Glossary of Terms:
STA: Roman military command for Halt.
PRIMUS PILUS: The senior centurion of the legion and commander of the first cohort.
DECANUS: Leader of a contubernium (a legionary tent group of 8 men).
CONTUBERNALES: Members of a tent group of 8 men within a Roman century.
OPTIUM (OPTIO): Position in a centuria (century) of a Roman army similar to that of an executive officer.
IASON: Romanized form of Jason.
TORNA MINA: Roman military command for Turn and charge.
*Blue-skinned barbarians: I'm taking some liberties here. Although Celts were known for painting themselves blue for battles, and though there were Celtic tribes scattered across Europe and well into Macedonia, it's not entirely likely all the barbarians encountered by the Romans were Celts, nor that they would all be doing the blue thing. I just really like the idea, so I kept it.
CONTUBERNALES
I
"STA!" yelled centurion Perseus, raising his gladius above his head so as to be visible to the soldiers at the back, immediately bringing the entire cohort to a halt. The scrunching sound of sandals scraping against the ground lasted only a second longer, and then silence reigned.
He acknowledged the discipline of the hundreds of statuesque figures before him with a nod, the lines of his face taunt with tension and something that could have been pride. He was a young officer, brilliant and keen to prove himself, and though he was not new to the role of centurion (he had been head of a century for over three years now), he had only recently taken command of the cohort, after the former lead centurion had passed away in battle a few weeks prior.
The fact that his promotion had been unanimously supported not only by the 80 men that made up his century, but by the other 480 soldiers that made up the entire cohort was widely accepted as irrefutable proof that centurion Perseus would go far within the Legion. Very far indeed, as rumors were going around the cohort that he had already been noticed by the Legion Commander, and who was now considering moving Perseus up to the First Cohort. There was no doubt in Nico's mind that if that were the case, Percy would wound up Primus Pilus within a few years' time, making him the fourth in command of the entire legion, ahead of 6,500 men. Needless to say, unless he were to die in battle, centurion Perseus's military career – perhaps even his political career – was only just getting started, and with brilliant prospects in the future.
And to think he had once been nothing more than a decanus, just like Nico now was. In fact, Nico thought, squinting against the blinding sunlight in order to catch a better glimpse of the man, it was only because Perseus had been promoted to the role of centurion all those years ago that Nico had been voted decanus in the first place, taking over Perseus' former post.
You men, left behind. He thought bitterly.
He tried hard not to frown, and when he did so, he blamed it entirely on the intensity of the sun, and not on his unresolved feelings concerning the talented young centurion, now head of the Fifth Cohort of Legio V Macedonica – the Fifth Macedonian Legion.
Nico did not wish to sound bitter, not even to himself, as a mixture of admiration and jealousy consumed him. He tried to focus instead on a memory he had of their first few weeks as contubernales, when Percy had fallen headfirst into a ditch that had been previously used to dispose of the century's waste. A sardonic smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as Percy began to walk closer to Nico's row.
"Legionnaires!" bellowed centurion Perseus, taking a few steps into the cohort that immediately parted for him to walk amongst the rows of men. "We are operating in hostile country. Our orders are clear – squash the revolt, see to the interests of Rome!"
The sound of hundreds of fists pounding once against their own breastplate was deafening, yet perfectly timed.
"They are nothing but a band of barbaric… barbarians! They know no law. We are here to remedy that!" he bellowed, and again, the men showed their approval by pounding their chests.
"For there is no greater law… than Roman law!" he added hastily, almost like an afterthought.
Next to Nico, Will snorted. The lower-ranking soldier caught Nico's eye and had the presence of mind to look apologetic, even if Nico himself felt like cracking up a smile. He would have to discipline him later, and a shiver ran through him at the thought.
The rest of Percy's speech was largely lost to Nico. He knew most of his speeches by heart already, as the talented soldier was great at strategizing yet terrible at public speaking. In addition, their orders from above never varied much. They would wait for the reconnaissance unit to return to make sure conditions were ideal for building an encampment, scout the area for enemies, then squash them.
Scout, squash, repeat. Such was the life of a Roman legionnaire in foreign lands.
Nico looked around and silently acknowledged he would not have chosen a better spot himself, what with the rising round and a freshwater lake nearby. The forest to the east would provide wood for the walls, the soft ground so near a water source provided material for brick building… all in all, it was the perfect spot for erecting a Roman camp.
