©2001 by WILDBEARIES

This story is based on characters created in the film, "Gladiator" and in no way intended to infringe upon those characters or the story of that film. References to real people are strictly the product of the writer's imagination and meant to entertain the reader.
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Thirty-one

He was floating on the river Styx. It had to be that because the water was so hot it burned his skin, and the current kept trying to pull him under, ending his journey once and for all. He fought it, but he was growing fatigued. His arms ached. He was gasping for breath, fighting to keep his head above the surface, but every time he thought he had made headway, another wave slapped him down. There were others in the water with him, dimly recognized figures - soldiers, friends and enemies alike, his father, a younger brother - all of them were dead. He knew if he didn’t at least keep his head above the water, if he didn’t get out of the raging torrent, he was going to be there with them all forever. And he wasn’t ready for that.

He kicked hard with both legs, and a jolt of white hot pain sent him spiraling upwards. He opened his mouth to scream, but all that came out was a half-strangled yelp. Gods, when did he get so weak? He opened his eyes to find a beautiful blue-eyed goddess smiling down at him. “D-Diana?” he asked, sure it must be the divine huntress herself.

“No,” the goddess answered, her smile widening, “but divinity might be nice.” She felt of his forehead and offered him a drink of water, which he swallowed gratefully, still wondering where he was and who the almost-goddess was. “You don’t remember where you are, do you?” she asked, obviously reading his thoughts.

“Unfortunately, no,” he admitted. He shifted a bit, uncomfortably hot, moving the linen sheet off him, then quickly pulling it up when he realized he was nude underneath it. “Your pardon, er, ma’am.”

“Don’t worry about it, nudity doesn’t offend me,” she patted his shoulder, her hand cool against his skin. “Besides, don’t you remember jumping up and trying to run when you were teased about being gelded?”

“Oh, gods,” Valerian groaned, everything suddenly coming into focus. “I did do that, didn’t I?”

As for Lucilla, she was charmed when the full grown man on the sleeping couch in her guest room blushed to the roots of his hair. “I’m afraid so,” she murmured, deciding not to tease him further. “Here is some more water, you’re very feverish, you must drink a lot.”

He gulped the water obediently since it overrode the need to say anything. His head was spinning. He had apparently exposed his nude body to the Augusta of Rome. He wondered what else he had done, all unknowing. When he had drunk all he could, he lay with his eyes closed, hoping she would go away and leave him to contemplate his disaster alone.

“Valerian,” she murmured, “I may call you by your name, mayn’t I?”

She was so nice, so soft-spoken, he couldn’t be rude and pretend to be asleep. He opened his eyes and focused on her face. “Yes, ma’am?”

“I’ve sent for General Maximus, I thought you should know that.”

“Oh, gods,” he groaned and tried to sit up. She held him down, barely having to use more than a fingertip because he was so weak. “I’ll never be able to explain this to him - it’s not time yet.”

“Explain what?” she asked, puzzled. “Why you’ve been skulking about his estate and mine?”

“I wasn’t skulking,” he retorted indignantly, “Well, actually, I suppose I was, but it wasn’t for any evil purpose.”

“I thought you wounded the general,” Lucilla commented.

He looked completely chagrinned. Lucilla had a difficult time stifling her laughter. She hadn’t realized years before that Valerian was such an entertaining person, he’d been so stiff with military zeal when he’d been one of her Praetorian guards that he’d almost creaked when he walked.

“I, er, I did wound him, but if I hadn’t, one of the others was dead set on killing him.”

“So you wounded him to save his life?”

“It does sound pretty ridiculous, doesn’t it?” He sighed unhappily, biting back a moan when his shoulder and chest protested. His leg was throbbing in time with his heart beat. Altogether, he felt about the worst he’d ever felt in his life. Being naked - well, with only a sheet between himself and the former Augusta - was only adding to his discomfort. He yawned, “Beg pardon.”

She patted his good shoulder again, “Think nothing of it, rest now. Let your wounds heal, it will be at least a day before Maximus arrives. Maybe he won’t bring his entire legion with him.”

