Fallen Legion

by David Thompson

  "And what if I'm not willing to do so?"

  "Obviously," Vito said, glaring at the boy from his corner, "we cannot allow a loose arrow such as yourself out into the streets."

  "I'm sure that veiled threats are hardly necessary," Domitian said. "But to be perfectly blunt, my associate Vito is correct. Despite what you may or may not think of yourself, in terms of the fate of this province, you are expendable. You can make a solemn vow to submit to our command now, before ourselves and the very gods themselves, or you will end up as the main dish of the city guards' meal."

  "A fitting companion to that wine you showed me earlier," Marcus said with a laugh.

  "Y...you don't need to threaten me at all," Andrenius stammered. "Look, guys, I thought that my loyalty would be perfectly clear to you; I've been waiting for an opportunity like this all my life. However, if you need me to swear my allegiance, then that is what I shall do.

  "I swear," Andrenius continued, dropping down to one knee before Domitian, "by all the Gods and all my ancestors that I will abide by any and all commands given to me by the members of this honoured assembly, my loyalty unswaying even unto my death."

  After carefully watching Andrenius' oath, Domitian seemed to size the young man up, trying to determine whether or not he could be trusted. Apparently deciding in the affirmative, he addressed the lad: "I'm glad to hear it. Now, I want you to go back to your home. Mention nothing of what has transpired here today to anybody, no matter how much you trust them. You will be contacted if you are needed."

  Andrenius nodded and left the meeting room silently.

  "Do you really believe we can trust him?" Vito asked.

  "Yes," Domitian replied. "His hatred of the Sicambrii is genuine, as is his desire to aid us. Whether or not he will be useful to us is another matter entirely; that I cannot say. But we can trust him.

  "Moving on to other matters," he continued, "do we have any other business to discuss, or shall we adjourn for the day?"

  "Actually," Marcus said, "I do have one piece of business which I think should be brought to your attention. Entirely unrelated to the rebellion, actually, but important nonetheless."

  "Well, just spit it out, man," Domitian said.

  "Of course. As you are well aware, Domitian, I have spent a great deal of time with Alexandra over the past year. What I'm not sure you know is that during that time, we have developed a very serious relationship...serious enough, in fact, that just last night I asked for her hand in marriage."

  "I see," Domitian said, obviously taken aback by the news. "Did she accept?"

  "Yes."

  "Good. That is excellent news, Marcus."

  "Pardon me for saying so," Marcus said, "but your words do not match your attitude. Do you believe it is an unfit match?"

  "Not at all," Domitian said. "Quite the opposite, in fact. She is a remarkable woman, Marcus, and you are extremely lucky to have her. I'm just a bit surprised, that is all. I suppose that since I never saw the gradual development of the relationship, this is all just a bit of a surprise. You seemed to be little more than friendly acquaintances the last time I saw you both together."

  "It seems that love blooms in the most unexpected places," Marcus said with a shy smile. "I knew there was an instant attraction between the two of us, of course, but I suppose that I tried to deny it. I was still very much grieving for Lucia back then, but I eventually realized that I had grieved as much as I was able to, and that it was time to move on with my life."

  "This is wonderful news indeed," Domitian said with a smile. "Tell me, have you two discussed when the ceremony will take place?"

  "Not in any great detail," Marcus said. "I have, however, given some consideration to the event. It seems to me that it would be best if we did it as soon as possible, before the inevitable large scale conflicts with the Sicambrii. The risk that I will die in battle is, as always, a grave one, and I would not wish to go to Hades having failed to fulfill my promise of marriage."

  "Indeed," Vito said, breaking into the conversation impatiently, "but do you really consider it so much better to marry her and then die the very next day? Or perhaps you will marry her only to have her wind up as collateral damage in a Sicambrii attack. Do you think that you will be able to bear that grief, having lost two wives to the Sicambrii? Do you honestly believe that this marriage will not interfere with your ability to lead men and fight on the field of battle, Marcus?"

