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 3

A loud female scream awakened the village the following day. Bacteria came running through the village screaming in panic, flailing her arms.

"There is a roman in our village!"

Blanche looked after the older woman as she passed her, frowning. Shortly after, all the citizens came running to the square, forming a wide circle around the roman soldier lying on the ground.

Blanche shuddered as she stared at the man, he was badly wounded, it wasn't hard to see. It had to be the centurion Getafix had mentioned.

"Should I wake him up?" Obelix suggested, taking a step forward. Asterix stopped him.

"I'll do it. We need to ask him what he's doing here, not beat him up."

Asterix walked over to the roman, shaking his shoulder gently. "Wake up, Roman!"

"How did he manage to get in unseen?" Vitalstatistix wondered, glaring at the guards.

"By Teutatis!" Impedimenta gasped as the roman tried to stand up, revealing a pool of blood under him. He coughed, not able to sit up fully, only holding himself up by his arms. Fresh blood streamed from his mouth, increasing the pool on the ground. Then he collapsed again, breathing heavy, but still awake.

Blanche caught a glimpse of his eyes, they were wide open and full of fear. He was probably just as scared as they were, being all alone among the enemy.

"What are you doing here, Roman?" Vitalstatistix demanded an answer.

The centurion tried to lift his head, but in vain. A series of weird noises came from him, followed by coughing.

"Speak louder! We can't hear you!"

The roman clenched his teeth together and squeezed his eyes shut, as if it pained him to even try talking. He placed a hand on the ground, trying to lift himself up again. Slipping in the blood, he fell back again, this time unconscious.

"Let's just throw him out of the village. We don't want a roman to die in here, do we?" someone yelled.

"Put him out of his misery!" another one shouted from the back of the crowd.

"Kill him on the spot!"

"Let's knock him all the way back to the roman camp where he belong!"

Some of the villagers walked towards the motionless roman on the ground, drawing their swords.

"Stop it!" Impedimenta threw herself between the centurion and the villagers. "We have never had a tradition for killing anyone! So we are not going to start now, are we?" she looked up at Vitalstatistix with a provocative stare.

He looked back down at her. "No. There will be no killing of people inside this village's walls! Never has been and never will be!" he stated.

Asterix stepped forward, standing beside Impedimenta, showing his support. Obelix followed shortly after, then Getafix, Cacofonix, Unhygienix and Fullautomatix.

"So, let's carry him outside then!" one of the guards said, while putting his sword back. "We'll finish him there instead."

"No!" Impedimenta placed her hands on her waist, looking at everyone with a firm look. "We are going to help him. Let's not sink to the roman's level by killing everyone that doesn't share the same values as us!"

Asterix nodded. "We're better than that. Let's prove to the romans that we're not as barbaric as they accuse us for being."

Blanche walked over to the centurion, sitting down on the ground, placing his head on her lap, she had started to feel sorry for the roman. "I am with Impedimenta and Asterix on this."

The men in the crowd started to argue loudly, some against and some for the idea. It was about to evolve to a huge fight, as Vitalstatistix raised his hands.

"QUIET!" he shouted, getting everyone to stop at once.

He looked down at his wife, who stared back with an opposing look on her face.

"This roman is allowed to stay until he either dies or get well enough to return to his own people." He told his village, then turning to his wife again. "But… I am not happy about it, dear. And you are in charge of his care, you may bring Asterix and Blanche with you, just to avoid staying alone with him. You never know what these romans might do to you… but do not expect any support from anyone else! Nobody is going to be forced or ordered to help you out. You are on your own. And… Getafix; I forbid you to brew any potion to help this roman stay alive!" He pointed to a house in the back of the village. "The roman can stay in the empty house near the big tree."

Impedimenta nodded. "Fine with me!"

Blanche looked up at her and whispered. "I'll help out whenever I can. I've got nothing else to kill time with."

"Thanks, Blanche." Impedimenta smiled to her. "Let's get this roman into the house and have a look at his wounds." She searched for Getafix with her eyes, and met his stare. The druid made a faint nod. He would brew some mixtures in secrecy.

Vitalstatistix ordered two men to help carry the centurion to the empty house. They stepped forward, grabbing the roman by the arms and legs, carrying him through the village.

Impedimenta and Blanche followed hot on track.

"Asterix." Impedimenta said, glanching sideways at the blonde gaul. "I need some clean towels, water, firewood, a cauldron, blankets and something that can be used as bandages."

"I'm on it." Asterix walked away to get what she had requested.

Inside the house, the men threw the roman into the bed rather reckless.

"That was not necessary!" Impedimenta scolded them. "Get out of here!"

As soon as they had left, Asterix came back along with Obelix, dropping off the items she had asked for. "We'll be right outside if you need us." Then they both left, leaving the two women alone with the roman soldier.

"Ok… this will be a lot of work, hun. Let's get started!"

Blanche put another piece of wood on the fire, then checking if the water was hot enough.

"The water is almost done, Impedimenta."

"Good. Now, help me get this armor off." Impedimenta has started untie the straps that kept the armor in place, starting with the leg armor. "We need to get everything off, to see how bad this is."

