Caput XXXVII
***CDXXVI***
"If I surrender, will my people be spared?"
"I can promise you will not be if this fight continues." Bato of the Daesitiates looked down upon the man before him. He did not appear to be old, yet Bato grew hearing stories of the man at this father's feet, for the man had served in Illyria before, in the year of Bato's birth. Yet, the man in dark armor with a blue cloak and helmet crest appeared still strong enough to best any of his fighters in a brawl.
"So, I must choose between certain annihilation or the potential of it?"
"You must choose between hope in your children's future or if they have one."
"That is no choice."
"I know." The Daesitiate chieftain hefted his sword, before tossing it to the ground.
"I pray to my gods that they will have a life."
"And I swear to mine, that they will have one." Percy heard the galloping of hooves and turned to see a Praetorian cavalryman, his horse frothing and heaving from the journey.
"Sir! Augustus summons you to Rome!"
"I just finished a war; I now have a peace to conduct." The praetorian leaned close and whispered in his ear. Those nearby watched his face sag, and he pinched his nose at the bridge with his thumb and middle finger. "Tiberius!" He barked and his son rushed to his side, limping from the bandaged wound on his leg. "We must talk."
Four hours later, Tiberius and Germanicus departed each other's company as brothers would. Germanicus would depart the next morning with three of the remaining ten legions in Illyria. A third of the force already stood returned to their origins from the largest army commanded by the co-princeps. Germanicus would lead the men north to fill the breach in the wall that divided civilization from barbarism. Legiones II Augusta, XIII Gemina, and XX Valeria Victrix marched for the gaps along the western bank of Rhine in hopes of filling the gaps before the two harried legions remaining there suffered another defeat. Tiberius would complete the pacification in Illyria, even as two hundred Batavi cavalry struggled to keep pace with his father as he sprinted to Rome with knowledge not even passed to the two trusted subordinates. For Arminius' grievous wounding of Rome fell not only upon the legions.
***CDXXVII***
"The gods have abandoned him. Disaster in Germania, weakness in Rome. He should seek to appease them and instead he calls upon you." The anger was apparent in Livia's voice, yet she kept her volume low. Percy's eyes, bright and fearsome despite his age, flashed.
"My attention is not so fleeting as the gods." Livia looked at the man, just three years junior to her husband. The Greek appeared twenty-five years younger than his age. He struck her as how Tiberius or Drusus would have looked at forty-five and their prime, but Perseus was nearly seventy. Only in the last year or two, as his children aged into the age of matrimony, had gray began to combat black for control of his beard and hair. Where her husband now carried the weight and folds of age and wealth, the man before still appeared hard and lean. Fresh wounds revealed his inability to abandon the battlefield and its perils. Livia's grandson and step-grandson suffered the same curse, due to this man. In short, this man represented nearly every quality that Imperator Caesar Augustus did not, except perhaps fidelity with his eight, no seven, living children by two women. One of whom had been another man's wife.
"You cannot provide what he needs. He wishes to see you, but spare him pity, for he will resent you for it." Percy nodded and entered, still wearing battle and mud-stained armor and cloak from his dash from Illyria. A mere shadow of the glory that was Augustus greeted him. Percy knew men beyond the veil of death that possessed more color than the pale waif before him. Even breathing seemed to pain him. His eyes sunk deep into his skull and his lips could barely move. The words were slow and slurred.
"Quintillius Varus, give me back my legions."
"Augustus," Percy said from the doorway.
"Ah," Augustus said without any power to his voice, "My son-in-law comes to witness my end."
"You have fallen ill many times, old friend."
"Not, like this."
"How is that?"
"I am going to die. Because I do not feel like living. Rome will be safe without me." Augustus' eyes closed and his head fell to the side against a pillow as he spoke and his slur increased. "But I must beg your forgiveness, old friend."
"You have given me much, what is there to forgive?"
"Bassus, damnable Bassus." His head remained against the pillow, but he did not open his eyes. "Bassus named you his son… when he gave you… everything. For years, I gave you that which he already had… merely because I wished, to control you…" A slight smile creased his face. "If only… I had known how difficult… that would be."
"That is all passed us now."
"It is not all… I knew years ago that Octavian Varus ordered his death. He thought… he thought he could end your rise by doing it. But he was too weak… to do it… himself." Percy felt anger flare within him, but one could not unleash such rage on a man in Augustus' state. No, there was better man to receive such treatment. Augustus' eyes flickered open weakly. "I see… your anger, and I… require it. They give me drafts to keep me out of pain, but… my heart is weak and my body aches… and my mind… races away and ends in…" the slurring of the speech became unintelligible. "End me now… old friend. Do not let me exit the stage in weakness and madness." He smiled at Percy. "Come now, killing should be but a trifling thing for you."
