Fallen Empire

chapter 5

V.

Seren looks out the small window of the room Alice rented for the night. He has been thinking Alice has been unusually calm throughout this entire ordeal and he worries about her. He watches over her diligently until dawn, when she begins stirring.

The ceiling is intricately tiled and unfamiliar to Alice as she takes a moment to remember where she is. She sits up and untangles the tunic and palla from her legs. The room is illuminated more than she likes for morning however she can now survey her new surroundings. A handcrafted nightstand is next to her straw pallet with blank parchment a feathered pen and inkwell. There is a red tapestry on the wall opposite the window with a familiar picture of Romulus and Remus. There is a wooden covering for the window but it is opened to allow light in.

Alice stretches her arms in the air, “Good morning Seren. Did you have an interesting night?”

Seren rolls his eyes, “Ancient nightlife is a poor replacement for television. I would settle for an opera right about now. The innkeeper came by about an hour ago with these sandals and a note.

Alice reads the note saying “I did not notice at the time of your late arrival the condition of your shoes. If you have traveled a long way in the rain I am sure you could use these sandals. They once belonged to my wife I am sure she would want you to have them.” Alice proceeds to take of her boots and socks and hides them under the nightstand and puts on the sandals

“So what is your plan for today?”

“We are going to walk around the city. We can circle the marketplace first to watch the servants and housewives, then maybe we can go to the Curia to see the Senators arriving for the day’s session. Who knows where we might find a clue.”

•

From the tiled rooftop of the inn, a nameless, nearly formless Shadow observes Alice and her companion leaving their room at the Pilgrim’s Inn. He watches them as they make their way towards the center of the city, and then he vanishes. He reappears on the roof of a butcher in the marketplace as they are walking past. The Shadow approves of Alice so far – she is careful not to seem out of place, despite the fact that she has a disguised robot behind her.

Alice weaves her way through the crowd, past flimsy wooden stalls and their proprietors loudly claiming to sell the best of everything from Persian cloth to fresh herbs.

 The Shadow watches her turn to speak to her hooded friend and the Shadow moves instantly to a roof across the street. He does not wish to be noticed just yet.

They come out the other side of the marketplace and proceed to cross the open square in front of the Curia. Alice looks around her, missing nothing, searching for anything out of place. The Shadow suddenly appears in the center of the square, standing motionless heedless of the crowd.

Alice turns towards her robotic companion and her face freezes in horror at the sight of the shadowy figure behind them. This captures her attention and blinds her to the group of Senators approaching directly in front of her; she collides with one of them. The Shadow disappears…

•

Apologizing hurriedly, Alice helps to gather up the parchments the Senator dropped.

“It is quite all right.” The Senator smiles and asks, “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine,” Alice stops mid-sentence as she looks at the man, “You are Brutus!” She is surprised that he is more attractive than his statues. Alice is torn, on the one hand she is somewhat awestruck at meeting someone so famous from her history but on the other hand she knows he should not meet her. The scientific side of her minds regains control over her hormones as she realizes she is staring at him and looks away while handing him the rest of the papers she responds with a soft “Thank you” and moves off quickly with Seren in tow.

“What happened?” Seren asks in concern, “You look like you have seen a ghost.”

Alice shakes her head and continues to move further away from Brutus, “It might have been a ghost I saw. It was standing right behind you and there…was…people walking…right through it?”

“Are you sure you are not hurt? It did not appear as though you hit Brutus that hard”

“Don’t remind me.” Alice rubs her eyes. “Here I am trying to fix Time, and I might have made an even bigger mess.”

“I would not worry too much about it. You did not delay Brutus from anything important. Today he is on his way to announce he is running against Marc Antony for a diplomatic position to Egypt. He has probably already forgotten all about being knocked down by a girl.”

“You are not as funny as you think you are.” 

Their friendly bickering continues, as they are unaware they are still being observed. In the Curia Square, Brutus watches Alice walk away; he asks his personal secretary, “Who was that?”

His secretary peers after her and says, “I have never seen her before, Senator.”

Brutus stands a minute longer before shaking his head and then resumes his trek towards the Curia

Alice and Seren spend the remainder of the day in the quiet temples and sacred groves of northern Rome, watching for the Shadow, but she does not see it again. They return to the Inn late and Seren immediately takes up a post by the window while Alice sleeps fitfully.

The next morning comes too early to suit Alice, but Seren is eager to begin exploring another section of the ancient city. They decide to walk through the alleys belonging to the guilds, starting with the farthest north, the potters’ guild.

