The Kin

by Elsye Harwood

  Chapter Fourteen

  Vatican City; Early Twenty-First century; September

  David had drunk a little too much the night before and his head still ached, despite the glass of water he’d had before going to bed. So when Tully appeared in the library and asked if he wanted a coffee, David jumped at the chance of a break from studying ancient texts.

  Tully told him to go to the apartment and he’d follow after he’d locked up. David made his way up the stairs and used the code Tully had given him to get into the custodian’s apartment. At first he thought that he was alone, but as he strolled over to the kitchen area he noticed that Marcus was sitting on the floor behind the table nearest the huge windows. He was surrounded by books and seemed oblivious to David’s presence as he was writing notes from a book and didn’t look up once.

  Unsure what to do, David walked as quietly as possible over to the kitchen and began to prepare the coffee.

  “Yes, please,” came the imperious request from the table.

  David almost jumped. “Do you want milk and sugar?” he asked.

  “Black, two sugars. Where’s… Tully?”

  “He’s locking up,” David replied, but there was no response; the younger custodian was once again immersed in his work.

  A few minutes after that Tully appeared. He stopped behind the sofa facing his colleague. “Found anything?” he asked. From the kitchen area, David saw Marcus nod, but give no further information. “Anything useful?” Tully persisted. Marcus shrugged. “Well, you keep going, old chap, it’s your penance for turning off your phone, when it was wasn’t your turn for a night off.”

  Tully turned away with a smug smile, so didn’t see the rude gesture his friend gave him, but David did and he looked down quickly.

  Tully took his drink and settled himself at the dining table. “The coffee table seems to be taken, so we’ll sit here. Do you have a study at home, David? I do, and I find it very useful for when I want to work. Plenty of space, plus peace and quiet; you really can’t beat working in your own space, can you? Shall we turn the news on and see what’s been happening in the world?”

  “I don’t think we should,” David said holding Marcus’s cup of coffee. “Shall I take it over?” he asked.

  Tully nodded. “Go on, he’s not listening anyway.” David walked over to the table then paused, wondering where to leave it. Papers and books were strewn across the whole surface of the table, and the rug Marcus was sitting on looked to be priceless.

  “Um, where do you want it?” he asked hesitantly. Hovering uncertainly, he noticed that the young Roman’s hair was still slightly damp from the shower. Suddenly he looked up, meeting David’s anxious gaze, and he smiled.

  “On those papers will be all right,” he said pointing to a place on the table nearest David. “They’re not important. Thank you, it’s appreciated.” Then he went back to his books.

  David nodded and returned to Tully who was watching the television above the kitchen sink with the volume turned down and the subtitles on. David wanted to ask about the incident last night, but the custodian had offered no explanation, so he really didn’t think it was his place to ask. What was obvious, though, was that Marcus was in the doghouse for not being available when he’d been on duty last night and Tully was making sure that he was getting his pound of flesh from the younger man.

  For ten minutes or so, peace reigned in the apartment and David felt his headache recede a little. Then Marcus looked up.

  “Tully, I think you need to see this.”

  Immediately the Roman put his cup down and moved over to the seating area, which was now bathed in sunlight. Marcus was holding his notes out for him to take. Tully took them and began to read, whilst his colleague waited watching him for his reaction. When Tully finally spoke, he used the weird inflections and intonations of Latin that David found virtually impossible to understand, but it was obvious that both men were excited. As he watched, bemused by what was happening, Tully went around and sat on the sofa behind Marcus and they both began to examine the papers.

  David had never seen the two men work together before and now he envied them their closeness. Though he couldn’t understand what they were saying, the respect that they had for each other and their friendship was obvious from the way they interacted as they worked.

  David watched for a moment then, realising that he wouldn’t be missed, he finished his coffee and went back downstairs and took the opportunity to continue the story of the order’s foundation.

  Dacia; newest province of the Roman Empire

  In the first year of the reign of Publius Aelius Hadrianus Augustus.

  They left the port of Aternum a week later and sailed for Dalmatia. It was an easy journey; both men were good sailors and easily adjusted to life on board the ship. Marius checked on the horses twice a day whilst Junius studied the maps and continued to practise and train whenever possible with his full amour on.

