FORTY-FIVE: THE IMPERATOR

  General Invictam’s tent was large but lacked any of the creature comforts that the senator’s pavilion offered. There were no lounging couches or rich carpets laid across the ground. A brazier burned in the center of the tent, smoke rising out of a carefully protected slit, keeping the area warm enough from the chill of the outdoors. Maps were spread across a massive table, some of them intricately detailed while others were simple sketches of local areas.

  The general’s desk in the back of the tent had an armor stand next to it and a cot behind it, the stern man not one for separating his sleeping quarters with his working station. Cassius couldn’t help but wince at the mountain of parchment piled on the desk, even if it was neatly ordered.

  “General?” a woman said, leaping from her own small cot on the far side of the room. She was short and rather plain, but wore simple clothes rather than legion works. There was nothing to her that hinted to a martial background, but Cassius still felt a prickle of unease as the woman’s dark eyes locked onto him and the others.

  “I wish for privacy, Attia. Can you ensure we are not bothered? The meeting shall be short and I wish for my tribunes to be ready for briefing and then an early supper,” General Invictam said, sweeping toward his desk and pulling out a spindly chair which he sat in with a huff.

  “Of course, general,” Attia said, offering a dip of her head before walking out without acknowledging them. The general waited until the flap of the tent shut before he reached up through his furs and dug around at his neck, pulling a small ceramic figurine of a furry creature with man-like hands that covered the side of its ears.

  “Cluster close, I wish to keep this private,” the general ordered, waving to the front edge of his desk. Marcus grabbed at Cassius’ and Valeria’s shoulders, pushing them in with a quiet chuckle.

  Dungeon script burned across the figurine suddenly, mana rife in the air as a bubble formed around them. Cassius stared at it for a moment recognizing it as similar in nature to what had blocked the two noblewomen’s duel, but far stronger.

  “Now, tell me what the girl left out,” Invictam said, an intensity in his eyes that made both Cassius and Valeria quickly recite what had happened in full detail. Their telling was concise, only taking a few minutes as they added details to what Vira had described.

  “By the gods you two. I would have never sent you if I had known,” Marcus whispered, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “No, it was the right choice, centurion. I know this position is new to you and the responsibility heavy, but it was the right choice. You will order men and women to their deaths, but you must ensure it is not wasteful. This was not a wasteful mission,” Invictam said.

  “The general is right, Marcus. We learned much and have grown strong for the tribulations we faced,” Cassius reassured his mentor. Cassius paused at the thought and wondered exactly what it was Marcus was to him. They weren’t close, not truly. But the bonds of battle were strong, they had fought and bled and Marcus had commanded him with dignity and respect that strengthened it even more.

  “This other skill, do you still have it?” Invictam asked. Valeria and Cassius grew still as they both thought toward the cloth wrapped [Regenerate] in Valeria’s pack.

  “Yes, general. We had planned on giving it to Marcus,” Valeria answered, a hint of defiance in her voice as she stared down at the imperator.

  “You inspire loyalty, Marcus. Another good trait. Give it to him,” the general said as he leaned back in his chair and rubbed at his chin as he thought, a vacant look in his eyes as Valeria pulled open the pack and handed it to Marcus. It took only a minute, but the general seemed to have made up his mind as he leaned forward and placed his elbows on his desk, the small figurine still in his hand.

  “We will be moving toward this dungeon you have found in a day. The entire legion. I doubt the nobles will wish to move, not when they have a fresh dungeon to plunder, nor will they wish to move so far from the gate.”

  All three legionnaires stood there without speaking as the general looked at them in silence. Cassius hadn’t been in the legion long, but even he knew better to interrupt the general as he decided to use them as an audience as he spoke out loud.

  “Do you know the history of the legions? The recent one, not the founding mythos?” General Invictam changed tracks as he looked over them.

  “No, sir,” all three said together. Valeria and Marcus might know, but they understood what the general was after. The soft snort and roll of Invictam’s eyes let them know they were seen through, but appreciated, as the general launched into his speech.

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  “Currently there are thirteen active legions of three thousand legionnaires for thirty-nine thousand legionnaires in active duty across the republic. Supposedly at least. Most legions that are not in active combat are actually quite fewer as low as a third strength. From what I have been able to piece together from correspondence with my fellow generals there is closer to thirty-thousand active legionnaires. An impressive number in a vacuum, but we are not in a vacuum, are we?”

  “No, sir!” Cassius thought he understood where this was going, but didn’t understand why the general had them here to explain it.

