Caput XXIX
***CCCXXIX***
"You fucking cunt," Percy spoke slowly as he approached Octavian Varus. The weasel of a man scurried from the imposing figure until he backed his way into a corner. Once there he seemed to shrink. "Were you born as this insufferable a twat or did you shrivel into it at some point?" The augur could not form the words to reply to the demigod who appeared to bring the rage of the sea into his chambers. They stood in Octavian's bedchambers, which meant that Octavian's wife allowed his entrance. The prostitute that on Percy's entrance found herself bent over the foot of the bed, now attempted to disappear into the shadows. Percy did not care; his business was not with prostitutes this night. "You best answer, else I will extract an answer and it will not be pleasant."
"I was born, I was born…"
"You were born a cunt, a pity for your parents." He maintained his position, looming over the naked man. "What did you learn from the Sibylline books? Why did you not report it to Caesar as you should have?"
"There's a… there was a…"
"Yes, there was a fucking prophecy, I know that much. What the fuck did it say?" The man, while extremely competent at the political game, seemed to lose all connection to his manhood at the slightest appearance of physical violence. Unfortunately for Octavian Varus, physical violence was Perseus' forte. Therefore, in a small whisper, he relayed the message derived from augury and Sibylline Books years before. "Fuck," Percy muttered and exited the house where seventeen years before he first cucked the man whimpering below him.
***CCCXXX***
The great chryselephantine statue glared at Perseus. He stood in the dark corner of the Basilica of Neptune. His arms crossed over his chest, and he stared across the room at marble form of his Poseidon's Roman form. To the few worshippers of the sea god, mostly merchant sailors, the only thought was how similar the man looked to the statues surrounding the temple. They did not question how long the man stayed, though not a one of the arrivals witnessed his entrance and none his departure. For Perseus had entered before the sun rose and as it set, he remained ensconced within. Those merchants, with their schedules, also knew not that he spent nearly every day in this temple for the last six months because he had no idea what the worthless augur's message meant.
"Does he ever speak to you?"
"He has before." Percy turned to his wife of nearly three years and two daughters, the youngest barely a month old. Never before had she sought him out outside of their house without it being a summons to an event by her father. When they desired each other, that occurred; when they did not, they went their separate ways. While he, as a man, was allowed certain liberties in his sexual relations such was not the case with her. Society would judge her in such a situation, as would a judge, was she not Augustus' daughter. Given the natives of Rome with whom she interacted with, all of the upper class with a few slaves as well, they would judge her nearly as harshly for infidelity against Perseus.
"What is the most profound thing that has come from a talk with him, husband?"
"Publius Varus," Percy responded flatly.
"Your father!"
"Intimated that should I not fuck Octavian Varus' wife; he was inclined to. Though, given his proclivities, perhaps I should confirm they are all mine."
"But you came to love her, did you not?" He turned his green eyes upon her and despite their marriage and children, she recognized sadness.
"I did."
"And your children, husband?"
"They are my children, their legitimacy notwithstanding."
"How much to love them? Love her?" There was a fire in her questioning that Percy found extremely appealing, despite the topic of conversation destined to end poorly. The line of questioning did bring to the forefront of his mind that nearly half a year had passed since Reyna's journey east to visit her friend Claudia Marcella Minor. Little had been seen or heard from her since. Julia believed it to be a self-imposed exile.
"Enough so that I did not ask for divorce. She and her children would have never been together or allowed to stay as one had she ever left the cunt for me. So, I left her there, miserable, but with her children. My mother was constant in my life until I left her behind. My children deserved the same."
"What does that say for me and my children?" Her choice of words pointedly flew toward him. Equal in voracity, his volley returned.
"Our children are loved."
"And me, husband?"
"Emotions are involved now. Not merely a sense of duty."
"Yes, because duty alone is what convinces you to fuck me. Any beyond lust?" Her voice gained the sultry tone it did whenever she desired him. She leaned closer to him.
"Working on it." He replied as her hands moved along his body. Her eyes darted to the statue of Neptune.
