Legionary: Land of the Sacred Fire Read Online Free PDF

up to examine his ribs. ‘Scouting, you said – how many scouts end up nearly gutted on a Gothic longsword.’
    Sura made eyes at Pavo then motioned to the doorway. ‘Felicia, I’m fine. I’ll leave you two to talk.’
    With Sura gone and Quadratus harrumphing in the far corner, they were alone.
    ‘You seem tense,’ Pavo offered, slipping his hands around her waist.
    She batted his advances away and insisted on prodding at his wound. ‘I spent the morning tearing an arrow head from a boy’s lung,’ she said tersely, lifting his tunic to his shoulders then soaking a pad of linen with acetum and dabbing it across the wound to clear it of blood and dirt. ‘I don’t have time to relax. Now take that filthy tunic off,’ she grumbled, helping him remove the garment so he stood in only boots and loincloth.
    Pavo searched for the right words as she hurriedly wrapped a length of bandage around his lean torso. Felicia had been through so much in these last few years. She had lost everyone. Everyone except Pavo. Now he was to leave her behind.
    ‘If we don’t speak honestly now, Felicia, then . . . ’ his words trailed off and he changed his tack, looping his arms around her once more. When she tried to resist and brush him off again, he gripped her tightly, until he felt her heart beat against his breast. ‘Tonight is our last night together. By noon tomorrow, I will be at sea, headed east. And I will be gone for some time.’
    I might never return, like Father, a voice added from the dark recesses of his mind.
    At last, Felicia’s façade crumbled. ‘Don’t you know that my every thought rests on that?’ she said, her voice cracking. A sob escaped as she buried her head in Pavo’s chest. ‘I’ve heard what the Persian frontier is like. I . . . ’ her voice cracked.
    Pavo held a palm to her face and stroked away a tear with his thumb.
    Felicia met his gaze. ‘Do you even know why you have been summoned there?’
    Pavo could offer nothing. All anyone of the XI Claudia vexillatio knew was that they had to make their way east, to the city of Antioch. There, Emperor Valens would disclose to them the details of this sortie that had so far remained shrouded in mystery. ‘Felicia, I don’t know, even Gallus doesn’t know, but . . . ’ he said, barely realising that he was toying with the outline of the phalera as he spoke.
    ‘But you have to go, regardless?’ she finished. ‘Even if there was no mission, you would have to go east, wouldn’t you?’ She traced a finger over the medallion too now.
    Legio II Parthica the inscription read. Father’s legion. Since the day the old crone had pressed the piece into Pavo’s hand, it had given him strength. Strength to survive after news came to him of Father’s slaying in the sacking of the eastern city of Bezabde. Strength to carry on through the years of slavery that followed. Strength to seize his chance of freedom and serve in the legions. Then, just weeks ago, that had all changed with word brought from the Persian frontier. It seemed that some of the Parthica had survived the fall of Bezabde, being taken captive and sent to toil in the treacherous Persian salt mines.
    Even without horse, coin or water, I would travel east alone to find out what happened to you. If Mithras wills it, I will find you or your bones out there, Father, the voice in his mind answered with alarming clarity. He looked down as a tear of his own splashed onto Felicia’s fingers, then nodded in silence.
    They each looked up, seeing each other through their sorrowful blur, then Pavo pressed his lips to Felicia’s, tasting her salty tears. Their embrace was lasting and they clung to one another, her warmth like a salve to his tired body. It took a gruff grunt from the corner of the room to end their moment, somewhat abruptly.
    ‘When you two come up for air, can I get some wine over here?’ Quadratus moaned. ‘I need something to numb the bloody pain.’
    At this, Felicia’s face