Terra Incognita Read Online Free PDF

who he is.”
    “If you’d been where you were supposed to be last night, you’d know what I know. Nice and cozy up at the inn, were you?”
    “Very,” said Ruso, suddenly unable to resist wriggling under his armor. “Kind of you to ask.”
    Postumus was looking at him oddly. “Something the matter with you?”
    “Me? No.”
    “Uh.”
    They rode on in silence for a while, then Postumus said, “You haven’t heard what’s going on, then?”
    “What?”
    “You might want to think about making an offering to Fortuna next time you get a chance,” added Postumus. “Or whatever god you think might be listening up here.”
    “I’ll bear it in mind,” promised Ruso, deducing that he was being punished for sleeping under a solid roof last night.
    “Not that our lads are worried,” added Postumus.
    “Of course not,” agreed Ruso.
    “But the units stationed up here are pretty jumpy.”
    Ruso felt his resolve slipping away. Eventually he said, “What aren’t we worried about, exactly?”
    “You really want to know?”
    “Go on then.”
    “The story I heard . . .”
    The story Postumus had heard began with an army transport convoy making its way to a base at the opposite end of the border. The convoy had been delayed by a breakdown and was still an hour away as darkness fell. They were making good progress when a sudden shower of burning arrows rained down on the carts, and a fire broke out in the straw packing around a consignment of oil jars. Postumus described what ensued as “a fine old fry-up” and in the chaos that followed nobody noticed that the guards on the rear vehicle had been knifed and the cargo stolen. Nobody could remember seeing any of the attackers.
    “So next morning they do a security roundup and most of the natives don’t know a thing, as usual. But after a bit of expert prompting they start talking about a strange figure riding past in the half-light, and they swear he had antlers and he’s a messenger from the gods.”
    “Antlers?”
    “Nobody took much notice until a couple of the guards on the transport said they saw the same thing, only they didn’t speak up in case people thought they were crazy.”
    “It was dark when they saw this—thing?”
    “But every one of them described it the same way. That’s not all. There’s an outpost where the whole unit fell ill, including the medic.”
    Ruso ignored the gibe.
    “Turned out there was a dead wolf in the water channel,” said Postumus. “But it couldn’t have got in there by itself. Someone had replaced the cover stone and laid a set of antlers on top. Then there’s a tax collector who got ambushed. He saw him too.”
    “Who’s going to believe a tax collector?”
    The centurion grunted. “I’m just telling you what I heard. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. But like I said, I don’t reckon matey on the horse is anything to worry about.”
    “No,” agreed Ruso. “The lack of antlers would seem to support you there.”
    “I reckon,” continued Postumus, “that he’s some scabby little Brit who thinks he’s clever. We’ll go across and give him a surprise later on. When we’re good and ready.”
    Privately Ruso thought that if the scabby little Brit really were clever, he would play along with the rumors by strapping something spiky to his head. Deciding not to bother Postumus with this thought, he said, “So we’ve been sent up here to steady a few nerves.”
    “ I’ve been sent,” corrected Postumus, edging his horse sideways to steer around a minor landslip where the curb had begun to collapse into the ditch. “I heard you volunteered. Don’t know what the hell for. Specially with that girl of yours.”
    “I heard there’s more action up on the border,” said Ruso, not keen to get into a discussion about Tilla.
    A grin made its way around the nose. “Not enough bodies for you back at base, eh?”
    Ruso sighed. He had never wanted to get tangled up in that business of the murdered barmaid. Now, no