"Such compliments." Anai smiled with a soft chuckle. "Are you plotting something, my dear?" She asked as she cocked her head.
A soft murmur escapes his daughter, as she feels his hand on her cheek. The medicus nodded to him as he was leaving. As he walks out of the tent, Pesca has a few choices for next actions: -He can discuss with Maat the defences of the city -He can go to meeting with Taia -He can inspect the troops who returned from action -there are other things on his mind - like Flavia and Claudia...
Agorix shrugged. "I doubt the survivors would tell us anything. They were probably too busy running away to see what was going on." She said as the duo made their way to the place they knew a few survivors were. As they came to the camp, they found one of the soldiers they were looking for.
Aulus was surprised to see a woman in legionary armour, but approached her nonetheless. 'Are you the leader of the survivors?' Aulus asked her, 'We are here to root out those Gallic skirmishers. Can you tell us anything that might help?'
The woman removes her helmet slowly, wiping sweat from her brow. "Livia Drusus, sir. Not the leader de jure, but no one else stepped up." She salutes. "Bastards were led by a woman, sir." She doesn't seem to make any connection between that and the fact that she herself is a woman in the armour of an all-male army. "They wanted our heads, took time to cut them off and put them in a cart."
Taia gives a mock outraged look. "Me? What? Never." She smirks. "No, this time I genuinely meant what I said. I'm learning from your example. I am capable of telling the truth, sometimes." "Though perhaps I'm buttering you up to get into your skirt again?" She chuckles deviously.
'Aulus Cornelius Cossus, please to meet you,' Aulus returned the salute, before he looked quite concerned, 'They are collecting heads? Hmm, perhaps for some spikes on a palisade.' He looked to Agorix, 'Any idea about a woman leading them? There can't be many women among them capable of leading them, apart from you that is.'
Agorix sighs. "I think I know who it is. Derva, a priestess. If she's taking heads, it's for a ritual."
"Yes, you - and always. And thank you, my dear." Anai chuckled. "My dear, all you have to do is ask. But we have more important things to do. We have a trap to spring. After that you will have sisters to deal with, I have a certain noble to entertain.
The meeting that was set up with Taia, was to take place in one of the tunnels. He would need to move swiftly to get there in time. Now, he only needed to choose the bodyguards he would take with him. -he could take a few trusty legionaries. -the greek mercenaries were skilled. -gladiatrixes were quite skilled when it came to individual fights. -his own sex slaves/bodyguards were loyal to him.
'I figured you might know of her, any chance we can find her? Where would she hide?' Aulus asked Agorix, 'I'm not a superstitious man but we should probably stop them before they can complete that ritual.'
"I'll work on setting the trap, then." She smiles, leaning forward to kiss her mother's cheek, almost innocently. "Which noble, may I ask?"
"Hmm." She thinks. "Depends on what you prefer." She tells him two options she can think of. - Interviewing survivors and gathering dates and times, Agorix claims that she has a good idea of when the next attack will be, based on the ritual. She suggests posing as a regular patrol, and ambushing the Gallic ambush. Aulus' tactical mind sees that the strength here is that he'll have surprise on his side, and since he knows he'll be ambushed, can take precautions the previous victims couldn't. - Agorix presents another option. Since the ritual has to take place in a clearing within the woods, according to tradition, the Gauls are likely situated in a nearby wood, from where they launch attacks on the road. Agorix suggests finding a local woodsman to guide them, promising protection from the war as payment, and going to various clearings that could fit the bill as a ritual site, where they've likely encamped. Aulus knows that such a fight would be an encounter battle, both sides stumbling into one another, and the trees could possibly disrupt Roman formations. On the other hand, unlike the ambush plan, his squad would be catching the Gauls whilst they're unprepared for a fight, maybe even catching them while they're distracted by a meal, if he's lucky.
"Why, Omirah, of course." Anai said caressing her daughter's cheek. "But first, the trap." With that said, she gave her daughter a smack, making her move. Sometime later, Anai waited with Taia, Bostar and few officials she trusted, as the trap sprung.
Without telling anyone, Pesca leaves the camp, black cloak put on his armour. His absence might create some trouble, maybe even cause panic, but that was a risk he was willing to take. Passing next to the guard, was surprisingly easy. He travelled through the night until he found a dark abandoned building - it was a temple once. Now it was nothing more but a smoking ruin. He moved to the back of the building and searched through the ruins of bookcases - until he found the trapdoor. He descended into the tunnels. He grabbed the torch and walked until he made it into wide-open space. "So you came." He turned to see the woman, who could only be his daughter... with two female guards standing behind her.
Looking through the peepholes, Anai sees her hated enemy sitting in a fine meeting room, surrounded by other nobles. They start off with small talk, but it isn't long before they hear talk of conspiracy. It isn't long before one of Anai's bureaucrats, a rare honest man who does his job without taking sides, nods his head, signalling that there's more than enough evidence here. Though the man has been a thorn in Anai's side before, because his honesty sometimes disrupted her plans, in this case it will help her, as people will believe that his condemnation of Yasca wasn't just ordered by Anai.
Pesca remembers the guard's face for later, but sneaks past him. Inside the tunnel, Pesca nods to his daughter. "So, you're Taia." He smiles. "How beautiful you are."
Anai can't help but appreciate the honest man, if all in her administration were like that, she would have fewer problems. But most of the snakes in her administration, make it all the more... troublesome. She turned to her guard captain and nodded, allowing her to spin into action.
