Sophia

I woke up to the sound of the tent getting zipped up, stretching my arms above my head only to feel the winter's chill sting my skin. Fuck... Was it warm underneath these covers.

Forcing myself to sit up, I shuddered as the chill passed over me, quickly grabbing a jumper and pulling it over my head. My eyes met Daniel's just as I was about to huddle back underneath the covers, his dark cloak making him blend in with the twilight.

"Hey..." I muttered, yawning in the process, "Why aren't you sleeping?"

After a long pause, he stepped closer, sitting back down on his bed.

"I had a dream... At least, I think I did. I just had to get some fresh air after that."

"Great... That makes two of us then."

"You had a dream too?"

I nodded, "Yeah, and man do we have a lot to discuss. What time is it anyway?"

"Beats me," He shrugged, "Around five in the morning perhaps?"

With a groan, I pulled the covers over my face.

"Good morning, Greeks!" Flavius' voice sang cheerily, the man opening the tent flap with a single theatrical swipe only to be greeted by an array of disgruntled moans and mutters.

"Yeah, good morning to you too," Daniel grunted, "What's going on?"

"Nothing important, message to you guys from Grawon. War Council in ten minutes... You should get ready quickly, otherwise, you'll give a bad first impression."

"Thanks," I smiled, getting up from my bed and ignoring the cold as I slipped on my coat and boots.

"I'll wait for you outside." As all of us slowly got ready, the centurion poked his head back in and pointed at the other greeks also getting dressed, "It's enough if only the three questers come, the rest of you can continue to rest."

With a relieved sigh, Bob flopped back into his bed, and with a flick of his wrist, he conjured some flames in the middle of the tent, filling the interior with some much-needed warmth.

"Ah come on, you couldn't have had that on during the night?" Daniel asked, rubbing his hands and putting them dangerously close to the fire.

"Not how it works I'm afraid. You try sleeping and concentrating on having that thing on."

As the tent got warmer and warmer, a minute passed by in silence, finally broken by Flavius shaking himself from the stupor of staring at the magical flame.

"All ready?"

"Yep," I replied, the boys just nodding.

"Good. Let's not waste any more time then."

He started his journey towards the main tent, a light bounce in every step and his arms swinging joyfully by his side.

"Flavius?"

"Ye-ap?"

"How come you're so upbeat all the time?" The son of Ragnos asked, "I mean, we're walking through a refugee camp... Most people wouldn't do that activity with a smile plastered over their face."

"Most people don't." He agreed, "Then again, most didn't get the same advice I did. I live according to the wisdom my father gave me... If you can't find something to be happy about in even the worst of situations, you best be digging your grave because you're as good as dead. Look at the positives, and treasure them."

"Nice sentiment," I muttered, "But that could get you killed eventually."

"Maybe so." Flavius shrugged his shoulders, "But you can bet your ass I'll be thinking of something nice before I die. And that... That's much better than worrying about shit you know you alone can't fix."

Silence fell over our group, yet as the camp stirred to life, more and more sounds appeared all around us. The centurion started whistling tunelessly, while Daniel joined him with some thigh tapping, with a completely different sort of randomness to it.

Before I could tell both of them to quit doing what they were doing, we entered the tent filled with men and women of all ages along with their transverse crested helmets.

With so many people inside, I felt my heart start pumping faster. Were they waiting for us?

Searching for the person I should apologize to, I realised that Gloria was nowhere inside, nor for that matter, was Viscount.

"Where's the praetor and paintbrush?" Daniel muttered under his breath.

"Who?"

He smiled sheepishly, "Viscount."

Laughing, Flavius was about to answer, only for the two missing people to step inside.

"Always on time..." The young centurion smirked to himself, before snapping to attention with the others.

"Please take your seats," Gloria motioned for the chairs, once both of them had taken their places.

Everyone who could, sat down, after which Gloria gave Viscount a barely-noticeable nod.

"Welcome everyone, I'll be short and precise today." The man started, standing at the head of the table, "As we know, the Augur sits in his fort awaiting an attack... But he expects a fight against a ragtag army that has seen better days." Some of the centurions started whispering between one another, but Centurion Viscount didn't stop to scold them, rather he kept talking, the whisperers soon focusing on him once more, "And while it will still hold true that we've seen better days, it won't be an army of civilians, broken legionaries and barely functioning ghosts marching against them, but a well-oiled machine! A perfect example of what a Roman Legion should be like, one that every Emperor would rightfully envy!"

After the claps and cheers died down, one voice spoke up, this one belonging to the Centurion called Grawon.

"But even highly-trained men will have a hard time capturing that fort... All of us know how well-defended it is."

"We must try nonetheless. Soon, we'll run out of resources, and once that happens, we won't stand any chance against him. Every day we wait, the enemy grows in number, all of you having heard the reports about the new arrivals marching over the hills." He cleared his throat, "And now that I've mentioned supplies, let us discuss that topic as well. We have enough supplies to last us for another two or so months, which might seem like a lot until you consider the fact that this fight isn't over after we take the fort. If we want to have enough supplies for New Rome's repairs, we have to attack within a month."

Daniel's eyes widened as he started coughing, most probably choking on his own spittle.

"Daniel? Is there a problem?" Gloria asked, interrupting Viscount. It took a moment for the demigod to compose himself, which the rest of the tent waited for in awkward silence. Clearing his throat, he finally answered.

"You want a trained army in less than a month?! For starters, I'm nowhere near as well-versed in your fighting styles and tactics as I would like to be, but let's ignore that for the moment. Sophia can teach Nico and me a bit so I don't just stand there like a month-old gym sock, doing absolutely fuck all. I'm sorry but what you said... It sounds impossible and maybe it is. I needed half a year to learn to fight from zero, and I still screw up more times than I'd like to admit."

"We cannot spare you any more time, we're fighting the clock just as much as we are the monsters. I agree with you that it's not a whole lot, but unless we can get more supplies or decrease our supply usage massively, we don't have more to work with."

"Why aren't the sponsors helping?" I asked.

"The sponsors might not even know about our situation. We've sent many messengers, but so far none have returned. They may have gotten past the monster patrols on the border, but with no help arriving, I highly doubt they did."

"Just IM them, or send a lare," Nico offered up.

"Lares are connected to the legion, and they're already significantly weakened after the camp was razed. Most can't even talk-"

"Some would call that a miracle," Flavius muttered with a smile before Viscount's gaze wiped it off of his face.

"Point is, they wouldn't get very far either. As for instant messaging..."

"Pretty sure Nico meant using an Iris message," The boy nodded as I explained, "All we need is a rainbow and one golden drachma and you can talk with whoever you want. The connection when speaking to Romans can go a bit fuzzy, but it does work."

The tent was silent.

"We didn't think about that option, did we?" Flavius asked, all eyes suddenly falling onto him, "Not a bad thing if we didn't, just asking." He raised his open hands in defence.

"The camp's small stash of drachmae is probably still under the charred remains of Camp Jupiter. You did, however, bring some if I remember correctly?"

"We did, we've got more than enough..." Daniel slapped his forehead, "While we're at it, we should call Chiron, tell him we're okay. Nearly forgot about him."

I nodded, as did the praetor.

"Once our connection to the aqueduct is secured, we can try using an IM." Gloria looked at the other centurions, "Now then, without further ado, onto our next topic. Cohort two is on latrine duty while the third cohort is on aqueduct duty. All others, I want the wall patrols to be decreased in number so that we can have as many legionaries join the training as possible. Veterans and civilians are a priority, those that had been active before the war can stay on patrol duty for now.

"What about the lares?"

"They are free to join the training if they have the willpower to float there. Mary, can you spread the word?"

"Will do." The centurion who had asked the question replied.