"How angry would he be if we fucked here?"
***CCCXXXI***
Harsh winds pierced their hide clothing. The train of burned-out villages and destruction forced them to cross the Danube. Not even the Romans advanced past the Danube and even the great Alexander of Macedon did so sparingly before turning to the never-ceasing campaign eastward. This was the land of Pindar's Hyperborea, the land of giants. The last of Phoebe's mortal kin died on Alexander's trek east, stamped to death by Indian elephants. Now she, Myrinne, and a newly joined member of the Hunt, Nicomache of Athens, shivered in the northern mountains. The rest of the Hunt had been called away to track some great beast at Artemis' side. Despite the goddess's complete ignoring of their findings, Zoë ordered the trio north to find whatever this host was. Messages had been sent to the Greek camp in Lacedaemonia, but more proof was needed.
Suddenly, a great thunderous boom appeared at their rear shaking the very ground beneath them. The three dove into a dark crevice of rock. From within its dark hold, the cold seemingly penetrating deeper into their bodies, and they held each other to keep from shivering with such violence that the rattle of their bones would have attracted whatever approached.
Again, the earth shook as a massive blue-gray food and leg pounded the snow color ground in front of them. Nineteen more followed. They waited until the heavy footfalls became a dull thud in the distance to move. With a whispered affirmation of "Hyperboreans," they set off, following the giants in hope they would lead to wherever this army hid. Artemis expected them to return to the rest of the Hunt by the Winter Solstice. They had just four days.
When they regrouped with the others, they bore no news. Despite a dozen similar expeditions of exploration, they continued to find nothing. They would not for nearly a year.
***CCCXXXII***
The man who delivered the scroll could not decide which was more unusual. Was it that the letter was addressed to a slave within the domus of Perseus? Or that it was addressed in Greek and the logic that it belonged to the most famous Greek within Rome was incorrect? It did not matter, for the mute slave, Dione, accepted the scroll on behalf of the household, paid the man, and disappeared within its walls.
Percy insisted on walking everywhere within Rome. He felt it kept him in better preparedness for whenever Augustus sent him back onto the battlefield. Hades, he has even allowed Agrippa to take the army in Cantabri and take my son, Publius with him as a tribune, and still he keeps me fucking here. Following one of these sojourns, through an excruciatingly hot day in Junius, Percy returned from the Senate, having heard another languishing debate on the effects of rising wealth amongst the plebians. There had been a marked look across the chamber at Percy as one decried the "impurities" of the Roman upper class of late. The debate ended when Percy stood and replied, "If your fat ass could still ride a horse at the front of a legion, I am sure men like I would not have been necessary." Thus, he was four cups of wine deep before Lucius, his major domo, entered the room ahead of Dione and Kassandra. He announced their presence and departed.
"What is it?"
"A letter, from Zoë Nightshade. It arrived with my name on it this morning." The two slave girls watched an anger cross his face and they doubted he even realized the hand that moved to the scar on the side of his head. He drained the cup of wine and poured another before saying more.
"How the fuck do that cunt's words affect me?"
"She says the prophecy speaks of you."
"I'd be pleased to hear of how Rome hates me."
"Not Rome. Greek demigods."
"I am not one of them."
"She believes you are, regardless of what she expects your opinion on the matter to be. She suspects the Greek version is different than what has been heard in Rome." Kassandra noticed that the cup of wine disappeared as she had spoken, and he poured himself another. He motioned to her to continue with the newly filled cup. She spoke strongly, "The hated son must go into the east; To protect those who regard him the least; Children of the eldest stand in defense; On Sparta's mount will come their recompence; For pride's monster comes for their demise; Setting enemies into new allies."
"I would not find it likely my father hates me."
"That is doubtful, but to find someone who regards you less than the Daughter of Athena and Athena herself would be difficult." At that he ceased drinking and glared at the two, for on count, he could offer no argument. "They will still consider you an enemy."
"They are still my enemy. And what of this pride's monster?"
