Authors note: I don't own any of the canon characters of Asterix the gaul. They all belong to Dargaud, Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. I do own Blanche and any other characters I've made up for the story. This story is based off the characters of the live action movie "Asterix at the Olympic Games", but isn't about that story. It just has some of the same characters, such as Silenceus and Brutus.

Songs of Silence

By Ninjalinda

Chapter 1

The young centurion swallowed hard as Brutus took some carefully calculated steps towards him, narrowing his eyes. The silence in the room was eerie, he couldn't hear anything else than his own heartbeats, they were hard and fast, and he wondered if anyone else could hear them too.

"I trusted you not to speak a word about this to anyone, Silenceus!" Brutus started, stopping in front of him. "Yet, you couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you? No! Don't speak until I tell you to!" Brutus raised his hands to stop him from talking, even though he hadn't even opened his mouth.

He clenched his teeth together, trying to keep them from making noise as he was shivering.

"You're lucky Tenacius didn't talk to my father about this! My plans would have been completely wasted then!" Brutus pulled out a feather from the centurion's helmet, crumbling it up between his fingers to show how unhappy he was about him. "I would have killed you if it had gone that far!"

One of the other centurions in the room shifted weight from one leg to the other, the armor made a faint noise. Then everything was quiet again. Silenceus kept his stare straight forward, nailing it to the red fabric on the wall. He had no idea what would happen now, or if he would even live to see another day.

"But…" Brutus paced a little back and forth. "… I like you. You've been a loyal and good centurion. I don't want to get rid of you. Yet, I cannot let this pass!"

Silenceus dared to take a deep breath; he had been holding it for too long. At least he wasn't going to die.

"I sentence you to 100 lashes and ban you to live in the forest for 5 days! You may bring 4 legionnaires with you, but other than that you won't receive any support from the Roman Empire. You are not allowed to contact us during this ban. After the 5 days, you will return to this camp to serve your duty as before."

Caesars step-son rubbed a hand over his chin as if he was in deep thought. "Still… I feel this isn't enough." Then he turned his back to Silenceus, looking at the soldiers guarding the room.

"Tenacius!" Brutus shouted, calling one of the other centurions to him. The centurion walked over, keeping his stare to the floor. Nobody wanted to provoke Brutus any further when he was in such mood.

"Cut his tongue out!" Brutus commanded, pointing a finger at Silenceus.

"No! Please! I beg for mercy!" Silenceus protested, desperately. "I'll do anything! Degrade me to legionnaire instead! But not this!"

"Quiet!" Brutus shouted, making the other centurions jump by the sharp voice. "Tenacius! Cut his tongue out!"

By the snap of Brutus' fingers, a number of soldiers stepped forward and grabbed Silenceus, holding him down in the table in the middle of the room, forcing his jaw open. He screamed, terrified as Tenacius came towards him, unable to move his eyes from the sharp steel in the other centurion's hand. His scream escalated into a loud howl, echoing through the camp. Then everything went black, soft and calm black. He didn't even notice them dragging him outside the camp after the lashes, dumping him brutally in the soft grass by the forest-line. Some legionnaires sat down by him, not at all happy about having to stay outside the camp without any supplies for days. But still, their loyality to their unconscious centurion made them stay by his side.

To be continued…