Swords of Rome (9 page)

Gaius hoped that like those five gladiators, he might be able to see his death coming, and perhaps fight to prolong his life. Staring death down, shaking a fist in its face, that was how he hoped he would go, not meaningless because a snake just had to
lay in the road and spooked a young mare.

For the moment, Gaius tried to block the memories of what he had seen yesterday and years before, and enjoy the time he had now with his friends.

Julia ran up beside Gaius and pushed into his hands several flowers that she had plucked from the side of the road.

“For crying out loud, w
ould you leave him alone already!” Antony blurted as he reached to smack his sister, but she ran off, giggling as she darted behind the older woman who followed them closely.

Gaius smiled as he couldn’t help but smell the flowers he now held in his hand. He looked back at
Julia, who was fast at work once more, as she filled her hands yet again with another arrangement of summer flowers, lost in her own little world.

“Gosh! She can be such as pain in the ass,”
Antony moaned.

“It’s okay,
really. I don’t mind at all. She is in her own world without a care.” Gaius looked back at Julia, enjoying her carefree exploration of his lands, not carrying about the sorry state it was in. Something about her spirit always seemed to lift his. He hoped she stayed this way, innocent and fearless. He couldn’t help but wonder what the future might hold for the two of them as they grew older. He found himself thinking more and more about that with each new day, a question that was starting to haunt him that at times, he was eager to grow so he may have his answer: would her affection always be this strong toward him, or would it lessen as her world revealed more to her than a simple farm boy could ever provide.

“Hey, it looks like you have some company,”
Antony commented as he looked up towards Gaius’ home, which finally came into view.

Gaius had to put his hand over his
brow, so he could see through the bright glare of the sun. Indeed, he saw two horses standing outside, each one packed with enough supplies to last a week.

“I wonder who it could be,”
Antony pondered as, he and Gaius quickened their pace.

“I do not know. We don
’t typically get many visitors,” Gaius replied, curious, as he kept his eyes ahead. It was just then that he recalled his father, when last he saw him mentioning that someone was coming on this day, and for whatever reason he insisted in him meeting the stranger.

As the three friends came nearer to the small home, Gaius could see that the horses had been branded with the seal of the sixth legion, with a second
mark under it that read,
S.P.Q.R
. The larger of the two was black and looked as if it could carry a heavy individual wearing full armor and kit, while the second was lighter and smaller, more a beast for someone's Gaius’ age.

Antony and
Julia remained with their slave as Gaius approached his front door. He couldn’t shack the bad feeling that was brewing in the pit of his stomach. And then, as Gaius went to reach for the door handle, it was pulled open before he could reach it.

Gaius stumbled back, eyes wide as a large man stood before him, seemingly not noticing the boy who had to tilt
his head; eyes panicked as Gaius squared himself, fist clenched into a tight ball.

The burly man was about the age of Gaius’ father, only a bit larger and with a thick grayish beard. He wore a lion-skinned cloak over his shoulders; its paws dropped down over his
chest, which was covered with a loose-fitting, brown leather chest plate, which bore the same engraving of the white wolf that Gaius had seen several times. It was, however, what was in the man’s hand scared him the most, a small dagger.

As the stranger finally looked down, Gaius could see a long scar that ran from the top of his brow and ending just above his cheekbone. It seemed recent, and gave him a menacing appearance.

At first, the man’s expression hardened his stare cold as he studied the boy who was standing before him, and then he spoke.

“You don’t look like much. I expected you to be bigger by now,” the man said in a deep and raspy voice.

Gaius could smell the scent of cheap wine coming off of the man’s breath as he spoke.

“I guess it could be worse. You could have taken after your father,” the old soldier then laughed as his expression suddenly changed to a friendly grin.

The man raised his knife to his other hand and sliced a piece of dried beef, before putting the meat into his mouth and began to chew; with a big grin as he continued to take in Gaius, who  stood like a statue.

“Very funny coming from someone with a face like yours,” Julius spoke from behind the old soldier, which too sounded as if he had been drinking all day.

Julius stepped out, moving the other man aside so he may stand in the doorway. His hand was placed on the stranger’s shoulder as he looked down at Gaius with a big, uncharacteristic smile that reached from ear to ear.

“Gaius, I would like yo
u to meet an old friend of mine, Legate of the Six Legion, Claudius Augustus Valerius.”

“You said that already,” Valerius mused. “And actually, I have met you once before, lad. Only then you were too young to remember me as
you were just a little nip, still suckling on your mother’s breast.”

Gaius’ face hardened, not liking the picture that formed in his head as Valerius knelt down and extended his hand.
However, he refused to take it.

“Now don’t be rude, Gaius,” his father spoke.

Gaius hesitated for a moment, but then obeyed his father and reluctantly accepted Valerius’ gesture of friendship. As he took the legate’s wrist, he tried as best he could make sure his grip was tight, but compared to the veteran, he might as well be a bug standing next to a bear.

“Well, we need to fatten him up, put some muscles on him and hair on his chest before we can call him a soldier,” Valerius chuckled as he stood to his feet

“He comes from fine Gallic stock,” Julius added.

“That he does
,” Valerius laughed as he tapped Julius’ shoulder, stepping aside as he walked over to his horse.

“Well old friend, I will be waiting out here. Take all the time you need.”

“Are you leaving?” Gaius asked a bit rudely, but neither his father nor Valerius took notice of it.

“Come inside, Gaius. There is something very important that I need to talk to you about.”

“What about my friends?” Gaius asked, sounding more than a bit nervous.

“They can remain out here. Come now.” Julius placed his hand on Gaius’ shoulder and urged him into the house, before closing the door. Both
Antony and Julia looked on with concern, but they weren’t leaving as both settled in for the wait.