"My sisters hunt for him."
***CCCXXXIII***
"Gods," muttered Zoë Nightshade. Nearly a year had passed since Phoebe's small group failed to find the full monster army. This time the full complement of Hunters, now numbering forty-two, moved through the wilds of the land north of the Danube. From her perch atop a rocky escarpment, she could see the massive camp. Fires dotted its entirety in such number and volume that a layer of smoke covered the entire valley. At this distance, it appeared that the encampment stretched at least three-quarters of a mile in breadth and width. At this distance, she would not learn enough.
"Myrinne, set up camp. Phoebe, we will go and get a closer look."
They moved shadow to shadow. When shadows failed, they flitted treetop to treetop. Over the course of seven hours, they closed the distance. Once they overlooked their enemy, a fear filled them nearly as great as the fear that consumed all of Athens when the Romans breached the wall just six years before.
"It must be ten thousand," Phoebe muttered.
"Maybe, fifteen thousand. Look at the center of it though, where all the giants are."
"I do not see a monster."
"We do not have to; those are massive looms."
***CCCXXXIV***
"You were my last choice." The demigod sat low next to the smallest of shrines. "Even your brother seemed to not care. I am guessing the Underworld has plenty of space. The one goddess I have always relied on now walks the same paths I stump along." Malcolm paused for a moment. "Only for that reason am I here. The Hunters report ten or more thousand monsters march upon us, led by an ancient enemy of my mother. That they will be here by the summer." His eyes full upon the missing portion of his leg. "I cannot defend my daughter with this leg. I know it is selfish to only care for her, but she is my world, Lord Poseidon. If your power can save this settlement, all the better, but at the least, can you assure my daughter is able to live the life she deserves?"
"It is not my intention to watch all of the Greeks die." Malcolm attempted to turn, however, with his missing leg he could not. The voice continued. "I will seek out help for you. But know that godly help does not always meet the expectations of those who ask."
***CCCXXXV***
"Your time has come." It annoyed Jason how the gods would so quickly appear in his presence. No fucking warning, just a word out of nowhere. This voice was different than the last time, when Zeus gave him the order to form a legion for the gods. In the over three years since, the move proved rather useless as all monsters or threats to the gods seemed to be leaving his area of control. Due to that, Legio XII Fulminata existed here in the east undermanned for conventional fights and its four thousand demigods, legacies, and clear-sighted mortals relied upon fifteen hundred Syrian auxiliaries to fill the gaps in their manning. The Syrians would be more easily cut free if the unit was ever actually utilized.
"Which of you is it this time?" Jason grumbled, refusing to look up from the small mountain of administrative work before him. He did not know why all the administration seemed to be due in month of Mars, a month he believed should be dedicated to ensuring the martial capacity of his forces.
"Poseidon," now Jason turned. The god appeared smaller than Zeus had, but Jason realized it seemed almost purposeful. The god is making himself seem small. He poured two cups of wine and took one to his friend's father.
"My lord, what can I do for you?"
"They will need your legion in Greece. Monsters march on the remnants of the Greeks. They are not strong enough to survive alone."
"I once tried to destroy Greece."
"Yes and the goddess who caused it now walks among them as a mortal." He registered the shock on Jason's face. "Yes, my niece was cursed to spend ten years as a mortal. If the Greeks fall, she will fall as well."
"I have no orders from Rome on this."
"I am going to Rome next to speak to one who can give them."
"Will Perseus join us in Greece?"
"I shall ask." The god emptied his wine and strode for the door Jason knew he did not need.
"Will he say no?" Poseidon's response held great sadness in his tone.
"I do not know, Lucius Cornelius Jason, I do not know." The god vanished and Jason stared at his hands for a moment before calling out for his leading subordinate.
"Pullo!"
***CCCXXXVI***
"You will go north. Germania demands a hand I trust."
"Why is this coming from you and not Augustus?" Percy studied the younger man, admiring his perceptive ability to see into the situation.
