Vulcan's Fury: The Dark Lands (44 page)

The Swords, by contrast, had fallen to their knees and held their swords up in both hands, heads bowed, just as she had seen Karan do. She wondered if their display revealed more in the way of courage, devotion, or sheer insanity, for they could not possibly know that Hercules was not a wild animal on a rampage.

Hercules roared again, baring his huge, bloodied fangs in anger at the soldiers as he slowly advanced toward them, his tail whipping back and forth.

Weeping with relief, both that Hercules was alive and that he had come to save her, Valeria struggled to her feet. “Hercules, no!” she said. “Come! Come to me!”

With a final snarl at the soldiers, all the while completely ignoring the kneeling Swords, Hercules whirled around and retreated to where Valeria stood, coming to stand beside her, fixing the soldiers with a baleful gaze from his amber eyes. Valeria wrapped her arms around one of his mid-legs and buried her face in his fur, weeping with relief.

Reassured that the soldiers posed no threat for the moment, Hercules turned to nuzzle her with great tenderness, and a deep rumble came from his throat.

“She commands the greatest of gods.”

Valeria looked at the Swords, all of whom were staring at her with wide eyes. The soldiers, too, were staring in obvious shock.
 

Suddenly conscious of the fact that she looked worse than an unwashed urchin from the most despicable part of the Aventine, Valeria wiped away her tears with her good hand and stepped toward them, but remained close enough to Hercules to scratch him under the chin. The big cat licked the side of her face once with his huge, absurdly rough tongue, then proceeded to lay down beside her so she could reach behind his ears, all the while rumbling with pleasure. “His name is Hercules,” she told the girl among the Swords who had spoken, and whose bearing marked her in Valeria’s eyes as their leader. “To you he is the greatest of gods, I know. But to me, he is my friend and protector.”

“A goddess who walks the Earth,” the girl said in a voice so soft that Valeria could barely hear, but filled with such intense awe that Valeria’s skin prickled. “The day at last has come…”

“That is quite enough, Asha,” the other horse-mounted soldier said quietly, and the girl Asha snapped her mouth shut and dropped her head to the ground, as did the other Swords. The man — Valeria had a great deal of difficulty thinking of him as such, for he seemed to have more outward resemblance to the horrific bear-thing lying dead behind her — reined his zebra-striped horse closer, wisely pulling up short when Hercules growled. “Extraordinary,” he whispered. He eyed the remains of the other horse, then glanced back to the body of his former companion. He then turned back to Valeria and smiled. The sight of his misplaced eyes and misshapen mouth sent a shiver down her spine. “My companion was always a bit rash and short on manners, I’m afraid. Might I offer you and your ferocious companion the hospitality of my garrison…princess?” He seemed to have difficulty saying the word, as if it had no place in his vocabulary.

“And if I refuse?”

He nodded to the dead bear-thing. “That is not the worst of what is out here, you know. If you have survived more than a few hours in the forest on your own, you may consider yourself extraordinarily fortunate.” He sighed. “If remaining here is your wish, I will leave you to your fate.” He brought his horse around, heading back to the head of the formation. The Swords bowed once more to Hercules, then got to their feet. Sheathing their weapons, they fell into their own formation at the head of the column. Asha paused. She gave the forest behind Valeria a long, searching gaze before her eyes met Valeria’s, a pleading look on her face. Then Asha sheathed her sword and joined the others.

Glancing back at the dead monster behind her, Valeria knew that she couldn’t bear the thought of facing another night in the forest. Even with Hercules to protect her, the coming night and every night that followed would hold nothing but terror, and eventually she would succumb to one horror or another. She did not want to assume Marcus and the others were dead, but her hopes were fading. Even if they were alive, betting they would arrive to help her before the forest killed her was a fool’s wager. Turning back to the soldier leader, she called out, “No, wait!”

He halted his mount and looked at her. “Princess?”

“You promise no harm will come to me or Hercules?”

