One of the two remaining hsigo, realizing their leader was dead, unceremoniously grabbed his headless body and threw it off the wooden box. Just then Da Long and Titus, with Civis behind them, exploded onto the scene. Dania extricated himself from the twisted mess of his tent paying no attention to the women shouting and screaming in the tangles of their own tent.
With a primal scream, Roulv threw himself on the box the hsigo had grasped in his hands. The smaller monkey-like creature was no match for Roulv. The tug-of-war ended with Dania swinging the box so hard the creature flew off the box and into the air well over the heads of the onrushing Titus and Da Long and right into the face of the unprepared Civis.
Meanwhile, the other hsigo, knowing further stealth was futile, began to run monkey fashion across the campsite straight for the mangled mess the struggling girls were making of their tent. To the hsigo's and the girls' mutual dismay, the two women extricated themselves from the tent just as the hsigo arrived two steps from the frightened, frustrated women.
"AIIIIII!" screeched the unlucky hsigo, his bright eyes growing two times larger than normal. The two women stared at him for one brief second and then screamed at the top of their lungs. The hsigo fainted dead away.
Civis clawed at the hsigo that had landed on him, gripped him tightly and was screeching nonstop. The creature held on so tightly that in combination with the mud cake on Civis' nose, the Roman was barely able to breathe. Furthermore, his sword was useless. "Get this thing off of me!" he cried out.
Titus and Da Long had skidded to a stop when they saw the creature fly skywards. As they turned on their heels they saw it land on Civis. Now they were running back to him to do what they could. The creature's grip was monumentally strong, but to the relief of them both, the creature did not seem predatory. In fact, its behavior was more likely due to fright not malice.
"Easy, Civis," came Accipiter's soothing voice. "He isn't going to hurt you." The tall man had finally arrived on the scene from nobody knew where. "He is frightened, that is all."
"He's frightened (mppff) that is all?" He's all over (mmmpfff) my face... and my (nmpfffmpfff) nose! My poor nose!"
"He won't hurt you."
"Not hurt me? He's already mashed my nose!"
The women had calmed themselves enough by now to have found a piece of unused cord and tied the hands and feet of the hsigo that had fainted before them. They were carrying the creature over to the men. The hsigo on Civis saw them and tightened his grip once more. Accipiter raised up his hand to signal they should place the animal on the ground. As they did so it regained consciousness and stared fearfully all around. "Do not hurt us," it said in a high pitched, plaintiff voice. "We do not mean you harm. We only wanted the box for our Master." Roulv Dania stiffened and his grip on his sword and the box tightened.
"We will not harm you if you do us a service." Accipiter noticed the hsigo on Civis had loosened his grip somewhat. Civis equally relaxed as the hsigo's grip relaxed on him. This one spoke next, continuing to ease his grip. "We have no master now. Will you be our master?"
"For the while, if you behave," said Accipiter.
"Oh, we shall behave because you are our master now. What is it you want us to do, Master?"
"First, get off of the man called Civis."
The hsigo obeyed. Civis held himself steady as the creature climbed down to the ground and stood there looking up at Accipiter. "And next, Master. What shall we do next?"
"Show us a way into the city - a way in which we will be seen by as few people as possible."
"He knows a way, Master," said the hsigo pointing to the tied up hsigo. "Must he be bound like that, Master? We will be good. We promise."
"Please untie him, Olivia," said Accipiter. Both Roulv Dania and Civis stiffened once more; but Civis was more preoccupied with his throbbing nose than with the hsigo which he decided were now Accipiter's problem. He rubbed his nose through the caked mud as if it would help. It didn't.
"Come with me," said Accipiter to the hsigo. "Tell me about the way into the city."
"Yes, new Master." And both of the hsigos followed as requested.
Titus and Da Long gave the hsigo's beheaded comrade a fast burial among the rocks while Dania returned to his collapsed tent to rebuild it and to better store his box. Civis, covering his nose with his hand as if cradling it, asked if the women were okay. They were, they said. Civis pulled his hand away from his nose and nodded. Unfortunately, the movement caused the dried mud cake to finally crack apart, and it slipped off Civis' nose and fell in four distinct sections onto the floor of campsite.
The surprise of seeing the mud cake break at that instant coupled with Civis' look of dismay struck something funny in both ladies. As quickly as the mud cake hit the ground both women brought hands to their mouths to hide their grins and to stifle the giggles threatening to rise. Civis straightened his back, elevating even more his enlarged reddened nose, and stomped off to return to his own tent. The two women waited as long as they possibly could before letting loose waves of laughter at the condition of the Roman's battered nose. They hoped Civis was out of immediate earshot. He was, but only barely.
Titus and Da Long knew better than to say anything when they saw Civis arrive sans mud cake in their part of the camp. They merely glanced at each other, faces in the grip of military trained correctness, but the twinkling in each other's eyes saying what their expressions did not.
Civis made no effort to acknowledge what he knew they were thinking. If this is what it took to foster camaraderie, then so be it. He was very much a Commander who knew that if it must be at his own expense it was a small price to pay.
But by all the gods in Olympus, could the Fates now leave his poor throbbing nose alone!