"Because he asked me who we should send." Percy watched as Nero Claudius Drusus' shoulders seemed to square at the implied praise. "You are young, yes, but you have proven yourself in Hispania with me. The last two years in Syria with Jason. The border there must be secure before we can attempt any push further into Germania."
"I will not fail you, Praefectus."
"I know you will not."
"Sir, what news do you have Publius? I have not heard from your son in some time." Percy identified the usage of "your son," a sign of the familiarity between Augustus' stepson and the premier battlefield commander in the service of Augustus. Less noticeable was the desire to have knowledge of one's friend. Jason had been in Syria for how long now?
"Agrippa has given me regular reports. It appears my son is growing as a man and a commander. Agrippa has given him command of an ala of cavalry to learn how to be a better battlefield leader."
"I am glad to hear of his success, sir."
"How is your betrothed?" Just weeks earlier it had been announced that he would marry the daughter of Marcus Antonius and Octavia Minor. Percy anticipated at least a three-year gap before the wedding, for he intended to keep Drusus in Germania for at least that long. Long enough to justify giving him an army.
"We have met, sir. I think we shall be happy."
"I am happy that is the case."
"Were you happy, sir? When your marriage was arranged?"
"I loved another woman and I had children with her. At the same time, regardless of how she was chosen, I owed it to the woman that would be my wife to be a husband."
"But were you happy?"
"I have grown to be content. I am happy with my children and my wife and I continue to work toward something more than a mere it's what's expected of us. Part of happiness is also enjoying what you are doing. As fucked as it sounds, life in the city here is not enjoyable compared to the campaign and the legion. Walking through the shit and the blood is a home to me, the peacefulness of the city is disconcerting."
"Have you ever known complete happiness?"
"The closest was beating the Aquitani, nearly ten years ago now." He thought back to it. The victories in Gaul behind them, he marched his legion south in support of the crushing of the Aquitani's rebellion. There he reunited with Reyna and his children. Then he marched on Greece. He suspected his success there represented why he found himself in his current position. "Regardless, it is time for you to prepare for Germania." He extended his hand, Drusus took it.
"Strength and honor, sir."
"Strength and honor." The younger man departed, and Percy returned to the administration of Rome's defense. He hated it, but he dutifully executed the task. He suddenly sensed a being behind him.
"I must ask something of you, my son."
***CCCXXXVII***
His mind raced faster than the black charger carrying him violently through the streets of the seven hills. He thought of his father's request, a request that he drop everything in order to leave for Greece to save those he had tried to kill years before. It is madness, he thought as he was carried past the Quirinal Hill with its Capitolium Vetus dedicated to the Capitoline Triad. Jupiter, Juno, and the Roman form of the goddess that appeared more concerned about her association with war and death than actual veneration, Minerva. He barreled through the Viminal without glancing at anything. As he cleared the Esquiline, thoughts of the goddess he fought in Athens filled his mind. Her daughter and Zoë Nightshade appeared before him at the crest of the Caelian before he began the descent to the Palatine. From there he turned southeast, riding through the Aventine before turning north and the Tiber and following it to the Campus Martius.
There began his ascent of the Capitoline Hill. He passed under its heights to the west. The Temple of Bellona shadowed him from the moon, before he passed the theater named in his wife's former husband's honor. He already possessed plans to make improvements and have it renamed in his. He passed the Temples of Spes, Pietas, and Juno Sospita before his southward journey turned east. As he passed along the Vicus Jugarius, the Street of the Yoke-Makers, the valley of the Velabrum stretched out to the southeast, where it met the Palatine. The horse slowed not its breakneck speed as it passed between the Basilica Julia and the Temple of Saturn.
Bursting from the dark confines of the urban valley, the black stallion turned hard to his left, essentially reversing course. The great prison, the Tullianum, passed under his gaze before the records house, the Tabularium, did the same. The temples of Concord and Veiovis fell behind him on his right, along with the construction site of a Temple of Neptune being constructed with Percy's coin, as the Temple of Saturn now filled the left edges of his vision. He passed under the Portico Dii Consentes and the Clivus Capitolinus carried him to the crest. He turned sharply right, passing over the Temple of Juipiter Tonansto enter the Area Capitolina via the Arch of Scipio.