  “Enemies surround us on all sides and the Shifting Wall is becoming stable. Things that once before were seen as impossible are now a reality. In this new world our legions are woefully underprepared as we have seen with this brief incursion. A small team of saboteurs were able to effectively cripple an experienced combat century of legionnaires while also assaulting a major city.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Enough of that,” Invictam waved his hands at them and shook his head as he sighed and wiped at his face with his free hand.

  “I want to see the legions restored to their full capability. Which requires funding from the senate, funding that they will not release without a true reason. They need to see our foe, the full might of it, and return back home alive to rally the populace. That is where you three will be coming in. When we arrive at the newest camp, Marcus and four other legionnaires will enter and conquer it and ascend into the second tier. I will cycle legionnaires who qualify to make the second tier at the fastest rate possible until I have a century.” Invictam stayed silent until he nodded at Marcus who paled and swallowed hard.

  “My command, sir?”

  “I told you I had a special command for you. I had thought it would be this dungeon which I used to push my agenda forward, but our plans have accelerated. It will be the first tier two combat century in generations.”

  “Us, sir?” Cassius asked. A foot struck his calf but Cassius kept his face straight even after the rebuke from Marcus.

  “These two at least. You have something more though, extra skills which I think will be more valuable to me. Marcus, start to plan out a century of tier two candidates, they must have been at the peak for at least three years and have both their skill slots filled. The dungeon will not have had enough time to generate fresh skills or treasures for you to raid,” Invictam said, waving away Valeria and Marcus without thought. Cassius remained as the two of them walked out, leaving him with the general.

  “Every six years I get transferred to another legion, did you know that? Odd numbered generals then even, alternating every three years. One of the many countermeasures the senate has devised to keep the legions loyal and not constantly rebelling or going rogue. I can not say that I know Marcus and Valeria personally, but I have seen them across four other legions now. Long term professional soldiers; this is their life. They keep their heads down, do their duty, and when they finish their twenty-five years they take their small plot of land and rest there until they die. Damn fine soldiers,” Invictam said, eyes sharp as he looked over Cassius.

  “You, that is interesting. Attia asked around about you and everyone simply says you are a replacement who hardly arrived before this all began. One of the few survivors out of an experienced line of legionnaires, and then again at Villa Ore Mundi. You have made fast friends with a young noble. She does not have personal power, but the ear of those who do or will. You have amassed personal power at a staggering rate, likely the youngest tier two in decades and the weapons you carry are worth a small fortune. This has led me to several conclusions, but I wonder which is correct. Would you like to hear them?”

  Invictam spoke slowly, clearly, eyes never leaving Cassius’ as he spoke. A tingle ran through him as the general looked at him and Cassius had the suspicion that a skill was in use. The general didn’t wait for Cassius to respond before he started speaking again.

  “You are a plant, a scion of the Old Blood with connections to an [Augur] who has placed you in the right spot at the right time.”

  “I do not know what half of that meant, sir,” Cassius said which Invictam nodded to.

  “The Old Blood is thin and weak now, hardly a threat or active player, but I had to consider it. The second choice is you are a well-trained senate spy, sent to infiltrate my legion and work to place yourself close to me or future general staff. Afterall, generals move, not the centurions and tribunes.”

  “No, sir. I do not spy for the senate,” Cassius said through gritted teeth. His few interactions with the politicians had left him wishing to never interact with them again.

  “Then the final conclusion I can come to is that you are what you say you are. An orphan raised in a state funded school who joined the legion to escape poverty and violence. There are many like you, but none have ever ascended like you have. I must say, I believe you are the luckiest bastard I have ever met.”

  “Lucky?” Cassius asked, the absurdity of the response causing his jaw to drop. Invictam laughed and shook his head.

  “Blessed by fortune. You have endured trials, yes, that is not in doubt. You have bled and bled your foes in turn. But look at yourself now, one of the strongest, most powerful people in the entirety of the republic. Your swords can be sold for a tidy profit and you could afford to buy a nice farm or even a marriage contract into a lower strata. I consider that lucky since most who have encountered what you have would be dead by now.”

  “Framed like that, sir, I must admit that I am lucky,” Cassius said, anger in his chest as he thought of the childhood he had survived. The teen years on the street and finally the challenges on their road here and in the Wilds. If he had been lucky he would have found some wealthy matron as she stumbled out of a winehouse who took a fancy to him and put him in her guest house and fed and paid him. He wouldn’t be out here covered in scars and memories that haunted his dreams.

  “Now legionnaire, do you wish to continue to hope for luck? Or would you like to learn how to push your advantages further, with skill and logic?”