"Friends are different."
"Consider this… a mercy." Percy studied the man. Augustus appeared nothing like the man that held total sway over Rome, nothing like the man that had elevated him to the penultimate position of power. Which caused a hesitation, because what was his position, without Augustus. As he had a thousand times before, Augustus sensed this. "Do not worry for your family… or yourself… for are you not my family now? You are of Augustus and Augustus does not… forget his own." Percy's hand found a small pillow, Augustus' hand seemed to have used its remaining strength to press it there. Until suddenly, vice like, it clasped Percy's. "Have I played the part well?"
"As none other could," Percy whispered in response, before pressing the pillow to his friend's face and holding it there until the great man moved no more.
No sound filled the chamber and as he removed the pillow, he found a contented smile now filled Augustus' face. Percy stood slowly and made his way to the antechamber, where Livia waited with the ranking officers of the Legio Praetoria. He looked at the assembled men and the widow of his friend. She stared at him intently with a question in her eyes.
"Caesar is dead." Percy stated and Livia nearly imperceptibly inclined her head, revealing that she knew what Augustus would request of the battle-hardened man. Behind her, the dozen officers of the Praetorians dropped to a knee before Perseus.
"Long live Caesar."
***CDXXVIII***
Octavian Varus believed the death of Augustus to be the rebirth of the Republic. No right-minded Roman will declare a Greek bastard as successor. Augustus has no sons; rule will return to the Senate. Already he plotted his own return to prominence, Gnaeus Calpunius Piso supported this position, as he too wished to regain the honor and authority a family of his prominence should possess. Such hopes, however, died upon the lectern of the Senate as second of the Consuls for Seven hundred and Sixty-two ab urbe condita the will of the "Illustrious Imperator Caesar Augustus."
"It is my honor as Consul to reveal to all, the dying wishes of the Illustrious Imperator Caesar Augustus." Gaius Pompeius Sabinus's voice filled the chamber as his father's filled the halls of Olympus. All ceased to listen to the man standing beside his colleague, Publius Ventidius Bassus Perseanus Britannicus. That man, combined with Gaius Vipsanius Agrippa son of Marcus Agrippa and son-in-law of Perseus, had delivered Augustus' eulogy the day before. There, the crowds heard of sacrifices of Augustus for Rome. Here, they would learn of his generosity. First came donatives to the people of Rome, then funding for the building of Rome. Finally came the gifts to individuals. "To my lovely granddaughters and their husbands, I grant estates in the Elysium that is Campania. To Livilla, a dowry of ten thousand denarii upon your wedding day. Tiberius, my strong-armed grandson, to you I will the title co-princeps and all honors currently belonging to your father." A hush filled the chamber and all eyes turned to the silent man beside Sabinus. With the grandchildren spoken of, only the daughter and her husband remained. "Publius Ventidius Bassus Perseanus Britannicus, I say you are no more." Shocked gasps filled the room. "For you are my son-in-law no more," Octavian Varus could not believe his fortune. "For your services to Rome and I have surpassed all expectations of marital bonds. From henceforth, you are now Perseus Augustus Caesar Britannicus, my son and heir to all titles, Imperator of all Rome, and guardian of Rome's people. Together with my beloved daughter, you are Pater and Mater Patriae. This is the will of Imperator Augustus Caesar. Let all Rome know, I, Augustus have given to Rome a noble guardian and he shall lead you forward to greatness."
Octavian's blue eyes swept the chamber. Far too few of his colleagues seemed affected by the announcement. Suddenly, two green eyes locked with his. A mask of serenity hid the violence all knew the man capable of executing. All the violence they held seemed focused upon a single man. The augur of Rome swiftly exited the chamber.
***CDXXIX***
I must leave Rome, Octavian thought as he rushed through the streets of Rome toward his domicile upon the slopes of the Esquiline Hill. His mind raced through his options. His son, if he could even halfway claim the bastard, was dead. His eldest daughter served with Legio XII Fulminata in Syria. Damn them, he thought, remembering the day that Perseus and Jason, Son of Jupiter forced him to "receive" a prophecy needed to build the unit. In Syria, and with the blessing of Jason, she was now married to a Son of Liber named Quintus with no discernable family or prestige. Love? Who in the gods' names marries for fucking love? Not that it mattered, she considered herself the daughter of Perseus and Reyna like her brother had. No, his survival lay with his younger daughters. They, unlike their older siblings, never spent the days, months, and years with Caesar's war dog stealthily raising them. Since their mother's death, only Octavian had shown them anything resembling affection. Livilla currently lived in Alexandria with her tribune husband protecting the grain supply, but Perseus and Jason held sway over the east more than any portion of the empire. Quinctilia stood out as his best choice. She and her husband lived near the Gallic border with Hispania. She would take him in.
