01/25/2020 Snippet: the expanded IN HOC SIGNO VINCES.

It’s a free story on my Patreon, set in the same universe as FROZEN DREAMS; and while I think that it was a perfectly serviceable fourteen hundred word short-short story it should really have been a six thousand word one instead. So I’m working on that now. And for other reasons.

Another Christian missionary had been sniffed out in the legionary camp.

It was only by sheerest accident that Liz’a saw the Carnivores carry him off. They had been smooth about it, as you’d expect from the Emperor’s secret police; a quick distraction one camp row over, then quietly snatch one particular human slave while everybody else was looking in that direction. And if someone saw, who would care? Or who would be stupid enough to even visibly notice?

Well. Liz’a noticed, and cared. She had been watching this particular slave for a few days, picking up certain subtle signs, and trying to decide when it would be the best time to approach him. But it would appear that the Carnivores had picked up on the signs, too. And were faster to move than she was.

None of this showed on her face as Liz’a kept carefully sharpening her sword. To all appearances, Liz’a Skullcrusher Lupator (primus pilus, Third Imperial Legion) was the perfect centurion. Her gear was perfectly maintained, and her posture was stiff even in repose. Her mien was stern, even callous. Utterly Imperial, utterly orcish, utterly reliable. Certainly not even worth the trouble to investigate. Such dissimulation was necessary, in this year of Our Lord 2835. The human slaves might mutter that orcs liked to keep hearts on sleeves, and sometimes they were even their own hearts; but being a secret Christian in an army that officially and brutally despised all gods does wonders to teach discretion.