The centurion ignored him, staring straight ahead. Terrasidius cursed then steered his horse next to the other man’s, so close that my leg brushed the red cloak on his back. I saw a knife tucked into his saddle, the hilt just peeping beneath the leather of his seat. I could reach out and take it, if I only dared. I glanced up at the sergeant, who was still talking.
“Brother, how long have we fought together? How far have we marched together? I know your mind is fixed on the arrival but mine must consider the journey.” He clapped a hand on the centurion’s shoulder. “There may be a fight if the Atrebates guarding the younger girl refuse to give her up. We will do best to arrive rested and ready. Let us stop for a few hours at least. If we should be waylaid now I do not like our chances. There’s a cave near here, I remember it from the journey out. We can shelter there. This rain will last the night; we can dry off a little and ride with the dawn.”
I saw the centurion’s shoulders tense then sag. For a few moments he was distracted by his friend. I seized my chance and moved forward, pretending to huddle closer to the sergeant, and reached out with one hand to the centurion’s horse. In one quick movement I grabbed the knife from its sheath and slid it into my boot. I tried to keep my body as relaxed as possible, worried that Terrasidius would feel the tension in me, but my heart was thundering. Croser glanced back and for a moment I thought he had felt my theft, but his eyes were looking over the other Romans.
“Very well,” he said hoarsely, “a few hours only.”
Terrasidius nodded and bellowed out to the other men. We rode up the road a little further, peering through the gloaming rain. I was so tired, the fatigue somehow even more unbearablenow that rest was near. A shout went up from the back of the column and I turned to see a soldier dismounting and hurrying towards the cliffs. The rain had veiled him from my sight within a moment but he hurried back into view and waved. Terrasidius turned his horse back towards him and within a few minutes the promised cave yawned before us.
The centurion remained in the saddle while Terrasidius dismounted and ordered everyone in. A fire was kindled and watches were posted. The cave mouth was only a few yards across so a legionary was placed at each side. I was too stiff to move properly and with my hands still tied I didn’t fancy my chances of reaching the ground without falling. Terrasidius looked back around and saw me still sitting in the saddle. He padded over and lifted me down.
“Make a space at the fire, lads, this one’s cold as the Styx.”
He pushed me gently towards the hearth and the soldiers obligingly moved apart. Opposite me Belis was seated beside the tall man she’d ridden with. I met her eyes, gleaming green and silver in the firelight. She looked as bedraggled as a drowned rat but there was strength in her gaze and it warmed me as much as the fire. I smiled quickly then dropped my head. Under the cover of my cloak I wound my hand down to touch the outline of the blade in my boot.
There was little chatter around the fire that night; the soldiers ate their hardtack and drifted to the sides of the cave to sleep. Croser sat by the entrance, staring out into the night. He hadn’t noticed the loss of his dagger yet. He barely had the energy to lift his waterskin to his mouth. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he drooped forward. Terrasidius was already snoring away. I had spent enough nights beside him now that I could tell when he was in deep sleep. I glanced around the cave. The only ones left awake now were the two sentries, sitting just in from the mouth of the cave. I met Belis’s eyes again, trying to communicate with her. She frowned back at me and I mouthed the word “soon”. She nodded, almost imperceptibly.
I lay down, huddled against the side of the cave, and half slid out the knife. I looped the rope binding my hands over it, grinding the cord against the blade. True to his word Terrasidius had loosened the shackles the first night we had stopped. I had spent every waking moment since then trying to break free. Now with a few cuts I was loose. I stayed still for a moment then tucked the knife back up my sleeve and rolled over, as if in sleep. I breathed deeply, counting twenty inhales and exhales. On the twenty-first breath I fluttered my eyelashes half open, darting a look around the room. Everyone seemed to be as they were, Terrasidius still snoring. Only the centurion had moved, slumped to the floor now.
I considered my next move, whether to attack the sentries or move to untie Belis. Neither seemed to have much chance of success. I didn’t like my odds against both sentries at once so I decided to move towards Belis. I shifted myself over until I was flat on my stomach, my hands hidden beneath me. I pulled my toes underneath and kicked myself forwards, moving perhaps an inch. I looked around again. The soldiers were still asleep. Belis had shuffled upright and was looking directly at me. I pushed with my toes again, creeping across the floor. Progress was agonisingly slow, but it was quiet. Not a single legionary so much as twitched.