"Any more questions?" Gloria looked around the tent, "Good. Everyone is dismissed, rejoin your cohorts. Next war council after lunch."

A few minutes later we were all standing outside, and man was it a significant upgrade from what had been inside. With so many people under the tent, it had quickly become stuffy under the canvas, the air tangy with the smell of dozens of people who hadn't had time to brush their teeth the past few days, much less shower.

Viscount strode over to us after concluding his conversation with Grawon.

"We'll be training here, on this courtyard. For now, we're not going to set up anything, but if you aren't visible, the engineers will get some sort of wooden stage built for next time."

"Thank you, centurion." Daniel replied, "We'll try our best."

"Oh please," He said, "Call me Viscount... Or Drake, though I prefer my surname. It's probably best if you take your places, the legionaries will arrive soon and it'll be hell to move through that crowd to get to where you need to."

Already I could hear the incoherent shouts of the centurions as they roused their cohorts.

Daniel

Viscount had warned me about just how many people might be joining us, but it's one thing to hear about it, and another to actually see a thousand people stand in front of you.

I was seventeen, teaching veterans thrice my age how to fight again. It sounded absurd, especially when I looked back on all the lessons I had with Sam. I had come away with more than one bruise stemming from inattention. He'd probably laugh his ass off if he could see me now.

Sophia and Viscount had given me a quick demonstration of the Roman style of fighting, but I had a feeling it'd take more than one whispered conversation with the daughter of Athena before I could perfectly recreate it.

My fellow questers stood beside me, sword in hand and holding shields, Nico still carrying his pockmarked hoplon. His was the only one in a somewhat useable state, and that wasn't saying a lot when I looked at its integrity.

Man, was I not ready.

Unsheathing the gladius I had been given, the weighting of it strange, even when I looked back to the time I had used a xiphos.

"Alright! Welcome everyone, I-"

Sophia elbowed me in the side, and I turned sharply towards her, "Speak louder! Even I can hardly hear you." She muttered. With a nod, I cleared my throat and turned back to the crowd.

"Welcome everyone! I am Daniel James Greenfield, son of Ragnos, on my right is Sophia Whitefield the daughter of Athena and on my left is Nicholas Jackson, the son of Poseidon. We arrived from Camp Half-Blood to help you, which we'll do by training you." Some small chatter floated over the wind, so I was quick to continue, "Now, I know that it feels stupid that I'm teaching veterans how to fight, believe me, I find it just as absurd, but try to take me seriously." Grumbles and chuckles replaced the small chatter, "Let's get started, yeah? We'll start with the basics, steadily getting into more and more advanced formations and tactics, but not before perfecting each prerequisite."

Clearing my throat, I ordered the legionaries to start by learning how to block with a sword. First against invisible opponents, then five minutes later practising in pairs while centurions strode up and down the ranks of troops and checking the proper techniques. After half an hour of using their swords, we switched to shields, and then came the combination of both, attacking, blocking and counter-attacking.

Three hours passed by quickly, at the end of which everyone was dripping with sweat despite the cold weather. Watching from afar, I saw more than one person who'd be nursing a painful bruise tonight, but if anything that was the best way to learn a lesson.

Better here than on the battlefield.

To cool off a bit, we tried forming shield walls, testing how well the individual cohorts could move as a group. Splitting them in two, one half tried withstanding the charge of the other side, with little luck, before it was repeated with switched roles. The other group was just as unlucky.

Finally, I called off training for the day. We'd made good headway but we were still far from perfection. The veterans had definitely started remembering the techniques they had once studied, but the civilians were struggling, many of them never part of the legions to begin with.

"Now this..." Viscount strode over to us as the cohorts left the courtyard, rolling his right shoulder, "This is what I'm talking about! Haven't seen such cohesion between the legionaries of the cohorts since the civil war's losses."

"I tried my best, so thanks. What comes now?"

"A short lunch, after which I'll talk with Grawon and Mary to get the other cohorts to take part in some training this afternoon. After dinner, we'll try to contact the sponsors through that IM of yours if the aqueduct is finished. Hopefully, that'll mean that supplies will arrive this week. After that, we can start thinking about observing Temple Hill's defences... But that's still far off, I first have to convince Gloria that we need to scout ahead."

"Anything closer in time to us?" Sophia asked.

"Lunch." Viscount's eyes glinted as he rubbed his hands together...

"Ah, fuck..." I groaned as I sat down heavily on a bench in the dining area.

It had been an intense two weeks, but overall, I felt that it had been worth every moment, and my muscles cried in agreement. The very first day had gone well enough, and I had sat down contentedly with the others at the end of the day. That had been ruined when we started discussing our dreams.

I had completely forgotten about mine up until that point, and few details remained once I brought up my conversation with Ragnos. Sophia had seen how badly Hades had looked after losing his dominion, and Nico had seen his father in a state not far from the Ex-Lord of the Underworld. We all knew now that Tartarus was behind everything, including the Romans.

The defences of the aqueduct had been completed without problems on that first day of training, and some smaller scouting parties had started exploring what remained of New Rome in the days since. Skirmishes were all too common, but as of yet, there had been only one casualty to speak of. A son of Mars, who had single-handedly fended off multiple monsters while the other members of the scouting party successfully rescued a survivor from the ruins. The others had been too late to save the legionary's life, but they'd managed to bring his body back to camp.

"Daniel, one day I swear to the gods I will get you back for this." Sophia muttered, sitting down beside me, nearly spilling her bowl of stew, "Never before have my muscles been this sore, and I am not overreacting!"

"Yeah dude, you gotta chill out a bit," Nico said, sitting down on my other side.

"Wish I could, but you know, the deadline for the battle is breathing down our necks like a creepy uncle."

"Don't make that comparison ever again please," Sophia told me, smacking me hard with her spoon, "You spend too much time with the legionaries," Nico held his sides, spluttering from laughter. His ribs sometimes stung a bit when he moved suddenly or laughed, but he didn't really show it even during training. A reminder of the battle with the Nemean Lion.

I grabbed a spoonful of the tasteful stew, probably made of the final supplies that had arrived a few days ago. Before I could lift it to my mouth, a hard slap on the back made me flinch and spill it all back with a wet plop.

"Gotta say, this trainin' ain't half bad, especially from a kid... And a Graecus!"

"Thanks." I smiled awkwardly as the random veteran sat down at a table on the far side of the canteen.

Things weren't as perfect as they could be, but they had improved massively when compared to how things had started off.

Five minutes passed by slowly as I enjoyed every second of the freshly cooked stew's warmth, chasing away the chill that had set into my bones. My cloak didn't help much with keeping the cold out when I was dripping with sweat, as I had come to realise the hard way.

My thoughts wandered back to Christmas and New Year's Eve. Both had been mostly uneventful, and incredibly bad for our morale and nerves. Some tried having parties, but since the losses from the civil war were still fairly fresh, they weren't as big hits as they could've been. New Year's had been exceptionally bad, the mortals celebrating with fireworks, lighting up the night sky. Not one person had suffered a panic attack from the hour-long explosions, each one sounding like it could be the start of an enemy assault.

With a sigh, I slapped the top of the stew with my spoon, making a splat sound.

"What are you thinking about?" Sophia asked. These past two weeks she'd honed her skills of reading people incredibly well, especially when it came to me.

"Umm... I'm currently thinking about how I could use a second helping of stew."

She elbowed me in the ribs, nearly making me choke on a bit of meat I was still chewing half-heartedly.

"I didn't mean it like that. You looked like you were deep in thought, not thinking about food..." She spooned some food into her mouth, "Also, next time, you should choose a better lie, we both know you can't go for seconds."

"Yeah," I muttered sadly, looking at the last three spoonfuls of my lunch.

