Caput XIV
***CXXVI***
The news that had reached Annabeth late the previous month had not been expected. Four legions assembled in Salona. The Son of Jupiter commanded just one, Legio XIII Gemina. She could figure out how this bastard son of Bassus could be deemed more appropriate to lead the army she knew would come in the spring. What is this? A trick? An attempt to turn my attention away from the most likely commander. Her source told her that the man with dark hair and a very unRoman beard was called the Praefectus Achaea, which Annabeth knew enough to mean he oversaw everything that Rome considered Achaea. They told her that the former commander of the Second Legion had been publicly killed on his orders. She was also informed that the Son of Jupiter, who went by Jason, and the Praefectus Achaea appeared to be close, referring to each other as brother.
Unlike his blonde-haired brother, it did not seem that the force's commander possessed the propensity for the company of the readily available prostitutes that seemed to flock to army camps. He was austere in dress and demeanor, but his eyes flashed with a brilliant green. Her response to the asset was simple, "You must learn more of him. Whatever you must do, it will be worth the information."
Her brother, on the other hand, seemed absolutely thrilled that he seemed to be correct. She reminded him that the new arrival could delegate command of his legions to a subordinate and that he should not be confident of his assessment too early.
***CXXVII***
"They've been studying us you say?"
"Yes, Praefectus. Beginning at Philippi and again in the east. The initial defeats, your father's triumphs, and Antonius' debacle."
"Debacle is a good word for that," Percy said with a laugh, refilling first Lukas' and then his own wine. The two were conversing in Greek. Lukas had been shocked that the Roman commander possessed such a grasp of the language, but Percy demurred with "mandate of my father." Again, in the present, he asked, "Their leader has quite an understanding of strategy, it seems?"
"Very much so, Athena's Heir, they say."
"Wouldn't it be something if the virgin goddess had a child? Hermes, Ares, shit, no telling how many fucking Zeus has." Both men laughed and hit their cups together before downing more of their wine. "She's got to be a great guesser and tactician too. Ambushed three units in a row." Lukas seemed unfocused; his eyes locked onto the well-endowed blonde who had dropped her chiton to the binding around her waist.
"A guess here, little information there." He muttered as the blonde passed behind him and he felt her bare breasts rub against his back. He seemingly lost track of the conversation due to the influx of blood to groin as the topic rapidly changed. "I don't see many other officers down this way, I thought you lot had luxury arrangements at the center of camp?" The blond, for the third time that night, drug her fingers along the prefect's thick arm before walking to the end of the table to turn another lap.
Percy shrugged, "Eh, I like to see my men. It takes right bastards to win wars. Don't know if I can trust a soldier who doesn't drink and fuck."
"Yet you haven't taken advantage of that blonde whore who keeps throwing herself at you."
"She's throwing herself at my money, and, Hades, I've always preferred dark haired women." The Greek turn coat threw his head back and laughed. As his arm swung wide, Percy pushed the blonde-haired prostitute into his arms and tossed a handful of sestertii onto the table. "Thanks for the evening." He said with a smile and both remaining occupants of the table believed his words for them.
***CXXVIII***
She was beautiful, he admitted. Percy lay on his side, observing the naked woman beside him. No emotional pleasure resulted from the previous night's encounter; physical pleasure was a different story. The woman was not Reyna and that troubled him, yet he had gone through with it anyway. Her approach had been aggressive, even her dark looks and curves were not central to his acquiescence. No, the key to acceptance of her company was the timing.
Just the week before, his conversation with the Greek, Lukas, revealed his preference in women. Fortuitously it seemed, a new girl joined the ranks of those that plied their bodies amongst the "luxury arrangements" near the officers' section of camp. His eyes studied her again, dark hair, olive skin, the accented Greek of the Aegean. She knew all the actions to perform and all the right things to say; and the questions to ask. Little else could further solidify his opinion when after a second round of her affection, he feigned sleep and watched her move naked across the room toward the table filled with dispatches before returning to his bed. She began to stir, and Percy again closed his eyes. Soon he felt her body against his, he opened his eyes slowly and looked into the ones that were not Reyna's.
"Does the Praefectus wish for another?" Her hand traveled the length of his torso and his body responded involuntarily.
"Get on with it," he responded. She began to kiss down his chest and had reached his abdomen when Jason and two of his most trusted centurions grabbed her by the hair and arms and wrenched her from the bed. She hung, naked, between the two centurions as Jason walked around to look at her.
