Praetorian Series [3] A Hunter and His Legion (39 page)

I glanced at the sky and mumbled in English, “God, help me; I’m going to kill this guy.”

“Hunter?” 
Boudicca asked.

“Nothing,” I snapped, dropping my head again
.  “Are you a Druid?”

Another nod.

“Was coming here a mistake?”

This time the response was a negative.

I was just about to ask another question when behind me, I heard Santino yell out, “Borrrr-ing.  Enough with the twenty questions already, Hunter!  Get us outta here!”

I threw a hand over my shoulder to shut him up, my eyes never parting
from the elder Druid.

“Tell
me what I have to do,” I said.

I braced myself, waiting for what I knew would be
a series of tasks, trials, and tests that would take us to the ends of the Earth to recover lost artifacts, uncover hidden clues, and slay any number of beasts before completing our quest.  So far, our so-called adventure had been rather dull, but I knew it was only a matter of time before it kicked into high gear. It would be an adventure straight from mythology, like the ones Odysseus or Jason had experienced.  We were in the land of Druids and fairies, after all!

It was only a matter of time
…

T
he old man pointed the way we’d came and spoke softly.  “Leave the island and follow the coast north.  There you will find what you seek.”

I stared at him dumbly
.  “That’s it?  Really?  Just get the fuck out of here and keep going north?  Just do what we were already doing?  Except that we had to take a pit stop here for you to simply tell me to go north??  Go to this mystical and magical island that has two of my best and brightest guys spooked out of their minds just for you to stand there and tell me to go fucking
north
?  How about some specifics or is north all I need?  North??”

Boudicca
had stopped translating long before I’d finished my rant but I hardly cared.  I was fuming, enraged, and before I knew it, I had my hand on my pistol before I even knew my arm had moved at all.  It was already out of my holster when a voice stopped me mid motion.

“Don’t, Jacob!
”

It was He
lena’s, and my pistol seemed to snap back into place on its own.  As my weapon was returned to its sheath, my boiling blood reduced to a simmer and I forced myself to growl out my next inquiries more slowly.

“So go north then?”

Nod.

“How will I know where to go?  What to find?”

“In time, you will know.”

“Yeah, t
hanks, Yoda,” I mumbled.

Boudicca
didn’t bother asking for clarification this time.

“Fine then,
” I said with a weary sigh, glancing to my left and seeing the great expanse of Holyhead Island and Anglesey before it.  It was quite the view, but I didn’t let myself take any pleasure from it as I turned back to the Druid.  “Can we stay here for the night at least?”

“You are most welcome here
, Jacob Hunter,” the man said.

I didn’t even bother asking how he knew my name.

“Great,” I said, already leaving.

***

Later that evening, with the legionnaires bunked down in their bare bones Roman camp near the base of Holyhead Mountain and the rest of my team doing whatever it was they did these days, I decided to take a stroll around the island.  The sun had come out a few hours ago, so a walk seemed like a great idea.  It was a cold but beautiful evening as the sun was just beginning to make its daily descent into the sea, so I’d traveled south, but about an hour into my walk, I found Vincent sitting atop a cliff that rested so high above the waterline that a fall into the water would have killed him instantly.  Staring death in the face quite literally, I walked over and plopped myself down beside him to let my legs dangle over the ledge, deciding that maybe the two of us could come to terms and go back to the way things used to be.  I leaned forward to catch his attention as he sat beside me but he didn’t flinch, his mind clearly occupied.  His amputated arm hung uselessly beside him, his eyes fixed on the southern horizon intently.

I followed his gaze and squinted, seeing nothing off in the distance besides t
he coast of Mona off to my left, along with a bit of western Wales past that, creating an enormous bay of water with a tiny speck of an island at the very edge of the visible land.

I placed my hands on
the ground beside me and leaned forward, stretching the muscles in my arms and shoulders.

“Not exactly what I was expecting,” I said, hoping to make small talk.

“Nor I,” Vincent answered.

