Daughter of Death

VIII

Hallez did not panic. She did not sit in the grass, staring at nothing in particular, panicking, until rays of the morning sunlight appeared in the east.

Definitely not.

When dawn approached, she finally stood up, and walked back to the Castra. The sentries—different ones from when she came out—greeted her politely, and didn't ask her any questions, as if they knew she had been outside all night. Hallez saw a small black phone-like device strapped to their forearms. On the screen, were videos separated by boxes, and showed various different views of the valley, the mountains, and the Castra. Some were moving, while others were still. She realized they must be the patrol drones' point of views. That must've been how they were keeping track of her.

She wondered if they saw the note, but they didn't ask to see it, so she figured not.

Hallez continued on the empty streets until she got to the Tenth Cohort barrack. Along the way, she saw notices on billboards saying that this Saturday's MFSDO will be postponed a few hours, due to an emergency Senate meeting. She managed to sneak through maniple 10A and 10C, to the back of the room. She didn't bother going to sleep again. Instead, she just sat on her bedroll. She took the note from her pocket, and examined it more closely.

However, she wasn't able to discover anything else she didn't already know when everyone started stirring.

She quickly folded the note, and put it back in her pants' pocket. She contemplated showing Fiona and Travis and Lavi the note, but decided against it. She might show it to Tim, later, if she saw him.

Fiona sat up as Hallez stood, yawned, and stretched from one of the top bunks, and hit her hand on the ceiling.

"Ow!" Fiona yelped.

Travis, who was on the bunk below her, called up to her, "You hit your hand on the ceiling again."

"No, I did not," Fiona replied indignantly.

Travis opened his eyes, and sat up, rubbing them. "Uh-huh," he said, sarcastically. "Totally."

Fiona grabbed her pillow and threw it down at Travis' head. "Shut up!"

Lavi groaned as she was woken up. "There are people trying to sleep here..."

"No, we need to prepare for the MFSDO, Lavi," Travis said, standing then bending down. His bunk was on top of a tall wooden box, and when he put his fingertips on the smooth wooden surface, and pulled, there was a ding! and the wood stuck to his fingers, sliding out like a drawer. Inside was a long wooden pole. On one end, a blade was attached to the shaft, with a tuft of red strings where the metal and wood connected. It was a spear.

More advanced technology, Hallez guessed.

Travis twirled the spear around expertly. "For a daughter of Apollo, you're not a morning person."

"Your sister is right, shut up," Lavi grumbled.

"Good morning, Hallez!" Fiona said, more cheerfully. She did the same as Travis, from under her bunk, and pulled out a long sword in its scabbard.

"Good morning," Hallez replied. "Are we on the offense?"

Lavi nodded, and explained, "We take turns every week. This week, the First, Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth are defense, and the rest of us, the evens, are offense." She sighed. "And they've probably been strategizing and building the whole night, so there's about a one in ten-bazillion chance our cohort will make it in at all."

Hallez paused. "Building? They built the fort in one night?"

Lavi took out her weapon, a bow, from her drawer. "Mhm. We're trained to be able to build as we go. Millennia ago, legions and other Roman military would build roads and bridges as they marched through the Roman Republic or Empire. The Castra here in the mountains is actually just a temporary military camp, that we could take down and move easily, in case the need ever arises. By the way, what was all that fuss about a Senate meeting?"