All are now in Rome, yet Rini and Lita remain enslaved. The clouds grow closer as the final
move draws nearer...
Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, DiC, and Cloverway, in that
order. I make no money by this. More's the pity.
All other characters _not_ taken from History are mine, and you must ask permission to
use them, if you can find a way of using them outside this.
_This_ is emphasis. *This* is thought.
Kudos to the movie Gladiator, which was the inspiration for this.
And now, Scorpinac Fanfic Productions presents:
******************************************************************************
Sailor Moon
Roman Legends
by Scorpinac
Chapter 11: Crises
Ami had returned to her duties with Felicia and Iosif in the kitchen, and Trista had gone to
wait with Diana in the sitting room for Darien's return to go and meet the others for their
rendevous, the Rex children and Zacharias again playing with the kitten. The real problem before
the group was figuring out where everyone was going to stay now. There was barely enough
room in the house for her, Felicia, Galea, the four Rex's, Hotaru, Hrisoula, Iosif, Damris,
Zacharias, and Serena as was. If she squeezed in with Hotaru and Damris, they might be able to
accommodate Darien, and the three cats would be no problem at all, they could sleep wherever
they felt comfortable. Mrs. Rex would probably sleep with her husband, and their younger
children could be squeezed in with Georgio if necessary.
But Amara, Michelle, Mina, Rei, and Trista were another matter. There simply wouldn't
be any room at all for them, and they had no money with which to pay for a hotel or other
lodgings nearby. What were they to do? Hopefully they could think of _something_ before it got
too late, but what?
Just then, she heard the doors opening, and poked her head out of the kitchen to see
Hotaru and Damris come in somewhat hurriedly with the statuary they'd been sent to buy. Ami
also noted, somewhat puzzled, that Hotaru carried an additional bag with the money bag she'd
carried out with her. Hotaru and Damris went into a storage area and put the statuary in a corner
for safe keeping, then Hotaru ran upstairs to the room she currently shared with Damris to drop
off her suddenly acquired added bag, then came back down to her and the others.
By this point Damris was looking a little fidgety, and Trista and the three children had
emerged from the sitting room to see what was up, Zacharias holding Diana with his little hands
under her forelegs, Diana looking mildly uncomfortable. Hotaru looked right past them and
aimed right to Ami, a look a franticness in her eyes.
"Ami, where's Hrisoula?" she asked earnestly.
"Still at Noula's with Ariadne," she said. "Why?"
"I ran into Amara and Michelle while getting the statuary...they've been arrested!" Hotaru
explained quickly, then turned on Felicia. "Do you know where Noula's is?!"
"No, I never asked," Felicia said honestly. "Who are Amara and Michelle?"
"My sister and her 'pet'," Trista said quickly, and Hotaru turned around to see her and
fully recognize her for the first time.
"Trista?" she gasped, and Ami laid a hand on her shoulder before she could lunge once
more into her surrogate parent's arms.
"Hotaru, why were Trista's sister and slave arrested?" Ami asked.
"No time, I have to find Hrisoula!" Hotaru rounded.
"What for?" an older female voice said behind them, and they turned to see Hrisoula and
Ariadne entering. "I trust you got Hrisoula her statuary," Ariadne added.
"Yes, it's in the storage room," Damris said.
"Eleutherios found his way to Rome and jumped us just as we finished the purchase,"
Hotaru rambled out. "Two family friends of ours, Amara and Michelle, stopped him, and now
they've been arrested! I need you to verify that Eleutherios had a price on his head in order to
corroborate that they were acting in self defense of others to get them out before they're tossed to
the lions! Please, Hrisoula!"
Hrisoula looked thoughtful for a moment, then answered:
"We'll go just as soon as someone tells us who those three are." She was indicating
Delia, Mikhail, and Trista.
"Why, these are Georgio's sister, Delia, and brother, Mikhail," Ariadne identified the
children as they came up to hug their grandmother. "The woman I don't know."
"My name is Trista, Amara's elder sister, and I arrived in Rome earlier today with them
and Serena's husband, Darien, and met up with these two delightful children and your daughter-
in-law, Vivian, who came to find your son. Since she told us Serena could be found with him,
Darien and I followed her here while Amara and Michelle continued to look around. We were to
meet with them at sundown near the Colosseum," Trista explained herself. "The cat is ours, I'm
just letting the children play with her," she added, nodding to Diana.
"I see, so Darien has survived the war. My grandson won't be happy with that," Ariadne
mused calmly. "He was hoping to claim Serena's hand as his own when the news of his demise
arrived."
"Yes, so Ami was kind enough to tell me," Trista smiled, trying not to flinch at the
reminder of the young boy's romantic interest in the Princess. Trista hated to admit it, in fact she
never really had, but part of her wanted Darien for herself, and would have smiled at the
opportunity had Georgio won Serena's heart. This, of course, was on the off chance that Darien
_didn't_ kill Georgio for trespassing on "private property".
"Very well, let us go and collect your sister," Hrisoula said to Trista, then nodded to
Hotaru, "Come, Hotaru, I imagine we'll need a witness." With that, Hrisoula, Trista, and Hotaru
headed out to rescue Amara and Michelle. Ariadne then asked where Vivian and Darien currently
were, and Ami filled them in, and the elderly woman went into the sitting room to be with her
younger grandchildren.
Ami then started to go back into the kitchen when Damris caught her arm.
"Ami," she looked nervously at the older girl.
"Yes?" Ami blinked.
"Can't you and Hotaru...um...just use...your powers to save your friends?" Damris slowly
inquired. She felt she was giving away her knowledge a little too soon, but she felt a debt of
gratitude to Amara and Michelle for saving her and Hotaru from Eleutherios that wouldn't be set
to rest quietly.
"Powers?" Ami said, feigning innocence. "Whatever do you mean?!" And she quickly
dove back into the kitchen, leaving Damris fuming slightly behind her. As she got away from the
young girl, she thought mildly, *We'll have to deal with you later!*
* * *
Barvus Cephiro was going over some paperwork at his desk when the Praetorian entered,
whom Cephiro took only a brief glance at without ceasing his work. Truth be told, he'd been
expecting this for days, but with the daily games preparation and all, it had apparently taken time
to loosen someone up to send to him.
"Barvus Gorrium Cephiro?" the Praetorian asked.
"Yes?" Cephiro replied without looking up from his work. "I'm in the middle of an
inventory review, if you don't mind." He lifted up another sheet to glance at it while continuing
to write, only occasionally stopping to re-ink his pen in the ink jar.
"You are aware there was an attempt upon the Prince of Rome, Lucius Verus's, life?" the
Praetorian stated.
"So I heard," Cephiro said, dotting an I. "Someone with a death wish."
"He wore armor with _your_ sigil upon it," the Praetorian said accusingly. "You,
yourself, are thereby indicated in the attempt on the Prince's life!"
"The man's name was Pherinias, and yes, he did work for me," Cephiro replied dryly as he
wrote. "If it's any consolation, the Prince was not the target."
"What?" the Praetorian blinked.
"He was after the slaves," Cephiro elucidated. "The red head and the pink haired wonder.
They humiliated him with an escape attempt on our way back in to Rome after our last gathering
tour of the Empire. He swore he'd have revenge, but I hadn't thought he'd be so stupid as to
actually break in to the Caesar's _Palace_! Man was a problem from day one." The whole time
he spoke he had his eyes moving through the various documents on his desk, his hand still writing
on the most prominent page atop the stack.
"He broke in to kill two young slave girls?" the Praetorian repeated, mostly to himself.
"Yet he still attacked the Prince, and mortally wounded another, adult slave, while there. Are you
sure you didn't order this?"
"Quite sure," Cephiro answered. "The only reason I made sure that pinky was in the
group I put on auction after returning to Rome instead of putting her on direct market and
haggling the price as high as possible to the nobility was because of Pherinias. I was worried she
might not make it to a direct market if I waited too long. In the end, though, it seems it wouldn't
have really mattered either way. Deliberately starved himself to death before sale."
"What?" the Praetorian blinked, then beamed in realization. "Oh, you were reading
something about another ware."
"Quite," Cephiro said, then waving the guard away, "If you're finished, you can go."
"Very well, you seem an honest enough man," the Praetorian nodded and turned to leave.
"Just so you know, the Caesar has ordered all the Senators to be followed. And their
constituents."
"Really?" Cephiro dismissed the comment. "I wonder why."
"I am only a soldier, but I have heard rumor to the effect that Caesar Commodus intends
to announce the complete and permanent dissolution of the Senate by the end of the week," the
Praetorian said, thinking it was an actual question. Now Cephiro looked up.
"He's what?!" he snapped.
"Planning to permanently dissolve the Senate," the Praetorian repeated. "In other words,
he and he alone will be the power in Rome. Good day to you." And with that, the guard was
gone. Cephiro sat for a moment, transfixed, pressuring his pen into the page until it snapped.
Finally, he gave his head a shake and called in Cavinus, who had just returned from a midday
sojourn.
"It is only a rumor," Cavinus reassured his partner when Cephiro told him of the meeting
with the Praetorian.
"Rumor's are seldom false when originated in the _Palace_, Cavinus," Cephiro replied.
"We can't wait on the Spaniard and the woman. I want an assassin, a good one, for a double
murder, and I want him in two days." Cephiro rose two fingers to punctuate his comment.
"I'll see what can be arranged," Cavinus relented.
* * *
Amara and Michelle glanced around their surroundings. The prison wasn't overly big, and at
least a dozen or so people had been crammed into the nearby cells like sardines; men and women,
boys and girls. It made them feel longingly for their home century. One little boy sat alone in a
corner, crying at his misfortune. Others grumbled, and still others simply sat or stood quietly,
their spirits smashed. They themselves sat in a small waiting area just outside the cells, as they
had not actually been "arrested" yet.
Occasionally a rich, probably noble, person would enter and either reclaim a runaway
slave, or purchase one from among the prisoners at a cheap price. The ones sold were mostly
young children. Adults seemed predestined for the lions.
"So, what do you think our odds are?" Michelle asked.
"Unless Hotaru gets back with her Mistress Hrisoula to provide proof the guy I killed was
on the run, slim to nil," Amara replied. "Unless you think you can outrun a lion without...you
know..."