"You've got good taste, brother." Percy poured water from a pitcher and took a long drink, feeling the tiredness from the night before vanishing, as he pulled a short tunic over his head.
"It might be fairer to say Athena's Heir does." He took another heavy gulp of the water. Standing he looked down on the beautiful, Greek woman. "Let us see how much information travels in this direction." The woman, previously in shock, appeared to wilt before the imposing figure of the man she believed she had lured to bed as she realized that the opposite had, in fact, occurred.
***CXXIX***
The mist over the fountain began to shimmer and Annabeth moved forward. The source maintained their agreed upon contacts perfectly. Something was immediately wrong though. The woman's eyes were red tinged, her face sweat stained and pale, and, most importantly, blood seemed to be leaking from the corner of her mouth. A voice very much not that of her spy emitted from somewhere beside the image she received courtesy of the goddess Iris. It spoke flawless Greek.
"Women mixing amongst the prostitutes, quite the plan, Athena's Heir. I imagine something similar led to the Second's ignoble end." Annabeth, despite the knowledge that it was likely her gambit would eventually be discovered, felt more guilt than expected that the Daughter of Nemesis before her had been caught. "Unfortunately for you, I am not that Legate. Open you mouth, dear. Show her what becomes of spies in this camp." Dione refused, shaking her head slightly. A powerfully built forearm appeared in the image and forced open the girl's mouth. Annabeth wretched.
The dark cavern was empty, except for the blood leaking from the stump of where a tongue once resided. A face filled the image, she assumed it was the owner of the forearm from the skin coloring and was rather shocked at his appearance. He was far too hairy to be a normal Roman and she realized she was looking into the face of the Praefectus Achaea. "She'll serve me well, as a slave," he said still in Greek. "But shockingly, I believe we have met." Raven locks and piercingly green eyes, she thought, Hades himself. "You were covered in blood the last time though, but if I remember, I think I saved your life."
"You're a monster!"
"Maybe, but I am no fool." Annabeth waved her hand through the mist and stumbled back several steps before sitting upon a stone step. Gods, if it feels like this to fail one person, what will it feel like if I fail more.
***CXXX***
Winter brought the cold and pounding rain. The roads traversed by the auxiliary forces became quagmires and delayed their arrival. The new year had passed yet only five thousand of the eight thousand requested had arrived. Following the capture of the spy Dione, more had been discovered. Percy and Jason would admit that it was unfortunately true that some of the spies were not that, little had been left to chance and the barred pits that served as prisons within the camp were occupied at a much higher rate than before. Chief among those occupants was Lukas, whose life of quasi-luxury within the camp had ended when Dione had admitted under interrogation, that while he passed no information himself, he did serve as a conduit on how best to target the various Romans selected for information.
It was from him that it had been learned that the mistress of the former Second Legion commander had been one of these spies as well, a Daughter of Aphrodite. He was also their source on the recent spate of ambushes that had killed, rather gruesomely, caravans of Roman nobles attempting to escape the rebellion in the south. The few rebel dead and their weapons told him that the perpetrators were of the rebellion.
"Your fucking people," Jason muttered after the bodies of an entire family of Romans from a villa outside Thebes arrived with an escort of their patrols. The slaughtered hired guards had been left to rot in the sun due to fear of reattack.
"My people?" Percy asked. He received no immediate response. The Praefectus Achaea looked up slowly. His green eyes met with the Germanic blue eyes of the Legate. "My people?" He repeated the question. "My people did not rebel, Jason. The Greeks rebelled, my people are the 30,000 bastards rotting in the rain and muck to stop them." His arm had motioned to the surrounding tents and shelters and the men huddled under them. "They rebelled and you and me and these fucking bastards have to put an end to it."
"Are they as good as our lads in Gaul?" Jason asked, recognizing his mistake and hoping the go to question for the series of leaders that currently ended with him had asked for years would be an admission of his error.
"Maybe half as good, which means they're twice as good as whatever sons of bitches they have."
***CXXXI***
By the middle of Februarius almost all intelligence from inside the Roman had dried up. All of the various leaders were concerned by this, but they remained confident in her abilities. Even Lukas, designed as a traitor, had ceased to provide reports. Most of her council stood around her now. They looked upon a map depicting Greece. Red counters upon it represented the Roman forces. Four large ones represented the four legions, smaller ones represented auxiliary units her scouts could not properly enumerate due to an increase in cavalry patrols.
