Vulcan's Fury: The Dark Lands (26 page)

Alone now with her parents, save for Hercules, who was noisily helping himself to an unguarded tray of cheese in the corner, Valeria stepped closer to her parents and lowered her voice. “You will free me from my confinement and allow me to go and do as I please with proper escort. And you will, in private, ask Karan’s forgiveness. I don’t ask that you apologize for what was done to him, but you must ask his forgiveness, and explain that it was for my own wretched sake. And I want him reinstated and given his own quarters and a servant. He should be an honored guest, as he was at first, not an outcast. You will also allow me to meet with him as I please, with a chaperone in attendance.” She took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, wondering if she would ever again be allowed to see the light of day. Had anyone else stood before Caesar, even a man as good-hearted as her father, and made such demands, they would likely have found themselves nailed to a cross. Aside from Hercules ravaging the cheese, the silence in the room was so profound that she could hear the waves breaking on the beach, well beyond the fortress walls. “If I ask him to help you, promise me before the gods, as both my father and Caesar, that you will do these things.” She lowered her eyes. “And I promise to never again disappoint you so.”

After a long, uncertain pause, she heard her mother say, “I think she might just be growing up.”

Looking up, Valeria found Octavia smiling at her as she used to, with love and pride, not through a veil of dismay as she had done these last painful weeks.

“It’s a pity women can’t hold positions in the Senate,” her father said in a wistful tone. “Livius and his cronies would have their work cut out for them against the likes of you.” Getting to his feet, he came and put his hands on Valeria’s shoulders. “I accept your promise, and offer you my own.” With a glance at Octavia, he went on, “We had already decided that you had been punished enough and were going to release you from your bondage.” He lifted her chin with a finger, and he looked her in the eyes. “But you do understand that what happened must never, ever happen again?”

She took his hand in hers. “Yes, Father, I understand.” Her voice faltered. “I couldn’t bear it.”

He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. “Then let us leave that in the past.” Leading her by the hand to the map table, he added, “Come, let us show you the scheme the crafty old scribe has come up with.”

***

Valeria and Paulus walked together through the jungle, following the path they both had used weeks before to find Karan’s personal training ground. No one knew if he still used it, but it was as good a place as any to start. Of course, Karan could already be following them; she had called his name a number of times, but thus far he had not seen fit to appear. Hercules ambled along behind them, his eyes and ears perking up at every sound from the monkeys and other strange beasts that dwelled here, his great whiskers twitching as his nose detected interesting scents, letting him see a world to which his human companions were largely blind. Valeria had insisted that no other soldiers accompany them; the protection of Hercules would be more than adequate for anything here that might wish to harm her.

She only hoped that Karan was not now among them.

“You still haven’t said if you forgive me,” she said quietly.

“I do,” he said at last.
 

Those two words lifted a huge weight from her shoulders, and she reached out and took his hand.

“I just wish I could find a way to make you feel the same way about me.”

The weight suddenly returned. “But I do.”

He laughed, but to her ears it was a sad sound. “No, you don’t. I saw how you looked at him.” He paused. “You’ve never looked that way at me.”

“I look at him differently because he’s a curiosity,” she huffed. “He’s part of the mystery that drew me to this place, remember? It’s not because I’m enamored of him.”

“If you say so,” he said, not sounding at all convinced.
 

“And I kissed him because…well, because I felt terribly sorry for him,” she went on. “He’s been a slave all his life, just like so many are in the Empire, and has never known love or compassion. Even our slaves may know that, from other slaves or even their masters. He risked his life for us when he didn’t have to, and I just wanted to show him something, some tenderness, as a way of thanking him.”

“And look where it got the both of you.”
 

She had no answer for that.

“Anyway, it’s done and done.” He gave her a wry smile. “And I have to confess that one of the reasons I love you is that you’re impetuous. I don’t want that to change, no matter how much chaos it might bring.”

She returned his smile and squeezed his hand, but couldn’t rid herself of a vague sense of guilt. What she had told him was the truth before all the gods, just not quite all of it.
 

When they reached the clearing, there was no sign of Karan, although he had clearly still been using it to hack away at thick stalks of bamboo.
 

