Authors: L. M. Roth
When the
official edict arrived from Valerium, Marcus could honestly say that he was not
greatly surprised. In his heart he had expected such a decree, and had spent
many sleepless nights wondering what course of action to take should it arrive.
It had been
sent from the office of the Minister of State, and so had come from Decimus.
This was in the usual manner of affairs, as it was the Minister’s office that
was responsible for carrying out the Imperial orders. Marcus discovered,
however, that Decimus had included a personal note with the scroll and hastened
to break the seal and read it. He could not have been more astonished by what
it contained.
“I am under
Imperial orders to send this edict as part of my official duties,” Decimus
wrote. “But I must tell you that a friend of yours is the ‘guest’ of the
Emperor, and according to what he has told me in our private conversations,
this edict is not the will of your God. My advice to you is to go into hiding,
because there will be more of the Emperor’s decrees to be handed down shortly,
with certain citizens called to Valerium for questioning in an attempt to
appear to uphold his ruling by agreeing with him. What would you do if you had
to bow down to the god of the Emperor, which according to Dag Adalbart, is
not
the same Dominio that you worship?
“There is a
place in the Mountains of Moldiva not far from Lycenium that I knew as a youth.
It is extensive and runs deep into the mountains. It is dry and contains no
dampness that will impair one’s health. Iacomus does not know of its existence,
as I discovered it after he left to live in Seneca.
“Know this,
though; I warn you not for your sake, for you know full well my feeling for
you, but for the sake of your daughter, who is now mine also. I would advise
you to follow my instructions and make haste for there at once. For I can tell
you that the Emperor would love nothing more than for the father-in-law of his
Minister of State’s son to appear to validate his edict. If you do not, it will
be your life that he takes next. Destroy this message after you have read it.”
Here the
message ended and Marcus had to read it again to assure himself that he had
read it correctly.
Decimus had
actually warned him: his old foe had broken trust with his office to inform him
of the Emperor’s plans. And although it was not for his own sake but rather to
spare grief for his daughter-in-law, the warning stunned Marcus. He would have
suspected it to be a trap of some kind was it not for Decimus’ assurance of his
own continued rancor against Marcus. And that convinced him of the truth of the
message.
He summoned
Tullia and Drusilla to the library where he informed them of the edict and its
possible outcome. He did not tell them of the personal message from Decimus,
knowing that Drusilla could not keep a secret, but said that in view of the
fact that the Emperor appeared to bow down to a god of his own making that was
not truly Dominio, he felt it best for he and Tullia to leave Lycenium for a
while.
He did not
tell Drusilla of the hiding place, nor indicate any feeling of fear that the
edict induced. He knew the garrulous old woman simply could not hide what she
knew, so he did not burden her with information that must remain private. He
told her that he and Tullia had both been captivated by Lucerna, and he would
like to return there and visit for a while now that their children had left
home and were living their own lives.
It did not
take long to locate the place if one knew how to find it. Decimus had given
detailed instructions, albeit in code, that Marcus followed closely and was
able to decipher:
“Five miles
from the city where East meets West,
Is a hall of
stone where you may find rest.
At the north
gate knock and enter, stranger,
Ten steps down
and turn left to flee danger.
Down into its
stony depths you must go,
To escape the
harm of those who bring woe.
Two miles down
before you reach journey’s end,
Then straight
on ahead where two boulders rend.”
A cave, Marcus
thought. It must be a cave of some sort. He wondered at the wisdom of seeking
living quarters in such a place: not only was it injurious to one’s health, but
should Iacomus learn of his hiding place he would be trapped inside. And yet
Decimus had said they were extensive. It was possible that they were large
enough that capture would be impossible if he explored the cave thoroughly…
He decided to
take Tullia with him for a drive as an excuse and then tell her of Decimus’
plan.
“Are you
certain about this, Marcus?” she asked doubtfully as she stared at him.
