Exiles by Jerry Autieri

Author:Jerry Autieri [Autieri, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-31T22:00:00+00:00

15

Varro was no longer certain how long they had been in the forest. Thanks to Centurion Pilatus’s skill in skinning and butchering, the venison they had inadvertently captured lasted until they all were tired of its flavor. The preserved foods stolen from Centurion Barbatus’s men still remained. Also, following the river provided fresh water for cooking, eating, and bathing. It plowed through the forest, creating wide banks that were easier to follow in places, and in others more difficult.

Now the river had led them into open plains and Varro judged they must be halfway to Lusitani territory. He stood with Falco and Centurion Pilatus at the edge of a clearing. The rest of the column sat on their haunches beside the muddy banks and squinted silently into the glare of the morning sun.

Falco lifted his helmet and scratched beneath it. “I still say it’s an empty village.”

“We saw smoke over the trees,” Varro said. “So someone is still there.”

“My boys will find out, sir.” Pilatus looked less impressive without his helmet feathers. Both he and everyone else had pulled them all out since the branches of the deep forest had torn them ragged.

As if they had heard Pilatus, Curio and three other men strode back across the field. He had led them through the grasses and stands of trees to get a closer and better view of the village. They now returned to make their report, and everyone leaned forward to hear what Curio and the others had learned.

“It’s all empty,” Curio said. “Everyone killed and left where they fell.”

Falco sniffed. “Can’t be long ago. I don’t smell anything rotting.”

“About a dozen dead, sir,” one of the other scouts spoke up, looking back. “There might be more inside the huts. Blood is fresh.”

“Finally, we might get to a real fight if the enemy is still near.”

Whether Pilatus’s statement was a jab at Varro’s mistaking deer for enemies, he still narrowed his eyes at the centurion.

“Eager to get stuck in, are you? Be glad we’ve only wasted our pila on deer so far. Our mission isn’t to battle the Iberians.”

“Sorry, sir, I didn’t mean anything by it.” But the centurion looked to his men squatting in the shade beside the river. “It’s just a lot of monotony tramping through the woods for days on end.”

“Forget about it,” Varro said. “Get the men ready and we’re going to investigate that village.”

Varro led them in two ranks, eight men wide. He had Pilatus and Falco flanking him in the front, and Curio assumed an optio’s role at the rear. This was the safest spot for an unarmored and unarmed man.

Yet the caution was clearly unneeded. As the scouts had reported, bodies lay sprawled out where they fell. The small buildings, more like collapsing log huts, all lay open. Animal pen gates hung wide and the livestock was stolen or else set free.

“No one fired the place,” Falco said. “Seems like something one rival tribe would do to their enemies.”

Varro agreed. “Centurion, have two-man teams search the buildings.

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