  On the morning on the fourth day at sea, the captain shouted to them and sure enough on the horizon they made out the Dalmatian coast. Marius instantly felt chills down his spine as he looked at the hostile and barren terrain. Something about the land, a quality he couldn’t quite place gave him a sense of disquiet. It had been a hard land to conquer, but then the same could be said for every province, so what was it that made him eye the low, densely covered mountains with suspicion? He glanced over to Junius who was standing beside him on the deck. Like him, his friend was leaning over the side of the boat and watching the shore coming ever closer. Junius sensed Marius’s eyes on him; he looked over and shrugged, then straightened himself and went to speak with the captain.

  They landed at the port of Acruvium, which was one of the few landing places on the difficult coast. Junius showed the port prefect the Emperor’s seal, whilst Marius helped to get the two horses and pack mule off the boat.

  Junius returned with the unsurprising news that their journey would take at least fourteen days and that they’d need an escort to get to the town of Doclea, which was a day away.

  The next morning at sunrise, after spending the night in the praefect’s quarters, they left the harbour with an escort of five men who would take them as far as the Roman fort of Viminacium.

  Marius’s sense of unease only increased as they travelled. He couldn’t put it into words, but something about the dense mountains and the low lying cloud intimidated and unsettled him. It was as if the land itself was pressing in and it made him feel very uncomfortable.

  Their guides were all native men, who were as tough and hardy as the land itself. They spoke dog Latin, but kept themselves to themselves and hardly communicated with each other. Junius rode at the rear, lost in his own world and seemingly admiring the view.

  Marius gave thanks to all the gods when they approached Doclea before nightfall. He gave thanks again when he realised that it was a large Roman city, which, after the fearful grandeur of the mountains, was a welcome surprise and relief. Like every city across the Empire it was set out on Roman lines with all the familiar features of civilization. And it was cupped in a valley with a large lake, which meant the baths would be spectacular.

  As soon as they’d found stables for the horses and dismissed their guides both Junius and Marius went to the local baths and indulged in the luxury of becoming clean.

  As they sweated out in the furnace room, the hottest section of the bathhouse, Marius finally mentioned his concern.

  “I can’t explain it: the whole place just feels wrong, as if something or someone is watching us.”

  Junius rested his head back against the wall of the room, which streamed with condensation. He closed his eyes and waited before answering. Marius watched, wondering if his friend was going to dismiss his fears.

  “The last time you said something like this to me was when we entered Persepolis.” He opened his eyes and studied Marius. “Do you remember?”

  Marius remembered only too well the feeling he’d had that day
as they’d come across the city in the desert and the misgivings which had stayed with him as they’d entered, but he hadn’t made the connection.

  “Is it that same feeling?” Junius questioned, watching him carefully.

  Marius thought about it. Yes and no, he decided. “It’s not the same feeling that we’re being watched. There, it was as if people were looking right at us and waiting to pounce. This is different, as if something is sensing us. It can’t see, but it knows we’re here.” He paused then struck on a comparison. “Like a lion waiting before the arena, it can hear the crowd and the men getting ready, and it knows that it’s going to have to fight, but it doesn’t know when.”

  Junius frowned. “Are we the lion or the men?”

  “Does it matter if we’re the men or the lion? Either way, we have to fight to the death.”

  Suddenly Junius sat forward and put his face in his hands, which was a strange position for such a hot room. “Marius, you know I told you that the Kin had gone to a place with many trees?” Marius nodded, looking at his friend and knowing already what he was going to say. “What if it’s not Germania? What if it’s here? I can’t sense them, but I know they’ve found refuge in forests and mountains.” Junius opened up his hands wide indicating where they were now.

  Marius bit his lip. He didn’t want to have to face the Kin again, not without Nasir and his tribesmen. Junius hadn’t even fully recovered from what had happened and if truth be told, he was an unknown quantity when it came to them.

  “There are other places with trees and mountains. And from the reports we’ve both read there’s no evidence of the Kin.”

  Junius stared at him. “But they don’t know what to look for. We wouldn’t if we hadn’t been through it, which is why Hadrian sent us. Do you really think it’s dangerous mushrooms?”

  At least Junius was taking his fear seriously, but believing it was the Kin was foolish. “We won’t know what‘s happening until we get there. It could be something else in these malevolent mountains which most sane people would dismiss and not notice.”

  Junius snorted with derision and stood. “Oh good, another set of monsters for us to face.”

  “Do you actually want it to be them?” Marius asked, outraged.

  Junius stopped at the door and turned back. “At least with the Kin we know how to destroy them.” And with that he left the hot room to be scraped clean by a slave, leaving Marius to stew for a bit longer.