Vengeance & Remission (Introduction)

to fulfil the works of Hercules, if needed, and they would succeed. All his pupils wanted to get such an evaluation, because it was the highest recognition without taking later battle credits into account. Appius had a knack for estimating how good someone was as a soldier. He could easily recognize the potential of legionnaires. His forecasts were reliable, required, respected. His training methods were hard, but effective. Appius used to prepare legionnaires for fighting, so he travelled from one camp to another and worked with different groups of soldiers. Within limits he could decide himself how long to stay in one camp. When he finished his task in one camp, he was sent to another one. He was always on tour.

  Earlier, he had spent a lot of time accompanied by Marcus Lucius's father. Maximus was one of the best warriors and he was needed in the risk areas. He had his own legionnaires and they were a group, with power of ten dozens of soldiers, but for real just quite excluded approximately twenty individuals compared to the Homeric "long-haired Achaeans". Everywhere a battle was set or highly probable, they were present to take part and to turn the tide of victory to the right side. A random part of the group was healing from earlier battles, a larger part was exercising and continued preparing for the next fight, but a random part died on the way to success. The more fights Maximus had fought, the more credits he got and the less trust he had in people. At the end, he simply relied on his men and Appius. They were doing their work with the same severity, risk potential and improbability like the series of tasks carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later romanised as Hercules. They succeed the same way Hercules did.

  They were friends and could talk honestly about everything. Losing Maximus was like losing a part of himself. There was no other person in the world with whom Appius could communicate so straightforward and freely. Appius wasn’t able to build such a relationship with anybody else. He lurked and it was a convenient situation for him. Similarly to Maxentius, he used to skulk. It didn't raise any special attention of enemies, or silly jealousy of friendly colleagues. Appius wasn't married with a woman full of ambitions and plans of a great career. It made his life easier. There was no pressure to climb higher and higher, to get new enemies or to increase the anger with more or less known rivals. The higher Maxentius went on the career ladder, the unhappier he got. It only confirmed Appius's statement to conveniently stay in the well-known, recognized and secure position. Appius remembered the last meeting with Maxentius which was too short to speak about everything. If he only had known what was about to happen, he would have tried to prevent it. If it hadn’t been impossible, Appius would at least savour the last talk for longer. He wouldn't have addressed such unimportant topics as flavour of degustated wine or recently heard, crude jokes.

  When Appius saw Marcus Lucius falling to the ground, he could imagine how similar the fall of Maximus must have been in the Battle of Sarmisegetuza against the Dacians. Marcus Lucius took after his father, as if they were casted from the same mould. Their moves were similarly fluent, their free laugh was recognizable, even their expression of pain was the same. Appius once had the pleasure to accompany his friend after a feverish fight. Maximus was wounded and had to stay away from fights for a half a year. Only then, he was declared as ready to start preparing himself for upcoming battles.

  When Appius sent Marcus Lucius and Julia to Britannia, he was afraid secret would be discovered in the port on the coast. It was very probable that some legionnaires knew Marcus Lucius or at least, they could easily remember his father. Maximus had stayed a while in Britannia, where he supported the local troops in the fights against the local opponents.

  Appius was stringed along by the situation forcing him to wait for news. He was tensed for days and it distracted him internally from his normal tasks. He was professionally enough to keep up his poker face without showing his doubts to others. While he observed and evaluated the soldiers, he reflected the scenes from the latest past. His impatience was killing him softly. He needed feedback, no matter if it was good or bad news. Octavian and Nerva were reliable men, but even he wasn't able to fasten the communication. There was no world wide web and no internet connection to tweet or to update a facebook status secretly to a circle of chosen people. There was no cell phone which would be used to give the message directly in real time.

