Praetorian Series [4] All Roads Lead to Rome (57 page)

I closed my eyes and shook my head slowly.  “What about Artie, Merlin?  What are the chances that she’s still alive?”

“I can’t say,” he answered honestly, straightening his back.  “Were she still alive, I would suspect Remus to have coerced her to return, but as of yet, he has not.  That is not to say that he could not coerce her to return to another time or place, but it is also possible that your sister escaped his presence but has found herself elsewhere and lost.  I have no way of knowing, Jacob.  But you should have faith that you will see her again.”

“Faith…”  I scoffed.  “I’m not sure if I’ll ever have faith in anything ever again.”

“I cannot help you with that, Jacob, but I’m sure someone can.  Now, my ride, please.

I thought about telling him to go to hell again, but realized the futility of such a thing.  Grudgingly, I took Merlin’s hand and rose to my feet, accepting a walking stick he just happened to have at the moment.  I glanced around me, noticing for the first time that all of my friends had recovered in one form or another from the battle.  Wang was helping support Bordeaux as they cleared the house, Santino too distracted to offer much help, while Stryker looked unconscious as Titus and Brewster presided over him, the latter even holding a hand on his shoulder in the closest thing to comfort I’d ever seen one offer the other.

I hoped he’d be all right.

The only ones still missing were Gaius and Marcus, but I hadn’t seen them anywhere since the fighting had begun, and had to assume they’d played some unseen role in the battle elsewhere.

“Come, Jacob.” Merlin said as he led me toward the broken scaffolding, and where I remembered Romulus had ended up after Remus had thrown him.  Along the way I noticed my lost pistol and leaned down to pick it up before Merlin and I found Romulus half buried in rubble, and the older man moved quickly to ascertain whether or not he was still alive.  I had no doubt that he was, so I paid him no attention, moving instead to inspect another body that I saw only a few steps away.  I hobbled around a few broken pieces of timber and found a pair of shapely, bare legs half buried beneath a pile of wood and concrete that could have only belonged to Agrippina.

I let out a breath.  It seemed an ignoble and undramatic way for such an antagonist to die, but I certainly couldn’t argue with the end result.  She’d been a pain in my ass for far too long, the sole reason for all of this.  She…

Just then I heard a cough from exactly where Agrippina was buried.  I hurried around another piece of wood and peaked at Agrippina’s body, noticing that the debris had left a cozy little cavern for her to hide in.  Without another thought, I gripped her beneath her knees and yanked her out, anger fueling the maneuver, and found her alive and barely bruised.

Now that was more like Agrippina.

I couldn’t think of anything to say to her as I stared down at her.  Nor could she, apparently, as she ignored me and looked away in what I assumed was what passed for embarrassment.  I glanced over at Merlin and saw him already looking at me.  He then waved me over and I threw up a hand in acknowledgment.  I then shifted that hand around so that I could point a threatening finger at Agrippina.

“You stay here,” I ordered.  “I’m still not finished with you.”

It took her a second, but then she nodded, shell shocked.

I returned to Merlin and found him holding a hand on Romulus’ thick and heavy brow.  I could see now that the young man was breathing heavily, his body battered and bruised from his fight with Remus, the dozens of bullets that had impacted his skin, and his crash into the venue platform.  He didn’t look nearly so imposing anymore as he laid there practically naked and half covered in rubble.

“Come, Jacob,” Merlin said as he placed his hand on Romulus’ shoulder.  “Let us go.”

I sighed and did as I was told, retrieving the orbs from Merlin’s bag, taking his hand in my own, and setting my mind, but it was difficult to think of anything but the misery and frustration I felt at having achieved so much, but at the cost of far more.  Archer’s death was one I hadn’t expected to hurt as much as it did, but I could handle his loss.  I’d lost friends and fellow warriors before, and while the sense of emptiness when thinking of better times with those individuals never vanished, it had always been imperative to move on and keep fighting.  As was the case with Archer.

