The Kin

by Elsye Harwood

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Marius stood in the antechamber of the Emperor’s receiving room, nervously shifting from foot to foot. Junius had been with Hadrian for some time and he was worried that it didn’t bode well for them. Around him on the chairs were the rest of the escort from Dacia. They were even more anxious than he was, though only Fabia was managing to hide it, but she looked paler than usual. Celer was inspecting his fingernails for the umpteenth time and Auticus was tapping his feet in an annoying, agitated way that was surely getting on everyone’s nerves. In contrast Paulinus was staring absently out of the window, whilst Iulius was flicking the seal on his leather pouch repeatedly.

  Marius had tried talking to himself in an effort to pull himself together, but to no avail because the imperial palace had this effect on him. He, unlike Junius, wasn’t at home amongst these marble corridors of power. At any moment, he expected the real Praetorian Guard to march in and arrest him for impersonating them.

  The doors to the Emperor’s private apartment were solid bronze, so they didn’t hear anything until one of them opened a crack and a bald-headed man in a toga peered out.

  “Marius Tulius Varens?”

  Marius nodded, recognising the man as Fabius Turbo, the same man who had previously escorted them to the emperor.

  “Caesar will see you now.” He could feel the eyes of the others on him, each one wondering what the outcome of the meeting would be. Marius pulled himself straight and marched with far more confidence than he felt towards the door.

  Turbo stepped back inside to let him pass, then leant out to close the door with a solid bang behind them.

  “Come this way please,” he told Marius and led the way down the same marble corridor lined with busts of luminaries of Rome. Marius tried to name the men as they passed by, but there were too many and he soon lost count.

  Turbo stopped at a nondescript wooden door and knocked, then he opened it and gestured for Marius to enter.

  Inside the room was very different from the receiving room in which he had first met the Emperor Hadrian. It was smaller and more intimate, with easy chairs, a huge window, the ubiquitous desk and a gigantic map, painted on the wall instead of the usual pleasant pictures.

  “Ah, Marius, thank you for joining us. And congratulations, I’m very impressed with your leadership skills and the courage you showed on your latest venture. A true hero of Rome. Marcus has told me all about it and I’ve read all the reports. You’re clearly a man of action and intelligence.”

  Marius flushed at the praise and opened his mouth to protest, but the Emperor, who was standing by the map, continued.

  “I’ve asked Marcus here to write up his side of events and I’d like you to do the same, Marius. Combine it with what happened in Parthia. It’ll make fascinating reading. Generals’ reports are all very good, but I want to hear your side of things. What it felt like to be faced by those monsters, why you did what you did in the heat of battle, that sort of thing. Not Virgil, I’m thinking something more Greek, don’t you, Marcus?” It was then that Marius noticed his friend, sitting in one of the easy chairs. He’d turned his head so that Marius could see his face and much to Marius’s relief, Junius winked.

  “Virgil has a political undercurrent running through his work. The Greeks in contrast are lighter, therefore, Caesar, I agree with you, they would be more appropriate for this type of project.”

  “Good, that’s settled then. Marius, sit yourself down. Marcus, pour him some wine and refill ours as well.”

  Marius hesitantly eased himself down into the chair that the Emperor had indicated and watched as Junius poured more of the white wine into the cup that the Emperor was holding out. Then he poured some into another and handed that to Marius with a secret grin that the Emperor Hadrian couldn’t see.

  “Good, thank you, Marcus. Now, Marius, I’m going to award you the highest individual honour available to a Roman soldier. It’s lucky I made you a tribune otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to receive it, but I’m giving you both the crown of laurels. Marcus here gets the Corona Obsidionalis for risking his life and saving the fort and you will get the Corona Civica for leading the men that night and finally destroying that monstrous threat once and for all.”

  Marius flushed and glanced over at Junius who seemed delighted for him and had a satisfied grin, which indicated that this wasn’t news to him.