As Blackjack ran laps about the central altar, Percy's eyes took in it all. A temple to Venus beside ones to Ops and Fides. Two buildings held great significance to those of godly descent. The Aedes Vulcanus and the Aedes Tensarum contained the forges and storerooms of the weapons made from the gold blessed within the greatest building of the Capitoline Hill.
The horse came to a stop before the great façade of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. Inside, each of the Capitoline Triad received an individual cella, the sacred inner chamber where only the most worthy entered. Once again, Perseus' anger flashed as he recognized the honors given to Minerva that Athena seemed to have ignored and that led to the deaths of how many of his men. Despite its grandeur, he determined this was not the place to have the solitude he desired. Again, the great black horse sped off. They exited the Arch of Scipio. Descending the hill, they passed through the Asylum before reentering the Campus Martius. The horse needed no guidance and, passing the Pantheon and the Baths of Agrippa, Percy found himself outside the Basilica of Neptune. His own image stared at him from several of the busts outside, a joke of Agrippa that none would tell the difference in the god and the Son of Poseidon. No one questioned it.
***CCCXXXVIII***
"I highly doubt that staring at a stone statue will answer what you ask."
"It is easier to talk to than people."
"You question whether you should go to Greece, your homeland." Only now did Percy's eyes depart the marble wall and he cast them upon the woman now occupying a bench beside him. She seemed familiar, but the wrong age. His mind began to run, searching over forty years of faces to remember a name. "It is a complex question. Should you save them, you condemn them to millennia of war. Regardless of your actions to save them now, demigods of Rome and Greece shall never reconcile. They will claim that this statue alone drives the conflict, but it will be nothing more than the universal urge to destroy that which is powerful, but different. They will kill each other for centuries claiming your acts as an ancient grievance."
"That does not seem to leave a true choice." She smiled sadly.
"There is always a choice. Without the demigods of Greece, the Greek gods will cease to exist. With no direct ties to that aspect, we of the Romans will march through the ages unchecked. The freedom of mind and soul that we Romans value would perish."
"If Rome values it so, would it not be for me to ensure it happens?" She smiled again.
"We Roman gods, not Rome. For have you accepted the central thinking of all Romans, or do you value your own thoughts and ways? That is the Greek in you."
"Are you saying that Romans do not value free thinking?"
"I am saying the gods of Roman form demand loyalty. Young Perseus, cease this foolish connection of Rome and the empire to Roman gods. Your loyalty has ever been to Rome the city, the nation, the empire. Have you lost your ability to think of the Greek pantheon as yours?"
"My father is Poseidon." Pride was evident in his voice.
"Yes, and therefore, Poseidon ceases to exist if the Greeks die. You are a Greek of Rome, not of the Roman pantheon. And I might add, would the eradication of the Greek demigods satisfy this threat or would their eyes turn west next? Would the death of one of the Capitoline Triad not upset the balance of Roman religion as well?"
"I saw you in Corinth," he said suddenly. She smiled.
"I once visited that city."
"Nerio. Of Rome. Why would you tell me such things?" She smiled at him and there was an affection he did not understand.
"Honor in combat, Perseus. Should a man who fights not understand why he does so? More depends on this fight than I think even other gods recognize." She paused, "Though, I might note. You did not question once my use of empire."
"Why would I question something we both know the answer to?"
"Because I will tell you, no unified force occupies Britannia." Now, they both smiled for she saw inside him and that which he desired since an afternoon spent defeating barbarians in northern Gaul, when he and the Son of Jupiter stared across the sea at white cliffs.
***CCCXXXVIII***
"Why in the name of Jupiter's hairy balls would you believe I would allow you to go to Greece on such faulty information?"
"I'm more impressed by your belief that I am fucking asking."
"You answer to me, Perseus!"
