Praetorian Series [4] All Roads Lead to Rome (50 page)

Jacob had stared at me like a man standing on the edge of a precipice, his eyes full of sadness and despair with a hint of anger as well.  He hadn’t looked insane or possessed, as I often expected him to look after his time with the orb, but defeated and broken.  I didn’t want to think he was truly suicidal but his role in the mission didn’t offer much to dissuade that idea, and the desperation in his eyes then had only exacerbated that fear.

But then he’d spoken with a soft voice, not patronizingly so, but reassuringly.  “Artie, I can’t let anything happen to you.  If something does happen to me but we still somehow retain possession of the blue and red orbs, you’re the only one who can send everyone home.  You’re the only one here who’s not completely expendable.”

“Bullshit,” I’d said bluntly, causing a few chuckles from the others.  “I’m just as expendable as you are.  Don’t put my life up on a pedestal just because you’re so willing to throw your own away.  I’m not going to let you do that.  Put me on the mission.  Give me something to do.  Maybe if you’re worried I won’t come back either, it’ll give you some incentive not to get yourself killed.”

Jacob had leaned away, crossed his arms, and frowned, but hadn’t said anything. 

I think a part of him knew I was right, even if another part didn’t want to accept it because he didn’t care.  He wasn’t completely broken, but he was close.  It was so easy to see.  Merlin, Remus, the orb, Agrippina, and a life in Ancient Rome had all done their parts to chip away at the man Jacob used to be, leaving in their wake a cracked, perforated, nearly defeated man.

But while I could understand it, I wouldn’t accept it.

“So,” I’d pressed, “give me something to do.”

Which is when Tim had stepped in.

“There is something she can do, Jacob.  It is of minimal risk but utmost importance.”

“What?”  Jacob and I had asked together.

“You assigned Gaius and Marcus to retrieve Romulus, but I do not believe that to be our best approach.  He will be heavily confused when found.  Remus has had me drug him to keep him subdued unless he needs his brother cognizant to use the orbs.  Gaius and Marcus are Praetorians, and he may distrust them.  May fight them.  Artie, however, is someone he may trust.”

“Why?”  Jacob had asked, his own voice full of suspicion.

“Because she can take a blue orb with her and prove that she’s there to help him.”

Jacob’s head had flung side to side vigorously at that.  “Not happening.  She’s not going near one of those things, not without the red orb as well.”

“Jacob…” I’d pleaded.

“No!  I won’t let what happened to me, happen to you.  Of all the things I can’t let happen, that’s the one that would outright kill me.”

“Jacob, it’ll be all right,” I’d said softly, placing a hand on his arm but nearly jerking it away when I’d felt how boney it was.  But I hadn’t.  “I’ll be in contact with the orb for only a few hours.  I can take that kind of exposure.  It takes days of constant contact before it even starts to draw you in let alone manipulate you.  I’ll be fine.  Let me do this.”

Jacob hadn’t said anything for quite a while then, his eyes narrowed and fixated on the ground, countless thoughts, worries, and scenarios probably swirling through his mind.  He’d always thought way too much about things, even as a kid, but I supposed that was probably a good thing in most instances.  He didn’t always make the right choices, but at least they came from a good place.

Another few seconds had passed, but then Archer had spoken up, interrupting the peace.  “I’ll go with her, Jacob.  I’ll keep an eye on the orb and make sure she’s safe.”

It seemed appropriate.  Archer had been the orbs’ caretaker for the better part of a year now, and despite what he’d done to Jacob and even with our rocky relationship before that, he’d made strides in recent months to atone for his mistakes.  Besides, he was tough and could protect me at least as well as any of the others.

Jacob had looked at his old friend turned nemesis, turned savior, turned near-executioner, turned whatever he was now, and stared at him with heavy eyes.  The two gazed at each other for a while, Archer doing his best to remain supportive and confident, although it was clear there were deep emotions brewing inside of him as well.  Seeing Jacob in the state he was in, knowing it had been caused by his own hand, must have hurt.

Good.