She looked around the table. Malcolm stood by her side, despite her dismissals of his counsel in the past. Clarisse of Sparta and Stavros of Boeotia, leaders of infantry. Leandros, son of Hephaestus her engineering and armorer extraordinaire. Michael of Thessaly, a son of Apollo, commander of all the archers. Mark of Philippi, commanded the four thousand cavalry recruited from across Thessaly, Boeotia, and Thrace. Mark's cavalry at Plataea had been decisive.
"The time has come, draw together the army, we are marching north." Five of the six looked at her with approval, unsurprisingly, Malcolm did not.
"You'll do so without me." All eyes turned to him. "And, I request ten thousand soldiers to remain here with me. Athens is too exposed. Should a second Roman force appear in the rear, Attica is ripe for the plucking."
"You doubt my abilities," the accusation spat from Annabeth's mouth.
"No, sister. If anything, I give the Roman ability to wage war too much credit, but regardless, with those forces and the people of Athens we will rebuild the long walls and secure Piraeus should a second force appear." Annabeth could not doubt his logic, as much as she wanted to.
"I will leave twelve thousand, with the condition that two thousand of them are made available for rapid deployment to reinforce my force if need be."
"It will be done."
She turned to the other five. "We will march with twenty-five thousand soldiers. Begin your preparations, we march at the end of the month."
***CXXXII***
The quality of information gleaned from Lukas had improved as his lot in life dissolved. No longer being pandered to by the Romans, his veneer of absolute betrayal vanished. Several of the Roman leaders would admit that whippings also had a way of loosening tongues. Athena's Heir was named Annabeth and she was indeed a daughter of the virgin goddess. It seemed much of the rebellion's leadership, Lukas included, were descendants of the gods in one way or another. It also appeared that while Athens may be the new home of the rebellion, it had begun in a mountain village upon Mt. Pelion.
"Where did this begin?"
"Her mother gave her the task," Lukas responded, shaking from the cold and lack of food. He rarely resisted answering any question these days.
"What do you mean?"
"Her mother…she spoke to her and gave her the task to avenge Greece." The man, a Son of Hermes it seemed, sounded weak.
"Where did it begin?"
"We found her in Athens and took her to Mt. Pelion."
"What is there?
"A place for people like her and I."
"Rebels?"
"People without homes."
"What does Mt. Pelion mean to you?"
"It is the first place many of us ever felt safe."
"Is it now?" Percy asked coldly. He turned away from the gated pit, ignoring the cries of the defeated man within it.
Hours later he looked at his cousin. "They have a camp and we know it's location," the Son of Poseidon looked to his Roman cousin. "When I march to the south, wait three days and move east. Take your legion, one cohors quingenaria sagittarii, et duo alae equites Maurorum. Raze it, Jason. Make it like Carthage." Percy believed that the nearly seven thousand men would be more than adequate for whatever "village" this was. It would leave him with roughly twenty-two thousand soldiers on his initial push south, though considering scouts' reports that the Greeks were preparing to do the same, he doubted he would be forced to move too far south.
Jason's fist thumped against his breastplate, "It will be done, Praefectus. When do the engineers arrive?" A late addition to Percy's requested order of battle, came in the form of several hundred immunes, the specialists. These were mostly engineers and artillery men. As it became known that Athens was the primary base for the rebellion, Percy anticipated a siege would become necessary by the end of the campaign.
"A fair point. We will wait for them, then march south together. When the time comes, you will branch to the east. Take them all with your force and be prepared to execute a march south once you're done with Mt. Pelion." Jason saluted again.
***CXXXIII***
It had been many years since the throne room of Olympus filled with the likes of Zeus, Hera, and Ares. In the recent past, Jupiter, Juno, and Mars reigned supreme between their forms. Tonight, however, twelve deities looked down upon the lit altars and bright temples of Athens and Sparta and a dozen cities across the Hellenic landscape. Thousands of prayers and offerings rose toward the beings atop Mt Olympus. Some of them felt refreshed, reborn into their true form. Others felt dismissal and loathing.