"As a Roman, yes. But as a Son of Poseidon, I would rank a god's request above your petty order."
"I am Rome."
"And I am your only hope of an heir." The anger emanating from Augustus was palpable. "Why else would you keep the military commander you claimed good enough to replace Agrippa in Rome, but because you have need of a male heir. If I do not have a son, you shall be forced to adopt, or name me as your air. Do not look at me so angrily. Was it not you that encouraged me to learn of Roman politics so that I may support you better?" His tone softened slightly. "If these monsters kill off all of the Greek demigods, their next target will be Rome, the current center of godly children. If you want it in political terms, think of these Greeks as the buffer state between the monsters and Rome." Augustus continued to glare at him.
"Even if I said no, you would go would you not?"
"Yes."
"Then you can tell my daughter."
***CCCXXXIX***
Julia took the news of his immediate departure fairly well in opinion. She insisted that he take the three Hunters and Dione with him, "They can protect you." She also used the departure to inform him that she was two months pregnant. That news surprised him and for a few seconds he considered aborting his support of the Greeks. It was she that pushed him through the door to the courtyard where horses and the other riders waited. For Julia saw something in him, something he did not recognize himself. He now possessed an enemy, and, to her, he seemed more alive than he had in years. Yes, he executed his duties in the city. Yes, he loved his children and cared for her. But with an enemy to fight and a campaign to commit to, he seemed to have lost the years that only now, at forty-one, seemed to make his appearance. He appeared again as he had at their first meeting, five years earlier; when she learned, quite shockingly, he did not look like "a corpse" as she once naively claimed.
"Are you ready to ride out again, boy? Once more to battle." The horse assented, throwing its head into the air. "Despite age, you seem more willing than I for this." Dione and the three hunters waited on horseback beside him.
"Because he knows his home, although Podarkes will be the one to carry you."
"Podarkes?" Percy asked his father.
"His true name though perhaps it has been so long he has forgotten it himself. One of the two immortal horses of Erechtheus, King of Athens." A whinny came from the sky and Percy turned to see a winged, white horse descending. Beside him, the horse he merely called Blackjack seemed to bow as Pegasus landed. "My son will carry another son to Taygetos. They will hate you, but she will need you."
"She? Annabeth was her name. I believe."
"No, my niece. Pallas Athena, cursed to walk a mortal due to her role in the war."
"She will kill me."
"She might try." Percy leaned over the horse apparently named Podarkes.
"Meet me at Taygetos." With a slap on his rump, the black stallion took off. Dione and the three Hunters took off after him. Percy turned to his father. "For once I am not certain of survival. The wars of men do not cause me fear, but I know not what I face here."
"Survival is never certain for your kind, that is what makes your existence so enviable. It all means more." Percy swung himself over Pegasus' back.
"Farewell, father. I will do all I can."
"I know, my son." The flying horse took three steps forward when a voice called out.
"Return to me, Perseus." He turned to look at his wife and bowed his head slowly. That was the first time she had ever used his name. Pegasus lifted them both into the sky.
***CCCXXXX***
Cries of fear rose as the shadow passed over them. It took several minutes for the shadow to become a form. A winged horse with a single rider made slow circles in the air before descending upon the hillock which held the Shrine to Poseidon. The Sea God told Malcolm assistance would come, Annabeth thought as the pair landed in the growing darkness. A crowd began to move toward the arrivals. They surged and then suddenly pulled up; Annabeth with Athena at her side, moved forward.
A hiss of anger escaped from bright-eyed Athena and Annabeth knew her eyes had pierced the darkness. Half a minute later, she too could see the rider dismounting. Now her rage grew. The figure turned and two pinpricks of Greek fire penetrated the night.
They seemed to lock onto her mother's bright eyes, and they held the gaze. Even as a mortal, no one within the settlement could match glares with the goddess, this Son of Poseidon apparently deemed himself worthy of such.
A/N: For the sake of ensuring the timeline is understood. We are currently in March of 18 BC.