Chapter 14
Seeing the Treasured Past
Hector woke up the next morning after a restless night. His wife, Nara, didn't sleep well either. Their daughter, Briana, had been upset at hearing about Coledac and forced her parents to let her sleep in the same bed. Three of them in one bed made it quite crowded. By dawn, Hector got out of bed and made his way to Caesar's bedroom.
Caesar's door was closed but halfway down the hall he saw Anera's door wide open. Hector walked over and poked his head into the room. Her chests were laid out over the floor with clothes thrown half in them while other clothes lay on the floor. There were thousands of dollars worth of clothes strewn across the room. Nara would kill to have some of the clothes that were simply thrown to the side as if they were no better than scraps.
He walked slowly into the rest of the room and didn't find anyone. He was a bit worried until he heard someone enter the room. Quickly turning around he was face to face with Anera. There were dark bags under her eyes, showing that she most likely had not gone to bed. Her eyes were still puffy and red from crying, Hector was not slow to realize that Caesar must have passed.
"Can I help you?" Anera wondered, trying to cover up her dry voice.
"I just wanted to see how you were," Hector said.
"I've been better," Anera jokingly said.
"I'm sorry about Caesar," Hector empathized.
"He lived a good life. We can not be saddened that he has gone to a better place." Looking around Anera shook her head. "I am so sorry that you have to see this sty. I'm usually a cleaner person, but Lucius wants us to leave for Rome as soon as possible."
"Leave already? You haven't really been here all that long," Hector said.
"I came here because my father wanted to be here. I simply followed him."
"Can I ask you to come with me?"
"It depends on where you would like to go? Lucius will be –"
"Let me worry about Lucius, my Lady. I think you need to see something." Cautiously Anera accepted the proposal to go for a ride.
They walked down to the stables to find Gwalcamai and Gwalchavad grooming their horses. A few hellos and condolences were exchanged. "Boys, care to ride with us?" Hector asked his fellow knights.
"Surely, it gets us out of the Caer for a while," Gwalcamai anxiously said.
"Aye, that it does," Hector agreed.
They began to get the coach out, when Anera stopped them. "I have been riding since I was a child. I would like to actually ride the horse rather than ride in the coach, if that is alright."
"Of course," Gwalchavad said. He walked away and when he came back a large grey mare was walking behind the knight. "This was my mother's horse," Gwalchavad told Anera. She thanked him numerous times before they rode out of the stables.
They hadn't made it to the gate before they were stopped by a group of Roman's. Lead by Lucius, they were surrounded by Praetorians with Galba and Gaius at the sides. "Where are you going?" Lucius rudely questioned his sister and the knights that were accompanying her.
"I need to go for a ride, to get away from the sadness here. Please, Brother, give me a few hours just to free my mind," Anera's pleading was convincing. Lucius agreed with one condition. Gaius was to go with Anera. They waited a few moments until Gaius arrived at the gates with his large black horse.
They rode through the countryside at a luxurious pace, but they were all quiet. The three knights and the Roman soldier knew where they were going and Anera was only aware that they had turned north east toward the main gate of Hadrian's Wall. They crested a small ridge to see the gate.
To Anera it was a famous gate. She had heard stories of Hadrian's Gate. It was gate Arthur had strode out of to face an entire Saxon Army. Many had perished on the field of battle they were now crossing. Anera took a moment to understand that this was an honored place to the Knights of the Round Table. Surprisingly to Anera though, they did not stop.
Gwalcamai, Gwalchavad, and Gaius all turned and made their way towards the gates that were always left open. Hector instructed Anera to follow him toward the forest. She was cautious before entering the forest for the mere fact that there seemed to be no light in the wooded area. The trees were extremely close together, so much so that they were forced to leave the horses at the edge of the woods. Anera and Hector began on foot.
"The air is so close in here," Anera commented as she stepped over a few over grown tree roots. The air was musty, as if there had been no human intrusion in many years to this forest.
"This is an old forest. My father and Arthur used to call it the Roman woods. But now it has taken on the name Burial Wood," Hector explained to the Roman.
"Why Burial Wood?" Anera question as Hector helped her over a few rocks. "I see no head stones, nothing marking a grave?"
"You don't?" Hector said as he gave her a slight shove in front of him.
Anera was standing before to grave markers. One was the Cross of the Holy Savior, the blessed Cross of Jesu. At the cross section on the first marker was hanging a dirtied silver chain with a small emerald attached. The second grave marker was a large curved sword. It seemed Far Eastern when Anera took a good look at it. There was something strangely familiar about the two items before her.
