FIFTY-TWO: DIFFERING AGENDAS

  Cassius stood in the back of the tent, holding the bottles of wine as the members of the meeting slowly trickled in. The first of the guests to arrive were the tribunes who quickly filled the edges of the table, crowing behind the imperator and leaving a single side of the table open for the strata and senators when they arrived. All five of the tribunes were older men and women with lined faces and gray stubble.

  None of them spoke as they lined up, standing at parade rest with their eyes locked directly ahead. All of them were wearing their armor and cloaks, nearly indistinguishable from a standard legionnaire’s armor aside from the helmets they carried in their hands, the horsehair dyed bright blue.

  Not a moment behind them can a pair of [Praetorians] who took up guard position before all four of the senators came streaming into the room in a tidal wave of arrogance. Cassius kept his eyes locked on Hadranius and Egnatius led the party, both of them strutting like peacocks as they took up positions around the table. More of the senatorial guards came behind and brought with them padded stools that all four of the senators sat down in.

  There was a tension in the room as the senators glared at the tribunes while the tribunes stared back with blank faces. The captain of the senatorial guard, Antonia Rufus, stood behind the four senators in a mirror of the tribunes stance. Cassius could feel the tension mounting before the old senator quickly opened his wrinkled hand and shook it.

  “Boy, he needs his wine,” one of the [Praetorians] said, voice dripping with condescension. Cassius bit his tongue but memorized the guard’s face as he walked over to the old man, the smell of perfume thick around the aged old man.

  Cassius walked around the guardsmen and poured wine into a chalice the general had set out before he placed it into the senator’s grasping hand. The old man gave a raspy laugh of glee as he brought the chalice up and drank from the cup deeply. Cassius knew he’d be refilling the cup frequently.

  He’d hardly settled himself before the tent flaps were thrown back and the strata marched in. Lady Flavinia was no longer dressed casually, but rather wore a full breastplate, greaves, bracers, and had a longsword on her hip. She emitted an aura of martial might that was matched by Lady Victoria who walked beside her.

  Instead of a straight longsword, the leader of house Equites wore a curved saber on her hip and a quiver of arrows on the other. Behind them trailed in a line of descendants and secondary ladies who formed the clan heads of the house. Cassius didn’t recognize any of the Equites, but he did sight Vira who walked right behind her mother and was dressed in a similar manner.

  “We are all here,” General Invictam said, coming from the side of the tent to the head of the table. Even in a room filled with the rich, powerful, and martial lords, the General commanded all attention as he stood with his hands clasped behind his back, pale eyes wandering over the assembly.

  “Yes, we are here to discuss this…move,” Senator Egnatius spoke instantly, his eyes roaming over the others as if challenging any of them to countermand him. Cassius patrolled the edges of the meeting, circling all and waiting for a hand to call him to bring fresh wine.

  “An enemy has invaded and attacked the republic. I move to engage them now that we have confirmed reports of their location. What is there to discuss, Senator?” Invictam asked. A series of grumbles came from the senators camp as they shuffled and looked toward the knife-faced man who smiled viciously at Invictam.

  “You have not been given permission to pursue this enemy, General. This is the republic’s legion, not yours. A decision of this magnitude, war upon a neighbor, must be discussed with the senate,” Egnatius said.

  “We are beyond the boundaries of the republic. Do you see any of the First Consul’s boundary markers here?” Lady Flavinia countered, her voice smooth and powerful as she looked toward her brother.

  “This has already been discussed, Egnatius. While we all serve the republic, we are outside of her scope at the moment,” Hadranius interjected instantly as if an attack dog issued command.

  “A thinly veiled excuse to allow the Houses Agricola and Equites to claim rewards without taxation,” the female senator said. She motioned Cassius forward with a wave of her empty cup and he dutifully filled it before stepping back.

  “And you are on record for agreeing, Claudia,” Hadranius snapped back.

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  “I believe we stray from the original premise of the meeting,” Lady Victoria interjected.

  “Agreed,” General Invictam said and with the two of them temporarily in agreement the conversations switched back.

  “I am a servant of the republic and am bound to the senate’s will, but we are in a theater of combat and here I am master. We pursue a foe that has slain our citizens in vile manner, to use their very bodies and anima to summon beasts from beyond our plane. To not pursue this enemy would be dereliction of duty,” General Invictam continued his press.