"On the other hand, we could whip out our...special tricks, and really wow the crowd,"
Michelle suggested. She mildly fantasized about the crowd's reaction to a woman calling upon
the power of the god of the seas, and actually getting a prompt response! They might even decide
she herself was Neptune in human form. But then they heard some rattling in the distance. She
and Amara glanced in the direction of the noise, and saw Hotaru and Trista talking to the guards
in the meeting area...with a woman neither had ever seen before.
"Do you think that's Hrisoula?" Michelle asked.
"Maybe," Amara replied. "But why's Trista here? I thought she went with Darien..."
* * *
Darien had entered the cart to make conversation easier, and while Serena poured out her
entire tale from start to finish, Vivian helped with making the meals for the customers. Darien
listened quietly as Serena told him of their "house being robbed and burned by bandits", of her
and Rini encountering Barvus Cephiro and Darvinian Cavinus's slave caravan on the road, of
Serena being rendered unconscious and Rini being kidnapped while she lay senseless, of how she
met the Rex's, her journey to Rome and Georgio's growing feelings for her, retrieving Rini's
brooch from Querian, of learning about Rini's sale to the Prince of Rome, coincidentally meeting
Ami and Hotaru who had become house slaves on their way to see them in Devinsa after the
"untimely death of their mother", and of their final meeting with Cephiro in the streets of Rome
when they learned of Rini's failed escape attempt, and punishment therefor. The only thing she
left out was her, Hotaru, and Ami's meeting with Lita. She intended to save that for when they
could talk more privately.
When she finally finished, Darien remained quiet for a while, his face white as a ghost, but
still. He had placed his helmet, which he had wisely put on his head after his arrival in Roman
times, in one corner out of the way because, frankly, the durn thing was uncomfortable! Finally,
he spoke.
"I had the misfortune of meeting Darvinian Cavinus earlier," he commented. "He pawed
Michelle. Now that I think of it, I think he might have suspected that I'm Rini's father. I almost
wished I'd killed him when I had the chance."
"But you didn't, despite your military training," Serena said. "You proved yourself better
than him." Her heart was still shaking at being reunited with him, and partly wondered why it had
taken so long.
"Yeah; oh, by the way, we also ran into Terrarium Querian, and he's on the war path for
you," Darien commented. "He said he intends to reclaim Rini's brooch for his spoiled little brat,
and then drain you for everything he can, and finally toss you to the brothels. I made it clear I'd
kill him if he even tried...with my fists."
"You hit him?" Thernacius turned.
"On to the ground...twice," Darien confirmed.
"My man!" Serena beamed for the first time since she saw him, then went dour again. "I
really wished I hadn't heard he was here, though."
"He's an ass, forget him," Darien shrugged it off. "But how do we get Rini back?"
"Another day or two at this, and I should have the three thousand gold coins that Lucius
paid for her, and hopefully that will buy her back from him," Serena said. "Then my family will
finally be whole again." Darien smiled warmly, then rose and turned to look at the crowd.
"Then let's make the rest of that "Save Rini From Slavery" fund!" he said, and Serena
bounced up, returning to work.
"I'm so glad you're back," she said. "I love you." Georgio just continued to sit upon his
knees on the ground, his heart and soul too smashed to care about anything else.
* * *
"You wanted to see me?" Lita asked as she entered Theophilus's room, Theophilus still at
his desk. He put down the papers he was going over and looked up at her.
"Lita, dear, your bauble, do you know if it's one of a kind?" he asked her.
"To my knowledge," Lita replied quickly. "Why?"
"Two young women came by earlier with identical baubles, well, almost identical,"
Theophilus explained. "One had a Ruby with the war god's sigil and the other had a Topaz with
the love goddess's sigil, but otherwise identical to your's."
*Ruby...war god...Topaz...love goddess...oh, my god!* Lita's mind raced.
"You also told me that your bauble can give you power over lightning once," Theophilus
continued. "Do you suppose those two can use theirs to gain power as well...say, fire for the one
with the war god bauble, and...oh...power over the minds and lusts of men for the one with the
love goddess bauble?" Lita thought fast, but no ready excuses were coming.
"They might..." she said slowly, attempting to stall.
"They also said they were acquainted with you, and asked that you be released to them,"
Theophilus added. "A raven head and a blonde. Are they known to you?"
"Um...sounds like someone I used to know as a kid, maybe, perhaps..." Lita replied
carefully, trying not to give too much away lest Theophilus have Rei and Mina added to his list of
"possessions".
"Lita, dear, how many of those baubles are there?" Theophilus asked. Lita stared for a
moment.
"I don't know," she finally replied. "Not many, I think."
"How about one for each god," Theophilus suggested. "One for Mercury, the messenger
god, Neptune, the sea god, Pluto, the underworld god, Apollo, the sun god, Juno, the Queen of
the Gods, Diana, the moon/hunt goddess, Vulcan, the forge god, Minerva, the wisdom goddess,
Vesta, the home goddess, Ceres, the earth goddess, and Bacchus, the wine god. And those are
just for starters."
"What, nothing for Uranus and Saturn?" Lita asked, feeling a little confused as to why
those two had been left out. In fact, she was a little surprised to hear all those other god/goddess
names being suggested for Sailor wands. She never realized there were so many!
"Uranus was the father of the Titans," Theophilus said. "Saturn was the son who killed
and overthrew him, only to be overthrown by his own children, the six leaders of the gods,
Jupiter, Juno, Pluto, Neptune, Vesta, and Ceres. Don't you know your own religion, Lita?"
"Uh...actually, I was...uh...raised Christian?" Lita said in an attempt to cover her severe
lack of knowledge in regards to Roman Mythology.
"Christian?" Theophilus blinked. "But I've never seen you praying to crosses and the
like."
"I said raised, not practicing!" Lita shot back quickly. "Is there anything else you want to
know while I'm here, or shall I go back to training for my next fight?"
"No, that's fine, you can go," Theophilus dismissed her, looking a little lost in thought.
Lita quietly slipped out and went back to the yard to continue her training. She mentally pushed
thoughts of Mina and Rei in slave's chains to the back of her mind for the time being.
Back in his room, Theophilus continued to think about what he had learned, or what he
hadn't. He had presumed the baubles had something to do with supernaturally channeling the
powers of the gods, but then why would Lita have asked about the Titan, Saturn, and his father,
Uranus? Unless... He turned and looked behind him at the small shelf of scrolls that sat against
the wall, stared for a few minutes, then reached over and pulled a particular one out, and returned
to the desk, where he unfurled it out to look at it.
It was a depiction of the stars and planets in the heavens. He carefully traced his hands
over the five planets beyond the centrally placed Earth on the chart.
"Mercury...Venus...Mars...Jupiter...Saturn," he read off their names. He stared for a
moment. It seemed plausible, but...there was no planet Uranus. There was nothing beyond the
pathway of Saturn, save the stars themselves. "Unless..." he said to himself, "it's too far away to
see without some kind of aid..." Could it be?
* * *
Amara and Michelle continued to wait quietly as the guards spoke with the woman with
Hotaru and Trista, and finally a guard came over to them.
"You're in luck, Miss," he said. "Your sister vouches for you, and Lady Hrisoula's
papers confirm her slave's story. You and your personal slave are free to go!" Amara and
Michelle nodded, and stepped away, walking over to their friends as the guard followed them.
Amara then turned to the head guard on duty.
"I'd like my sword back, please," she said as calmly and patiently as she could. The guard
nodded and signaled one of the other guards over.
"Bring the sword we confiscated form this woman, the curved one in the ivory and jewel
encrusted sheath with a gold hilt," the head guard told his fellow, who nodded and walked off to
another chamber for a few minutes. While they waited, Hotaru introduced Amara and Michelle to
Hrisoula, and vice versa. Hrisoula, unsurprisingly, was almost transfixed with the color of
Michelle's hair.
"That's hair paint, right?" she asked. "Oh, well, she's your slave. I'll arrange for you to
get the bounty later, probably tomorrow."
"Actually, it's natural for her," Amara grinned. "And tomorrow will be fine."
"Natural?" Hrisoula blinked. "You mean like Serena's daughter, the little slave of the
Prince, Lucius Verus? The one who's hair is pink?"
"Uh, huh, that's right!" Hotaru beamed, then realized what had just been revealed to her
three surrogate parents! "Uh, I can explain about Rini..."
"Ami already told me," Trista cut in, "Everything..."
"Rini's...a slave? To a...Prince?" Amara stared wide eyed, and Michelle felt herself quietly
shudder.
"We'll tell you later," Trista said. "First we have to get back to the Rex's to meet Darien,
and then get to the Colosseum to pick up Mina and Rei." At the last, she indicated the dropping
sun.
"Crap, it's that late already?!" Amara stared.
"How time flies when you're having fun," Michelle quipped. Just then the other guard got
back and handed Amara's sheathed weapon to the head guard, who momentarily unsheathed it,
then resheathed it and handed it to Amara, who nodded and tucked it in her sash at the waist.
They then left the building, Hrisoula, Trista, and Hotaru leading the way back to the Rex's.
"I thought Serena and Rini were at the Rex's," Amara said as they moved through the
street.
"Serena is," Trista said. "Rini isn't, she's in the Caesar's Palace, owned by the Prince of
Rome. Remember that piece of slime who groped you earlier, Michelle? You can blame him and
his partner for that. Ami and Hotaru are house slaves of Hrisoula here, who is currently in Rome
on holiday with her "staff"."
"And Lita?" Michelle asked.
"Still no sign," Trista replied.
"Didn't Ami tell you?" Hotaru asked her, wonder in her eyes.
"Uh, no," Trista stared back. "After she told me about her and you and what she knew of
Rini, we got...distracted."
"Because of Eleutherios, right?" Hotaru asked.
"Yeah, you said earlier something about him wanting to rape you and that other little
girl?" Amara cut in.
"Damris, yes," Hotaru said. "He was total slime, and he would have raped me back in
Tercham if Ami hadn't stopped him with that vase! I hate to say it, but I'm _glad_ he's dead. If
anything, I wish it could have been a little more painful!" Amara and Michelle felt a little shocked
and nervous hearing those things coming from Hotaru's lips, but at the same time they couldn't
really blame her.
"Anyway, about Lita," Michelle turned back the subject.
"Oh, yeah, she's a slave, too, to a guy named Theophilus. A gladiator slave," Hotaru
stated.
"A gladiator...is she alright?!?!?!?!" Trista, Amara, and Michelle all exclaimed at once,
startling the heck out of poor Hotaru, and more than surprising Hrisoula.