I finally got close enough for Belis to lean forward and snatch the knife from me. She was faster than me, even with the tightened rope. In a moment she was free, crouching down beside me. We had a silent argument over who got to keep the knife until Belis solved the problem by lifting a sword from the nearest soldier. She mimed us splitting up and sneaking up on the sentries with a vicious swipe of the knife. I rolled my eyes and took the knife from her and shuffled back across the cave. When I had made it back to the opposite wall I met Belis’s eyes and we began sliding towards the cave mouth.
I gripped the knife in my hand, feeling the soft leather of the hilt against my palm. The soldier on my side of the cave had taken his helmet off and was sitting with his head tilted back, looking up at the rain as it fell. He looked young, maybenineteen years old. I thought about the blade sinking into his throat, remembering the feeling of the knife at my neck only a few days ago. I wondered if he had a family back in Rome, if he’d lost friends in the rebellion. What had brought him here to this island at the edge of the world.
Belis caught my eye and held up three fingers. I chewed on my lower lip for a moment then nodded. She lowered one finger, then another. On the third beat I reached around and dragged the dagger across the sentry’s throat. The blade cut deep, severing the windpipe before the man could scream. Hot blood, aerated from the lungs, bubbled over my fingers. I caught him as he fell forwards, propping him up against the rock. I felt the life go out of him and arranged his cloak to cover the worst of the injury. I stood up, looking down at the man I had murdered. Thousands of years of looking over the bodies of the dead should have made it easier but the weight of responsibility hung heavy around my neck. For the first time in weeks I wished for my powers back, to send his soul on his way to wherever it needed to go.
Belis laid a hand on my shoulder. I swallowed hard then looked back. Her own sentry was still; only a faint trickle of blood dribbling towards the mud outside the cave gave any indication of his death. Belis stepped out into the rain, placing each foot carefully. The horses had been hobbled under a stand of trees nearby. I cast a final look into the cave and hurried out towards them.
Between us we made short work of the hobbles, sliding off the saddles and slapping the horses’ withers until they vanished into the night. They wouldn’t wander far but it should slow down our pursuit a little. And there would be a pursuit, I realised. We had just made our capture a personal vendetta against the entire squad.
Two horses were left, one black, one brown. Belis linked her fingers to boost me into the saddle of the bay.
“Can you keep up alone or should we share?” she whispered, the first words we had spoken in almost a week.
“I can manage.”
Belis nodded and swung herself onto the black horse. She kicked in her heels and we vanished into the rain and the darkness leaving fourteen men sleeping in the warmth of the cave and two cooling corpses in the mud.
Chapter 20
We rode hard, heading east beside the half-constructed road until it became sound enough to ride on. Belis reined in her horse as we clattered onto the cobbles.
“We’ll keep going for another mile, just long enough so it won’t be immediately obvious where we leave the road,” she called through the rain. “Then we’ll cut south and through the woods.”
I looked back to where the horses had left a thick trail of muddy hoofprints and nodded. Belis leaned over and cupped my cheeks with rough hands. She kissed me hard and I felt the saddle sores and cold of the rain fade away.
“I’m so sorry, Mallt, I should have been more careful when we landed,” she whispered, resting her forehead against mine. Her hand dropped to the cut on my neck, tracing the raised scar. “You could have been killed.”
“But I wasn’t.” I smiled at her. “We’ve survived worse than Romans together, I wasn’t going to let some damn fool legionary take me away from you. Come, let’s go, there will be time to talk when we’re out of danger.” I kissed her again and then gave my horse its head.
As I rode, I felt the blood of the man I had killed congealing beneath my fingernails. I wondered if he had a wife who loved him the way I loved Belis. I wondered if his soul would find itsway back, or if it would linger in the cave forever. I realised it was no longer my responsibility to worry about him. I wasn’t the Nightshade any more. The duties of my old life were far behind me. The only thing that mattered now was the woman ahead of me, red hair streaming behind her as she rode.
We covered the distance in good time, crossing a stream just over a mile from where we had met the road. Belis turned to the south, leading her horse up the bed of the stream until our path was hidden from the road by thick forest. From there we slowed to a walk, climbing the lower slopes of the Chalk. The night was nearly done and though we couldn’t see the sun rising through the thick canopy of leaves, the light was getting paler. I whistled to Belis and she stopped to let me catch up.
“Do you want to keep going through the day?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
“I think we must; the Romans certainly will. I’m worried for the horses, though, they’ve barely rested for days. If they drop dead we’ll have less chance on foot.”