Nico sighed and took another look around, coming to terms with the fact that they might be here for anything between one night and ten years.
According to Roman law, civilian upheavals in foreign lands – especially those of a violent nature – ranked high upon the list of crimes against Rome that merited immediate military intervention, so it was normal for Rome to double or even triple its number of stationary legions at strategic points throughout said conquered lands in order to quench the rebellions.
Freshly civilized regions however, saw no fewer than a few hundred local revolts per year, so it was even more common practice for said stationary legions to settle down around wild areas for years, even decades, giving true meaning to the term 'stationary'.
This was the case of Macedonia, the ancient home of Alexander the Great, which had seen more revolts in its early years of Roman occupation than it had ever seen in its entire history. The land represented an incredible asset to the Roman republic, and would thusly not be given up without a fight. Especially not to a few scattered tribes of blue-skinned barbarians who knew nothing of civility, let alone military formations.
Or as Percy had so eloquently put – they would not give their lands up to a band of barbaric barbarians.
He'd been so lost in his thoughts, Nico almost missed Percy's speech being interrupted by the sounds of approaching men just on the other side of the hill. The cohort closed ranks instinctively and waited for their centurion's signal, but Percy remained impassive. He gestured for a trumpet call – unique to their cohort – which was promptly returned by the approaching soldiers.
"Jason," Percy called silently, a smile of relief softening his features.
Legionnaire Jason had been Percy's optium, or second in command, when Percy headed a single century. Now that he was head of the entire cohort, Jason had been promoted, taking Percy's place in turn. If there were ever two men who completely trusted one another, those were lead centurion Perseus and centurion Iason.
Nico glanced sideways at Will, who stifled a yawn. Nico rolled his eyes and smiled.
Judging by Percy's expression, which he could easily discern from where he stood, Nico judged Jason had brought back a plethora of very good news, mixed with very few, very bad news. Percy's tightly-knit eyebrows and the way he picked at his chin were all the confirmation Nico needed.
"Hey," whispered Will next to him.
Nico shot him a warning look, but Will simply smiled back in turn.
"Do you think there's trout in the lake?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper yet brimming with excitement.
"What?" Nico hissed back, half-annoyed, half-amused.
Behind them, Leo cleared his throat, which made Nico flush. He had been about to turn and admonish Leo for daring to admonish him first, when he realized Leo had been trying to get Will's attention.
"I bet there's trout, alright," he whispered, smacking his lips. "I can smell the fat cooking already."
"Stop," said Will, his stomach grumbling.
Nico had to look away to keep his smile hidden from the rest. As he did so, his eyes landed on Percy and Jason, who spoke in solemn whispers at the head of the cohort. Percy crossed his arms over his chest, nodded once, then looked towards the men. When Percy's green eyes made contact with his own, Nico knew what would come before it even did. He only hoped he was wrong.
Orders were given to begin construction, and by late afternoon, Nico's contubernium had finished digging the one-hundred-or-so feet they had been assigned, and had started erecting the fence.
Once or twice, Nico caught the sound of Will's stomach grumbling, and he found himself working faster, the sooner they finished their stretch of wall, the sooner they'd be able to eat.
By nightfall, almost half a mile of wall had been erected, and when the two ends of wall met at the makeshift gate, all 480 soldiers and 120 servants cheered in unison.
Once the initial phase of construction had been completed, it was time to break into separate centuries, which in turn broke into their smallest units. Each contubernium went about their own business, erecting their own tents and seeing to their suppers.
Nico had only just returned from a short decanus meeting with the other heads of contuberni, when he suddenly bumped into none other than centurion Jason, freshly returned from a reconnaissance mission that had taken weeks to complete.
"Nico," said Jason in surprise, taking a second to place both hands on Nico's shoulders. "It's good to see you."
"Good to have you back," replied Nico, repeating the gesture.
Jason smiled and nodded, the lines around his eyes a tad deeper than the last time Nico had seen him from up close.
"Have you all you need? Is your unit complete?" Jason asked.
"We are all in good health, thank the gods," Nico replied.
Jason nodded appreciatively, which Nico wanted to take as an invitation to leave. He smiled back and nodded, but just as he began to turn away, Jason caught him by the shoulder.
