If they’re alive.
Toward the end of the day, Antonius arrived at the cave in the hill overlooking Albanum. It was quiet but for a few ravens squawking in the naked trees below. Wind howled about the mouth of the cave, and Antonius peered into the darkness.
Not long ago, they had all been there together, the survivors.
A great sadness threatened to overwhelm Antonius then, but he focussed, thought of Gaius and the others, and stopped his shaking hands to tie the horses to a nearby log, and get out his flint box.
The torches they had left inside the entrance were still soaking in their oil buckets. He removed one, and struck the flint until it sparked enough to ignite the torch.
Orange light spread about him and reached into the empty cave.
Antonius removed the saddle bags with his foo
