Olimpia

Leeroy worked his mouth and groaned as he tried to get comfortable. It was a mistake.

As he moved, it was like his face pealed up from the ground, and he could sware that blood was dripping down an open wound on his cheek. After a few seconds, he realized it was numb prickles were running down his face. That fact, combined with his experience, told him that he had been lying on some rough surface for so long his cheek had become deformed, and its returning to normal was now painful.

One of the first things a legionary learned was to sleep where and when they could. Sure, sleeping on soft dirt was better than stone. And if you could find a pile of pine needles, it would be a blessed night, but you took what you could get.

Spots on his chest twinged as he rolled over to look up into the sky. From the sun's position, Leeroy would guess it was three hours past sunrise.

It was quite the late start for him, and judging from the snores around him, the rest of his remaining century. Legion doctrine demanded that the legion be awake an hour before sunrise while in hostile territory, as that hour was particularly dangerous.

Any nearby beastkin would start their attacks at sunrise, and from what he heard around camps, it was not uncommon for the Imperium to launch an attack at that hour as well. Something about it just made the sentries on watch tired.

Leeroy could attest to that, as he had suffered more than one whipping for falling asleep on watch. He tried not to, but sometimes he just couldn't help it. He would feel so relaxed and sure that nothing would happen that night that his eyes would drift shut.

As harsh as legion training was, there were times when everyone was pushed to the breaking point, and no matter the dangers, all precautions would be ignored.

After climbing up the cliff face, it was only natural they had all collapsed.

Leeroy only remembered crawling high enough so he wouldn't slide back down the edge. The world always looked different in the light of day, but he was sure he was no longer where he collapsed.

He was now inside a slight depression on the rock face. Lifting his body above the ridge, he quickly looked around before dropping down.

This shore of the Twins was higher than the other, which was great. Because it made it easier to keep an eye on the other side of the river and anything that moved along it. But it also meant that this was the northern side of the river, and they needed to get across it to make it to Basetown.

The only bridge over the twins was the Triad, hundreds of miles east of here. There were the fords slightly west of the Triad, but most people just traveled the extra distance. It was easier to walk over to a bridge than ford an unpredictable river that could tip a wagon at any moment.

The reason why there was no other bridge was twofold. The people of the Cradle actively opposed the creation of a bridge and would sabotage it, proven by the few attempts Basetown made to create one. And the expense of keeping another legion around to man the bridge in case of a beast wave wasn't worth it for the republic, as far as the senators were concerned.

Most of the grain from the Cradle went south anyway, and the cost of traveling back up the river from the Triad was only a minor inconvenience. But every other generation, a merchant would get it in their head to try and create a bridge and was struck with the reality of human stubbornness.

All of this was a long way to say that they were on the wrong side of the river, with few ways to make it back across without drowning.

Well, if they could flag down a boat on the river, climb down the cliff face, and then get on the boat without the boat sinking or any of them dying. But that was something Leeroy would fight to prevent from happening. He would rather spend the next three months walking down and back up the river than climbing the cliff again.

Leeroy didn't know who found this dip and dragged him and the Optio into it, but he was grateful. If there was still someone looking for them on the other side of the river, then lying at the edge sleeping was a good way to stick out. And maybe get an arrow in the back.

He could go scout, but Leeroy was nothing if not logical. His skills in scouting were trash. He could probably get close enough to a dear to shoot a bow at it…

So long as he was within a hide, and it came right up next to him. And he learned how to shoot a bow.

Sitting around and waiting for the others to wake up sounded like the best idea all around. Besides, it wasn't his job to come up with a plan. Why was he even considering what to do next anyway?

Moving a short distance away as stealthily as he could — by intentionally not kicking rocks around him — Leeroy relieved himself before returning and settling down.

Digging into his pouches, he took out some jerky to gnaw on while taking a few sips of water. He wanted to eat and drink more, but while they were beside a river, getting more water into his skin would be hard. And unless they hunted, getting more food wasn't looking good.

Over the next hour, the five more men woke up and started performing roughly the same actions as Leeroy.

When everyone but one of their group was up, and with no signs of him waking over the last hour, someone had to do something. Decisions needed to be made before they could start moving.

Through a complex series of grunts and rapid eye moments, it was decided that Leeroy would be the designated fool to wake up their commander.

Leeroy didn't know how other people woke up those who gave them orders, but he decided to be gentle. There was no point in making it more likely that he would be volunteered for something.

"Optio Lun," Leeroy said softly as he shook his shoulder. "You have to get up."

As Leeroy was shaking his shoulder again, Lun's hand snapped up, grabbing his wrist. “Wait…" His eyes were glazed over for a moment, then the Optio blinked, and his gaze was locked onto Leeroy. "Situation?" He asked.

"We made it up the northern cliff face of the twins, then collapsed from exhaustion. Someone pulled us into this cover before we slept through the night. It's about an hour from noon, and we need to get moving." Leeroy answered.