Viscount sat down on the opposite side of the table without saying a word and smiled at me.

After staring at each other for about half a minute, the situation getting more and more awkward with every passing second, I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"So... Remember how we talked about needing to scout Temple Hill?"

"Kinda. You don't plan on doing that now, do you?" I asked, already knowing what the answer was going to be and that I wouldn't like it.

"We need that information! I don't understand why you don't agree with me on that. You're the one who sees just how well our soldiers are performing."

"They perform well alright, only most of them haven't tried their new skills in an actual fight. Facing an overwhelming amount of monsters who want to kill them, and probably eat them after, tends to affect a person's concentration badly. They fought a bit when you broke through the monster patrols with the civilians, and when they tried attacking the aqueduct, but we took them by surprise the first time, and we had multiple scorpions the second."

"Well then, sending them out for a scouting mission shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure the Augur's monsters aren't patrolling the area... Not as well as they should be anyway. What would there be to find? Ash, ash and more ash, that's what."

I sighed, finishing my stew. I had no fucking clue how I had gotten into the inner circle of Roman leadership this fast. I mean all I had done was give warm-up exercises to trained soldiers, while Sophia was the strategist and natural leader.

It was all a massive mindfuck.

"I guess it's better we try our strength first..." I muttered, putting my spoon down with a clatter.

"I knew I could count on you!" He beamed, getting ready to stand up.

"Viscount, wait a bit."

"Yeah?" It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

"I still don't understand why it was me training them. The centurions did well enough overseeing the individual duels and the members of their cohorts. One of you could've easily done my part too."

"We've already discussed why. Do you regret it?"

"No-"

"Then why should I repeat myself?" He smirked, "You did an amazing job, and I doubt we could've done the same."

"When would we leave?" Sophia questioned, quickly returning to the previous topic.

"This afternoon."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head, "Viscount. You, of all people, should know that after a day of training and after eating a nice bowl of stew, nobody will want to go outside to fight or to scout. Yet you want to do so nonetheless? We set off now and we'll be squinting in the dark by the time we get into position."

"Okay, okay! You're right. Then what about tomorrow morning? We've got a supply drop coming in tomorrow, if I remember correctly, so we can recover that on the way back."

"Killing two birds with one stone? Never a bad idea to spare ourselves from multiple trips," I nodded, handing off my tray to one of the canteen workers, thanking them for the meal while doing so.

"Exactly... I'll call together a war council later on today, where we can discuss who's coming with us. Two dozen legionaries should do."

"I'll tag along too, that way we can make do with fewer people. I want Sophia beside me because her eyes are better suited for strategy than mine, and Nico mentioned meeting a nymph or something from the Lake-"

"Oh, Serene? She can be a bit annoying sometimes, but most of the children love her... I mean loved her." He sighed, "I wonder what's it like for her now..." Viscount trailed off.

"Having an entire lake as an ally right beside the Augur's fort is something I'd happily pay a fortune for."

"I agree with you there. Okay, so we'll need fewer people overall then... We'll discuss the specifics during the meeting." Viscount said, grasping my forearm, "Thanks for the training sesh today."

He strode over to two centurions deep in conversation. Getting up from the table ourselves, we slowly walked back to our tent. I noticed Nico smiling beside me after a while.

"What?" I questioned.

"Nothing, nothing, it's just... I liked how you signed us up without asking us beforehand."

"Eh, sorry about that. It almost goes without saying at this point that you guys go where I go. Plus, I need both of you, I'd have died a long time ago had you two not been near me. If you don't want to come though, we can bring it up during War Council."

"Hell no! You're were right, you need us," Sophia smirked.

With a smile, I draped my arms over their shoulders and strode through the spaces once occupied by civilian tents.

"Good morning, Greeks!" A voice shouted through the tent flaps.

Flavius.

Again.

After the third day of being woken with those words, the greeting had lost its unusual charm, and after more than two weeks I had to actively fight the urge to fling the closest object at him. The best-case scenario would be a pillow, the worst would be a knife.

"Urgh." Sophia moaned as she slowly sat up.

"Yeah?" I muttered, turning around and staring at the centurion. His smile was annoyingly bright today.

"We need you three at the command tent." He grinned, nodding apologetically at the other members of the tent, who were trying their best to ignore him.

"Fucking... We discussed everything yesterday! What more is there to talk about?"

"Beats me, but Gloria wants to talk with you. You know she wasn't there yesterday, so she might wanna thank you or something."

"So it's not a war council?"

"I wasn't invited as far as I could tell, so it probably isn't... Unless this is how they plan on taking my rank away." He stopped as if actually thinking about that possibility, "Nah," He waved his hand, "We'll meet at breakfast, good luck."

As he stepped back outside, I rubbed my eyes. "Fuck me," I muttered, holding my head while sitting up. Beside me, Nico opened his eyes and looked at me.

"What?" Nico yawned, rubbing his eyes.

"You didn't hear? Gloria wants to talk with us."

"Oh..." He yawned, "Nope, didn't hear a thing."

"Come on, Flavius isn't exactly the person you can just block out. Where did you learn that power?" I chuckled.

"And can you teach me too?" Sophia added as she stood up. A massive clump of her hair sticking up into the air like an antenna, "What?" She asked once she noticed both of us staring at her head. Before I could say anything, she sighed, and patted down her hair, somewhat fixing the problem, "Better?"

"Well..."

She frowned, and while Nico got ready, she screwed around with her hair until with a final frustrated sigh she gave up.

"Everyone ready?" I asked, once Nico had both of his boots on.

"Let's go before I give myself a haircut." She pushed past me quickly, both the son of Poseidon and I struggling to keep up with her.

"Ah come on, Soph. It's not that- I mean it's not at all bad." I told her, cursing myself for stumbling on my words.

She said nothing but she did slow down suddenly, almost causing us to knock her over. We made our way over to the command tent, passing legionaries and their families, those who had decided to stay. There weren't too many of them, most of the civilians more than happy to leave the warzone when given the chance.

However, there were still a surprising number of children around. They had a good effect on morale, especially their seemingly oblivious behaviour when it came to their situation, playing around like they weren't living in a tent after getting forcibly removed from their previous homes.

"Gloria is waiting for you guys." The young soldier standing guard at the tent's entrance said. I couldn't for the sake of me remember his name, even though he was familiar. H

e looked like a George.

"Thank you, Neal," Sophia smiled at him before I could make a fool of myself.

"Yeah, thanks, dude," I said, patting his shoulder awkwardly as I stepped past him.

Gloria sat inside, lights dim, yet instantly I could see that she was far from fine. Her face was gaunt and white as chalk and she had lost a considerable amount of weight.

"What in the name of Olympus happened to you?" I blurted out, and by the look on Sophia's face, she had been thinking the same thing. Nico's eyes were wide with horror, the whites of his eyes practically glowing in the gloom.

Gloria chuckled weakly, "This is what happens if someone is out to get you..." She muttered, "Except the assassin doesn't know the potency of their own poison."

"There's an assassin?" Sophia asked, her eyes narrowing and her hand instinctively drifting to the sword at her hip which she'd left in the tent.

She nodded slowly, "The Augur's changed up his tactics, but who knows why? This isn't why I called you here though, this is my problem and I plan on solving it without the entire camp descending into distrustfulness. Vespasian said I'll make a full recovery, and Viscount has put special precautions in place, not to mention Aurum and Argentum will now always be at my side."

"Who?" Nico questioned, looking around the room.

I peered under the table and saw two dog statues sitting on either side of the praetor's chair. One glittered silver, the other gold, and both had rubies for eyes. Maybe the poison had meddled with Gloria's mind just a tiny bit more than it had at first seemed.