They had just
alit from the carriage drawn by Cyriacus who had been instructed to take them
out of the city limits of Lycenium. Marcus had sat on the box next to him and
motioned for him to stop when he judged that they had reached the five mile
mark. It was a beautiful forested spot where the carriage came to a halt and he
looked around him in appreciation.
He helped
Tullia alight from the carriage, and she handed him the basket of food that she
carried. Marcus informed Cyriacus that this looked a good spot for a picnic,
and he should return for them in two hour’s time. The picnic was the most
reasonable excuse he could think of for a day’s excursion in the country. He
did not wish the loyal servant to know of their plan, lest it be forced out of
him under interrogation.
Cyriacus
saluted them and drove off, the sound of the horses’ hooves clopping through
the empty woods, the only sound of civilization to be heard.
It was a quiet
spot, where tall trees that grew to a tremendous height rose in a straight line
as if they would touch the sky itself. The sound of leaves swaying in a gentle
spring breeze murmured in their ears, accompanied by the twitter of wrens
busily erecting their new nests. From somewhere near the scent of wildflowers
that Marcus could not put a name to drifted to their nostrils, mingling with
the pungent aroma of the pines and fir trees.
How ironic,
Marcus thought, that a place of such peaceful beauty was where he and Tullia
would hide to escape danger from a madman who was relentless in his quest for
power and control. As if divining his thoughts, Tullia smiled at him through
tear-filled eyes, and he was struck suddenly at how hard life with him must
have been for her through the years. By his own count, this was the third ruler
that he had incurred the royal disfavor of, and it must surely be a strain on
her not to know from one day to the next whether she would have a roof over her
head or be condemned to wander in the wilderness with the man she had wed.
The cave was
not easy to find, and were it not for the detailed directions that Decimus had
written it was doubtful that they would have found it at all.
Marcus looked
up at the sun to determine its position, and then walked in a northern
direction, carefully studying the landscape around him. They were high up in
the mountains that ringed Lycenium, enclosing it from the world around it. He
advised Tullia to look for a crack of some kind that might be the gate that was
referred to in the instructions.
It was not a
crack, but a bush that grew closely to the ground that at last drew their
attention. The bush finally succeeded in drawing their notice because it was
one of only a few in the mountainside. Marcus stooped down to examine it, and
when he pulled at it, he discovered a small opening just behind it, only large
enough for one person at a time to enter, and doubled over at that.
“Ah, here is
the gate!” he exclaimed in triumph.
Tullia
hastened to where he stood, and she followed him into the narrow opening. When
they entered the cave, they were surprised that they could stand up to full
height, for the ceiling itself was high. The floor ahead of them slanted
downward, so they proceeded to walk ahead, counting as they did so. When they
had counted ten steps they came to a fork, with one path running left and one
running right. They chose the path that turned to the left and descended down
into the depths of the cave.
Marcus was a
good judge of gauging distances, having trekked in the wild so often, and he
had no difficulty determining when they had reached the two mile mark that Decimus
had mentioned. There it was, and the two boulders split down the middle from
the one they had originated from. The path ran between them and they proceeded
straight ahead.
What they
found beyond that point amazed them both. Marcus had explored caves before, but
this was a labyrinth that ran for miles. There was a stream of clear water that
ran through one section, but the rest of the cavern was dry although cold. That
the cold could not be helped he knew very well, but a fire would warm them once
they had settled in.
Even Tullia
was astounded and awed by the depth and spaciousness before them, and it was
she who noticed the way the rooms interconnected with passages just as a fine
villa would. She looked around her in wonder, but Marcus thought that once the
novelty of living here even temporarily wore off, that she would grow bored
with the isolation of it. And he felt in that instance that he needed to offer
his wife a choice.