Valerian’s eyes opened wide and he groaned, “Oh, gods - I hope not.” They’d probably clap him into irons and he’d never get a chance to explain. Assuming he lived through the interrogation. He groaned again, disgusted with himself for being stupid enough to be seen coming out of the house in Emerita, for being clumsy enough to be wounded in the first place, and for being unlucky enough to have ended up at the estate of one of the two people in the area who knew he'd been lurking on their property.

“Rest,” Lucilla repeated, “I’ll check on you again in an hour or so.” She left the room quietly, gesturing to Gemma to stay within earshot of the room in case their patient needed help. He was quite embarrassed to be there, she thought. And worried about Maximus. On the other hand, if she had shot Maximus with an arrow, she’d be worried too.

She supposed she would learn more in the next day or so, if her hastily dispatched messenger had caught up with Maximus’ party. She would have to make sure that he didn’t damage her “guest” any further, at least until Valerian had a chance to explain himself. Which should be interesting.

As for General Maximus, he was at the moment highly annoyed, having just finished reading the note from Lucilla telling of her uninvited guest. "Edepol!" he cursed, earning a raised eyebrow from Antoninus. "It seems Lucilla has caught our intruder for us."

"You don't say!" Antoninus was as surprised as Maximus was annoyed. "Did she set deadfall traps or something?"

"It seems," Maximus explained, at the same time mentally planning how many men he'd have to take with him back to the countryside, "that the man was somehow injured by his own men and stumbled into her back yard."

After a startled instant of picturing that, Antoninus laughed loudly, "Too ridiculous. We hunt him for weeks and he manages to plop himself down at the Augusta's villa? Is she sure it was accidental?"

Maximus nodded, gesturing to several of the men to sort themselves into a separate line, "She's sure. Seems he has a leg wound of some kind and an arrow wound in the back - apparently his own men took exception to something he did and tried to kill him. That's as much as she's been able to piece together, anyway. She says she knows him - something about him is familiar, but she can't recall everything. Yet."

"I'm sure she's pried it all out of him by now," Antoninus commented, knowing the intelligence of Marcus Aurelius' daughter.

"She probably has him trussed up in a store room, wishing he'd landed anywhere but her farm," his general added. They grinned at one another, of the same mind on the subject of Lucilla Aurelia and her ways.

"We'd best be on our way, the poor fool probably needs to be rescued," Antoninus added.

After explaining to Ana, Maximus and twenty men set off back down the road toward both his property and Lucilla's. "I'm sure the man will have something interesting to tell us about the outlaws," Maximus said after awhile.

"Misinformation, maybe?"

"One never knows, we'll have to see." Maximus urged Scarto into his smooth canter and the small troop continued on their swift journey back into the rolling countryside.

By dawn, they were almost to their destination, having made excellent time by dint of not being slowed by wagons, extra animals, and consideration for the general's wife. They rode into the high-arched gates of Lucilla's villa just after the sun was fully up. The horses clattered into her stableyard, startling her sleepy steward, who was all but ready to come charging out of the stables again demanding to know who dared disturb her Highness at this hour. When he saw General Maximus' familiar face, however, he changed his snarl to a respectful nod and went to fetch his mistress. "I'm sure she's up, sir, she rises at dawn every day."

Maximus lifted one eyebrow, exchanging surprised glances with Antoninus. "Dawn?" he mouthed, grinning. He'd never known Lucilla to stir much before the midday meal. Perhaps the country air was changing her. Antoninus merely shrugged because, sure enough, here came the former Augusta herself, Lucilla Aurelia, and she had obviously been up a while because she was fully, if casually dressed, and looked wide awake. "I received your note," Maximus called out to her.

"By the look of you, the wind was at your backs," she commented, taking in their slightly disheveled appearance and tired horses. "Get down, bring your centurion inside to break your fast - my servants will see that the others are well fed also."

