Chapter IX
"Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law.” - Boethius
I awoke with a start. It had become my habit to sleep late most mornings, for I found the sleep helped the strength in my arm and leg. It was like nurturing a child. Plenty of sleep and good food and inordinately slow but definite progress, punctuated by sudden leaps forward that surprised.
I could hear birds outside my window and vendors in the streets outside. All the normal sounds of a city awakening. There had been heavy rain, which was unusual in the spring, but a northerly wind carried it from Scythia or so Polymecles and I told each other.
I lay still for a little while as my head cleared and then I arose, wrapped in my blanket and looked out of the window. From the first floor, the cobbles of the street below glinted silver in the spring rain. The street was busy with the commercial life of the city’s people. I smiled, for I was beginning to recover, to my satisfaction. I could walk, almost without a limp and my left arm was stronger, still clumsy, but stronger all the same. I still had difficulty understanding how it could take so long to get better. I was impatient, but I was gradually learning how to control my restlessness.
Below, there was a knock on the tenement door. I looked down but could not see who was knocking and thought that maybe Polymecles had visitors or a delivery. I washed and dressed. As I donned my tunic, there was a knock on my door and I crossed and opened it.
‘Master Aulus, you have a visitor downstairs. A charming girl who comes with a message that she will not give to me.’
‘I will come as soon as I am dressed; you know it takes me time to lace my sandals.’
As I carefully descended the stairway, I began to wonder who would send me messages. I could not ignore a sense of excitement. Perhaps it was a message from the legion? Perhaps it was only Aripele, cancelling the meeting that evening?
In the atrium, seated on a small chair was a girl I did not recognise. She wore a cloak and a worn, tired expression, conspicuous on such a young person.
‘Yes?’ I said.
‘I have a message from the palace. Queen Hypsicratea asks that you visit her this evening and has granted you a private audience. Please attend before eating.’
‘But how did she know where I was? I have not been in touch with her.’
‘I do not know such things. I am only a servant,’ the girl said looking at the floor.
When she left, I became perturbed.
‘Polymecles! Where are you?’ I shouted.
‘Yes, Aulus, what can I help you with?’
‘Did you send word to the palace about me?’
‘No, you told me not to, so I did not.’
‘Then how is it that Hypsicratea has sent for me? I don’t want her to see me like this. I am only a shadow of what I used to be. I am ashamed.’
‘I do not know answers to all these things, but if you have been summoned you must go. It would be very rude to ignore such an invitation.’
‘I know,’ I was worried now, ‘there is nothing I can do about it.’
‘Perhaps all will be well. You are recovering and maybe you can renew your friendship with the Queen. It would bring great fame to this house. I can say that we host friends of the Queen of Pontus!’
‘Perhaps. There is much you do not know about her, my friend.’
‘There is perhaps much you do not know about me.’
‘Yes Polymecles. I do know you have been a friend to me in need. I have much to repay.’
I reached for the amulet, but of course, it was not there. In an odd way, I missed it. It had been part of me since childhood. If indeed Marcus had taken it then I had to return to Rome and get it back if possible. I knew also that I had to become well again or all was lost.
That evening I had to set off much earlier than I would have a year before, for I still limped and after a few hundred yards had to stop and rest, in anger and frustration. I was scared. How could I face her in this state?
I knew deep inside this was a disaster in the making. To return to Sinope a cripple and then start visiting Hypsicratea was absurd to the point of lunacy. Despite what I knew would be a certain rejection, I had thought of nothing all day but that beautiful woman. I imagined every possible reunion, from a lover’s embrace to a vitriolic spurning.
I came to the side gate of the palace and knocked. The janitor let me in and looked curiously at me, before directing me to a stairway in the side of the main building. Clearly, I was expected. As I crossed the courtyard to the palace I thought of the last time I had touched Hypsicratea, the lingering last kiss and the feel of her naked body.
My heart beat fast as I limped up the stairs. I was out of breath when I reached the top. I felt like crying with anger and frustration at the state of me. What would I say? I almost turned and left.
A maid met me, the same one who had brought the message and I followed her to a reception room that I knew well from the many evenings I had spent in friendship and conversation over the preceding year. The maid indicated a divan in the centre of the room and left me there. I looked around. There was a balcony where we had drunk wine one night in the heat of a summer’s night. The drapes had been changed to a light flimsy material that I supposed was silk and they danced gracefully in the spring breeze.