"Yeah, she's fine," Hotaru said, her eyes still big as plates from the shock from the three-
way scream. "Kicking butt, actually, saw her fight my second day in the city, that's how we
know she's here."
"How do you and your sister know of the female gladiator of Theophilus?" Hrisoula
asked, causing all of them to hit the breaks. Right now there was no good answer for that one.
Fortunately, a few minutes later they got back to the Rex's just as Thernacius, Tatius, Vivian,
Serena, Darien, and Georgio got back, Luna and Artemis riding on Serena and Darien's
shoulders.
"Hello," Darien said. "What were you all up to?"
"A little trouble with an old "friend" of Hotaru's" Amara said. "Had to clear things up
with the constabulary a bit. Nothing serious."
"Friend?" Serena asked. "Who..."
"Eleutherios," Hotaru said. "He's dead, thanks to Amara."
"What?" Serena suddenly looked stern. "Not that I blame you..."
"We'll explain later," Michelle cut in. "Right now us and Darien need to go get Rei and
Mina. We'll be back soon!"
"Shouldn't be more than half an hour," Darien said, handing Artemis over to Serena.
"See you soon, love." And with that he kissed her and joined Trista, Amara and Michelle as they
quickly raced back through the city to the Colosseum.
The others entered the house and Serena pulled Ami and Hotaru aside while Luna and
Artemis went to check on Diana in the sitting area with the kids after explaining to Hrisoula who
Darien was. Georgio barely acknowledged his siblings when they came out to greet him and his
father, simply limping off to his room to be alone, or at least Serena hoped.
"Hotaru, Ami, just what happened today while I was reuniting with my beloved husband?"
she asked quickly.
"Eleutherios made a comeback and tried to grab me and Damris off the street, and Amara
killed him with her sword," Hotaru said simply. She went into a quick diatribe of what happened
afterward, and Ami told Serena that she'd told Trista about everything already, only then realizing
she'd never mentioned Lita's fate.
"That's alright, we'll be going over everything again anyway, when they get back," Serena
sighed to herself. This was turning into a long day.
* * *
At the Colosseum, Darien, Trista, Amara, and Michelle looked around carefully, and in
due course located Rei and Mina, who were still waiting for them. Except now they had a few
moderately sized bags of something.
After telling Rei and Mina in brief of their day's adventures, Rei and Mina filled them in on
what they'd learned at Theophilus's, and Darien then asked about the bags.
"Oh, these?" Mina said innocently. "Well, while we were waiting, a guy came up and
asked our...price..."
"You mean you..." Trista looked horrified.
"No, I told him it would cost him a minimum of five _thousand_ gold coins for _that_!"
Mina replied. "But then he asked how much to just feel me up, and silly me, I said three hundred,
and that he was actually willing to pay, so I...took his money and let him," Mina explained.
"He didn't push it, did he?" Darien asked, feeling his nerves rise.
"Well, he did start to slip his hand inside my top, but I told him feeling me under my
clothes was an extra five hundred on top of what he'd already paid, and he stopped almost
immediately," Mina stated. "Later a few other guys came by for the same, and...well...I set the
same price tags." Mina's face was now bright red with embarrassment.
"I even priced the same, and got two paying "customers" of my own," Rei admitted
blushingly. "But they only felt me up, none had enough for anything else. Thank goodness... We
also used some of the money to get some dinner while we waited."
"Did any pay higher?" Amara asked, her nerves on edge.
"Just my third," Mina said. "He paid the extra five hundred to slip his hands inside my
dress for a few minutes."
"You didn't actually let him, did you?" Darien stared at her, his eyes bugging out of his
skull. He'd been having a hell of a day today.
"What was I supposed to do, he paid the full price!" Mina said. "Besides, he was gentle,
and when I said stop, he stopped."
"Serena is never going to believe this..." Michelle said.
* * *
When they returned to the Rex's, the collected Senshi, Darien, and the cats slipped into
Serena and Ami's room, and _everyone_ was brought up to date on everything. Serena was less
than thrilled with Rei and Mina's attempt to trade their wands to Theophilus for Lita, and slightly
dismayed that he hadn't gone for it. And when she heard of Rei and Mina's pseudo-prostitution,
she hit the roof! Almost literally!
"How could you lower yourselves to...to...to..._that_?!?!" she screeched.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Artemis said. "What happened to your pride?!"
"We didn't mean to," Rei said. "It just sort of...happened."
"Please tell me you didn't enjoy it," Serena leaned her head on her hand. "Letting those
men cop-a-feel for money, I can't believe it..."
"Well, actually, it did feel kinda good," Rei said, her face crimson.
"Rei!!" Ami snapped despite herself. Hotaru had momentarily taken a leaflet from Trista's
book, and temporarily clocked out.
"Yeah, and I...uh...think I might of...um...come at one point," Mina said, her face also a
lovely shade of blush red. Everyone else just stared at them, then Diana changed the subject.
"So what about Rini and Lita? How do we help them?" she asked.
"Well, Serena's only a few hundred gold coins away from buying back Rini," Luna said.
"As for Lita, I don't know."
"Hey, no problem!" Mina said. "Rei and I made two _thousand_ gold today. We
combine what we have left after our stay in a hotel tonight and meals, and that should be _more_
than enough to free Rini. Then we just break into Theophilus's compound, grab Lita and her
wand, and get back to the future before they realize what's happened!" While the others thought
over the merits of that plan, Ami suddenly got up and walked over to the door, bringing Hotaru
back down to earth.
"Well, that does it for our cover I'm afraid," Ami said calmly.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Hotaru asked, looking at her curiously. Ami looked at her
nails a moment, then grabbed the doorknob.
"I mean," Ami said, and pulled open the door, causing Damris to crash inward to the floor
with a "Wha!!" cry. "Your roommate is an eavesdropper."
"D...D...Damris?!" Hotaru cried.
"Uh...hi?" Damris said looking up. "So...you're all witches, and a warlock? From
another time?"
"Why...you...little..." Hotaru felt her dander boiling, and Serena, Trista, Amara, and
Michelle all grabbed her around the waist.
"By the way, I thought I heard three more voices, but I don't see anyone new," Damris
added, trying in vain to find the source of the other voices. But the only other beings in the room
were the cats. Unless... *But that's...impossible...isn't it?* she thought.
"It was us, Damris!" Diana suddenly cried, acting as though frightened. "Hurry, run
away!"
"Yes, look what they did to us," Artemis added, picking up on his daughter's ploy. "Save
yourself!"
"Hurry, before you suffer the same fate as we!!" Luna threw in, and Damris first went
pale, then passed out.
"Good thinking, Diana," Artemis grinned. "Now all Hotaru has to do is convince her it
was all a dream. In the meantime, I think it's time Mina, Rei, Trista, Amara, and Michelle found a
hotel for the night."
"I'm sure Hrisoula or one of the Rex's can help with that if you ask," Ami advised.
Everyone agreed with this, and brief good-byes/see you tomorrows were passed around, and the
five girls went downstairs and asked Hrisoula and Ariadne, who were talking in the sitting room,
where the nearest hotel was, and Ariadne gave them explicit directions that they followed to a
four story building where they, thankfully, found two rooms vacant, though the management
expected Michelle to sleep on the floor. And it wound up costing a whole two hundred and sixty
gold coins for a night due to the activity of the games. To be safe, they paid for four nights,
including the current one, up front, which ran through a little more than half what they presently
had available.
Back at Tatius and Ariadne's, Darien joined Serena in her room, the two mildly nervously
sharing the bed while Ami remained on the makeshift bed on the floor she'd been using.
"You know," Ami said as they let the darkness blanket them, "Now that we're almost all
together again, I think things are starting to look up."
"Yeah," Serena agreed as she snuggled into Darien's arms closely. "Nothing else could
possibly go wrong now..."
But in the shadows of the hall outside the room, a pair of young, male eyes watched Serena and
Darien with an intensity never seen before. An intensity fueled by anger, rage, and, most important
of all, jealousy...
* * *
Cephiro continued to run through the papers on his desk well into the night, but truth be
told his mind was anywhere but on his work. Everyone else upon the fourth floor, Cavinus,
Decima, Oriana, Lelia, Zea, and Timotheos, were worried about him, but right now he was too
agitated to care. Just when things were looking promising, everything had suddenly started going
wrong all at once!
First Commodus's games were making it harder to get a decent price for the wares below,
then Pherinias went on his suicide run, and now Commodus was planning on dissolving the Senate
before he could make his final play! This wasn't just misfortune, this was out and out disaster!
The only good things that had happened lately were the sales of the pink haired wonder and her
overly valuable trinket.
"There you are, Cephiro," a familiar voice snapped, and he glanced up to see Querian
entering his office. "We need to talk."
"Querian? Aren't you a long way from Ferrio?" Cephiro asked, then glanced at the line
he'd been writing and realized he made a mistake and quickly corrected it. *Damn, my mind is
wandering!* he thought.
"The jewelry you sold me at our last meeting was stolen. The mother of the girl you took
it from snatched it right off my poor Julia's dress," Querian said. Cephiro briefly noted Julia and
her mother, Tersia, outside in the sitting area. Julia had long since drifted off to sleep in her
mother's arms, and Tersia herself seemed utterly exhausted. "I want you to help me find the
woman..."
"Now is not a good time, Querian," Cephiro cut him off, scribbling down a few more
notes.
"I need to know where to find the girl! I must have that brooch back!" Querian
rebounded, and Cephiro snapped up, ramming his pen into the inkwell.
"I said I have no time, Querian!" he roared. He rose and started to move toward his long
time friend. "That bastard Commodus is planning to dissolve the Senate. Everything I have
planned and worked for these past five years since the Caesar Marcus Aurelius's health began to
fail is in hazard! Locating one upstart woman is not presently my concern!"
"Just tell me if you know where Thernacius Rex might be staying, and I'll go..." Querian
relented. He'd never seen Cephiro this riled. Behind him Julia mildly glanced up before nodding
off again. There would be no choice but to go to a hotel afterward and resume the search on the
morrow.
"I don't know a Thernacius Rex," Cephiro waved him off and returned to his desk,
collecting his pen after he sat back down. "I do know an Ariadne Rex who lives in the eastern
residential area, but only because she purchased two slave girls from me at my last auction." He
paused, then said to himself, "Come to think of it..."
"Well, it's a lead, anyway," Querian sighed with a brief shrug. "Well, I'm going to find
my family and I a hotel. Good luck to you, Cephiro." Querian then exited the office, gathered his
family, and left. Cephiro nodded quietly as he did so.