“Were it solely my promise to give, I would, but I serve higher powers to whose authority I must bow. But for now I am free to offer you my protection and hospitality. I like to hope that those I serve will see the wisdom of doing the same, for none of us have ever enjoyed the company of one who can charm a hexatiger.” He smiled again. “That is a rare gift, indeed.”

Valeria took a deep breath. “Then I accept.”

“Very good! We have a long way yet to go. You can ride with me, if you like.”

“Thank you, but no.”

He laughed. Coming from someone from her world, it would have been a pleasant sound. “Suit yourself. I suppose you could ride Hercules. That, I would surely enjoy seeing. In the meantime, the Swords will tend to your wounds and otherwise see to your needs, and carry you if your strength should wane.”
 

Asha bowed her head in obeisance, again favoring Valeria with a penetrating look.
 

“You have my thanks,” Valeria said as she made to join the Swords, steering well clear of the enormous soldiers, who favored her with curious looks from their twisted faces. “All of you.” Then, to the mounted soldier, she said, “Might I have the pleasure of knowing your name, sir?”

He looked down at her from the lofty height of his saddle. “Of course. Where are my manners? I am Praetor Vel Accius.”

“You…you have a Roman name,” Valeria stammered, shocked.

He laughed. “Of course I do.” He gestured toward the men behind him. “We all do. Why wouldn’t we?”

“But you are not Roman.” It was then that Valeria noticed the soldier who proudly carried a symbol upon a staff that she instantly recognized. It was not gold, but silver. An eagle, an
aquila
. And below it hung a crimson banner with SPQR inscribed in silver:
Senatus Populusque Romanus
, the Senate and People of Rome. Her heart began to hammer in her chest and her vision began to turn gray. “No. No, this isn’t possible.”

Asha caught her, lowering her gently to the ground as Valeria’s legs collapsed. “Welcome to the Empire of Rome,” she said softly as Valeria fell away into darkness.

***

Karan and the others watched with wretched impotence as the Swords lifted Valeria’s body with obvious reverence. Hercules looked confused for a moment, but the only thing he could do was follow his human cub.
 

“Please, by the gods, let her still be alive,” Marcus whispered.

“She is,” Karan said. “Had she not been, we would have known from the Swords.”

“Why is that?”

Karan turned to look at him. “They would have performed a ceremony to honor her passing, for in company with Hercules, they would see her as a goddess. No other could walk in company with a hexatiger and live.” He stopped, his eyes widening in shock. “A goddess who walks the earth…” he whispered, then looked back at the procession with disbelieving eyes.

“What is it?” Paulus asked.
 

“It is a legend that has been passed down among the Swords from the time the world was covered in ice, and is now little more than a fragment of an ancient story long since lost,” he said quietly. “No one knows who wrote it, or why.” He had no difficulty recalling the words that every Sword was taught as early as they learned to speak:

A goddess who walks the Earth,

Forged in Love and Flame,

The ancient chains shall break,

And cleanse the World of Shame.

Marcus frowned. “The Swords carrying her believe she’s this goddess?”

“Yes,” Karan breathed.

“You believe it, too,” Paulus said. It wasn’t — quite — an accusation.

“Knowing Valeria as I do, how could I not? How could any of us?”

“I’ll reserve judgment on that,” Marcus said. “But goddess or no, somehow I’m going to get her back and take her home. That’s all that matters to me.” To Septimus, he said, “Come on. Let’s get back to Pelonius and help Haakon bring him up here. Maybe Pelonius will have some bright ideas about what to do. You two,” he said to Karan and Paulus, “stay here, keep watch, and try to stay out of trouble.”

As the two older men headed back for the others, Paulus looked at Karan and shrugged.
 

Karan watched the procession of soldiers and Swords as they continued their march along the road, his thoughts divided between Valeria and the warrior whose face he knew so well.
 

Asha
, he thought,
please forgive me…

***

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