by Aldus Marius on Wed Nov 07, 2007 8:54 pm
***************
Marius awoke, in a panic, to Peregrinus' nuzzling...flat on his back, on a bridlepath, with a splitting headache.
He was uncustomarily disoriented. He thought he might correct that by rolling carefully to his hands and knees, but it didn't help. He had a feeling something awful must have happened while he was out cold. He sat abruptly, thought of shaking his head to clear it, then thought better of it and tried to puzzle out his situation.
He could have sworn he'd been talking to a young Patrician. Yes...there were the hoofprints of a ridden horse, smaller and finer than Pere's; and...there...was a scroll of Lucretius. He certainly hadn't dropped it; he carried no books. So he had not imagined the encounter.
Then he had imagined the Awful Thing; he was still here on the path, so he could not have led the stranger back to the camp of his amici. He emitted a huge sigh of relief, and his head actually did clear a little.
In better presence of mind, he examined the tracks before and behind him. They told the rest of the story; the princeling, having found Marius a bit of an obstacle, had jumped his mount over the old Centurion, who had probably gotten clouted on the noggin by an overpassing hoof or two. That would explain the unconsciousness, and the hallucination; "betrayal by Marius" could not have been anything but a delusion or a fever-dream...!
Once again settled within himself, he rose to his feet. The tracks followed the path to its juncture with the main road, skirting the camp entirely. Good... Had the ungrateful sod decked him on purpose after getting his directions?? Ohh, Marius would have dealings with that man if he ever saw him again--and recognised him; always a chancy thing, even without a concussion, for which many other high-ranking low-lifes must have been profoundly thankful.
Bene, there was nothing else to do here; the veteran shouldered his pack, hung an arm around his own mount's neck for support, and let the horse walk him back to the encampment.
OOC: Anyone who would like to add to this may do so, at least enough to 'park' their characters; once that's done, or if it hasn't been within the next week or two, I'll lock the topic to avoid confusion with the new game.
We done good, amici; thanks to everyone for playing! >({|:-D
Hope to see everyone on the New RP thread,
Aldus Marius Peregrinus.