Of the three most ancient and powerful of their number, only Zeus attended. The trident-bearing marble stone reserved for his brother sat vacant and Hades was rarely welcome atop the peak of the gods. Instead, Hestia made their number an even number, a slight smile on her face that all her family was in one location, in a single form. However, she knew too well that such peace only existed between the eras of great war. All gathered knew that tomorrow armies would march, but for tonight, the Greek gods would watch over the world once more. Because while the Greeks prayed to the gods and offered what little they had, almost thirty thousand Romans sharpened weapons and relied upon their training and officers. They did not believe they required a god's intervention; they were the Roman legion, and, in the morning, they marched for the heart of Greece.
***CXXXIV***
"You could have given him the Sixteenth. At least one veteran legion who knows him." Agrippa and Caesar looked at each other across a scroll-lined room. They had just finished reading a dispatch from Salona. Tomorrow was the last day of Martius, Perseus would march south at dawn.
"Why? So he could be to it what my uncle was to the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth? No. I move him about and he will not gain that level of influence."
"Instead, he gains slight influence over them all," Agrippa replied, something similar to disappointment in his voice. This was Caesar, he should have foreseen such a potential outcome. "Because you feared Jason was another Sulla. Another Son Jupiter committed to nothing but outright control of Rome. Instead, he's probably the most Roman of us all, duty alone drives every fucking thing he does." Caesar ignored the criticism and went on the offensive.
"You've been married less than two years; shouldn't you be at home until you have a child."
"She's pregnant, I have all the time to drink wine with my old friend."
"Fuck," Caesar hissed and looked across the room. In an ever increasingly rare display of levity, the two men burst into laughter. A slave interrupted them.
"The Augur to see you, Dominus."
"What does the prick want?" Agrippa growled from his side of the room.
"He claims it to be too important for a mere slave to hear."
"I will be the judge of that. Show him in, and then stand by my side," Caesar ordered.
"Augustus," Octavian Varus began, noticing the slave he had dismissed standing beside Caesar's desk. "The auguries have revealed a most distressing message." He paused, clearly inviting a question of what it had been. Neither Caesar nor Agrippa gave him such an opportunity. "They say that the Son of Greece will delivery a victory for his people. Clearly Perseus will betray us to the Greeks!" The man's shrill voice rose as he spoke the final sentence, further cementing his comparison to a weasel. Shock was clear upon his face as the response from the two leading men of Rome was laughter. Agrippa, the taller and broader of the two, stepped forward and looked down on the little blond man.
"Have you ever had a real conversation with him?"
"He and…and I do not interact regularly."
"Do you know," Agrippa stated loudly, hoping to cover Caesar's whispered "That's only your wife."
"Do you know," he began again, "How he refers to the soldiers around him?" Octavian's face remained unmoved, clearly revealing he did not. Agrippa attempted to mimic the gruff Greek's harsh Latin, "These are my people, the right fucking bastards who win the fucking war." His voice returned to normal. "If he is winning wars for them, so be it."
"But what if it…" now Caesar cut him off.
"I trust him enough to name him Praefectus Achaea and give him nearly thirty thousand troops, yet you question his loyalty, which is in turn questioning my judgement?" The augur opened his mouth, then closed. He licked his lips yet did not respond. "Leave us augur, return to your duties, and leave us to ours." They both watched him depart the chamber, the slave following in trace. Agrippa spoke first, stealing one of late Antonius' favorite words.
"What a fucking cunt."
***CXXXV***
Percy sat astride Blackjack, the horse that never died, it seemed. Around him, thousands of men moved for the sole reason that he ordered them to do so. From the mount, he looked down on the vestiges of a once proud Greek. "I have one final question for you."
Lukas looked up, praying that his answer would improve his life's lot. "Yes, praefectus." As soon as the question was asked, he knew his answer would do little to improve his lot regardless of what it was.
"The raid against the treasury in Corinth. Did your people conduct it?"
"Yes, praefectus."
"And the girl's death?"
"Annabeth ordered that anonymity was worth any violence that had to occur." Publius Ventidius Bassus Perseanus did not know what answer he had expected. After the one given, he took several long breaths through his nose. Blackjack stamped his hooves, sensing the rage building within the Son of Poseidon.
"Let us see if she believes such after this campaign."
