Praetorian Rising, стр. 16

"How's that possible?" Jacob asked, one thick, black eyebrow quirking up as he grabbed her bare hand to inspect up close. "If I cut my hand like that it would've taken weeks to heal." Camille merely smiled as she gently pulled her hand from his grasp and shoved her glove back on.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Brian said from a few feet away, now collecting a cluster of mushrooms that were growing in the thick grass. "Cammy's one of those super soldiers."

"Careful Brian!" Jacob said quickly, searching the area for eavesdroppers. "I wouldn't tell that to anyone else, Camille. They might get the wrong impression, and you're already an outsider."

"What do you mean?" Camille glanced from Brian's expression of pure awe to Jacob's, which was now pinched with worry.

"You never heard about the rebellion? The Chimera outbreaks? The mass exiles?" Jacob asked, voice barely over a whisper.

Camille shook her head, a black hole of apprehension growing in her stomach.

"The whole reason Marcus and the entirety of the guards are afraid of infiltration is the mass outbreak that happened eight years ago in Charlie Town."

"Outbreak of what? The shadow beasts?" Camille asked warily.

Brian hushed her quickly, his eyes snapping left and right in quick succession. "They're called Chimera," Brian whispered.

"One and the same. Charlie Town was overtaken with the fever, and the whole lot of 'em turned," Jacob said, his mouth turning up in a weird, menacing sort of grin. "No amount of praying to our Holy Father would save them."

Camille removed her dagger from its holster and studied the forest floor for possible dinner options. She wanted answers; she wanted to know the truth. However, something about the way Jacob's eyes lit up told Camille she might regret learning about the past.

"Your god Faeder?"

Brian eyed her suspiciously out of the corner of his eye as he came up close beside her. "Of course, I mean Faeder, our Holy Father, Camille. He's the only God."

She nodded in reply, unwilling to start the conversation of beliefs with them when she was desperate to hear other, more critical information. Picking up her pace, she stepped over a wayward tree that had fallen many years prior, the wood rotted and frayed splaying out its innards across the main path.

As Jacob and Brian trailed behind, Camille pressed her luck as she pulled out an arrow in slow preparation. "What do you mean by 'turned?' They all got sick with a fever?"

"Chimera aren't only huge monsters; they were humans before they got infected. Once you get bitten by a Chimera and the fever sets in, you're a goner. You either die or you turn. I imagine most would choose to die first," Jacob said, chuckling.

"How would you know? You've never even seen a Chimera before," Brian pointed out.

Jacob kicked at a loose rock, shrugging his shoulders in an offhanded way. "I've heard the stories. It's enough to know I'd never want to turn into one of those monsters."

Brian elbowed Jacob in the ribs. "We aren't really supposed to talk about this. It's not a good idea to speak ill of those who've turned to shadow."

"Just a little more? Please?" Camille pressed, trying not to appear desperate.

"Yeah, okay," Brian said under his breath. "Most of the people in Charlie Town succumbed to the fever. But before they turned, the High King sent in one of his special guards to protect those who were still alive. It didn't quite go the way the High King had planned. The guard went crazy and ended up slaughtering the entire town, leaving half of the Chimera horde to run wild into the neighboring villages of Aspera. We think they might have even extended past the Kingdom borders into other territories. It would explain why the High King closed the borders after the infection spread."

Camille didn't know why, but her mouth had begun to go dry at Brian's words. No wonder Sierra Village was always on guard. Fear of such a fever would surely keep them wary against anyone they didn't know firsthand.

"What happened to this special guard?" Camille asked as she notched an arrow to take aim at a distant squirrel. The fluffy animal saw her movement and dashed behind a branch before she could fire.

"Oh," Jacob said, "he wasn't just a guard—he was a Praetorian. One of the High King's lead soldiers. His blood-lust and destruction of Charlie Town was the start of the Praetorian rebellion. They were tired of being slaves to a king who forced them to kill at his command, and this Praetorian slaughtered an entire village to send a message. They were done fighting for the crown. After the slaughter, the High King exiled all his Praetorian guards, but they didn't go quietly."

Jacob's nonchalance seemed to appease Brian's cautious nature, and he chimed in more freely. "The High King stated to all of Aspera that Praetorians were unfit for duty and no longer followed the laws of the Aspera Munera."

"What's the 'Aspera Munera?'" Camille asked, blowing wisps of flyaway hair from her perspiring face.

"It's the Asperian Duty, laws we have to follow, like the Moon Tax. This Praetorian broke the law, so the High King exiled them all. The battles that followed were a bloodbath at first—a lot of Asperians died trying to rid the kingdom of the rebel Praetorian soldiers."

The story sounded familiar to Camille, but it was like a dream or a half-buried memory. There was the sensation of recognition, but no concrete details Camille could cling to.

Huffing in frustration, Camille angled away from her friends. She had to be careful. It was one thing to show curiosity and intrigue, but it was another to show rage at their words. She couldn't be sure, but something boiling in her gut told her the Praetorians had never been an enemy of Aspera.

It took everything she had not to lash out in frustration over her amnesia about the past. Each new story of Aspera or the High