But not with family.  Not with my sister.  Not with Artie.  Her loss I could never accept,
would
never accept, especially not when it had been my fault, when I’d been too weak and underprepared to protect her.  I would never forgive myself for allowing her into this situation to begin with.

“Jacob…”  The voice was Merlin’s.

I nodded at him absentmindedly, paying him little attention, but his use of my name had the desired effect.  I could mourn for Artie later, but now I still had work to do.  With as clear a head as I could manage, I thought of Rome as I’d seen it when I’d been manipulated against my will to aid a megalomaniac hell bent on world domination and revenge.  The world came into my mind almost immediately, and I knew that I was either getting better at this whole process, or perhaps I was simply more innately in tune with traveling to this point in history because I’d traveled there before.

I’d probably never know, but even though my eyes were still closed, after only a picosecond of time elapsing, I knew we were already there.  Heat faded from my face, wind died down all around me, perspiration suddenly filled the air, and a sense that it was now dark outside pervaded my senses.  I opened my eyes and sighed, taking in the peaceful area around me that was completely devoid of evidence that suggested mankind had ever existed.  All around me was a wide open vista that was little more than a swamp with sporadic tree coverage, nothing to see except the natural beauty of the world, nothing to remind me of the plague that was mankind.

Interrupting my serenity, however, was the sound of men running, armor clanking.  I sighed again, unable to care what they intended to do, and didn’t even bother to look.  A swish of motion beside me reminded me of Merlin’s presence, and I watched as he stood quickly and held up both of his hands, the motion only slightly difficult to track in the darkness.

He yelled something in whatever language it was these people spoke around here, but the quick, single word statement suggested he’d simply said, “Stop.”  My deduction seemed accurate when the frantic stomping of feet and clanking of armor behind me lessened, and then Merlin continued to speak.  There was no point in trying to follow what he was saying, so I simply sat on the heels of my feet and ignored the world around me.

But then Merlin went quiet and the sounds of moving feet returned, and I watched as a dozen men who had probably just been fighting Agrippina’s Praetorians seconds ago – from their perspective – maneuvered around Romulus so that they could lift him up and carry him away.  They spoke to each other in hushed whispers and frightful voices, but they did as they were told and ushered him away.

Merlin rose to his feet, but placed his hand on my shoulder before he left.  “Hand me the orbs, Jacob.  Please.”

I looked at them in my hands.  “Why?”

“There is something I must do.  I promise I shall return them.”

Without thinking or questioning, I simply lifted them so that he could take them.

“Wait here, Jacob,” he said as he plucked them from my grasp.  “I will return as quickly as I can.”

My head bobbed in silent but distant agreement, barely cognizant of Merlin’s departure seconds later.  In fact, I was barely aware of the passage of time at all.  A part of me didn’t even care if Merlin returned, with or without the orbs.  It was the same part of me who had always given into despair and weakness, the Jacob who had died when the blue orb had killed him.  The rest of me, the majority of me now, kept vigilant as I waited for him.  There was still too much to do, and even with everything I’d lost today, most of my friends still needed me. 

And so too did Helena.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat in the wet, swampy grass, feeling my legs and butt go cold, wet, and numb as time ticked by, as it always did, my damaged leg throbbing in near constant discomfort.  Maybe an hour passed before rain started to fall in sheets, soaking me through and through, but I couldn’t complain.  It was a nourishing experience, a cleansing one, one ripe with rebirth metaphors, but the experience hadn’t last long.  The rain had dried up only minutes after it had begun, and I had to wait at least another thirty minutes before Merlin finally returned with a pair of men carrying a body wrapped in linen cloth atop a primitive stretcher.

I looked at the body and identified it immediately.  Even with all the cloth that bound her like a mummy, I knew the tall, strong, graceful body belonged to Boudicca.  There was only one individual in all antiquity, as far as I knew, that had achieved such a physique.  The pair of men set her down, the stretcher equipped with legs to keep her freshly wrapped linens off the swampy ground.  They took great care with her, but once she was secure, they immediately turned to leave.