“Tullia, I
know that living here even for just a while shall not be easy. We would be
isolated from all that you love, and it would be cold and possibly strange,
hearing sounds that are only heard in a cave and that might be alarming. I do
not wish you to suffer, so I am offering you a choice: you may come here with
me, or remain in Lycenium with your mother where you will be comfortable. We
can simply put the story around that I am away visiting friends in foreign
places and you do not know when I shall return.
“I leave it to
you.”
He was aware
that his heart had begun to pound loudly with a throbbing beat that felt
centered in his throat, and he wondered that he had been able to speak at all.
He waited anxiously for her to speak, as anxiously as he had once waited in her
mother’s garden to answer another question long ago…
She smiled at
him with such a glow in her eyes and tenderness to her lips that he caught his
breath at the beauty of it.
“Marcus,” she
said softly, “how can you think that I would be anywhere except with you? I
learned the hard way long ago, that my place is by your side and nowhere else.”
And she came
to him and cupped his face between her hands and kissed him with lips that
seemed to fit his as surely as if they had been part of a mold that made them
two halves of a whole.
A few days
later they took leave of Drusilla and departed for Lucerna, or so they said.
But when their carriage had taken them two miles from Lycenium, Marcus bade
Cyriacus to stop.
He and Tullia
would journey on alone from here. He told the coachman. They had some friends
who would be joining them and they would journey on together in the carriage of
their friends. It was not necessary, therefore, to deprive Drusilla of his
services, and he could return to her villa at once.
As soon as he
was gone from their sight, Marcus and Tullia picked up the few bundles they had
brought with them, which contained an adequate supply of clean clothes and a
more than adequate supply of dried fruits, cheese, and bread, and journeyed on
foot the rest of the way. They did not pause for rest, fearing they might be
spotted and people might wonder at the odd sight of a pair of aristocrats on
foot in such an out of the way place.
They soon
reached the secret cave and walked down into the depths where they quickly
settled in, for how long they did not know. It was impossible to tell night
from day in that place, and so time passed, but whether quickly or as if time
hung on their hands they could not say.
Before they
left Drusilla’s villa Marcus had sent a note to Decimus, encrypted in code to
inform him that the Maximus family would be relocating soon for a much needed
rest to an isolated location recommended by a member of the family. Marcus knew
that Decimus would be able to decipher it and would know that the ‘member of
the family’ was none other than himself, a phrase which Marcus used only so
that Decimus would know whom he referred to and that his warning had been
heeded.
But even as
they settled down in their new home, he reflected on the fact that whether he
liked it or not, a member of the family was exactly what Decimus remained.
Life, which
had seemed to run swiftly by accelerated by the sudden turn of events, now
slowed down considerably within the confines of the caves. One day passed into
another with an unrelenting sameness, and for Marcus and Tullia, both of whom
loved the company of their friends, it was both a test and a testament of their
love that they managed to survive the constant company of the other without
falling into boredom or escalating into arguments.
In truth,
Marcus came to know his wife in a way that had not been possible in the crowded
social whirl of Lycenium where her attention had been distracted by the demands
of her mother and the company of her many friends. She had always been popular,
even in the days of her youth, and never lacked someone to pass the time with.
And when their children were growing they had commandeered her time and
attention, as she was not a woman who was content to leave them to be raised by
nurses and attendants alone as others of their social position did, but took an
active part in their rearing, playing with them, reading to them, putting them
down for naps and singing them to sleep.
Now left alone
with Marcus she confided in him things that she had never shared, stories of
her parents and her youth; how proud she had always been of her father Tullios
who had treated her as a princess, and the painful embarrassment she
occasionally suffered at the hands of her mother, who shamelessly scaled the
social ladder of Lycenium until the Octavius family had gone as far as her
earnest endeavors could take them. It was the idea of her mother to make a
match with Decimus Hadrianus, the son of the Governor of Lycenium, as that was
the greatest match in the city, and Drusilla was determined to win it for her
only child.
It was not
something that Tullia willingly discussed with Marcus, as it brought pain to
both of them to speak of the man, let alone be forced to endure his company.
