At his entrance, three figures inside stood to attention once they caught sight of him. He snapped a quick salute, fist to heart, then waved for them to be at ease.
“Greetings all, just checking in with Aurillia.”
The room was a typical office space in the Legion, sparse and militant, a desk, a bookshelf, and a few chairs. Aurillia stood behind the desk, laden with papers, whilst two of the younger Legionaries from Liria assisted with the tedious minutiae of administration. Titus had been all too willing to offload the paperwork to his long-suffering adjutant. He simply didn’t have the time to look after his own Legionaries since the upper brass were intent on having him run all over the temple for meeting after meeting.
“Any chance you’ve arrived to assist with these requisition forms, Commander?” Aurillia asked with an arched brow.
“Not in a million years,” he replied flatly and the faces of the two assistants fell.
Donnelan and Mirryn had been stuck in this office for days now, wading through the demanding bureaucracy of the Abyssal Legion. They’d never imagined that the Legion they’d signed up for so long ago would have such strict requirements for paperwork. When the Tribune pointed out that running an independent army on a global scale required as disciplined an approach to administration as it did to soldier training, they could only nod and agree.
“How’s progress rehoming our Legionaries?” Titus asked.
Aurillia sighed. “Slow, Commander. Very slow. There’s hot spots flaring all over the Dungeon, and every commander in the fortress is demanding supplies and reinforcements. Our request to reform our Legion has been accepted, but there seems to be an issue giving us the people we need.”
“It’s not unexpected,” Titus said, “but still disappointing. We were understrength to start with, and after the defence at the Bulwark, we are undermanned, though deserving.”
“The last wave pushed a lot of garrisons hard, apparently. There just aren’t enough recruits to go around, Commander.”
Titus’ eyes glinted. “I might have to make use of my connections if this thing is going to get done.”
Aurillia blanched. “You’d actually try it? With her?”
“She’s not that scary,” he said offhandedly. “You just have to get used to her.”
“Maybe to you she’s not,” Aurillia shot back. “I haven’t met her in ten years, and she still scares me.”
Donnelan and Myrrin stared at each other wide-eyed. Who could the two officers possibly be talking about? Someone able to scare Tribune Aurillia? Even intimidate the commander? What sort of legendary figure could this be!
“Have you even been to see her since we arrived?” Aurillia asked.
“Of course I have,” Titus said, impatient.
“How many times?”
“Three or four,” Titus mused.
“That’s all? That’s your wife, Titus!”
“She’s busy and so am I,” he harrumphed. “You think I can just march into her office whenever I want?”
Aurillia became quite still. “You can’t?”
“Of course not! If I show up there unannounced, she’d kick me out herself!”
“But now you think you can just wander in there and ask her to give us preferential treatment?”
“No. I have an appointment.”
“You do?”
“It was always going to come down to this. The Abyssal Legion has never had an abundance of resources, we squeeze every centimetre out of what we have. If nothing else, the brass understand that whatever they place in my hands won’t be wasted. I planned ahead and set this up.”
Aurillia ran her eyes over the stacks of paper heaped on her desk.
“Are you telling me…” Her voice trembled with barely suppressed rage. “That I’ve been going to war with these damned forms for nothing?”
“No!” he hastened to assure her. “All of this stuff still needs to get done. If we don’t toe the line, we won’t get so much as a sword. If anything, these efforts have been central to our chances of success.”
He ran an eye over his longest serving officer.
“Take a day off, Aurillia. After today, our situation will change anyway. You can come back and tackle the paper once we know where we stand.”
He turned to the two young Legionaries who looked as if they were trying to fade into the walls.
“I’ll take these two with me. Minerva always had a soft spot for the young up and comers. She won’t get too nasty with them around. Get up, you two. Time to go meet the consul.”
15. The Heart of the Legion, Part 3
Even now, a month after arriving in the great fortress of the Legion, Myrrin still couldn’t quite believe her eyes whenever she saw it. Along with Donnelan, she trailed behind her commander as they made their way out of the remote barracks she and her fellow refugees from Liria had been billeted in. When the commander pushed open the door and strode through, the bright light flared in her eyes, and she raised a hand to provide some relief. After several days straight of being locked indoors, the outside was a little too well-lit for her to handle.
It was almost like stepping out when on the surface. Overhead was a truly vast space, far larger than even Rylleh had contained. Numerous powerful crystals dotted the ceiling, flooding the enormous Expanse with light. The entire space was arranged as an impregnable fortress, walls and towers in concentric rings radiated outward from the centre. Every building was designed to be as defensible as possible, whilst also contributing to the overall layout.
In the distance was the central tower rising like a mountain, surrounded by its eight siblings. The sister towers formed a great ring around the central pillar, rising to tremendous heights and standing guard over the fortress, iron spears of unbreakable will.
As impressive as the outer towers were, hundreds of metres tall, perfectly straight, and like nothing any of the Lirian Legionaries had ever seen before, they simply faded into the background when compared to the impossible tower of the central fort. It dominated the entire Expanse with ease. A brooding titan of rust red metal that dyed the skyline a blood red, climbing from the floor of the Expanse up to the ceiling, more than two kilometres high.
Built in layers, the tower grew thinner as it rose, each new section protected by its own wall and defences. Even from this far away, they could make out the enormous siege engines that dotted the walls. This vast structure was the very heart of the Abyssal Legion, wherein the highest-ranking members made decisions that would be carried out by their Legionaries across Pangera.
It was difficult not to imagine what secrets were contained within, what knowledge had been hidden away since the Legion had been founded. If there was anywhere that forbidden technologies and methods would be held, it would be there, the Red Mountain.
“I’ve never been in the mountain,” Myrrin muttered to Donnelan. “Have you?”
His eyes were fastened on the looming fortress. “Of course not,” he rasped. “You think they just allow anyone in there?”
She noticed her friend was unusually pale and sweating.
“You look as if you’ve seen a ghost. What’s wrong with you? Is the Red Mountain that intimidating?”
It certainly was to her. It’s a freaking mountain made of metal! Who ever heard of such a demented thing?
“You realise who we’re going to go and see, right?” Donnelan hissed.
“The commander’s wife? I’ve never met her. She left Liria before I had the chance. Have you ever seen her?”