The horse huffed under him. Caeles wasn't used to riding one of this size. The brute 
bucked slightly against his commands, always reminding him that he wasn't that much of 
an authority figure for the horse, and that, given special circumstances; he'd get stepped 
on. Only the company of so many other similar brutes kept his own calm.

The army stretched on in front and behind him and flanked the small group that consisted 
of Caeles, General Kalendis and Certus. The man he'd met a couple days ago was back in 
the huge, black battlewagon that rolled along a few yards back. Caeles was quite sure that 
he'd never seen something like it before. He'd heard that something of that nature was 
being used in the campaigns in Nubia; he'd just never seen one before. What was it like? 
Saying that it was like a small insula on wheels didn't do it justice for all the ugliness of 
it. The hulk of the wagon looked out across the undulating hills kind of reminded Caeles 
of the fishing voyages he took when he was younger. Just a little boat out on the sea, 
bobbing lightly back and forth.

"Hey," the General said from his right, "Are you all right? I mean, you haven't taken any 
food in the last few nights, you must be hungry."

Mistura Kalendis. She was something of a mystery to him. Sure, she was wearing a man's 
armor and her long, black hair was somehow all trapped underneath the cold plate of her 
helmet, but Caeles had never heard her first name. He realized that fact the day after he 
had first met her. All his civilian teachers, all his military peers, even those soldiers 
tutoring him, who supposedly KNEW her, all referred to Kalendis as a man. Did they not 
know? Did they even care? Were they that blinded by her talent as a soldier? And just 
how does a woman, especially one as beautiful as the General, get to know about 
warfare?

Caeles hadn't seen much of her in the couple of days after his arrival, but he supposed 
that she had her hands full with the barbarians. Certus had been his connection and she 
was certainly pretty in her own way, but not stunningly beautiful like the General.

"No," he replied as he got back to where his mind should have been, "The fish for the last 
couple nights have been very good. And the bread in the morning too...Though, I thought 
that it would be tactically inefficient to carry around such foodstuffs when lesser fare 
would work just as well..."

The General kept an easy, interested look, then shot a look to Certus, who had been 
riding back a pace.

"And you feel all right?" the General asked, turning back to him.

Caeles nodded

"I'll keep an eye on him, ma'am," Certus offered from behind them.

Caeles' hands began to sweat. They were talking about poisons. It worried him that he 
might indeed be the target of an assassination, but he worried more that they wouldn't 
talk to him about it. He wanted to show Certus the evidence in the mornings, but the plate 
and the goblet had been cleaned up and spirited away. And the bread had been left in the 
same spot on the table each day, so Caeles had thought it was Certus. Apparently not. 
General Kalendis had slowed her horse to match that of her aide, leaving Caeles out 
front. Talk of assassination made him look out across the hills. Perhaps a waiting archer, 
the lone man with a bow, who knows?

He shut his eyes for a moment and tried to calm. He looked back over the hills that 
seemed to go on forever and found no terror in them. Just awe. For the hills lead to the 
south where the Alps rose and formed a natural barrier between where he was and those 
provinces in which he grew up. His home, his old home. They were heading back to his 
new home now.

***

The Fate of Hearts
By
Joshua Trujillo

***

Part III - Urba Tertius

***

The hills of flowing dead, brown grass broke into a flat plain of flowing dead, brown 
grass. Caeles asked the General how she dealt with the monotony of the march.

"I think about home and what needs to be done there," she said, a far off tone to her 
voice, "Mostly chores. But sometimes there's more..."

Caeles huffed. All he needed to do was to put his things away. And, perhaps, attend to his 
studies. There was also the matter of his father and whatever his father wanted from him. 
That could take up his whole time at the city. But that was almost a false hope. A new set 
of foster parents? What were wrong with the old ones?

No...Not that. The General said that he'd been remanded over to her. Which meant that, in 
essence, she was his mother now. Caeles smiled to himself. He liked that thought.

***

Two additional days passed on the road back to the city. The army marched further south 
and Caeles' list grew longer, especially when thoughts came about his father. Like, how 
could one man engender so much faith in people, and yet bring Caeles to the point of 
insane anger?

The saddle wasn't exactly something he'd been used to in his days and, after a few days; 
it'd began to chafe. Caeles shrugged his shoulders and yawned slightly.

"We're almost back," Mistura said from behind him.

She brought her horse up next to his and pointed across the small ridge of hills toward the 
north.

"Off that way is Gaul," she said, "On the other side of those mountains the other way is 
Gallia Cisalpina. I've been told that you like to get your bearings to Rome when you get 
to someplace new."

Caeles raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"It was your father that told me," she said, "You shouldn't judge him as harshly as you 
do, he's a better man than most and he's got a greater plan than just Rome."

"I-I don't criticize him!" Caeles stammered.

"You talk in your sleep," she smiled.

"..."

"Don't worry," she said conspiratorially, "I won't tell anyone. I was going to ask you 
about your accommodations one night and you were already fast asleep. And I heard you 
talking about your father."

"I've already sent word ahead for you to have your own room," she continued, "That way, 
there won't be any explaining necessary."