Lun nodded in agreement, and as Leeroy sat back, his eyes swept over the other… the best word would be "survivors" from their century.

Everyone looked haggard. Their leather armor had scrap patches, either from arrows or rocks, while they tumbled through the water or climbed up the cliff. Their eyes had dark rings around them, as no one got enough sleep.

Most of them didn't even have a legionary's best friends, including Leeroy, which were their swords and shields. No one had a shield. Only Drakus and Boik had their short sword, the lucky bastards. And one, Jankens, even was missing their belt knife. They were in no way ready for a fight.

"Who attacked us, Optio?" Asked Jankans, voicing the question in all of their minds.

No one said a word until Leeroy said, "I might be wrong," Making them all look at him. "But I would swear I saw an elf with dark skin."

"When did you see this?" Asked Lun.

"As we were charging into the forest, I got a look at one of the archers downed by a javelin."

"So it was only for a moment?" Ask Leeroy's nod, he continued, "So it could have been an elf with a shadow cast over their face."

Hesitantly, Leeroy nodded, "I could be mistaken. But the face looked… sharper than the other elves I have seen." Throwing out his arm and flicking his wrist, Leeroy discarded the point, "Dark skin or not, I clearly remember the ears. They were far too pointy to be human."

"Elves are rebelling?" Drakus rumbled from where he sat, his strong jaw clenched in anger at those who had died.

"No," Lun stated confidently. "I have never seen an elf so much as disobey an order, let alone try to stir up a rebellion. If anything, they are just following orders…" Lun trailed off as he spoke, and a heavy silence fell over the group.

Shaking off the oppressive silence, Lun rubbed his neck and sighed. Then with little more than a stretch, Optio Lun popped to his feet and said, "Whatever is going on, we have our orders. We move downriver to Basetown while staying below the ridge." Then he turned and started marching downstream, his back straight.

"Yes, Optio." The other six said as they got up to follow. They didn't ask questions as they acted, Lun might be new to his position, but he had more than earned their trust after last night.

In a loose line, they traveled down the river. There was no road on this side of the river. The only thing close to it was what looked like the occasional game trail they could follow for a bit before it ended.

Not that they needed it. The rocky ground allowed little more than shrubs that scraped at the knees of those walking through them. The worst part was the rocks the plants hid, making their footing precarious.

They tried their best to remain hidden, ensuring they never looked over the ridge. So long as they couldn't see the other side of the river, that side couldn't see them, right?

When there was a change in the landscape, and it was clear that they would be visible to the other shore, Leeroy and the others wouldn't go out of their way to hide, like crawling on the ground or backtracking until they could skirt around a nearby hill farther back. But they would pick up the pace through the open areas to make their visibility as short as possible.

If any of their attackers saw them, they could come up with any number of reasons other than the truth for them traveling along the shore.

Hours passed, and the sun moved until it was beating down on them from overhead.

The sweat covering their body collected the dust the party was kicking up as they walked overland, making everyone uncomfortable, but no one voiced a complaint. No matter how they felt, they were still alive. Many they knew couldn't say the same.

Leeroy and the others from his century — more of a squad now — were walking up the side of a large rock outcropping.

They had been making their way up it for half an hour, and now they could look down the other side. The slope of the mini-mountain continued until their side dropped below the side of the river.

The surface of the river was still dozens of feet down, but now it wasn't hundreds.

"This is the back of the Nose, right?" Leeroy asked anyone willing to answer.

"Has to be," Lun said after a few moments of looking around. "I can't think of another rock so large around here. Leeroy, since you seem so interested, let's go take a look at Basetown from the peak."

With the other snickering at his misfortune behind his back, Leeroy murmured, "Yes, Optio." as they started to make their way up the cliff face.

They didn't have that far to climb. After all, most of the height of a nose was on the sides, not along the bridge.

Leeroy couldn't help himself from chuckling under his breath. As legend had it, this outcropping existed when Basetown was first founded.

As the sun set one night, a man looked at the mountain across the river and said, "T'at mountain looks like ta nose of 'er giant lying down, don't it?"

Lo and behold, the next morning, the camp awoke with two holes formed in the front of the mountain. The legend might or might not be true, but everyone agrees that when Basetown was founded, the Nose didn't have knight-crafted holes in its front. As far as Leeroy was concerned, that crafting was some of the finest crafting a knight had ever done.

As he walked up to the ledge overlooking the lands around Basetown, Leeroy spotted some figures moving along its walls.

"Drop!" Snapped Lun, and Leeroy threw his legs back, slamming his chest into the rough stone.

Turning to ask what was wrong, the words lodged in Leeroy's throat.

Along the banks of the Twins was a large camp. A camp that was obviously military in nature. And also, obviously, not a legion camp. And those weren't legion banners.

Despite an army outside their walls, Basetown didn't look like it was concerned at all.

"What in the Void is going on here, Optio?"

"I haven't the faintest idea, legionary," Lun said, his voice grim, "But someone needs to find out."