Chapter 4

Damien and Reyna talked for a while, she told him about the Camp they were in, where Demigods trained in different cohorts and defended against monster attacks. Each centurion was a child of the Roman Gods, but they fought as a unit, they were all equals no matter who their parents were. To be honest Damien couldn't remember everything she had said, it was a lot to try and comprehend but as the evening drew on she had taken him to a guest room in the same building as the Praetors slept.

"Under the circumstances I think it best you stay in one of our guest suites for the time being until we work out who exactly you are" she had said as she and two soldiers had escorted him through the buildings corridors, as they passed others dressed in either purple tees or white togas nodded to Reyna and greeted her

"Yer, so are you like the Queen here or something?" he asked after the twentieth person greeted her and bowed their head slightly.

"No, we do not have monarchs" she took another turn "As I said earlier I am a Praetor"

Damien rolled his eyes, he disliked the way she kept speaking as if he understood any of this

"Oh yes my mistake, I should have known" he said

Reyna picked up on his sarcasm straight away and she didn't appreciate it

"Damien if you do not understand something then just ask do not take that tone please"

Damien got the impression she didn't say 'please' a lot with the way she hesitated on the word but nevertheless Damien bit his tongue and instead of fighting back he took a deep breath

"Sorry, Reyna can you remind me of what a Praetor does?" he said trying to keep his voice level

"A Praetor is one of the highest rank you can be in the Roman legion, we command the armies, but we also govern the camp and make sure all laws are abided and any arguments are resolved" she came to a stop in front of a door

"This will be your room for the foreseeable future" she said opening the door "There is an en-suite through the door on the left, Frank or I will be by in the morning to show you round the camp"

Damien nodded and peered into the room, it was nice, although Reyna did say that it was normally for roman VIP's or something. He looked back at the raven haired Praetor and held up his still cuffed wrists, he raised an eyebrow

"If you don't mind"

Reyna hesitated for a moment, not sure she trusted him to stay in the room, but eventually she nodded at the soldier who produced a key. She took it and unlocked the iron chains

"Keep in mind Damien that this is the safest place for you" she passed the chains to one of the roman soldiers "Good night"

Damien watched as she turned and marched away, her purple cape billowing behind her. After she was out of sight Damien turned to the large soldiers who stared at him, they didn't move

"So… you guys off duty?" he asked as they just stared at him silently "Don't talk much do ya" he said as he walked into the guest room, the door being closed behind him

Damien listened for retreating footsteps but he heard none, the soldiers were staying put outside his room, probably Reyna's idea. He didn't get it, she said this was the safest place for him but with the guards and the chains it felt more like he was being imprisoned. He looked around the simple room, it had a bed, a set of drawers, the door to the bathroom and a small window overlooking the camp below.

"Right" he said to himself as he created a plan in his mind, he moved to the set of drawers, they were empty but still heavy enough to barricade the door, as quietly as he could he dragged the furniture in front of the door. He hoped that the soldiers weren't listening too much or he might get busted before he even started his escape.

After he moved the drawers as close to the door as he could without hitting anything he moved to the window, it was unlocked, they obviously didn't lock their guests in their rooms. Damien opened it as wide as it would go, which wasn't much but just enough to fit his lean body through. He looked down, he was three storey's up, if he fell that would probably be it but for some reason he didn't feel fear. He felt as though he had done this many times before, if anything he felt confident.

More people walked around below, he saw what looked like patrols wandering round the buildings, he couldn't go down, too many people. He looked up craning his neck, he was on the top floor, all he had to do was shimmy over a couple of windows and up onto the roof, from there he could plan his escape.

Without looking back he stepped up onto the window frame, he looked for a new hand hold, most of the wall was smooth pale stone, but there were some cracks and decorative ledges running along. Damien hooked his fingers onto the ledge before swinging his feet out of the window, his body now completely on the outside of the building.

He continued his way along the wall until he was close to the next window, it was closed but there were no blinds or any sort of coverings. Anyone in there could see him and they probably would alert someone to the fact that there was somebody climbing the side of the building.

Slowly he peeked into the room, but as far as he could see it was empty, probably another guest room. He used that window ledge to hoist himself up higher, so he had a more permanent hand hold to shimmy along, allowing him to move faster and soon enough he was hauling himself up on the roof, rolling onto his back to rest his arms for a moment.