When the two heads suddenly turned to stare me down, I jumped hard enough to smash my head into the roof of the tent. Nico quickly checked what had shocked me so badly, and I was surprised that his eyes could get wider than they already were.

"Cool! Where did you get those?!" The son of Poseidon asked.

"As a descendant of Bellona, I got these as a gift from my mother when I became a praetor." Gloria smiled, before shaking the memory from her head, "I need to be sure that what you're doing is clear. A lot rests in your hands, and though it's technically a scout mission, it's the first real step towards our goal, which is defeating the Augur. We lose this first one and morale will be in the shitter."

She looked at me pointedly.

"Well, there'll be eighteen of us going all in all. While Sophia, Viscount, a legion engineer and I do the scouting part of the mission, checking the fortress for weaknesses, Nico will talk with that nymph-"

"Serene." Nico interrupted.

"She's the one. The others will have the task of setting up camp and guarding our asses while we do what needs to be done. If possible we'll stay there for a night, see if there's anything different under the cover of darkness, then we'll return by tomorrow morning, grabbing the supplies dropped at dawn."

"What if you meet with a patrol?"

"We destroy them then head back at once before the enemy sends out a search party to check on them."

"Alright, it does feel like a solid plan. Viscount... He mentioned that the members of the scouting party have already been selected."

"Yeah, Centurion Flavius offered his services, and he and Viscount have picked the best men and women for the job.

Gloria smiled, "I hope by the time you return, I can greet you on my own two feet. The gods did us a massive service by sending you, and I don't know how I can ever thank you." She started tearing up, "Never would I have thought that a civil war would erupt under my leadership... How can one prepare for such an event?"

"You can't."

"Without you, I couldn't have continued the way I did. I was at the end of my ropes, with the loss of so many lives, I felt like I had failed my people." She wiped the tears from her face, "It was your arrival and your willingness to help, that gave me the strength to continue."

"I wouldn't choose differently were I to go back in time to relive these past three weeks," I grinned, "Nor will we leave until the issue's resolved."

"Pro Victoriam!" The sickly praetor exclaimed, and though I didn't speak enough Latin to understand, I knew it could only mean something nice.

Saying our goodbyes, we strode back outside only to find Viscount waiting for us with his back turned, whistling tunelessly.

"What did that last sentence mean?" Nico asked Sophia.

"For Victory..." The grey-eyed demigod replied without missing a beat, already used to her role as translator, "Hey, Viscount!"

The man turned around sharply, "Everything alright in there?"

"Yeah. She's fine, just a bit beaten. She needs to rest."

"That's good. I... We need her alive." He blushed, "The rumours of her condition have already spread all over the camp, I heard two random legionaries talking about it at the latrines. If she dies, I don't know what'll happen to us and our will to fight."

"She won't die, she's got a will to live that's stronger than steel..." I smiled his way, "Are we ready to go?"

"We are, Flavius has everyone lined up at the gates. You have packed backpacks waiting for you there, but you probably need some time to grab your weapons. We'll wait for you there."

As we arrived, I could hear Flavius' voice ordering the legionaries to pick up their bags. Some carried backpacks that were easily half my size, and probably half my weight too. One guy was built like a brick shithouse, and more than two heads taller than everyone else.

I could see that the two centurions were more than ready to leave, yet I had one last thing to do before we could step out of the gates.

"Hey guys," I said, trying to put on a cheery voice, only for my next words to falter as seventeen pairs of eyes settled on me. Dispelling the feeling by letting out a short puff of air, I continued, "I don't like fighting side by side with people I don't know the names of, so can we do a quick meet and greet? Just a name and maybe a godly parent. I've already introduced myself during training, but I can do so again if anyone feels like asking."

"Figulus, legacy of Jupiter." Came the first reply, quickly followed by others.

Julia, Gavin, Victor, Brody, Jacob, Callisto, Gina, Violet, Peter, Chris and Carl.

Wearing segmented armour and helmets, they were practically indistinguishable from one another, save for small details here and there. Callisto's sword was made from imperial gold, as was one of Victor's segmented gauntlets and Peter's Helmet.

The very last person to introduce himself was Terrence, or as he had called himself, Terry. His voice was deep enough to cause something to resonate in me... Something, I didn't even know I had.

It took all my willpower not to take a step back.

A literal mountain of a man, he, as well as Gina, wouldn't be too hard to distinguish from the group, the man being the tallest by far and Gina being even shorter than Nico. Her backpack was almost the same size as she was, but that didn't seem to bother her at all.

"Nice to meet all of you."

"Let's get going, or it'll be dark by the time we finally set off." Viscount whispered, "And I for sure won't march over rubble when I can't see jack shit."

I nodded, and Viscount stepped close to the gate. A guard pulled his head back from the crenellations, and a moment later the gate was opening. It slammed shut soon after we all stepped past the walls.

Multiple rows of stakes and ditches now lined the area outside of the walls, and they were angled in such a way that were the enemy to attack, they'd be funnelled straight towards the gate, the road leading to it replaced by a wooden bridge underneath which more stakes could be found.

The wooden planks of the bridge bent slightly underneath Terry, but it didn't seem to worry the man as he casually took yet another step forward. The guy looked like a one-man army, and I hoped he lived up to that look.

Terry the Tank.

On second thoughts, maybe christening him as Terry the Tank was a bad idea. One slip of the tongue and he'd not break a sweat remoulding my bones, or fuck knows what he could do with those barrels for upper arms.

Slowly but surely, we traversed the rubble of New Rome. Hopefully, we were heading in the right direction, though it was impossible to tell thanks to the thick fog obscuring the view of Temple Hill which could otherwise be seen from the camp's watchtowers.

Stealth, however hard we tried to keep silent, was impossible. Viscount had decided that the main roads would be too heavily patrolled for us to use, so the side streets and alleys were what we were sticking to. The constant clang of armour on the walls of the thin alley streets and the occasional Latin curse that escaped the lips of a falling legionary were dead giveaways. The crash of a heavily armoured roman couldn't exactly be classed as silent either.

Surprisingly, we weren't attacked, though the constant fear of that happening left a chill down all of our necks, the fog not at all helping our nerves.

After half an hour of tripping down ashy pathways, I reminded myself to use the main roads on the way back. We'd save ourselves from all the injuries and possible gorings on sharp outcroppings. There was already a mark on my thigh where Gavin had accidentally slide-tackled me whilst slipping on a patch of icy rubble.

Finally settling down in the ruins of a half-burnt house, with its walls perfectly intact to cover us from the lookouts of Temple Hill, the soldiers were quick to set a fire, a tiny ball of light soon glowing in the middle. The smoke worried me at first, but it was covered up fantastically by the fog.

"Daniel, Sophia, Gavin. Come, the sooner we finish, the better." Viscount called, bobbing up and down as he searched for the best path to take for us to get closer.

"You're right. Nico, you good here?"

He closed his eyes for a second and concentrated.

"I can feel the water, but not the presence of Serene. I'll try from here for a while, but I might need to get closer."

"Alright, just don't go alone. If you're in a trance-like state talking with a nymph, you'll need at least one pair of eyes watching your back."

He nodded, and sat down cross-legged, closing his eyes. I left him to it, following the blonde girl wearing a grey beanie. Not the best combat equipment out there, but at least it sort of blended in with our surroundings. I wasn't going to fear for her safety though, I had seen her pack the lionskin cloak inside her bag.

It'd be more useful draped over her shoulders, but the golden glow was a risk we couldn't take.

Another five minutes, and many whispered curses, later, we finally found a good vantage point on top of a destroyed two-storey house. The fog had dispersed enough for us to see the entirety of the deadly-looking fortress from there, I just hoped it'd still provide enough cover for the others.

That thing definitely put our camp to shame.

