XVI
Vulneres
‘Wounds’
As Lucius walked along the fort’s walls, his mind spun, and nausea overwhelmed him. He looked up at the palisade of the Dragon’s Lair and the masses of dead enemy bodies he and his men had hammered into the wood – torsos, limbs, and bloody scalps hanging limply. Masses of Caledonian heads stared back at him, accused him, their tongues lolling out from decomposing heads as if to curse him.
The stink of rot mixed with dank mud drove Lucius toward the river where he stumbled toward the water, crawling the last few feet to the edge, and collapsed, shaking.
“What have I done?” he wept. “Gods forgive me…”
He could feel his soul crumble where he lay, wretched and helpless, for he had become his father. He could sense Quintus Metellus Pater’s wicked shade laughing at hi