  Marius was stunned; he’d never expected to receive such an honour. He was a normal Roman soldier, a knight admittedly, but his family had fallen on hard times in the last few years and this was a tribute beyond his wildest dreams.

  “Do you have family, Marius?” The Emperor’s question pulled him from this thoughts.

  “Um, yes, Caesar. My parents and a family in Parthia.”

  Hadrian smiled. “Well, I suggest we wait before we publically reward you with the Corona Civica, so that your family are in Rome to see you honoured as a hero and declared a saviour of the people.”

  Still too shocked to speak, Marius nodded dumbly.

  The Emperor settled himself down on the chair behind the desk and riffled through some papers. “So that leaves the future,” he declared looking at each of them.

  “Marcus, your father has been constantly nagging at me to recall you and set you to work in the law courts, but I’m loath to do that. You have other talents, which you proved fighting for my adoptive father in Syria and Parthia, so sending you off to moulder in the courts would be a crime against Rome, especially now. When you’re old enough I’ll set you up as quaestor, but until then, I have another proposition for you and for you as well, Marius.”

  Hadrian had their interest and Marius glanced over at his friend to see his reaction, but Junius was staring at the older man, waiting to hear his offer.

  “These creatures prove that there’s some truth to these old stories. And if these Kin are real, then how many other creatures of nightmare are?” It was obviously a rhetorical question. “We know about these Kin now, but in fifty years, say, people might dismiss them again as myths and stories and they’ll be able to creep in and carry out their plan of infiltration.”

  His voice had risen, as he warmed to his theme, but now he paused, then said more quietly. “What we need is a library, somewhere we can record what they are, and what they did, but also most importantly how we destroyed them. We were lucky this time, the tribesmen knew what was needed, but in fifty years, people might not know to ask them. This sort of knowledge has to be stored and made accessible for when we need to use it again.”

  Marius glanced at Junius, but his friend was listening intently, as caught up in the speech as the Emperor was himself.

  “I want to set up an organisation that will investigate these stories.” He ruffled through some scrolls on his desk then selected a few and held them up. “These here are reports of strange occurrences in the Empire. Missing children in Gaul, wolf men in Germania and a witch in Thrace. All things that ordinary Romans dismiss as nonsense. And quite rightly. We’re practical people, farmers and soldiers. But there is another world out there, one which can be a threat to Rome. Most of us can’t and won’t see it. But you can.

  “Marcus, I want you to lead this new organisation that I’m setting up, and Marius, I would like you to be his second in command. You have your feet on the ground and are a man of the people, so you’ll counter Junius Silanus’s natural arrogance.” The emperor flashed a quick smile of assurance at Junius. “Don’t deny it, Marcus, everyone of your birth has the same sense of entitlement, it comes as naturally to you as breathing.” He became serious again. “You’ll remain praetorians but be answerable only to me and not to the praetorian prefect. Your information will come from the Frumentarii and my freedmen will pass on anything to you which looks mysterious to them.”

  Finally Junius interjected. “I apologise, Caesar, but I would rather not have my family name linked with the…”

  The Emperor waved his hand. “Oh spare me, Marcus. For
once you patricians and the plebeians are in agreement. I assure you that no one will know your true assignment. To outsiders you’ll be praetorians assigned to my welfare and my personal representatives. That will keep your father and maybe even your mother happy. It will make things easier for you when you have to cross the Empire to investigate any cases. You’ll have my complete authority.”

  Marius stayed quiet, but Junius had another question. “How many will know what we’re really doing?”

  Hadrian stood and walked over to the map on the wall; he still held the scrolls in his hands. “Myself, a few of my freedman and selected members of the senate. Oh and the consuls and various high priests, but they’ll all be sworn to secrecy. Actually, Marcus, I think your father will have to know after all.”

  Marius heard Junius give a sharp intake of breath, but the Emperor only smiled. “What do you think of my proposal?”