“I just don’t get it, Vincent,” I said with a shake of my head.  “This story
makes less and less sense the deeper we get into it, and the mystery isn’t developing, just growing more confusing.  If the Druid we seek isn’t here, where is he?  North?  Big help that is.  And they know about the orb but won’t tell me anything about it?  Some adventure this turned out to be…”

Vincent’s eyes hardly twitched.  “Leading Roman legionnaires into unexplored count
ry isn’t adventurous enough for you?”

I shrugged.  “Yeah, I guess, but it hasn’t been very exciting.  How am I going to script this into a movie when we get home if nothing happens during the middle of it?”

Still his eyes remained fixed, but now he closed them and kept them closed.

“You really have no idea where we are, do you, Jacob?”

“Anglesey?”

“Yes, but don’t you
know anything about this island?”

“
The history classes I took about Britain started around the Reformation,” I pointed out.

“No mythology?  No history from the Dark Ages?”

“Mostly stuck to my Romans, Vincent.  My schooling was cut short, remember?”

“I remember,” he said, “I simply find it implausible that we would find ourselves in a place such as this,
and you know nothing about it.”

Annoyance was beginning to set it.  “Enlighten me
then, Vincent.  I could use direction here.”

“That’s another question my mind has been struggling with, Hunter.  I’m not so sure the best course of action here is to enlighten you
about anything.”

“Why’s that?” I said, the anger growing.

“I have my reasons,” he whispered.

“
What reasons could you possibly have?” I demanded.  “I need information here.  Direction!  I…”

“Do you see that island on the horizon?” Vincent asked, interrupting me
, his finger stretched out before him pointing south.

I
squinted.  “Yeah, barely.”

“It’s known as Bardsey Island back home. 
Have you heard of it?”

“You know I
haven’t.”

Finally, he
turned his head in my direction but didn’t look at me.  “It’s simply that I cannot believe that it’s there… and that we’re here as well.”

“Why, Vincent?  Just tell me.”

“I can’t,” he said, and with that, he stood to leave me alone on the edge of the cliff.

I watched him go for half a minute b
efore glancing out again at this mysterious Bardsey Island that sat just barely in my line of sight.  Had the evening weather not cleared up as nicely as it had, it probably wouldn’t even have been visible on the horizon.  This thought mixed with Vincent’s odd proclamation and apprehension about the island sent a chill down my spine.

I
f only I had access to the internet I could just look it up.

But then I guess that would ruin the surprise.

Where was the fun in that?

***

The next morning I awoke to the sounds of screams and the roars of pandemonium, unsure where I was.

Since command level officers entitled to
a
praetorium
rarely accommodated so small a scouting force, the Romans under my command hadn’t constructed one for me, but I was okay with that.  It hadn’t been that long ago when I’d pitched my own tent every single evening, the same one I’d used since going on the run with Helena and Santino all those years ago.

The only difference
now was that Helena stayed with Artie instead.

And it was Artie who awoke me, as neither the screams
nor sounds of panic had roused me from my slumber.  She unzipped my tent roughly, the first sign of disturbance, and jumped on me like she used to do as kids at six in the morning on Christmas day, a tradition she’d continued well into my college years.

“Jacob!”  She cried.

“What?” I asked still half asleep.  “Is it Christmas yet?”

Actually, Christmas
had been just a week ago.  I’d barely noticed.

“It’s the legionnaires!!  They’re burning the village!”

“What?”  I asked, leaning up on an elbow so that I could more easily rub sleep from my eyes.

She grabbed my bare shoulders and shook me.  “The legionnaires
are murdering the villagers, Jacob!  They’re burning the village down with them in it!”

I sighed and rose to my feet, strapping on my w
eb belt and holster and slipping into my jacket.

“Let’s go take a look
then,” I said, pushing my way past her and her gaping mouth.

I
stopped just outside my tent and looked at the chaos before me.

The small village
was completely ablaze, turning the mountain behind it into a flickering wall of shapes and colors, a beautiful image against the pre-dawn light.  I placed my hands on my hips and noted the rampaging legionnaires that put down men and women alike as they attempted to flee the blaze.