"I heard you are making a name for yourself. You are widely respected across the century," he added.
Nico forced himself to remain impassive. "I am merely another servant of Rome. I do what must be done."
"Percy speaks highly of you," Jason added hastily. "He –"
"Centurion Perseus is much too kind. As are you. Now, if you'll excuse me, my unit awaits my return," he said.
He hoped he didn't come off too rude. It would be a great insult to walk away from his superior in such a manner, but he and Jason went a long way back, and he still hoped the man would allow him the slight liberty of walking away to avoid a sore subject.
"Nico," Jason cut in quickly, then stopped. He drew a hand through his neatly-cropped hair, then shook his head and smiled. "Never mind. Some of the men have returned with freshwater from the lake. I hear they've caught some trout. I'll make sure to send some your way."
Nico thought of Will's grumbling stomach and caught himself smiling. He placed his hands on Jason's shoulders and nodded.
"That would be most welcome, thank you, centurion," he said politely.
"You can still call me Jace when it's just us," Jason interjected, and when he smiled, he did so like a child, and a myriad of memories of their childhood flashed through Nico's mind in a fraction of a second.
"Thanks, Jace," he said, then promptly walked away.
By the time he reached his unit, their tent had been skillfully erected, and while the servants were busy about preparing their rations of wheat, his legionnaire brothers sat around the fire, some sharpening their blades, some polishing their armor.
"Hey, Nico," said Will, calling him to sit next to him. "Guess what Leo's suggested?"
Nico felt his entire body warm up before he even sat by the fire, just at the idea of sitting next to Will.
"What?" he said flatly, taking a seat.
"Let me tell him!" Leo cut in from the opposite side of the fire. Leonidas – Leo for short, was the newest member of their contubernium. He was around the same age as Nico, even though he looked much younger. His eagerness to prove himself was only matched by his own clumsy feet. Yet, he was a skilled builder and a talented engineer in the making. Nico considered him one of the most valuable members of their unit, albeit one that brought more trouble than strictly necessary.
"You are not going to challenge Jason to another wrestling match," Nico interjected, only half-serious. He wouldn't mind watching Leo get his ass kicked again.
Leo's mouth fell open, then slowly closed it and looked away.
"You're no fun," he mumbled through a smile. "I would have won this time."
"How was the meeting?" Will asked, offering Nico a piece of bread. Nico took it and followed Will's hands as he popped a small piece into his own mouth and began chewing slowly.
"Fine," Nico replied, then decided to elaborate at the look Will was giving him. "The other cohorts are to meet up with us in the coming weeks. The Second is coming in from the west, the First most likely from the south."
"So, our little temporary encampment…"
"Is most likely going to be our home for the next months, if not years," Nico supplied.
Will did not look much fussed about the news. He popped the remaining bit of bread into his mouth and shook the breadcrumbs off his lap.
"At least we'll be together," he said before getting up and stepping into the tent, leaving Nico completely shaken and feeling like he held a piece of gold instead of stale bread in his hand.
By the time trout had been dutifully delivered to their tent, Will was fast asleep and Nico did not have the heart to wake him.
Two weeks went by uneventfully before they were joined by the Second Legion, and their encampment had grown exponentially to contain them. Upon their arrival, a few groups of barbarians had been spotted in the adjoining hills but had quickly been dealt with by another contubernium. To Nico, it was just another unit getting all the glory, while his own sat on the sidelines, gathering wood.
The encampment now bustling with activity, the place sometimes reminded Nico of a busy marketplace in Rome. A few villagers from the surrounding area had appeared to trade with the legions, some of them went as far as supplying women for the soldiers. Needless to say, Nico was less than interested in the latter, and much more excited at the thought of the freshly churned butter they sometimes brought along.
In the meantime, Nico saw little of Jason from time to time, and nothing of Percy.
Their unit spent most of their time gathering supplies for the constant rebuilding of the encampment, doing training drills and taking turns to collect food and water from the nearby lake. A small canal had been dug to provide clean water for the encampment, but the legionnaires were often given permission to take small trips outside the walls and head for the lake, mainly for the purpose of fishing, but also for recreation.
