Dr. Lewis then saw Ryujin's ring.
"Is that what I think it is?" he inquired "A general's ring?"
Ryujin nodded.
"Yes."
"Do you mind if I take a look at it?"
Ryujin took it from her and offered it to him. Dr. Lewis held his breath.
"Macedonian? I think from the second century BC."
"Exactly."
"That's an amazing reproduction" Ben commented, as he handed it back to her.
Ryujin put it back on.
"It's not a reproduction"
"It can't be!" gasped Ben, incredulous "It can't be original, it's exceedingly old"
"A private collector had it" Lia pointed out. Ben kept looking at her, only to instantly turn his attention back to Ryujin.
"How did you get it?" he asked her.
Ryujin was slow to answer as she remembered the day it was given to her.
Kyrian of Thrace and her had been promoted at the same time, after saving, practically the two of them alone, the city of Themopolis from the clutches of the Romans.
It had been a long, bloody and brutal battle. Her army had scattered, leaving Kyrian and her alone to defend the city.
Ryujin had expected Kyrian to abandon her as well, but the idiot had smiled at her, holding a sword in each hand, and said, "It's a beautiful day to die. What do you say we kill a few Roman bastards before we pay Charon?"
Kyrian of Thrace, a complete and utter lunatic, had always had more
guts than brains. When it was all over, they drank until they ended up under the tables. And the next morning, they were awakened with the news of the promotion.
By the gods! Of all the people she had met in Macedonia, Kyrian was the one she missed the most. He was the only one who always had her back and stood up for her.
"It was a gift," Ryujin replied to Ben.
He glanced at Ryujin's hand, his eyes heavy with greed.
"Would you consider selling it? I would be willing to pay whatever you asked"
"Never" Ryujin replied, remembering the wounds she had received during the battle of Temopolis "You don't know what I went through to get it."
Ben shook his head.
"I wish someone would ever give me a gift like that. Do you have the slightest idea what they'd give you for it?"
"Last time I checked, they offered me my weight in gold."
Ben let out a laugh and slapped his hand on Lia's desk.
"Very good. That was the price to free a captured general, wasn't it?"
"For those cowards who weren't capable of dying fighting, yes."
Ben's eyes showed new respect as he looked at Ryujin.
"Do you know who it belonged to?"
Lia replied.
"To Ryujin of Macedonia. Have you ever heard of her, Ben?"
He stood with his mouth open and his eyes like saucers.
"Are you serious? Don't you know who it was?"
Lia made a strange expression. Assuming she didn't know, Ben
continued speaking.
"Thessius said of her that she was going to be the new Alexander the Great. Ryujin was the daughter of Diocles of Sparta, also known as Diocles the Butcher. That man would make the Marquis de Sade look like Ronald McDonald. According to rumors, Ryujin was born from a relationship between Aphrodite and the general, after Diocles saved one of the goddess' temples from being desecrated. The most widespread opinion today is that her mother was one of the temple's priestesses."
"Really?" asked Yeji.
Ryujin rolled her eyes.
"No one cares who this Ryujin might have been. She died centuries ago."
Ben ignored her and continued to boast of his knowledge.
"The Romans knew her as Augustus Julius Punitor..." he looked at Yeji and added for her understanding, "Ryujin the Executor. She and Kyrian of Thrace left a bloody trail across the Mediterranean, during the fourth Macedonian war against Rome. Ryujin despised the Romans, and vowed that she would see the city razed to the ground under their army. She and Kyrian came close to
get Rome to kneel before them."
Ryujin's jaw relaxed a little.
"Do you know what happened to Kyrian of Thrace?"
Ben let out a hiss.
"He did not meet a pleasant end. He was captured; the Romans crucified him in 47 BC."
Ryujin recoiled as she heard him. With a chagrined look and fiddling with the ring, she said:
"That man was, without a doubt, one of the finest warriors who ever
ever lived. He loved fighting like no other I've ever known" she shook her head "I remember once Kyrian drove his chariot through a shield barrier, breaking the necks of Roman soldiers and allowing his men to defeat them with only a handful of casualties" she frowned "I can't believe he was captured"
Ben shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent gesture.
"Well, once Ryujin was gone, Kyrian was the only Macedonian general worthy of leading an army; that's why the Romans went after him with everything they had"
"What happened to Ryujin?" asked Yeji, intrigued by what historians thought on the subject.
Ryujin looked at her angrily.
"No one knows" Ben answered her "It is one of the great mysteries of the ancient world. Here we have a general who no one can defeat on the battlefield and suddenly poof! She disappears without a trace" he drummed a finger on Lia's desk "she was last seen at the battle of Conjara. In a brilliant tactical move, she fooled Livius, who lost his, until then, impregnable position. It was one of the greatest defeats in the
history of the Roman Empire."
"And who cares?" Ryujin complained.
Ben ignored the interruption.
