Gaius ordered the soldiers into a small wedge formation, then he and Timothy grabbed their bows. He managed to get off two arrows before the soldiers and Celts met. The fighting was furious from the Celts, efficient from the Romans, but Gaius quickly realized that they had missed their opportunity. To defeat these Celts, they had had to have killed far many more of them on the track.
Wretched creature! So much for saving the wretched thing's life. Then, despite the crisis, he could not resist turning to see the strange metallic object that had dropped from the skies. There, on the ladder was creature, gesturing as if offering Gaius the chance to board the craft.
The prophecy! First, Athene had said, "You have three possible futures. In a few years you will find yourself on a high hill, besieged by enemies. By yourself, you and your loved ones will die, miserably and in extreme pain. There will be a way out, if you are not too afraid. ."
Here he was, on a high hill, besieged by enemies, and a miserable death in extreme pain was definitely likely. But there will be a way out, if. . Then there was the later part, ". there will come a time when you will die if you go north, if you go south, if you go east or if you go west. You will recognize it when it comes, and you will know what to do." At the time that had seemed ridiculous. It implied that all directions led to death, except possibly to escape down a mine. But now there might be an alternative: upwards! Let the Celts eat that! But first, he had to be sure. Gaius pointed to himself, then at the craft, and the creature nodded its head, as if in the affirmative.
Gaius stared at the craft. Once on board, they would be at the creature's mercy, but if they stayed where they were, the men would be killed or tortured, or both, and his wife and sister would probably be raped to death. That was not going to happen. There was no option.
"Vipsania," Gaius said.
"We're going to lose, aren't we?" Vipsania asked softly, in a matter of fact tone. "Gaius, would you please kill me! I do not wish to be mob raped by. ."
"We're going to lose if we stay here," Gaius confirmed, "but there's a way out."
Vipsania looked doubtfully at him, and asked, "How?"
"The creature! Look!"
Vipsania looked towards the silvery craft. The creature was still waving.
"Are you game?" Gaius asked softly.
Vipsania continued to stare doubtfully at it. "In that? Where will it take us?"
"Off this hill," Gaius shrugged. "After that, I don't know, but I'd rather take my chances there than have to kill you here."
"If you say so," Vipsania replied very doubtfully.
Gaius gave her a hug of encouragement, and said softly, "You'll have to be very brave, but remember, it won't get any worse than it is now." He looked over towards the track and could see the five remaining soldiers on this part of the hill were in danger of being encircled. Even as he noted that, another fell. "Fall back!" he ordered. He looked over to Quintus, who was standing stupidly, wondering what to do next. "Over to that craft!" Gaius yelled. He had decided.
"You're not thinking about. .?"
"Move!" Gaius yelled. He looked across. The men began falling back, but the Celts advanced. Suddenly there was a flash from the craft, and a small line of Celts fell to the ground, dead and clearly badly burned. The remaining Celts saw this, and for the first time really saw the ship. They stopped, then dived behind rocks. A Roman fell, badly wounded, and the three others stared at Gaius.
The alien continued encouraging the Romans to board.
"We board," Gaius said simply. "If we don't, the Celts will still be there. Timothy, keep close to Vipsania and Lucilla. Quintus. ."
"I'm not going on that. . that. ."
"It's the only way out!"
"We'll be prisoners of demons! I'm not. ."
"I must stay with Quintus," Lucilla said simply. "It is my duty and. ."
Gaius stared at her, and shook his head. Up to a point she was correct, but he was not going to leave his sister. "You two!" Gaius ordered two soldiers, "Take Quintus and get him up those steps, kicking, screaming, whatever, but get him."
The soldiers stared at this strange craft, but orders were orders. Timothy led the way up the stairs, Lucilla and Vipsania followed, then Gaius followed, clutching his two sacks of personal treasures. Then came the three remaining soldiers, and Quintus, who was now yelling and screaming.
The door closed and they were given seats. Nothing happened for a brief period, then a voice was heard from the ship itself, "You are about to be taken away from this hill but first you will be secured to your seats, and these will move into a machine. Do not be frightened. No harm will come to you, and what is going to happen is for your own benefit. If it does not happen to you, you will be squashed."
"What. ?" Just as a soldier said that, bands encircled them, and held them in the seats. Then Gaius found his seat transformed to a bed, which began to move towards the back of the cylinder, where it slid into another cylinder. He dropped his sacks before he reached the cylinder. The end was closed, but while he felt frightened, he was not going to say anything. A warmish feeling struck his feet, and very slowly began moving up his body. He guessed that this had something to do with the aliens searching him for the hidden weapon, and he smiled to himself that he had taken the precaution to secrete it in his sack. Then, finally, after the warm feeling had passed over the top of his head, the end of the cylinder opened, his bed was wheeled out and as he was returned to where it had started, he grabbed his precious sacks and brought them close to his feet. When the movement stopped, the "bed" returned to being a chair, whereupon Timothy's chair began the same routine.
"What happened?" Vipsania asked.
"I don't know," Gaius said, "but the voice was correct in one respect. It did not hurt, and as far as I can tell, no damage has been done."
"No damage was done," the strange voice said, "and when any other's turn comes, if he or she has any wounds, they will be repaired."
Before long, Timothy reappeared, and Vipsania's chair began to move. The process was slow, but before long, all chairs were returned to their initial positions.
"You are now ready to fly," the voice said. "I shall let you see what happens." As soon as the voice finished, the wall in front of them appeared to disappear so they could see out. In front of the ship there was a row of dead Celts. Then there was a shudder, and the ship lifted.
"No!" Quintus yelled.
"Keep that idiot quiet!" Gaius said angrily.
The soldiers stared at the wall as the ground began to recede. Two of them seemed terrified, but one of them, Gaius noted, seemed to be enjoying himself. Then they were in a cloud. Discipline held, and a soldier made a gesture of smashing Quintus' face. Quintus took the hint, and sat back.
"I'm sorry," Gaius said softly to Lucilla, "but we have to keep discipline."
"Do you know what's going to happen?" Lucilla asked. She clutched the side of her seat, her knuckles white.
"Don't ask me how I know this," Gaius replied softly, "but you and I will see Rome again. But not straight away."
A strange feeling crossed over Gaius. That prophecy! He would walk amongst the Gods. They were going up! He would return to Rome in ruins. Whoever could fly could defeat Rome. That must be the meaning of the prophecy. But he was to earn his agnomen. His task was clear. He had to stay with these demons, learn from them, then somehow defeat them.
The outside became dark, yet the flight seemed to go on and on. Then suddenly there was a huge silver object beside them that totally filled their view, and their craft then seemed to be drawn inside it.
"I don't like this," Vipsania shuddered.
"Neither do I," Gaius replied. One thing was clear. This was no simple rescue, because otherwise they could have been put down somewhere else. Gaius could see that both Lucilla and Vipsania had reached this conclusion as well.