She winked at him and fell back to a side group of Legionnaires. Caeles felt slightly 
nauseous at having the anger at his father found out so easily. He'd have to figure out 
how to keep his mouth shut at night. If the General had been anyone else, Caeles most 
likely would have been under arrest for speaking out against him. Caeles shook his head.

The group crested a small rise and the sight took the breath from Caeles. Spread in the 
valley between two mountains lay a huge walled city, bigger than his hometown, bigger 
than Pompeii. To Caeles, bigger than Rome itself. He saw that there was an aqueduct 
dropping from the mountains into the city and that a river seemed to emerge from the 
middle of the city. So much to take in! So much to wonder at the glory of the Empire!

"Urba Tertius," Mistura said as she rode up once more.

Certus rode in close behind them.

"I've been wondering something..." Caeles said.

"Why is the city called Urba Tertius?"

Caeles nodded.

"The first city," Mistura explained, "Was sacked by the Gauls almost 200 years ago. The 
second was almost burned down when Caesar came through, about 70 or so years ago. 
But that second city was so big that some of it survived and that's what the third city was 
built on. Especially the governor's estates. Most of it survived Caesar."

"Wow! You were there?" Caeles wondered, "I mean, you don't look that old!"

A slow smile spread across Mistura's face, creeping on the edges of some other emotion 
as the edges twisted up on her face. Behind them, Certus tried to keep herself from 
laughing.

"I'm NOT that old!" she bellowed, a little vein in her head clearly visible, "And you'd do 
well to mind your tongue."

Caeles muttered a quick apology and tried to cower as best he could on horseback. Her 
expression softened and she shook her head. Mistura sighed and smiled slightly at Caeles.

There was a slight pause and Mistura turned sharply in her saddle, "And stop laughing, 
Certus!"

***

So much to take in, in so little time. The main gates swung aside on massive hinges as the 
army approached. Caeles could see exactly how big the gates were when he went 
through. To think that this city could ever be sacked again was just foolishness, this was a 
fortress. It was the epitome of Roman defense up here in the wilderness. Caeles thought 
that two horses could probably be stacked on top of one another and still not touch the 
top of the gate.

The buildings inside seemed to be so out of place with the giant wall around them. There 
were villas and smaller houses everywhere. In between the buildings, he could see 
gardens and small piazzas nestled away. How beautiful and private! The main road that 
led toward the center spoke of the city, a great fountain there in the center plaza of the 
city. Caeles wondered as he passed it. The great towering figure of Jupiter graced the 
center of the fountain, gilded in gold and riding a great chariot of bronze. Waters flowed 
around several parts near the outer edge of the fountain and into the huge retaining pool 
at the bottom. Caeles wondered briefly how they could get a statue so incredibly tall into 
the city. In pieces, most likely. Standing well above the buildings around it, it just seemed 
so out of place...

It was true that Caeles had never been to Rome, but he supposed this level of opulence 
only mirrored the greatness that was the Roman capital. For the glory of the Empire, this 
was certainly one of the greater cities...But why had Caeles never even heard of it? If the 
town was so renown, as indeed appeared the case, then why had he never heard of it, 
even in passing?

Legionnaires and Centurions spread out through the city as they made their way back to 
their barracks. The battlewagon lumbered slowly ahead through one of the main streets. 
Certus pointed toward the wagon and Caeles followed, not quite knowing what else to do, 
a level of shock evident at the city around him. A block later, a distinctive roar came to 
his ears and Caeles could make out the sounds of gladiatorial combat in the distance. He 
had been to the arena in Pompeii with one of his friends when he was studying there, but 
he hadn't liked it that much. Learning about the real battles was much more interesting 
than watching prisoners being killed in a mockery of them.

Caeles pulled his horse back into the rest of the group as much as he could. He saw 
Certus across the column at a stand of some sort and angled his horse toward her where 
she met him halfway.

"Apples?" Caeles wondered.

"Here," she said as she tossed the shiny green apple to him, "I haven't eaten in a while 
and dinner won't be for a couple hours yet."

Caeles nodded and looked at the apple in his hands. It truly was a wonder. Apples, in 
Germania, in the middle of winter! Caeles took a bite and thrilled at the sweet, slightly 
tart flavor of the fruit. Ah, the wonders of the Empire...

Light sloshing noises floated gently down from the aqueduct overhead. Caeles squinted 
up at the arches that held it firmly in place. Below the suspended river of water flowed 
the vital peoples of the city. Here, a baker selling bread and other confections. There, a 
butcher with meat fresh today. There was even the hint of a fish market nearby...Fish! 
Here, dozens of leagues from the nearest sea, fresh fish!

Caeles would have swooned had it not been for the cautious stamping of the vindictive 
brute underneath him. He pulled up on the reins and tried to steer him back towards the 
path following the wagon...Into a second set of gates, beyond which he could see the 
governor's estate.

