Phaedra sipped wine from the clay cup as she considered her words. Desertion was a serious crime in the Imperial army. It was punishable by flogging at the very least, and desertion on campaign could be punishable by death. It didn't make any sense that a politically savvy and well connected officer like Georgicus to risk disgrace by abandoning his post.

"He and his entire command abandoned us just before we were ambushed by the Atvari," she explained, "left tents standing to make it look like they were coming back." 

"I had considered that he was simply wiped out by the Atvari, but the tents were cleared out," she continued.

"It dosen't make any sense to me, he was technically in command," Phaedra told Brasidas. It was typical of the aristocratic class of the armies upper command that political connections went further than field experience and that was doubly true for regiments like the Miravet who were already considered only a cut above barbarians despite being part of the Empire for two centuries. 

"Were you expecting more reinforcements? Even together we would have been up against it if we met those Khareeds in open, and the Satrap is only a couple of days ride from here, with what? Maybe twenty thousand plus whatever locals he can gather up?" She unfastened the clasps of her armor letting the scale hang rather than constricting her.