VERUS WATCHED THE two lovers walk away, smiling to himself. He was dedicated to the life of a career bachelor, enjoying it very much as he'd always seen a wife to be distracting from things of importance – especially in battle. It was an interesting thought that a woman could be useful in military matters, and he would have to think on it further once he was finished here. He had to admit that he very much enjoyed having Alex around, and found his wits sharper for her presence.
The men stationed on guard were watching Alex walk away as well. The younger of the two turned to Verus, the question plain on his face, but his mouth frozen at his proximity to a ranking officer. Verus feigned ignorance of the young Legionnaire's burning curiosity, instead turning and descending into the dens without another word. Let the rumors stew, he thought, grinning wickedly.
At his footsteps on the stones, the hoarse shouts died away. Marcus Livius, Verus's clubfooted cousin through Valerius's mother, stood in shackles at the corner of his cage nearest to the stairs. Banished from Rome at only fifteen years of age after fleeing execution for patricide, exile seemed to have been kind to the internally and externally twisted creature.
"Cousin," Verus greeted him politely and the caged man glared out through the grid of bars. "That sounded like a very interesting conversation you just had. But I'm a little unclear on the details. Was Alex meant to take you out of here, or supposed to rot in this little cage with you?"
Verus didn't understand the short reply, so assumed it was in the same language that Alex spoke as the sounds were similar to Marcus's earliest shouts after her.
"Or perhaps you wish to tell me how a lowly fiend such as yourself came into possession of such a magnificent stallion?"
"Max?" Marcus asked, grinning. "He is awesome, isn't he? You should ride him."
"Oh, I plan to. One day," he said, flipping his hand for some random future time. "There are some training issues to attend to first, though, aren't there. But in the meantime, he should be able to breed a small army of foals for the Legions. And Alex will enjoy riding him, I'm certain."
"She does," his grin held fast to his face. "The sex is better after she's been on him, as well. But you wouldn't care for riding her, would you?"
"Quite to the contrary, actually," Verus replied, honestly, and was rewarded by seeing the grin falter. "And after seeing her this morning – Valerius and his pack of friends were executed you should know, and Alex attended – I admit I now find the thought of sex with the Lady very appealing."
Marcus broke out in laughter.
"By the gods, she even has my homo cousin dry humping her leg."
Verus's smile was predatory.
"Who said anything about dry humping?"
Marcus quit laughing and immediately switched languages, unloading vehemently a long string of vocabulary.
"She's not collared to you," he stated flatly, switching back.
"Ownership has never stopped a woman from coming to me," Verus replied, adjusting his stance and face to align for what he knew looked his best.
There was a collective sigh from many of the women in the pens, and a nervous giggle from the young woman he settled a lustful gaze on momentarily. Marcus unloaded another string of vocabulary.
"Did you really think to come here and march on Rome with just one horse and one woman at your command? Or were you betting on keeping her here in the Germanias, hidden in the forest and away from the Legions unless she was killing men?" Verus watched his cousin by marriage closely, seeing the truth in the ticks and twitches of the boy which the man had never noticed or attempted to train out. "Really? And you never for one moment thought that she would simply attend to her own mind and desires?" He tsk-tsked reproachfully.
Unknowingly, Verus's question and pitying smile mirrored nearly exactly the same as the one Alex had given Marcus before she'd walked out.
"You don't know what she is," Marcus blurted. "She is more than you could ever imagine! Her destiny is greater than anything you could achieve. Her name will resound for all of history, at my side, she could become—"
"More talk of destiny, cousin?" Verus interrupted. "I recall your previous rants of destiny were poorly executed, and your own execution was narrowly missed. An oversight I see now needs to be corrected. Tell me, do you have any useful information that was not already told to the Lady and passed forward?"
To further his point, Verus loosed his sword and drew it from its sheath. Marcus stopped talking, his mouth snapping shut, his small mind working hard to find the angle to get him out of this. He looked remarkably alike to Valerius just prior to being disowned.
"Did she even tell you why she was here? That I sent her? She answers to me! I control her as surely as the stallion!"
Verus listened intently, watching the other man, seeking for the grains of truth that could be present in his lies, and finding only reinforcement of what Alex had already told him. There was a chuckle from a nearby cell.