"You're going to break your face if you keep that up," Nico warned as Will tried to balance his weight on top of a large boulder peeking just out of the water in the shoreline. It had been their turn to go fishing on behalf of their unit, and Will had been bustling with excitement all day.
"You underestimate my abilities," Will yelled back, which Nico found unnecessary, as he stood only a few feet behind, his sandals firmly set on dry land.
"I think it's a matter of you overestimating yours, actually."
Will looked back at him and raised an eyebrow in his direction.
"You'll thank me when I spot the damn fish. It's a matter of strategy. They can't see me, so they'll never expect me to pounce. You know, the Roman way."
Nico snorted.
"That is so not the Roman way," he retorted playfully, loving every second of their senseless conversation.
"Aha!" Will yelled, pointing straight into the water just ahead of him. "There!"
Nico shook his head and smiled, just as Will adopted a ridiculous position, as if he were about to dive off a cliff.
"For Rome!" Will yelled and dived headfirst into the water.
Nico immediately took a step forward. He hadn't expected Will to actually go for it. The water was extremely shallow, and the ground was rocky. But Will was a skilled warrior and, contrary to what he pretended to be, he was actually a brilliant strategist. Of course he would not dive headfirst into shallow water. But then he did, and when he did not resurface within seconds, Nico barged into the water after him.
The seconds were long as he waded to the spot into which had disappeared just behind the large boulder, his heart beating madly against his ribcage hoping the water remained clear.
He spotted him quick enough, floating face down on the water.
"Will!" Nico bellowed, raising his feet above the water almost desperately in order to get there as quick as possible. As he reached him, his first instinct was to reach for his gladius, then quickly realized there were no enemies to fight. Will had fallen out of his own stupidity, and if he had died, he would never outlive this moment for the rest of his life.
Then just as suddenly, Will turned in Nico's arms, gasping for breath and cackling madly, his white-toothed smile blinding against the sun.
"Gotcha!" he said, pulling Nico into the water.
Nico was so surprised he failed to close his mouth as Will submerged him underneath the shallow current, and when he reemerged, his face flush with anger and relief, all he could do was cough and throw Will the most threatening glare he could muster.
"You – you –" he managed between coughs.
Will was laughing himself hoarse and did not anticipate Nico pouncing on him. Will stumbled back with Nico on top of him, his hands grabbing onto the front of Will's clothes.
The momentum carried them to the bottom, and the moment Will's back made contact with the ground, he craned his neck and touched his lips to Nico's.
It was barely a graze, but to Nico it felt as if he had been thrown into a fire pit. He pulled Will by the front of his robes and smashed their lips together.
When they returned to the encampment, they walked with a distance of no fewer than six feet between them, and they did not speak about what had just transpired between them.
"Nico, are you awake?" Will whispered from his bunk.
Nico's eyes flew open in an instant, but quickly commanded his heart to settle down. They were alone in the tent for the time being, he need not fear being overheard.
"What?" he asked.
Will took his time to reply.
"Tell me about Percy?" It wasn't a command, nor was it a question. Will had a particularly infuriating habit of phrasing ideas in a manner that gave ample way to different interpretations.
"There is nothing to tell," he said dryly. "Go back to sleep."
Will did not elaborate, and eventually, Nico sighed.
"When he was promoted to centurion, I was happy for him. He deserved it in all honesty. He saved my life in more than one occasion and I will always be grateful, but –"
"But then he chose Jason as second, even though you outranked him?"
Nico rolled his eyes.
"Why do you ask if you already know?" he asked exasperatedly.
He could practically hear Will shrugging, even though he could not see him in the dark.
"Just wanted to know… if you resented him for it?"
Nico thought deeply for a few seconds. He did, and he did not. It pretty much depended on his mood.
"Not so much now," he confessed quietly.
Will let out a shaky sigh.
"Forgive me, but I'm grateful for the outcome," he said.
Nico held his breath, waiting for Will to continue. He never did.
The trumpet signal blasted across the entire encampment as if it had been magically magnified a thousand times. Nico was on his feet before he even knew it, and began shouting orders at the soldiers under his command.
Within seconds, they were dressed and armed to the teeth, standing in formation outside the tent.
"Enemies to the east!" bellowed a messenger, repeating the words over and over again as he ran past the tents.
"Cavalry!" bellowed centurion Perseus from the main tent. "With me!"