I waited for the scene before me to change like it
always seemed to do these days, but when I closed my eyes and then reopened them, it remained.

Artie emerged
from the tent, hot on my heels.  “Stop them, Jacob!”

I didn’t look at her.  “What do you
want me to do, Artie?”

She looked at me, a mixture of anger and
terror splashed against her face.  “Tell them to stop!”

“I can’t,” I said, “Their adrenaline is surging.  They’
d kill me just as quickly as these villagers if I tried to stop them.  You don’t see Santino or Archer interfering, do you?”

I pointed to the two men who stood near each other off to the left, staring at the chaos before them as well.  They weren’t nearly as worked up over it as Artie, but the horror on even their regular
tough guy faces was clearly evident.  Around me, former friends were stumbling out of their tents, also awakened by the screams.  Their expressions were mixed, some simply staring in confusion while others wore looks of abject horror. 

I turned away from the
m and returned my attention to the show and shifted in place, narrowing my eyes in confusion as I felt an unexpected object that seemed to have found itself in my pants.  Glancing down, I reached a hand toward a cargo pocket and discovered that the object seemed large, hard, and round.  Not remembering putting anything there the night before, I cautiously reached in and retrieved the object in question.

I smiled
as my hand came into contact with it, knowing what it was well before I saw it in the light given off from the blaze.  I pulled it out slowly and brought it to eye level, and then took a bite out of the apple and chewed.

I’d always loved apples, especially the green ones.

Very sweet and…

“Jacob!”

I glanced back at Artie, my mouth full of half chewed apple.  “What?”

Her eyes were a mix of emotion.  “Do something!”

I rolled my eyes, making an overt display of annoyance, and made my way toward the town and the legionnaires that surrounded it.  My progress was slow and lacking in energy for the task ahead, each stride mimicking how unenthusiastic I felt.  I’d just taken another bite from my apple when a dark figure stepped in front of me, cutting me off just steps away from Minicius.  All I could make out in the early dawn light were a pair of tiny green orbs looking up at me.

“Tell me you had
nothing to do with this, Jacob.”

I chose to ignore the fact that
those
were the first words she’d decided to speak to me in days, and instead decided to play nice and answer the question.

“Does it look like I had anything to do with this?”

She looked at me intensely, studiously, and waited patiently for me to react to her scrutiny but I didn’t flinch.  In turn, I felt patience surge within me and I knew I could stand there under her gaze for days if I had to, but luckily, I didn’t.  With one last glance at me, she walked away, and I found myself pleasantly alone again.  With another bite from my apple, I watched her go for the briefest of seconds before continuing my search for Minicius.

I found him a minute later, his
spear deep in the chest of an elderly woman who had taken a chance at fleeing.  Her arms were stretched out in Minicius’ direction, her fingers extended like the claws of a wild animal, her face a mixture of shock and pain.  I half expected lightning bolts to fling themselves at him from her fingertips, but when the centurion withdrew his spear and looked up, he simply nodded as the woman died.  I spit out a seed and watched it land at her feet, thinking little of her or the village I’d ordered burned to the ground before turning in for the night.

“Anyone escape?”  I asked Minicius.

“No, Legate,” he answered quickly.  “The village is contained.  Most of these demons chose to burn within rather than risk escape.  I will never understand the minds of these sorcerers.”

I smiled and took another bite, speaking my next statement around a mouthful of apple.  “Don’t even bother, Minicius.  I’ve been trying for years
.”

He
nodded and returned his attention to the blaze, biding his time for another potential escapee.  I waited and watched as well, but not to intercept an escaping Druid hoping to reveal our secrets to the world, but because I was simply enthralled by the village as it slowly burned to nothing.  As I stood there transfixed by the flames, I wondered if this was how those guys back in Vietnam had felt watching random Podunk villages reduced to ashes.  Was there really a unique aroma to napalm that smelled better in the morning?  Were there actual spirits dancing in the flames that entranced a man to the point where he no longer cared that there were people burning alive within the wall of fire?

