Bellatrix by Simon Turney

Author:Simon Turney [Turney, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781801108959
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

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The first faint plume of smoke billowed up from beneath the door, the noise of the crackling fire that rushed through the dried reeds creeping through the cracks in the heavy portal. A collective indrawn breath accompanied the sinking heart of the ninety-four surviving men of the First cohort, trapped in their sandstone coffin.

Draco gestured toward the door from where he and Nasica stood at the room’s centre.

“Looks like this is it. I’d rather hoped the legion would reappear just in time. Jupiter’s obviously busy elsewhere.”

Nasica nodded. “Time to make our last stand.”

He turned to face the gathered, disconsolate faces in the gloomy corners of the large room.

“Alright, lads. Time’s up. The hope is that their commander doesn’t know how many men escaped into here, so we might be able to save a few men. Five contubernia of legionaries, along with two officers, will settle into the sealed room at the rear of the temple with the vexillum and the standards, keeping them from the enemy.”

He straightened. “With a little luck they won’t even know of the room’s existence, let alone how to open it. Take a week’s worth of stores in with you and wait until all this is over and the enemy has left. Then do your best to get back north. If the gods are with us, Vitalis will be victorious and the legion will come back for you before then.”

Squaring his shoulders, he drew his gladius from the ornate scabbard and examined the edge as he continued. “The remaining fifty or so of us have our work cut out. We need to deny them this room to the last man. I expect every man who stands with me to greet Elysium in the solid knowledge that he died a noble member of the best army in the world, and satisfied in the understanding that he took ten of them with him.”

The men in the room glanced at one another in anticipation. Faced with the possibility of spending a week in a pitch black, cramped hole in the desperate hope that there would be life at the end, many of them would gladly accept the chance to stand and die as a legionary, quick and honourable.

The commander took a deep breath. “Volunteers, to me.”

The bulk of the room’s occupants shuffled across to stand near Nasica, sharing looks of simple sad acceptance. The primus pilus regarded his men with pride and then counted the remaining legionaries at the far end.

“Looks like too many men eager for the blade to me. I’m going to need another seven men to join them.” He turned with a sad smile. “Draco? You too, old friend.”

Cervianus stared. The very idea of denying his centurion the fight was unthinkable.

Draco shook his head. “My place is here, sir.”

“Draco, your place is to take command of the survivors. On the slight chance this all works out and they manage to get away, they’ll need an experienced and sensible officer. That’s you, and you know it.”

The primus pilus’s gaze rose over Draco’s shoulder and locked on Cervianus.

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