264 Unfortunate Call (1/2)
Duplicarius Zehr pursed his lips, ”Yes, Decanus. I have been here before.”
Justus felt his blood freeze. What... what could that mean?
”--I inspected the cave two suns prior. I was searching for the Manticore's nest,” Zehr continued. ”I found none.”
Sixtus frowned. He was staring with disgust at his rations, at which point, Zehr offered some of his dried fruits, ”My thanks, Duplicarius. Tell me, did you go alone? That was quite reckless of you.”
”Of course not, Optio.” The visored Zehr smiled. ”I took one of my Munifices, Modestus, with me.”
Justus grinned. Finally, the nagging feeling in his brain that something was wrong could be quashed by logic. Modestus was rather grumpy, as of late-- and it seemed that the Duplicarius dragging him off was probably the reason for it. He was a little hurt that he wasn't invited, but thinking two suns prior... he was still in a deep state of mourning.
”Very well,” Sixtus nodded in contentment. ”Tyrion military doctrine holds lessons which I value greatly.”
”Indeed. They're good lessons-- the few that I know, I keep close to heart,” Zehr agreed.
Justus furrowed his brows as he ate his rations. Those two really seemed like they could be friends. That would be good-- Zehr could use someone to talk to, not even about anything in particular. Someone that he could speak with freely could distract him from Rena's death.
It was human to mourn. If the Duplicarius were to bottle up his emotions, it wouldn't be healthy for his psyche. Justus' own heart still ached-- he missed Rena terribly. He couldn't imagine what it was like in Zehr's mind.
”Give us a report--” Cyrac commanded, ”Ah, no need to stand at attention. We're on break, after all.”
”Oh. My thanks, Centurion,” Zehr offered the last of the dried fruit to Cyrac. The old man accepted, almost gleefully.
...Being in a military environment was strange. Back home, he was taught it was polite to refuse gifts at first, but no one had declined Zehr's offer.
”Signs of enemies ahead. Thick webbing, strong enough to entangle a Rhodok,” Zehr reported.
”Giant spiders, then?” Cyrac crossed his arms.
”I would like to burn everything in this cave, thank you,” Fortuna added.
Justus frowned. The half-elf had taken most of the dried fruit. He wanted at least one more piece...
Zehr placed his hand on his chin, ”There are many spiders... some of them the size of a kobold.”
”That doesn't sound too difficult-- Bronze-Ranks at best...” Sixtus remarked. ”Unless you think there's something else, Duplicarius?”
Zehr nodded, ”I do. With the number of them, all in one place... there could be a Spider Breeder. Admittedly, I do not know much about the habits of the particular spider species-- they could just be pack creatures.”
Pack creatures? Spider Breeders? Justus felt a chill run down his spine. Neither of those sounded good. Glancing at the sweating and panicking Fortuna, he was glad that he wasn't as bad off as she was.
”Zehr, what's... a Spider Breeder? Is that a... class?”
The Duplicarius shook his head, ”It's a type of creature-- a man-sized, bipedal one.”
”--with a habit of breeding spiders,” Cyrac grimaced.
”Naturally,” Zehr responded.
The old Centurion nodded, ”Ran into a few in my younger days-- they're Iron-Rank, but the webs and their 'pets' make them not so simple.”
”Have you any plans?” Sixtus asked.