"Sophia, Gavin, what do you two think?" Viscount asked, handing the binoculars he had brought to the daughter of Athena.

"It's well built, that's for sure. The towers probably have siege engines in them, and let's not even talk about the archers."

Gavin reached for the binoculars to have a look, "Those walls... Someone must've understood what they were doing. Three walls, each one taller than the last, probably lining the single road up to the top. All three walls can fire without risking hitting the other walls, and if we're ever to breach the first gate and start marching upwards, they'll be bombarding us from two sides at once."

"Are those tents outside the walls?" I asked, squinting as I tried my best to peer through the fog.

"Umm... I think so, yeah. Looks like they couldn't quite fit all the monsters inside."

"That's good." Viscount muttered, "They'll probably think twice about hunkering down behind the walls if they're short of space inside. That means they'll try their luck with attacking us head-on, outside the walls yet close enough to get support. If Nico can use the lake's water, we could also just wash away all those tents and their occupants, setting them back by a few hundred troops."

"Nah, I'd say that'd set them back by a few thousand, sir." Gavin muttered, "I can't even see most of them because of the fog... Fucking hell, how many do they have?"

"More the reason to wipe them out quickly with water." I smiled.

"Not all of them will die from one wave, and I doubt Nico could keep it up for long with such a large amount of water."

"You're probably right," Viscount muttered.

"What do you mean pro-"

"Also," He said sharply, cutting off Sophia's annoyed retort, "If we use water, that'll just leave a muddy mess that we have to tramp through. We won't be much better off if every legionary has to fight with half their bodyweight in mud stuck on their armour. A shield wall could hold though, maybe a testudo."

"The bolt-throwers will chew through our ranks no matter if we hold our shields up or not," Gavin grunted.

"Are there any tunnels, caves or anything else that we know of? Anything we could use to our advantage?" Sophia questioned, looking at the centurion.

"There are some tunnels, but they're probably not an option. The Augur knew about all of them and has probably either blocked them up or is heavily guarding them. They'd be too small to get a cohort through properly anyway, it'd take too long to get meaningful numbers past all of their twists and turns."

"What about the caves? We did do quite a bit of cleaning under there, expansion and extermination."

"Extermination?" I asked.

"Basilisks." He spat, "The fuckers have nests everywhere underground, and if you don't do something about them quickly, you'll get some nice scars to remind you of your mistake." He pulled up his sleeve to show a nasty burn mark on his bicep.

"Maybe..." Viscount trailed off, "We did manage to save the maps for those excavations, they're back home. We can inspect them once we've returned."

"But would we even be able to use it to get inside?" I asked, "He'd probably have those secured too."

"Probably not, plus digging to them would be a massive undertaking that we don't have the time for. However, if we're lucky enough to have parts of the fort built atop them..."

Gavin put down the binoculars, "Bombs."

Viscount smirked, "Bombs indeed."

"Mark is gonna love to hear that." He grinned, "But we can't risk using one big one. A lucky shot and the entire plan is fucked."

"Marcellus is good at what he does, he'll figure something out," Viscount muttered, looking at the fort, "Now what the hell are they doing?"

He reached for the binoculars.

"What is it Viscount, what did you find?" Sophia asked.

"Good news guys..." He muttered grimly, not taking the binoculars away from his face, "We've found our prisoners."

"What?" He handed me the binoculars, and I finally got a closer look at the men and women dressed in nothing more than rags in this freezing temperature, using a crane to place something in the ground, very, very carefully, "What are they doing?"

"Probably working on defences, maybe the Augur's feeling unsafe."

"Him? With all those monsters surrounding him? He couldn't be safer."

"Maybe he's slowly falling into deeper and deeper states of paranoia. That can only be good for us." He sighed, "We've seen all that we could right now. Let's get back to the fire and wait a few hours, maybe something will change by then."

"I wonder if Nico's managed to get somewhere."

"Doubt it, we just finished in what... Twenty minutes?" Sophia muttered, getting up on her haunches, "Let's go, I'm freezing."

Nico

"Where the fuck are you?" I asked, before realising that I had broadcasted that message to every fish in the lake.

I opened my eyes and took a deep breath, calming my heartbeat. Concentrating this hard seemed way more tiring than it had before my dream.

"You good?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, yeah. Well... not really. Still nothing."

"Christ. Do we have to go even further?"

"Looks like it."

The legionary, only a few years older than I, frowned while scratching his short dark hair. Everyone wore it short at the Roman camp, nothing like back home.

I felt just as annoyed as he was, we were already too far from the camp for it to feel comfortable, and the silence was terrifying, making me want to shush Peter after every word he uttered.

It was strange to see him without a helmet. He'd removed the golden piece of equipment shortly after we'd split off from the two other legionaries accompanying us, revealing a face covered in acne scars and a large, but old, sword cut across his left cheek, almost completely healed. His features commanded attention, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why.

We walked on, Peter giving bird calls to inform the others that we were moving. Hopefully, they could hear it, and more so understand it. What he was doing with his hands looked like magic, but it was probably a matter of practice.

The final row of ruins disappeared suddenly, the entirety of the lake coming into view, reflecting the white clouds like a mirror. The legionary instantly pulled me down to the ground, a rock just barely missing my groin.

"What?!" I hissed, rubbing my inner thigh and thanking my lucky stars.

"We'd stand out to those watchtowers like a gimp in a field of cows."

"A what now?"

"How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"Ah, never mind then." He smirked, "Just stay like this."

Another innuendo. I had heard too many of them during my stay with the Romans, and I didn't even want to think about the amount that had sailed right over my head.

I closed my eyes once more and concentrated on the water.

"Serene... Please talk to me. I need your help."

"Oh look who it is! Mister I'm-the-son-of-the-big-boss. Mister-I'll-just-threaten-this-lonely-naiad. Mister-" Came back the voice of an angry woman.

"Yes, I get it!" My relief quickly replaced with annoyance, "Look I'm sorry about how I talked to you before. It was an urgent matter, and being kind hadn't exactly been a priority." She was silent for a while, "You still there?" I asked.

"No, I went on vacation to the Bahamas. What do you think?!" She cleared her throat, "Some sturgeon told me about hearing a kid's voice in their head ten or so minutes ago. I could've known it was you... Now tell me what you need, and I might consider helping you."

"The Augur who lives in that fort on the other side of your lake isn't exactly the nicest man, don't you agree?"

More silence.

"Go on..."

"We plan on attacking him, but we're sorely outnumbered. We'd need your lake to-"

"What is your obsession with my lake?! With last time's fiasco, my waters got clouded so badly from all the ash and debris that the trouts and the salmon nearly started a war against each other over traffic problems. Who did they all complain to? ME! I'm not made out of bloody sand dollars, am I? Meanwhile, you pissed off to gods know where, and left me with all this mess to clean up... I'm still trying to get the ash out of my best blue dress."

I didn't realise I had caused so much trouble for this poor naiad.

"I'm-"

"DON'T YOU SAY YOU'RE SORRY! LET ME FINISH RANTING!" I held my head in pain as a strong headache briefly flashed through my temple, "Ash isn't the only problem. If you've ever had to sweep up dog teeth and rusty swords underwater you'd know the pain I'm going through! Heck, do you know how long it takes to get monster dust out of anything? And let's not start talking about those wretched monsters. They regularly come here simply to pollute my water. I can always hide, but it's been one too many close calls with reincarnation. Those things don't look like the type who'd appreciate the company of a... Of a Naiad."

She finished talking, her voice no more than a sad mutter. I could hear her crying.

"I won't deny that what I did was terrible, but think about it this way. I will try my hardest to clean your lake once this war is over and I'll convince the Romans to help. But if we lose? The monsters will wash all of our remains into your water. I heard that blood is much harder to remove than monster dust."

