Chapter 9

Spring came early that year. The soldiers laid down wooden planks to avoid the mud caused by the melting snows. Penelope, as promised, didn't overly do it with the man who replaced Gaius. His name was Marcus and he was very skilled. Because she held back, he often gained the upper hand on her but she always recovered and continued to fight back. She had a leather outfit made where the skirt fell to the length of her boots. It gave her freedom to move quicker than in a robe or a gown. People who had seen her in action before told Marcus she wasn't giving her all.

"YOU ROMAN DOGS, I SHIT ON YOU!" came the profane insult from the son of Arminius.

He was Groat and supposed to be very good with the sword. Maximus and Penelope stepped out of their tent to see the commotion coming from the other side of the Weser River. "YOU ARE GOING TO MEET THE SAME FATE AS VARUS." The German men laughed at that remark. They were standing in back of Groat as he peppered the Romans with insults.

"It's a trap," Maximus stated. "As soon as we cross the bridges, they run into the forest and wait for us to attack then do what they've planned. We'll have none of it."

"I HEAR THAT MAXIMUS HAS HIS WHORE OF A WIFE WITH HIM. SHE FUCKED EVERYONE IN ROME AND THEN CAME UP HERE TO FUCK THE LEGIONS."

"I promise you, husband. I never let Sejanus touch me," she giggled.

"Who else haven't you slept with?" Maximus asked, in a teasing manner.

"Augustus and Tiberius are two more. I'll let you know more as I think of them."

"I ALSO HEAR SHE LIKES TO FUCK WOMEN TOO."

"Bow!" Penelope's hand held out toward an archer. When he hesitated, she shouted to him, "BOW!" The man looked at Maximus. "Don't look at him, give me your bow with an arrow."

"What are you going to do?" Maximus asked.

"You'll see," Penelope put the missile into the string.

"You'll never hit him from this distance. It can't be done."

She ignored him. She set her green eyes upon the son of Arminius. She stretched the string. The archer was amazed how far she had drawn it back. It was more than he ever did and he had been an archer under Germanicus and now Maximus. Maximus looked at his wife's side profile. Her eyes were staring at her target. She was deadly serious. She had the string back as far as it could go. Steadily she took a breath and relaxed concentrating on her target. She let go. The arrow flew high into the air as Groat repeated his verbal assault. He never looked her way.

The arrow found its mark. Piercing the left eye of Groat. Both sides gasped as Groat let out a scream then fell from his horse. The archer was amazed! Maximus was amazed!

The Germans were amazed and so were the Romans! Never had they seen an arrow fly so far. Groat's horse ran away as the Germans rushed to his aid.

"He's dead!" Penelope said calmly. "Thank you," she handed the bow back to the archer as he stood open mouthed in shock. "I think this will bring Arminius from his hiding place," she told her husband. "Oh, by the way... I don't fuck women. Mary our slave does, I like men." She smiled as she walked back into their tent with everyone else standing in awe of her.

When Maximus stepped in, she was sitting on the bed drinking a goblet of wine. She looked at her husband. "After fucking all those men in Rome and every man here, I'm kind of tired." She disrobed and stood before him naked. "Want to have some fun?"

Arminius was furious when he learned of the death of his only son. He was grooming Groat to be the next chief of his nation of tribes in Central Germany. Now Groat was dead at the hand of a woman. A woman archer. He was talked out of invading across the Weser by a council. It was suicide if the Romans were ready for them. Groat had initiated the confrontation and had hurled insults at her. Besides no one could believe anyone could shoot an arrow across the Weser River and hit its mark. Let alone a woman. They began thinking of Groat being assassinated by other Germans who held a grudge against him.

Groat wasn't the most likeable of men and insulted many of his fellow barbarians. It was impossible for anyone, including a woman, to breach the river with a bow. The Romans were only taking credit for Groat's death because they were still upset with Arminius' defeat of three great Legions. So Arminius started to look inward to see who his son's enemies were. Perhaps the council was right! No one could have the strength to shoot an arrow across this wide expanse of water.

Less than a month later, Penelope's feat came to Augustus' ear. He had been to that very site and knew that there was absolutely no way anyone could shoot an arrow that far and hit their target. When told of her warrior like skills, he sent for her. This meant that she would have to leave her husband to travel back to Rome to be presented to the Emperor. In the meantime, she had become pregnant again. She followed the physician's orders not to travel despite Augustus' edict. Both Maximus and Caro, the physician, wrote that it might make her have a miscarriage like before. Augustus would understand. After all he was the chief architect for getting nobles to wed and have Roman children.

Instead, Augustus ordered Tiberius to investigate this. Happily, he made his way north to the Legions that protected Rome from the barbarians. Having to marry Augustus' daughter Julia, he was only delighted to travel here. Tibebius was forced to divorce the wife he loved to marry a woman he hated. He was not a pleasant man to deal with.

But under Imperial orders he did what he was told.

Penelope was resting in bed after a bad bout of morning sickness when Tiberius arrived.

He was shown to her tent wondering what she looked like. He had been away from Rome for the past two years on the Isle of Rhodes brooding over the loss of his old wife and acquiring the new one. There he studied astrology and other portents to tell the future.

"Lady Penelope," Tiberius said as he and Maximus entered the room. She struggled to her feet and bowed to him. Her weakness was due that she couldn't keep anything down.

"The honor is mine," she said still not showing as of yet.

"Augustus sent me to you to ask if you indeed killed Arminius' son by an arrow over the river here. It is an impossible feat, I dare say," Tiberius said.

"But I did," Penelope affirmed, calmly.

"I was there, I told her in a way that she was wasting her time. You can ask any of the men who were there and some of the women too. Hundreds were witnesses to it."

"But the river is almost five hundred yards wide at this point."

"I think you should talk to the men," Penelope said. "I'm with child. I had a miscarriage once. I want to keep this one."

"I'll be back shortly," Tiberius said as if he were giving an order to be obeyed.

After Maximus and Tiberius left, Penelope closed her eyes to take her customary nap.

"You have a beautiful wife," Tiberius said as Maximus escorted the General to a large tent where witnesses gathered to testify to what they had seen. "My first wife was not as beautiful but I loved her."

"Yes, I heard about the divorce."

"Planned by my mother, Livia," Tiberius said bitterly. Secretly Tiberius didn't love or like his mother. There were many reasons. She was politically ambitious. Livia never loved her other son Germanicus whom Tiberius looked up to. She was plotting for him to be the next Emperor when her husband died on the theory she could control her son. Tiberius was determined not to let that happen. She was responsible for making him divorce the one woman he loved and marrying a woman he spitefully hated. Julia, in his eyes, was an obnoxius cow. All of this ran through his mind as they made their way to the tent. He liked Maximus' wife but thought she was too much woman for him. She was taller, had a great sense of authority like her mother only was much more polite, plus if he did become the next Emperor, Tiberius could see how Penelope easily become more popular than he could ever possibly be.