#fidreyllius

No stars shone upontheir meeting. Perhaps it would have been better that way, to existonly in shades of black rimmed with blue, but shadow was the provinceof their foe, and it only seemed right to bring Light to light.Dreyll—the eikon-slayer, hecorrected himself—was at his back, carefree as if this were asummer stroll through the gardens.

Dutyand news laid more heavily upon the shoulders of the man callinghimself Tertius, and he bore them all, and his charge besides, intothe lair of the Black Wolf. The ex-legatus was sitting beside a fire,poring over a map. Priscus sat at his left hand, which meant Plutoniacouldn’t be far off. Tertius wondered for a moment what Dreyllwould make of her—and what she would make of Dreyll. To hisknowledge, since Saldis aanPlutonia had left her enclave, she had not seen another Viera. Theywere not much alike to one another, in Tertius’s estimation. Thenagain, Tertius was not much like Maxima quo Priscus, either.

“Whatnews from Aldenard?” Tertius greeted the others.“Civilwar,” said Gaius Baelsar, a sardonic sort of amusement in hisvoice.“Much as the old wolf might have tried to avert it,”Plutonia said. Her arch tone was unalloyed. “His Radiance Varis zosGalvus is dead.”“Hm,” grunted Tertius. “And his beastof a son defends his throne?”“No,” said Maxima. “Zenoshas abandoned the capital … and is a patricide besides.”“Notsurprising,” was Tertius’s assessment.“You were gone awhile,” Maxima said with amusement. His violet eyes flicked over torest on Dreyll a moment.“We had a lot to do,” Dreyll said.“Alphinaud sends his regards,” she added cheerily. This seemed tomake Maxima smile.At length, Baelsar furled the map up again,handing it off to Maxima. As the former centurion busied himself withreplacing it in its case, the Black Wolf reached up and clappedTertius on the arm. “It’s good to have you back, Caius,” hesaid.

Therewas a momentary pause in the camp. To most of those present it waslittle surprise, but Dreyll had let out a little gasp, and every setof eyes had fallen upon her.“Caius?” she echoed. “Ithought your name was Tertius?”Baelsar laughed, and reachedout to take Dreyll’s hand, urging her forward. “A poor jest on myfriend’s part,” he said. There was a glint in the old wolf’seyes as he said, “He really let you call him by that alias all thiswhile?”

Whateverhis commander’s dry amusement, Tertius—Caius—did not share it.Less so still when Dreyll said, “I guess we weren’t as close as Ithought.” The hurt in her voice was obvious, and he could feel hershrink from him.