Page 39 of Scorched Earth

“Well, it would be pretty stupid for me to admit so if I were,” Agrippa replied. “Because I can only assume you’d stab me with that half-drawn sword rather than allow that to happen.”

It was Malahi’s turn to stiffen, and Lydia heard the queen’s intake of breath to speak but Agrippa beat her to it. “No, it’s not my plan. For starters, they think I deserted, which means if I walk into camp, they’ll beat me into a pulp with rocks and fists, and never stop to wonder if perhaps there’s more to the story. Two… I’ve been on the wrong side for too long. Fought for the wrong reasons, to achieve the wrong things. Even though it’s starting to look like doing so will mean almost certain death, I’m of a mind to die fighting for something right.”

“Same,” Baird said. “For what it’s worth.”

Agrippa gave his friend a nod.

“Does that mean you’re our resource?” Killian pressed. “If it comes to it, and the Empire pursues conquest in earnest, will you advise us on how to defeat them knowing that your advice will mean the deaths of those you once called friends?”

“My advice would be that you can’t defeat them so we should all get very drunk and do debauched things until the bitter end.” Agrippa sighed. “But in lieu of that, yes. I’ll tell you what I know. Though I did as much for those in Arinoquia while they nursed me back to health and it doesn’t seem to have done them much good.”

In the darkness, Lydia watched Malahi’s shadow reach out and rest her hand on his arm. How Lydia wished she could take such easy comfort from touch, for the conversation had turned an already grim situation so much grimmer. “It’s not a coincidence, is it? That Rufina’s armies marched at the same time the Senate set its sights on the West?” She hesitated, then added, “Rufina said that you’d told her about Celendor.”

Agrippa huffed out a breath. “I told her any number of things so that she’d continue to think I was too valuable to kill, but as far as I know, she wasn’t conspiring with the Cel Senate. She merely liked the way they did things.”

“She said that you opened her master’s eyes to a world of opportunity, for her master looks back at those who gaze into the darkness, whether they know his name or not.” Then, lest it seem as though she were casting blame, she added, “Hegeria seemed well aware of the Celendor Empire, so I cannot think the Corrupter was unaware of its nature, but it does suggest to me that perhaps—”

“The Corrupter has influence in the Empire?” Agrippa snorted.“Seems a stretch given that paganism is a crime in Celendor. We erase it everywhere we go, so you can best bet they are pulling down god towers and silencing any reference to the Six in Arinoquia.”

We.Lydia tensed at the proof Agrippa had not entirely disassociated himself from the Empire.

“Urcon, the ruler of Arinoquia, sold all the Arinoquian healers to my father,” Malahi abruptly said. “Quindor told me it was so, and if he bought healers, it’s possible he bought other marked. Which means…”

“Most of them are dead.” Lydia thought of the tenders in Deadground, who might as well have been.

“I think it no coincidence that Arinoquia was stripped of its marked just before the Cel legions arrived,” Killian muttered. “Still care to claim the Corrupter isn’t influencing actions in Celendor, Agrippa? Because it seems to me that your old legion is just another one of the Corrupter’s weapons.”

“They’re not—” Agrippa sucked in an audible breath, then was silent for a moment. “Don’t get it in your head that they’re some sort of monsters set on chaos and destruction. They’re just men who have been given no other path in life but war. They won’t have chosen this because they don’t get choices. Even Marcus is beholden to the whim of the Senate.”

“Much like the majority of Rufina’s army had no choice but to fight,” Baird said, expression cloaked in darkness. “Doesn’t mean they won’t work to achieve dark ends, if only to protect their own necks.”

“Shit.” Agrippa jumped to his feet, kicking rocks so that they went sailing into trees. “Shit shit shit!”

“As alarming as this development is,” Malahi said over the sound of his cursing, “the threat of this invading Empire is not our most pressing concern, for they are not the threat closest to hand. We need to put our minds to escaping Derin and making it back to Mudamora, where we can rally our forces. We should give all due warning to Gamdesh, but I can’t help but think that the Maarin will have already done so. For all we know, the collective armies of the Southern Continent may have already driven the Empire’s legions back across the seas.”

“You only think that because you don’t know them,” Agrippa growled. “You only think that because you don’t knowhim.The only way the Thirty-Seventh won’t win any fight they choose to pick is if Marcus isdead.”

15MARCUS

The horns sounded again.

“Those are legion horns!” Felix shouted. “Scout reports! I want an explanation for why there is another legion on our doorstep, and no one fucking noticed!”

Someone shoved through the masses of the Thirty-Seventh, bellowing, “Empire banners and marks of the Fifty-First.”

Austornic’s legion.

Marcus released a ragged breath, but didn’t move a muscle, for not one of the men had dropped the rocks they held in their hands.

“Fall to command,” Felix roared. “He’s not going anywhere, but your chance for vengeance will be lost if this is an enemy trick. To arms!”

Training took over, and the Thirty-Seventh was once again the well-oiled machine Marcus had created, moving without hesitation to defenses even as more scouts brought reports confirming that the army on approach was, indeed, Cel in origin. Was, indeed, the Fifty-First.

“Stay down,” Felix said under his breath. “I don’t want anyone to get any ideas if they see you on your feet.”

Marcus’s knees ached from kneeling in the mud, but he did not so much as twitch as the gates to the camp were opened wide and a group of young legionnaires with a 51 stamped on their breastplates marched inside, the crimson and gold banners they carried flapping on the wind. They came to a halt, fists slammed against chests, and then they parted to reveal Austornic.

He wasn’t alone.