Vengeance & Remission (Introduction) Page 8

such a mood. It was disturbing and for some reasons, Appius wasn't able to speak about the support he gave Marcus Lucius. Maybe, he wanted to protect Titus from being a part of a risky plan. It was already dangerous to think about creating such a plan and it was extremely, immensely bad to be involved in it.

  Appius analysed the crucial scene, which totally changed his life. It all started with the announcement that the rather less popular and recognized Maxentius Claudius from the Claudii family was supposed to visit Aquincum with his new wife, Julia Fabia, the lesser known daughter of Julius of the Fabii family. It was remarkable that Maxentius managed to step into a family that held considerable power, perhaps almost total power, for much of the early Republic until the defeat at Veii. Even after that time, with their family so depleted, the only survivors carried awesome auctoritas only due to their illustrious name. Maxentius wasn't the brave or paradigmatic person you wish to use to upgrade your social position. On the opposite, Maxentius didn't manage to prove his military skills in the army structure and he wasn't from a well-known, respected family. There had to be a crucial, hidden reason why these two got married.

  Appius tried to get to the bottom of this issue when Maxentius visited him few days ago. He wasn't successful. Apparently, Maxentius's wish or goal was to present his beautiful, young wife, Julia to everyone, just to emphasise his new position. On the way to Britannia, Maxentius visited his old friends and expected a privileged acceptance from the local hosts. He already upgraded his backs by marrying up and extended his already quite developed attitude towards others.

  It wasn't pleasant and easy to control yourself and keep smiling politely. Being politically correct wasn't the strength of Appius and everyone knew it. For his impulsive, direct way, he used to be overseen by superiors and put into question by colleagues during elections of tribunes or legates. Appius was a perfect teacher and he was respected for his educative contributions. He trained the youth and his straight, sometimes brutal way helped his pupils to find their way in the new, unfamiliar surroundings.

  While he was looking at Julia, he saw a girl sweet as sugar, nice as the goddess of flowers and nature, Flora. Her innocent look was broken and her own will was dashed in her eyes. She was sitting as far away from her husband as it was possible without making it look impolite or unwanted. Her fingers trembled nervously and sometimes, her right eyelid shivered irritated. Her smile was neither bright nor minimal, and even if it didn't look like put-on, it was definitely pretended. She was the proud daughter of a noble, respected man and she didn't want to harm her father's position by showing off her unhappiness. Appius thought it was allowed to debate, disagree and negotiate with women – respectfully. Even if he didn’t have many relationships with females, he treated them as ordinary persons. If he had a wife or daughters, he would have wished them to be more than usually expected, which was: simply being nice, conflict avoiding, not upsetting others and not challenging the status quo. He was one of the few representatives of such attitude.

  Maybe therefore, Marcus Lucius loved Decima. She didn't possess extended knowledge of geometry, literature, and philosophy like the noble Roman ladies, who Marcus Lucius normally met. Still, Decima was forthright, square. As she didn't want to move from Rome, she said it directly. She mostly didn't argue at all, but it was important to her to stay in the well-known surrounding. For the very first time, she expressed her contrary point of view. She didn't intend to oppose as a matter of principle, but she spoke from conviction. She was at least true and straightforward in a short way of saying more than simple “No”, instead exerted to “I don't like it.” He respected it. He accepted it. He left her the freedom of choice.

  While he stared at Julia sitting on the floor of the trembling wagon, he started losing his consciousness. The surrounding became blurry, shifted out of focus. Instead of a sad, but still friendly face of Julia, he saw a skin coloured taint with dark strains of hair around it, with light blue speck instead of an average stola, a long, pleated dress, worn over an undergarment called a tunic. It was the traditional garment of Roman women and corresponded to the male toga or the pallium. Julia wore a version with sleeves and ribbons decorated with dainty ornaments. Marcus Lucius wasn't able to see the tiny little patterns anymore. The patterns made the dress unique and showed the high value of it. Seeing the blurry spots, the dress looked ordinary, like Decima's dress.

