Chapter 2

I slept most of the day and night, and felt a lot better after breakfast. My thumb and leg didn’t hurt so much and my fever wasn’t so bad. I noticed all the bread had been eaten, so I took the empty basket back to the kitchen and considered my situation.

I was a soldier with a city full of emperors named ‘roast chicken’, who needed a glowing dog to eat a chariot. Wait ... what? The world suddenly spun and turned upside down. I failed spectacularly at swimming through the air and a girl screamed.

As I fell toward it, I thought; “I hope my nose doesn’t hurt that nice brick oven...” For a long time, everything was dark and quiet.

A very shiny figure appeared in front of me, quickly asking; “Love, or glory?” I could see my reflection on his silvery chest. When I didn’t answer for half a breath, he grew impatient and asked again; “Love, or glory? Mars and Venus need to know!”

I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. “Huh?”

He said, very patronizingly; “Oh, you’re a mortal. I’ll help you.” He said it again, MUCH LOUDER, and VERY SLOWLY. “L ... O ... V ... E or G ... L ... O ... R ... Y?”

I wondered, “What the heck is going on? Why is he asking me strange questions? Hey! He’s metal! He must be...” I exclaimed aloud, “Mercury! You’re Mercury!”

“Finally! Signs of life! You were quiet so long I wondered if you died. Mortals do that, sometimes.” He sneezed, poked a finger up his nose, then wiped it on my palm. Instead of filth, there was a gold coin in my hand.

“So?” He tapped his foot for three breaths. “Maybe this will take some time.” He pulled a scroll out of my ear and started reading. He might be a God, but he was starting to annoy me. A short time later he swallowed the scroll and asked again, “L ... O ... V ... E or G ... L ... O ... R ... Y?”

Two brief scenes flashed into my mind. War god Mars held a baby by one ankle over a pond full of crocodiles, standing next to a throne with an Imperial robe on it.

Love goddess Venus stood on a boat balancing a throne on the edge, ready to drop it in the sea. There were three beautiful women and a group of children laughing behind her.

Mercury tapped his foot impatiently, asking a final time; “Only two options, nothing could be simpler. Love or glory? Well?”

I briefly saw an image of Mercury counting something and writing on a scroll. Behind him, Een sat on a huge gold bar, wearing a ridiculously large helmet, three times the size of her head. A beautiful woman handed her a bunch of grapes.

I pondered aloud... “Both? Neither? Money?”

“Time’s up!” He swung his silver hand toward me in a slap. As his palm hit my cheek, I heard a tremendous ‘BANG!’ and a bright light melted away the darkness. I was in my bed. I had a bandage on my forehead and there was sunlight streaming in through the open door. I heard another thunderclap and the ground shook a little.

Wow! That was a really strange dream!

An officer yelled, “There’s a storm coming! Get the tents secured! Right now!”

As I moved the blanket to get up, a dozen sestertius coins fell from the bed and clattered onto the floor. Was the dream real? Did I choose money?

I touched my head and it was dry. I felt fine. I carefully stood up. My left leg hurt, but less than before. I waved my arms around and wiggled my toes. Everything seemed to work. I did some simple math and spelled several words to myself. My mind seemed okay, too. I gathered up the coins and got dressed.

Since the army would wait out the storm before doing anything significant, I had some time for reflection and planning. My military career was progressing even better than I hoped, and I knew Mars was pleased with me. But my wife and my boys! They’re gone! The thought hurt, but didn’t paralyze me anymore. Half my town, and most of my friends on the island were gone! Rebuilding would take a lot of people, and a lot of work.

Patrician status was only inherited through blood, not marriage! Kolius was trying to steal my title! Under the law, if land wasn’t occupied by a noble’s family and another noble lived there for 6 months, they could rightfully claim it! If he was the only ‘noble’ there and the people recognized him as Patrician, it would probably stand in court! He would have my land, my silver mine, and my noble title!

I quickly figured the days since the plague started. I would need to be back on the island by the Fides Veratus celebration, on the first of October! I had to be there in only fifty days!

