Fallen Empire

chapter 8

VIII.

Alice speaks to Seren in Latin. “I do not think MacFall was our Shadow, but his ‘wizard’ could be the time traveler we are looking for.”

“That is a possibility,” Seren says, “Perhaps we should discuss this later. His story indicates he is a fast learner; we do not wish to teach him Latin.”

Alice agrees, “We should go,” She turns to Ryland and says in English, “We need to think about what you’ve said. I’ll come back later.”

“It’ll be a pleasure,” Ryland says surprisingly cordial.

Alice and Seren call for the guard and leave the gaol. They walk back to the Pilgrim’s Inn lost in their own thoughts. As they reach their room, Alice breaks the silence, “I think we should leave him there, see if this ‘wizard’ comes to take him back to True Time.”

“We cannot be in the gaol every minute,” Seren counters, “Besides, we also cannot take the chance of allowing a possible King of Scotland to die here, assuming his story is true that could cause another rift in True Time.”

“So we agree that he’s from True Time and plays a role in a future we know nothing about?”

Seren nods, “If this other Time traveler is just using Macfall to break the Time Circle for some unknown reason, why would he attempt to kill Brutus last night? The event we are looking for does not happen until March 15th”

“Macfall was never meant to kill Brutus. He must be a decoy. This ‘wizard’ must be the one trying to kill Brutus on the 15th”

“That is a possibility,” Seren admits.

“If the murder of Brutus isn’t the event we’re looking for, the Time traveler might be using it as a diversion. He’s covering his tracks very carefully, as if someone is pursuing him.”

Seren looks thoughtful, “That is also possible. The question is what happens to Macfall now?”

“I think He’s outlived his usefulness to the Time traveler. I do not think he will come back to rescue his pawn. We can’t make an Infinity-Gate to take him home, but we can’t leave him in prison here.”

“What do you propose?”

Alice thinks a moment and says, “We have the pass Brutus wrote. You can copy his handwriting and make a pardon.”

“We just walk out with him?”

“We will go after dark and take him out of the city. Somewhere close enough to come back on March 15th, but far enough away from Brutus to be out of immediate danger. The island of Corsica might work.  It is a short walk to the coast on the Via Aurelia in the north of the city.”

Seren checks his database and says, “The city gates are closed at night.”

Alice frowns, “Is there something else we could use?”

Seren brings up his map, “There’s a drainage aqueduct near the Via Aurelia gate.”

Alice nods approvingly, “We can go through there and cut back over to the road.”

“All right,” Seren says thoughtfully, “For the sake of argument, let us say we get him out of the gaol and get him to Corsica without getting caught what then?”

“The next step involves making a new time machine.” Alice hurries on before Seren can respond, “I think it’s possible to make the tools and parts we need even in such a primitive environment as Ancient Rome, but it will take considerably more time.”

“What are we to do with the prehistoric man while we go to Pompeii’s Theatre on March 15th ?”

“We can leave him a flashlight to play with,” Alice replies off the top of her head, “Automatic fire should keep him entertained. Go ahead and start on the pass.”

Seren sits at the desk grabs the parchment and quill and looks closely at Brutus’ handwriting, “What about your date tonight? Are you going to stand Brutus up?”

“I’ll have to cancel it,” Alice says with a little sigh. “Tonight I have a date with a king.”

•

          The clouds roll in during the day and linger into the night. Alice and Seren move through the quiet streets to reach the gaol. Alice takes a deep breath before walking up to the gaoler. Seren hands the forged release notice to the toad guardian. He scratches his head in confusion, but leads them to Ryland’s cell. The gaoler takes out a huge ring of keys and hunts through them, trying several before finding the one that fit Ryland’s chains. Ryland stands and stretches his cramped legs. Alice motions for him to follow her out. The gaoler trails after them, still shaking his head. A clean, fresh breeze hit their faces as they leave the stinking hole behind them.

The gaoler frowns as he hops back to the Governor’s office. Brutus is seated opposite the Governor saying, “You should come with me tonight, Cassius gives wonderful dinners and he said there is a political question he wants to debate with the exalted guests. Half the Senate and some of the Praetorian generals will be in attendance.”

          The Governor smiles and answers Brutus, “I’m flattered to be asked, but I have a previous engagement. You know our eldest daughter is being betrothed this evening.”

          Brutus murmurs congratulations. The gaoler clears his throat.

The Governor looks up sharply, “Yes?”

“Sir,” the gaoler bows quickly, “I had a release order that seemed suspicious to me.” He places it in the Governor’s open hand.

Looking over it, the Governor frowns, “Brutus, did you sign a release for the prisoner accused of attempted murder?”

Brutus sits up, highly disturbed by this news; “No,  I meant to ask you to interrogate him immediately.”

The Governor rises and turns to the gaoler, “Did you hand over the prisoner?”

“Y-yes,” the gaoler says nervously, “I did not look closely at it until after they left. I-I thought you would want to see it, since Brutus was here anyway.”

“Who gave this to you?” asks the Governor fiercely.

“It was a young woman and a man in a long cloak,” the gaoler offers quickly trying desperately to redeem himself, “They went north, towards the Via Aurelia.”

Glaring at the gaoler, the Governor says, “Send a detachment of Centurions out to find them.”

Brutus offers, “I brought my personal guard out tonight. One can go to the barracks and the others can track down the escapees."

“That’s very generous, sir,” The Governor gracefully replies, “Are you sure it will not inconvenience you?”

