A Most Dangerous Weapon

Chapter 31: An Easy Conquest

It wasn't difficult for us to penetrate the Antigo training grounds once Quintus and his men returned from scouting the place out. The establishment was still under Romallian management. The Doctore and his wife had a few guards working under their household; nothing that we couldn't handle. We decided that the best way to go about things to avoid bloodshed was to invade at night when the gladiators were shut away and the guards were tired from the day's work. We would knock them unconscious before surprising the Doctore and his wife in their room. We wouldn't kill them; tying them up would be enough.

We accomplished all of this in a matter of minutes. It was much easier with Tiberius' gladiators to assist us. And after the attack on Steppe, we were convinced that the Doctore would just assume that Galacians were behind all of this. We could recruit the gladiators without fear of people thinking a third party was building a fierce army for the war. Just as we did for Tiberius, we had every intention of leaving the guards for their Doctore to use to later defend the city against the real Galacians when they inevitably invaded.

Once we did a final sweep of the location for potential missed threats, we gathered the gladiators out on the field to give them our rousing speech. Thanks to the presence of Quintus and his men, there was no need to keep the Antigo gladiators in chains for fear of fight or flight. They were all comrades after meeting numerous times in the Capital arena. Everyone felt extremely comfortable with each other and the situation, despite not initially knowing who Rowan, Loxley, Arlo, Kilgorian or I were. I suppose they thought that if Quintus could trust us, then so could they.

Rowan began his speech with such fervour and a new sense of confidence. Before we invaded, we agreed that it would be best if Quintus participated in the speech this time to convey his own thoughts and to assist Rowan on expressing the words that I once used. If the combined power of Rowan's statements and Quintus' loyalty to the cause was enough to sway the new recruits, then we would be lucky enough to escape the notion of revealing my identity to curry favour.

I stood as far back as possible from the commotion, leaning against a far wall as I watched Rowan and Quintus work. My hood and sash were securely in place. The dark colours helped me fade into the shadows.

But Theo still found me.

He curls up beside me in an intrusive but friendly manner to share body heat. I hadn't realized that I was shivering due to the brisk night air despite my heavy cloak. Theo was also vibrating, so I didn't push him away. It was difficult for me to be alone these days.

"You've been in a strange mood ever since you came back..."

He wasn't wrong. I kept my head down and only spoke when absolutely necessary, a vast difference from the girl who had been arguing with everyone like a maniac that very same morning. I kept most of what happened to myself. The others only needed to know four simple facts:

Phoebus was dead.

The assassin was dead.

Corvin was a Galacian spy.

And Bailer was potentially in Octain Port.

The men who originated from Tiberius' training ground were all shocked to hear the news of Corvin, but they slowly started to piece things together in regards to Sextus' invasion. They weren't entirely concerned about the immediate invasion on Antigo aside from the urgent need to bolt before it happened. It seemed that they were more than happy to leave the people of Antigo to take care of this themselves. I was of the same mind. Our group had bigger problems to deal with. Winning a single battle wasn't worth losing the war. Our job was to eliminate the two Emperors.

Theo elbowed me softly when I didn't respond. "What's on your mind?"

Rowan.

His lips tracing down the side of my neck and across my shoulders.