"You're making a lot of sense for someone who I'd not trust."

"What would make you trust me?"

"I'm not sure."

"Alright, alright. Don't trust me then. Let's just cooperate, that doesn't require us to be on friendly terms, right? What would that take?"

"Hmm..."

"A sacrifice? A good one could buy you some sand dollars, I'm sure."

She was silent for a while.

"Fine, you've convinced me. Show me a sacrifice worthy of any major god, and I will help you."

That was better than nothing. Where I'd find such a sacrifice, I wasn't sure, but that could be a problem for later.

"Thank you, Serene."

She did not respond, and I felt her presence disappear. I looked at Peter, who raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He asked.

"I'm done."

"Really? I thought there'd be at least some words exchanged out loud, but bugger me I guess." He got up, and quickly darted back to the cover of the half-collapsed wall, "Let's go, I don't-"

As I got up to follow him, a metallic thunk cut him off, and spinning around, I felt my blood chill.

An arrow stuck out of the legionary's shoulder, breaking through his armour and into his flesh. A second one struck his shield, but it bounced off and nearly impaled his foot.

"Get a fucking move on!" He roared, "I'll hold them, just go!"

I sprinted as fast as I could, not daring to look back. I hadn't even seen where that arrow had come from, it had just appeared out of thin air.

"Ambush!" I yelled, trying to alert the other two legionaries, "Ambush!"

Something stepped out from behind a house just as I sprinted past, my forehead connecting with the metal armour it was wearing, followed by the rest of my weight. As if I had hit a brick wall, it didn't give way as I collided with it, and slowly, I could feel myself toppling backwards, my arms already reaching behind me to cushion the fall. A strong grip around my collar made me lurch to a stop, and I focused on the sky-blue eyes before me, surrounded by a Roman helmet.

He frowned, the other legionary peeking over his shoulder.

"Peter?"

"He stayed to fight the ambushers."

As if on cue, a battered-looking Peter who no longer held a helmet ran out from the cover of a house, the arrow that had been lodged in his shoulder gone, but the surface of his shield was pockmarked with half a dozen others. Their tips glowed bronze. Celestial bronze.

"What are you asshats doing standing there like morning pricks." He growled, "RUN!"

As I turned around, I heard a pained gurgle emerge from Peter, followed by the sound of crumpling beer cans, and looking back over my shoulder, I glimpsed Peter's body laying face down on the ground, an arrow sticking out of the back of his skull.

Just like that, he was gone.

We had no time to mourn his death as we entered more familiar territory, having passed this area not long ago. Maybe if we shouted a warning, the others could hear us from the camp, giving them time to prepare.

My plan died the moment two dozen two-headed men emerged in front of us.

I drew my sword, taking deep breaths to steady my hand.

"Drop your weapons." Barked a coarse voice, "And you may keep your lives."

A man emerged from the crowd of monsters that had quickly formed a circle around us. The very same man Sophia had fought in front of the market hall.

"You killed our friend... Fat chance, fucker." Figulus growled in response.

Twisting my ring, my shield sprang to life, surprising the nearest monster as I smashed it into one of its faces, before thrusting my sword through its chest.

"Get them." The scarred man spat.

I dodged a swing aimed at my hips, and stabbed a cynocephalus in the stomach, before deflecting another strike with my shield. Pulling back my blade to make another kill, my shield was suddenly torn from my hand, the accompanying overhead swing bouncing off of my xiphos and cutting deep into the monster standing beside me.

Turning around to face my next opponent, a sharp pain flared up in the back of my skull, and everything went dark.

Daniel

I poked the charred wood with my knife, flinching as a small gust of wind blew the flames onto my hand. I shook it a few times, muttering some curses to go along with it, before returning to where I had left off.

"How many times do you have to burn your hand before you learn to stop playing with the fire?" Sophia sighed.

"Until it's well done." I replied, Viscount once again passed behind me, pacing impatiently, "Plus you should tell it to paintbrush over there." Jabbing a finger behind my back, I turned towards the centurion, "You've been pacing back and forth for the past ten minutes Viscount. Sit down, eat some s'mores."

"Flavius. Who went with him?" The centurion asked, ignoring me.

Flavius sighed, "Violet, Peter and Figulus. It hasn't changed since the last three times you asked."

"Viscount, it doesn't take two minutes to speak to a naiad. They can be quite fickle beings when it'd be crucial for them to hurry up and say what we need to hear." Sophia explained to him.

The centurion stopped walking, and stood still, tapping his foot, before sitting down beside me and grabbing one of the desserts that Flavius and his legionaries had made for everyone.

"Maybe... Maybe you're right. They can't move too fast either, or they'd be making too much noise."

"Exactly. Let's just sit back, and enjoy these nice treats. How exactly did you make them taste this good?" I asked, looking at the group of soldiers standing guard.

"It's my grandpa's recipe. The secret is Unicorn Draught." Victor smiled.

"Umm... I hope you're talking about what we drink, and not something else."

"You mean unicorn piss? Nah, you'd smell that if we put it onto your s'mores. By far one of the worst smells you could ever have the pleasure to smell."

"You'd know that, wouldn't you Victor?" Gavin chuckled.

"Ah shut up, that was years ago." Victor smiled back.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to learn that today," Sophia muttered, grabbing a second s'more.

"To find some better topic... Viscount, I've been meaning to ask this some time ago. How exactly do new demigods reach this place? It's not exactly easy to get here." I asked, warming my hands over the fire.

"We've got Lupa for that."

"Who?"

"Lupa, the wolf goddess who raised Romulus and Remus. The gods guide their children to her, or she finds them, whichever comes first, and she prepares them to fight, before sending them here. There aren't that many demigods though. Most of us are descendants... Legacies. They go to her after they reach the age of eleven or twelve."

"And which one are you? Legacy or demigod?"

Viscount chuckled, "I guess I never did tell you that, did I? I'm the son of Veritas."

"Goddess of Truth," Sophia explained before I could ask.

"Yeah. A minor god, albeit an important one. I don't have much in the form of powers, but I'm able to detect when someone is lying."

"So a living lie detector," I concluded.

"Get better material, Dan, I've heard that one too many times. You could say I'm immune to it. The best one so far was from Gloria, who compared me to Aurum and Argentum." He smiled, taking a bite, "They too can sense the truth."

I snorted, and poked the flames a little more, before throwing a handful of wood junk onto it.

"Hey, guys!" Came the loud voice of someone in the ruins. Viscount whipped his head to Flavius, who mouthed a single word. Figulus. "It's okay, you can come out! We checked the area, there are no patrols nearby."

The centurion hissed and grabbed at his arm. I looked over and saw his tattoo fade back to black from a burning hot white colour.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"He's lying. Everyone knows they can't get away with a lie when I'm nearby... Something's wrong."

I nodded and silently drew my swords, Sophia doing the same whilst grabbing for a non-existent baseball cap. She noticed her mistake, cursed under her breath, and quickly draped the lionskin over her shoulders instead.

"Fig? Get over here this instant before I make you dig latrines all week long!" Flavius shouted, his gladius' hilt gripped tightly.

I noticed movement from the corner of my eye, but by the time I could turn around, it was too late.

"Drop your fucking weapons or we'll turn you into pincushions," Grunted a raspy voice, a man stepping out in front of us, followed by cynocephali and two-headed men. Dozens of them.

"You..." Sophia growled.

"What a surprise..." He trailed off, his eyes looking over Sophia first, then settling on Viscount, "Drake... Fate is too kind." He sneered, pointing at his throat, "I will make sure they torture you for what you did with me."

"I aimed too low Brutus, it seems you still have a voice. I assure you, I won't be making such a mistake again."

