“My God, Artie,” she started, her voice shaky all of a sudden. “It doesn’t matter how many times I have to wonder why I love your brother so much, because I always end up reminding myself just how much I really do every time. Every time. I love him so much, and now that we’re here, so close, but so clueless as to where he is or whether or not he’s even still alive or insane or neither or both… it’s killing me inside. We have to find him.”
“We will, Helena,” I comforted, and was just about to place a hand on her arm to further comfort her when a trumpet blast emanated from behind me, suggesting speeches were imminent, so I smiled at her instead. “Let’s just see what this bitch has to say first.”
Helena lowered her head so that I could see her grin, and the two of us turned together to see just what the bitch actually had to say. As the trumpets subsided, there were a few heartbeats when nothing happened, but then Agrippina materialized from the darkened interior of the structure to stand before a railing about waist high. A massive shout rose up from the crowd, but not all of it was positive. I couldn’t be sure but it seemed as though half of those gathered were booing rather than praising.
“Why didn’t I bring my rifle…” Helena mumbled from beside me.
“Because you knew you’d say something like that,” John informed astutely. “Now hush up, dearies.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t say anything, and waited for the crowd to die down. When it finally did minutes later, Agrippina held up her hands and spoke with all the confidence of a seasoned orator. I’d never conversed with her directly in the month we’d been together in Britain, but I’d heard her speak to Archer or Vincent quite often, and I knew just how manipulative her speech could be. She certainly had other assets that helped sway opinions but no one could deny her proficiencies as an actual politician.
“Fellow Romans,” she shouted, eliciting only a few cheers, “today we are gathered to celebrate a most fortuitous occasion. Never before has our illustrious history provided such a momentous day, and never again will a time come when the revelations of today are outmatched. Long has our city awaited this day, a day that will forge in us a renewed destiny for the next thousand years.”
Murmurs picked up throughout the crowd, people whispering back and forth, wondering what she could possibly be talking about, and I found myself wondering as well. Agrippina seemed to notice the crowd’s interest, and she grinned as she continued.
“We all know the story of this grand city’s legendary founding. Of the twin gods Romulus and Remus who settled on this very hill, constructing the very first settlements that would endure until today, constant reminders of who we owe our great fortune to. And gods they were, gods who walked the plains of man much as the likes of Jove and Mars once did in the time of legends… who here defies their divinity?!”
There were shouts from the crowd, but I could count how many I heard on a single hand, maybe both. The lack of outcry was evidence enough of how the crowd either viewed their legendary founders or their lovely empress: not particularly well.
I turned to Helena with what I knew must have been a very confused look across my face. “Where is she going with this?”
Helena shook her head, but her face showed concern rather than confusion, as though ideas were forming in her mind that she didn’t want to acknowledge.
“So,” Agrippina continued, raising her arms high and wide to encompass the crowd, “fellow Romans! My Romans. I look on each of you as my very own children, equal in standing to my own dear son, Nero.” There were a few jeers this time, and I even saw a piece of fruit fly toward the platform, but it fell well short. Agrippina ignored it all, her smile ever-present. “And as you are my children, I am your mother, but for too long have you been without a father. It isn’t fair that such an extraordinary people be without their patriarch, but, alas, I cannot return our beloved Caligula. However, a lost grandfather has been found, a long thought lost grandfather. A grandfather beyond grandfathers and a grandfather to us all.” Her voice was building now, and the excitement she espoused had the crowd riveted all of a sudden as she lowered her hands so that she could lean heavily upon the railing. “Our first grandfather, our progenitor, the very god who once walked these hollowed grounds over seven hundred years ago! It is true! For a god may never die, and what may never die will never abandon us, and he has returned!”
The hushed whispers around me grew into heated debate and conversation. All around me, individuals were speaking among themselves, many arguing, none of them fully understanding what Agrippina was actually talking about but unable to deny that the empress was speaking of something truly amazing and something… impossible.
But I’d experienced the impossible already.
Impossible was no stranger to me.
I caught Helena turning to John just then, and her words had a tinge of fear to them that I hadn’t really heard in her before. “She can’t possibly mean… He can’t possibly still be…”
But Agrippina wasn’t going to wait for the crowd to grow completely out of control, and she used the momentum gained by the swirling speculation among them to throw both hands in the air and bellow at the top of her lungs. “My Romans! Please! With welcoming arms, embrace the return of Remus!”
The crowd went instantly silent. No one dared move. Many must have been thinking what passed through the back of my own mind: that she was crazy. But still no one stirred, and I was sure I could hear a strand of hair hit the ground it was so silent. There was movement behind Agrippina, but it remained stubbornly out of view until she stepped to the side, allowing a figure to join her on the balcony. A collective gasp slipped from the mouths of every single person present, Helena, John, and myself included. I even took a step back, and was immediately embarrassed by it, but then I noticed that many had done the same, and felt better.