She came then. I heard her approach slowly, her soft sandaled footfall, demanding my eyes. I turned and saw her. She was everything I remembered, as she slowly approached looking into my eyes. She was smiling and her face had a look of curiosity rather than anything else.
‘Aulus, it is you!’
‘Yes, it is me. I came.’
‘I heard you had been hurt.’
‘Crippled more like,’ I said and looked away; I could not meet her eyes then.
She sat next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.
‘You look alright. Where were you hurt?
‘My head. At one time I could not move my left arm or leg, but I can walk now.’
I was speaking too quickly.
I decided that explanations were as lame as my body and my voice trailed away. I stared down at the ground not knowing what to say.
‘How long have you been in Sinope?’
‘About four months.’
‘And you never thought to send me word?’
‘How could I? I am not the man you knew. That one last night we had together meant more to me than anything I ever had in my miserable little life. Now I am back a year later and of no use to anyone. I didn’t think you would want to know me.’
‘Aulus, we were friends long before we were lovers. If not for love then for friendship’s sake you should have contacted me. Did you think I was really that shallow?’
I looked at her then. Her dark eyes had not changed, they were a deep dark dangerous place that called me, beckoned me. I reached forward with my good right arm and touched her gently on the shoulder. She took my hand and raised it to her mouth. She kissed it gently and held it to her cheek. I saw a solitary tear roll slowly down her cheek and understood. I had been a fool. I should have known. I was angry with myself now for not trusting the woman I loved. It was my pride, foolish pride that had kept me from her.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said, 'I did not understand. There is so much I have not understood.’
‘No, it is what I would have expected, a proud boy like you! How could you know I have been thinking about you ever since you marched away with Lucullus? Do you really think I would abandon you because you were injured in battle? That is not the kind of person I am.’
‘What should we do about it?’
‘You're not a soldier any more are you?’
‘No, that part of my life has gone, maybe forever.’
‘Then you're free to stay here and I will care for you as I would have done when you first arrived.’
‘How can I stay with you? If Mithradates returns and finds me installed in his palace, he will kill us both. People talk and we cannot keep it secret whethe
r we are discreet or not. It cannot work.’
‘If you are no soldier I could make you a minister. An "Advisor of Roman affairs". Anyway, queens take consorts, do you know nothing?’
‘Do you really want me still? I can hardly walk and holding even a small shield in my left hand is like carrying a horse.’
‘I never wanted you for your fighting skills. Besides, there is one advantage for me! You won’t be able to fight me off!’ she leaned forward and kissed me then and I realised what a fool I had been, hiding in the house of Polymecles.
It was the end of a long journey. I realised at last, that the only thing that really mattered was here in my arms, and that the amulet, Marcus and revenge could wait. The streets of Rome, the corsair's ship and the battlefield of Tigranocerta all dwindled into insignificance next to what I had in my life now.
Epilogue
I Manius Ostorius, Prefect, write this at the request of Junius Sinna, Decurion of the Ninth Legion Hispania.
Aulus,
I know not whether you lived. I hope this finds you, for I have sent it to the house of our mutual friend Polymecles.
When we found you, the surgeon despaired of you life. The General sent you to Sinope because it was the only place you had contacts outside the army and he has paid for your journey himself.
He personally told me to say that if you survive, he will acknowledge a debt, for he said you saved his life on the battlefield and he has mentioned you by name in his report to the Senate.
If indeed you live, then remember your friend Junius in years to come.
The Senate has recalled the Legion to Rome and we will be transferred from there but we have no further orders at present.
If you live, send word and come back to Rome when you can. Also, please tell Aripele where I am. Perhaps she will find me in Rome one day.
Sent with prayers to Mercury,
Junius.
END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fred Nath is a full time neurosurgeon. He lives in the northeast of England with his wife and daughter, his three sons having grown up and flown the coop. In his time, he has run twenty consecutive Great North Run half-marathons, trekked to 6000m in Nepal, crossed the highest mountain pass in the world and began writing, like John Buchan, "because he ran out of penny-novels to read and felt he should write his own." Fred loves a good story, which is why he writes
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>https://www.frednath.com
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