"Ah, ah, ah." He tutted, "I'm afraid I have the upper hand here." He clicked his tongue and pointed the point of his sword at four prisoners being held by monsters.

"One is already dead, and I've punished the other for alerting you. If you don't do as we tell you, they'll suffer the same fate as the first. The boss wants as many prisoners as possible, but nobody has to know that there could've been a few more." He smirked.

One of the legionary's heads was caked in dried blood, his knees buckling the moment he was let go of. Someone gasped from our group.

"You fucking-"

"Will you listen to us and drop your shit, or do you need some motivation? Last warning." Brutus said, spinning his blade around in circles. It was a strange design, but that didn't mean it wasn't deadly, especially since it was made from imperial gold.

Relative silence fell over us, neither side moving.

Suddenly a blade clattered onto the ground behind me, and I whipped my eyes to the source of the noise.

"Fuck it." One of the legionaries said. I think his name was Brody, "I don't want to die for nothing. Do you have food there?"

"Plenty."

"Well, I'm sold, fuck everyone here."

"Hey, fuck you too, asshole!" Gina screamed, slashing at him only for him to step out of range.

Half the monsters lurched forward, only to stop when Brutus held up his hand.

"Just stop resisting guy, for fucks sake, you really want to die?" He cleared his throat, "Can I have a drink? You know, to calm my nerves."

"Go ahead," Brutus smirked.

Brody took multiple large chugs from his flask, his cheeks bulging with every gulp, yet none going down his throat. One of Brutus' eyebrows rose, but he had no time to react.

Spitting the flask's contents with surprising precision, the strong liquor ignited mid-air from the flames of the campfire, the tongue of fire spreading both towards Brody and our enemies.

I dropped my sword and pulled out my bow, letting off arrow after arrow, just barely missing Brutus as he ducked behind some rubble, but managing to kill the captors of the two legionaries and Nico. The son of Poseidon and Figulus slumped to the ground, while Violet grabbed a hold of a sword and killed the nearest cynocephalus still trying to react to what was happening.

As dozens of arrows were fired in response to my shots, shields went up. While I was wearing my cloak, my head was still unprotected.

It felt like everything was happening in slow motion as I watched an arrow slowly speed right towards my uncovered face.

Only Sophia's fast reflexes saved me from certain death, as she jumped in front of both of us, and deflected it off of the impenetrable cloak she wore. Before a second volley could be fired, Terry charged past the other monsters and disappeared, taking on the hidden archers singlehandedly.

The rest of us spread out quickly across our overrun camp, Sophia and I rushing forward to help defend the prisoners. Violet gave us a grateful smile as we quickly cleared the monsters overwhelming her, and together, we pulled the unconscious guys towards the shield wall forming in one corner of the house. A volley of pila kept the monsters at bay as we took the last few steps to get behind the wall of legionaries.

Victor quickly rushed over to check for wounds, Figulus murmuring under his breath as he was inspected.

"You guys go! I'll tend to them." Viktor muttered, shoving a small cube of ambrosia into each of their mouths.

"This ain't gonna hold!" Flavius shouted above the sound of battle, "Break formation!" Forming pairs, the legionaries broke free of the shield wall and charged at the line of monsters slowly reforming after the chaos. A second volley of pila stopped them from mounting any meaningful defence before the line of charging, armoured Romans crashed into them.

And we became the spearhead of the attack.

With Sophia by my side, the two of us were an unstoppable force as all attacks slid off of us while we dealt death with every blow. Soon, a cloud of rancid dust formed around us, and however bad it smelled, I had to remind myself to breathe through the nose, not exactly easy when you're concentrating on not getting impaled by a lucky sword thrust.

Viscount and Flavius closed in on Brutus, cutting down monsters in their stride, the scarred commander of the enemy holding up his sword with a grimace.

"Two against one? Not quite fair, is it?"

"You lost your chance at a fair duel years ago Brutus," Viscount growled.

"Go fuck yourself." Flavius spat, a rare moment of anger flashing over his face.

Brutus sprang forward, and as he did so, I returned to what I was doing, deflecting a blow that nearly struck the uncovered part of Sophia's neck. I grabbed her cloak and tugged it over that spot, a second later her sword slicing a bicephalus in two, its horrid body odour soon dissipating in the wind.

We were starting to cause quite a bit of indecision among the monsters' ranks, and many of them were hesitant about getting any closer.

Victor was still tending to the son of Poseidon, while Figulus was already standing, keeping all monsters at bay that had managed to get past our line. Brody was dragging Callisto out of harm's way, an arrow sticking out of her stomach.

We could be doing worse, we could also be doing better.

I stabbed a distracted cynocephalus in the shoulder, before looking back at the two centurions and their fight.

Viscount deflected a sword swing, Flavius flying back from a kick a second later.

"Bitch..." I saw him grunt under his breath as he stood up, only to spot that Brutus' side was completely open to him, the enemy's blade locked with Viscount's.

As he approached and raised his blade to end the enemy's life, a wild cry erupted from further off and a large man launched himself over some rubble. With a large axe clenched with both hands held high above his head, Flavius lifted his blade uselessly into the air.

Slightly deflecting the large axe from its intended target, it bit deep into the centurion's shoulder, ignoring his armour and almost completely severing his left arm from the rest of his body.

I watched in horror as the centurion gasped in shock, trying his best to lift his sword.

Surprised, Viscount let his guard down for just a second, which Brutus used to his advantage by punching him in the face and disengaging to turn around and face Flavius.

The golden blade pierced the man's back before I could even understand what had happened.

The centurion's hand reached feebly for the sword before it went completely limp. The jagged blade glowed red as it was pulled from my friend's back. That was Flavius' blood.

Crimson spread across the broken tiles, and I felt my heart start pumping faster and faster.

With a roar, I rushed forward, my swords cutting through everything as if they had a mind of their own. Nothing would stop me.

Cutting at Brutus, my blades clattered against imperial gold armour, but wasting no more time on him, I kicked him hard, sending him straight towards Viscount. Slicing at the large man next, I felt the blade move through flesh with ease as it tore through his bicep. Dodging a retaliatory fist, I focused on his face.

As he lifted his axe into the air, the lifeless body of the centurion followed. His boot connected with Flavius' limp corpse, sending it crashing to the ground. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself, letting cold, calculated anger replace the red-hot fury I had felt before. Charging, his weapon arced upwards, and I wasted no time getting within his guard, chopping upwards as his arm swung down.

There was a wet slapping sound, and I looked behind myself to see his hand on the ground, blood gushing out of his new wound.

Roaring in pain, he turned around, swinging his axe with his one good hand. Chopping through the handle, the heavy axehead sailed through the air, making him stumble forward at the sudden weight change. Without hesitation, I thrust forward with both blades, one sticking him in the chest, the other in the stomach.

His face convulsed in pain, a sickening sight.

He killed Flavius though. He deserved all of this.

Somehow, I couldn't quite convince myself that I was right.

"Go fuck yourself," I snarled, tears streaking down my face. As he gurgled up blood, trying to spit at me, I pulled both blades upwards as hard as I could, chopping through bone before the blades exited near his shoulder blades.

"STOP!" Roared yet another human voice. It was so commanding that I turned around without thinking, as did everyone else on the battlefield, "Brutus! Your job was to capture these scouts, not slaughter them!"

"They-"

"Fucking idiot! The Augur will hear of this, you can be sure of that, and after failing him at the forum, he won't be as forgiving as he was the last time."

I looked past the small crowd of monsters and saw a greying-haired man standing over Sophia, holding a golden knife to her neck, while her sword and cloak were thrown to the side. Gripping my hilts tighter, I was ready to release all hell on this man. I would not lose another friend today.

The man noticed what I was doing.

