“That would be a mistake to assume, little girl.” Oh great, the little girl comment, like I hadn’t heard that one before!
“I don’t understand, why go to all the effort to rescue me if you are just going to leave me here stranded?”
“My only objective was to rescue the Princess, which I accomplished,” he told me leaning back against the stone wall that surrounded the water deposit and folding his arms across his chest, making his biceps bulge in that mouth drooling way. Focus Keira, don’t think about that kiss in the tower or the way his arms locked around you…don’t do it…damn, I did it!
“Do you have any idea who I am?” I asked hating the spoiled way it sounded. He looked me up and down making me want to hide the way my outfit was now glued to me like a second skin, making me feel naked under his scrutinising gaze.
“The King’s Concubine.” I hated the way he said it but I hated even more the way he added,
“I hear he has many.” This made it sound like I was no one but a well kept whore and was deluding myself into believing otherwise.
“I am his ‘Chosen Concubine’.” I told him hoping this would have a greater effect on him but he merely shrugged before saying,
“I met one of those once, she was also as spoilt as you are and born with a bag of silver in each hand.” My mouth dropped open briefly before anger made it slam shut.
‘You think I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth! I grew up in a cul-de-sac in Liverpool, where our nearest bus stop had a window missing for three years! I had one neighbour who collected broken lawn mowers in the front of his house and another woman who used Christmas paper to cover her windows instead of curtains and named her cats after the days of the week… and she had three Tuesdays!” I shouted to Lucius who was looking at me as though I had lost my mind, but I didn’t care.
“Look, I don’t care what your personal issues with women are, I mean hell, for all I know you could have a fancy for other men in this time…” Oh now this got him moving. He stormed straight over to me and loomed into my personal space, quickly commanding it. I was just happy that I actually managed to provoke more than an icy response from him.
“I will happily show you what women like you are best meant for if that is your wish, for you are somewhat pretty enough for my taste…that taste having no cock in sight, is that understood?” he told me sternly and I swallowed hard before saying a small croaky,
“Understood.”
“Good, then its settled,” he said nodding once and moving away from me back to his weapons.
“Good, I’m glad. Now which way is it back to the city?” I asked turning back to the distance ahead and placing a hand over my eyes to shadow the sun.
“You will stay here.” This yet again had me frowning.
“What!? No way, I am not being left here to die!” I protested as he started dressing back in what looked like his assassin gear.
“You have water and there are caves over there for cover. When I get back to the city I will let the King know you are here and if he still wants you, then he will send his people to get you.” I hated the way he said ‘if’ like he doubted it and I swear at this point I think my eyes were twitching I was that mad! How was I going to get it through to this idiot version of Lucius how important this was?
“Oh right, so you are going to leave me next to a cave full of flesh eating Gorgon leeches and Pertinax’s personal Hell army of demons whilst you go on your merry way…oh I don’t think so!” I said stamping my foot. He raised himself up slowly and turned his head to look at me as if I had only just entered into this mess.
“And what do you know of Gorgons and Demons?” he asked me as though this should be impossible.
“Hello, I was in there too you know, what do you think I thought was chasing us, unicorns and pixies with sharp teeth?!” I snapped.
“You could see them?” he asked in a serious tone that told me Ooops, I had made a mistake, as it was obvious now that I shouldn’t have been able to see them. Which had me wondering, had he tried to mask my memory of it the second we were out of danger? I couldn’t see any other way, as it wasn’t like I would have thought Roman soldiers could have scaled cave walls like that and on fire no less.
“That’s what I have been trying to tell you! I am different and not just any Concubine.” Oh yeah, now he was taking this seriously, especially when he quickly picked up a blade and had it pointed at my throat.
“Whoa! Easy there.”
“Speak!” He ordered giving me a look as though he was only a breath away from killing me. I swallowed hard again and knew that this was it, I had to tell him everything.
“I am from the future, okay.” Unfortunately, this sounded as ridiculous as I thought it would and his face said it all, so I quickly carried on.
“I came back in time with the others you rescued to save the world and stop the biggest war between Demons and Angels from breaking out on Earth.” He looked at me a moment longer and pulled back his blade making me sigh with relief.
“I see…and the King, he knows of this?”
“Well, no, see I haven’t been able to…” I started to try and make my point when he held up a hand to stop me.
“Say no more, for I understand now.”
“Oh thank the…”
“Your mind has long been lost,” he said interrupting me and basically telling me that he thought I was crazy before I could thank my lucky stars too soon.
“Look, ever heard of a prophecy? The words Apocalypse, Armageddon, end of days or even Judgement Day mean anything to you?! I am the King’s Electus and I was sent here to…”
“Stop!” he commanded, silencing me for a second before I asked,
“What?”
“Say that again?” I thought back to what I had said and homed in on the word I knew he would respond to.
“I am his Electus,” I told him, slower this time.
“How would you know of this?” he asked in a low, suspicious voice.
