Tales around Mirateia 33

The weather outside was reaching scouring temperatures but with a small breeze blowing in from the east, it didn't feel as bad as it could have without the wind, likewise, the wind was blowing in small clouds racing across the sky.
With the weather being as it were, Azran had decided that it would be a shame to waste it sitting inside, so leaving the administration of Nicia and its surrounding villages to the Clarks, Azran first walked past the kitchen to grab a bit of food, there were still sometime before lunch and he had eaten an early breakfast that day.
While walking through the mansion it occurred to him that it had been months since he had last visited the garrison of the local legion, after informing the guard on duty where he was going in case they needed him or if Ira asked where he had gone, Azran walked to the stables next to the mansion, took the reins of his horse and after getting it ready, jumped up and strode out of the side gate and turned towards the garrison.
It didn't take long to get there, especially not on horseback, while it was a decent-sized town it was still small compared to other major cities around the Empire, Coming up the gate of the garrison, one of the two guards standing guard raised his hand for Azran to stop and he did as told.
"Greetings Sir," the guard who had stopped him said.
"Greetings soldier, anything wrong?" Azran said looking between the two guards.
"No sir, but as you know we have to ask for any civilians' purpose to enter the garrison"
"Right, I dont have any reasons to enter the garrison other than it's been a while since my last visit, but I hope that's not going to be a problem?"
"Of course not sir, please pass" The soldier said, standing at attention.
Riding up, Azran held his horse right next to the soldier he had spoken with "Just for the future, while I'm technically the governor of this city, I'm still serving in the Imperial Guard, the Emperor never discharged me"
"Right sir, sorry sir"
"Dont worry about it, just wanted to tell you" Azran said with a grin.
Riding through the gate Azran stopped shortly after to take it all in, The 8th Legion, Casa Nicia had been there for just over a year and Azran was amazed by the amount of change one legion could do to the area, counting the soldiers in the legion the population of Nicia had almost doubled and that's not counting the camp followers of the legion, within the first month of the legion arriving, housing was already being build to accommodate the new followers and about six months ago the legat of the legion, Althea Karina Murena, had with Azrans permission begun the transformation of the garrison into a permanent garrison, meaning that the wooden buildings and walls were to be replaced with stone, a process that had recently reached its halfway point.
Making his way towards the headquarters of the legion, the few people he met gave him a quick salute and soon enough he stood in front of the door to the office of Althea, knocking on the door.
"Enter" came from the other side, opening the door Azran saw Althea sitting behind her desk going over some paperwork, Azran could not help himself thinking that he was good and that it wasn't him.
"You should take a page out of my book and drop the paperwork for today"
Looking up and noticing that it was Azran, Althea raised and stood at attention.
"At ease legat, just me"
"Just you? Just the governor of this place" Althea said, shaking her head. "What brings you here?"
"Well, I decided that it was too nice outside to be locked up inside doing paperwork, speaking of said paperwork, anything happened since you are swamped in it?" Azran said gesturing down to the papers on her desk.
"I'm not sure"
"How can you not be sure?"
"Because technically nothing has happened yet and that's the problem, yesterday I sent out a cohort to patrol the area as there have been reports of bandits in the hills and the cohort was supposed to return two hours ago but there has been no news yet"
"Could they not just be delayed by something?"
"Possible, but..." Althea cut off when after a quick knock on the door an optio came into the door trying to catch his breath.
"What the hell is the purpose of this" Althea said with a raised voice.
The optio took a few big breaths, getting some fresh air down his lungs before he stood at attention.
"Legat.. " The optio turned and noticed Azran "Governor" The optio gave a quick salute "The cohort has returned but only half of them"
"What do you mean only half of them," Azran said feeling a chill running down his spine, Althea and Azran didn't give the optio the chance to reply as both of them were already on the out of the door and shortly after arrived in front of the central gatehouse of the garrison where what was left of the cohort were standing.