  Junius looked over at Marius and raised his eyebrows quizzically. But Marius knew already what he thought. The Praetorian Guard got much more money and it meant that he wouldn’t be stationed in any military backwater of the Empire. He could bring his family to Rome and they would live a happy and prosperous life. After everything they’d been through he had come to care deeply for Junius, despite his somewhat unreliable track record. The young man needed looking after and this would be the ideal way to do it. He nodded almost imperceptibly at his friend. Junius flashed a grin and looked back at the Emperor.

  “We’ll do it, as long as we get to choose the men and women who work with us?”

  “Women?” Hadrian queried.

  Junius smiled. “If we’re off around the Empire investigating wolf men and witches as praetorians, we’ll be noticed, so it makes sense to have other people with us who can ask questions without arousing suspicions. Men and women.”

  Hadrian laughed. “And you were disliking an association with the Frumentarii.”

  “This will be different,” Junius assured him. “We won’t be spying on hardworking people and reporting back and spreading rumours for our own gain. We’ll be seeking information to help people and to assess the threat to Rome.”

  Hadrian’s eyes had narrowed. “Not all my Frumentarii are corrupt. You do understand why they are necessary, don’t you? They’re essential to the smooth running of the Empire and stopping people making their own fortune at Rome’s expense.”

  Marius waited for Junius’s response. The young Roman had kept away from Titus the Fumentarii informer, but had disliked and resented the man’s meddling in their investigation. “I see why they might be useful to you,” he offered, “but I feel we should work alone.”

  Before the Emperor could answer, Fabius Turbo entered the room and waited quietly.

  Hadrian nodded at him, but said to Junius, “I agree. You choose your people, and you do things your way. Both of you have the skills I require. You’ve seen and dealt with creatures that shouldn’t exist, so as far as I’m concerned you’re the experts. I think we’ll call you the ‘Custodians of arcane gnosis and artefacts’. Or something like that.

  “Now, as praetorians, you’ll be officially stationed with the other guards, but I’ll let you have your own base elsewhere where you can work from, though I will expect updates most days. Oh, and you’ll have to do some guard duty as well, but you can work something out with Turbo here; it’ll be more for show than anything else. Here, take the reports, have a look and see if there’s anything in there we need to worry about, and then get writing. I want to read your story.”

  He handed Junius the scrolls and moved over towards Turbo who had opened another door on the far side of the room. “Marcus, I’d like to see you tomorrow, sometime after noon, and Marius, we’ll meet at your ceremony. Goodbye, gentlemen.”

  They both waited until the door closed behind them, then Junius stood up and poured another cup of wine for himself and Marius.

  “Germania, Thrace or Gaul?” Junius offered. “Any one of them’s better than Parthia.”

  Marius raised his eyebrows. “I’m not so sure. At least Syria was warm and sunny. I’ve had enough of damp weather and rain. You’re thinking of asking the others, aren’t you?”

  Junius nodded. “They’ll be praetorians and have all the benefits without being subject to the restraints. It’s a dream assignment.”

  “What about the investigations?” Marius asked warily.

  Junius had moved away and was looking at the map. “Hadrian’s right. If the Kin are real, what other creatures are? All those stories we were told as children, could they be true as well? Think about it, Marius: what other strange creatures might lurk in the shadows? This is an ideal opportunity to find out and to record these things. We can pass on what we’ve learnt, and not only to our children, but for the generations that’ll come after them.” He turned round. “What happens in two hundred years when we’re dust and bone? The Kin might decide to come back, but this way our legacy will protect Rome and the Empire. We can do our own small part to make her immortal.”

  Marius smiled. “Big ideas, Junius, but I see the logic. We’ll be safeguarding our way of life for the generations to come. Secret soldiers fighting for Rome’s future. It’ll take our oaths as soldiers to a whole new level.”

  Junius grinned. “Thrace, Gaul or Germania?” he asked gesturing to all three on the map.

  “Shouldn’t we read about them first before we decide?”

  Junius shook his head.” Let’s do all three, and see what we find?”

  Marius sighed, some things never changed.