The Kin

by Elsye Harwood

  Chapter Five

  The knock came at sunrise. Cautiously, Marius opened the door to see the woman from yesterday waiting for him. In her hands she held a bundle of material the same colour as the uniform the servants in the palace wore. Marius assumed that these were the clothes that they would be travelling in.

  “You have to take your friend away today,” she told him. “I’m sorry, he nearly evaded them, but they were prepared for every eventuality. During the day he’ll still be the man you know, but at night he’ll become one of them. The villagers will give you ropes to hold him.”

  “But you said he could be saved?”

  She nodded. “He can, but you mustn’t let him take any blood. If you can avoid that, he’ll recover in a few weeks. Come, I’ll take you to him.”

  Marius gathered up his belongings and followed her up the stairs to the rooms of Becoming. After consideration he’d left Junius’s sword in his chamber, but Marius made sure that his gladius was nestled securely in its scabbard and firmly strapped around his waist.

  The woman opened the door of the room and stepped aside to let him enter. Junius was on the bed, but even from this distance Marius could see there was something different about him.

  His skin was pale, with the same luminescent quality of the other residents and he was lying on his side, curled up tightly in a ball, which wasn’t a natural sleeping position for him.

  “Wake him quickly, then come down to the same place as yesterday. I can’t risk your friend seeing me.” Marius glanced at her realising the significance of her words. She bowed her head and left the room.

  For a moment Marius looked down at his friend. It was a risk taking him away from this place. He would be jeopardising his life and the lives of the brave men willing to escort them back. Surely it would save a lot of bother to end it now and kill Junius before he became the threat he had the potential of being?

  He drew his sword and had it ready to plunge into the body of the man who’d led him into battle and had stood by his side in the shield wall, and he realised that he couldn’t do it. Junius had saved him too many times, sometimes with a grin and quip, but on other occasions it had been his sheer bloody-minded determination and courage that had got them through, and as a commander he never left a man behind if he could help it and would always go back himself to save as many men as possible. The man could behave like a typical arrogant patrician at times, but he was always a loyal friend. If the situation were reversed, he knew that Junius would try and get him home.

  He sheathed the sword and bent down to wake his friend.

  “Junius, time to get up, you lazy bastard. Come on, shift your backside.” Marius gave him a huge shake, which almost rolled the prone Roman onto his back.

  “Come on. I’m not…” Marius stopped, as Junius muttered something incomprehensible.

  Marius bent lower and shouted, “What’s that, pretty boy? I can’t hear you. Got to speak up.”

  Junius moved a little, then opened his eyes and Marius stepped back when he saw that his friend’s eyes were no longer pale green, but had darkened to become the same blackish brown of the other residents.

  Junius moved again and looked up at him. For a moment he seemed confused, as if unsure who Marius was. Then he remembered and desperate fear entered his strange eyes.

  “You’ve got to get out of here. That’s an order, Marius. Go back to the camp and tell the General and anyone who’ll listen that they have to avoid this place and kill me if I return, and anyone with me.”

  “Junius, I know that. But you can still leave. There are men willing to guide us.”

  Junius sat up shaking his head. “No, I can’t go. I’m like them, I can feel it inside me. It’s morning, isn’t it?” Marius nodded. “I can’t go out during the day, I’ll burn. You must go, Marius, they’ll come for you. I know that.” He stopped and his eyes widened. Marius watched as the emotions played across his friends face.

  “Junius, what is it?” He asked eventually.

  “I can feel them. All of them. Even the ones who don’t live here. I know what they know…” He stopped again. But now Marius knew that he was seeing things in his mind. “Blood kin, children of the Moon,” he whispered.

  “You’re not like them. Not yet anyway. You’re still Marcus Junius Silanus, tribunus laticlavius, senior tribune of the Twentieth legion, and you will be until you actually do what they do.”

  “Blood,” Junius whispered as the information filtered into his consciousness. “I need to drink from someone to truly become one with them. They don’t know me yet, but at night we’ll be Kin.”

  Marius was getting frustrated. “Look, we’ve got to get away now. We need to have a whole day’s start on them. It’ll be too late for you tomorrow.”

  Junius reached up for him then. “No, Marius, you have to kill me now. You have to, they can’t know what I know about Rome and the army. They’ll use it. They’ve been waiting for an opportunity to come to the Empire. I’ll be their way in. I know too many people. They’ll use my family estates as a base and spread from there.” Junius grabbed Marius’s gladius and tried to draw it.

  “No,” Marius shouted. “If our roles were reversed you wouldn’t hesitate to help me escape. You’d order me to come.”

  “And I’m commanding you to leave me,” Junius countered.

  Marius smiled. “Well then, Tribune, you can report me for insubordination back at the fort.”

  Junius sighed. “I’m still not coming. I’ll use my own sword if I have to.”

  Another voice broke into their argument, causing both men to start and turn towards the door.

  “We’ve been discussing the situation and we believe that our priority is to get your friend back amongst your people.” The speaker was a covered servant who was standing in the entrance. Marius recognised the voice as being one of the men from yesterday, the taller man with the darker skin. “All we ask is that you supply us with information we seek whilst we travel.”

  “What do you want to know?” Junius asked. Marius stared at his friend in shock, he hadn’t known Aramaic before, yet now he was speaking it like a native.

  “Where the other Kin live, so that we can rise up and destroy them. The people of the outer settlements have decided to take this opportunity to be rid of the leeches once and for all. The servants here, though, remain loyal.”

  Junius stood and nodded. “I will help you, but only if you promise to kill me if you need to. And they’ll find out about your plan, and come after you; your people will be defenceless.”

  The stranger bowed his head. “I promise that I will kill you myself, rather than let you become Kin. And yes, we are aware they will find out and we’re willing to pay the price. We’ve rescued several others in your position, but I will admit none have been as valuable to the Kin as you are.

  “They’ll put up a fight, but we know the area better than they do. You’ll be bound at night, which is when they’ll come and you’ll want to go with them. If we manage to get you away, we’ll keep you both at a village many miles from here until you recover. The power of their blood will diminish with time, and we’ll know when it’s safe to let you walk unrestrained at night. Do you agree?”

  Marius looked beseechingly at Junius, who glanced over at him, the worry and fear evident in his eyes, but there was something else in his look as well and Marius remembered that Junius never backed away from a battle.

  “I agree. You have my word as a sworn officer in the Roman army.”

  The man nodded. “And you have mine. Meet us as soon as you’re ready in the designated place.”