23rd August776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzGg1v6wYr
Two days had passed. Livia had not seen Marcus at all, and due to her father’s increasing anxiety, she was on little more than house arrest. Her father was not an anxious man, but Herculaneum had startled him and he was petrified that the God’s were still unhappy.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedTNoeohpS
The water in Pompeii had started to taste funny all over. What Caius had tasted at the lake had spread. The poor were falling ill and littering the streets. Already the news about their misfortune had spread to other towns - traders were in no hurry to stay in the town once their business was done.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlTrZ3ooS4
Therefore, one can understand Lucius’ nerves. The mountain still rumbled. Albeit it had quietened down - but then why was the water off? Something didn’t sit right with Lucius, and as the only thing he could do was to keep his family inside and as far away from the mountain as possible, that is exactly what he did. He avoided drinking the water - even though if any water in Pompeii was still pure, it would be his. He was one of the wealthiest in the entire city. Nevertheless, he resorted to drinking only the finest wine. It left his head slightly dizzy and his walking a little off centre, but better that than poisoned water, he said to himself.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheuVMvp7Uz
Livia was tired of her bedroom. She was tired of the gardens and the dining room and longed to be outside. She could see the city from the windows, but it felt as though she was in a dream. Looking out onto something that wasn’t real somehow. Something that she wasn’t a part of. Like a fly on a wall. She rattled about the house, avoiding her mother and urging her father to slow down with the wine. No one likes an alcoholic in civilised Roman society.
“Father, please. Allow me to go to the market. I won’t go alone and I’ll be back within the hour!” She begged that afternoon.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtsWXuq0F5
“Absolutely not. I want you here. Away from that mountain. We will appease the gods ourselves and hope they spare us.” In his drunken stupor, he was babbling. He continued speaking nonsensically about offerings and Poseidon and Hades and pomegranates and incense. “Wax, that’s what we need. Wax. And we need some fruit, they like fruit, they do. Meat too. Perhaps a goat. Livia? A goat?” Livia nodded, knowing it would achieve nothing to argue with him.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZaIMely26
“Yes father. They’ll like a goat.”
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“Marcus, you said you would go to see that girl two days ago. Why haven’t you?” Cause demanded.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejNI29tvgv
“You were there when I tried Caius! There were guards on every door. Her fathers gone insane, people are saying. Doubled security and doesn’t want a soul going near.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr6dmn26hZ5
“Yes, I was there.” Caius said. “But that was two days ago.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8ZYVWMzde
“Yes. Two days. Only two days. They will still be there, Caius.”
“You need to live a little more, Marcus! I doubt they will be guarding the garden wall at the back of the house.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXR1686yJn
Marcus smiled. “You are diabolical. It is almost like you want me to break rules!”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVygqkM2fd
“What else would they be there for, my friend?” He said with a smirk. “Tonight?”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZc02yeTqx5
“Tonight.” Marcus confirmed, returning the mischievous smile.
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How the gladiators managed to get out of the quarters was purely down to Caius and his ability to bend Tetraites to his every will. Tetraites had all but raised the boy. He saw him as a son and trusted him explicitly. He trusted Caius to return, and he trusted him to bring Marcus back with him.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlgrcNnCErQ
With a tale about requiring leather for new sandals and a promise to bring back some fruit, Caius and Marcus left the training complex, under the guise that they were journeying to Naples and would be back before sunset the following day. Cauis had insisted that Marcus was to go with him as an assistant. The other gladiators watched with wonder as the pair simply left.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6uwGctNQu5
Once out onto the streets of Pompeii, Marcus could not help but laugh. The moon was rising, and the sky was clear. A cold breeze was in the air - unseasonable for August in Italy.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ42tHSIsNeC
Cause tried to smile, but even he felt in his heart the fear that had gripped that of Livia’s father. Both god fearing men, they could the both of them sense that it was not quite over. That the God’s had just one more surprise for them. Whatever they had done to anger them, a few games and some spilt blood was not going to be enough.
“Come, brother. Why the melancholy? I could almost pretend to myself that we are free men!” Marcus said joyfully. He nudged Caius lightly in the arm.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhfbKgSl1e3
Caius cracked a small smile with the corners of his lips.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hdzS0gm84
“That mountain unsettles me. Being out here in the open… I feel vulnerable.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDETKDsW74r
Marcus laughed.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKse0mbL6z
“A gladiator afraid of being vulnerable?!” He mocked.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmW8oVtYOd
“Do not mock the Gods, my friend. They do not look kindly upon it.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUvMCbR7bO
“I doubt Jupiter will smite me down at this second.” Marcus said. His mood was too optimistic to be dragged down by Caius’ pious ramblings.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Z7ybboH24
“Pray that he does not.” Cauis said simply. “Now!” he said, his tone brightening. “Let’s get you to the rich side of town!”