Standing beside Agrippina was a giant. A literal giant. He looked like a man, but he stood twice as tall as Agrippina. She wasn’t a large woman, maybe only five and a half feet tall, but that meant the man must have stood nine or maybe ten feet tall. And he was stunningly handsome, with chiseled features and thick, wavy dark hair. His shoulders were broad and his chest as large as a barrel, and I could only guess at how amazing he must have looked nak…
I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, wondering where such an errant thought had come from. I didn’t know, but once the mental image was gone, I opened my eyes and looked at Helena. “I just pictured him naked in my head.”
Helena turned a confused look on me. “Me too.”
“Me three,” John said, and I saw him pinching the bridge of his nose, and it was clear he was trying to forget the image completely.
I returned my eyes to Agrippina and the man claiming to be Remus, noticing that the crowd was starting to pick up again. They were cheering now, screaming their adulation in fact, almost frenzied at the fact that they were in the presence of not only a god, but a god who had helped found their beloved city.
But they quieted almost instantly when Remus casually lifted a single hand, calling for silence. And then he spoke, his voice beautiful and rhythmic, deep and piercing, but his words were completely indecipherable, not that it mattered because I was already in love, as was the entire crowd it seemed. They listened in apt silence, hanging on every utterance, and while I was sure they couldn’t understand him either, they too didn’t seem to care.
When he was finished, lowering his arm to indicate that he was, Agrippina stepped closer and hung off his other massive arms that was almost as long as she was tall. She lifted her free hand to the side elegantly as she spoke. “The great Remus has chosen not to converse in Latin for the time being, choosing instead to retain his first language until the date when he has fully reintegrated into our society, three weeks from now on the day of our wedding, where he will rightfully take his place as emperor and king of Rome! The days of civil wars and threat from foreign power is behind us! With Remus’ return, the world is ripe for our taking!�
��
The deafening chorus of cheers almost knocked me from my feet, and while I couldn’t help but feel the urge to scream at the top of my lungs as well, I held back. Instead, I turned to John and Helena, both of whom were clapping intensely, but when they both looked back at me with wide eyes, I realized they were just doing it to blend in. I picked up the cue and did the same, but asked, “What’s going on? If he’s here, Jacob must have brought him here. But where’s Jacob?”
Helena shook her head, her face awash with concern.
“I’ve got a better question,” John said, his face equally concerned. “If that really is Remus, like the real, actual Remus, then where the hell is his brother? Romulus?”
I hadn’t even thought about that. Rome’s foundation myth was something I’d only just recently learned about, but who needed the brother when this one was such a fine specimen of male perf…
“I may have the answers you seek,” a voice said from beside me, one that was familiar but not immediately recognizable, and for the briefest of seconds I thought it was Jacob, but when I whirled around, I saw instead a youthful face that I knew I’d seen before, except I couldn’t place where.
John and Helena turned as well, recognition spreading across their faces almost immediately, and both exclaimed in unison, “Titus!”
***
The crowd had begun to disperse seconds after Titus’ arrival, and the four of us had little trouble following the flow of traffic and exiting the area discretely. It was easy, in fact, as the city’s energy level was still high following Remus’ reveal, almost as if the masses had been targeted by some kind of laughing gas or opiate. People sung songs in large groups on street corners, crowds gathered and drank wine on adjacent corners, and we passed a number of brawls that broke out between individuals of both groups. It was barely-contained pandemonium, and a dangerous place to be, but with John, Helena, and Titus by my side, I wasn’t worried.
Our early progress through the crowd was slow, but as we crept further into the city’s suburbs, the number of individuals around us dropped off steeply. Romans of all ilk stumbled home as the effects of whatever Agrippina and Remus had hit them with started to wear off, and I had to admit I felt quite fatigued myself. But only when we were far enough from potentially curious ears did Helena and John finally confront our young companion.
Again, they spoke at the same time. “What are you doing here?”
They looked at each other in annoyance and I couldn’t help but chuckle. They were just friends, but it was clear they’d spent way too much time together over the years. Both turned expectant faces on Titus, and even though he was a strong, young man, he almost crumbled under their combined scrutiny.
“You never rendezvoused with us in Gaul,” he said quickly, subtly leaning away from them both. “Madrina and I grew concerned, so we ventured to Rome over a month ago.”
“Why?” Helena asked.
“We hadn’t heard from you. We were unsure where your journey would take you, but it seemed likely you would eventually return to Rome.”
“Ha…” I laughed quietly and to myself, but couldn’t keep John from noticing.
“What?” He asked.
“Oh, nothing,” I said smugly with a slight shake of my head.
He gave me an odd look but then turned back to Titus. “Just the two of you?”
He shook his head. “And her children and a sister. She would not leave them behind this time. Do not worry, they have found residence with a distant cousin who resides in a district that houses mid-tier merchants. They are all quite safe, although I suspect Madrina has already found Jeanne by now…”
“You knew we were here?” John again.
“Not until thirty minutes ago.”
“What about the answers you mentioned?” Helena asked, clearly impatient.
He frowned but nodded. “Few, but enlightening and… disturbing. Let us wait until we are all convened before I speak of them. Until then, tell me, how is my father? Is he well? I did not see him at the gathering.”