His mind had gone back to the auction. Ariadne Rex. She'd bought the two who had
gone up on the podium right after red and the pink haired wonder had...who had also tried to
escape the same night as those two...
"Nah, couldn't be..."
* * *
In the halls below the main Colosseum arena, Lita went through a few practice swordplay
routines with Vassos while waiting for the signal to head up. It was the next morning, and
Theophilus had announced that there had been a last minute change of plan, and they were to
have a large match against some of the finest gladiators from the Austrian provinces that
afternoon. It was now mere moments from the match, and Lita was psyching herself up.
"So, think we got a chance today, Lita?" Vassos asked.
"Same as always," Lita replied. "Fifty-fifty."
"With your success rate, I'd have thought it would better," Urian said as he gave his axe a
practice swing.
"A lot of my success has been dumb luck, Urian," Lita replied as she parried a blow.
"And luck runs out sooner or later!"
"I hear the Caesar won't be in attendance," another gladiator commented.
"Oh?" Vassos spared him a quick glance as he counter-parried.
"Yeah, something about other things to do," the other gladiator said. "But the Prince and
his two slaves will be there."
"The Prince?" Lita blinked, a thought passing through her mind. She then dismissed it.
"What about his mother?"
"Don't know," the gladiator said. "Around somewhere." Just then a rumble from the
growing crowd above echoed into their halls.
"Okay, people, look sharp!" Urian said. "Shouldn't be long now." Lita quietly gulped.
* * *
Theophilus sat quietly at a table, eating his lunch, Semon and his bearers, Belen and
Christos, sitting off to the side. He would be finished shortly, and would then go to the
Colosseum to watch his gladiators' next bout. Just then another man sat down at his table with a
cup of mead. Theophilus glanced at him briefly, recognizing Cephiro at once.
"Something you want?" he asked.
"Not much," Cephiro grunted. He looked as though he hadn't slept too well. "Things
have been escalating lately."
"Yes," Theophilus agreed, thinking of his previous day's conversations with Lita and the
two mystery women. "In more ways than one..."
"When you next speak to your warrior woman," Cephiro said, ignoring Theophilus's
comment, "Tell her to forget about it, that I'm going to have someone else take care of it. I
simply can't wait for her to gain an opportunity." And with that, Cephiro chugged his mead and
left. Theophilus stared after him, now even more curious. Agamemnon passed by right then, and
watched the whole exchange quietly.
"What was that about?" he asked after Cephiro was gone.
"I have no idea," Theophilus replied. "But I think Lita does..."
* * *
While Amara and Michelle had decided to stay at the hotel for the time being, Trista and
Rei returned to the Colosseum to look for Lita, and Mina had gone to see Serena with the remains
of the cash in the hopes of buying back Rini from Lucius Verus. Trista and Rei weren't sure what
to hope for, but if they could just see Lita they could ask her if she had any ideas on how to get
her away from Theophilus without resorting to Sailor powers.
Upon arrival they noticed people were already going inside, and in their search for a way
to see in to the gladiators before they were sent in to fight they came across a pair of twins, boy
and girl, with their mother.
"Which gladiator do you want to see?" the boy asked.
"A woman, named Lita," Trista answered.
"Lita the Magnificent?!" the girl exclaimed. "She's fighting today! I've already placed
two hundred gold on her, and soon I will be able to buy her for myself!"
"Oh, come on, Arete, you know Theophilus will never sell her!" the boy retorted.
"He will, too, Maxos, when I have enough to offer him!" Arete snapped back at her
brother.
"Do you know of any way we could see Lita before the fight?" Rei asked hopefully.
"No, it's about to start now," their mother said. "Care to join us? We have a private
spot."
"Uh..." Rei hesitated.
"Alright," Trista cut in. "Lead the way." The five went inside the Colosseum up the east
side to a private area near the top of the structure. Below them the announcer introduced the
battle briefly as the fifteen best the Austrian provinces had to offer against the fifteen best of
Theophilus of Derorium. The two groups then emerged into the arena, saluted the crowd, and
battle commenced.
* * *
The battle was fast and furious, Lita doing her best to stay alive in the middle of it. Their
opponents were using a variety of weapons from long swords to spears to bows and arrows.
Within minutes it became clear that the two groups were evenly matched. As Lita and her fellows
from Theophilus's camp huddled together behind their shields to lower the amount of available
targets to their enemies, Lita tried to see a way to win this battle.
The enemy was centered around two small chariots, each dealing heavy artillery. In the
Caesar's booth, Lucius Verus sat alone with the red-haired little girl and Rini, all transfixed upon
the fight. Lita suddenly had a two-pronged plan form in her mind, but could she do it?
She snapped out her sword and jammed it into the spokes of one of the chariots as it
passed, causing it to crash spectacularly, the driver getting tossed aside and the armed passenger
getting partially trapped below it. Lita then looked for an opening, and jumped out and grabbed
the fallen gladiator's bow and arrows, knocked one, and then waited for the right moment.
It was almost too simple. An arrow flying wild, tragically striking down the young Prince
in his stride. A horribly unfortunate accident, and she would be blameless. After all, they
couldn't possibly hold her responsible if she was hit in such a way that her arrow went flying off
out of her control, right? And Rini would be safe...
It was the right thing...wasn't it? It had to be...it had to...
* * *
In the Caesar's booth, Lucius, Rini, and Salina watched the battle carefully. They had
been awed when Lita halted the first chariot and grabbed the bow and arrow set. Glancing at her
owner, Rini noticed Lucius was starting to lean against the edge a little too much.
"Uh, Lucius," she said. "Shouldn't you lean back a little? You could fall."
"I'm fine," Lucius waved her off, his attention squarely on the battle. Rini watched him
lean forward a bit more, and reached over.
* * *
Lita concentrated carefully, waiting, waiting for just the right moment. Her fellows had
taken down four more of the opposition, but the second chariot was still moving. She couldn't
wait forever, and then one of the enemy gladiators came charging toward her, sword drawn. Just
as the man was on her, Vassos rammed his sword through his back in a backwards thrust, sword
point aimed away from his rear and Lita shot her arrow in for good measure. Vassos then pulled
his sword back out and flipped it forwards again for use on incoming fighters.
*I can't do it...* she thought as she knocked another arrow and fired at another opponent.
*I'm sorry, Rini, but I can't do it...not in cold blood...not a child...Sorry, Mr. Barvus, the deal's
off...I just can't...*
As the newly slain gladiator fell forward, Lita moved to avoid getting hit, and the other
chariot came racing forward, intent on ramming her. Vassos dodged aside, and Lita waited, then
jumped upward to avoid the vehicle. As she did so, the chariot driver's mace swung upward, and
grazed her hand, enough to cause her to release her arrow in a moment of pain. She followed it
with her eyes, right toward the Caesar's box, towards the boy.
And as it flew forward, Lita saw Rini move in front of Lucius.
"No!" she gasped.
* * *
Rini put one arm squarely around Lucius, looking sternly at him.
"I am not explaining to your uncle why you fell into the Colosseum arena and got
trampled by the fighters, Lucius!" she told him firmly, and pulled him away from the ledge. A
split second later an arrow shot right through where they'd been standing, missing them by
centimeters!
"Ah!" Rini shrieked in surprise, losing her balance and falling to the booth's floor, taking
Lucius with her. She immediately rose, and quickly glanced down in to the arena to see where it
had come from. Rini noticed that Lita was staring in their direction, looking a little shaken up, but
then returned to the battle. *It...couldn't be...,* she thought. She then noticed Lucius looking in
the same direction.
"You see? I told you were getting too close," Rini said, trying to divert his mind from
where the arrow had flown from. It hardly mattered, it was probably just an accident. "What do
you think, Salina? Salina?" She turned to her friend, only to see her clutching her arm, blood
flowing down it.
The arrow had imbedded itself in the wall behind her, but not before slicing Salina's arm
as it soared past.
"Salina!" Rini cried, dashing over to see how bad it was. Fortunately, it didn't look too
deep, but she couldn't really tell with Salina's hand in the way. Lucius signaled a guard to get a
doctor, then went over and pulled the arrow from the wall, staring at it, lost in thought.
* * *
Lita took a deep breath. That had been too close. She'd almost hit the wrong person, and
Serena would never have forgiven her if Rini had been hurt or killed. She looked away from the
Caesar's booth, knocked another arrow, and let fly towards the other chariot, nailing the driver
and causing him to lose control, sending the chariot into the ground. With them both out of the
way, she knocked and fired another arrow into another enemy gladiator's arm, then dumped the
weapon and retrieved her sword.
From that moment, she concentrated on living to the end of the battle, and fortunately, it
was now fifteen to six, and the next five were brought to heel quickly by Theophilus's fighters.
The gladiator who's arm she'd hit with her last arrow charged her, and after a brief scuffle with
blades, Lita threw a hard uppercut kick into his chin, knocking him out. The last fighter went for
Lita specifically, and the two dueled for several moments before Lita disarmed him and sent him
off balance to the ground. She stood over him, sword at the ready, and she glanced toward the
Caesar's box, where the three children had stopped paying attention to the bout.
*Please don't let them know it was mine,* she prayed.
* * *
The crowd was roaring in approval of the spectacle, but Rini couldn't hear it. A doctor
had been brought quickly, and was sewing up Salina's wound for good measure before bandaging
it up. Lucius was still looking at the arrow absentmindedly, pondering.
"Uh, sir," the guard said. "I think they're awaiting your decision." Lucius glanced into
the arena, and saw the battle was over, Theophilus's men awaiting final judgment for the last of
their surviving foes. Lucius realized _he_ had to decide if they were to live or die as he was the
highest ranking personage present.
"Lucius..." Rini breathed behind him, the girl having not left her friend's side since it was
realized that Salina was wounded. Lucius rose his hand, thumb out to the side. He thought for
just a moment, then rose it upward, the sign for letting the survivors live.
The crowd roared in approval, and the Austrian gladiators picked themselves up, some
with help from their former opponents, and left the way they came. Theophilus's warriors then
bowed to the crowd, and did likewise. Lucius returned his attention to the activity, such as it
was, in the booth. Rini just quietly sighed, trying to relax herself.
Lita couldn't have shot the arrow at them deliberately. She just couldn't have!
******************************************************************************
Ah, what tangled webs we weave... Next time, it all comes to a head! Be here for Chapter 12:
Finalmente.
Want to tell me what you think? Send E-mail! Scorpinac@sa-tech.com.
move draws nearer...
Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, DiC, and Cloverway, in that
order. I make no money by this. More's the pity.
All other characters _not_ taken from History are mine, and you must ask permission to
use them, if you can find a way of using them outside this.
_This_ is emphasis. *This* is thought.
Kudos to the movie Gladiator, which was the inspiration for this.
And now, Scorpinac Fanfic Productions presents:
******************************************************************************
Sailor Moon
Roman Legends
by Scorpinac
Chapter 11: Crises
Ami had returned to her duties with Felicia and Iosif in the kitchen, and Trista had gone to
wait with Diana in the sitting room for Darien's return to go and meet the others for their
rendevous, the Rex children and Zacharias again playing with the kitten. The real problem before
the group was figuring out where everyone was going to stay now. There was barely enough
room in the house for her, Felicia, Galea, the four Rex's, Hotaru, Hrisoula, Iosif, Damris,
Zacharias, and Serena as was. If she squeezed in with Hotaru and Damris, they might be able to
accommodate Darien, and the three cats would be no problem at all, they could sleep wherever
they felt comfortable. Mrs. Rex would probably sleep with her husband, and their younger
children could be squeezed in with Georgio if necessary.
But Amara, Michelle, Mina, Rei, and Trista were another matter. There simply wouldn't
be any room at all for them, and they had no money with which to pay for a hotel or other
lodgings nearby. What were they to do? Hopefully they could think of _something_ before it got
too late, but what?
Just then, she heard the doors opening, and poked her head out of the kitchen to see
Hotaru and Damris come in somewhat hurriedly with the statuary they'd been sent to buy. Ami
also noted, somewhat puzzled, that Hotaru carried an additional bag with the money bag she'd
carried out with her. Hotaru and Damris went into a storage area and put the statuary in a corner
for safe keeping, then Hotaru ran upstairs to the room she currently shared with Damris to drop
off her suddenly acquired added bag, then came back down to her and the others.
By this point Damris was looking a little fidgety, and Trista and the three children had
emerged from the sitting room to see what was up, Zacharias holding Diana with his little hands
under her forelegs, Diana looking mildly uncomfortable. Hotaru looked right past them and
aimed right to Ami, a look a franticness in her eyes.
"Ami, where's Hrisoula?" she asked earnestly.
"Still at Noula's with Ariadne," she said. "Why?"
"I ran into Amara and Michelle while getting the statuary...they've been arrested!" Hotaru
explained quickly, then turned on Felicia. "Do you know where Noula's is?!"
"No, I never asked," Felicia said honestly. "Who are Amara and Michelle?"
"My sister and her 'pet'," Trista said quickly, and Hotaru turned around to see her and
fully recognize her for the first time.
"Trista?" she gasped, and Ami laid a hand on her shoulder before she could lunge once
more into her surrogate parent's arms.
"Hotaru, why were Trista's sister and slave arrested?" Ami asked.
"No time, I have to find Hrisoula!" Hotaru rounded.
"What for?" an older female voice said behind them, and they turned to see Hrisoula and
Ariadne entering. "I trust you got Hrisoula her statuary," Ariadne added.
"Yes, it's in the storage room," Damris said.
"Eleutherios found his way to Rome and jumped us just as we finished the purchase,"
Hotaru rambled out. "Two family friends of ours, Amara and Michelle, stopped him, and now
they've been arrested! I need you to verify that Eleutherios had a price on his head in order to
corroborate that they were acting in self defense of others to get them out before they're tossed to
the lions! Please, Hrisoula!"
Hrisoula looked thoughtful for a moment, then answered:
"We'll go just as soon as someone tells us who those three are." She was indicating
Delia, Mikhail, and Trista.
"Why, these are Georgio's sister, Delia, and brother, Mikhail," Ariadne identified the
children as they came up to hug their grandmother. "The woman I don't know."
"My name is Trista, Amara's elder sister, and I arrived in Rome earlier today with them
and Serena's husband, Darien, and met up with these two delightful children and your daughter-
in-law, Vivian, who came to find your son. Since she told us Serena could be found with him,
Darien and I followed her here while Amara and Michelle continued to look around. We were to
meet with them at sundown near the Colosseum," Trista explained herself. "The cat is ours, I'm
just letting the children play with her," she added, nodding to Diana.
"I see, so Darien has survived the war. My grandson won't be happy with that," Ariadne
mused calmly. "He was hoping to claim Serena's hand as his own when the news of his demise
arrived."
"Yes, so Ami was kind enough to tell me," Trista smiled, trying not to flinch at the
reminder of the young boy's romantic interest in the Princess. Trista hated to admit it, in fact she
never really had, but part of her wanted Darien for herself, and would have smiled at the
opportunity had Georgio won Serena's heart. This, of course, was on the off chance that Darien
_didn't_ kill Georgio for trespassing on "private property".
"Very well, let us go and collect your sister," Hrisoula said to Trista, then nodded to
Hotaru, "Come, Hotaru, I imagine we'll need a witness." With that, Hrisoula, Trista, and Hotaru
headed out to rescue Amara and Michelle. Ariadne then asked where Vivian and Darien currently
were, and Ami filled them in, and the elderly woman went into the sitting room to be with her
younger grandchildren.
Ami then started to go back into the kitchen when Damris caught her arm.
"Ami," she looked nervously at the older girl.
"Yes?" Ami blinked.
"Can't you and Hotaru...um...just use...your powers to save your friends?" Damris slowly
inquired. She felt she was giving away her knowledge a little too soon, but she felt a debt of
gratitude to Amara and Michelle for saving her and Hotaru from Eleutherios that wouldn't be set
to rest quietly.
"Powers?" Ami said, feigning innocence. "Whatever do you mean?!" And she quickly
dove back into the kitchen, leaving Damris fuming slightly behind her. As she got away from the
young girl, she thought mildly, *We'll have to deal with you later!*
* * *
Barvus Cephiro was going over some paperwork at his desk when the Praetorian entered,
whom Cephiro took only a brief glance at without ceasing his work. Truth be told, he'd been
expecting this for days, but with the daily games preparation and all, it had apparently taken time
to loosen someone up to send to him.
"Barvus Gorrium Cephiro?" the Praetorian asked.
"Yes?" Cephiro replied without looking up from his work. "I'm in the middle of an
inventory review, if you don't mind." He lifted up another sheet to glance at it while continuing
to write, only occasionally stopping to re-ink his pen in the ink jar.
"You are aware there was an attempt upon the Prince of Rome, Lucius Verus's, life?" the
Praetorian stated.
"So I heard," Cephiro said, dotting an I. "Someone with a death wish."
"He wore armor with _your_ sigil upon it," the Praetorian said accusingly. "You,
yourself, are thereby indicated in the attempt on the Prince's life!"
"The man's name was Pherinias, and yes, he did work for me," Cephiro replied dryly as he
wrote. "If it's any consolation, the Prince was not the target."
"What?" the Praetorian blinked.
"He was after the slaves," Cephiro elucidated. "The red head and the pink haired wonder.
They humiliated him with an escape attempt on our way back in to Rome after our last gathering
tour of the Empire. He swore he'd have revenge, but I hadn't thought he'd be so stupid as to
actually break in to the Caesar's _Palace_! Man was a problem from day one." The whole time
he spoke he had his eyes moving through the various documents on his desk, his hand still writing
on the most prominent page atop the stack.
"He broke in to kill two young slave girls?" the Praetorian repeated, mostly to himself.
"Yet he still attacked the Prince, and mortally wounded another, adult slave, while there. Are you
sure you didn't order this?"
"Quite sure," Cephiro answered. "The only reason I made sure that pinky was in the
group I put on auction after returning to Rome instead of putting her on direct market and
haggling the price as high as possible to the nobility was because of Pherinias. I was worried she
might not make it to a direct market if I waited too long. In the end, though, it seems it wouldn't
have really mattered either way. Deliberately starved himself to death before sale."
"What?" the Praetorian blinked, then beamed in realization. "Oh, you were reading
something about another ware."
"Quite," Cephiro said, then waving the guard away, "If you're finished, you can go."
"Very well, you seem an honest enough man," the Praetorian nodded and turned to leave.
"Just so you know, the Caesar has ordered all the Senators to be followed. And their
constituents."
"Really?" Cephiro dismissed the comment. "I wonder why."
"I am only a soldier, but I have heard rumor to the effect that Caesar Commodus intends
to announce the complete and permanent dissolution of the Senate by the end of the week," the
Praetorian said, thinking it was an actual question. Now Cephiro looked up.
"He's what?!" he snapped.
"Planning to permanently dissolve the Senate," the Praetorian repeated. "In other words,
he and he alone will be the power in Rome. Good day to you." And with that, the guard was
gone. Cephiro sat for a moment, transfixed, pressuring his pen into the page until it snapped.
Finally, he gave his head a shake and called in Cavinus, who had just returned from a midday
sojourn.
"It is only a rumor," Cavinus reassured his partner when Cephiro told him of the meeting
with the Praetorian.
"Rumor's are seldom false when originated in the _Palace_, Cavinus," Cephiro replied.
"We can't wait on the Spaniard and the woman. I want an assassin, a good one, for a double
murder, and I want him in two days." Cephiro rose two fingers to punctuate his comment.
"I'll see what can be arranged," Cavinus relented.
* * *
Amara and Michelle glanced around their surroundings. The prison wasn't overly big, and at
least a dozen or so people had been crammed into the nearby cells like sardines; men and women,
boys and girls. It made them feel longingly for their home century. One little boy sat alone in a
corner, crying at his misfortune. Others grumbled, and still others simply sat or stood quietly,
their spirits smashed. They themselves sat in a small waiting area just outside the cells, as they
had not actually been "arrested" yet.
Occasionally a rich, probably noble, person would enter and either reclaim a runaway
slave, or purchase one from among the prisoners at a cheap price. The ones sold were mostly
young children. Adults seemed predestined for the lions.
"So, what do you think our odds are?" Michelle asked.
"Unless Hotaru gets back with her Mistress Hrisoula to provide proof the guy I killed was
on the run, slim to nil," Amara replied. "Unless you think you can outrun a lion without...you
know..."
"On the other hand, we could whip out our...special tricks, and really wow the crowd,"
Michelle suggested. She mildly fantasized about the crowd's reaction to a woman calling upon
the power of the god of the seas, and actually getting a prompt response! They might even decide
she herself was Neptune in human form. But then they heard some rattling in the distance. She
and Amara glanced in the direction of the noise, and saw Hotaru and Trista talking to the guards
in the meeting area...with a woman neither had ever seen before.