The two legions were out of the encampment within minutes, standing in perfect formation without waiting to be told.
"Five thousand strong await us!" bellowed Percy, raising his gladius. "Not one shall survive! For Rome!"
"For Rome!"
Shit. Nico thought. They were outnumbered five to one. Luckily, he trusted their strength, their discipline and their weapons. The numbers were chilling nonetheless. He turned to his unit and waited until all eyes were on him.
"Eight men leave. Eight men return. Those are my orders. Will, with me! Leo, take the rear."
"I love the rear," Leo replied.
Together, they marched on, a small unit of eight men lost in a phalanx just shy of a thousand strong.
They met the enemy within the hour, and the battle broke out almost immediately. The blue-skinned barbarians wielded spears and swords, matching the Roman phalanx with a sort of phalanx of their own, although they lacked the discipline.
Arrows flew over their heads, but Romans were trained to withstand the rain by lifting their shields over their heads.
Nico did not need to look, he knew the moment the rain of arrows had stopped meant that the cavalry had reached them, and they were probably all dead.
Despite the good news, they soon found themselves surrounded by barbarians, who made use of their superior numbers by pressing the cohorts together.
"They're not engaging!" Will bellowed next to Nico, supporting the man in front of him by pushing forward with his shield, then craning his neck to see thousands of blue-skinned men running past their sides to surround them.
"Where is the damn cavalry?" Nico yelled through gritted teeth. He knew Percy was heading the cavalry, and if the arrows had been dealt with, why the hell weren't they coming back to provide backup from behind?
"TORNA MINA!" bellowed Jason from somewhere in the front. "Turn and charge! Maniple formation!"
"Finally!" yelled Leo from a few rows behind Nico. "My arm was getting sore."
The outer walls of the phalanx pushed the surrounding enemies just enough for the smaller units to turn, and even though battle began to take its first few Roman casualties, the enemies began to fall in greater numbers.
Within seconds, they were fully engaged, as blue-skinned barbarians infiltrated the formation, which was part of the strategy on its own. By allowing men between their ranks, the legionnaires were allowed to engage the enemy forces man-to-man, and needless to say, the Romans held the upper hand in combat.
Leo slashed a man across the chest and the blue giant tumbled and rolled a few yards past him.
"That's what I'm talking about!" he said with a wild grin on his face. He caught sight of another man only a few feet ahead, then with a mighty roar, Leo raised his spear and tossed it in the man's direction. The spear went through the man's face and Leo let out a deranged cry of glory.
"Leo, don't break ranks, we are still fighting together!" Nico yelled, blocking a spear with his shield and parring another with his gladius. To his right, Will stabbed the man that had attacked Nico, and Nico, his arm free, slashed through another that was making his way towards Will.
With one eye on the battle and one eye on his men, Nico parried one blow after another, making sure to lock shields with Will whenever necessary. Will, to his right, moved in perfect unison with him, proving once again that he was a skilled soldier – perhaps more so than Nico himself.
"Take that, you blue demon!" Leo roared, stabbing a man through the stomach. With a start, Nico realized Leo had abandoned formation, and was fighting on his own instead of in pairs.
"Leonidas! Return to formation immediately!" Nico bellowed, but Leo did not, or could not hear him. His gladius was stuck between the man it had skewered and the solid ground.
"I swear –" Nico hissed. Then his eyes landed on a man that began to quickly gain upon Leo.
"Will, cover me!" Nico yelled, blocking a blow and running towards Leo, breaking formation himself. He could feel Will just behind him, and was not worried in the slightest about being attacked. He reached Leo just as the man raised his spear.
But before Nico had even raised his own gladius to defend his friend, the blue-skinned man was run through with a sword from behind. As the giant figure toppled over, Nico came face to face with centurion Perseus. His face was covered in blood, as were his clothes, but it was the look he gave Nico that terrified him.
"Keep your men in formation, Nico!" Percy bellowed, blocking an attack to his right so quickly he made it look easy.
Nico found he was in no condition to reply. For a second he even felt like dropping his sword, such was the shame and the humiliation he felt at being admonished mid-battle, by Percy of all people.
Infuriated, he grabbed Leo by the scruff of his uniform, then removed a gladius from a fallen soldier, offering it to Leo with much more force than was strictly necessary.