And yet there were times when Marcus caught himself wondering if Tullia would
have married Decimus had she not realized that she truly loved Marcus. Would
she have settled for him before finding out his true nature? He remembered that
she had permitted him to court her for a while, and therefore had encouraged
him in his suit. She would not have done so had she not found him attractive,
and it was true that Decimus was a handsome man, and a charming one when he
chose to be.
What would
have happened between them if Marcus had not been there? It was true that in
their present circumstances, some would say that Tullia would have done better
to accept the proposal of Decimus who, although he had been an exile from
Lycenium for two years, was now in a far better position than Marcus, who was
now in exile once again.
Noting his
distraction one day Tullia asked him what was on his mind. He hesitated for a
moment, but the question gnawed at him and he decided to approach the subject
indirectly.
“I am
wondering how Felicia and Antonius are faring, as well as our friends. I pray
each morning for them, but it is hard to be here and not know what is happening
in the world outside.”
He sighed and
Tullia responded with a soft hand on his brow. She stroked his forehead
tenderly and kissed his brow.
“Poor Marcus!
Yes, it is hard to be here and wonder what is happening. How long have we been
here, do you think? I have lost count: I thought at first I could keep a
journal, but it is difficult when you can not tell day from night.”
“I am not
certain, but I think it has been a month. I say this because I hear the sound
of bats from another part of the caverns going out and coming back in a steady
pattern. So I determine when it is night from their going, and when it is day
from their return. Also, our store of dried fruit is nearly half gone, and I
packed enough for two months, not knowing how long we would need to hide.”
“I wonder how
long that shall be? I suddenly realized that no one knows where we are except
Decimus: would he send word to us when it is safe to leave here?”
In the light
of their small fire, her blue eyes loomed large with a sheen of tears adding
luster to their clear light. She had but uttered what Marcus had thought of
also: how would anyone know where to send word to them to inform them of the
world outside? He had not considered that when obeying Decimus’ instructions.
For the
moment, however, he decided to turn the conversation to the question of Decimus
himself.
“I am amazed
that he even told me of this place and advised me to hide here. He said it was
for Felicia’s sake and not mine, but it is more than I would ever expect of
him. I had not thought him capable of affection for anyone but himself and his
son. Yet he indicates that Felicia is as a daughter to him.”
Marcus shook
his head in a bewilderment that was not feigned, for the actions of Decimus had
truly mystified him.
“I suppose I
am not as surprised as you are, Marcus. I did get to know Decimus rather well
at one time, as you no doubt remember, and he is not as he seems on the surface
at times. There are few people that he will permit himself to get close to,
being something of a loner; but for those few whom he truly loves, he will do
anything, whether to please them or to keep their love.”
“Yes, I do
recall that you knew him well, Tullia. Some would say that you had chosen ill;
hiding underground with your husband when you could be dining at the Imperial
Palace with the man you spurned.”
“Marcus! What
choice did I have? It is
you
that I love and no other. Decimus was
forced on me by my mother, and he was charming and I did like him at first, but
once I saw how cruel he could be, I could not bear the thought of marriage with
such a one. At no time have I ever regretted my choice. And I am amazed that
you could even suggest it: you remember what he did to me, and to Felix.”
She shuddered
and he drew her close to him. She snuggled close and for a moment they said
nothing. Then she straightened slightly to look at him, with a question of her
own in her eyes.
“Still, I
have
wondered why he warned you of the Emperor’s edict and how it will affect us.
And I wonder if it is not just Felicia, but perhaps Dag who has exerted some
kind of benevolent influence on Decimus. Do you suppose that Dag has been
speaking to him about the real Dominio, and not the Emperor’s false one that he
would force others to bow down to?”
But as Marcus
considered her words, he realized that he no answer to her question.
A day came
when their isolation was shattered as abruptly as it had begun. The sound of
approaching footsteps caused them to rise in alarm and search for a place to
hide. But before they could proceed, a familiar voice hailed them.