The trip from Caledonia to Rome normally takes five to six weeks if you march most of it. On horseback or driving a wagon, three to four weeks. If the weather was good, maybe only 16 or 18 days by sea, but the autumn storms were approaching.

From Rome to Balit was another 14 to 18 days on foot, then a short boat ride. It would be or only 6 or 7 more days by sea, if I was brave enough. Pirates were a serious threat off the coast of Greece, and the autumn weather could be very fickle.

Venus had told me to gather the orphans, so I considered the situation of the children. Few families wanted new children over the age of two or three. Any kids under fourteen were almost worthless in the slave trade, so very few were even captured for sale. The Empire’s theory was, ‘If the gods want them to survive they will, it’s not the government’s problem.’ I felt very bad for them. It would be terrible to be on your own as a child!

Captives started becoming valuable about age fourteen, when the boys could be apprenticed to craftsmen or work as laborers. After age fourteen and their first moon blood, the girls had an obvious use in the brothels, or could be household servants.

Unless they were unusually attractive or strong, at age thirteen or fourteen, they would sell for around 100 denari. Much younger than that, and it wasn’t worth the cost to house and feed them for years. If they were unsold for ten days, they could be sold as human sacrifices for twenty, and I really didn’t want that.

A muscular young man who might succeed as a gladiator, or an especially pretty teen girl might go for 300 or even 500 denari, like young adult slaves, but that was uncommon.

I wondered how I could even find the orphans, much less gather them. The Picts who fought in the battle had lived in at least thirty small villages and hamlets, plus who knew how many hundred farms. Searching by myself would take months, maybe years. My girls were too young to go anywhere by themselves.

On their own, kids might survive a few weeks, if they were lucky. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed sunlight glinting off the shrine and my helmet next to it. Money! I’m sure the soldiers would search, if I pay them! It can’t hurt to try! My trip home would have to be fast, but I would use three days to save some children, hopefully.

Reet ran in holding Een’s hand. She shut the door once Tyranus was inside. Both smiled when they saw me standing. Reet felt the side of my face and said, “You no sick! Good! Good!” She asked, “You look chief talk?”

I didn’t understand. She pointed to a message on the table. She pantomimed thrusting her chest out, puffing out her cheeks, and looking angry.

I said, “Legatus Pullo? Pullo sent me that?”

She nodded, “Chief paper talk you”

She held up four fingers and said, “You sleep days.”

I read the scroll:

“Cenius, my friend, I regret that we must leave to make it to Ghent on time. Hopefully you will recover soon enough to catch up to us. I’m leaving my physician and four of your slave girls with you. I will try to get a good price for the rest of your slaves in the Ghent market. A few of the men asked to stay until you are well. We should make it to Rome the first or second week of October. I hope we can do the Triumph on the 19th day of October, the Armilustrium, in honor of Mars. If we can do it then, the priests will bless our weapons for luck.

Don’t die before I see you again! That’s an order!

Sincerely, Pullo.”

Dana and Raya had entered while I read, along with a much younger physician than the one before. This one only looked eighty or ninety. I told them, “I’m feeling much better now. I think I’ll be ok to travel soon.”

The physician skeptically commented, “Hmm, I’ll need to check a few things.”

He held my nostrils open wide and looked into them. He very carefully measured the distance between the corners of my mouth, while yanking a few hairs off the back of my arm. He spread my toes apart and smelled between them, all of them, on both feet. He barely glanced at my arrow wound.

He did what he called the two most reliable tests last. He had me cough as he poked a finger in my ear. Then for the grand finale, I had to lick one of my fingers, wipe it under my arm, and taste to see if it was salty or not. It tasted like an old saddle, but it was indeed salty.

He declared me to be in perfect health. He recommended that I eat plenty of dried seaweed, as much as I could stand. I should avoid going near bakeries, since bakeries emit vapors that pollute the bodily humors.

I thought I could get better advice by listening to my horse’s farts. I was more than happy to watch him depart.

The rain started and the pace of the thunder and lightning picked up. Many animals don’t like storms and a lot of dogs are afraid. Tyranus isn’t afraid, he gets angry. Maybe he thinks if he barks loudly enough, he can scare the storm away.