It felt good to sit down after a long day. I stuffed my face with food until Gwen made me slow down and "eat like a civilised Roman".
"So,"I said,"what's so bad about the Fifth cohort?"
Gwen bit her lip and glanced over to the pole that should have an eagle on top.
"Something about the eagle," I prompted.
Gwen gave me an exasperated sigh.
"It's the symbol of the whole camp-a golden eagle. It's supposed to protect us in battle and make our enemies scared. Each legion's eagle had some kind power, and ours came from Jupiter himself. Julius Caesar nicknamed our legion 'Fulminata'-armed with lightning-because of what the eagle could supposedly do."
"And?"
"And we lost it,"said a cheerful voice next to me. I swung around to see who had spoken. A dark haired fit boy around my age with deep,green eyes sat next to me. He seemed so familiar yet I couldn't remember where I had seen him. I frowned and he chuckled.
"Breck Taylor,"he said offering me a hand to shake. (A.N pre-covid times)
"Ella Riordan," I said still frowning,"have I seen you before?"
Breck shook his head. "You will though. I'm planning on releasing my single next month. It's going to go viral!"
Gwen muttered some unprofessional words under her breath.
"Breck thinks he had mastered the art of music."
"I have,"Breck protested,"with some simple calculations I have managed to write a song that combines all the sounds that the human ear finds pleasing in a way that is impossible not to love. It will work, you'll see."
Gwen sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Whatever."
A guy I recognized as Jason Grace plonked his food down opposite me. Gwen had told me he had been at Camp since he was two. He was your ideal Roman, Gwen had said, and if someone should influence the way you act, it should be him.
He examined me while I ate, as if he could know what kind of help I'd be to the team just by watching be eat chicken.
A horn sounded from the end of the hall, startling me. The officers at the praetor's table got to their feet, Dakota wobbling slightly.
The games begin!" Reyna announced. Everyone cheered and rushed to collect their equipment from the stacks along the walls.
I followed Gwen slowly. I hated not knowing exactly what to do.
"So we're the attacking team?" I asked," is that good?",
Gwen gave me a weary smile, "It means we get the elephant but-"
"We always lose," Breck said like he couldn't care less.
"Come on. Let's defeat the odds,"Gwen said with a half smile.
•~•■•~•
We marched to the war games with stupid cocky smiles on our faces. Once we got out of camp Fifth Cohort formed two lines behind Gwen and Dakota. Of course Breck had to stand next to me. We started to march north and we soon came to a long, flat valley. The grass was cropped short and the earth was scarred with craters and explosion holes from previous games. At the end of the field was our target. It seemed to be a huge, well defended, stone fortress.
Breck nodded gravely towards the building," Boy, they've been working hard today. They've done a good job."
I nodded pretending I knew what he was talking about until my sluggish brain processed his words.
"Wait, today?" I asked,"that whole thing was built in a day?"
Breck gave me a mischievous grin, "We're trained for it. We could take down the whole camp and rebuild it in three or four days if we wanted to."
"Okay," I said dragging out the last syllable,"so you do this every evening,"
"Not every night," Breck said rolling his eyes,"We try to vary our training exercises. We have death ball-"
"Death ball?"
"It's like paint-ball, except with poison and acid and fire balls. Sometimes we do chariots and gladiator competitions, and sometimes we do war games. "
"So-o,"I said,"why do you do this kind of thing anyway?"
"Teamwork," Breck replied quickly. He must have been asked this often."Quick thinking. Tactics. Battle skills. You'd be surprised what you can learn in the war games."
"Uh huh,"I nodded suspiciously.
Breck leaned on his sword and helped me put my armour on.
When he touched my arm a shiver went up my spine and he withdrew immediately.
"Um, so what do we have to do?"I asked in order to break the silence.
Breck pointed at the fort. "Inside, the First and Second Cohorts are keeping their banners. Our job is to get inside and get them without getting caught. We do that, we win."
"Easy peasy,"I said rubbing my hands together.
Breck grinned.
"Let's do this."
•~•■•~•
"So we have to get past water-cannons, scorpions, arrows, swords, catapults, and other animals without getting hurt?" I asked counting off the marks on my fingers.
"You forgot that we have to navigate the maze and defeat pretty much all the guards and do it before the other two attacking cohorts do but yeah pretty much," Breck said.
I walked faster trying to keep up with the pace the left-right marching rhythm was setting and Breck looked amused.
