All you that in the condemned hole do lie

"All you that in the condemned hole do lie, Prepare your for tomorrow you shall die, Watch all and Pray; The hour is Drawing near. That you before the Almighty must Appear; Examine well yourselves in the time repent, That you may not to the eternal flames be sent. And when St. Sepulchre's Bell in the morning Tolls, The Lord Above have mercy on your souls,"

"Filthy Nightwoman!"

"Traitor!"

"Dirt worshiper!"

None of the hurled insults where true. Well, maybe the dirt worshiper bit, but Sian hardly saw that as an insult in the first place. The marine that led her up the steps jostled her, though she wasn't she why, but Sian kept her eyes fixed ahead and chin held high.

"Sian Virgilis on this day..."

She stood on the platform, willing her racing heart to slow as she didn't listen to the charges she was being swung for. Scanning the crowds as they heckled her. Then she turned her attention to the walls where a great number of army men, some of whom she recognized from long nights spent at the barracks where posted. A quick head count almost got a smile. Almost.

'Gods above,' she thought 'do you believe the whole of the Legion would show up for one soul?'

"Mrs. Virgilis do you have any last words?" The official asked her, eyeing her with disgust, as if he where offering it to a mange ridden dog.

"Every thing I have ever done and will always do, was for the health of my people."

With that the priest to her right read her final rights, then stepped back to make way for the gallowsman. Sain wanted to laugh at the fine texture of the white linen used to make the hood that was pulled over her eyes was far nicer than the blankets shed been given to sleep with in the prisons.

She kept her eyes open, she would face river Styx. The heavy micological rope tightened around her neck, there was the rolling of drums. The sound of a lever being pulled and the sensation of the floor dropping out from beneath her and-

And then Sian Virgils, of the Fulmene Ferri sat up bolt right in the prison cot, hands gripping the sheets sweat trickling into her eyes.

"Miss Sian!"

Sian's head swiveled to stares at who had called her name.

"Hey, Miss Sian!"

One of the guards, Erika she had learned was the woman's name was, stood there her back to the cell. In between Erika's fingers was a slip of rough paper. Sian stood slowly walking over.

"Good Evening,Ma'am," Sain returned her greeting.

"You okay? You looked like you was having a fitful sleep,"

"It's passed, thank you though," Sian said dismissive of the other woman's concern. In reality she was furious for letting the panic leak thru in such a way, but nothign she could do about it now. Reaching out, she took the small slip of paper out of Erika's fingers and palmed it with far more skill then one might expect of some one of her nature. She would have to wait until the guard had left before she read it.

"Well, I'm glade you feel better then," she guard said stepping away from the bars and turning left. " Behave yourself now,"

"As well as I can," Sain said, returning to sit on her cot as the guard's footsteps floated down the hall way and eventually faded. Only the sounds of other prisoners shouted conversations where there to keep her company. She was surrounded by people, but she had never felt more isolated in all of her years.

Finally she opened the note with hands that trembled only in the slightest. The feeling of the crisp paper and the faint scent of ink that hung onto the paper like a desperate child made the bold Latin lettering Leap off of the page at her.

"Be resolute. Your friends are with you. You are not alone. The Legion for the Legion."

With a touch of reverence Sian slowly folded the brief note from Hekration clutching it in her hand. In the deepest part of her heart she wanted to keep the scrap of paper, the words renewed her strength and even seeing his hand writing. Sian could hear the steel that would be in Hekration's voice. Even getting the paper into her hands would have been dangerous, and it being discovered may have unseen consequences.

Laying back she tucked the slip of paper into her mouth where it would be destroyed. She was a full grown woman of the Legion. The Legion for the Legion. She would carrier those words in her heart across the river Styx with her.