Maximus and his soldiers dismounted, glad to be on their own two feet after a long ride, glad of the promised meal, hoping for some rest as well. He and Antoninus followed Lucilla into her pretty villa. "I trust you have your unwanted guest under lock and key?" he inquired as they sat down to break their fast with fresh bread, sweet butter, fruit and spring water. Both of them refused wine or ale, preferring the ice cold water given the early hour.

"Well, not exactly," Lucilla answered, passing a platter of small, exquisitely tender veal cutlets to Maximus.

He helped himself before asking, "Not exactly? How, then, exactly?"

"He's in the guest room," she admitted. She passed a platter of baked apricots to Antoninus. "Try these, my cook flavors them with cinnamon."

"In your guest room!" Maximus interrupted her extoling the virtues of her cook. "Under guard?"

She merely smiled calmly, "Of a sorts - Gemma and my maidservants have been taking turns watching him."

Maximus sat holding the apricots platter and stared at her. "Gemma and your maids? Are you out of your mind?"

Lucilla sipped from her water goblet and forestalled the urge to crack him across the knuckles with it. "Not at all, he's quite well behaved, and besides, he's hurt. He's not capable of doing anything."

"Play acting, more like," Maximus retorted, spooning the fragrant apricots onto his plate. The food was heavenly, as good as that prepared by his own cooks, but he was so annoyed with Lucilla's casual attitude about her "guest" that he barely tasted it. "I'll place guards on him lest he steal the silver on his way out your back door with his pick of the maids."

Lucilla laughed heartily. "He won't do that - it's not necessary."

He scowled at her across the table, "How do you know? I'm sure he's much more dangerous than he's let on."

"He knows me, he was one of the Praetorian who guarded me that summer at Capri. I trust him implicitly."

Maximus resisted the urge to tear his hair in frustration, "A Praetorian! Good gods above, Lucilla, you may as well bare your breast and let him stab you to death - you know they're all Commodus' paid whores."

She flushed and got that stubborn glint in her eye that he knew presaged a burst of temper. And her bursts of temper could be spectacular. "He was not working for Commodus - he's been here in Spain since before father died, working for Rome."

"And you believe that? You're much more gullible than I thought." Maximus lifted a bite of the tender veal to his mouth and blinked in surprise when Lucilla reached over and simply batted the spoon out of his hand. He looked down at his lap where the meat and sauce lay staining his tunic, which, thankfully, was already soiled from the journey. "Perhaps not," he added.

"I am not gullible!" she snapped, "But to put your mind at rest on that score, perhaps you should talk to the man yourself. His name is Gaius Marcellus Valerianus, and he's quite nice."

Antoninus choked on his fruit and had to be pounded on the back until his windpipe cleared. "Valerian?" he finally got out, "I know that name."

Maximus had to agree, "I also know it - and perhaps know the man as well. I thought his voice was familiar that day in the orchard when he shot me." He fixed a stern look on Lucilla, who wasn't looking at all impressed with his attitude. "Did he admit that he put an arrow into me?"

"He did," she affirmed, "he said he did it because his men wanted to kill you. He shot you first, to save your life."

"Noble indeed," Maximus scoffed. When she bristled, he lifted a hand to forestall another outburst, and, removing the meat from his lap with his napkin, he got to his feet, followed almost at once by Antoninus. "Let us go and speak with this paragon of virtue, I'm sure his explanation of who he is, what he's been doing stalking us and how he ended up here with several holes in his carcass will be most entertaining."

Lucilla glared at him, but led the way to her guest room. She was going to make Maximus eat that attitude for lunch before the day was much more advanced, she was positive of it. For now, she went into the sunny room ahead of him and made sure Valerian was awakened gently and not just yanked out of a sound sleep by an angry general.

"General Maximus is here to speak to you," she told him when he had opened his dark blue eyes at her urging. "Don't let him scare you, he's being a bully - but I won't allow him to do anything to you."

"Lucilla," Maximus warned, thoroughly out of sorts with her.

"I mean it," she snapped, and refused to move from the side of Valerian's bed. "If you upset him, you're leaving."

Maximus sighed. He knew she meant it.

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Copyright 2001 by wildbearies