Valeria cupped her hands to her mouth. “Karan! I know you can hear me. Please come out!”
 

“Look,” Paulus said quietly, nodding toward Hercules. The big cat stood stock still, staring intently into the trees across the clearing.
 

A shadow detached itself from the trees and stepped forward onto the sand of the clearing. Karan.

He first bowed to Hercules, then turned to Valeria and Paulus. Only his eyes were visible, the rest of his face covered in a scarf and the hood of his cloak. “Why have you come?”
 

“I came to beg your forgiveness,” Valeria told him, stepping toward him. Karan took a step back, and Valeria stopped, her heart torn. “Karan, you must believe me, I never meant for any of this to happen. I would have taken the lash of the whip myself if my father would have allowed it. He punished you for my transgression in order to save my honor, and to punish me for being such a thoughtless fool. I would have come to you much sooner, but I was confined to the castrum and wasn’t able to leave until now.” She sank to her knees. “Please…please find it in your heart to forgive me, to forgive all of us for the way we’ve treated you.”

Karan looked at her, then shifted his gaze to Paulus as Hercules approached Karan and gently nuzzled his arm, demanding the attention due the greatest of earthly gods.

“Her words are true, Karan,” Paulus said, meeting the other young warrior’s eyes. “She is…impulsive to the point of madness, even for a woman, but guile and deceit are not among her traits. She meant none of us any harm.” He glanced at Valeria. Noting the look on her face, he let out a helpless sigh. “Least of all you.”

As he reached up to scratch behind one of Hercules’s ears, Karan regarded them both for a long moment. “This is not the only reason you have come.”
 

Surprised, Valeria and Paulus exchanged a look before Valeria told him, “No, it isn’t. As I told you, I would have come much sooner — I never would have let you be alone, if it would have been in my power — but I was being confined as punishment, even though I know Father felt awful about what he did to you. But he decided to release me in order to bring a message to you, asking your forgiveness and requesting your help.”

Karan cocked his head, his eyes narrowing in confusion. “Why would one such as Caesar ask forgiveness from one such as me? He has only to command, and it will be done, for he is a Master.”

That stung Valeria. “He asks because he is a good man,” she said, “and an honorable one in an empire where such men are remarkably rare.” She smiled as Hercules began to rumble with content, Karan’s hands clearly hitting all the right spots. “Hercules has missed you, too.”

“A god who purrs,” Paulus said, shaking his head. Unable to help himself, he chuckled.

Blowing out a breath, Karan pulled back his hood and tugged the scarf down to reveal his face. He was thinner, with dark rings under his eyes. Looking at her, he managed a fragile smile. “And what would Caesar ask of one such as me?”

“We need you as a guide,” Paulus answered, “to lead a scouting party into the Dark Lands.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The return to the fort was largely in silence, despite Valeria’s best efforts to engage Karan in conversation. She knew it was because she was nervous, but finally gave up after her Ghost refused to grant her anything more than monosyllabic answers. He was deep in thought, his face cast in a frown, as they reached the gate.

Hercules trotted up to join them. He had been delayed by a particular monkey that had made the mistake of taunting the big cat from an overhanging branch. The monkey was well known to the garrison, for it was uncharacteristically belligerent and enjoyed bombarding its human neighbors with excrement, sometimes even making forays into the fortress itself to deliver its stinking payloads. But the monkey’s days of hurling offal came to an abrupt end when Hercules exploded from the ground and snatched the astonished primate from its perch, well above the heads of the three humans.
 

“Good riddance,” Paulus had observed, wincing as the forest echoed with the crunch of the monkey’s bones as Hercules took his meal.

The hexatiger, his muzzle bearing only the faintest trace of crimson, bounded past them to the gate. Ignoring the soldiers, he sniffed the side posts near where the sentries were standing.
 

“You should have the men stand aside,” Karan warned Paulus.
 

“Why?” Paulus asked, confused by the transition of Karan’s expression from brooding to something akin to a mischievous grin. “Hercules won’t hurt them.”

“No, but…”

Valeria suddenly understood what Karan was getting at as Hercules turned around, pointing his rear end toward the side of the gate.
 

