Guardian of Rome (#2 in Gladiator Series)

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

She had been travelling for nearly ten days. Stopping only for food and water Krista managed to sleep atop the saddle so when she awoke she found herself a few leagues further than when she fell asleep. Diomed was safely behind her with no chance of catching up but Krista still kept a watchful eye open as she travelled through the countryside.

Being alone Krista often found her mind wandering whilst her legs remained still in the stirrups. In her dreams she was back in her tent with Artorius's strong arms around her body. There was no disease and everything in the world was right. They weren't being hunted and they had no focus on revenge but it was at that precise moment when Krista knew it was a dream. Although she wished for it be reality, Krista could not waste her energy on impossible thoughts. She had a task to do.

When she came across a group of travellers Krista sent them towards the camp with the medicine in their possession, urging them of its importance and placing her trust in them which was not an easy thing for her to do, but it was necessary. Krista did not know them but they were not roman soldiers and right then that was enough. 

Commander Gaius Aurelius was on his way to surpassing his predecessor with the blood he had spilt and the sheer brutality he extended to his victims. The girl with Krista's name sliced into her abdomen was barely out of infancy; if there was anybody that had been innocent and did not deserve to die, it was her. And he slaughtered her.

Krista knew what she had to do the moment she saw the bodies. She had known for a long time but the massacre a fortnight ago brought the event forward. It was only inevitable. They were enemies. Opposites. Doomed to kill the other. Gaius had chosen his side and Krista had chosen hers.

Sooner or later their paths would cross and one would have to kill the other; it was the only possibility given their positions. But as dusk began to fall and Krista stood upon a cliff's edge, she realised that one of their deaths was going to be sooner rather than later. Because, right below her at the base of the cliff, rested Gaius Aurelius's camp.

* * *

Everything around Diomed appeared to be nothing but a blur as he raced towards the camp. The trees flew past him and the wind numbed his bald scalp until the only constant that remained was the moon above him, full and large with her light beaming down on the path ahead. Diomed prayed that he was not late.

He had been forced to steal a horse from a stable after Krista so cleverly dispatched of his own but since then her actions had become relaxed; he could see her tracks in the forest floor as clear as day. Her mind was no longer calm like it had been by the lake, taking the time to cover her path as she escaped, but instead leaving her tracks open for all to follow. He was beginning to realise what her discovery about him had meant. It had pushed her into recklessness as she raced to put leagues between them.

It was either that or Krista believed that there was no point in covering her tracks because she did not believe she was returning. As he came to that realisation his breathing grew rapid and he pushed his horse on faster. He apologised mentally to the beast that now seemed to give him wings as they flew down the path, kicking up a wind behind them as they blew past travellers, leaving them in a cloud of dust. 

But he could not stop to apologise. He needed to reach the camp before it was too late.

* * *

Gaius watched his men with troublesome thoughts. The men, pleased by their latest conquest under the command of Felix, were still revelling in their prowess as soldiers of Rome and Gaius could feel a smile tug at his lips as he could physically taste the morale in the camp rising with every passing moment.