“That’s what I am trying to tell you! I am his Electus and I was sent here to try and prevent the end of the world back in my time!”
“He would know if you were his Electus, for it is prophesied that once he sees her…”
“Yes, yes, I know all this, he would know instantly who I was, but we have been masking it from him.” This had him frowning again.
“How?”
“My friend, the small one with the axe, she is an Imp and her gifts include being able to manipulate what people see, including Draven…I mean the King.” I corrected shaking my head.
“Draven?”
“His name back in my time.”
“And I am also in this time?” he asked obviously wanting to know as most would. I took a deep breath knowing that finally he was listening to me and at least starting to think me slightly less crazy. This was proven shortly after I said,
“Yes, that’s how I knew your name was Lucius.”
“Call me Septimus, everyone else does.”
Chapter 68
We had a Thing Once
If I thought travelling across the desert was hard the first time, then doing so in a pair of flimsy slippers was next to being torturous! It quickly became obvious that this was Lucius’ thing or at least what he lived for in this time. He was like some kind of Bear Grylls of the ancient world, knowing what we could eat and what would soon kill us or more importantly, what would kill me, considering I was the only mortal one in this situation.
When we had first started out he had unwrapped the sash from his waist and wrapped it around his head like a turban.
“Don’t suppose you have another one of those hiding under there do you?” I asked nodding to the layers upon layers of hidden equipment he had on him. He just raised an eyebrow at me and walked on.
“I will take that as a no then,” I muttered to myself and then ran a little to keep up with him.
“Then can I have yours…you know, considering you won’t die of sunstroke or any
thing?” I asked trying my luck.
“No, but I can still burn,” he said walking ahead of me again and I couldn’t help but mutter,
“Pussy” in my anger.
“Fine, but just so you know that if I pass out then you’re the one left carrying my ass!” This time he did stop and take notice of me. Then without a word he walked back to me, took me by the waist and I shrieked when he suddenly ripped a strip of fabric from my belly, quickly turning my tunic into a crop top.
“Oi!” I shouted at him after he just threw the long length of torn silk back at me.
“Now my belly is gonna burn!” I protested and he just calmly stated back,
“Yes, but you won’t die from it.” And then he continued walking, giving me no other choice but to follow, grumbling as I went. I wrapped the stupid length of silk around my head struggling the first few times to get it to stay and stop falling down.
And this was how our journey had begun.
At first I had been concerned that we weren’t heading in the right direction as there was no city in sight. He begrudgingly informed me that we were following something called a qanāt which, from what I understood, was a Persian aqueduct, something the Persians were famous for building many years ago. It was mainly a gently sloping underground channel with a series of vertical access shafts, used to transport water from an aquifer under a hill. This way with the water travelling direct to the city below ground, it avoided any contamination and provided all year round water supply. From what I also understood, they were channelled off to irrigate crops and the many surrounding gardens that the Persians were also famous for.
Of course most of this information I had to drag out of Lucius and it had been after hours of trying. At the beginning of our journey it had been mainly me trying to convince him further that what I was saying was true. Which not surprisingly, he still looked unconvinced for the most parts but so long as he was letting me tag along, then getting back to Draven in time was all I cared about.
“Back in your own time, you say I knew you?” he asked once I had caught back up to him yet again, as this seemed to be the theme of our journey…damn his long legs!
“Yeah, we knew each other.” I told him dryly thinking back to how we first got acquainted.
“Because of the King?” Again this had me biting my tongue as I knew I had to be careful with what I told him, considering the feud between them didn’t happen for some time yet and that was one can of worms I never wanted to be the one to open!
“Yes, although in my time you sort of went your separate ways for a time. But you have helped him save my life a few times,” I said trying to skip past the complicated bit and emphasise more on the friendship we had, thinking if he knew we ‘kinda had a thing’ then he would cut me some slack in this time period.
“And the need for that happens a lot in your time?” he asked giving me a sideways glance. I laughed once and said,
“Unfortunately yes.”
“Because you are this ‘Electus’ you spoke of?”
“I guess it comes with the territory,” I said shrugging my shoulders.
“You are your own ruler of land?” he asked getting confused with the saying.
“What? Oh, no, that’s not what I…never mind. It just means that the King’s enemies usually want to use me either as bait or to kill me.” Unbeknown to him of course, he was also in this unfortunate category.
“Is that what Pertinax wanted with you?” he asked.
“No, he just thought I meant something to the King but has no clue as to who I really am.”
“And the King?” I gave him a confused look when he asked this.
“What about the King?”
“You said before that he also doesn’t know who you really are, is this true?”
“Yes, that’s right.” I answered wondering where he was going with this.
“Then why would Pertinax believe the King would care what happens to one Concubine, when he has many?”
“Yes, yes, you keep saying that!” I snapped not wanting to be labelled like that with the rest of them.