He began shouting orders to his slaves to prepare his belongings for a long journey. He could hear them scurrying about as he transcribed a missive to Piso. Suddenly, the door to his domus shuddered under heavy blows. Before Octavian could stop them, he watched as slaves answered to the called-out instructions "Open for Caesar!" As it swung open it revealed to Praetorian centurions, both Perseus loyalists. Octavian sprinted for his chambers, where the sword won from Parthians years before lay in a jeweled case. He reached the case to find it empty. As he gawked at the case, a voice came from the shadows.
"An interesting message to Piso," a hand emerged from the shadows holding the message that should have been on its way to the newly appointed governor of Syria. "Attempting to sway the East to him, while you go west and attempt an opposition to my appointment."
"Caesar is no hereditary title to be held and lord over the people of Rome."
"I am protecting them, Octavian, putting myself between the wilds of the world and the civilized home for these people."
"The Senate will never accept you."
"But the legions will."
"We will stop you."
"No, you will not." The new leader of Rome stepped from the shadows with the Parthian sword in his hand, he held it up as if to inspect it. "You never deserved this sword. I won it in battle. You claimed it as you claimed to be my better. Get on your knees and put its point in against your chest." The man did so and before he could react, Perseus kicked out. The sole of his sandal struck the pommel and thrust it home. He looked down on the dying man. "You never possessed the courage to do that yourself. You proved that when you sent the Syrian to kill Bassus."
***CDXXX***
"Daughter of Caesar," Gaius Vipsanius Agrippa said in a voice of mocking adoration. His thirty-year-old wife smiled mischievously as her hand traversed his muscled torso. Her tender touch ended tantalizingly above his waist. She moved her body forward across the bed and he felt her breath against his year.
"Do you really want to bring up my father as we lay together?" He shook his head and the two drew together again.
An hour later, Julia the Younger stood awaiting her husband's departure with golden jewelry adorning her pristine skin. Piercingly green eyes studied the man approaching her. Bedecked in a pure white toga with a large purple band, Marcus Agrippa's son held the position of Quaestores Caesaris. The man who officially was both her husband and brother-in-law, via the marriage of his youngest sister to her brother Tiberius, had been one of her father's first appointees to any magistracy. She supposed part of Perseus' trust in the younger man came from the fact that unlike her sisters, Julia the Younger and her husband actually loved each other. Octavia had despised her husband and seemed almost glad that he, a military tribune in the Eighteenth, was dead and she was free of him. Julia the Elder repeatedly stated that without Perseus, she would have likely pursued the hedonist life Octavia now chased. Her youngest sister, Livia, did not love her husband, but neither did she hate him. Julia the Elder compared them to her own union with Perseus, Germanicus and Livia were compatible and may one day love each other, but that was not to be yet. Julia suspected their expected child would assist in that. Tiberius and his wife Vipsania Agrippina were too good a match. Both creatures of cunning and pride, they presented a challenge to all. Agrippina insisted on traveling with Tiberius everywhere and more often than not caused a scene while doing so. Already it appeared their sons had inherited such chaos causing charisma.
Her husband appeared so republican in his dress. The toga and traditional patrician haircut would stand in stark contrast to the man he traveled to meet. She possessed no doubt that the newly named Perseus Augustus Caesar Britannicus, six months into his reign as heir of all that was Caesar's would eschew tradition as he often did. Instead of a toga, he would wear his military tunic and cape. His arms and armor would be present within the Caesarian palace on the Capitoline Hill. His hair would hang long and his beard thick, as her father no longer attempted to conform to Roman grooming tradition. Such was his distaste for them that many young officers now followed his example on campaign, not that they would dare continue such rebellion in Rome itself.