"Get back in fucking line!" he hissed, and Leo knew better than to disobey.
"Nico!" Will yelled to his side, trying to block an attack to his right with his sword instead of his shield, because of course, Nico wasn't there. A spear found Will's thigh and Nico felt like his own life was in danger.
He realized he had forgotten all about him, if only for a second.
He had seldom felt the fury with which he charged the man that had attacked Will, and once Nico was done with him, he barely resembled a man anymore.
By the time they had gotten back into formation, the battle was largely over. The romans had squashed the barbarian rebellion within minutes of engaging man-to-man, and once again, Nico had been left out of the ring of glory in the shape of piling blue corpses that surrounded those other units. Instead, he had managed to stand out as the leader of the unit that broke formation, and almost lost two of its members.
Worst of all, he had forgotten about Will. He had left him unguarded, alone, if only for a few seconds, but in battle, that was often all it took for someone to get killed.
Shouts of victory surrounded him, but Nico was numb to their words. He had failed, miserably, and he would not forgive himself for his mistake. Leo would be punished, severely, but then again, so should he.
Will was fine, in the end. The spear had barely grazed him, but the wound had been scandalous enough to render him slightly light-headed. He refused to be carried, and returned to the encampment on foot, supported by Nico, who shook all the way back to their tent.
The mood around the camp was one of celebration, but in Nico's tent, it was subdued at best. Leo nursed his wounds in shame, sitting away from the rest. Will, in the meantime, was being attended by the camp medic inside their tent.
Nico sat by the fire, his elbows on his knees.
"May I join you?" said a gentle voice. Nico looked up and saw Jason staring down at him, holding two wooden tankards.
Nico smiled bitterly and smirked. "Sure, Jace."
Jason sat next to him, and the rest of the unit members made themselves scarce.
"Here," said Jason, offering Nico a tankard. "The wine is not half-bad."
Nico took it but did not drink.
"Some battle," said Jason quietly.
"Some battle," Nico repeated.
"I heard what happened, I'm sorry."
Nico threw his head back, then laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, yeah. That happened."
"Don't beat yourself up. It happens," Jason began, but stopped at the look Nico threw his way.
"Listen," he began once again, his tone now completely devoid of sympathy. "There's something I've been meaning to discuss with you."
Nico raised an eyebrow, glad for the change of tone. He was never one for sympathy.
"Speak frankly," he said.
Jason took a sip of wine, then seemed to wash his mouth with it before swallowing.
"We have been hearing rumors of some sort of fortress to the north. This is, needless to say, strictly confidential."
That got Nico's attention, without noticing, he took a sip of wine and looked straight into Jason's blue eyes.
"What about it?"
"The reason the First Cohort hasn't met up with us just yet? Well, the truth is…" he stopped then looked around, wary of being overheard. "They're one century short."
"What do you mean?" Nico asked quietly.
"A few months ago, the First Legion was forced to separate as they crossed over to Macedonia. One of the cohorts was cut out from the rest by an army of ten thousand strong," Jason explained.
"Ten thousand?" Nico asked, his eyes widening.
"A contubernium was sent out to deliver a message to the rest of the cohort, but only one man made it alive. He passed away shortly after delivering the message. His wounds were extensive and… disturbing."
Nico drank from his wine almost absent-mindedly, his thoughts with the fallen soldiers.
"What kind of wounds? What was the message?" he asked.
Jason sighed. "The message was that the century would take up refuge in an abandoned fortress, that they had enough provisions to last them a few weeks, and that they needed help urgently. Unfortunately, the messenger died before he could disclose the location of the fortress."
"Fuck," Nico interjected.
"Correct," Jason supplied. "The First Cohort and its lead centurion have been scouting the entire territory in search for them, but it's been months since the message was delivered. The soldiers are most likely dead, I don't believe they are fooling themselves into thinking that they might still find them alive. Still, as you can see, they are ashamed. They want to find them at all costs, offer them the proper funerary rites, and squash the scumbags responsible for their deaths."
Nico nodded solemnly. He would have felt exactly the same way had he been in their sandals.
"Which brings me to my point," said Jason, taking another look around. "We have located what looks like an abandoned fortress, some twenty miles north of here. The area is on higher ground, and surrounded by a thick forest, so, all in all…"
"Not ideal for an entire century to march on…" Nico added.
