Praetorian Series [3] A Hunter and His Legion (66 page)

I stared at it, not quite understanding at first,
but Boudicca looked up at me and noticed my confusion.

“They will conceal our identities, Hunter.  A disguise.”

Santino knelt beside her and looked up at me.  “What part of that didn’t you get?”

I shook my head as though I was snapping myself from a day dream.  “What?  I got it.  No problem.”

“Are you certain you are well, Jacob?”  Bordeaux asked.

“Hmm?  Yeah.  I feel
fine.  No problem.”

Bord
eaux and Santino traded glances as the latter stood, hefting a set of armor in his hands.  He walked around Boudicca and threw it at me atop my horse.  Unprepared for it, I made a sluggish grab for it, but managed only to slip from my horse and tumble to the ground in a heap.  I hit roughly and meekly coiled into a ball, thinking to do nothing more than just lay there.  I wasn’t upset or sad or angry, I was just tired and confused, unable to get a grip on reality.  I heard a slight crunching in the snow beside me, so I opened my eyes to see Santino looming over me.  He placed his hands on his hips and shook his head at me.

“Jeez, Hunter, let’s not make a big scene out of this,” he said as he reached down to help me up.  “
This’ll be an easy one, and I’ll hold your hand the whole way.  Don’t worry your pretty little self one bit.”

***

And Santino had been right, but at least he hadn’t held my hand.

We’d waited until
night, and then some, before beginning our infiltration of Galba’s camp.  At first, I’d wondered about Bordeaux and Boudicca, neither looking anything like your typical Roman because of their size.  I was less concerned by Boudicca’s femininity since she filled out her armor as well as any man I’d ever seen, but still she and Bordeaux, and myself as well for that matter, were far larger than the average Roman.  Santino, who stood just shy of six feet, fit in well enough even though he was still a bit tall for your average legionnaire, but the rest of us stood out like a kiwi in a fruit basket…

Okay that probably wasn’
t the best analogy.

Boy I was out of it…

But, as Santino had assured, our little operation had gone off easily and quickly.  Not a single legionnaire glanced twice at our quartet as we marched into the nearest fort strung along the entrenchment surrounding Agrippina’s camp.  We’d left our horses strung up near Santino’s cache of legionary gear so it was just the four of us, and at least we looked the part.  Once in the trenches, we simply walked toward a spot that Santino had identified long ago to be a weak point along their lines, and crawled our way toward Agrippina’s fortifications.  Once there, we crept along its perimeter, having already been identified by our own people thanks to an IR beacon Santino carried with him, and simply walked through the
porta praetoria.

Once inside
, I dropped every bit of extraneous gear I had and sprinted in the best approximation of the term toward where I remembered my friends had made camp.  I passed by dozens, if not hundreds, of Praetorians and legionnaires as I ran, each pointing at me like they were seeing a ghost, knowing who I was but not expecting to ever see me again, I supposed.  But none moved to stop me, not that any of them would have been able to as I barreled like a drunken bull in a china shop toward Helena.

I stumbled
dozens of times as my head felt light or empty or heavy all at the same time, or as leg muscles would tense up and threaten to cramp on me, and I fell completely into the cold snow at least three times along the way, one time falling into a pair of my legionnaires as I careened into their tent.  They helped me up, dazed and confused as to the fact that it was
me
who had fallen into their quarters, but had simply gotten out of the way as I shrugged them off and continued my trek.

My legs were starting to work properly again, but
after another two minutes, I was left panting for breath as I finally arrived at our small community of displaced time travelers and reality hoppers.  Arrayed around a fire situated at the center of our half-moon setup of tents were Vincent, Wang, Stryker, Cuyler, and Artie.  They sat discussing something in low tones with morbid body language, but it was Artie who noticed me first.  She shot to her feet and stood there, gaping at me, while Vincent and Cuyler noticed her diverted attention and stood more slowly.  Stryker and Wang were the last to understand what had distracted their companions, but Artie was already running toward me as realization set in.

Like M.J. in his prime
, dunking from the three point line, she leapt into the air and threw her arms around me.  I was momentarily distracted by her appearance, having been too focused on Helena to really understand who she was and why exactly she seemed so interested in my arrival.  I nearly dropped her, my body still artificially weak, and while my first instinct was to throw her off and continue my search for Helena, I held onto her just as tightly as she clung to me.  I found myself touched at how quickly Artie had responded to my arrival, even though it was also easier to remember now that she wasn’t actually my sister.

But she was a pretty good substitute, I had to admit.

“Jacob!”  She practically yelled into my ear as she hung off me.  “What happened to you??  Where did you go??”

“It’s a long story, Artie,” I said as I reached a hand up to hold her head against my shoulder
and pressed my cheek against her hair.  “And an unbelievable one, but I have to see Helena first.  Where is she?”

Artie pulled back but
gripped my arms with her hands.  She looked at me briefly, absentmindedly brushing my new beard with a hand, which was a grooming choice I wasn’t sure she’d ever seen before, but then she looked toward the same tent I’d found her in with Helena and Wang a month ago.

She
tossed her head toward it.  “She’s right where you left her, Jacob.  I… I don’t want to worry you but she hasn’t been feeling well lately.”

I looked
toward the tent.  “Is she okay?  The baby?”

“It’s
… It’s just that the past few weeks have been difficult.”

“How difficult?”  I asked, snapping my head back
toward her.

“I
don’t want to say.  I think it’s best if you talk to Wang.”

I moved
my head to look around Artie and saw the small Brit standing apart from the others now, his expression no different than Artie’s.  I closed my eyes and nodded, their moods infecting my own, but then I gave Artie a supportive smile.

“It’s all right, Artie.  Everything will be fine.”

