After explaining the plan, Hallez and her contubernium headed to the battlefield, where the fort was located and built.

    Along the way, she spotted various breakfast foods in the other legionnaires' hands. Pancakes, bagels, cereal, milk, waffles, eggs, biscuits, bacon, pizza—

    Hallez didn't realize how hungry she was. She hadn't eaten anything since...what, yesterday morning? It felt like two years ago. She only ate two times a day—breakfast and dinner—and she had missed dinner last night. According to the rest of her contubernium, she couldn't eat breakfast until the MFSDO was over.

    So, basically, she would be extremely hungry as well as sleep-deprived, since she got no sleep last night, which was just great.

    It didn't bother her as much as it would most people. She used to pull all-nighters for five days straight, every month, until Cade caught her in the middle of the night star-gazing, and scolded her for hours on end. She had also sometimes forgotten to eat dinner before sleeping as well, out of pure stupidity, and ended up waking up the next morning, feeling extremely hungry, and incredibly fatigued.

    Not the best experience.

    Cade had scolded her for that too.

    It used to annoy her.

    They stopped once, at the weaponry, to get Hallez a weapon, but none of them quite fit her. She felt weird, holding a basic three-foot long sword, or a bow, or a spear, or even a dagger. Travis even gestured to a broadsword once, and Hallez raised an eyebrow, giving him a look.

    He winced. "Alright, yeah, I'll admit, not the best idea I've ever had."

    "Have you ever had training with a weapon?" Fiona asked.

    Hallez shook her head. "Not really. I know some basic self-defense techniques barehanded." She took out her pocketknife. "I think I'll just use this if I need it. I know how to throw it if I'm really desperate."

    Fiona picked out a small dagger. "At least take a dagger."

    She was reluctant. She doubted she would have any use for it, since if she did use it, she would probably hurt herself more than anyone else. But as she agreed hesitantly, she realized it did bring her some comfort, knowing that she could defend herself if completely necessary.

    Because Fiona and Travis then both explained how brutal the First and Third Cohorts were especially.

    "They are shameless," Travis said. "They would do anything to win. They're ruthless, and brutal. Don't be surprised if you don't come out unscathed."

    Hallez looked at him, intrigued. "Even if the plan works?"

    "Even if the plan works."

    Lavi rolled her eyes. "You're making them sound like a bunch of wild dogs."

    "But he's right," Fiona said unexpectedly. "They're the smart kind of wild, but this plan should work."

    "The emphasis on should doesn't really help Fiona," Lavi said in a singsong voice.

    Hal tested the dagger. It was lighter, and easier to wield, than the sword, bow or spear, that was for sure. Still, she hoped having it wouldn't be a mistake later on.

    They arrived at the edge of the battlefield, finally. A shallow, wide valley in the hills, north of the Castra. The fortress was built right on the western shores of the river Hallez had first taken a dump in. That stopped Hallez for a second.

    When they realized they were missing a certain caughter of Death, the rest of her contubernium turned back to her.

    Fiona gestured at the fortress. "I'm guessing we kinda all realized that just now, huh?"

    Lavi crossed her arms, looked back down at the field. "Yeeeaaah...puts a dent into the plan. How are we going to get across the river from the Forum? It's quite deep."

    "Even when we're not going to the Forum," Travis corrected. "Look." He pointed to the other side of the fortress, the entrance side. Even from a distance, Hallez could tell it was heavily guarded, with armed legionnaires and calvaries (what?!), and ballistas and archers mounted on the walls.

    Along with the ballistas, the walls were topped with barbed wires, which didn't make much sense, as the walls were, like, four meters high. Maybe some people brought ropes and grappling hooks into battle.

    Although, would they need calvaries? And, in general, why was it so well defended? There was absolutely no easy way to get in the direct way, not with four people, even without ballistas and calvaries and archers.

    "They're not taking any chances," Fiona answered her thoughts. "That, or Martin told them to go hard on us. Wouldn't be surprised."

    Hallez crossed her arms, taking a deep breath. She fiddled with the fabric sleeve of her grey shirt. She pulled her hair out of its low ponytail, and put the hair tie around her wrist, fiddling with it.

    "Let's stick to the plan," she murmured, loud enough for the others to hear. She was hesitant to be the one to nudge everyone on to the field, but they couldn't just stand there all day. "We'll figure it out later; they're waiting for us, so let's stop stalling." She gestured to the left, where the medical tent and what looked like the rest of the Fifteen Legion were, most of them pointing at either the fort, or them.

