23rd August806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWmC0jTyN9
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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeElQowrEgn
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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHxvXXnwLL
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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVR0tjaCsk
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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Gd7pjqHwj
“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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9F1hAqB7V
“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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbRj3UNeN9
“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.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNtaJIT7Kv
“Yes, I was there.” Caius said. “But that was two days ago.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ms8FSWJhW
“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.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkh9E3RRIFd
Marcus smiled. “You are diabolical. It is almost like you want me to break rules!”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMQV9OakHV
“What else would they be there for, my friend?” He said with a smirk. “Tonight?”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iKay7kWR5
“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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1Ex7fxsQb
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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLwQW9pr5WI
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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA4YAfI2Ewg
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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbV4Pi3fFAi
Caius cracked a small smile with the corners of his lips.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl595HsssO4
“That mountain unsettles me. Being out here in the open… I feel vulnerable.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUvAfwNLns
Marcus laughed.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzg2viUJcoM
“A gladiator afraid of being vulnerable?!” He mocked.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoeM4iP8Y7I
“Do not mock the Gods, my friend. They do not look kindly upon it.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUiCbpPXP7
“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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VAfbsvlaT
“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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bUK0A9iGk
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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6VSgln75J
“What are you doing here? How did you get in?” She whispered frantically.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqG6MhYSUD
Marcus tapped the side of his nose.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6A9CF5PCV
“It’s my secret.” He said with a smirk. “I heard you haven’t been outside in two days. I believe it is overdue.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7fhypmCeY
She smiled, and nodded.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6RbZz0fkxD
“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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ96KzRn01Te
“We’ll climb over the back wall.” Marcus said. Livia raised her eyebrows. She worried her dress would catch on the rough bricks.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3McTSxHjl
“Why would we do that, when we can use the front door?” She suggested.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Fi06lcXat
“We’ll have to be quiet. And sneaky.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPDBNzjm1i
“Very sneaky, I would imagine.” She said with a grin.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBO3OVy7Sfb
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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDk89FouoI9
“We’ll have to hurry.” Livia said in a small whisper. He nodded.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZlgDFrvYV
“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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlhsDwCKzq
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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAi6WbXPpw
“You are reckless, gladiator. If my father had found you, he’d have had you arrested!”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIreroFXNWx
“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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC5TYiTjWTw
“That is true. So where is it you are taking me?”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQd8lxVJk5
“To the docks.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkFN3MLqWE
“The docks?” She said, wrinkling her nose. Marcus laughed.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZRfmzhptR
“Yes, the docks. It’s beautiful at night.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gJaNtbZMo
“I’ll take your word for it. It doesn’t hold much beauty during the day.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLvjLdMDrTR
“That’s because it’s full of shouting fishermen. It’s incredibly peaceful at night.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0eiifJ70Nb
“And how would you know that, Roman?”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHZiib6Oje
Marcus smirked.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pwCf3Md9i
“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.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhR0EzP7iG7
“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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IiX3by88A
“I suppose it would be considered improper for me to kiss you, my lady.”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcuQLH62BD
Livia nodded.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqZQXKdJDU
“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?”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJalIHbMtU
He smiled.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡey5yhkbVai
“Is that a yes?”806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTMI4Q3HM1I
“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.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwCfWSDobW
“I thought you were going to show me the docks?” She whispered.806Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsPSslPtrNO
