Chapter 8: When in Rome...

The prison was very dark and very cold as Commodus went in to check on Maximus. Maximus stood, chained against the wall. Commodus knew that he probably couldn't have hurt him, but he still trembled with anger and fear at being near this man. He remembered well the night in Germania. Marcus had revealed to Commodus that he was going to pass on the power of the empire to Maximus for the time being. Commodus had shouted cruelly at his father. He said all manner of hateful and angry things that had built up in his soul over the years of being neglected for the 'glory of Rome'. He had even warned his father that without the protection and favour of his family, one of the senators or Maximus himself would murder him. He had stormed away angry and cried bitterly with Lucilla, moaning and whining of the 'why's and 'why not's to his father's decision. He went back to the tent later to make peace with his father after Lucilla had encouraged him to do so.

"Father is unwell and he knows it. You need to let him into the afterlife with tender memories of you," she had soothed. He agreed, reluctantly, and went to go and make amends. He felt coldness grip him at this memory. When he was six years old, his mother had contracted a plague. She died a year later. He had been the one to find her. He had ventured into her chamber after a particularly bad dream and found her pale and cold, still and breathless. He found his father the same way. The surgeon's said that his breath had given out as he lay crying on the floor for the sadness he had brought to his son. Commodus felt truly angered by this and while venting his frustrations on a nearby tree, Senator Falco had approached him with a personal physician and demanded another examination. Commodus concurred, wanting to feel anything but guilt for the old man's death. The surgeon told him that his father had been poisoned and described the plant. He added that only a man of the earth would know how to cultivate such a poison. Falco remarked that the surgeon's statement was ridiculous; there were no farmers in the regiments. Commodus put two and two together, but he didn't realize that with them he made three instead of four. Falco's information had left out vital clues. None the less, Commodus sent for Maximus and showed him to the slain emperor, Marcus Aurelius. He asked for Maximus' allegiance. If Maximus already knew about his father's decision, then he had a motive. Maximus refused the hand of Commodus, very coldly. He heard in a distance Maximus telling one of his servants that Commodus had killed his father. Enraged by such a claim, Commodus ordered Maximus to be executed, and that his family be sold into slavery. Falco swore that he would see it done and persuaded the angry and grieving young man return to the capital city immediately.

Upon returning, word was sent to Commodus that Maximus was gone. Commodus thought about trying to let him tell his side of the story (during mild torture, of course), but soon learned that on top of murdering his father, he had tried to rape Lucilla and spoke openly of wanting the already paranoid new Caesar dead. Commodus gave the final order to execute him before leaving. After arriving in Rome and starting the games again, he had come face to face with Maximus. He had become a slave, a gladiator. When confronted, Maximus accused Commodus of slaying his father and Maximus's family. With a loving mob supporting Maximus, Commodus was essentially powerless to destroy him once and for all. Still, he would make him suffer.

He paced back and forth, feeling a little more at ease, in front of the man.

"Still a defiant one, aren't you?" Commodus mused. "My men tell me you tried to break their necks with your legs as they chained you here."

"I saw you in every one of them," Maximus growled. Commodus hit him harshly, splitting Maximus's lip. Maximus looked up at him, infuriated.

"You will suffer greatly for what you did to my father. He trusted you. He...," Commodus looked down sadly. "He loved you. If it weren't for the fact that my sister feels it would please the mob to have you alive, I would destroy you now!"

"Then you fear the mob and me?" he chuckled. Commodus slapped him again, catching his cheek with one of the rings on his hand. "You seemed so much braver when you sent word to murder my pregnant wife and little boy. Or were you too afraid to do that as well? Did you have to have someone else write it down for you?"

"I never sent word to kill your family! I sent for their sale to the highest bidder. The fact that they were killed by their master isn't my fault," Commodus snorted.

"They weren't sold! They...," Maximus stared long and hard at Commodus before continuing. He looked concerned. "You really think I killed him, don't you?"

"How dare you try and speak kindly with me!" he raved. "If one more person tries to smooth over their wrongs done to me, I'll scream!"

"The girl has wronged you?" Maximus asked. Commodus stood with his mouth open and trembling for a moment.

"Who told you about Aislinn?" he demanded.

"Your men speak of her. They say she is fearsome in battle. That you have had quite a time keeping control on her. They say you even put her at the brink of death," Maximus explained. "Has she harmed you?"

"No," Commodus said sadly. He strode to the edge of the cell and looked out. "The opposite is true. She is a wonderful fighter, but she humiliates me! She humbles herself before me after thoroughly thrashing me! Why doesn't she hate me like the rest of the people?"

"I hear she is a Christian. Christians rarely show that kind of emotion. I've been down here with several and heard them pray as they die. They are a curious people. I'm surprised she's been much fun for you at all," Maximus said. Commodus leaned against the wall next to him.

"Then what can I do to make her fight me silently? I grow tired of her quips and wit; I wish she would fight me with fierce quietness, like an animal. I thought that the Celts went into battle shouting aimlessly, I had no idea their vocabularies were so immense," he groaned. "How can I make her do what I want?"

"Offer her something she wants," Maximus suggested.

"The only thing she wants is her freedom," Commodus sighed. He watched as a group of Christians were herded into a nearby cell, quivering and crying. There were two young children in this group and a woman with a baby in her arms. He frowned and felt bile sting the back of his throat. "Or is it?" he said to himself. He looked over at Maximus. "I will speak more with you, but another day. If you are truly not out to have me killed immediately, I will allow you to roam freely about this cell. But if another word comes to me about your craving my blood on behalf of my father or anyone, I will send you out with the Christians and leave you to the mercy of their God and the lions."

Maximus said nothing as the emperor left. He had been planning on offing the little pissant, but perhaps he too had been misguided about what had actually happened to his family and Marcus. He needed to speak with Lucilla. She had connections that would indeed tell him the truth; at least they would while he was still in Rome.