***CXXXVI***
Chiron smiled as he watched the young children of the gods practice their archery. For longer than anyone could count, he had been here. Teaching the heroes of tomorrow always brought joy to him, despite what their older siblings and cousins were attempting currently. Rumors had reached him that most of the army had departed Athens marching north towards the Romans at Salona. He hoped the girl was right. Moreso, he hoped that whatever the outcome, the foundations of Greek life remained. He beamed more brightly as one of the young archers, no more than ten, rushed toward him.
"Alexios, my boy, what is it?"
"Chiron, Chiron, what is that?" The boy seemed excited, and his arm jumped as he tried to point toward the subject of his question. Eventually his old eyes found a increasingly large pillar of smoke against the setting sun to the west.
"I do not know," he muttered. Turning he found two Sons of Hermes to his right, fortunately both were master horsemen.
"Find out what that is, look only."
Hours later, Chiron stood above the fire. The shadows and glares wreaked havoc with his appearance, and he quickly seemed more akin to his wild kindred than he was. He stared intently toward the flames, waiting. The voice that cut through the darkness belonged to neither of the two scouts he had sent, yet it did not bother him too greatly.
"Rome has come." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.
"It has been many years since we last spoke, my child." Zoe Nightshade slowly appeared from the shadows, her circlet gleaming in the firelight.
"I wish it were at a better time," she replied softly.
"The time is the time, there is nothing we can do about that. The circumstances," nodded his head with a slight smile, "could be better." He motioned to a stump beside him, Zoe sat on it. "Can you help us?"
"We will guide them over the mountain, ships wait at the coast."
"Only if they want to leave."
"Do they want to live?" she asked sharply. "The force coming against you is far more than the craftsmen, mothers, and fathers that did not join the Athena girl's campaign. Its leader is rumored to be a Son of Jupiter. I have not seen proof of this, but if it is true, are you willing to risk all these people have against a man with that power?" The thundering of hooves delayed his response. The day's earlier riders had returned. They leapt from the horses and quickly approached the seated Zoe and the centaur.
"A full legion and several thousand horse, Chiron. At least seven thousand men. Probably more, we saw engineers and siege machines being built."
Chiron knew the espionage capacity of Hermes children after this many centuries, "Did you ascertain their mission?"
"To make this place like Carthage. We have at best two days before they arrive." They responded simply. Zoe looked up from her seat.
"They destroyed Carthage's capacity to exist. Chiron, get your people out of here."
***CXXXVII***
Across Greece, high in the mountains of the once powerful Epirus, two beings looked down upon the village of Dodona. The high peaks of Mount Tomaros cast shadows over the village and the two forces drawn to it. To the beings' south, the camp of the Hellenes shown through the darkness with the lights of a thousand fires. At the northern end of the plain, the rigid structure of the Roman camp stood in stark contrast to the rambling nature of the Hellenic one.
"Our sister was troubled by your absence, brother." The being leaning upon a three-pronged spear slowly turned to his companion.
"And what of yours ever since our brother claimed the skies and you and I fell to the waves and darkness?" The Lord of the Underworld merely shrugged in response.
"The divide is hurting you, brother. More than it ever has it seems." The Sea God massaged his temples before responding.
"Yes. This rebellion harkens back to the days of Themistocles and Pericles, when, as Poseidon, my blessing carried the Hellenes across the sea into power. But now…" The older of the two cut in.
"Your son."
"Yes. The Son of Poseidon, yet Roman prayers go to Neptune due to his actions and decisions."
"So what is your stance in what is destined to unfold below us."
"That I will do nothing. I cannot turn my back upon the Hellenes, but neither will I fight against my son. I will watch what unfolds and whatever Ananke determines to be the outcome, so be it."
"There will be those that will not approve of your stance."
"Then those will be reminded, I am the God of the Sea, Storms, and Earthquakes. I do not make decisions in order to please them, my decisions are my own."
"And as they effect Greece?"
"They will equally effect Rome."
The Lord of the Underworld moved his eyes deliberately between the two camps. "A great number of them will soon join me beyond the land of the living."
"Aye and many more before this is over."
"There's something about them though," Hades said as he watched the pinpricks of light that represented torches or cooking fires. "They know they may die tomorrow, yet they do it anyway."
"Because they may also live," the Sea God replied. "You and I will never understand it, but to them life isn't just living, it's living while knowing any day could be the end."
A/N: As I was reviewing the story thus far I realized at some point I started saying Mt Kylleni as Chiron's place of training instead of Pelion. I think I have gone back and corrected them all, but if there is one I missed, I apologize.