Guardian of Rome (#2 in Gladiator Series)

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The night was calm and the sky was black.

There was scarce wind to cool her raging thoughts, nor rain to wash away the dirt on her flesh.

Dianna did not know where she walked, only that she could remain in the camp a moment later.

The air around the fire had become fogged with smoke and it threatened to overwhelm her. Dianna did not wish to contemplate the way the conversation had churned her stomach.

Growing up on the coast with her aunt, Dianna had never tasted the stench of slavery.

The air had been pure, salty from the sea, and the ground beneath her feet was simply soil.

But to these people that Dianna now deceived, the land she had grown up on would seem like Elysium on earth.

Mothers spoke of infants being ripped from their breasts; fathers spoke of watching their sons taken away for death and many more spoke horrifying tales that now flashed through Dianna’s mind.

Dianna could not believe her father had governed an empire so hostile and ripe with evil.

Images of people chained erupted behind her eyes, their souls dead even as their bodies kept breathing.

Her chest felt like it was tightening as she reached out a hand and steadied herself against a tree.

What was she doing here?

Dianna searched around her in the darkness, far from the ocean.

It seemed like another life she had been baking with her Aunt but now she was caught in the middle of a war that had been handed down to her through her bloodline.

Taking a breath to steady herself, Dianna turned to retrace her steps when her eyes caught a slight movement by the tree a few metres to her left.

Her brows furrowing together in confusion, Dianna wondered if someone had followed her.

Running her fingers along the bark, Dianna walked around the entire base of the tree, her heart beating rapidly in her chest, but found nothing there.

Stopping, Dianna paused for a moment and simply listened.

She could have sworn that she had seen someone but-

As Dianna was thinking this a strange sound, like a whooshing whisper, entered her thoughts and she looked up to see a body falling from the branch above her head, an arrow imbedded through his neck.

“Dianna.”

Jumping back from the dead body, Dianna spun and saw Krista stood before her.

Her rose lips were moving but Dianna could only hear the deafening pounding of her heart in her ears.

Catching movement, Dianna looked over Krista’s shoulder and spotted Diomed jogging across to them, re-arming his bow as he swivelled his head, surveying their surroundings.

“. . . Is that understood, Dianna?” Krista’s voice seemed to fade out of nothing as Dianna’s pulse began to return to normal.

“P- Pardon?” Dianna blinked, turning back to face Krista, her eyes wide.

Krista let out an exasperated sigh, her eyes searching the forest past Dianna’s shoulder when she froze.

“Return to camp,” Diomed ordered Dianna as he stood by the tree, using it for cover, “Find Leonidas and tell him the Romans are coming.”