My mind tripped on his question, not immediately knowing who he was referring to, but then it hit me. As my mind took a sudden break from reality, so too did my legs stop working, and I almost tripped. I’d completely forgotten that Vincent was Titus’ stepfather, a stepfather so close they may as well have been blood related.
Titus had no idea what had happened to him yet.
I felt like an idiot for stopping like I did, realizing that it had to look immediately suspicious, and I felt horrible that I may have already caused the young boy to worry. I was about to speak up, blurt out something to cover myself, when Helena came to my rescue by placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Why don’t you and John go on ahead? Let the others know Titus and I will be along shortly.”
I nodded, silently thankful that Helena had covered for me and was prepared to break the news to the boy. It had been a stupid mistake on my part. The last thing I wanted to do was make the inevitable news worse by acting like a fool, so before I made things more awkward than they already were, I looped my arm through John’s and hurried away before I had to hear the sad news, months and months old, but news all the same to a young man who was about to lose his father.
***
Our safe house wasn’t very far, but still I felt the need to quicken our pace and get there as quickly as possible. Safety in numbers appealed to me right now. It was easier to hide among fifteen rather than four, and most of the others were far closer to Titus than I was, so responsibility to comfort him would fall on someone else.
I wasn’t even sure why I felt so responsible, maybe only because Jacob was my brother, but even he wasn’t completely at fault. It was the orb’s fault. But it wasn’t always so easy to accept that, especially with the painful truth that I too could succumb to its influence if I wasn’t careful. I still wasn’t sure where Archer kept the second orb, but I didn’t feel any different currently, so I assumed it, and I, was safe.
For now.
I shuddered as I held onto John’s arm.
The idea of turning into what Jacob had turned into was terrifying.
“Something wrong?” He asked, sensing my discomfort.
I looked at him. “I don’t envy Helena right now.”
He frowned and looked back at the road. “I haven’t envied her in months.”
I frowned too. “That might be the dourest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
“Yeah,” he responded. “Me too. Let’s just get back to the safe house. I’m sure somebody is there that I can make fun of. That’ll cheer you up.”
I almost smiled. “Thanks.”
He patted my arm and pulled me along, but we had already reached the crossroad that would take us up one of Rome’s numerous hills and deposit us into a trade district. The road was surprisingly steep, and even had shallow steps crafted along its left bank for those unable to plod their way up the ramp. For a moment, I considered using them myself, but figured the exercise would help clear my mind.
We reached the top, but instead of continuing forward down the district’s main road, wrought with shops and stores along either side, we took a quick left down another street. At the end we found our safe house, Marcus still working the shop. He looked bored and tired, no surprise since all of Rome had been too busy the past few hours to do much shopping, but he waved at our arrival and perked up at the sight of us. John waved back, and when they came within handshake distance, John and Marcus performed an intricate duet of hand gestures, bumping and slapping each other’s hands before finishing by wiggling their fingers at each other as they pulled their hands back to their shoulders.
Typical…
When they were finally finished, Marcus swept his arm toward the curtained entranceway, beckoning us in. “Everyone besides Helena has returned before you, and you will never guess who arriv…”
“Madrina,” John said.
“How did you know?”
“Helena’s with Titus.�
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“Ah,” Marcus uttered, but then realization hit him. “Oh…”
“Yeah,” John agreed. “He’ll be okay. He’s a tough kid.”
“He is. Now, please, go inside. I have fruit to guard.”
“Have fun with your melons,” John said with a smirk, pushing through the curtain while I followed.
Once inside the atrium, we found the others scattered throughout the pristine garden, most chatting with one another, all of them with drawn looks on their faces. No surprise there. John and I found a stone bench that was surprisingly comfortable after being on my feet for a few hours, and I surveyed the room again, noting two absences. The first was Gaius, but he’d mentioned that he was going to question some of his fellow Praetorians for information after the announcement.
The other had no excuse that I knew of.
“Where’s Jeanne?” I asked.
I heard a snort of amusement from beside me and turned to see James laying in a narrow bed of grass, his ankles crossed and his hands propping up his head. “Where do you think the big lug is? Think about it…” I didn’t need to think long, and I felt my face blush, causing those around me to chuckle, including James. “Don’t worry. For giants, he and Madrina are as quiet as wee kittens when they’re having it off.”
I cringed, not really wanting to think about it, but then TJ spoke up, dispelling the image from ever taking shape. “Speaking of giants…” he said, sitting to my left on the marble floor that wrapped around the tiny oasis, his rifle in pieces and laid out beside him on a large blanket. He had a greasy rag in his left hand, getting ready to clean the innards of his killing machine, or so months with these people suggested to me. “…Nobody mentioned a nine foot tall god being a part of all this.”
John hooked his thumb in TJ’s direction. “What this guy said.”
“Nobody mentioned all this parallel worlds bullshit either,” Georgia said as she patrolled the perimeter of the garden, always one to counter something TJ said, “yet it’s also an issue.”
Praetorian Series [4] All Roads Lead to Rome Page 33