The Hunter

Centurion Scipio Venator was a patient man. He was a proud man, a strong man with a high arch in his eyebrows and a cruel turn to his lips. He had a glass eye which he tried to hide by squinting all the time. Squinting and scowling, a consummate action hero with a chiseled jaw and grim determination.

He was more prudent than his peers. It took a tactical mind and a cruel disposition to rise to the ranks of Centurion, but among other Centurions he was perceived as weak. He didn't jump for glory like they did, he wasn't driven to extreme victories against impossible odds at the risk of great loss. He was not decorated, although he had a satisfactory victory record. He was cautious, he waited and he held back to strike at the best moment possible. He did not lack courage, he simply had patience and cunning.

He looked for patterns, assessed strengths and weaknesses before striking. If it was something to be proud of in the Legion he could have boasted of his success in keeping his Legionaries alive battle after battle but, alas, in the Legion that was a moral and strategic failing. Testing recruits again and again in battle, killing the weak and molding the strong was a central tenant of Caesar's doctrine. He was seen as soft-hearted, a coddler.

This was not true. If anything the fact that he rarely was actively sending his men to their deaths meant he worked them much harder off the battlefield. Disruptive or disrespectful Legionaries were typically either killed or sent to march under Scipio Venator's banner. The assignment was seen by the Centurions as punishment for Scipio and among the rank-and-file it was seen as punishment for the Legionary. Service for Centurion Venator meant constant exercise, and unlike other centuria the Legionaries built their own fortifications and cleaned their own weapons, rather than let their slaves do so.

It was no surprise the dead souls were transferred to Venator's command. They were a stain on the Legion's purity and centurias traded them as often as possible. Mortuus Anima had served more than two dozen commanders in his nearly twenty-year career in the Legion. None of them were like Scipio Venator.

Often Centurions were given first pick of slaves when a new batch were conquered, but if Caesar or the Legate were there they took precedence. The Malpais Legate rarely took slaves unless he considered them talented combatants, so it was an unfortunate twist of fate that the victory over the Twin Mothers marked his first selection of a female captive.

Venator had been selecting specific women from conquered tribes for nearly the past year. In his campaigns he had begun to notice a pattern, in every tribe they conquered there was always one particular woman who didn't quite fit. Her appearance was unlike any other in the tribe, she occasionally would not speak the same language as the tribe. It was as though there was a secret cabal of women operating across dozens of tribes, and Scipio wanted to know why.

Of course the Legate for the first time ever demanded a female slave, and of course it was the woman who fit Scipio's pattern. A woman named Ruth, who looked nothing like the other members of the tribe and spoke the Twin Mothers dialect with a foreign accent. Scipio could have been killed for requesting Ruth away from the Legate, yet he was too close to the secret of the cabal to pass up the opportunity to interrogate her.

The Legate seemed displeased at Scipio's request, but relieved that Scipio had the good sense to make the request in private. The Legate acquiesced when Scipio explained he wanted to question her because he suspected she was part of a threat to the Legion, but he made one demand.

"You are to accept the contubernia known as the dead souls, under Mortuus Anima. You are to retain them until they die in your service," the Legate demanded. Scipio agreed to his terms.

Mortuus Anima accompanied Scipio to the interrogation. He stood behind the Centurion, who sat facing the woman still wearing ornate face paint. They were silent for a moment, then the Centurion spoke.

"Tell me what you know of the 'Goddess' Hecate," he said.