imagined to keep from snatching him back and demanding him to tell me what the fuck he was talking about. Expression passive, I walked on to meet my uncle standing at the edge of the platform railing, holding a golden goblet in one hand. I refused to look down just yet.
“Caesar,” I greeted him.
I always reminded him of his powerful station when I could, using his formal title rather than being familiar first.
“Julian.”
His mouth quirked into a smile as he turned sideways to greet me, his eyes glassy with drink and gone full dragon, with serpentine slits down the middle of the gold. He clasped my forearm and shook it hard.
“Report,” he commanded as he always did directly following a campaign.
“The town of Singidium was completely destroyed by the enemy, as we were informed. No survivors could attest to who had attacked their province and the two surrounding ones. I sent scouts to seek them out in the woods and foothills nearby. They evaded, remaining hidden for more than two weeks when we finally corralled them in one central area, a dense forest north of Singidium.”
I kept my voice even and confident and my gaze on his, despite his somewhat inebriated state. He was always dangerous, no matter what state he might be in.
“It seemed they were a small force as my legions closed in on them, when they started a quick-burning fire that ignited the entire forest above my soldiers’ heads. They used nets to keep my officers from shifting and fleeing but most of them were able to free themselves regardless. We were forced to retreat. Four hundred eighty-three were lost in the blaze. Two hundred thirty-six were wounded and will make a full recovery. The barbarian horde fled and vanished from the vicinity.”
“Did you discover their origins? What tribe they must be from?”
“No, Emperor.”
I had an idea, but I wasn’t sharing it with him.
“You didn’t recover any of their injured?”
“I’m afraid not. They had planned this well and apparently had an escape route that we never discovered. We couldn’t have pursued them once the blaze was ignited. It was a conflagration.”
My uncle’s brow furrowed. “Fire. Curious that they would use our own key weapon against us.”
“I believe it was a statement, Caesar, declaring exactly that. That they could use Roman weapons as well. They had no intentions to fight us man-to-man. They simply wanted to taunt us and run.”
He huffed and turned his attention back to the pit, where I couldhear my aunt feeding on something. Someone. A grotesque wet, crunching sound made my stomach curdle.
“Cowards, then,” he said. “Rabble. No need to pursue it unless they strike again.”
And they would. Though I had a feeling the next target would be a bigger one.