  "Will I be able to concentrate on the task at hand if I am worried about the safety of my wife, you mean? Yes," Marcus said without hesitation, "I will. And although I realize that my death in battle would cause Alexandra considerable pain, she has told me she is willing to accept the risk. And if she is killed as a result of our mission," Marcus' voice dropped to a savage growl, "then I have nothing but pity for the Sicambrii, because every last Sicambrii man, woman, and child shall die a very slow and very painful death."

  "Enough of this speculation," Domitian said dismissively. "This is not a time for such morbid thoughts. Come, Marcus, and we shall make arrangements to have the ceremony conducted as soon as humanly possible."

  Placing his arm around Marcus' shoulder, Domitian lead him out of the room and to stairs leading up to the bar. As they passed up the stairs and into the bar, Marcus was filled with a sense of dread. Two very large Sicambrii warriors were standing by the doors; the larger of the two was hammering a poster into the wall. As the pair stepped through the door behind the bar, the second, smaller Sicambrii caught sight of them immediately. He cried out to his companion in their native tongue, and the pair drew battleaxes from sheathes on their back. The smaller warrior strugglingly addressed Marcus in broken Latin.

  "You come with us," he said. "Come now and we no hurt."

  "Gentlemen," Marcus said as he nonchalantly picked up a full bottle of whisky from the bar, "I am afraid that is an option. Further, it is obvious that 'you hurt' is a foregone conclusion; 'you hurt', of course, means that you will be the ones hurting, rather than us."

  "Huh?" The Sicambrii grunted.

  "It means that you're all dead men. You just don't know it yet," Marcus said with a wicked grin. Before the slow-witted warrior was able to decipher just what had been said, Marcus hurled the bottle at the larger warrior. The bottle struck the warrior square in the forehead, shattering into a thousand shards and soaking the large man. Blinded by the mixture of alcohol and blood which dripped into his eyes, the larger warrior staggered backward a step while Marcus picked up a torch from the wall. The torch quickly found itself tumbling through the air in the same trajectory as the bottle had, and when it struck the warrior the alcohol lit ablaze immediately. Screaming in agony, the blazing Sicambrii fell to the stone floor, trying in vain to roll around enough to put the flames out. Domitian picked up a large wooden club from under the bar and leapt over the counter, catching the smaller warrior by surprise. Distracted by the immolation of his companion, the warrior never even had the opportunity to deflect Domitian's blow. The club arced through the air, connecting with the warrior's forehead with a solid clunking sound. The warrior's knees buckled beneath him, and he fell to the ground without further struggle. Marcus cooly strode over to the burning warrior, who was still flailing in pain on the floor. Looking down at the still-burning body, he stomped down hard on the warrior's head, his boot carrying enough force to crush the warrior's skull with a sickening splat. Before Marcus' singed boot was pulled back, the warrior ceased struggling and slumped back lifelessly on the floor.

  "Get some water," Marcus said to Vito. Domitian hurried to the inn's front doors and quickly barred them shut. "Put him out, and take care of the body. Domitian, is your one dead?"

  "No," Domitian said. "But he's going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up. I suggest we get him in chains in the basement for interrogation. What is it that they were putting up on the wall?"

  Marcus was already standing in front of the poster, blocking Domitian's view. He ripped the sheet of paper from the wall
, laughing as he turned to Domitian. "It looks like I'm a wanted man," he said. Reading from the poster, he pronounced: "Reward! Two hundred pieces of gold for the body of the traitor Marcus Eranthan Ulpius. Dead or alive."

  "What? I thought you said that nobody saw you at that riot," Domitian exclaimed, obviously worried about this turn of events.

  "I didn't think I was. You know, this just infuriates me."

  "I would think that being wanted would do that," Vito said as he carefully poured a bucket full of water of the still-smouldering corpse that Marcus had set aflame.

  "No, not at being wanted. I knew it would happen eventually. They're only offering a two hundred gold piece reward for me - that's what upsets me most. Two hundred pieces of gold? Come on...I'd think I'm worth at least a thousand."

  "The reward doesn't matter," Domitian said gravely. "Someone knows who you are, Marcus. That puts us all at risk. We need to be extremely careful."

