deceiving him, the number 44 was embroidered in red thread on the eagle’s breast. ‘The Forty-Fourth Legion of the XuinDo Empire,’ he muttered, wondering what had brought such folks to the south.
Olaf had heard of this Legion before. It seemed as though it was sent to every dangerous place within the Empire’s territory. From the distant, snow-covered north, where danger might lurk in every snowdrift and behind every rock in the form of barbarian nomads or huge, deadly monsters tearing people apart for their own amusement, to the campaigns waged in the south, where clashes regularly took place between independent port cities supported by the Empire and the Nakherian army. It seemed as though the Forty-Fourth had already been everywhere.
‘The question is whether that’s a good thing or not,’ remarked Bragi, without taking his eyes off the ship approaching them.
‘Oh, I don’t like the look of this,’ said Surt, cautiously placing his hand on his axe.
‘We neither…’
‘…we’ve got a bad feeling about this.’ As usual, the twins were in agreement.
The oars were raised and began to disappear inside the hull as soon as the bow passed the end of the jetty. Mooring ropes were thrown from the deck, and sailors in blue tunics leapt down immediately afterwards. Several Ytrens went to help them secure the ship and fasten the mooring lines.
There was a flurry of activity on deck, but amongst the blue uniforms of the Imperial Fleet’s soldiers, one could make out the red tunics and armour of the Legion. It seemed as though the legionnaires were getting in the sailors’ way, and the shipsmen were eyeing them with undisguised hostility. As soon as the ship came to a halt, a gangway was lowered onto the quay and quickly secured to the railing by the sailors.
It wasn’t long before the legionnaires appeared on the boarding ramp. They looked almost identical. They wore heavy, studded boots, brown trousers made of thick fabric, red tunics, bronze breastplates and helmets. In addition, each had a short sword at his belt and held a spear in
