“You’re not one of our people, sir. You might not have recognised whatever signs you were given, but rest assured there will have been signs.”
“So a visit from Cernus means your life’s going to change?” Varro sat back heavily, with a strange smile on his face. “Well, it certainly did. And now I’ve seen him twice it’s going to change again?”
“Not necessarily, sir.” Salonius steepled his fingers. “A visit from the Stag Lord is rare enough sir. A second visit is not something that happens very often even in legends. A second visit is… it’s sort of a confirmation of destiny, sir. A chance to change things, sir. Something world-shaking.”
The captain sighed.
“Your God has, I think, taken something from me. I think that’s what our first meeting was. But it’s possible that this morning he gave me something in return. I need to tell you the full story, Salonius. But I need you to keep this totally secret at the moment. Not about Cernus; I don’t think there’s much else to say about that, and most any man you speak to in the army will think you a madman if you start telling them you had a one-on-one with a forest God. I think Corda sent you to me for a specific reason and I need to tell you what’s happened over the last twenty four hours.”
The young man nodded hesitantly.
Varro drained his now tepid lemon drink and cleared his throat.
“I’m dying, Salonius.”
He looked across at his young companion and studied his features.
“You don’t seem all that surprised?”
Salonius shook his head slightly.
“I’m sorry about that sir. I really am. But no, I’m not surprised. I knew something was going on and it makes sense, I think. But why and how?”
“Poison, my lad. On the blade that stuck me.”
Varro squared his shoulders.
“The larger picture, and the larger problem too, is that this isn’t some random viciousness on the part of a barbarian. The sword was an imperial blade and the poison is far too expensive and exotic to have fallen into the lap of a random tribesman. This was done by one of our own; a soldier. And that means I can’t trust anyone. Well, hardly anyone.”
He narrowed his eyes and focused on his young companion.
“But you’re new, you see. I can think of no reason why you can’t be trusted. In fact, it may be that your Stag God sent you to me as the only soldier I can trust. Apart from Corda, of course.”
Salonius frowned.
“What do you intend to do, sir?”
“What do you think?” the captain smiled coldly. “I’m going to track down the bastard responsible, and I’m going to make him pay. Very painfully. And very slowly.”
“Good, sir. And Corda has assigned me to you personally so I’m here to help in any way I can,” Salonius nodded in fierce agreement.
‘And now something the stag lord showed me falls into place’ he thought as he clenched his fists.
Varro nodded gratefully.
“Ok then, while we wait for the serg… the captain, I mean… tell me more about Cernus.”
The door opened to Corda’s knock and he was surprised to find Salonius admitting him rather than Martis. Of greater surprise was the faint smell of wine on the young soldier’s breath. He furrowed his brow in disapproval but issued no comment as he strode past and into the room. Catching sight of Varro on the couch, he saluted and then stood at ease.
“Alright. I’ve briefed the cohort on the temporary command change. Can’t say anyone likes it much though, including me.”
The door shut with a click and Salonius returned to the room, stopping momentarily to salute the sergeant before walking over to stand by the window, also at ease.
Varro grunted.
“Can’t say I’m too thrilled about it myself, but if these last few hours have taught me anything, it’s that time is too precious to spend it messing around feeling sorry for myself. Thank you for assigning Salonius. He’ll be of great use.”
Corda nodded.
“Until we have a little more information on how this all occurred, we have to be very careful in whom we place our trust. In fact, captain, I would not take it personally were you to dismiss me for now.”
Varro laughed.
“Corda, we’ve been friends for longer than some of our men have been alive. I know I can trust you. Unfortunately, with you taking on command of the cohort, you’ll be tied to that job, so I doubt we’ll be seeing a lot of you. And really I can’t think of anyone else I’d be willing to trust in the cohort at the moment.” He sighed and sat back. “Or out of the cohort either, for that matter.”
The sergeant took a seat and leaned on his knees.
“So there’s just the three of us. And with me busy and you incapacitated it’s going to be difficult following anything up.”
Varro shook his head.
“Whatever Scortius cooked up for me this time seems to be doing the trick. I’m thinking clearly and I seem to be functioning almost normally. Alright I’m achy and it hurts a bit from time to time, but not enough to stop me. Salonius and I can deal with all this.”
Corda nodded.
“Alright Varro. I went through the quartermaster’s list of all loot accounted for from the battlefield and there’s no sign of a sword anything like your description. Plenty of weapons, but nothing like that.” His eyes slipped sideways to Salonius. “Have you briefed this young man yet?”
Varro nodded.
“Well then” the sergeant continued, “I’ll have the list delivered to him to go through with you. I’m sure I’ve been thorough, but it never hurts to have a second set of eyes go over things. So what’s the next step?”
Varro shifted in his seat.
“That sword’s the key. It’s the only link I’ve got to whoever did this. And it’s a good sword. I only saw it briefly, but I’d bet it’d be worth a year’s pay for your average soldier. And nobody’s going to leave that lying in the mud. Someone brought it back, and that means someone in this fort has that sword.”
Salonius cleared his throat. “We could approach the fortress command captain. He could organise a complete search of the place with his provosts and be through the whole place in a matter of hours.” He frowned. “But that’s if you can trust them, sir?”
Varro shook his head.
“No, but I think there’s another way around this. We’re going to have to inform the prefect and the marshal about the change of command and my removal from duty and, while I don’t know about the prefect, Sabian’s more trustworthy than any other senior officer I’ve ever met. He’s the most senior officer in the Province, he’s trustworthy, and he’s here. If I speak to him, he can authorise the search without going through normal fort channels. And he can do it with his own guard, so no one needs to know what they’re searching for. It’s the only way we’re going to get the jump on whoever’s responsible.”
Corda nodded thoughtfully, stroking his beard.
“Very well. I’ll have to get back to the cohort. I don’t know how you found time to perform actual command tasks with all the other random shit bureaucracy involved. I’ve not informed the men of the exact circumstances yet; just that you’re under medical care and unable temporarily to carry out your duty. I think it would be better, given the nature of the situation, to keep as many people out of this as possible, particularly the members of your own cohort.”
“Agreed.” Varro sighed. “Alright, I’m going to have a bite to eat and then Salonius and I will go to headquarters and get things underway.”
Corda nodded and, saluting hesitantly, turned on his heel and left the building, the door swinging quietly closed behind him.
Salonius straightened.
“Martis is out getting wine sir. Shall I see if I can get you something to eat?”
Varro smiled.
“Don’t worry about it lad. He’s already left cold meats, bread and cheese out in the other room. If you could just dash through and get it, there’s plenty for both of us.”
The two men were seated quietly around the small table munching on hard northern cheeses, lean cuts of pork and bread still warm and freshly baked when the door swung open with a crash.