She managed a small smile as well, but then she released my arms and stepped away.  I watched her walk around me toward Santino, who reached out and gave her a small and innocent hug.  It seemed just as brotherly a gesture as my own embrace with her a moment ago, but even if it hadn’t been, I didn’t think I minded anymore.

By the time I turned back around
, Wang was already approaching me.  I took a step toward him but he gestured toward Helena’s tent and stepped to his left, angling us toward it.  I walked with him but before he led me inside, he stopped me by clutching my forearm with a hand.

“Wait, Hunter,” he said quietly.  “Listen, Hel
ena’s okay, but the last few weeks have not been easy.  She’s very weak and I’ve forced her to stay in bed.”

I nodded slowly, taking it all in.  “And the baby?”

“I… I’m not sure,” he admitted.  “I haven’t been able to get the ultrasound device working again and it’s not like I can run blood work here, and…”

He trailed off,
which wasn’t something I wanted to hear.

“
And?”

“His heartbea
t is erratic.  It goes in and out, but I don’t like what I hear.  There’s a possibility she may deliver prematurely and there’s nothing I can do if that happens.  Or, and I’m rather worried about this, it may come down to a Caesarean section, and there isn’t even a Roman or Celtic midwife around here to help if…”

Again, he didn’t finish his thought, and I had to force myself to stiffen up and keep myself from falling apart then and there.  This was the last thing I wanted to hear after everything I’d
just been through, the last thing I even wanted to think could possibly happen, let alone learn
was
happening.  It was too much, especially now, but I felt my mind hardening again and I surprised myself when I didn’t crumble under Wang’s news.

I
nstead, I was again surprised to find my hand rising of its own accord to grip my friend’s shoulder.  “It’s okay, James.  You’ve done everything you can.  Helena’s tough; she’ll be fine.”

Wang nodded.  “I think so too,
Hunter, but I just thought you should know.”

“Thanks
,” I said, tightening my grip before letting go.  “Can I see her now?”

“Of course, just try to keep her calm.  Even the excitement
of seeing you might be too much right now.”

“Thanks, James,” I said as I turned to the tent.  “For everything.”

“It wasn’t a problem, mate.  It was a priveledge.”

“Even so,” I said, giving him one last look.  “Thanks.”

Wang simply nodded and turned to leave while I returned my attention to the tent’s entrance.  I waited for a moment, making sure I was ready for this.  It wouldn’t do Helena any good for me to return to her in any kind of mood other than a positive one.  It pained me inside immensely to think of her reduced to a bed, unable to care for herself, or take action in a time of need.  Five years ago, I might not have been so upset over such a predicament, and in fact, Helena herself may not have seen it as a slight against her character either.  But now Helena was as tough as nails and never one to back out of a fight or let someone else do her dirty work for her.  She was as empathetic and understanding as anyone I’d ever met, but she’d also become hard over the years, unflinching in her devotion to the preservation of herself and those she loved.

All of this swam through my head as I stood there, unable to channel the courage needed to enter the tent and see what the
Fates had reduced the woman I loved to.  But I took a deep breath and tried to ignore myself, forcing my heavy hand up to reach for the tent’s flap and pull it away, but just as I worked up the courage and desire to face Helena, a voice from behind me interrupted the action.

“Wait, Hunter!”  It said, and I immediately
knew it was Archer.

I stopped and turned to see my blond haired peer rushing
toward me from somewhere within the Praetorian camp.  His hair was longer than I’d ever seen it before now, almost to the point where he could tie it into a ponytail.  I held out a hand to forestall his approach but he wasn’t deterred.

“I don’t have time for this, Paul,” I said.  “I have to see Helena.”

“She doesn’t even know you’re here yet,” he indicated as he pulled up just short of where I stood.  “What’s another few minutes?  I need to know what you learned first.  What information you gathered about the orb.  Can you use it to change my world?  Can you?”

I held up a hand and kneaded
my brow.  “Paul, I really don’t have time to explain.  It’ll take a really long time and I have to see her.  Can’t you understand that?”

I turned to enter the tent but Archer lashed out and gripped my forearm with a powerful hand.

“Just you fucking wait, Hunter,” he growled.  “I remember your promise to help me fix my timeline.  That’s what I understand.  You said you’d do everything you could, and I held you to that.  Now can you help me or not, goddamn it!?”

The look he gave me was as intense as I’d ever seen from him before, his eyes furrowed in rage and his teeth grinding together causing his jaw bone to squirm behind its protective layer of skin.  It was an interesting expression and a familiar one, one I must have worn a number of times as I attempted piece together the grand puzzle of the universe.

But I’d completed that puzzle now.  Completed it, glued the pieces together, and framed it in my mother’s den, just like she’d done with a dozen of her own completed puzzles.  I knew exactly what I needed to get home and even where to look.

I had all of this knowledge.

All of this power.

But I didn’t have enough of either to “fix” his home.

And he needed to know that soon.

“I’m sorry, Paul,” I said meekly.  “I don’t think that I can.  I’m sorry.”

His expression tightened to seem even angrier, something I wasn’t sure was possible.  “What do you mean, you can’t?  Why not!?”

“I… I don’t have time to explain,” I repeated.  “There’s a lot of information and I’m too messed up right now
to really think about it.  I
have
to see Helena first.”

In a burst of action he yanked on my arm and pulled
me closer to him so that we stood nose to nose, his fingernails digging into my flesh.

“That’s not good enough, Hunter!”  He said, his mouth inches from my own.  “You’re responsible for my very existence!  We’re all just a byproduct of your fucking around with things you couldn’t explain or control
, and you promised me you would fix it!  Don’t tell me that you can’t!  I won’t accept that!”