Gaius watched as his father cleared the table, moving aside several empty wine jugs, before pulling the stool out.

“Sit down, son. There is something that I need to talk to you about.”

“Father?”
Gaius spoke nervously, but he did what he was asked as Julius move to the other side of the table and took his normal seat.

“Who is the man outside, father?” Gaius spoke first as Julius interlocked his fingers, looking unsure about how to
begin their discussion.

“He is a Roman soldier, commander of the Six Legion, my former legion when I served the Republic. We fought together during the last war
and many before, and as I said, he is a dear friend of mine.”

“I do not recall you ever speaking of him before this day,” Gaius noted.

“I know, and that is my fault. Nevertheless, believe me, son, I trust no one more in this world, aside from yourself, than I do Valerius. He is as close to me as blood and, well...” Julius paused as he tipped over one of the wine jugs, seeing that it was empty.

“Why is he here? Is he just visiting then?” Gaius asked, but he knew it wasn’t that simple.
Otherwise, his father wouldn’t be acting the way he was.

“No, I asked him to come here some weeks ago. I’ve
... I have come to a very difficult decision that concerns you, Gaius.”

“What is it?”

“You see, Gaius...Damn, I wish this was easier to say.”

“Just tell me, please.” Tears were already beginning to form under Gaius’ eyes as he eagerly
awaited to hear what troubled his father so much that he held his tongue, afraid to speak.

“I’m dying, Gaius. I don’t know how else to say it.”

Gaius’ eyes opened wide as tears began to fall, rolling down the side of his cheeks. Flashes of his mother’s passing flooded his mind, seeing her so sickly, waiting, and even wishing the gods would take her, just so he didn’t have to see her suffer much longer. He knew what his father said was the truth, his heart told him. He knew for a long time: his father’s difficulties sleeping, his apparent weakness, his headaches and fainting spells, but he prayed to the gods that it would pass. Clearly, Julius knew it would not.

“Why? You can’t be. You just can’t...Why do you say such a terrible thing?” Gaius balled.

“I’m sorry, son. I don’t know how else to tell you. The gods have deemed it fit that my time on the earth comes to its conclusion. I don’t know when, exactly, but I do know it will be sooner than either of us wants it to be. I won’t be able to take care of you, and you’re still too young to take care of yourself. I have to look out for your safety and try to ensure you have a future.”

Julius stood from his stool and walked over to Gaius, dropping down to one knee and tried to look
at his son in the eyes, but Gaius turned his head away, not wanting to let his father see him cry.

“There is nothing that can be done. I’m grateful for the time that I was allowed. I should have died a long time ago. It was only by the grace of the gods that
I was given this time, to find a woman I loved, and for her to give me a son that I care so much for, even if I’ve failed to express it as I should have.”

Gaius lowered his head as he couldn’t control himself. He wanted to be strong and not cry, but his father’s words ran through him like knives, more painful than anything since his mother’s passing.

“I’m sorry, son, there was so much that I wanted to teach you; I wanted to show you. We’ve had little time, and I fear that I was not always the father whom you needed me to be, not since your mother left this world. However, I won’t leave you alone, not ever. That man outside, Valerius, he will watch over you like you were his own. He will do this because we are close as any two men can be without being brothers by blood. He will teach you everything you need to know; how to survive in this world. He will guide you down the path of honor; you will become a great warrior who will stand for his country, and one day, a long time from now you will lead men who you will pass the knowledge you’ve learned, as Valerius will you.”

Julius placed the palm of his hand on Gaius’ face, turning it towards
him, so he could look into his son’s eyes.

“I know you want to stay with me – I can see that in your eyes.
However, I will not allow you to watch me die, Gaius. Your destiny lies elsewhere, even if you can’t entirely understand why I am doing this now. Even so, you will understand, someday. You will understand the gift that I’m giving you. You will have a life, a purpose and be able to stand for something greater than ourselves. Will you be strong for me, Gaius?”

He tried to hold back his already flowing tears just for a moment as he looked into his father’s own saddened eyes, and answer him.

He did not want to agree. He did not want to leave him alone to die. He did not want to start down the path that his father and Valerius
wanted. Gaius fought to stand and tell his father that he refused what he was saying, and that he would stand by his side until the end. However, as Gaius looked at his father, he could see the pain that he was in, and that, deep down, while he did not want Gaius to leave, he knew it was for the best.

Gaius rubbed his tears from his eyes and wiped his cheeks, before he found the courage to answer.

“I understand, father. I promise I will not let you down.”

“That’s my boy. Now, come, I want to show you something.”

Gaius watched as his father walked over to his bed, which was on the far side of the small house. Gaius soon joined him.

“I know you have seen these before, when I wasn’t around,” Julius confronted Gaius with a grin. “Now I want you to know what they are.”

Gaius sat by his father’s side as he opened the trunk and removed the thin sheet that lay on top of the items inside. Most of the things were ignored, but it was the chest plate with the ivory white wolf that Julius held up.

“This is the crest of the Sixth Legion, the Wolves of Rome,” Julius began as he rubbed his hand across the face of the wolf, which stood in the center of the expensive armor, surrounding by fig leaves of silver, with smaller depictions of wolves running in a pack on each breast.

“I was their chief centurion, and they were my family. I would have done anything to protect them, and they would me. We were defenders of the Republic, willing servants of Rome, but most of all we fought to protect those we left at home. Very few of the old guard is left, save for myself and Valerius. He trains young men such as you to become the next generation of Wolves. Because of that, the Sixth Legion is unique. They aren’t comprised of farmers or seasonal soldiers, but men who have sworn a lifelong oath to keep our Republic safe.”