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Livia sat watching her candle burn. As the night wore on, its flame weakened. The dripping of the wax mesmerised her. She hummed a soft tune to herself, her eyes growing tired and her mind willing her to sleep.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5IbcmtQrpa
It was then that she heard a small tap on her window.
She looked out through the thick glass pane, and saw her gladiator waiting for her.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMdxq2pGy4
“What are you doing here? How did you get in?” She whispered frantically.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU81rF4mhY0
Marcus tapped the side of his nose.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14msZA5qUe
“It’s my secret.” He said with a smirk. “I heard you haven’t been outside in two days. I believe it is overdue.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKP1p71Xgo
She smiled, and nodded.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7ZIWa8QJZ
“I’ll be two minutes.”
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She pulled on her leather sandals and silently descended the stairs. Both her mother and father were asleep. The servants had long since finished their duties and had retired for the evening. As Livia stepped out into the night air, she breathed in deeply. She allowed it to fill her lungs and sighed in content. One forgets how much they miss fresh air once they have been confined to the same space for forty eight hours.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxSmC75Xxx
“We’ll climb over the back wall.” Marcus said. Livia raised her eyebrows. She worried her dress would catch on the rough bricks.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHx4seshKt
“Why would we do that, when we can use the front door?” She suggested.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTEH5VEcING
“We’ll have to be quiet. And sneaky.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqQLMlyC644
“Very sneaky, I would imagine.” She said with a grin.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Wok3eX9kx
With no further ado, Livia took Marcus’ hand and led him through the dining room. He marvelled at the fresco of Poseidon on the wall, and his hand lingered on the marble tabletop.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDZR0OjNd9
“We’ll have to hurry.” Livia said in a small whisper. He nodded.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpcPo1PHYB
“We’ll go through the servants quarters and through the kitchen door.” She said, leading him through the hallway until they reached the kitchen. It still smelled of the fish they had prepared earlier that evening.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMt3JIUNoak
Livia reached the door at the back end of the kitchen and opened it slowly, fearing a creak. The hinges turned willingly and silently, and the both of them slipped out without a single soul noticing their presence.
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Once they were out onto the streets of Pompeii, Livia could not help but laugh.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrfpjR6azb
“You are reckless, gladiator. If my father had found you, he’d have had you arrested!”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQNVCUjTa2v
“I am nothing if not daring.” He said simply. He took her hand in his and she glanced at him questioningly, but did not pull away.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh67AQN6N6O
“That is true. So where is it you are taking me?”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIFVgHmYYK
“To the docks.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wv1Zl11hk
“The docks?” She said, wrinkling her nose. Marcus laughed.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJzq2lMTp4
“Yes, the docks. It’s beautiful at night.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwAPBMBOsFi
“I’ll take your word for it. It doesn’t hold much beauty during the day.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJvhqwaiMw
“That’s because it’s full of shouting fishermen. It’s incredibly peaceful at night.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2KNZbDTvK
“And how would you know that, Roman?”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0e4JBhHBuG
Marcus smirked.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2cg9IRPt14
“Perhaps this is not the first time I have taken a lady from her home in the dead of night.” He jested. He pushed a stray piece of hair back behind Livia’s ear. “No.” He said softly. “Caius told me.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GSSQ398Vi
“I was beginning to become jealous.” Livia whispered. They had come to a standstill. She looked at him with those dark eyes he had dreamt about ever since he first saw her, and he could not help but forget that social class and wealth and duty separated them.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNl8U7BJPyG
“I suppose it would be considered improper for me to kiss you, my lady.”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kAiwIsDoA
Livia nodded.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRatJD0PYXJ
“It would, gladiator.” She said softly. “But it would also be considered improper for you to tap on my window at this time. It would be considered improper for the two of us to be walking together unchaperoned, especially so given the time it is presently. It would be considered improper for you to look at a lady such as you are looking at me right now.” She paused. “All of this is considered improper, and yet it didn’t stop you. Why stop now?”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnUrnFawizz
He smiled.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuimkxifgbV
“Is that a yes?”776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7trTgl6dEp
“You merely asked if it was improper. You refrained from asking the actual question.”
Marcus rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. He took her face into his hands and brushed his fingers against her cheek. Her eyelids fluttered at the motion, and he could not help but smile. When he pressed his lips to hers, it was chaste and innocent. When she pulled away, she looked up at him and held her palm to his cheek.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvYfObggIm
“I thought you were going to show me the docks?” She whispered.776Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5ikRfsQ5D
