Beloved Protector (Heartsong Presents) Read Online Free Page A

willingly follow him into battle.
    “The storm, my lord,” Andronicus answered. “It hit without notice.”
    Titus grunted. “This lousy heathen countryside. Give me the green fields of Rome any day.”
    There were several murmurs of agreement.
    “Now,” Titus declared, turning back to the map spread out on the table. “Let us get down to business.” He glanced up at Andronicus. “You missed all of the action.”
    “Sir?”
    “While you were gone, those infernal Jews figured out a way to destroy our siege engines and then had the audacity to attack our camp.”
    Andronicus wasn’t surprised. These zealots were either very foolish or very determined. They had no compunction about killing even their own people if it suited their purposes. From those Jews they had captured outside the city, they had learned of horrible atrocities being perpetrated upon Jews in the city, who had done nothing to warrant such attacks. The brutality of the Jewish leader, John, was beyond anything Andronicus had ever faced.
    “We should bring the full force of our army against them,” Tribune Sestus growled. “If we had done so in the beginning, this war would be over by now. We have the men, so why not use them?”
    “They have the advantage of the high walls. Many of our men would die needlessly,” Tribune Marcus rebutted. “Let us build the siege engines again. It will take time, yes, but it will also save lives.”
    Titus glanced at him. “And where would we get the supplies to build them? We have already stripped every tree around here for miles.”
    “Perhaps,” Andronicus suggested, “if we tighten security around the city walls...”
    “We already tried that,” Sestus argued, “and they still manage to sneak through.”
    Titus turned to Andronicus, his dark eyes glinting. “You had an excellent idea, Andronicus, about keeping the men occupied. If we are going to prolong this siege, then to make it work, we need to fortify our defenses.”
    That was the very reason Andronicus and his men were out scouting the hillsides. Laying siege to a city was a tedious, time-consuming business and when men had too much time on their hands, problems from boredom usually arose. He tried to keep his men busy to avoid any such possibility.
    “Since so many people are still leaving the city to scrounge for food in the area outside the city, and since we know that supplies are being smuggled into the city somehow, we are going to build an earthen siege wall around the entire city.”
    Andronicus knew exactly what we meant.
    “How soon do you want us to begin?” one tribune asked.
    The general stood and glanced at each one of his soldiers. “Right now, Quintas. Give the order to your centurions.”
    Slamming their fists against their chest in salute, they quickly exited the general’s tent.
    Andronicus found one of his centurions and gave the order. He knew the men were bound to grumble, but they would still respond with deadly enthusiasm. Anything to limit this siege and allow them to return to their homes.
    The men set to with a will. At the rate they were going, it was going to take less time than Andronicus had originally anticipated but still longer than the time limit he had given Tapat. He could only pray that she would do nothing foolish, like try to set out for Pella on her own. She was bound to be spotted if the sharav heat didn’t kill her first.
    He needed to find a way to get her some supplies and get her out of here, and he needed to do it now.
    He backtracked his way to Titus’s tent, intent on somehow finding a way to be relieved of duty for a short period. No matter what he could think of to say, it was still going to seem suspicious, his wanting to leave now. Still, it was going to take some time to build the siege wall and still longer to wait out the city’s starvation.
    He heard a commotion outside the general’s tent. Andronicus had to forge his way through a barricade of packed soldier bodies to make it to