"Celsus Calix, the kind man at the banquet a fortnight ago." An older slave stood and walked as near as he could, leaning against the grid of his cage. "A fool slave dropped a plate, and Celsus Calix claimed to have knocked it with an elbow. A kindness for a kindness, sir." A woman in the cell with him tried to pull him away from the bars. "If I speak, I can speak. Celsus Calix is a kind man," the old man told the woman, swatting away her hands, then turned back to lean on the bars again. "That woman that was just here, with the plated collar that scares all the new slaves, she said the name 'Verus Celsus Calix' to the clubfoot. Is that the woman who the clubfoot speaks of now?"
"It is, old father," Verus respectfully replied.
"A kind man, Celsus Calix." The old slave smiled and nodded to acknowledge the respect paid. "A kindness for a kindness. That woman answered to no man in these dens, and played this sorry clubfoot a fool. I don't know her words, not at all, but she razed him as surely as a landowner owed four years debt. Him was powerless, and told her all she wanted. It was the collar at her throat she answers to."
The old man nodded and turned away, shambling back to the corner of piled items that appeared to be his home.
"My thanks to you, old father," Verus called.
"A kindness for a kindness, Celsus Calix is a kind man," the old slave replied, then added, mumbling, as though to himself. "Don't know why a daughter of Avilius would be collared. Didn't ask, don't ask."
Verus felt the walls close in on him slightly. Hoping he had heard wrong, he left the cage holding his cousin by marriage and stepped to the one holding the old slave.
"Please, old father, what did you just say about a daughter?"
"Been a slave in Bonna for all my life, yes all more than sixty years of it. That woman's sire is an Avilius. Him Avilius was a good man, too, and kind, so no questions about the collar. Didn't ask, don't ask."
The old man wrapped himself in a tattered blanket and seemed to immediately fall asleep.
"Titus, he often doesn't know what he says anymore, sir." The woman who had tried to pull the old man away attempted to intervene, her eyes downcast and her posture apologetic.
"He seemed quite clear just now," Verus argued and the woman paled, wringing her hands into her tunic.
"He has moments, but you can never tell if what he says is –"
"So what say you?" Verus asked pointedly, interrupting her.
The woman's lower lip started to shake and her hands worried faster.
"I was only ever to look on an Avilius thrice in my life, and the last time was over ten years ago, when the 20th left the Germanias."
Verus brought his attention to bear on her like a boulder. The woman trembled under his gaze.
"And can you now recall the features of the face?"
"The set of the shoulders, the curve of the lips and the jaw they sit on, the brown of the eyes, the nose, the shape of the cheek and eyes," the old man – Titus – mumbled from the ground. "All features softened by the mother's blood, but are the father's. She's the look of her sire, and his before. No collar wore on a high-born in that family before, but she did now... Didn't ask, don't ask."
Verus dismissed the woman with a wave and she scurried back to the corner where the old man was suddenly gently snoring again. His mind raced through what facts he knew of the Avilius family, which wasn't much. The rumors were much thicker, and none of those gave him an easy feeling. But he knew someone whose knowledge of the facts was far superior, and who would be willing to provide a full report.
"A collar on a 'high-born' daughter?" Marcus suddenly asked, his voice incredulous after finally recognizing the reference. "Alex is a patrician?"
The caged man burst out laughing, leaning on the grid nearest to where Verus now stood. Verus took the opportunity as it was presented and ran his cousin through.
"And now," Verus started, ensuring his voice carried the threat far into the dens in the sudden silence, "that is the last of talk like that."
A general murmur ran through the dens and then quieted as he withdrew his blade. His cousin by marriage slumped to the floor.
"On the charge of patricide, I condemn you to death. On the charge of treason against Rome, I condemn you to death."
Verus watched the dying man until he was certain beyond doubt that death had claimed him, then turned and walked out of the dens without a backward glance. He paused at the top of the stairs to clean his blade and inform the two guards of most of what had transpired, including only his recognition of his cousin and the clubfooted man's subsequent demise for past and current crimes of patricide and treason. Messengers were called for and sent away to inform the Governor of what had transpired. Verus waited at the entrance to the dens for the expected summons, giving quick replies to a couple of messengers sent by his Guard Commander with queries about the 1st cohort.
Verus had omitted telling the guards what the old slave had said, and planned to continue omitting it in any reports he made until his own investigation was complete. Hoping the meeting would be made brief through familiarity of Marcus' past crimes, Verus went quickly when the summons came. He suddenly felt a burning need to talk to Alex in detail about her family history.