Blanche nodded, removing the feathered helmet. She placed it carefully on the floor beside the bed. Then she untied the bracers. "Why is his armor black? The romans we usually see around here either have red or green uniforms…"

"I don't know anything more than you, Blanche."

"If he wakes up, I could ask…"

"He's roman, dear. You shouldn't count on him to answer any question from us. We're his enemies."

Blanche started to loosen the straps on the bodyarmor, but she was only able to remove the front. He was too heavy for her to lift up alone. Impedimenta helped her lift his body enough to get the backplate out. "I think we should ask Asterix for help when we're going to take his shirt off, he is too heavy for us."

Impedimenta nodded, pulling the black pants off the roman. "No wounds on his lower body. I'll just clean off the blood and it will be fine."

Asterix came in as Blanche called for him, lifting the centurion up as she pulled off the shirt. "Just hold him there until I've cleaned his back."

She took a scoop of hot water from the cauldron, putting it in a bowl. She placed it on the chair by the bedside and wet a towel in it. Then stroking it over the roman's back. He twitched by the touch, even though he wasn't conscious. Blanche gasped.

"By Teutatis! Impedimenta! Have a look at this!" she whispered pointing at the deep, long cuts across the roman's back.

"He's been lashed…" Asterix mumbled. "I wonder what he did to deserve that…"

Impedimenta shuddered. "I don't want to ponder too much about it. If the romans punished this man, then he must be a really despicable person… let's just focus on treating him instead of thinking of what kind of person we have dragged into the house, alright?"

Blanche had tears in her eyes as she cleaned the wounds, they looked so terrible, she could only imagine the pain this man had went through. The wounds were inflamed and didn't smell good. Some places she could see some yellowish pus in the wounds. He had gotten a serious infection. She finished cleaning his upper body, then covering him in bandages. "Alright, Asterix. You can put him back down now, but careful…"

Asterix followed her request and then left to stand guard outside again.

Blanche put a hand on the centurion's forehead. "He has a fever, Impedimenta."

"It's probably because of the infected wounds. He needs something to shake that off."

"But the chief forbid Getafix to brew anything for us…"

"Oh, I know Getafix. He won't let anyone suffer unnecessary." Impedimenta blinked. "He'll make us something. Trust me!"

Blanche stroked a wet towel over the centurion's face, wiping off the dirt and blood. She jumped a bit as he opened his eyes and looked at her. His eyes were dull, but he seemed to be able to focus. He looked confused, finding himself naked, alone in a house with two gaulish women. He pulled the blanket up to cover his lower body from their sight, then looking at them with fear in his eyes.

"Relax, roman. We're not hurting you. You would have been dead by now if it weren't for us." Impedimenta stated, pulling the blanket away. He was too weak to be able to hold it, so he was completely uncovered again. She wet the towel, trying to continue cleaning his legs, but he pulled them up as he crawled at the very back of the bed. "Oh come on, you're a big bad roman soldier and you're afraid of two weak gaulish girls?!"

Blanche couldn't resist a giggle by Impedimenta's ironic comment. Then she grabbed his hand. "I saw your back… who did that to you?"

The centurion looked confused, then looking at his bandages as if he didn't know he was wounded. He looked back at her, trying to speak, but only nonsense came out of his mouth. He cursed, but even that sounded like ridiculous animalistic sounds.

Blanche frowned, by his behavior. "What's you name?"

He looked at her with a sad look on his face as he once again tried to say something, but again only the weird sounds came out. He squeezed his lips together, shaking his head.

"I understand that it might be a little hard to talk right now, so just relax a little, alright? We can talk when you feel better." She said and gave him a little smile as comfort.

The centurion looked even sadder as Impedimenta forced him to lay down, he held Blanche's stare and shook his head again. Then his eyes slid shut, as he fell asleep.

"Told you he wouldn't tell you anything." Impedimenta said, finishing her job. It was a lot easier when the soldier wasn't awake.

"He tried, Impedimenta… he's just tired." Blanche insisted as she picked up the bloody clothes from the floor. "I'll get these cleaned."

The night fell over the village. Asterix was watching over the roman centurion this first night, as Blanche was sleeping on a mattress at the other side of the room, behind a curtain. She was far too shy to sleep in the same room as two men, even if she was fully dressed. He could hear her breathing heavy and slow in her sleep.

He stood up and put another piece of wood on the fire, to keep it burning. Dogmatix came through the door, sniffing around a little, before jumping into the bed, cuddling up towards the roman.

Asterix chuckled as he lifted the dog back on the floor. "He's not well, you shouldn't disturb, Dogmatix."

The small white dog snorted as he walked over to the fireplace instead, curling up in front of it.

Asterix smiled and fished out his knife to start carving on a piece of wood, just to kill some time.

He had no idea how long it had been, when he suddenly noticed that the soldier started to struggle to breathe. He quickly stood up, placing a hand on the romans forehead. It was burning, more than ever. Sweat was literally dripping from him, but at the same time he shuddered as if he was cold.

"Blanche!" Asterix shouted, waiting for her to wake up and come over.

"Yes?" Blanche looked sleepy as she pulled the curtain aside and walked over. "Oh… he's getting worse."