  With more than a week of delay, Appius was informed that Marcus Lucius and Julia crossed the Channel successfully. The runner arrived absolutely tired, pumped out, panting. Appius took the news with the greatest relief and immediately wrote two letters. Nerva was too exhausted to start the journey back. Appius had to wait a day until Nerva consented to ride back as messenger. It was clearly too short to relax, and even when Appius insisted Nerva to rest a day longer, Nerva wanted to go back to Octavian's troop. He knew how important the news was for both sides. He got another horse, two new legionnaires and his own horse stayed under Appius's watch. Furthermore, he didn't want Octavian to be alone with the new task. They were like brothers and belonged to Appius’ personal guard. The idea of having an own team came from Maximus. Appius wasn't able to take over the troop after Maximus's death, so he built up his own division. His body of men was not numerous, but well trained. Now, the majority of them accompanied Marcus Lucius and Julia. This fact calmed down Appius.

  In the letter to Marcus Lucius, Appius sent his request about Julia. It was a short message on one site, including the get-well-soon-wishes and an appeal to take care about Julia with emphasis on preserving her integrity. Appius already had a vague idea how to solve the Gordian Knot without cutting it directly. The situation was complicated with too many variables, but Appius hoped that his reputation would help him to be able to talk with the new emperor personally. He could explain the circumstances and take responsibility. No matter, what had caused Marcus Lucius's behaviour and what really had happened to his wife, Appius was ready to give up his own life for him. But before doing something, he had to be sure that Marcus Lucius got well and was able to fight for himself, if necessary. Appius was a man with hopes, but the years of reality taught him enough lessons to keep both feet on the ground of facts and doubts.

  When Julia woke up, she laid next to Marcus Lucius. Her head was on his chest and she listened to his regular heart-beat. She got scared by the surprising proximity to a man and she had never expected to feel comfortable waking up this way. Only when she grasped the full situation, she felt all kind of warnings in her head. She tried to move imperceptible, but shifting a millimetre only, she felt how Marcus Lucius held her hand stronger, but still gentle. He was still asleep, and acted on reflexes. He felt visibly comfortable, too. He moved his head towards her, his eyes were closed, his rough skin was kind. Julia felt strangely good, secure and terrified at the same time. In the moment, she got aware, where she was, thinking about the ship and the arm of the Atlantic Ocean separating southern Britannia from northern Germania Inferio, she started trembling nervously, what disturbed Marcus Lucius. He woke up and needed a moment to realise where he was. He didn't let go her hand and he didn't allow her to run away from him. Her head stayed on his chest and he even stroked her hair shortly. It was a nice, friendly gesture to keep her calm, not a romantic approach to seduce her. She wasn't sure what to make of his movement, but it wasn't her biggest sorrow right now. She stayed focussed on his regular heartbeat. It was a good medicine for her panic attack.

  When Octavian knocked at the door, coming into the cabin only two seconds later, he didn't show his astonishment about the picture of Marcus Lucius and Julia in one bed. When the girl noticed him, she tried to jump out of the bed. She stood on shaky legs just next to the bed. Marcus Lucius held her hand. He wasn't able to move so far to head her off. He could already sit up, but his wounds didn't allow him to act the way he used to act.

  Julia trembled so much due the water phobia that even Octavian was afraid about her health condition. He appeared next to her and helped her to go back to bed. He understood why he saw what he saw while he came into the cabin.
As Julia sat next to Marcus Lucius, he whispered to her and she visibly calmed down. Octavian observed them and let them alone. Before he left the cabin, he reported that the whole team had to wait till the evening before leaving the ship. Marcus Lucius nodded. Julia didn't get it. She didn't understand that their travelling time on water got reduced to minimum and that the ship could be left in the evening.

  Octavian wrote a short notice for Appius. He waited impatiently with Nerva and they talked without sentences, exchanging just few words. Practically, they didn't need much to communicate perfectly. After agreeing upon the further steps, they kept silent. However, Nerva didn't know why Octavian shook his head every now and then.

  -What's on your mind? - Nerva asked.

  At first Octavian didn't answer. He looked back at his memories and analysed them for a longer while. They sat in the port of Londonium, staring at the water. They waited for the evening to evacuate Marcus Lucius and Julia.

  -She