The smell of ripening clay permeates the air before Alice and Seren even reach Potters Alley.  Alice wrinkles her nose in disgust and Seren comments, “I appreciate having the ability to see and hear, but was the ability to smell really necessary?”

After a very brief tour of the pottery stalls, they hurry on to the metalworkers’ guild. They watch the smiths hammer weapons and armor into shape and admire the skill of the simple craftsmen.

“Do you think he could fix this dent?”  Seren asks reaching for his side, “You are very hard on your equipment.”

Alice looks sideways at him, “Do you really want to be heated until you’re bright red and then attacked with a hammer?”

“I see your point, I think it is time we moved on.”

The next alley belongs to the Weavers’ Guild. Each stall holds a working loom and bolts of finished cloth. Ladies and their maids finger material and compare seamstresses.

Alice and Seren walk through alleys of carpenters, engravers, painters, stonemasons, and pharmacists. Alice watches the rooftops and side streets for the Shadow, but it remains elusive. It is late afternoon before they finish with the guilds and Alice is famished and footsore.

“I cannot remember the last time I walked so much. Isn’t there an alternative?”

“I suppose we could rent a litter carried by slaves or you could ride a mule” Seren says with a smile in his voice, “I think both options are out of our price range.”

“Can I at least get something to eat, or is that out of our price range too?”

Seren chuckles and looks at his map internally, “There is a restaurant on the next street.” As they walk down the alley he asks, “Have you seen any mysterious Shadows today?”

 “No.” Alice frowns at him, “You don’t believe me, do you?”

Seren shrugs. “All I am saying is that you have not had anything to eat for two days and you did not get much sleep last night. Under those conditions, I would be surprised if you did not start seeing things.”

“This is not an invention of my tired, starved brain. There was someone following us.”

“I am not familiar with a race of insubstantial people”

“It could have been a projection of a person, but I don’t know how it was accomplished without a screen or a visible projector.”

Seren nods thoughtfully, “Or it could have been a ghost.”

Alice stops walking, and turns toward Seren and shakes her head. She starts a rebuttal when suddenly she feels a tap on her shoulder.

“Excuse me.”

Alice turns with a startled jump to find Brutus standing behind her.       His broad shoulders and dark hair would be very appealing to Alice if it wasn't for the inherent danger talking to him brings. Seren slinks away not wanting to become part of this conversation that Alice is now forced to participate in.

Brutus flashes a charming smile at her and says, “I did not mean to startle you… I believe you ran into me at the Curia yesterday.”

“I think you have me confused with someone else,” Alice says as she tries to walk away.

“No, I am quite certain it was you” Brutus catches her arm, “Will you dine with me? I have a table and the food is quite good” He motions towards a hostelry across the street.

“I just ate, but thank you anyway,” Alice tries harder to pull away, “-Besides, you’re probably very busy with the diplomatic race, Marc Antony is a worthy opponent...”

Brutus drops her arm as if it burned him. He looks sharply at her, “How do you know about that?”

Breathless, Alice tries to rationalize, “Is that not common knowledge?”

Brutus shakes his head; “I was going to announce my intentions at the open session in the Senate tomorrow. Not even my wife knows.”

“I-I heard a rumor.”

“Who are you?”

“I have to go! Nice talking with you.” Alice starts to walk away.

“Wait! If you will not dine with me now, please come to my house for supper tonight,” Brutus calls after her. As she begins to refuse him once more, he adds, “I could send a Centurion escort for you.”

“I have my own escort, thank you.” Alice sighs. This is getting to be a bigger mess than she thought possible.

“Now that I have invited you to dinner, you should respond by telling me your name,” Brutus says with a smile, “I can always make some inquiries, but this would be easier.”

“My name is...” Alice looks around wildly, trying to remember any names from Ancient Roman folklore, “Cassandra, I must go I will be late.” She says as she starts walking away...

“I live one street north of the Curia, the two-level stone house. Come after dark.”

“Yes, I will be there. Now, please excuse me.” She almost runs to the end of the street where Seren is waiting. She can feel Brutus watching her until they turn the corner.

“You are not actually going to see him, are you?” Seren asks.

“I don’t have much of a choice. He will send soldiers to get me if I do not come willingly.” Alice rubs her eyes, “Do me a favor – don’t tell me about any current events unless you have the date right!”

“I am working off information that is over 2000 years old and you are upset because I was a day or two off?” Seren pleads trying to cover up his obvious mistake by making Alice laugh a little. Alice doesn’t laugh but rather   walks off in silence too worried about her impending date to notice the ominous Shadow watching them from a rooftop.