"Decaris, report!" Azran yelled in his best parade ground voice which made everyone nearby in the garrison turn their heads towards the noise and the Decaris automatically turned around towards the incoming voice and stood at attention.
"Sir, we were patrolling just around the hills to the north and preparing to construct the camp for the night when they hit us from three sides, we defended the camp as best we could but the weight of their numbers was pushing us back so I gave the order for a ordered retreat towards Nicia, the entire night we were harassed by the enemy and it was only when we came near the city that they retreated."
"Who are "they"? Althea asked, not even looking at the Decaris but instead focusing on the rest of the cohort who looked terrible, not one of the soldiers carried a wound of some sort, the worst of the wounded were being helped up by some of their less wounded comrades, likewise their equipment showed signs of a brutal fight, some of the soldiers' shields was missing parts of it or had deep cuts in it, Althea noticed that some of the soldiers still had some of the arrows lodged in it.
"I dont know sir, they looked like you would expect bandits to look like..." The Decaris were quiet for a moment "No, some some them were surprisingly well armoured and they seemed very disciplined for bandits." The Decaris answered.
Azran could see that the man was barely holding himself upright, both from exhaustion and a wound to his leg.
"That alright, go get that wound checked and then get something to eat and sleep"
The Decaris nodded and walked over to the surgeon who was checking the wounds of the cohort.
The mood of the garrison was tense as the rest of the garrison watched the rest of the cohort getting their wounds checked while others slumped down in the shade and fell asleep. A thousand thoughts were running through his mind at the moment as he observed the garrison, on one side he was proud that the cohort had conducted the retreat in an orderly fashion and while it was regrettable that half the cohort was lost that was the risk soldiers ran when they joined the Dercian legions. At the same time, he was also trying to analyse who this unknown enemy could be, there was governor Kaeso Ciusestia Siusiso who still claimed Nacaeus as part of his province so there was a chance that the governor was somehow trying to cause some unrest in the province.
What should we do? Althea asked and Azran was pulled out of his thoughts.
"Wha?" Azran said, then asserting the situation "Right, I will take the 1st cohort and scout the area, I'm concerned with how close they were willing to get to Nicia.
With that said, Azran called the nearest soldier to him and told him to go inform the Decaris the 1st cohort that he was to get his cohort ready to march out within the hour, in the meantime, Azran rode back to the manor to get his armour and weapon. Coming back to the manor and riding through the gate, Azran handed the reigns to the young girl working the stables, telling the girl to keep the horse ready as he would be needing it soon, entering his room where he kept his armour, at first he didn't notice Ira sitting on his bed but he could feel it.
"Your Highness," he said without turning around and began working on getting his armour off the armour stand only disrupted by the pillow that hit him at the back of the head.
"You disappear for several hours and then rush back here, would you mind telling me what's going on?" Ira said as she got up from the bed.
"The 4th cohort was attacked on a patrol yesterday and the survivors have just arrived, I'm taking the 1st cohort out to see if we can find anything."
"Veark, Do you know who or what attacked them?" Ira asked and Azran could hear the tension rise in her voice.
"No, the Decaris said it was bandits but that they were too well-armoured and disciplined to be normal bandits"
"I'm going with you" Ira crossed her arms, her crimson eyes blazing with determination "Im not going to be left behind Azran"
Azran slammed his hist against the armour, still on the stand "You are going to stay, for the gods' sake Ira, only half of the cohort came back, you are staying here, it's final, I need someone I can trust to be in charge." his voice low but with a firmness in it that Ira had only rarely heard before and while she burned to go out there, she knew that when Azran got like that, there were no discussion.
"Fine, but I swear by Mara, best and greatest, that if you get hurt out there, I will kill you," she said with a glint in her eye and a small smile.
"Deal, now help me get this armour on"
Ira helped Azran get his armour on and made sure everything was as it should be before she followed him to the stables where his horse was waiting, giving a nod to Ira, Azran rode back to the garrison where the cohort was waiting and shortly after, the 1st cohort was on the move in the same direction the ill-fated 4th cohort had come from.