The centurion was not laughing as the other two were. “Can we not get this over with, sir?” he obviously took no delight in whatever they had planned between them.
“Oh, if you insist,” Piso said.
The tribune then released his grip on the woman’s right arm, and with one quick motion, tore away the front of her dress, exposing her bare white breasts to the pattering rain. Piso then slapped her hard across the face. This stirred the barking dogs to a new height of madness, not to be outmatched by the woman herself, who struck back at Piso with her free hand. She dragged her nails across his clean-shaven cheek, leaving behind three red trails of blood.”
Piso’s eyes registered shock at first. He stopped laughing and brought his hand to his face. Evidently, he had not expected such a violent attack. With some difficulty, Amelius managed to get hold of the cursing woman’s free hand and then drew up both of her arms behind her.
“You bitch!” Piso said looking at his bloody fingertips in disbelief. “You filthy Belgic bitch!”
He then punched her in the stomach, doubling her over, and the caged dogs stirred to a new level of fury. Amelius let the coughing woman fall to the ground. Before she could regain her breath Piso had grabbed up a hand full of her hair and dragged her over to the rock wall where Lucius and Vitalis stood. His face was red with rage.
“I am no longer in the mood to play games, Legionary Lucius Domitius, son of Sextus Domitius of Gades. Let us dispense with any further pageantry!”
When they had called him the son of a miner, Lucius had dismissed it as something anyone could have known. But now, invoking his place of origin, Lucius knew why Piso was trying to kill him, or at least, who had sent him to do it. He just did not know the connection.
Piso pulled on the cursing young woman’s blonde locks until her head was flat against the top of the wall.
“Your tribune has been assaulted by this woman, legionary,” he said. “It is an affront to your cohort, an affront to your legion, and an affront to Rome. I therefore order you to draw your sword and kill her.”
So this was it, Lucius thought. Their plan was to order him to do something they knew he would not do. Vitalis was silent, staring at the ground, as if this was a play that had already been acted out.
“What is your grievance with me, sir?” Lucius asked in the calmest manner he could, stalling for time that he might think of something. “Have I wronged you in any way? Have I shirked my duties?”
“You mean you haven’t figured it out yet?” Piso said incredulously, licking at the blood dripping past his lips as he held onto the squirming woman. “You’re more of a fool than they said you were. Yes, you bastard son of a miner whore! You have wronged me! You are – ”
“Uh, your tribune has given you an order, Legionary!” Amelius’s feeble voice interrupted, as if to stop Piso from saying too much. “Are you going to obey it? A simple reply, yes or no, is all that the tribune requires!”
Piso checked himself, but held the woman’s head firmly against the wall, exposing her thin neck. The dogs cried wildly, their husky barks almost deafening. The young woman looked up at Lucius with fearful eyes, and Lucius saw that her eyes were green, like the trees and fields of her lands – like the eyes of his dead sister and mother.
“No.” Lucius replied simply, then looked at Vitalis. “You know I will not.”
“And why not, Lucius?” Piso said. “Why won’t you kill women and children? Because it reminds you of another incident – one that happened, shall we say, six years ago?”
“He has refused, Tribune,” Vitalis broke in. “Is that not enough? There is no need to stretch this out any further.”
Piso flashed a look of anger at having been interrupted again, but then checked himself. “Yes, quite right, Vitalis. He has refused a direct order, a lawful order, and in so doing has sealed his own fate. Place him under arrest. When we rejoin the legion, he will face the fustuarium.”
For a moment, Lucius thought of making a move, but he instantly thought better of it. Vitalis would surely kill him before his next heartbeat. Perhaps that would be a better fate. Were the legate of the Seventh to find him guilty, which he would, and issue the fustuarium, Lucius would be beaten to death in front of the legion. It was a dishonorable death. He might just as well die now by Vitalis’s hand. But something made him resist. Perhaps it was the pleading green eyes of the girl that reminded him of those he had lost so long ago. Surely, she would be killed, too. Somehow, he thought something may yet save her, and him. Perhaps the legate would show him mercy, though the chance of that was slim. There was also the gnawing feeling inside him that begged to know how Piso was connected to his former life.
Vitalis called Jovinus and the second squad to come back to the hut. They all looked puzzled and completely bewildered by what they had just witnessed from afar. Jovinus appeared further confused when Vitalis ordered him to take possession of Lucius’s weapons. Lucius could at least find solace in the fact that his own tent mates did not appear to be a part of the conspiracy. That was something. He handed over his pilum, gladius, and pugio to Jovinus without a struggle. Jovinus’s expression plainly told Lucius that he followed the centurion’s orders only with the greatest reluctance. There was hope yet.
“Legionary Domitius is under arrest,” Vitalis said to Jovinus and another soldier from Lucius’s squad. “He will march between you. One step out of line, and you are to kill him. Is that clear?” Vitalis then gestured to another soldier as he scanned the tree line. “Come over here and slay this woman. I wish to leave this accursed place.”
“Just a moment, Vitalis,” Amelius said, then rested a hand on Piso’s shoulder and whispered into the tribune’s ear. Whatever Amelius said drew a sinister grin on Piso’s face, and both men began to laugh hysterically. Piso quickly tugged the woman by the hair, dragging her away from the wall and toward the hut.
“I’ve reconsidered, Vitalis,” Piso said. “This whore does not need to die – at least, not yet. Post your men and see to it they keep a good watch. This won’t take long.”
The two nobles then began dragging the woman toward the door.
“I strongly recommend that we leave without delay, sir,” Vitalis called after them.
Piso glowered over his shoulder. “Do what you’re told, Centurion!”
The young woman obviously fully understood the licentious intentions of the two men. She kicked and screamed at them, but every measure of resistance only seemed to amuse them more. They laughed at her, taunted her, struck her across the face, and tore away her clothing. Lucius made eye contact with her pleading eyes, just as her half-naked figure was dragged inside the darkened doorway.
It started to rain harder as the legionaries outside stared at each other and listened to the tear of clothing and the screams of the woman. Small rivulets trickled off the thatched roof. The wet trees stood tall around the farm, as if to stare at the legionaries like judges glaring at the accused.
At that moment, Jovinus nudged Lucius to get his attention and whispered, “Come on.”
Jovinus then pretended to direct Lucius with the point of his pilum, and led him to the side of the house.
“Where are you taking him, Jovinus?” Vitalis had been intently watching the surrounding tree line when he finally noticed.
Jovinus shot a quick glance at Lucius before answering, “Says he’s got to take a piss, sir.”
“That’s far enough. He can piss right there.”
“Yes, sir,” Jovinus said, and then turned to Lucius and winked. “I guess you’ll have to go right here – by these infernal dogs.”
Lucius smiled at his tent mate. Jovinus had taken him to within three steps of the dog pen. After seeing their mistress battered and dragged inside the hut, the beasts were livid, snarling with lips raised to expose their terrible fangs. When Vitalis turned his attention back to the tree line, Lucius took two steps and kicked open the latch on the gate with his third.