For hours he trudged through the dark, wet, trackless forest.  He followed the sounds of battle,<br/>but when he arrived, it had always moved on to another point, leaving behind Roman corpses.<br/><br/>He had the good fortune to be able to slay one of these heathen Cheruscii.  The savage was<br/>complacent, looting a Roman corpse for trophies.  He never heard Decius approach from behind,<br/>over the rainsoaked earth.  Decius hacked the savage's head off and impaled it upon the dead Roman's spear as a display.  Then he moved on.<br/><br/>The battle had been lost, of that there was no doubt.  That left him with two options: To<br/>somehow find his way south and west out of this forest, towards the Imperial frontier, or die with honor in this godforsaken land.<br/><br/>The heroic, honorable death was out of the question.  What would be the point of dying honorably<br/>in this hellhole if nobody back home knew about it?  He would be just another Legionary that<br/>didn't come home.  "Decius?  He went north to campaign with Varius army and never came back.  I<br/>heard it was a disaster."  And Calista would marry that fool Catullus.<br/><br/>No: Decius would not become just another missing war dead.  He would return to Veii, honor be<br/>damned.<br/><br/>He spied two others: A man, undoubtedly a Roman officer by his filthy finery, and a young woman.<br/>Cheruscii, perhaps?  She definitely wasn't Roman.  But then she was still alive.  This bore<br/>further investigation.<br/><br/>Decius limped towards Marcus, stood at attention, and saluted this clearly superior officer.<br/>"Hail Gaius Augustus.  Sir, I am Decius Gallus, Evocati Equites, from what used to be the 19th Legion.  My cohort was ambushed last evening and routed.  You're the first live Roman I've seen this day."<br/><br/>He pointed the tip of his gladius at the woman. "This one: She is a Camp follower?"