Finally, after what had seemed like forever, Jacob had nodded, I’d had my assignment, and further details were discussed before we’d all turned in for the night.  The only other part of the mission everyone was still uncertain of was how we were actually going to obtain the orbs for Jacob to use, but Tim had assured us that they’d be present at the rehearsal and we’d be able to take them there.  Numerous individuals had pressed him for more information, but little more was forthcoming, as was clearly becoming the norm with the eccentric, asinine old man.

And now I was here, in the belly of a prison ancient by even the standards of today.  Jacob had gone on yesterday for a few minutes – brief for him – about how Roman’s didn’t really believe in long term incarceration, preferring slavery, corporal punishment, and execution as far more effective means of punishment.  The prison was only needed to temporarily hold those accused of a crime. 

However, for a prison that
supposedly
didn’t hold people for long, the accommodations certainly suggested otherwise.  Not two minutes ago, I could have sworn that we’d passed by a human skeleton hung up by his hands in a barred cell, and I’d seen at least four juicy spiders the size of my hand strung up on webs that infested the area.  I’d nearly run headlong into one, and another even managed to crawl its way onto Archer’s shoulder, only to be brushed off by a helpful Gaius.

But, at least, those spiders seemed the sole inhabitants of these long forgotten, rarely used catacombs.  Gaius and Marcus had led Archer and me deep into the prison system, informing us that we would journey into sections as old as the structure itself, which dated back hundreds of years.  Gaius had told us of how very few individuals were brought down here, only the ones who’d committed particularly heinous deeds or, at least, had been accused of such deeds by the wrong person, left to rot and starve and die.  He’d said it was the perfect location to “lose somebody”, as we were hundreds of feet beneath the Capitoline Hill and the numerous levels of honeycombed hallways, rooms, and gathering areas were as confusing to navigate as they were gloomy.

And then, of course, there was Marcus, who had offhandedly mentioned the numerous ghost stories concerning the prison, and how numerous children had been thought abducted by all kinds of demons, ghouls, and ghastly apparitions and brought into these depths.  There was even a story that a Minotaur resided here.  Fortunately, I hadn’t known what a Minotaur was, but then I’d been stupid enough to ask, and, unfortunately, Marcus had explained it in great detail to Archer and me.  We’d stopped in our tracks to look at each other, sharing an extremely rare moment together, and had to jog a bit to catch up to the Romans who had continued their trek uninterrupted.

That had been about thirty minutes ago, and we were starting to run behind schedule.  It was nearly noon and the rehearsal ceremony was due to start at any minute.  I was beginning to wonder if Gaius and Marcus had any idea where they were going, but I knew they had to.  They were Praetorians, and held high rank within the organization.  After the chaos that had resulted when Agrippina had left Rome over a year ago – scattering her Praetorians far and wide, some staying with her, others out on assignment – roster call was a mess.  No one had asked any questions when Gaius and Marcus had shown up a few days ago, and they’d had no trouble prying information from the drunken lips of other off duty guardsmen.

Only a handful of Praetorians had stood watch over these inner sections of the prison, assigned specifically to guard the entrance to where Romulus was kept, but none dared venture into the bowls of the structure itself and none had questioned Gaius and Marcus when they’d led Archer and I, disguised in ragged clothing as a pair of political rivals to one politician or another, into the depths.  It had been an obvious enough ruse, but today was a busy day, and everyone seemed distracted, so it had worked without a problem.

That had been forty five minutes ago.

I was growing tired of all this skulking around.  I wasn’t sure our trip would ever end as we continued to pass empty cell after empty cell, each as spooky and desolate as the last – although I could have sworn I just saw
another
skeleton hanging from shackles attached to the ceiling.  I shuddered at the possibility and continued on, but not before I ran headlong into Gaius’ back, my nose smashing against his armor, causing pain to flare all over my face.  Flinging a hand up, I checked to see if it was broken, but it only seemed bruised. I looked up to glare at Gaius, who had turned around, his face illuminated by his torch.

“You were supposed to stop when I did,” he said, smirking.

“Har, har,” I mumbled, wrinkling my nose and giving it one last rub to eliminate any discomfort I felt there.  “Where are we?”