"Do you think that's Hrisoula?" Michelle asked.
"Maybe," Amara replied. "But why's Trista here? I thought she went with Darien..."
* * *
Darien had entered the cart to make conversation easier, and while Serena poured out her
entire tale from start to finish, Vivian helped with making the meals for the customers. Darien
listened quietly as Serena told him of their "house being robbed and burned by bandits", of her
and Rini encountering Barvus Cephiro and Darvinian Cavinus's slave caravan on the road, of
Serena being rendered unconscious and Rini being kidnapped while she lay senseless, of how she
met the Rex's, her journey to Rome and Georgio's growing feelings for her, retrieving Rini's
brooch from Querian, of learning about Rini's sale to the Prince of Rome, coincidentally meeting
Ami and Hotaru who had become house slaves on their way to see them in Devinsa after the
"untimely death of their mother", and of their final meeting with Cephiro in the streets of Rome
when they learned of Rini's failed escape attempt, and punishment therefor. The only thing she
left out was her, Hotaru, and Ami's meeting with Lita. She intended to save that for when they
could talk more privately.
When she finally finished, Darien remained quiet for a while, his face white as a ghost, but
still. He had placed his helmet, which he had wisely put on his head after his arrival in Roman
times, in one corner out of the way because, frankly, the durn thing was uncomfortable! Finally,
he spoke.
"I had the misfortune of meeting Darvinian Cavinus earlier," he commented. "He pawed
Michelle. Now that I think of it, I think he might have suspected that I'm Rini's father. I almost
wished I'd killed him when I had the chance."
"But you didn't, despite your military training," Serena said. "You proved yourself better
than him." Her heart was still shaking at being reunited with him, and partly wondered why it had
taken so long.
"Yeah; oh, by the way, we also ran into Terrarium Querian, and he's on the war path for
you," Darien commented. "He said he intends to reclaim Rini's brooch for his spoiled little brat,
and then drain you for everything he can, and finally toss you to the brothels. I made it clear I'd
kill him if he even tried...with my fists."
"You hit him?" Thernacius turned.
"On to the ground...twice," Darien confirmed.
"My man!" Serena beamed for the first time since she saw him, then went dour again. "I
really wished I hadn't heard he was here, though."
"He's an ass, forget him," Darien shrugged it off. "But how do we get Rini back?"
"Another day or two at this, and I should have the three thousand gold coins that Lucius
paid for her, and hopefully that will buy her back from him," Serena said. "Then my family will
finally be whole again." Darien smiled warmly, then rose and turned to look at the crowd.
"Then let's make the rest of that "Save Rini From Slavery" fund!" he said, and Serena
bounced up, returning to work.
"I'm so glad you're back," she said. "I love you." Georgio just continued to sit upon his
knees on the ground, his heart and soul too smashed to care about anything else.
* * *
"You wanted to see me?" Lita asked as she entered Theophilus's room, Theophilus still at
his desk. He put down the papers he was going over and looked up at her.
"Lita, dear, your bauble, do you know if it's one of a kind?" he asked her.
"To my knowledge," Lita replied quickly. "Why?"
"Two young women came by earlier with identical baubles, well, almost identical,"
Theophilus explained. "One had a Ruby with the war god's sigil and the other had a Topaz with
the love goddess's sigil, but otherwise identical to your's."
*Ruby...war god...Topaz...love goddess...oh, my god!* Lita's mind raced.
"You also told me that your bauble can give you power over lightning once," Theophilus
continued. "Do you suppose those two can use theirs to gain power as well...say, fire for the one
with the war god bauble, and...oh...power over the minds and lusts of men for the one with the
love goddess bauble?" Lita thought fast, but no ready excuses were coming.
"They might..." she said slowly, attempting to stall.
"They also said they were acquainted with you, and asked that you be released to them,"
Theophilus added. "A raven head and a blonde. Are they known to you?"
"Um...sounds like someone I used to know as a kid, maybe, perhaps..." Lita replied
carefully, trying not to give too much away lest Theophilus have Rei and Mina added to his list of
"possessions".
"Lita, dear, how many of those baubles are there?" Theophilus asked. Lita stared for a
moment.
"I don't know," she finally replied. "Not many, I think."
"How about one for each god," Theophilus suggested. "One for Mercury, the messenger
god, Neptune, the sea god, Pluto, the underworld god, Apollo, the sun god, Juno, the Queen of
the Gods, Diana, the moon/hunt goddess, Vulcan, the forge god, Minerva, the wisdom goddess,
Vesta, the home goddess, Ceres, the earth goddess, and Bacchus, the wine god. And those are
just for starters."
"What, nothing for Uranus and Saturn?" Lita asked, feeling a little confused as to why
those two had been left out. In fact, she was a little surprised to hear all those other god/goddess
names being suggested for Sailor wands. She never realized there were so many!
"Uranus was the father of the Titans," Theophilus said. "Saturn was the son who killed
and overthrew him, only to be overthrown by his own children, the six leaders of the gods,
Jupiter, Juno, Pluto, Neptune, Vesta, and Ceres. Don't you know your own religion, Lita?"
"Uh...actually, I was...uh...raised Christian?" Lita said in an attempt to cover her severe
lack of knowledge in regards to Roman Mythology.
"Christian?" Theophilus blinked. "But I've never seen you praying to crosses and the
like."
"I said raised, not practicing!" Lita shot back quickly. "Is there anything else you want to
know while I'm here, or shall I go back to training for my next fight?"
"No, that's fine, you can go," Theophilus dismissed her, looking a little lost in thought.
Lita quietly slipped out and went back to the yard to continue her training. She mentally pushed
thoughts of Mina and Rei in slave's chains to the back of her mind for the time being.
Back in his room, Theophilus continued to think about what he had learned, or what he
hadn't. He had presumed the baubles had something to do with supernaturally channeling the
powers of the gods, but then why would Lita have asked about the Titan, Saturn, and his father,
Uranus? Unless... He turned and looked behind him at the small shelf of scrolls that sat against
the wall, stared for a few minutes, then reached over and pulled a particular one out, and returned
to the desk, where he unfurled it out to look at it.
It was a depiction of the stars and planets in the heavens. He carefully traced his hands
over the five planets beyond the centrally placed Earth on the chart.
"Mercury...Venus...Mars...Jupiter...Saturn," he read off their names. He stared for a
moment. It seemed plausible, but...there was no planet Uranus. There was nothing beyond the
pathway of Saturn, save the stars themselves. "Unless..." he said to himself, "it's too far away to
see without some kind of aid..." Could it be?
* * *
Amara and Michelle continued to wait quietly as the guards spoke with the woman with
Hotaru and Trista, and finally a guard came over to them.
"You're in luck, Miss," he said. "Your sister vouches for you, and Lady Hrisoula's
papers confirm her slave's story. You and your personal slave are free to go!" Amara and
Michelle nodded, and stepped away, walking over to their friends as the guard followed them.
Amara then turned to the head guard on duty.
"I'd like my sword back, please," she said as calmly and patiently as she could. The guard
nodded and signaled one of the other guards over.
"Bring the sword we confiscated form this woman, the curved one in the ivory and jewel
encrusted sheath with a gold hilt," the head guard told his fellow, who nodded and walked off to
another chamber for a few minutes. While they waited, Hotaru introduced Amara and Michelle to
Hrisoula, and vice versa. Hrisoula, unsurprisingly, was almost transfixed with the color of
Michelle's hair.
"That's hair paint, right?" she asked. "Oh, well, she's your slave. I'll arrange for you to
get the bounty later, probably tomorrow."
"Actually, it's natural for her," Amara grinned. "And tomorrow will be fine."
"Natural?" Hrisoula blinked. "You mean like Serena's daughter, the little slave of the
Prince, Lucius Verus? The one who's hair is pink?"
"Uh, huh, that's right!" Hotaru beamed, then realized what had just been revealed to her
three surrogate parents! "Uh, I can explain about Rini..."
"Ami already told me," Trista cut in, "Everything..."
"Rini's...a slave? To a...Prince?" Amara stared wide eyed, and Michelle felt herself quietly
shudder.
"We'll tell you later," Trista said. "First we have to get back to the Rex's to meet Darien,
and then get to the Colosseum to pick up Mina and Rei." At the last, she indicated the dropping
sun.
"Crap, it's that late already?!" Amara stared.
"How time flies when you're having fun," Michelle quipped. Just then the other guard got
back and handed Amara's sheathed weapon to the head guard, who momentarily unsheathed it,
then resheathed it and handed it to Amara, who nodded and tucked it in her sash at the waist.
They then left the building, Hrisoula, Trista, and Hotaru leading the way back to the Rex's.
"I thought Serena and Rini were at the Rex's," Amara said as they moved through the
street.
"Serena is," Trista said. "Rini isn't, she's in the Caesar's Palace, owned by the Prince of
Rome. Remember that piece of slime who groped you earlier, Michelle? You can blame him and
his partner for that. Ami and Hotaru are house slaves of Hrisoula here, who is currently in Rome
on holiday with her "staff"."
"And Lita?" Michelle asked.
"Still no sign," Trista replied.
"Didn't Ami tell you?" Hotaru asked her, wonder in her eyes.
"Uh, no," Trista stared back. "After she told me about her and you and what she knew of
Rini, we got...distracted."
"Because of Eleutherios, right?" Hotaru asked.
"Yeah, you said earlier something about him wanting to rape you and that other little
girl?" Amara cut in.
"Damris, yes," Hotaru said. "He was total slime, and he would have raped me back in
Tercham if Ami hadn't stopped him with that vase! I hate to say it, but I'm _glad_ he's dead. If
anything, I wish it could have been a little more painful!" Amara and Michelle felt a little shocked
and nervous hearing those things coming from Hotaru's lips, but at the same time they couldn't
really blame her.
"Anyway, about Lita," Michelle turned back the subject.
"Oh, yeah, she's a slave, too, to a guy named Theophilus. A gladiator slave," Hotaru
stated.
"A gladiator...is she alright?!?!?!?!" Trista, Amara, and Michelle all exclaimed at once,
startling the heck out of poor Hotaru, and more than surprising Hrisoula.
"Yeah, she's fine," Hotaru said, her eyes still big as plates from the shock from the three-
way scream. "Kicking butt, actually, saw her fight my second day in the city, that's how we
know she's here."