"After the battle, Ryujin supposedly sent word to Scipio the Younger that she would pursue him, in revenge for the defeat he had just inflicted on the Macedonian army. Terrified, Scipio abandoned his military career in Macedonia and went as a volunteer to the Iberian Peninsula, to continue fighting there" the professor shook his head "But before Ryujin could carry out the threat, she vanished. They found her entire family murdered in her own home. And that's where it gets interesting" he then looked at Lia.
"The Macedonian writings that have come down to us, claim that Livy mortally wounded her during the battle, and that in the midst of incredible grief, she rode home to murder her family and thus prevent her enemy from taking them as slaves. Roman texts claim that Scipio sent several of his soldiers, who attacked Ryujin in the middle of the night. Supposedly, they killed her and the rest of her family, dismembered her and hid the pieces of her body."
Ryujin snorted at the thought.
"Scipio was a coward and a braggart. He would never have dared to attack me-"
"Well!" Yeji exclaimed interrupting Ryujin before he gave himself away "It's splendid weather, isn't it?"
"Scipio was no coward" Ben answered her "No one can dispute his successes in the Iberian Peninsula."
Yeji saw the hatred flash in Ryujin's eyes.
But Ben didn't seem to notice.
"Young lady, the value of that ring you wear is incalculable. I would love to know how such a thing could be obtained. And on that note, I would kill to know what happened to its original owner."
Yeji looked at Lia uncomfortably.
Ryujin gave Ben a sarcastic grimace.
"Ryujin of Macedonia unleashed the wrath of the gods and was punished for her arrogance."
"I guess that could be another explanation" at that moment, his watch alarm went off "Fuck! I have to pick up my wife!"
He stood up and offered his hand to Ryujin.
"We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Ben Lewis."
"Ryujin" she replied, accepting the greeting.
Dr. Lewis laughed. Until he realized Ryujin wasn't joking.
"Really?"
"I was named after your Macedonian general, you might say."
"Your father must have been like mine. Two lovers of all things Greek."
"Actually, in my case his allegiance went to Sparta."
Ben chuckled more heartily. He took a quick glance at Lia.
"Why don't you bring it to the next Socrates meeting? I'd love for the kids to get to know her. It's not very often you find someone who knows Greek history as deeply as I do."
Having said that, he turned to Ryujin again.
"It's been a pleasure, see you!" he said to Lia.
"Well" Lia began to say once Ben had disappeared into the crowd "my friend, you have achieved the impossible. You have just blown away one of the most important Ancient Greek researchers in this country."
Ryujin didn't seem too impressed, but Yeji did.
"Jisu, do you think it's possible that Ryujin could work as a professor at the faculty once we end the curse? I was thinking that she could–"
"No, Yeji," Ryujin interrupted her.
"Not what? You're going to need-"
"I'm not going to stay here."
The cold, blank stare Ryujin had in that moment was the same one she had looked at her with the night she was summoned.
And it tore Yeji in two.
"What do you mean?" inquired Yeji.
Ryujin averted her gaze.
"Athena has made me an offer to return me home. Once we break the curse, she'll send me back to Macedonia."
Yeji struggled to keep breathing.
"I understand" she said, though she was dying inside "You will use my body and then leave" She continued with a lump in her throat, "At least I won't have to ask Lia to take me home afterwards."
Ryujin recoiled as if Yeji had slapped her.
"What do you want from me Yeji, why would you want me to stay here?"
She didn't know the answer. All she knew was that she didn't want her to leave. She wanted her to stay.
But not against her will.
"I'm going to tell you something" Yeji told her. She was starting to get angry at the thought of her disappearing "I don't want you to stay. In fact, I'm thinking of something, how about you go to Lia's house for a few days?" and then she looked at her friend "would you mind?"
Lia was opening and closing her mouth like a fish struggling to breathe. Ryujin reached out an arm towards Yeji.
"Yeji."
"Don't touch me" she warned her pulling her own arm away "You disgust me."
"Yeji!" Lia exclaimed "I can't believe you–"
"It doesn't matter" Ryujin said in a cold voice devoid of emotion "At least she didn't spit in my face with her last breath."
She had hurt her. Yeji could see it in her eyes; but she was also very hurt. Terribly hurt.
"See you later" she said to Lia and walked away, leaving Ryujin there.
Lia let the air out slowly as she watched Ryujin, who watched asYeji walked away from them. Her body was totally rigid and she had a twitch in her jaw.
"Where she puts the eye, she puts the bullet. A direct hit to the heart. A raw wound."
Ryujin pinned her with a frankly hostile look.
"Tell me, Oracle, what should my words have been?"
Lia shuffled her cards.
"I don't know" Lia answered her wistfully "I imagine you wouldn't have fared so badly if you had been honest."
Ryujin rubbed her eyes and sat back in the chair, facing Lia.
She hadn't intended to hurt Yeji. And she could never forget that look, as she spat the horrible words, "Don't touch me. You disgust me."
She struggled to keep breathing, holding in the agony. The reapers were still taunting her. They must be having a boring day on Olympus.
"Do you want me to read you the cards?" asked Lia, bringing her back to the present.
_____________________________
Happy Sunday!