“Because he loves me,” I told him when he still looked at me for an answer. His short laugh had me close to growling at him.
“That is impossible.”
“Oh jeez, thanks…don’t hold back will you.”
“He is only destined to love one human, as the Gods have permitted and what has been prophe…”
“Prophesied, yeah I know. ‘Chosen One’ remember. Besides what can I say, what is meant to be, is just meant to be.” I told him.
“Like you travelling back in time?” he counteracted, which I had to admit, got me stumped.
“You still don’t believe me?” I challenged.
“If what you told me is true, of what the King now faces alone thanks to time changing, then I fail to see how by making our time worse, you are therefore making yours better.” Okay so he had a major point there and it didn’t help that my only come back sounded as lame as it was in real life,
“We didn’t plan for that to happen.”
“Then tell me, what was your plan exactly, for I fail to see any gain in this?” At this point I was happy to go back to him just ignoring me.
“You know I think I liked you much better when you were always trying to get into my pants.” I said forgetting myself. He stopped dead and I took a few steps ahead before stopping myself on a groan,
“Look don’t make it an issue, it’s not like we ever actually did it…well there was that one time with all the mud but that wasn’t real and then in the tower but we stopped and…”
“Silence!” he hissed pulling me back roughly to him. I face planted his chest coming far too close to one of his many blades.
“Just so you know, I think having a nose suits me and I would like to keep it that way.” I said trying to pull back but he just held me tighter and hissed down at me,
“I said quiet!” Then I followed his nod up ahead and saw what looked to have been left there from the Gods…Horses. Then of course I saw the Arabian looking bandits and that hope quickly deflated into a floppy mess and my body sagged against Lucius in what I hoped was only disappointment and not exhaustion like I suspected. Either way he held me up with his arm, curling me tighter against his side.
“I am going to sit you behind these rocks, don’t come out until I say…understood?” I would have come back with a witty reply but my brain was too fatigued to even try. He slid me down where he said and pointed to the ground once more, telling me to stay there like a dog. Well just so long as this loyal pet was soon going to find themselves on the back of a horse, then I didn’t give a shit what he called me.
I felt as though we had been walking for days or even weeks, not just the hours we had been. I had told Lucius of the importance of us getting there, knowing that without Sophia and Vincent to fight by his side, then all could be lost. He didn’t seem too surprised about this, obviously knowing of the ‘it takes three to take down the big bad Demon’ thing. But when I asked him what he knew of Pertinax, this was when it was my turn to be surprised.
I found out during one of our brief stops for water and rest, that Lucius was actually an Assassin for Pertinax causing me to lose my temper and was close to losing my mind very quickly.
“Calm yourself, it is not what you think,” he told me acting like he was simply dealing with an irrational human girl at the time and this was all very taxing on the poor killer for hire. Thankfully though he quickly explained that this was planned by the King and himself, for Lucius was not known to have an alliance with anyone at this time, let alone the King. Draven wanted to find a way of keeping a close watch on the Persian Devil who wanted him dead and thought that Lucius was just the man to do it.
But in order for him to play his part Lucius had to first become a supernatural weapon for hire before insinuating himself as Pertinax’s right hand man and that meant recently killing the previous Emperor, Commodus only three months ago. This was how
he knew about the successful attempt on kidnapping the Princess and quickly made plans to save her so that she couldn’t be used against Draven in battle.
In fact, the original plan was for Lucius himself to go and kidnap Sophia with some of Pertinax’s men, which he had planned on killing right alongside Draven when they reached the throne room.
Of course this was the version of events I had heard from Sophia, minus the small important detail of Lucius being involved. This might have been helpful but unfortunately still wouldn’t have changed things because the major flaw in all of this was now…me.
Unknowingly, I had changed the course of history just by being here, meaning that Sophia was not where she ought to be and also that Lucius wasn’t there to intervene and convince Pertinax to let him take charge of the kidnapping.
I had asked him if he thought Sophia would get back in time and he assured me that his men were loyal to only him and that unlike us, they had horses waiting for them outside of the cave. All I could hope for was that I made it back in time to witness the fall of Pertinax the way Sophia had told me it would happen.
Now all we needed was a horse for ourselves and a chance for this miracle to happen. We didn’t have long in the day left and I knew we would never make it there by sunset, not on foot anyway. Plagued with these thoughts I decided to peek over the rocks and see what was going on and how operation ‘Horse steal’ was going.
The second I saw the spray of blood coming from Lucius’ blade as it sliced one of the bandits clean in half, I wished I hadn’t. I realised very quickly that operation ‘Horse steal’ had quickly turned into operation ‘let no man live’.
I couldn’t help but start heaving, wondering where my hardy stomach had gone for these types of things? Maybe I was getting soft and needed to start watching more horror films when I got back. Okay, considering the majority of the time my life was one big horror story, given the number of attempts on my life was quickly racking up, I didn’t think I needed to add any fake horror into this.