"How do you and your sister know of the female gladiator of Theophilus?" Hrisoula
asked, causing all of them to hit the breaks. Right now there was no good answer for that one.
Fortunately, a few minutes later they got back to the Rex's just as Thernacius, Tatius, Vivian,
Serena, Darien, and Georgio got back, Luna and Artemis riding on Serena and Darien's
shoulders.
"Hello," Darien said. "What were you all up to?"
"A little trouble with an old "friend" of Hotaru's" Amara said. "Had to clear things up
with the constabulary a bit. Nothing serious."
"Friend?" Serena asked. "Who..."
"Eleutherios," Hotaru said. "He's dead, thanks to Amara."
"What?" Serena suddenly looked stern. "Not that I blame you..."
"We'll explain later," Michelle cut in. "Right now us and Darien need to go get Rei and
Mina. We'll be back soon!"
"Shouldn't be more than half an hour," Darien said, handing Artemis over to Serena.
"See you soon, love." And with that he kissed her and joined Trista, Amara and Michelle as they
quickly raced back through the city to the Colosseum.
The others entered the house and Serena pulled Ami and Hotaru aside while Luna and
Artemis went to check on Diana in the sitting area with the kids after explaining to Hrisoula who
Darien was. Georgio barely acknowledged his siblings when they came out to greet him and his
father, simply limping off to his room to be alone, or at least Serena hoped.
"Hotaru, Ami, just what happened today while I was reuniting with my beloved husband?"
she asked quickly.
"Eleutherios made a comeback and tried to grab me and Damris off the street, and Amara
killed him with her sword," Hotaru said simply. She went into a quick diatribe of what happened
afterward, and Ami told Serena that she'd told Trista about everything already, only then realizing
she'd never mentioned Lita's fate.
"That's alright, we'll be going over everything again anyway, when they get back," Serena
sighed to herself. This was turning into a long day.
* * *
At the Colosseum, Darien, Trista, Amara, and Michelle looked around carefully, and in
due course located Rei and Mina, who were still waiting for them. Except now they had a few
moderately sized bags of something.
After telling Rei and Mina in brief of their day's adventures, Rei and Mina filled them in on
what they'd learned at Theophilus's, and Darien then asked about the bags.
"Oh, these?" Mina said innocently. "Well, while we were waiting, a guy came up and
asked our...price..."
"You mean you..." Trista looked horrified.
"No, I told him it would cost him a minimum of five _thousand_ gold coins for _that_!"
Mina replied. "But then he asked how much to just feel me up, and silly me, I said three hundred,
and that he was actually willing to pay, so I...took his money and let him," Mina explained.
"He didn't push it, did he?" Darien asked, feeling his nerves rise.
"Well, he did start to slip his hand inside my top, but I told him feeling me under my
clothes was an extra five hundred on top of what he'd already paid, and he stopped almost
immediately," Mina stated. "Later a few other guys came by for the same, and...well...I set the
same price tags." Mina's face was now bright red with embarrassment.
"I even priced the same, and got two paying "customers" of my own," Rei admitted
blushingly. "But they only felt me up, none had enough for anything else. Thank goodness... We
also used some of the money to get some dinner while we waited."
"Did any pay higher?" Amara asked, her nerves on edge.
"Just my third," Mina said. "He paid the extra five hundred to slip his hands inside my
dress for a few minutes."
"You didn't actually let him, did you?" Darien stared at her, his eyes bugging out of his
skull. He'd been having a hell of a day today.
"What was I supposed to do, he paid the full price!" Mina said. "Besides, he was gentle,
and when I said stop, he stopped."
"Serena is never going to believe this..." Michelle said.
* * *
When they returned to the Rex's, the collected Senshi, Darien, and the cats slipped into
Serena and Ami's room, and _everyone_ was brought up to date on everything. Serena was less
than thrilled with Rei and Mina's attempt to trade their wands to Theophilus for Lita, and slightly
dismayed that he hadn't gone for it. And when she heard of Rei and Mina's pseudo-prostitution,
she hit the roof! Almost literally!
"How could you lower yourselves to...to...to..._that_?!?!" she screeched.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Artemis said. "What happened to your pride?!"
"We didn't mean to," Rei said. "It just sort of...happened."
"Please tell me you didn't enjoy it," Serena leaned her head on her hand. "Letting those
men cop-a-feel for money, I can't believe it..."
"Well, actually, it did feel kinda good," Rei said, her face crimson.
"Rei!!" Ami snapped despite herself. Hotaru had momentarily taken a leaflet from Trista's
book, and temporarily clocked out.
"Yeah, and I...uh...think I might of...um...come at one point," Mina said, her face also a
lovely shade of blush red. Everyone else just stared at them, then Diana changed the subject.
"So what about Rini and Lita? How do we help them?" she asked.
"Well, Serena's only a few hundred gold coins away from buying back Rini," Luna said.
"As for Lita, I don't know."
"Hey, no problem!" Mina said. "Rei and I made two _thousand_ gold today. We
combine what we have left after our stay in a hotel tonight and meals, and that should be _more_
than enough to free Rini. Then we just break into Theophilus's compound, grab Lita and her
wand, and get back to the future before they realize what's happened!" While the others thought
over the merits of that plan, Ami suddenly got up and walked over to the door, bringing Hotaru
back down to earth.
"Well, that does it for our cover I'm afraid," Ami said calmly.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Hotaru asked, looking at her curiously. Ami looked at her
nails a moment, then grabbed the doorknob.
"I mean," Ami said, and pulled open the door, causing Damris to crash inward to the floor
with a "Wha!!" cry. "Your roommate is an eavesdropper."
"D...D...Damris?!" Hotaru cried.
"Uh...hi?" Damris said looking up. "So...you're all witches, and a warlock? From
another time?"
"Why...you...little..." Hotaru felt her dander boiling, and Serena, Trista, Amara, and
Michelle all grabbed her around the waist.
"By the way, I thought I heard three more voices, but I don't see anyone new," Damris
added, trying in vain to find the source of the other voices. But the only other beings in the room
were the cats. Unless... *But that's...impossible...isn't it?* she thought.
"It was us, Damris!" Diana suddenly cried, acting as though frightened. "Hurry, run
away!"
"Yes, look what they did to us," Artemis added, picking up on his daughter's ploy. "Save
yourself!"
"Hurry, before you suffer the same fate as we!!" Luna threw in, and Damris first went
pale, then passed out.
"Good thinking, Diana," Artemis grinned. "Now all Hotaru has to do is convince her it
was all a dream. In the meantime, I think it's time Mina, Rei, Trista, Amara, and Michelle found a
hotel for the night."
"I'm sure Hrisoula or one of the Rex's can help with that if you ask," Ami advised.
Everyone agreed with this, and brief good-byes/see you tomorrows were passed around, and the
five girls went downstairs and asked Hrisoula and Ariadne, who were talking in the sitting room,
where the nearest hotel was, and Ariadne gave them explicit directions that they followed to a
four story building where they, thankfully, found two rooms vacant, though the management
expected Michelle to sleep on the floor. And it wound up costing a whole two hundred and sixty
gold coins for a night due to the activity of the games. To be safe, they paid for four nights,
including the current one, up front, which ran through a little more than half what they presently
had available.
Back at Tatius and Ariadne's, Darien joined Serena in her room, the two mildly nervously
sharing the bed while Ami remained on the makeshift bed on the floor she'd been using.
"You know," Ami said as they let the darkness blanket them, "Now that we're almost all
together again, I think things are starting to look up."
"Yeah," Serena agreed as she snuggled into Darien's arms closely. "Nothing else could
possibly go wrong now..."
But in the shadows of the hall outside the room, a pair of young, male eyes watched Serena and
Darien with an intensity never seen before. An intensity fueled by anger, rage, and, most important
of all, jealousy...
* * *
Cephiro continued to run through the papers on his desk well into the night, but truth be
told his mind was anywhere but on his work. Everyone else upon the fourth floor, Cavinus,
Decima, Oriana, Lelia, Zea, and Timotheos, were worried about him, but right now he was too
agitated to care. Just when things were looking promising, everything had suddenly started going
wrong all at once!
First Commodus's games were making it harder to get a decent price for the wares below,
then Pherinias went on his suicide run, and now Commodus was planning on dissolving the Senate
before he could make his final play! This wasn't just misfortune, this was out and out disaster!
The only good things that had happened lately were the sales of the pink haired wonder and her
overly valuable trinket.
"There you are, Cephiro," a familiar voice snapped, and he glanced up to see Querian
entering his office. "We need to talk."
"Querian? Aren't you a long way from Ferrio?" Cephiro asked, then glanced at the line
he'd been writing and realized he made a mistake and quickly corrected it. *Damn, my mind is
wandering!* he thought.
"The jewelry you sold me at our last meeting was stolen. The mother of the girl you took
it from snatched it right off my poor Julia's dress," Querian said. Cephiro briefly noted Julia and
her mother, Tersia, outside in the sitting area. Julia had long since drifted off to sleep in her
mother's arms, and Tersia herself seemed utterly exhausted. "I want you to help me find the
woman..."
"Now is not a good time, Querian," Cephiro cut him off, scribbling down a few more
notes.
"I need to know where to find the girl! I must have that brooch back!" Querian
rebounded, and Cephiro snapped up, ramming his pen into the inkwell.
"I said I have no time, Querian!" he roared. He rose and started to move toward his long
time friend. "That bastard Commodus is planning to dissolve the Senate. Everything I have
planned and worked for these past five years since the Caesar Marcus Aurelius's health began to
fail is in hazard! Locating one upstart woman is not presently my concern!"
"Just tell me if you know where Thernacius Rex might be staying, and I'll go..." Querian
relented. He'd never seen Cephiro this riled. Behind him Julia mildly glanced up before nodding
off again. There would be no choice but to go to a hotel afterward and resume the search on the
morrow.
"I don't know a Thernacius Rex," Cephiro waved him off and returned to his desk,
collecting his pen after he sat back down. "I do know an Ariadne Rex who lives in the eastern
residential area, but only because she purchased two slave girls from me at my last auction." He
paused, then said to himself, "Come to think of it..."
"Well, it's a lead, anyway," Querian sighed with a brief shrug. "Well, I'm going to find
my family and I a hotel. Good luck to you, Cephiro." Querian then exited the office, gathered his
family, and left. Cephiro nodded quietly as he did so.