Hector quietly watched her, remembering more than twenty years ago when he had found a solemn knight burying the woman he had loved. He looked around him, nothing had changed. The Poplar tree had grown in size, but the canopy was still thin allowing the bright rays of the sun to shine spottily throughout the glen.
"Why have you brought me here?" Anera asked.
"Most questions are to be answered by Arthur when we get back to the Caer but Anera… these are your parents." Hector spoke quietly but forcefully.
"Excuse me?" Anera questioned shaking her head in disbelief.
"These two graves mark the resting places of your Mother and your Father," Hector said.
"No, you must be mistaken. My Mother is buried in Illyrium at her family's estate and you know my father…."
"Yes I do know your father; his name was Sir Tristan of the Sarmatian Knights. You're mother was Senator Cassius's daughter, Lucilla."
Shaking her head Anera took a few steps back. She was leaning against the large trunk of a second Poplar tree. Her eyes were shifting from Hector to the graves, first the one with the cross then the other.
"You're lying," Anera forced herself to say.
"Why do you think I'm lying, because it's too hard for you to believe?"
"Because I have never been to Britannia before! This is preposterous!"
"It's only preposterous because you don't remember it. When we get back to the Caer you should talk with Arthur and the other knights. They can answer all your questions."
"I don't have any questions. This is all some big lie to get me to stay in Britannia, isn't it? I don't know why you would want me to stay here but I'm telling you right now Sir Hector it won't work. My father needs to be buried in Rome. My Father!" Anera said as she began to rough her way back to the horses.
"I was only about ten years old when I first saw you," Hector started to say. His words made Anera stop in her tracks. This is exactly where he wanted her. "It was late in the afternoon by the time Tristan and Lucilla were allowing us children into their room. But the birth of another child of the knights was a thing not to be missed. I walked in thinking I would see just another infant. Small, pudgy, and wailing out a storm," Hector chuckled a bit. "But I was wrong. What I did see what the most beautiful child I had ever seen. Your eyes shimmered a sparkling green, like the mist before it rains. Lucilla had you wrapped up in a small brown blanket. I had never seen Tristan so happy before then."
Anera looked to Hector with tears in her eyes and without saying another word she made her way back to the edge of the woods. Their walk back to the horses was silent. Anera didn't want to believe what she was hearing and Hector didn't know what to say. He had been expecting Anera to be ranting and raving about what a liar he was, but rather Anera stayed quiet. She was no doubt contemplating what she had just heard and was trying to comprehend it all. It's not everyday someone tells you that you are not a Princess of Rome but rather the bastard child of a dead Sarmatian.
They mounted the horses and went riding down towards the entrance of the Wall to collect Gaius, Gwalcamai and Gwalchavad. All three of the men questioned Anera to see if she was all right but she merely nodded. Anera didn't want to speak for fear that her voice would give way. It took them only a few hours of easy riding to reach the Caer once more.
They hadn't even dismounted before Lucius and Galba were on top of them questioning Anera. "Where were you? I expected you back hours ago? Why are you flushed?" Lucius demanded of his 'sister'.
"It was a long ride. I need to see Arthur," Anera said as she walked passed a shocked Lucius.
Galba walked over to Gaius, "Where did she go?"
"I need to follow my Lady," Gaius nobly said as he followed Anera.
She walked as if she was in a trance. Not paying any attention to the children at her feet or the people around her. She walked into the Hall as if she was the Queen of Britannia herself. Arthur and Guinevere had been sitting at the table waiting for her to return. They motioned for her and Gaius to take a seat as Bors, Gawain, Galahad and Vanora entered the room. Each of them took seats along the table and got settle for a long night.
"Why am I here?" Anera asked trying to hold back her sadness and cover it with anger.
"You are here because the man that raised you, Cassius, wanted you to know who you really were," Arthur began. "You were raised as the daughter of Rome when in fact you are a daughter of Britannia."
"What I am is the bastard daughter of a traitor to Rome," Anera bluntly said. Everyone shifted in their seats. Anera was sharp in her characteristics of people; she usually didn't hide anything or hold it back.
"Why do you call 'er a traitor?" Vanora questioned.
"The Lucilla I have heard about was married to a General, Marcus Patrious. When he fell in battle she should have returned to Rome and found a new husband. The way any noble woman would do. A marriage is a contract with two families. With her husband dead she had an obligation to her family to return to Rome and be married off again." Anera explained.
"What if she had fallen in love in process?" Guinevere asked.
"A Roman woman is to put her own feelings aside and to what is best for her family and in some cases what is best for Rome."