Julia the Younger feared for the man with whom she shared three children though. On one hand, he was now within Caesar's inner circle which made Caesar's enemies his own. On the other, despite his father's role in the rise of Augustus, Agrippa's son still believed in the Roman Republic. That belief placed him in greater danger, she feared. Her father would not act against someone who believed such, for she did not know if he even believed in the role he now filled. But those that supported him, those amongst the echelon of men that owed all to Augustus and the new Caesar could ill afford a return to the rule of the Senate. She trusted Jason, he having been essentially her uncle, but despite Jason's influence, his son was near fanatical in his loyalty. Germanicus would remain loyal by both choice and marriage. But in Syria, Piso hoped a return to the Senate's rule, but would do nothing until her father's hold over the legions decreased. The crop of commanders brought up by Perseus would not allow that. Germanicus, Jason the Elder, Jason the Younger, Tiberius, a dozen others, even Gaius Vipsanius Agrippa militarily loyal to only Perseus, not a one would allow their legions to march against Rome. Today? She thought, Rome is my father. What came next… that concerned her.
Tiberius, should her father continue the passage of title and power, would follow him into ascendance. She feared he would be much more forceful in his continuation of power. Several dozen important people throughout the empire had been killed in connection to plots against the new Caesar, her father had been cold, but judicious in his handling of things. She knew that tension existed between her father and mother, because Julia the Elder wished to eliminate all threats, not only the major ones. Julia the Younger believed Tiberius more likely to follow that line of thinking and she did not trust him to not see her husband and children as threats to his ascension. Two of her three children were boys, Perseo and Marcus.
***CDXXXI***
True to his daughter's prediction, Percy waited on his son-in-law in his military tunic. Since his naming as co-princeps, he wore the purple tunic of Caesar vice the blue he long preferred. He stood overtop a map, the same map he and Augustus used to plan the expansion of Rome how many years before? A map now missing three lead markers representing Legiones XVII, XVIII, and XIX. Already he possessed plans to replace them. Percy looked up from the map to examine the younger man. By no means a bad soldier, he was more akin to Augustus than he would have been to his father or was to his father-in-law. It made him perfect for this assignment.
"I am sending you to Greece."
"Perseus…" Caesar held up his hand.
"You will serve as legatus Augusti pro praetore. You will take command of Legio VII Macedonia, which was moved there following the rebellion and the Marcus Primus issues. With it you will carry this message: To the veterans now settled in the colonia of Athens, Attica, Achaea, and Corinth, I request from you veterans to man the legions to replace those lost by Varus. Fresh recruits are being gathered, but I, Perseus Augustus Caesar Britannicus ask for their return to service in the defense of Rome." He stopped and looked to the younger man. "Do you understand that which I ask?"
"For men already complete in their service to return to the legion and you ask them as Perseus, their former commander, not as Caesar."
"Caesar is of Rome, Perseus is of the legion."
"You seek to punish the Germans."
"Yes. The Senate has asked me to be patient and restrained in my movements against Germania. They ask that I essentially surrender three eagles to the Germans as we left them with the Parthians for how long? I will do no such thing. The honor of Rome demands more. On the Rhine, Germanicus has his orders. So you will pass this word to the people of Greece. In exchange for twenty thousand auxiliaries, I will turn over control of the province to the Senate. The legion will no longer define their lives and the protections they once enjoyed shall be returned to them. I have here an approved vote of governorship by the Senate for Gaius Vipsanius Agrippa at the conclusion of his time as my legate, for would legionary command not confirm your eligibility?"
"I… I…"
"Gaius, Corinth prepares a great villa for you and your family. Get me my army."
"Of course, Caesar. Does the Senate approve of your offer?"
"The Senate, much like a man, will never say no to more power. Tell the veterans and the Greeks they have one year; then we will march north." Agrippa's son nodded. "And Gaius, once you are there, send a rider to Annabeth of Athens, I have a message for her."
***CDXXXII***
She watched the rider approach. Despite her age, her gray eyes identified the man as a Roman from a far distance. She had certainly seen Roman cavalry plunging a deadly path into their enemies enough to know a Roman cavalryman when she saw one. Do not end this peace, she pleaded to the gods for the others' sakes. She fully believed the gods no longer knew her, but they knew her people.
Since the defeat of Arachne several hundred demigods and their family members arrived at the mountain-top sanctuary. Athens stood in ruins still, the settled former legionaries preferring to focus their efforts on building in Piraeus. The main Roman seat of power remained in Corinth, where Julius Caesar's colonia had expanded to contain the administration for all of what the Romans now called Achaea, comprising the Peloponnese, Attica, many of the islands of the Aegean, and most of Boeotia. Her arm hung useless at her side as she moved toward the gate. Age slowed her transit, her knees and hips achy and stiff, just as it had turned her hair to the color of her eyes. Aspasia and her son, Patrocles, stood at the gate already.