“Not in the least.” Brutus stands and heads towards the door, “And as a personal favor, let the girl and her escort pass. As long as the dangerous lunatic is caught, they are not important.”

•

Alice whispers, “Keep close and stay quiet,” as they leave the prison behind them. They turn north and follow Seren down dark, empty streets to the Market Square, Seren pulls Alice and Ryland around a corner into shadows as two city patrol officers carrying torches walk down the main road and pass without looking down the side street. Seren waits until they disappear before pointing silently towards another street. They creep through skeleton stalls that would have been filled with country produce during the day.

Ryland looks nervously over his shoulder and taps Alice urgently on the shoulder. She waves at him to be quiet, but he pulls on her sleeve, “Someone’s comin’!”

Alice and Seren turn to look as three members of Brutus’ personal guard march into the Square.

“There they are!” A centurion shouts as they spot the refugees. Ryland turns towards them and pushes Alice behind him. Seren turns down an alley and vanishes. The guards advance toward Ryland, lowering their spears, “You are under arrest. Come with us quietly, and the lady goes free.”

They spoke in Latin so Ryland didn’t know what they just said but with the look in their eye they are not approaching to negotiate, the guards assess the situation and approaches for an attack. Ryland leans forward slightly, bending his knees. One guard approaches on his right side, Ryland ducks under the spear, grabs it with one hand, and turns to slam his shoulder into the guard, who hits the wall and crumples. Holding the spear in both hands, Ryland turns to face the two remaining guards with the butt end of his spear, he blocks the second guard’s thrust, while with the head he blocks the third guard. He brings the butt of the spear up to injure the second and adds insult to injury by hitting the same victim in the face with the head of the spear. Turning to the left, Ryland hits the third guard in the side with the butt end, pushing him around to where the second guard lay. As the first guard comes after Ryland with his whole body, Ryland blocks his jab with the butt end of the spear and hits him in the face with the head, laying him out next to the others.

Alice runs over and pulls at Ryland’s arm, “Come on. We need to leave now!”    

   Despite her desperate plea and tone in her voice Ryland doesn’t hear her. His eyes remain fixed on the sky, “What are those?” Ryland asks, pointing up at the most bizarre sight he has ever seen.

She follows his gaze to its horrific conclusion. Five Cerberions flying above the city. She notices that they don’t seem to be looking at her but rather directly below their flight path is Seren. Looking down the alley, Alice sees Seren galloping towards them on a horse, and he is leading another horse behind him. Seren gallops by throwing a rope at the Scotsman.

Ryland catches the lead rope as Seren throws it to him. He leaps onto the horse as it runs past, grabs Alice’s hand and pulls her up behind him. As they gallop down the street, a detachment of ten mounted Centurions ride into the Market Square and turn down the street after them.

Seren leads them down a maze of alleys, trying desperately to lose the Centurions who are more accustomed to the twists and turns of THIS Rome. Suddenly a bolt of lightning splits the earth in front of Seren’s horse. The terrified animal rears and Seren struggles to hold on without benefit of a saddle or bridle, Alice looks up at the five Cerberions who are flying overhead.

Ryland directs his horse to jump a barrier blocking an alley under construction. Seren’s horse follows, along with five Centurions, while the remaining five Centurions take the detour, hoping to reach the other end of the alley first.

The Cerberions bypass the Centurions and fly lower to get a better shot.

 “Go left now!”  Alice shouts in Ryland’s ear and he pulls the horse into a short side street ending in another barrier.

Leaping the barrier, they find themselves on the open road leading to the gate they need only a few yards away. As the five Centurions clear the barrier, the other five round the corner to join them.

Just before they reach the gate, Alice tells Ryland to turn to the right, into the drainage tunnel by the gate. This sounds like good advice to Ryland so he takes it. Seren follows, but the startled Centurions hesitate briefly before continuing the chase.

The Cerberions veer up and fly over the gate. The tunnel is pitch black and smells of mildew and rotted garbage. Alice thought they would never get through it, even though it is only three yards long. When they emerge, Ryland turns the horse towards the Via Aurelia with Seren close behind. Alice turns her head to check on him and sees the detachment of Centurions closing in behind Seren.

An abrupt halt and only Alice’s tight grip around Ryland’s middle prevents her from falling. Ryland gives a startled, slightly pained gasp as she looks back to the front, fearing to see what caused them to stop so abruptly.

A wall of dark metal has appeared out of nowhere directly in front of the horse’s nose. Not sure what to make of it Alice turns to see Seren stopping just as abruptly, looking just as surprised but his fear is from something else.

 A hooded figure in dark, skeleton-like armor stands between Alice and the approaching Centurions.

“That’s the Shadow that followed us!!!” Alice screams to Seren.

Ryland readies his stolen spear for battle and points it at the Shadow.

The Shadow pulls a huge scimitar from under his black cloak and holds it out. The weapon has a winged dragon embedded in the center of the blade. The sculpture extends to the hilt, where a claw rests at the end of the handle. Moonlight reflects in the metal of the blade, dull compared to the bright steel short swords carried by the Centurion horsemen who are converging on this onslaught.

Hearing rocket packs, Alice looks overhead to see the Cerberions flying in an offensive V pattern.

The Shadow thunders with a deeply resonating voice in the appropriate language for each recipient.

“AD POSTFUTURUM REDEO AUT HODIE IMMORIUM!”

Is what Alice is hears, while simultaneously these words echo in Ryland’s ears.

“RETURN TO THE FUTURE OR DIE IN THE PRESENT!”