Share
Chapter II
Related chapters
Beyond Night Chapter III
CHAPTER IIIAugust dreamt of his youth. The snowy steppes of his home in Germania before the Romans came were a lovely landscape not all could excel in creating. His peoples were toughened by the climate, a thick skin that served him his entire life, not just to the warm humidity of Rome, but on the road across Iberia, Gaul, and now Britannia, where many natives of Italy in the Legion shuddered at the slightest drop in temperature.What interrupted his pleasant dreams wasn’t the cold, although the temperature had fallen during the summer night. The putrid odor in the air made his dream of snowy romps with his childhood friends change to them finding rotten deer. The dream quickly stopped and he awoke, nostrils filled with a stench he couldn’t quite place. He mused at the humor that reality seeped into his imaginings and changed what he dreamed.He heard an unsociable commotion all about his tent. As he rose, Rufus opened his tent with a fast flourish.“Sir, something moves in the n
Beyond Night Chapter IV
CHAPTER IVWhile fear ran amok amongst most of the men secluded in the Fogou, time cured many of their mental ailments. The soldiers kept moving, restless, not wanting to betray fear to their superiors, few as they were, but the feeling of being backed in a corner ran wild. The couple servants shook in primal fear. Rufus, however, held his usual placid demeanor. The soldiers all muttered of taking to the caves below them as an escape, but others wondered what lurked in those tunnels, and the fear returned.The General, who sat against a sack of wheat, wore a tart look, and chided the servants and soldiers to calm down.“They will, in time,” August told him, but didn’t know if that was true. “They’ve seen the manifestation of a hundred childhood tales and fears.”Malitus scowled. “They are soldiers.”“Sir, they aren’t trained to fight those things. The slaves, well, they have not that nerve or ability to fall back.” August gestured at the soldiers. “Even they tremble, trying to for
Beyond Night Chapter V
CHAPTER VSuited up in fresh togs and light armor, August walked from one burnt out home to another looking at the openings discovered underneath. Rufus followed his master, and Porcius and Flavius soon joined them in their quest.August peered back at the hunk of the Legion that joined them, numbering in the thousands scattering across the village grounds, and asked, “Where’s Lucius?”Flavius replied, “Helping them set up a good perimeter and stabling the cavalry for the night.”August’s eyes scanned what used to be the town of Rutland, and saw a mini version of the Roman fort assembled up fast. Tents, tiny and for individual dwellings, peppered the street and surrounding country, all tightly knit together. Larger tents also sprang up, all laid out in the usual manner of a Legion on the move. When he saw one of the slingers try and hit a raven that perched on one of the carts, he suddenly felt ill. They missed.Porcius chewed on something and wiped his right hand on a cloth near
Beyond Night Chapter VI
CHAPTER VINear sunset, Porcius had mounted his steed, and rode along with two others as they did a patrol. They rode to the stone circle they’d visited before, but found no one about. Porcius rode alone over to the lip of the forest, to where they’d seen the altar and where the Picts had died. After a few moments of looking for the slain men, Porcius turned back.“Huh, not a fly, nothing.”“What lies beyond these woods, down about the side of this great leg of the forest?” one asked Porcius.He sipped from his wine flask and shrugged. “I’ve been wondering the same thing, Severus, but I really don’t want to be caught there after dark. I figure when the Legion marches as one, we’ll discover it together, aye?”The two exchanged a glance before Severus stated, “You must not comprehend the purpose of recon and patrol?”After a swig, Porcius replied, “I understand just fine, but getting my ass killed for foolish curiosity isn’t in the handbook, is it?”Severus said smartly, “We’ll ri
Beyond Night Chapter VII
CHAPTER VIIPorcius charged into the forest, still in pursuit of Tavia. The white furred thing wouldn’t be tough to track, he wagered. The beast bounced off this tree and that, breaking branches and swiping things aside. Porcius kept at them, quickly following the path laid in its wake.His mind spun at how he’d kill the thing, but Porcius felt confident he could as he dodged the wiry trees about him. In his mind Porcius traced out a plan on how he’d do it, too. His plans seldom played out perfectly in real battle, and this was against a monster. Of course, Porcius reasoned, he could just run like hell and let the demons take that girl. Still, he had not once shrunk from a fight, as a kid, as an adult, as a slave or a soldier.But it breathed, it bled, he’d cut its fool ear off. That gave him confidence. He knew they could perish, and he hungered to take its life.Of course, that thing his teacher called cowardice lurked in the rear of his head, telling him to just go on, run away
Beyond Night Chapter VIII
CHAPTER VIIIRufus sat on General Malitus’ folding chair, inside the Roman’s tent. The commander didn’t need it at the moment. His frenzy of movement ran, too busy outside trying to direct which of his men of the veteran caste died next. The boy thought of the tent around him, made of a canvas fabric foreign to Britannia, or at least it was before these red crested pricks showed up. They changed most things with their arrival. Even the trails from town to town had rougher, flatter surfaces . . . better to wheel their cargoes of death with. This was called progress and civilization to them. In all of their technical brilliance, they marveled at the stone henges and couldn’t fathom how such primitives transported the slabs without good roads. Such was their folly.He pondered the simple tents of his people, ones they used on hunting trips or camped in after quickly fought battles. They were of the earth, hides mostly, common and warm, sewn to perfection by nimble fingers. These tents f
Beyond Night Chapter IX
CHAPTER IXAt the crest of the valley, the eyes of Tancorix looked over the many tribes of Pictdom. So numerous were the men and women that arrived she couldn’t count their numbers. All of them came to the fight, but they celebrated all the way. At the periphery of the great forest of Syn, at the edge of the enormous plain of Kassidee, thousands of them amassed, sharing mirth.Tancorix stayed back in the dim forest, seated on fallen logs, but let herself be seen many times by the multitude.“It’s good to be seen by them all, but in small numbers. Let their wonder wrap about their minds.”Tancorix heard and understood the words of Weaver, her wizardess of the wood. She read wisdom in her words, but made a curious observation over the diminutive assistant to Weaver, Ragala, and wondered if the elder was wise enough in her ways to comprehend the younger lass wanted her elder’s place. Then again, Tancorix mused, that was the natural order of the wood.Quite a few chiefs of the Pict tr
Beyond Night Chapter X
CHAPTER XAugust, Flavius and the dozen other soldiers entered the Fogou, armed and trying to act like they were ready for what lay below. Each wore stern faces of courage and honor, but these faded as the darkness crept in near. Again, the anomalous green veins of light in the narrow cavern provided sufficient light, even if the men brought torches to be struck when they reached the burial chamber. Not used to the green glow like August had become, many murmured their fears and tried to screw down their courage.While Flavius served as a capable enough soldier, August wished that Porcius was at his side instead. Although Porcius would never fit into these narrow tunnels.The smell of death and decay almost overpowered August, but no one else seemed to react to it. Though his stomach churned, August held on to his meagre rations. Did he imagine it? August and the others reached the breach in the tunnel and he instructed all of the men to hug the wall as they headed left.The very a
Latest chapter