I
neither knew, nor cared.  I simply waited for the tidal wave of screams to cease, a cessation I didn’t have to wait long for.  From the moment Artie had awakened me in my tent to this moment right now, only eight minutes had passed, but the elapsed time had felt like hours as I stood with the silent sentinel, Minicius.  When all the excitement seemed to die down completely, I felt a sudden emptiness in my chest, upset that it was over so soon.

I sighed and went for another bite of my apple but
my teeth met nothing but core.  I scowled at the depleted fruit angrily and hurled it into the flames.  It seemed to catch fire the moment it interacted with the fire, bursting into an impressive and unanticipated fireball that left me wondering if the Druidic magic that apparently permeated this ground had somehow left me with some final warning or act of defiance.

But like much in this world, I hadn’t a clue
, nor was it explained.

I placed a hand on Minicius’ shoulder and gave him a nod of approval when he turned to regard me.  He dipped his head in acknowledgment but went back to hi
s passive sentry duty around what was left of the village, too disciplined to assume the job was finished until I said it was.  I dropped my hand, turned, and made my way back to my tent, passing and ignoring a dozen mixed expressions from the other people who had once traveled back in time as well, their disapproval, frustration, and anger meaningless to me.  They didn’t have to understand let alone care what I was doing; all they needed to do was fall in line and follow.

This was
my story.

I was their Moses, destined to lead them from the desert to the Promised Land.  That was
my
job.  Only I could get their sorry asses home and they either knew that now, or they’d better understand that soon.  I was done playing nice and trying to fit in with the denizens of the past, and so, unlike Moses, I wasn’t about to give the Egyptians any chance of following me, Red Sea or no.  I was going home, and I was prepared to burn the world down around me to ensure I got there.

No more Mr. Nice Hunter.

Part Three

IX

Northward

Northern Britannia

January, 48 A.D.

It was hard to believe that less than a year had gone by since I’d sent Bordeaux in search of Wang and Vincent
, initiating my plan to kidnap Agrippina’s son Nero and place Vespasian on the throne.  It seemed like a lifetime ago, two even, but with the passing of the New Year, I was reminded that it had only been a matter of months, nine to be exact.

Almost
a term of pregnancy.

And it had all seemed so simple then.  Stage a coup and put a
competent ruler on the throne that was supposed to be there, albeit thirty years earlier than expected, although that part hadn’t concerned me.  Rome was an empire ruled by emperors who were supposed to rule for a long time, and Vespasian would need all he could get to put his house back in order after Agrippina had spent the past four years dismantling it.

It was a tall order but I
’d had complete faith in the man.

But the following nine
months had been filled with failure after failure, something I wasn’t used to.  Sure I’d failed with the ladies a number of times in my younger days and had bombed exams because I’d forgotten to – or had been distracted from – studying, but never had I outright failed so many times when I’d set out to succeed.  Agrippina had outplayed me at every turn, and while I was happy to still be alive, I was sick of losing.

I wasn’t going to lose again
, whether at Agrippina’s hands or anyone else’s.

Never again
, and the past two weeks – maybe three –since leaving the Isle of Mona had given me plenty of time to prepare for the future.

We’d followed the western coast of
modern day Northern England, keeping the soon-to-be-named Irish Sea on our left, possibly finding ourselves about as far north as modern day Carlisle, in a place Wang had called Cumbria.  It had been a tedious trip, one filled with plenty of time to think alone, ponder our situation, and dream of the orb, which now seemed to invade my thoughts every minute of every day. 

It was a
divisive topic of thought in my mind.  A part of me continued to fear its influence, but a growing sensation had taken hold of me that actively considered finding the orb and… experimenting with it.  There had to be a way to use it more tactically than how it had already been used.  It was just a matter of finding out how.

My only worry was that my
former friends would try to stop me, as I was sure they plotted to do every day since leaving Anglesey.  I could sense their future betrayal looming, but they dared not move against me when I had fifteen hundred legionnaires at my back.  Even with all their advanced weaponry, they wouldn’t stand a chance against so many.

And I still had Penelope, the only person besides Felix who would never let me down.