  He didn't feel the sweat drops on his forehead and his neck. He didn't feel neither warmth nor coldness anymore. Having lost his senses, he wasn’t aware how Octavian argued with Julia. It was right after the moment Julia noticed Marcus Lucius's mental absence. She screamed after Octavian, she wanted him to come back into the wagon and “do something” that could help Marcus Lucius to get better. She yelled Octavian's name, because Appius ordered her to communicate just with Octavian or Nerva. Nerva was the messenger, who brought letters from Appius, quoted Appius's utterances and Octavian's statements. Nerva was always on the run, barely to meet. When he caught up with the convoy during the following weeks, the first thing he had to do was take a rest, he never kept the guard in the first night. He was full of sweat drops, but he smiled, somehow friendly. Whenever he saw Julia, he stopped to talk to her and nodded with his head to greet her. He was apparently quite popular, because everyone wanted to talk with him. He had fleeting talks with every soldier on his way. Julia wondered what they were talking about. He was direct and open, the total opposite of Octavian, the leader of the convoy, the one at the side of Julia and Marcus Lucius on the way to Britannia. Octavian was a tall, well-built legionnaire with blond, short hair and no smile on his lips. When he walked into the room, you could feel his cold, impersonal presence. He had deep ice-blue eyes and was of about the age of Marcus Lucius. He used only as many words as needed and didn't make use of empty phrases nor as magic words like “with all due respect” or “thank you”. He was in charge of the convoy after the Maxentius's guards were wounded and unable to travel. With an iron hand, he gave orders to stop or to travel on. It was not possible to judge how much he liked the position he got. He talked more with other legionnaires, mostly with soldiers from Appius's team. The new guards of the convoy were a mix of Maxentius's soldiers and legionnaires sent by Appius. Therefore, you could see various groups gathering during the evenings in front of a small fire place, who wished to keep watch together. There were more than twenty legionnaires, but just one of them was the direct contact person for Julia.

  Between all legionnaires, Octavian and Nerva were the two most trusted persons of Appius. Some of the other legionnaires were from the unit trained by him, but they weren't involved in the matter and according to the order it should stay this way. The more people were involved, the more probable leaks became. There was no space for misunderstandings and doubts due to the well-informed circle of people involved in the matter. Appius wanted to keep the secret circle closed and therefore, the entire communication should be over predefined persons. Therefore, Julia screamed Octavian's name as she bowed over unconscious the Marcus Lucius.

  Hearing her scream, Octavian stepped into the wagon immediately. Julia wondered how he managed to act so fast, but it didn't concern her as much as the unconsciousness of Marcus Lucius. Additionally, the wound on his chest started bleeding and the bandages turned dangerously, suspiciously red. Octavian jumped over to Marcus Lucius. He pushed Julia aside, ripped off the bandages and looked briefly at the wounds. They had already been treated by a medico on the way, so Octavian knew that it was the last moment to use the old, reviewed methods.

  Within heartfelt minutes, Octavian arranged the entire convoy to stop. Then, he waited until the camp fire was hot enough to heat an iron spear up until it glowed red. Marcus Lucius stayed in his bed and didn't change his position. Julia stared, opened her mouth shocked to the glowing iron in Octavian's hands. Behind him, two further soldiers followed. She was scared, but stepped into Octavian’s way and tried to prevent him from what he apparently intended to do.

  -Go away. - He
ordered strictly and emotionless and pushed her away again. This time he did it rougher and stronger than before. At the same time, he gestured to the soldiers behind and they came closer.

  Julia fell to the side, but stood up. Within seconds, she stood directly in front of him again. Her eyes showed determination to step into Octavian's way as long and as often as necessary to stop him.

  -You can't do this! You can't harm him!

  -Woman, if I won't do this, his wound won't heal. Go away. - He repeated his command with the same emotionless attitude. However, he didn't scream at her. His voice remained cold and calculated as usual. With another wink of his hand, he ordered one of his soldiers to keep Julia away from him.

  Julia tried to stop him, she screamed and moved hastily, but Octavian menaced to throw her out of the wagon, if she wouldn't stay calm. His tensed body language confirmed the serious words coming out of his mouth. Julia wasn't happy about it, but she stayed calm as ordered held back by a