I looked up and nodded appreciatively.  “Thank you for this, Merlin.  She didn’t deserve any of this.”

“No she did not,” Merlin agreed.  “She
deserves
far more.  But all I could do was ensure that her body was preserved.  She should survive her return trip to Britain where she can be properly buried.”

I breathed deeply through my nose.  I was sure a few months ago I would have cried just now, but not anymore.  Now I was just angry.  “Was she just a pawn to you, Merlin?  Nothing more than a piece on your cosmic chessboard to be sacrificed so that you saw your little plan preserved?”

I could tell Merlin wanted to scorn me, but even he couldn’t bring himself to get angry at me, not after everything I’d just gone through for him.  “It was no plan of mine, Jacob.  When I first set into motion the sequence of events that led us here to today when I imprisoned Remus, I had no way of knowing any of this would happen.  I’d intended to imprison Remus and take back the orbs, but Romulus’ devotion to his brother was just another underestimation among so many.  Without the orbs, Remus’ prison would have been fool proof, but because Romulus allowed them to remain where others could find them, it was only a matter of time before someone did just that.

“Yeah, that fool was me.”

“You are no fool, Jacob.  Simply… unlucky, as I told you before.  If not for Varus activating the orb first, this may have never happened to you.  But it was not his fault either.  It was mine.”

“Lucky me…”  I muttered, and Merlin didn’t answer, probably as tired with my whining as I was in general right now.  I looked back up at him and shrugged.  “Sorry.  I’m just… ready for all this to be over.”

“It already is over, Jacob,” Merlin said as he lowered his hands and offered me the orbs, just as he’d promised.  “There is nothing left for you to do but return to your friends and send everyone home.”

I looked away in annoyance.  “Easy for you to say.  I’m the one who takes personal responsibility for everything that happens around me, remember?  I’ve still got a few loose ends to tie up.”

He nodded.  “Those deeds are of your own choosing; don’t lose sight of your end goal, Jacob.  Go home.  Return to your life.  Marry Helena and have a family.  Write a book.  Try to forget this unfortunate episode and be happy.  Live your life now that you have been given the chance to finally live it.”

I had to chuckle.  “
Write a book
, he says…  What do think the chances are of a story like this being even remotely popular?”

He smiled.  “Negligible, but there are always a few weirdoes out there.”

“Certainly are,” I said, my small smirk lingering, feeling slightly better as I rose to my feet carefully.  Lifting my hands, I took possession of the orbs, feeling their presence almost as clearly as I could see or hold them.  It was an interesting turn of events that I now felt comforted by their presence instead of the other way around, a change I was happy to live with.  I turned back to Merlin and lifted them slightly in a questioning gesture.  “Now’s the time to come clean with more information, Merlin.  I could definitely use more material for those books.  How about some more information on your precursor society?  Did you guys colonize other planets?  Are you even from Earth?  What was your technology
really
like?  What about the Old God?  What’s his deal, anyway?  Was he actually a she?”

“Sorry, Jacob.”

I scowled.  “You know – and I know you do – I could just use these things right now and travel a million years into the past and check out your precious little advanced civilization for myself.”

He nodded.  “You could.”

“Don’t tempt me,” I warned, hefting the orbs again.

He laughed.  “Jacob, those orbs are
yours
now.  I made the mistake of giving them to individuals who didn’t deserve them before… but I do not believe I will make that mistake twice.  I’m placing a lot of faith in you, but only because you’ve earned it, whereas they’d only, by in large, inherited it.”

“Gosh, Merlin, I don’t know what to say.”  And I really didn’t, but then something he’d said triggered another thought.  “Oh, jeez… I just realized that if I’m related to Remus, and you really were his father, then that means I’m related to you too.”

Merlin’s smile remained in place as he opened his arms.  “Want to hug it out again?”