We marched to the center of the Field of Mars and formed ranks. The Third and Fourth Cohorts were arranged as far as possible from the Fifth. The centurions for the attacking side gathered for a conference. In the sky above them, Megan circled on her pegasus, ready to be the referee.
Giant eagles flew behind her, ready to assist as air ambulance.
Breck tossed me a sword.
"What if I hurt somebody?"I asked holding the sword carefully.
"We heal them," Breck said. "Or try to. We have legion medics who are pretty good with ambrosia and nectar, and unicorn draught. "
"Okay,"I said nodding slowly.
Breck laughed. "Just stay with us, Ell Chances are we'll get eliminated early. They'll throw us at the walls first to soften up the defenses. Then the Third and Fourth Cohorts will march in and get the honors, if they can even breach the fort. "
Horns blew. Dakota and Gwen walked back from the officers' conference, looking grim.
"Okay, here's the plan!" Dakota said while taking a quick swig of Kool-Aid from his travel flask. "They're throwing us at the walls first to soften up the defenses."
The whole cohort groaned and Breck gave me a knowing nod.
"I know, I know," Gwen said. "But maybe this time we'll have some luck. We do have another player!"
Still, the campers grumbled and complained. Nobody believed in luck for the Fifth.
"First line with Dakota," Gwen said. "Lock shields and advance in turtle formation to the main gates. Try to stay in one piece. Draw their fire. Second line-" Gwen turned to our row with a tired grin. "You seventeen, from Bobby over, take charge of the elephant and the scaling ladders. Try a flanking attack on the western wall. Maybe we can spread the defenders too thin. Just try to stay alive." She turned back to the whole cohort. "If anybody gets over the wall first, I'll make sure you get the Mural Crown. Victory for the Fifth!"
The cohort cheered half heartedly and broke ranks.
"What's the Mural crown?"I asked Breck.
"Military award. No one in the Fifth is wearing one 'cause we've never got to the fortress. Come on. There's only so many times you can lose."
•~•■•~•
In front of us, the fort's east wall towered taunting us. To our left I could see the main line of the Fifth Cohort advancing in turtle formation, shields forming a shell over their heads and sides. They were trying to reach the main gates, but the defenders above pelted them with rocks and shot flaming bolts from the scorpions, blasting craters around their feet. A water cannon shot a huge spray of water and the pressure carved a huge trench in front of them.
The Third and Fourth Cohorts weren't even advancing. They stood back and laughed, watching their "allie"" get beat up. The defenders clustered on the wall above the gates, yelling insults at the tortoise formation as it staggered back and forth. War games had suddenly turned into "beat up the Fifth."
A huge storm cloud formed ahead and we stopped and stared as it started to rain so hard we couldn't see.
Our shields went up to keep us dry but they hardly did anything. Lightning struck all around and suddenly Gwen shouted,"ATTACK!"
We all rushed to the fort me swinging my sword aimlessly. How did anyone have any control over the thing?
"Watch it. You'll take someone's head off,"Breck said suddenly appearing next to me.
The Third and Forth cohorts started to come into the game, a little too late. By the time they had caught up with us we were marching put with the enemy's colors.
The Fifth Cohort formed ranks around us. Together we paraded out of the fort triumphantly past stunned enemies and lines of equally mystified allies.
Reyna flew low overhead on her pegasus. "The game is won!" She sounded as if she were trying not to laugh. "Assemble for honors!"
•~•■•~•
Jason got the Mural Crown. He was the one who created the lightning storm distraction so we could get to the fort.
Reyna atually smiled (quite coldly but still)at me when she handed me the phone to call home. I dialled the number and held my breath as I waited for a familiar voice to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Mom?"I didn't realise how homesick I was until I heard her voice.
"Ella."she broke down into sobs,"Ella are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine Mom, really."
"Where are you honey?"
"I'm at some kind of training camp. You won't believe the crazy stuff I saw today."
"Oh honey. I knew I'd had to let you go someday."
Huh. What was that supposed to mean?
"At least you're safe. Call soon okay?"
"Okay,"I said suspiciously.
•~•■•~•
As I snuggled into bed that night, Mom's words replayed in my head. Just how much did she know?
Author's note:
Please vote because I can't decide who who will get a quest:Breck or Jason? Either way, the quest will include Jason, Breck and Lana. Please PM me if you have any ideas 'cause I'm kind of running out.