    Lavi nodded, and twirled her bow in her hand. She had grabbed a complicated looking, full quiver from the weaponry, full of arrows with different, color-coded shafts. It was now dangling on her belt. Hallez wanted to ask why she didn't carry it on her back, but she figured that would be hypocritical of her, since she literally just said to stop stalling.

    Lavi fingered the arrow shafts in her quiver. "That's smart. We don't want to look like we're nervous—which, to be fair, we are. Let's go!"

†††

They arrived at the edge of the field, and walked a little inward. Hallez led their team a little to the right, towards the river, studying the stream, and the fort.

    She stopped abruptly. Downstream—away from the fortress—and to her right, there was a spot where the shorts of the river were narrow, and a jump-able distance. That wasn't the only thing she spotted. On the fort, the side facing the river, was a drawbridge.

    "We can improvise," Hallez decided. She saw the people on the top of the walls staring down at them, and she stared right back. "The first part is the same. Lavi, you're with me to the Forum. We'll jump across the river in that spot there. Then, Travis and Fiona...how deep is the river, exactly?"

    "Deep," Travis said, helpfully. "It's got magical properties, so it's quite deep."

    Fiona rolled her eyes. "Probably ten feet. We haven't explained the river yet, have we?"

    Hallez shook her head. "You can after this. For now, Travis, Fiona, distract them and confuse them. Retreat to the medical tent if necessary. We'll be back as soon as possible."

    Travis grinned nervously. "You got it. But how are we supposed to get inside from the Forum with the river right there? That spot is too far from the fort for the confusion to be effective."

    "Leave that to me. Alright, Lavi?"

    Not wanting to put it off any longer either, Lavi swiftly pulled out an arrow. One with a white shaft. Nocking and pulling it back with the swiftness of one who has had years of experience, Hallez watched, as she aimed carefully, then fired.

    The arrow shaft immediately started sparking, like a lit fuse. Shouts of alarm echoed across the field from the fortress. Hallez saw legionnaires with shields, standing on the wall, but the arrow sailed straight over them. Then, the arrow exploded with a bright shower of sparks. Fireworks went on directly above the fort.

    Now.

    She grabbed Lavi's forearm, running to her left. Fiona and Travis ran the other direction. Now she heard confused shouts from the other cohorts, and she thought she might have heard the crowd cheering.

    She didn't know what for, but her thoughts were occupied, as she jumped over the river, barely making it to the other side. Lavi followed, more gracefully. The daughter of Apollo stopped, shooting another firework arrow, then they both ran east.

    Soon enough, Hal saw the buildings on the hills and immediately knew it was the Forum. The buildings' structures were Roman, by the looks of it. Steps leading up to white marble columns holding up the triangular roofs. Realistic, white sculptures of gods stood inside, and sometimes outside, on the roof or in front. The temples were fairly large, but smaller than the ones built in ancient times, in the original Rome.

    Hal remembered what Lavi had said earlier this morning, about the legion being able to move the Castra easily at any time. Maybe she didn't mean the Forum, but it didn't seem like an easy thing to move. As they arrived at the Forum, she took a closer look at everything.

    The Forum was beautiful. The temples were lavishly painted with all kinds of vibrant colors, and decorated with ornaments, and other stuff, most likely symbols of the god or goddess the temple was dedicated to. Each one was slightly different from the other, not just in decor, but also in its structure. Inside, from what she could see of it, the altars to the gods were decorated with various things as well, but she was too far away to tell.

    There was a central main road that led straight on, with smaller paths branching off of it. Hal followed Lavi as they sped down it. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest. Every second felt like a lifetime. She could feel adrenaline surging through her system.

    She looked around. She wanted to say she was looking for the Temple of Mars, but if she was being honest with herself, she was actually looking for another temple, specifically, the temple to Letum.

    It was a surprisingly long time before they stopped in front of a temple, the base of the pillars and the roof painted dark red and brown.

    Like blood.

    Cheery.

    "This is it," Lavi announced. "Temple of Mars Ultor. The ten Ancile copies—apart from the one they took for the test, of course—should be inside, on the walls."

    Lavi moved forward, but Hallez felt frozen in place. Every nerve was screaming at her to move, to get this test—whether she failed or succeeded—over with. But it felt as if the temple itself was...welcoming her, in a cold way. It was terrifying, if she was being honest. And she was being uncharacteristically terrified.

    Lavi stopped in her tracks. She looked back. "Hallez? Are you alright?"

    Hal shook herself. She was still terrified, but Lavi's warm voice helped her break out of her trance. "I'll be fine. But let's get the copy. We don't have much time to waste. If at all."

---

I promise, the action begins next chapter
-Lunya