“Princess, tribune!” The sentry commander, a young optio, called out as he and his men came to attention. “Ghost! It is good to see you again!”

“Move away from Hercules!” Valeria called, trying to sound urgent but not as if the men were in danger. She was also trying not to laugh.

The soldiers looked at her, confused, then at the hexatiger, then back at her.

“Too late,” Karan said, shaking his head.

Hercules flipped up his tail and loosed a torrent of urine at the side post and the adjoining wall, which inadvertently spattered all over the sentry detail. Shouting with surprise and dismay, they retreated under the brief onslaught, but it was too late. They were soaked with reeking hexatiger urine.

Paulus was aghast. “Why did he do that? He never does that!”

The brief almost-smile vanished from Karan’s face. “He now knows the Dark Wolves grow closer, and marks his territory to warn them away.”

Valeria and Paulus whirled toward him, exclaiming together, “
What?
”

Karan nodded. “I have not seen them with my own eyes, but I have found fresh tracks deep in the jungle from single animals, scouts. Remember, I told you that once they have the scent of their prey in the Great Hunt, they will never stop until they feast upon his flesh or die. The God Hercules frightened them away in the battle we fought, but fear dwindles and fades in the minds of the hunters. They will eventually return, and in numbers, to take me.”

“And when were you going to tell us about this?” Paulus made no attempt to mask his anger. “You let Valeria go outside the walls with those monsters prowling about?”

Karan stared him straight in the eye. “I followed both of you since you entered the jungle. Had she been in any danger, I would have warned you. And Hercules would have known.” Turning to Valeria, he went on, “I saw the first spoor a week ago, and have been trying to track them. I know these beasts well, for they are both our companions and enemies nearly from birth. They will attack only when they are ready.”

“And when will that be?” Valeria asked, shaken. Her eyes darted out to the jungle.
 

“Within the next fortnight.” Karan pointed to Hercules, who was regarding the cursing soldiers with completely unapologetic eyes. “He will do this often now, and you must let him. Make sure he marks all the gates, and as much of the castrum wall as he chooses. That will do more to ward off the
fisi
than anything else when they come.” He looked back at Paulus. “Or perhaps I should leave and draw them away.”

Paulus knitted his brows as he seemed to consider the thought, which made Valeria angry. “Absolutely not,” she said hotly. “They would eventually catch and kill you, and who knows how many others.”

“What I would like to know,” Paulus said slowly, “is why these animals are still roaming the land? Our friend General Sergius obviously did not follow his orders to hunt them down.”

“Let us take that up with Father,” Valeria said. “Right now.” Calling Hercules to her, she stormed off toward the praetorium, Paulus and Karan struggling to keep up.

***

Tiberius never had a chance to offer his apologies to Karan as the trio, accompanied by Hercules, burst into the praetorium.
 

“Good,” Valeria said, seeing that Pelonius, Marcus, and Septimus, among the other senior officers of the legion, were present. Unlike most days, none of the officers of
Victrix
happened to be in attendance. “You’re all here.”

With a sigh, Tiberius looked up from the discussion he had been having with the others around the map table. “Valeria…”

“The Dark Wolves are going to return,” she said with a look at Karan, “which, aside from the obvious implications, also means that Sergius never did as he was commanded.”

Pelonius and Tiberius exchanged a look.

“What?” Valeria asked. “What aren’t you telling us?”

“If you would give me a chance to speak,” Tiberius told her, gesturing for the three of them to gather around the table, “I might tell you.” To Karan, he said, “You have my thanks for coming, Karan. And please accept my sincere apologies for the…unpleasantness of a few weeks ago. I hope you can forgive me.”

Karan bowed his head. “You need apologize for nothing, Caesar.”

“Thank you.” He looked at Karan a moment. Then, shaking his head as if to rid himself of an impossible thought, he went on. “As for General Sergius, we were just discussing him. His absence, along with the abrogation of his financial obligation toward constructing the defenses here, has not gone unnoticed. We’ve sent messengers to Augusta Viromanduorum, but he never returned after leaving here, nor did
Invictus
.”