  "Yeah, careful...I know. But still...two hundred gold? Two hundred!"

  "Shut up about the gold!" Domitian shouted.

  "Relax," Marcus said. "We can handle this. It's a complication, nothing more."

  "I know," Domitian said, relaxing slightly. "I know. We'll take care of it, but that doesn't make the situation any less seriously. The first thing I suggest you do is go and find your beloved wife-to-be. Move her out of the temple and bring her to a safe place. We can make arrangements with loyalists on the outskirts of the city to provide you both with secure lodging. We will go get her right now together, and I will escort you to the appropriate safehouse.

  "In the meantime, Vito, take care of cleaning up this mess and shackling our guest. If he wakes up while we are gone, feel free to have a little discussion with him. Find out everything you can, starting with who provided the information about Marcus that prompted this poster."

  "Consider it done," Vito said with a wicked grin. "I've got a few new...conversation aids that I'm looking forward to trying out."

  "Just don't kill him," Domitian said with a laugh. "Now, Marcus, we had best get moving."

  Marcus nodded, doing his best to pull the collar of his tunic up enough to disguise his face. Hold on, Alexandra, he thought. We'll be there before you know it. Hopefully before anyone else knows it, too.

  Chapter XI

  Cologne's Temple of Venus was a small, unassuming wooden structure which stood in stark contrast to the nearby Temple of Mars. The latter was a veritable fortress of stone and a model of efficient and beautiful architechture, while the former was little more than a hastily erected one-room wooden hut capable of holding ceremonies involving up to twenty people. The price of living on the frontier,Marcus reflected as he strode through the door of the tiny temple. Love tends to take a backseat to war, and the architecture reflects that. Just as well, I suppose. If we were to hold the wedding in a temple the size of Mars', we would draw unneeded attention.

  The wedding had taken only three days to arrange; the local Priestess of Venus was more than pleased to conduct the ceremony, though she had insisted on the inclusion of the city's Priest of Eros. A wedding was, as she had said, a joint venture between the Goddess of Love and her son, and the ceremony should reflect that relationship appropriately. Domitian, who had planned the affair, was not pleased at the thought of including more people than absolutely necessary; any wedding was bound to draw attention, and the fewer people involved, the less attention the wedding was likely to draw. Still, since the ceremony could not be conducted properly without the assent of the Priestess of Venus, Domitian was forced to assent to the plan. Nonetheless, he did manage to keep the attendance at the ceremony to an absolute minimum - the only invitees beyond the clergy and bride and groom were himself, Vito, and the High Priest of Mars. Domitian had not even been eager to invite the latter guest, but had done so at Alexandra's insistence. Since the Priest had been her closest friend for most of her adult life, Alexandra had no intention of having a wedding without him present. In fact, she had told Domitian that she would have preferred Monale to perform the ceremony, but Monale had refused - wedding ceremonies were not exactly the specialty of a priest of the War-God.

  The inside of the temple was as unassuming and sparse as the outside. Three rows of simple wooden benches flanked both sides of a path leading from the temple's door to the simple altar at the opposite end of the room. A three-foot tall marble icon of Venus decorated the altar, along with an open leatherbound tome, which presumably contained all the pertinent rituals for the Goddess of Love. The Priestess, a shapely brunette with piercing green eyes, was already present, content with biding her time until the ceremony by uttering quiet invocations to Venus from behind the altar. She was so utterly engrossed in her prayer that she did not even acknowledge Marcus as he walked through the temple doors, looking extremely uncomfortable in his formal legionary uniform. He had not worn the dress uniform in several years, and the added stress of wearing the uniform under a bulky robe - to disguise it from the sight of nosy passers-by on the street - had caused him to break out in excessive sweat. He pulled the bulky robe from his shoulders and, once he had used it to wipe the sweat off his brow, tossed it aside behind one of the wooden benches at the rear of the temple.