It was
Antonius.
“Father!
Mother! How wonderful to see you both again,” he exclaimed as he made haste to
embrace them.
“Antonius, how
good it is to see you! But how did you find us?” Tullia responded.
“Father told
me of this cave and gave me directions on how to find it. I am here to tell you
that you should return now; the Emperor will not be sending for you.”
“What made him
change his mind?” Marcus asked. “Your father was certain that I should be sent
for to validate the Emperor’s edict.”
Antonius’ face
clouded and he chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully. He pondered on Marcus’ words
before answering his question.
“I do not know
what changed his mind, but it is clear that he will not be sending for you. So
I came to tell you the good news. I am glad to know of the existence of this
cave system, as there may be others who will need the use of it before the end.
It is clear from what little my father permits himself to tell me of the
Emperor that he has gone mad, and who knows how many of our fellow Alexandrians
will need to hide from his wrath?”
His face
darkened momentarily and then lit into radiance suddenly and to Marcus it was
as if he had glimpsed the sun after the long days spent in darkness.
“And I have
more good news for you,” he said in a voice that shook slightly with eagerness.
“But that shall have to wait until we return to Lycenium, where Felicia is
waiting for us.”
Antonius
helped them to gather their belongings and make their slow ascent to the
surface. When they emerged from the cave the sun blinded them, so unused to it
had they become. When Marcus closed his eyes he saw green spots dance in front
of him, and it was several minutes before they disappeared.
At Drusilla’s
villa his daughter awaited him. She flew into the arms of her mother first,
much to the surprise of her father, who had always claimed first place in her
heart. She held Tullia to her silently in an embrace that was both tender and
rueful as though atoning for some sin that none knew of but herself. When she
released Tullia, Felicia kissed her cheek and stroked it gently.
Marcus watched
this demonstration with questions in his heart, but said nothing. His turn came
next and Felicia hugged him fiercely, holding on for a very long moment.
Antonius stood nearby and observed her with amused affection. How like his wife
to wear her feelings openly for all to see!
At last the
greetings were concluded and Felicia bade them to be seated. She moved closer
to Antonius and they wrapped their arms around one another. As they exchanged a
glance, Marcus noted the intimacy and trust between them.
At least
Felicia will be loved and cared for if any ill should befall her parents, he
thought.
And then the
doors of the family sitting room opened and they were joined by Drusilla, and
to the astonishment of Marcus, Decimus, and Paulina. Paulina erupted in little
cries of delight when she saw Tullia and rushed to throw her arms around her.
Decimus said nothing, but inclined his head to Marcus with forced courtesy.
Antonius and
Felicia rose from their seats and drew slightly apart from the others. Antonius
cleared his throat gently to get the attention of everyone.
He and Felicia
had an announcement to make, and they wished for everyone to be present to hear
their news, as it would impact all of them. He and Felicia had been blessed by
Dominio, he said, and would soon be parents. There was no one they would rather
announce the news to first than their parents and her grandmother, for as
Felicia had told him when she informed him, each new life was like a new
beginning, and who better to share it with than those who had given life to
them.
The months of
her confinement passed swiftly and uneventfully, and the child arrived in due
time in the month of December. Felicia’s son was strong and vigorous from the
very beginning, and it was with the blessing of her husband that she named the
child Valerius after her grandfather, and a middle name of Gerontius for his
grandfather.
When Marcus
beheld his grandson for the first time, he shamed himself by weeping openly.
How like his own father the babe looked, right down to his clenched fists as he
raged in anger. What a temper his father had, legendary to the soldiers under
his command. It was clear that Felicia’s son had inherited that trait, and
would have her hands full raising her son.
But to Marcus
the temper that had caused others to quake in alarm was not a cause for
concern, only a comforting proof that though his father had passed on long ago,
he yet lived on through a tiny child that did indeed seem like a new beginning.