"Oh no, no Chaos Boy. I know all about you, your friends told us quite a bit. Let go of those fucking swords... Or do you want this knife to be wedged into your girlfriend's throat?"

"You've got the wrong person under your blade," I growled, but reluctantly, I dropped my blades.

Looking around the campsite, I could see that things had taken a turn for the worse. More monsters had arrived with the axe-wielding man, and now Victor lay on the ground face down, arrows sticking out of his armour, while Figulus was leaning against the wall, an arrow lodged in his leg.

Brody and Callisto were also gone, their bodies surrounded by monster trophies and dust. Carl lay on the ground some distance from them, a deep cut through his neck while Chris had collapsed with a sword still in his armpit. Terry was nowhere to be seen either, but he couldn't be dead. The others had minor wounds here and there, but as they looked around and saw those that had fallen, they got a defiant look in their eyes, and I knew they'd fight to the last legionary.

"Do I now?" He smirked, "Well, I got the reaction I wanted, so I'm going to call your bluff there. If you resist in any way, I will kill her, understand me? Taking a daughter of Athena back to the fortress would be more trouble than we could do with anyway."

"Go fuck yourself," I spat.

He was about to reply, a cocky grin already on his face, when Sophia suddenly pushed the man's hand upwards, catching him completely off guard. Headbutting him with the back of her head, she bit down on his hand as hard as she could.

Concentrating on my palm, there was a tug in the pit of my stomach and an uncomfortable drain of energy as a shard of pure chaos flew through the air and struck the man in the chest.

He looked me in the eyes, unable to process what had happened, before lunging towards the daughter of Athena, who was still trying to get up off of the ground. A yelp of pain from Sophia, and then the man was gone, his entire body turning black and flaking apart.

The other members of the battle were still trying to process what had happened, which Viscount used to his advantage as he brought his sword up swiftly, severing Brutus' forearm, his hand and sword spiralling in the air, spurting blood in all directions.

With the horde of monsters robbed of all of their leaders in the span of a few seconds, they took a few hesitant steps backwards, the legionaries finishing off those too indecisive, and giving a reason for the others to finally make up their minds and retreat.

Brutus fell to his knees, holding his stump with terror painted across his scarred face.

"You won't kill anyone else, you fucker." Viscount muttered, and I stepped beside him, resisting the urge to strike Brutus down myself.

I watched Gavin walk towards the backpacks, clutching the bleeding place of where an index finger had once been, while Sophia slowly stood up. I could see Viscount was thinking of what to do next, unsure whether to kill the man or to keep him as a prisoner.

Sophia stepped beside me, and I looked at her, concerned. Her face was pale, but she put her thumb up to assure me that she was fine.

The centurion turned his back for a second, and Brutus moved faster than I would've thought possible. Grabbing a dropped sword from the ground, he lunged towards Viscount's unprotected back. Brutus' golden sword flashed in Sophia's right hand, chopping deep into the man's outstretched elbow before she rotated the blade and thrust it into his neck.

Blood poured out of both wounds, and Brutus looked up at her, eyes wide open, wanting to say something, but collapsing before he could do so.

The moment was over before we even know what had happened.

"Fucking hell Sophia, that was amazing!" She didn't reply, just smiled, slightly swaying from side to side whilst standing in one place, "Sophia?" Concern crept into my voice.

Something wasn't right.

She turned towards me slowly, and it was then that I noticed her other hand holding her side, blood flowing through her fingers and soaking her coat. I grabbed her just as she was collapsing.

"Fuck, we need some bandages! Quick!" Viscount shouted while I stared at the daughter of Athena in shock.

Gina and Jacob rushed over with two backpacks and threw everything onto the ground. Ambrosia, Nectar, Unicorn Draught, clean bandages and good old antiseptic.

Jacob wiped away the blood, before making a hissing sound that couldn't mean anything good.

"What is it?" I asked, tapping my foot in annoyance.

"It's steaming. This was made with Imperial Gold."

I looked between them, wanting more of an answer.

"Imperial Gold weapons don't just attack the body but the soul as well, I'm not saying it's a death sentence, but..." He trailed off, "Sophia's strong, she'll survive this, but it won't be a pleasant experience,"

"Are you-" Jacob started, but he stopped when Viscount stared at him sternly. He wasn't telling me the whole truth.

"We don't have time to mourn, however much it pains me to say that." The centurion continued, "We need to leave before the monsters return with more of their numbers."

"What about the bodies?" Gina asked.

"We leave them. There's nothing else we can do right now. Taking them would just put the rest of us in danger by slowing us down."

"You want us to-"

"Yes, Violet. I don't like it either, but they wouldn't want us to get killed because of that. This is something that we have to do, no matter how hard it is."

Violet bowed her head, knowing all too well that the centurion was right. She quietly said a prayer for the fallen, the words in Latin. Viscount joined them.

"Who is still in good shape to walk?" I asked after they had finished and I had said a prayer of my own in Greek.

Violet, Gina, Jacob, Gavin and Julia all raised their hands.

"Terry? Is he still alive?" Julia questioned.

"I last saw him running towards the archers, but nothing since," Figulus muttered.

"Alright. Violet and Gavin, you two look around for him. Daniel, you carrying Sophia?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine with her."

"Jacob, you good with Nico?"

"Sure."

"That leaves Gavin and Julia with Figulus... Alright everyone else, grab as many bags as you can take. Medical supplies are the most important, food and water too. Take every Imperial gold weapon you can find, we can never have enough of those. Everything else you don't have space for goes in the fire."

With a grunt, I picked up Sophia's unconscious body, before following Viscount, who had already set off back home with two backpacks on his back. I looked at the bodies of those that I had briefly gotten to know. All of them were unique, all of them people I could've imagined being good friends with after the war ended.

But most of all I was going to miss Flavius. His brilliant optimism was something I couldn't quite picture myself going without once I got back to camp.

Crying could wait until later when we were safe. Still, I felt my eyes sting as they welled up with tears.

Our travels took us back the way we had come, and though it took longer than when we had come through the first time, with frequent stops, the camp soon came into view, illuminated by torches.

Terry's large frame, though I had known him for only a short time, was something I also missed. Gavin and Violet had found no signs of the son of Mars, neither the man himself, nor the body. Wherever he was, I hoped he'd make it back to us soon. Enough people had already died today.

The centurion called up to the guards the moment we arrived, and once more a bucket was let down, the password was scribbled onto a piece of paper and put into the metal object, before getting let back up.

Creaking, the gate opened.

I didn't know how to react to the scene that revealed itself to me. I wanted to cry, but my body was too shocked to do even that.

The orange glow hadn't been torchlight. The slight smoky smell hadn't been someone cooking.

Instead, the centre of the camp was ablaze, tents being engulfed by hungry flames, while cohorts ran around, bringing water from the aqueduct and trying to quench the fire by destroying tents between it and the rest of the camp. All of them were covered in soot, the whites of their eyes even more pronounced in the dim light of dusk.

"Legionary!" Viscount called, and the nearest man stopped, looking back at us.

"Centurion?" The man asked, confused, before standing to attention, "Centurion!"

"At ease. What in the name of Mars Ultor is going on here?"

"A fire erupted in the command tent ten minutes ago, and we've been trying to stop it from spreading ever since."

"The command tent? Who was in there?"

The man was silent for a moment.

"ANSWER ME!" Viscount roared, and the soldier, along with all of us standing around him, flinched.

"The praetor, sir... She was in there."

Those words were like a punch in the gut.

Gently putting Sophia on the ground, leaning her against the camp's wall, I slid down it myself until I was beside her, head touching the planks.

Others followed my lead, what little fight was in them leaving them in the blink of an eye.

Except for Viscount, he just stood there, dumbfounded, trying to process the information

Gloria, dead.