  "You look like you've seen more comfortable days," Domitian said as he slipped through the temple doors. Unlike Marcus, Domitian had not elected to wear the complex dress uniform of a high-ranking officer in the legions. Marcus briefly wished that he had the luxury of more comfortable clothing, but assured himself that the temporary discomfort would be outweighed by the look on Alexandra's face when she saw him in the impressive outfit - he was even more striking in a dress uniform than he was in the standard battle uniform of the legions.

  "I have seen more comfortable days," Marcus said with a laugh. "Between the heat, the added robe, and the obvious stress of the day, I could probably flood the Tiber three times over with my sweat."

  "Of that I have little doubt. I remember how heavy those damnable uniforms are. I don't envy you for wearing it."

  Their conversation was interrupted by a tiny man walking through the doors of the temple. Marcus was not a tall man by any means, but the newcomer scarcely came up to Marcus' chest. Nonetheless, he carried himself with confidence, his flowing red robes swirling around him with every step he took. An embroidered arrow covered the right sleeve of his robes from shoulder to elbow. The Priest of Eros,Marcus observed with an inner laugh. I thought he'd be taller.

  "Gentlemen," the priest said, sizing Domitian and Marcus up. "Which of the two of you is the bride, and which the groom?"

  "I am the groom," Marcus said with a laugh. "The bride has not yet arrived. And, to spare you from a further faux pas, the bride in this wedding is a woman."

  "Oh," the Priest said, his cheeks burning with embarrasment. "I beg your forgiveness, gentlemen. It's just that the last time I was to perform a wedding and only two men were in the temple, it was because -"

  "Yes, we get the point," Domitian said. "Perhaps you would care to consult with the Priestess? We would like this ceremony to be quick and simple. We won't take up much of your time."

  "Of course, because I have so many other duties to attend to," the Priest said sarcastically, rolling his eyes for added effect.

  "Something like that," Marcus said. "Ah, it looks like the rest of our party has arrived."

  The Temple's doors swung open once again, and Vito stepped through, followed by Monale, and Alexandra. Marcus' jaw dropped slightly as he beheld Alexandra; while he looked good in his dress uniform, she was nothing short of absolutely stunning in her simple white robes. She had obviously spent a great deal of time that morning in preparation for this moment; her hair was carefully styled to frame her high cheekbones and beautiful green eyes, and a light blush set off her ordinarily pale skin. Marcus stepped towards her, taking her hands in his and gazing deep into her eyes. "My love," he whispered, able to speak only through a tremendous force of will, "you are absolutely perfect."

&nbs
p; "No more so than you," Alexandra whispered back, obviously just as much in awe of his appearance as Marcus was of hers.

  "It's not that I want to rush you two," Domitian said with a broad smile, "but I believe that the officiators are ready for you."

  The Priestess of Venus was standing in front of the altar, watching the couple with an approving eye. The Priest of Eros stood behind the altar, carefully waving a thurible full of incense over the altar's surface. Domitian, Vito, and Monale all took their seats on benches in the front row of the temple, leaving Marcus and Alexandra to stride up the aisle together. Their slow procession lasted only a matter of seconds due to the size - or lack thereof - of the temple, but set to the sopranic chanting of the Priest of Eros, the short procession was impressive nonetheless. When the pair stood before the Priestess of Venus, she smiled softly at them and began the service.

  "Beloved couple, we are gathered here in the sight of friends, family, and our divine mistress of love, the mighty Venus. It is through her grace that we have come to consencrate this relationship."

  "May her grace resound throughout the ages," every member of the assembly recited simultaneously.

  "Marcus Eranthan Ulpius, do you swear to to cherish this woman, to protect her with your very life, and to watch over her for the rest of your days?"

  "I do," Marcus said solemnly.

  "Alexandra Anillae Pliandres, do you swear to cherish this man, to obey him with all your heart, and to watch over him for the rest of your days?"

  "I do," Alexandra said.

  "And do you both swear to obey the edicts of the Goddess of Love, regarding her for all time as mistress of the domain of your wedded bliss?"

  "We do," the couple answered.

  "And do you vow to foreswear the errant arrows of Eros, reserving your love for each other and no others?"