The roman twitched and struggled, now blood came running from his wounds again, through the bandages. And from his mouth.

Blanche bit her lip. "What do we do? I can't go get Getafix… the chief had put out guards to make sure we can't seek help from him."

Asterix shrugged, looking worried. "If this roman dies here, we'll be blamed for it… and this place will be crawling with roman legions before we know it."

At the same moment, the roman stopped breathing, falling back at the bed motionless.

The two gauls stood there for a moment, looking shocked. Then Blanche leaped forward, slamming her fist to the centurion's chest.

"Wake up! Breathe, damn roman!" she yelled.

Then she placed her lips over his, blowing air into his lungs. "Come on!" she slammed a fist on his chest again. The roman coughed and gasped for air again.

"He's not strong enough to breathe on his own…" Asterix mumbled, suddenly getting an idea. He grabbed the small bottle of magic potion he always carried with him.

"No! Asterix, are you nuts?!" Blanche yelled in protest. "He's a roman!"

"Do we have a choice?" Asterix pushed her aside and held the soldiers head up as he poured a few drops into his mouth. Then he rubbed the front of his neck to get him to swallow it, just like he had seen Getafix do to animals when he gave them medicine.

A twitch went through the roman, followed by an intense glow as he stood up and opened his eyes, flexing his muscles. Then he went back to normal, only awake and seemingly healthy. He looked around curious and confused, taking in the situation, finding himself naked and wrapped in bloody bandages. The roman frowned, looking at the two gauls. As he realized Blanche was a girl, he grabbed the blanket from the bed and wrapped around himself.

"Mmmm mmm! Mmm?"

Asterix looked at Blanche. She looked just as confused as him. Then he looked back at the roman.

"What did you say? We don't understand…"

The roman gritted his teeth, looking frustrated. He slammed a fist into the nearby closet in frustration, it broke down totally. The centurion looked surprised at the closet, then at his fist and back to the gauls.

"Don't even think about it, Roman!" Asterix said. "We gave you magic potion to prevent you from dying, but if you even try to act up I will call for me friend Obelix, and he really enjoys spanking romans…"

The roman put his hands up, to show he had no intentions of hurting anyone, only to drop the blanket. He quickly bent down to pick it up again, and then sat down on the bed.

"I'm Asterix… and this is Blanche." Asterix started to introduce them. "We found you in the village, badly wounded."

Blanche waited for the roman to say his name, but the soldier just waved a hand and looked away.

"What's your name, Centurion?" She tried again.

He looked at her and shook his head, looking away again.

"That's not a proper introduction when a lady asks you name!" Asterix came towards him, looking threatening, even though the roman was both taller and more muscular than him.

Then something happened, which none of them had expected. The centurion turned to them, looking hurt. Then he pointed at his mouth, signing a scissor with his hand, opening his mouth to reveal that his tongue was missing.

Blanche covered her mouth with her hands and took a step back. "By Belenos…"

"You're muted. Why?" Asterix couldn't hesitate to ask, even though he knew that the roman couldn't answer.

The roman slumped low and signed with a hand that he talked too much. Then the scissor-sign again.

"So, you talked about something you weren't allowed to talk about." Asterix nodded. "The lashes… did you get those because of that too?"

Now the Roman looked confused again, then touching his back with a hand, feeling the bandages. Holding the bloody hand up in front of him, looking at the gauls with his mouth halfopen in terror.

"So, you didn't know…" Asterix sat down in a chair. He felt confident that the soldier wouldn't do anything now. "I'm not going to ask anymore. We're taking care of you until you're well enough to go back to your own people. But know this; you're not welcome in this village, so watch your back. Do not wander around outside this house without me, or you'll be in deep trouble. Inside here, you're safe."

The roman nodded, looking down. Blanche took a scoop of hot water from the cauldron over the fire, putting it in a bowl to start cleaning the wounds again. The bandages needed to be replaced.

Asterix found some bread and cheese, putting it in front of the roman along with a cup of milk. The roman looked up, giving him a small, nervous smile.

"You're welcome." Asterix muttered as he sat down again, watching how the roman struggled to eat. It probably hurt because of the wound after the tongue. The centurion wet the bread in the milk to make it easier to eat, chewing it thoroughly before swallowing. It didn't take long before he was full, he drank the last of the milk before just sitting calmly watching Blanche taking the bandages off.

Blanche worked as fast as she could, not feeling very comfortable. The roman could easily take them both down if he wanted, after Asterix had given him some of the potion. But to her surprise he didn't. He sat completely still as she cleaned his wounds and putting new bandages on.

She was finished and winced as the centurion took her hand. Her heart was beating painfully hard as she closed her eyes, waiting for the pain she was sure to come. She heard Asterix draw his sword, ready to protect her.

Then she felt soft, warm skin under her palm. She dared to open her eyes again. The roman had placed her hand on his chest, over his heart. He met her stare and bowed his head down. Then he released her hand, letting her pull it back.

He had said thank you, without any word. It touched her deeply.

"You're welcome." She whispered as she walked outside to empty the bowl with the bloody water.

To be continued..