A Most Dangerous Weapon

Chapter 65: The Beast Returns

It took us about a week to safely travel across the Galacian Empire. Loxley's intelligence proved to be reliable, and Kilgorian helped us decipher the best ways to manoeuver around his father's large army without detection. It was nice having a palace insider on our team; Kilgorian grew up listening to his father and the Emperor discussing war tactics, so now he was able to predict their every movement to our advantage.

On the eighth day of trudging through foreign mountains, plains and forests, we found ourselves within a day's ride of the Capital. This was the best place for us to set up base camp while we waited for the Romallians to strike.

It wouldn't be long now.

After some careful spy work from Loxley and Arlo, we found out that Kilgorian's father immediately began to move north once his men discovered our makeshift grave for Diana and the mountain rubble tunnel lined with his dead men. We made sure not to leave any clues that would lead back to us, so it was safe to assume that the High Commander would be blaming the Galacians for Diana's capture and murder. He probably didn't have an explanation for the landslide, but that hardly seemed to matter to him.

So off they marched towards the Galacian Capital to meet up with Maximus' troop. They continued to push back the remaining Galacian hoards that resided along the border, but other loyal Captains, Lords and Generals already did most of the grunt work by taking care of the invasions that occurred in the larger cities and towns. Men like Tiberius would be getting a damn parade for their efforts if Maximus were to make it out of this alive. If it were me in charge, I would first chastise them for allowing their lands to be so easily overrun with enemies in the first place.

The Commander led us right to Maximus. I had been free of the toxic man for a couple of weeks now, but here I was itching to see him again. It was like I was doubting his existence suddenly; like all the dangerous moments we shared and the stories I'd heard since my escape were nothing more than fables to scare children. I needed a visual reminder that he was real, especially considering my current mental state. Standing in front of Maximus would remind me of what I was fighting for. It would reignite the flame for revenge and justice, for lately my motivation to end this war had been tested with everything that had gone wrong and all the doubt that people had been giving me. Just a few words from that vile man would prove that I was doing the right thing.

In the middle of the night while the rest of the world slept, I snuck away from our camp to go spy on the enemy.

Maximus was in his private tent with candles burning and laughter booming despite the late hour. I perched myself along a tree branch that partially overhung over the tent top. Pulling the small blade out of my pocket, I cut a small slit into the fabric so I could peer into the structure.

The Emperor was sitting on a makeshift throne that he travelled with. It was ridiculous to think that this large tent, the throne, the abundance of food and wine, the bed and accoutrements were all so important to this man's image, even on the cusp of battle. His soldiers were all left out in the cold night air without even a cloak to cover their bodies with, and yet he has space for over twenty bodies to rest comfortably in his portable abode. He looked like he didn't have a care in the world, like he was convinced that his brother didn't stand a chance against him and that this final battle was merely for show. He would kill Gaius, take his people and lands, and then return back to his comfortable palace to continue his tyrannical rule. I had to stifle a laugh at the notion. Not only because I intended to kill him, but also because a man who has been at war for thirty years had no right to feel this cocky! If he was that sure that he could pull this off, why hadn't he done something about it thirty years ago when this all started?! It seemed that Maximus was underestimating his brother just as he'd done with me. This arrogant attitude was ill-gotten and ludicrous.