"Exactly," Jason replied.
"What are you getting at, Jason?" Nico asked, his heartrate picking up.
If he had read Percy's look right that first day they arrived upon their current encampment, the lead centurion probably had plans for Nico.
Would this be it, then? His chance to prove himself. His chance to show the entire cohort, the entire legion, that he is a true soldier, worthy of the glorious Roman Republic?
"We want you to go on a reconnaissance mission. A secret reconnaissance mission," he said, stressing the word.
"Me?" Nico asked, just to be sure.
"You and your unit, yes."
"Even after… today?"
Jason sighed, then to Nico's surprise, cracked a smile.
"Especially after today," Jason retorted.
Nico frowned. "What the fuck does that mean?"
For a second, he felt his anger begin to bubble up in his veins. Did this mean that Percy was so eager to get rid of Nico and his unit of misfits that he would offer sending them on a secret, possibly suicide, mission? Was this what years of friendship had led up to?
"Don't misunderstand," Jason added at the look Nico was giving him. "Percy values your life. This is not what you think. We need you to go, he needs you to go, because he trusts you. He trusts you enough to fear for your life in battle. You are a valuable, most valuable member of our cohort, Nico. What we need is your stealth. You are a brilliant strategist, and you are fearless."
Fearless. Nico thought, his mind on Will. Not quite.
"Did Percy send you?" he asked.
"Yes. He would have come himself, or summoned you into his tent, but this is a secret mission. He was right not to call too much attention upon you. I understand one of your men is wounded?"
Nico shivered, throwing a furtive glance towards the entrance to the tent.
"Yes," he said dryly, trying to hide all the emotion that filled him.
"Let him rest. As soon as he is well enough to march, you'll be off. That is, if you accept?"
"This is not an order?" Nico asked, slightly taken aback.
"In a matter of speaking, it is. But between us three, it's more of an… opportunity. Return with the information we seek, all eight of you… and Percy will put in a word for you. You deserve a promotion, Nico. After all these years, no one deserves it more than you."
"Here you go again with the sympathy," Nico blurted out, then quickly shut his mouth. Jason's glare was impassive, but his hand on Nico's shoulder felt insistent.
"I follow orders, centurion. I am yours to command."
Jason smiled and patted Nico on the back.
"Good man," he said, getting up and walking away.
"Will?" Nico whispered, kneeling inside the dark tent just by Will's bunk.
Will was groggy at best, but he managed to pry his eyes open and reach out a hand, which Nico promptly took in his.
"Hey," Will croaked. "Tell me you got some trout for me?"
Nico smiled. A part of him wanted to pry his hand away from Will's grasp, but another part knew he would sooner die.
"No trout I'm afraid. But I have news."
Will managed to sit up with difficulty, despite Nico's help.
"What happened?"
"First… I…" he began, but found it extremely difficult to get the words out.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left you on your own. I should not have taken my eyes off you for a second. I don't want to take my eyes off you for a second! But… I… I am terrified. You terrify me.
"How's the leg?" he asked instead.
Will smiled weakly.
"Long and beautiful," he said with a smirk.
Nico laughed, and looked down at their hands. They were not strictly holding hands the way lovers did, it looked more like a trustworthy handshake, but it sent shivers up his spine nonetheless. So taken he was by the way their hands touched that he failed to register Will reaching out with his other hand and cup Nico's face.
He pulled him in for a kiss, and Nico let him. His lips moved against his will and began to kiss him back.
He would have gotten lost in the feeling had he not heard another roar of victory just outside the tent, and remembered Jason's visit.
If he did well, if they succeeded, he would be up for a promotion.
He could not risk everything, his future, his career, for this.
Even if this was Will.
Nico consciously burned that last second of their kiss into his memory, intent on never forgetting it, and promising to himself that it would never happen again.
He pulled away and pried his hand away from Will's.
"Rest up. I need you healthy as soon as possible," he said dryly, in a voice that he seldom used around Will. He sounded official, he sounded detached. Deep inside, he knew he sounded heartbroken, but as no one alive had ever heard him sound like that, he was confident Will wouldn't know either.
"Okay?" said Will, and Nico could distinctly hear the emotion in his voice.
"Yeah. Okay. So… yeah," he said, and without a glance back, he walked out of the tent.