Gaius held up a hand, and I followed it to where I saw Archer standing in front of a door, his face buried behind an open slit in the wood.  Curious, I walked up behind him and placed a hand on his back.  He didn’t immediately react, so I tugged on his shoulder, hoping to pry him away.  When he finally did, his eyes were wide with amazement.

“What?”  I asked.

With a shake of his head, either to clear or it or in response to my inquiry, he waved a hand at the door while he moved away to prepare some gear he had tucked away in a pouch at his belt.  I watched him go for half a second before I stepped up to the slit, stood on my tip toes, and peered inside.

My eyes immediately widened.  “Whoa…”

Inside was a man, strung up by his hands like the skeletons I’d seen along the way, his head slung forward limply.  He was nearly naked, save for a bit of cloth around his waist and groin, and his long, black hair fell past his face, partially obscuring it.  But I didn’t need really need to see his whole face.  I could see enough.  The man was enormous, muscular, his body rock hard, massive, and strong, and he seemed to glow in preternatural light that kept my eyes drawn to him, forcing them to study every inch of his body.  His facial features were also flawless and my heart fluttered in my chest as I longed to squeeze through the narrow slit in the door just to help him.

I forced myself to pull away, one of the hardest things I’d ever done, and looked at Gaius.

“He’s…” I found myself struggling for words.  “He’s gorgeous!”

Gaius rolled his eyes while Marcus chuckled.

“There is certainly something alluring about him,” Gaius admitted.  “To look upon Remus garners the same reaction.  I still do not understand how they cannot actually be gods…”

At that moment, despite all the reason and logic I thought I possessed, I couldn’t help but wonder as well.  There was no way he was only a mere man.  He had to be something more.  And I was determined to find out what.  And it would certainly be helpful if we could lose that loin cloth in the proce…

“Quit drooling, Diana,” Archer mumbled as he rudely pushed himself past me.  “You’ll get to see him up close soon enough.”

The idea caused my heart to beat faster again, but I tried to ignore it, although it was very difficult.  I tried to distract myself by watching Archer set up a half dozen thermite breaching charges along the heavy, wooden door’s iron hinges.  They were among the last of our fancy gear, brought by Jeanne who hadn’t had much opportunity to burn through metal in Ancient Rome.  He’d reluctantly offered them to Archer, sad to see them go and, knowing him, sadder that he wouldn’t get to use them himself.

I took in a deep breath as I watched Archer work.  It would only take a few minutes to set up but the anticipation was killing me.  I glanced at my watch.  It was already well past noon.  The rehearsal should have started by now.

I wondered how Jacob and the others were doing.

***

“I could kill her right now,” Helena said.

“Don’t,” I ordered, staring at the wedding party who had just arrived a few minutes late through my binoculars.

“I’ve never had her in my crosshairs before,” Helena whispered, and I could sense her finger tightening around the trigger.  “I could do it.”

“Helena,” I warned with a bit of edge to my voice.  “Don’t.  She can wait.  You kill her now and we’ll lose our window of opportunity.”

“I know,” she said wearily, and I turned to look at her as she turned to me.  Her bright green eyes were tired but focused as she let out a long breath.  “I know I shouldn’t want to do it so badly, but I can’t help it.  I’ve wanted to kill her for years.  I don’t even care if murdering her would be harder to justify than killing any of the others I’ve killed, especially with her simply attending her wedding rehearsal…”

“Helena, now isn’t the time for this,” I said.  “You haven’t murdered anyone.  Our time in Rome has been war.”

“War?”  She scoffed.  “Who’s war?  Yours?  Mine?  Agrippina’s?  Merlin’s?”

“Certainly not mine,” I answered angrily, but my frustration wasn’t directed at Helena.  I looked through my binoculars to distract myself and watched the rehearsal, amazed at how similar it looked to any wedding rehearsal back home.  I’d been a groomsman once in a friend’s wedding and had gone to the rehearsal, helped plan the bachelor party, and coasted the way through the wedding itself until the real fun began at the reception.  It had all been so formal and traditional, and such seemed the case now.