A Scouting Mission

I decided that the best use of my time would be to accompany Horus and reconnoiter the barbarian camps myself as I need to take measure of our foe, and see if there is anything else that might give us an edge in the coming battle. My sturdy legionaries, veterans all, heavily armored and with superior weapons should be able to handle the massive numerical advantage that the barbarians would have. Horus is a master ranger, and he has abilities in tracking, scouting and foraging that border on the miraculous. I do not ignore his advice lightly so when he suggested that we go on foot I reluctantly agreed. I prefer to have a fast horse between me and any danger, but Horus says the barbarians can hear a horse coming from miles away and he wants to make sure we can slip right into their midst.

We headed out of town without any of the townspeople noticing that we were gone. Marcus would take care of things while I was gone, and we should be back tomorrow at the latest. We slipped into the heavy woods and made our way swiftly along a stream bed. We were sweating heavily from our fast pace, and I marveled at how silently and swiftly Horus was able to move through the heavy underbrush of the woods. I felt like a little child as I tramped along as quietly as I could but knowing that compared to Horus I sounded like a horse running through the middle of a house.

We moved swiftly deeper into the dark woods that surrounded Tarraco and I marveled at the contrast between the town and the rough woods. The town seemed so civilized, yet only a half a days walk from it there was the most virgin of wilderness, most likely never seen be Romans before, waiting for the hand of Roman civilization to sweep down upon it. I was lost in my philosophical thoughts when suddenly Horus froze so swiftly that I almost ran into him. I stopped and crouched as soon as he did and I heard him whisper through clenched teeth, "We are not alone."

I crouched silently there with him for a few moments as he listened; his hyper sensitive ears and nose picking up things that I could not even begin to sense. At last he said, "You keep walking up the streambed. I'm going to circle around and drive whoever it is back towards you. Don't worry about being quiet, I want them to hear you and distract their attention from me. There is only one person so we may be able to capture them and gain some information before we slit their throat."

I did as I was told and kept walking up the stream we had been following, a big more cautiously I admit as I had no desire to take an arrow in the gut while walking into some barbarian ambush. I trusted Horus however, and I did what he said. The world seemed to grow very silent as I drew ever closer to the encounter with the oncoming stranger.