Grandchildren of Athena, the two remained close, even now into their thirties. Each maintained a committed relationship, though her son's more likely to produce future generations than her niece's cohabitation with the former Hunter, Kyra. Yet, the two of them took nearly every waking breath in pursuit of continuing the protection of their people. "The people" were growing fewer though. Of the demigods that had arrived since Arachne's attack, more than three-quarters had been older than thirty. The Greek gods were not having new children it seemed. Annabeth suspected that within a few generations this settlement would be little more a camp that trained individuals to survive against the random monster attack rather than a thriving miniature society. Damn the fucking Romans and damn Perseus, she thought bitterly.
"My dear, how many times shall I tell you that I will gladly serve as your mount to the gate."
"It will do for the others to see me walk." Chiron's large kind eyes studied the winces as grimaces at the pain that followed her movements.
"It would not do for them to see you suffer."
"How much suffering have a brought upon them? I consider this my payment for that."
"My dear, you must stop this incessant blame of yourself. None I have ever known could have fought that war more bravely nor well than you."
"Except for Perseus." They reached the gate and the Roman messenger waited for them.
"Perseus, my dear, is but a flash of warfare incarnate. Never once, in all my years, have a seen a man so attuned to the ways of brutality and death. Do not judge your success off of man who drives the course of history, for Caesar's son-in-law is that man." He now turned to the young Roman, noticing the shock on his face to be confronted with a beast of legend. Chiron turned his attention to the man, feeling Annabeth's frame leaning against his for support. "You, young man, what does a messenger of Rome bring to our humble settlement."
"I…I…I…" Eventually he recovered from his stammering. "I bear a message for Annabeth of Athens from Caesar."
"And what does Augustus wish to tell me?" Annabeth stood upright and took three steps forward. She watched her son and niece tense with her approach. Their hands dropped to their weapons, and she motioned for them to be at ease.
"Imperator Augustus Caesar is no longer of this world. A new Caesar, father-in-law of the new Governor of Achaea, now leads the Roman people."
"You mean rules over them?"
"He is loved by the people and the legions. He is the father of our people."
"Who was he before he was Caesar?"
"Publius Ventidius Bassus Perseanus Britannicus. At Augustus death he was named Pereseus Augustus Caesar Britannicus, son and heir to Caesar."
"And what does Perseus ask of us?" the man recognized the familiarity of the centaur's reference.
"Greek fire."
***CDXXXIII***
Nine months separated their glorious victory and the news of Caesar's death from this moment. Despite Arminius' urging the tribes had not pressed their advantage. Thusnelda sat in the shadows beside a band of scouts. They were all Cherusci, the only tribe willing to follow Arminius no matter what. Despite her lack of knowledge of the affairs of Rome and war, even she identified the problem. The tribes had not moved while they outnumbered the defenders. Just two legions had manned the eastern bank of the Rhine, but the stubborn resistance of Lucius Caedicius had bought time for Nonius Asprenas to properly deploy his few men in a promising defense.
The tribesmen returned to their villages over the winter as Armimius claimed the Romans never moved in winter. He had been wrong. As winter ended, three new legionary banners appeared on the eastern bank. A new commander appeared as well; Arminius called him Germanicus. His father had defeated the Raeti years before. Now, as the heat of summer grew, his men pressed across the Rhine.
The western bank appeared scalped for a half mile. From their towers across the Rhine, the Romans could see half a mile into what had once been deep forest. The actions of the soldiers confused them more. Earthen pots seemed stacked beside great wooden machines. At the edge of the forest, dried wood lay stacked for nearly twenty miles. The tribesmen looked to the sky, it was cloudless, just as it had been before nearly a month now. They watched as torches set the large pyres alight.
"What are they doing?" Thusnelda muttered.
***CDXXXIV***
Germanicus looked upon the pots carrying the heavy liquid. He looked at the furthest of the fires. His mind turned back to the words of Perseus. "I don't care about defeating them, I care about sending a message to all. Oppose Rome and we will erase existence. Burn them out." Where Perseus had then found Greek fire, he did not know.
"Launch the first." The heavy pot shot from its ballista, flying through the air until it shattered against the forward rank of trees. With a great whoosh, droplets of the substance splashed into the pyres and soon the fire shot from its original vessels and spread into the trees. Germanicus smiled. "Fire them all." Up and down his front for nearly twenty miles pots of Greek fire now flew into the forest and great gouts of green flame filled the air. Later volleys would be aimed further into the woods, spreading the conflagration, and punishing all in its path. The barbarians would know what it was to oppose Caesar.