Arthur held up his hand to keep the others from speaking and he wanted to finish. "Lucilla perhaps was a traitor to Rome in your eyes, but what she did was agreed to by your father, Cassius. Cassius had been very much in love with Lucilla and had actually come to Britannia in order to bring her back to Rome to marry her. Yet, he quickly saw how much Lucilla loved Tristan and with his blessing he allowed Lucilla to remain in Britannia."
Anera remained silent. Yet her facial expression showed that she was not happy with how this story was turning out.
"Lucilla and Tristan lived a happy life. They had a child that we all loved very dearly. They had you, Anera."
"The day you were born you were a part of our lives," Gawain said smiling.
"Tristan didn't smile much but when he did he was usually looking either at your mother or you," Galahad commented, remembering his dear friend.
Anera looked down in order to avoid eye contact with any of them. Looking down she saw that she had sat herself down at the seat with the name 'Tristan' engraved in it. Swallowing her pride she looked up, "What happened to them?"
"There was a Saxon raid on the fort," Arthur said. "We had been out on a mission for Rome and when we returned we saw the smoke from the keep."
"Your mother had locked the children and me in a store room," Vanora commented. "She went out and started fighting."
"When we returned we found Vanora and the children, including you, locked in the store room. It took us all night until Lancelot, another night, had found your mother fallen on the ground. She had been covered by the body of a Saxon. There was a deep wound in her side, we assume punctured her lung," Arthur continued to explain. "In her dying breaths she had asked Tristan to send you to Rome if anything would happen to him. He swore to her that he would. A few months later, when Rome was pulling out of Britannia Tristan died at the Battle at Beadun Hill."
"So much for the glory of Rome," Anera whispered. She looked to Gaius, "You knew all of this?"
"I knew Lucilla and I was the Centurion that came to collect you when Tristan died," Gaius explained. "Yes, I knew. I was ordered by your father to keep it from you," he said.
"We didn't want you to go," Guinevere told her. "I raised you for a time before the Romans came to get you. You leaving us, was as if I was losing my own child. Seeing you again those last week was the happiest time of my life."
"I am sorry I caused you so much pain." Anera made to stand up, but Arthur motioned for her to remain seated.
"Caesar brought you here so you might possibly understand who you are, where you came from and perhaps even come to accept it. On a sourer note though, he had also wished that Lucius would not be here for this," Arthur told her. No matter what he was speaking about his voice had a regal tone to it, something Anera very much admired in this warrior of a man.
"I know. He has loved me far deeper than any brother should, but nonetheless he is my brother and I will not turn my back on him. This is the time were he needs me the most."
"Do you really think that Cassius wanted Lucius to rule Rome?" Bors said. He tried to keep it under his breath but his voice was too gruff for that.
"No, my father didn't want him to rule Rome but his other choice we thought had died. It is only now that we have come to realize he still lives," Anera said.
Everyone seemed confused, and then Arthur said his name. "Coledac?"
"Coledac, or rather the man we knew as Clodius was my father's greatest General. The day he was arrested he had also been given the option to become Protector of Rome when my father died. Clodius was going to accept this duty."
"How do you know this to be true?" Gawain wondered.
"My father spoke to me about it. He knew that I would be the one that Lucius would probably take his anger out on and I would be able to help Clodius learn the ropes of ruling Rome."
"But you said the Protector of Rome, not Caesar," Galahad commented a bit confused.
"True. Clodius was to be empowered to one end alone… to give Rome back to the people. Rome was to be a Republic again. But now I must return to Rome with Lucius to ensure that our Empire will survive."
"You think he could destroy the Empire?" Gawain asked the Princess.
"It takes many men to make the Empire what it is, but it only takes one man to destroy what so many have worked for," Anera told them.
"Who told you this?" Bors wondered.
"My father told me this when he informed that he was going to name Clodius his successor," Anera said as her eyes fell to the floor. "Cassius told me." She corrected.
"So no matter what you won't stay?" Guinevere asked.
"I don't belong here, I'm sorry," Anera said as she got up to leave. "I'm so sorry, but I must pack. Lucius wants to leave for Rome as soon as possible and these proceedings have already pushed our departure time back a day."
Anera left the room, with the Knights sitting at the table contemplating what they had been hearing. They had all anticipated that Anera would not be too keen on the idea of her being a Sarmatian but her calmness to the entire situation scared them the most. She was just like her parents: Tristan's serenity and Lucilla's ability to speak through her emotions. It made it even harder on the Knights to think about her leaving again, probably never to return.
I want to thank everyone for reviewing the last chapter. It always makes me smile to read them, so please keep sending them! Hope you enjoyed this chapter you all have been waiting for, hope it is what you expected or were wishing for! Hope to hear from you!