His mind had gone back to the auction. Ariadne Rex. She'd bought the two who had
gone up on the podium right after red and the pink haired wonder had...who had also tried to
escape the same night as those two...
"Nah, couldn't be..."
* * *
In the halls below the main Colosseum arena, Lita went through a few practice swordplay
routines with Vassos while waiting for the signal to head up. It was the next morning, and
Theophilus had announced that there had been a last minute change of plan, and they were to
have a large match against some of the finest gladiators from the Austrian provinces that
afternoon. It was now mere moments from the match, and Lita was psyching herself up.
"So, think we got a chance today, Lita?" Vassos asked.
"Same as always," Lita replied. "Fifty-fifty."
"With your success rate, I'd have thought it would better," Urian said as he gave his axe a
practice swing.
"A lot of my success has been dumb luck, Urian," Lita replied as she parried a blow.
"And luck runs out sooner or later!"
"I hear the Caesar won't be in attendance," another gladiator commented.
"Oh?" Vassos spared him a quick glance as he counter-parried.
"Yeah, something about other things to do," the other gladiator said. "But the Prince and
his two slaves will be there."
"The Prince?" Lita blinked, a thought passing through her mind. She then dismissed it.
"What about his mother?"
"Don't know," the gladiator said. "Around somewhere." Just then a rumble from the
growing crowd above echoed into their halls.
"Okay, people, look sharp!" Urian said. "Shouldn't be long now." Lita quietly gulped.
* * *
Theophilus sat quietly at a table, eating his lunch, Semon and his bearers, Belen and
Christos, sitting off to the side. He would be finished shortly, and would then go to the
Colosseum to watch his gladiators' next bout. Just then another man sat down at his table with a
cup of mead. Theophilus glanced at him briefly, recognizing Cephiro at once.
"Something you want?" he asked.
"Not much," Cephiro grunted. He looked as though he hadn't slept too well. "Things
have been escalating lately."
"Yes," Theophilus agreed, thinking of his previous day's conversations with Lita and the
two mystery women. "In more ways than one..."
"When you next speak to your warrior woman," Cephiro said, ignoring Theophilus's
comment, "Tell her to forget about it, that I'm going to have someone else take care of it. I
simply can't wait for her to gain an opportunity." And with that, Cephiro chugged his mead and
left. Theophilus stared after him, now even more curious. Agamemnon passed by right then, and
watched the whole exchange quietly.
"What was that about?" he asked after Cephiro was gone.
"I have no idea," Theophilus replied. "But I think Lita does..."
* * *
While Amara and Michelle had decided to stay at the hotel for the time being, Trista and
Rei returned to the Colosseum to look for Lita, and Mina had gone to see Serena with the remains
of the cash in the hopes of buying back Rini from Lucius Verus. Trista and Rei weren't sure what
to hope for, but if they could just see Lita they could ask her if she had any ideas on how to get
her away from Theophilus without resorting to Sailor powers.
Upon arrival they noticed people were already going inside, and in their search for a way
to see in to the gladiators before they were sent in to fight they came across a pair of twins, boy
and girl, with their mother.
"Which gladiator do you want to see?" the boy asked.
"A woman, named Lita," Trista answered.
"Lita the Magnificent?!" the girl exclaimed. "She's fighting today! I've already placed
two hundred gold on her, and soon I will be able to buy her for myself!"
"Oh, come on, Arete, you know Theophilus will never sell her!" the boy retorted.
"He will, too, Maxos, when I have enough to offer him!" Arete snapped back at her
brother.
"Do you know of any way we could see Lita before the fight?" Rei asked hopefully.
"No, it's about to start now," their mother said. "Care to join us? We have a private
spot."
"Uh..." Rei hesitated.
"Alright," Trista cut in. "Lead the way." The five went inside the Colosseum up the east
side to a private area near the top of the structure. Below them the announcer introduced the
battle briefly as the fifteen best the Austrian provinces had to offer against the fifteen best of
Theophilus of Derorium. The two groups then emerged into the arena, saluted the crowd, and
battle commenced.
* * *
The battle was fast and furious, Lita doing her best to stay alive in the middle of it. Their
opponents were using a variety of weapons from long swords to spears to bows and arrows.
Within minutes it became clear that the two groups were evenly matched. As Lita and her fellows
from Theophilus's camp huddled together behind their shields to lower the amount of available
targets to their enemies, Lita tried to see a way to win this battle.
The enemy was centered around two small chariots, each dealing heavy artillery. In the
Caesar's booth, Lucius Verus sat alone with the red-haired little girl and Rini, all transfixed upon
the fight. Lita suddenly had a two-pronged plan form in her mind, but could she do it?
She snapped out her sword and jammed it into the spokes of one of the chariots as it
passed, causing it to crash spectacularly, the driver getting tossed aside and the armed passenger
getting partially trapped below it. Lita then looked for an opening, and jumped out and grabbed
the fallen gladiator's bow and arrows, knocked one, and then waited for the right moment.
It was almost too simple. An arrow flying wild, tragically striking down the young Prince
in his stride. A horribly unfortunate accident, and she would be blameless. After all, they
couldn't possibly hold her responsible if she was hit in such a way that her arrow went flying off
out of her control, right? And Rini would be safe...
It was the right thing...wasn't it? It had to be...it had to...
* * *
In the Caesar's booth, Lucius, Rini, and Salina watched the battle carefully. They had
been awed when Lita halted the first chariot and grabbed the bow and arrow set. Glancing at her
owner, Rini noticed Lucius was starting to lean against the edge a little too much.
"Uh, Lucius," she said. "Shouldn't you lean back a little? You could fall."
"I'm fine," Lucius waved her off, his attention squarely on the battle. Rini watched him
lean forward a bit more, and reached over.
* * *
Lita concentrated carefully, waiting, waiting for just the right moment. Her fellows had
taken down four more of the opposition, but the second chariot was still moving. She couldn't
wait forever, and then one of the enemy gladiators came charging toward her, sword drawn. Just
as the man was on her, Vassos rammed his sword through his back in a backwards thrust, sword
point aimed away from his rear and Lita shot her arrow in for good measure. Vassos then pulled
his sword back out and flipped it forwards again for use on incoming fighters.
*I can't do it...* she thought as she knocked another arrow and fired at another opponent.
*I'm sorry, Rini, but I can't do it...not in cold blood...not a child...Sorry, Mr. Barvus, the deal's
off...I just can't...*
As the newly slain gladiator fell forward, Lita moved to avoid getting hit, and the other
chariot came racing forward, intent on ramming her. Vassos dodged aside, and Lita waited, then
jumped upward to avoid the vehicle. As she did so, the chariot driver's mace swung upward, and
grazed her hand, enough to cause her to release her arrow in a moment of pain. She followed it
with her eyes, right toward the Caesar's box, towards the boy.
And as it flew forward, Lita saw Rini move in front of Lucius.
"No!" she gasped.
* * *
Rini put one arm squarely around Lucius, looking sternly at him.
"I am not explaining to your uncle why you fell into the Colosseum arena and got
trampled by the fighters, Lucius!" she told him firmly, and pulled him away from the ledge. A
split second later an arrow shot right through where they'd been standing, missing them by
centimeters!
"Ah!" Rini shrieked in surprise, losing her balance and falling to the booth's floor, taking
Lucius with her. She immediately rose, and quickly glanced down in to the arena to see where it
had come from. Rini noticed that Lita was staring in their direction, looking a little shaken up, but
then returned to the battle. *It...couldn't be...,* she thought. She then noticed Lucius looking in
the same direction.
"You see? I told you were getting too close," Rini said, trying to divert his mind from
where the arrow had flown from. It hardly mattered, it was probably just an accident. "What do
you think, Salina? Salina?" She turned to her friend, only to see her clutching her arm, blood
flowing down it.
The arrow had imbedded itself in the wall behind her, but not before slicing Salina's arm
as it soared past.
"Salina!" Rini cried, dashing over to see how bad it was. Fortunately, it didn't look too
deep, but she couldn't really tell with Salina's hand in the way. Lucius signaled a guard to get a
doctor, then went over and pulled the arrow from the wall, staring at it, lost in thought.
* * *
Lita took a deep breath. That had been too close. She'd almost hit the wrong person, and
Serena would never have forgiven her if Rini had been hurt or killed. She looked away from the
Caesar's booth, knocked another arrow, and let fly towards the other chariot, nailing the driver
and causing him to lose control, sending the chariot into the ground. With them both out of the
way, she knocked and fired another arrow into another enemy gladiator's arm, then dumped the
weapon and retrieved her sword.
From that moment, she concentrated on living to the end of the battle, and fortunately, it
was now fifteen to six, and the next five were brought to heel quickly by Theophilus's fighters.
The gladiator who's arm she'd hit with her last arrow charged her, and after a brief scuffle with
blades, Lita threw a hard uppercut kick into his chin, knocking him out. The last fighter went for
Lita specifically, and the two dueled for several moments before Lita disarmed him and sent him
off balance to the ground. She stood over him, sword at the ready, and she glanced toward the
Caesar's box, where the three children had stopped paying attention to the bout.
*Please don't let them know it was mine,* she prayed.
* * *
The crowd was roaring in approval of the spectacle, but Rini couldn't hear it. A doctor
had been brought quickly, and was sewing up Salina's wound for good measure before bandaging
it up. Lucius was still looking at the arrow absentmindedly, pondering.
"Uh, sir," the guard said. "I think they're awaiting your decision." Lucius glanced into
the arena, and saw the battle was over, Theophilus's men awaiting final judgment for the last of
their surviving foes. Lucius realized _he_ had to decide if they were to live or die as he was the
highest ranking personage present.
"Lucius..." Rini breathed behind him, the girl having not left her friend's side since it was
realized that Salina was wounded. Lucius rose his hand, thumb out to the side. He thought for
just a moment, then rose it upward, the sign for letting the survivors live.
The crowd roared in approval, and the Austrian gladiators picked themselves up, some
with help from their former opponents, and left the way they came. Theophilus's warriors then
bowed to the crowd, and did likewise. Lucius returned his attention to the activity, such as it
was, in the booth. Rini just quietly sighed, trying to relax herself.
Lita couldn't have shot the arrow at them deliberately. She just couldn't have!
******************************************************************************
Ah, what tangled webs we weave... Next time, it all comes to a head! Be here for Chapter 12:
Finalmente.
Want to tell me what you think? Send E-mail! Scorpinac@sa-tech.com.