  A murmur of agreement came from the two noble families and Hadranius, it was enough to blunt the edge of Egnatius’ attack. The senator didn’t look distressed that his line of reasoning had been felled, but simply switched tactics in a heartbeat.

  “Why is it that we are being left behind then, General?” Egnatius asked, suspicion in his tone. Cassius could already hear the conspiracies being formed from that single question and tone used.

  “We are entering a likely battle, Senator and risking the delegation’s safety would be a failure on my part,” General Invictam said. Cassius had to fight to keep a grin off his face as he saw how the General was manipulating the younger senator.

  “Or is it so you may break the tiering restrictions placed upon the legions? As you have already started to do?” the woman senator asked, her dark eyes turning to look at Cassius as he stood there with a bottle of wine in his hand.

  “They were under no orders of mine to break the tiering restriction. From Viridina Agricola's own testimony it was her idea and the only way they could survive.” General Invictam carefully skirted the idea that he wasn’t going to break the tiering restrictions.

  “Regardless, I insist that at least part of this delegation shall go forward with the legion,” Egnatius said.

  “I can see you will not be moved from this path, so I must accept. We leave in the morning,” Invictam said, offering his own fleeting smile. All four of the senator’s faces tightened as saw how fast the general had abandoned his defenses. The husky laughter of Flavinia did not aid them in their discomfort at being played. Only the old man seemed immune to what was happening, raising his chalice to be refilled yet again.

  “And what of us?” Lady Victoria asked, eyes narrowed.

  “I would welcome your strength as always,” General Invictam said, turning his attention from the seething senators and toward the strata.

  “Abandon this newfound dungeon so soon after finding it? When only the Agricola has been able to fully pursue its wealth?” Lady Victoria said, her own eyes narrowing in suspicion as she looked at Hadranius.

  “There is no conspiracy, Victoria. We met in a circle and you lost, it is that simple,” Lady Flavinia said. She turned to meet Cassius’ eyes and offered him a wide smile as she lifted her own cup for him to fill. The bottle of wine emptied and he was forced to pull another wine bottle free from where the General had set them.

  “We are of the First Strata, sworn to defend the borderlands and maintain the dungeon stones upon them. I will shed my family's blood in defense of this, do not mistake me,” Lady Victoria said. Everyone paused as they waited for the inevitable point to her quick assertion.

  “But to do so while letting others abscond with wealth, no reward to my faithful bannerlords or cousins who send their daughters and sons to death? That I can not allow,” Victoria finished.

  “Speak plainly, Victoria. What is it you want?” Flavinia snapped. Vira paled a bit and shuffled foot to foot as she looked between the two groups.

  “I would have compensation to replace the losses that will undoubtedly occur.”

  “We have not yet met the enemy and you already wish to split the spoils?” Flavinia said with a snort of laughter. Cassius tore his gaze away from the two bickering nobles and looked at the senators who sat in sullen silence. [Hunter’s Sight] allowed him to peer through darkness, to see movement, but what else did it do? He let it focus on the four of them and let the skill control his eyes for a moment, relaxing and letting the skill have full reign.

  The old man’s posture was feigned. The slumped posture, the wet smacking of his lips, the way spittle formed on his lips. Cassius could see how the muscles in his jaw bunched, how his tongue and lips moved to push it over and down his chin. There was a tauntness along one side of the old man, a hint of him holding himself in the awkward position rather than simply slumping.

  Engatius was rigid with fury, but the beat of his heart along his neck was steady. Cassius could see the skin rise and fall in slow pulses as the senator glared with reckless hatred toward Invictam.

  Hadranius looked calm but a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his neck. A faint flush was starting on his chest and shuffled slowly from foot to foot, looking between the factions with worry.

  The final senator was the most worrying. [Hunter’s Sight] rolled over her and warned him. It was not prey lying in wait to be a meal, but a predator lurking beneath the bush. Cassius couldn’t say what it was that he saw, not in comparison to the others, but he could feel the wariness of the skill warning him away.

  “The details can be ironed out later, but it is agreed,” Flavinia’s voice broke Cassius’ studying of the senators as he looked over to see a wide smiling Equites faction.

  General Invictam himself looked slightly displeased by the results, but had not objected. The senators, Hadranius especially, seemed shocked and wildly taken aback as the two noblewomen shook hands firmly. Cassius looked over to see Vira glaring holes into his skull and wondered what he’d missed.