“I am not Sarmatian like you, warriors. I’m Roman. But I would gladly die alongside any of you, my brothers. For you are the greatest warriors I have ever known!” His voice pitched high, racked with emotion. “I swear to you, and to Epona, goddess of our camp, that I will avenge the deaths of our men and their slaughtered mounts, or I will die trying! May they ride evermore in the green plains beyond the black river to their own Elysium.”
The men cheered, and their horses neighed and reared to a rattle of scales and the howl of draconaria.
Lucius nodded to Dagon who rode up and accepted a firebrand from Barta.
“Oh Gods of our ancestors, of war, and of the sacred sword… Accept these riders into your realm, and heap honours upon them. For they have earned it, each one of them.”
Dagon look