***

The sun was on its way down, casting cool pinks and reds across the white walls of the 
estate. Mistura watched as the battlewagon pulled into the gates, followed by Certus and 
Caeles. That boy was certainly difficult to read. But he seemed nice enough to get along 
with, so she let it be. She'd only met his father a couple of times, but she was struck by 
the similarities between them, even down to the little things, like the way they fidgeted 
when they rode horseback...

Caeles dismounted and stretched, clearly not used to so many days in the saddle. Certus 
brought him closer as the door of the battlewagon opened.

"So, Caeles, what do you think of the governor's estate?" she asked him, "Welcome to 
your new home."

"It's...Big."

Mistura laughed easily.

"Well that's one reaction," she said, "The house itself was built on a spring so that the 
inner gates could be closed against a siege."

"The steam coming from the top there," he asked as he pointed to an area near the 
roofline, "Are there many ovens working?"

"We have four great furnaces that provide heat to the villa in the winter as well as ovens 
for the food and ways to heat the spring water as well. It's quite complete," Certus said as 
she adjusted her cloak.

"That must require a great many people," Caeles said, following Mistura inside.

"Many more than you might think, young Soter."

It was the man from earlier. Certus had told him that the man was the governor, name of 
Aequus Neocorus.

"Welcome to Urba Tertius," he said curtly, "General Kalendis, I need to speak with you."

He and the General walked off in one direction, disappearing into a building at the far 
end. Other individuals came and went from the inner courtyard and Caeles wondered if 
he was supposed to follow one of them to his room. He could do with a nap after all that 
riding.

"Well Caeles," Certus said from behind him, "I think I'll see you up to your room and 
then find my own. I'm tired."

Caeles nodded and smiled. He was too...

***

The door closed slowly as Certus left. Caeles looked around him. The room was simple 
and clean. Nice. There was a small window that opened onto the interior gardens that 
smelled pleasantly of flowers, even in this day of winter. He smiled at the thought. It was 
good to be Roman. It was a good view, too. The inside of his room held a bed to one side 
with a table opposite. Certus had said that ink and stylus were going to be brought up 
sometime tomorrow, so he'd have to make due with his guilty pleasures.

On the table, aside from a small, brass lamp, were a couple scrolls. Caeles set his bag on 
the chair and unrolled one of the scrolls. They were maps. A large map of the Empire, all 
holdings marked and numbered. The other map held a couple different maps inside, but 
all seemed more tactical than geographic.

Caeles rolled the scrolls again and set them aside. From his bag, he brought out a small 
leather roll. He set it on the table and undid the delicate leather tie in the middle of the 
roll. Untied, he opened the roll and smiled at his own work. Several sheets of parchment 
inside held-

A giggle? The laughter of a woman...No. This laughter had been lighter. That of a girl. 
The sweet laughter that he felt was absent since the last time he was in Pompeii. But it 
sounded like it came from the courtyard. Caeles went to the window and distinctly heard 
a small bell sound, light and crisp in the darkened gardens. Once more the laughter 
floated up to him, but it was further off, as if the person was walking away from him. The 
bell chimed again and was silent.

All was quiet. The dark of the gardens pushed against his eyes and he withdrew. It was 
too late to light the lamp and do any useful work. It would be just as well to get to bed.

***

Part IV - Imperial Son

***

Caeles rubbed his hair again with the towel. The hallways were quite a bit colder than the 
baths and, at this time of night, he could feel it. Caeles was happy. Not simply content 
like he was in Neapolis, Pompeii, Brundisi and all those other towns in which he grew 
up, but really happy. The baths were simply wonderful. Much better than those of a 
normal Roman city. It still bothered him that he had not ever heard of this town before. A 
person didn't expect a town this advanced to be this far from the capital.

Three days had passed since he had arrived in Urba Tertius and, while he'd met a great 
many people, Caeles knew that he hadn't met even a fraction of the people around the 
household. Mistura had planned a dinner tomorrow evening to introduce him to the 
people that he should most get to know while staying there, in her words. Caeles simply 
nodded in agreement. Important people. So Caeles had decided to take a bath, especially 
since he hadn't had one since he'd left his old home.

It struck him as odd that he was around so many people and it didn't bother him. 
Normally, he avoided groups of people like a plague, and even the normal seating 
arrangements in the arenas made him panic. But here, it felt different, almost like home. 
As he turned the corner for the living hall, Caeles smacked into something not quite hard 
enough to be either a wall or a door and sat down hard. He reached a hand up to his 
forehead, feeling a slight lump already forming. What had he run into?

Across the hall, a form groaned slightly and sat up. It was clothed in hard leather armor, 
the kind that was worn by garrison units in the larger cities. More for protection against 
thieves and madmen than against invaders of any type. The person shifted the leather 
helmet up out of their face and Caeles gasped.

She was beautiful. A girl. Flowing red locks spilled out across her face, framing her light 
skin and the whiteness of the tunic visible under her armor. She reached up and rubbed 
the slight bruise that was beginning to swell under her eye. Caeles felt bad. He must have 
had his head down when they collided.

"I'm sorry," Caeles said as he got to his feet, "Can I help you up?"

He proffered a hand to her, wanting to apologize more once she got herself together. She 
looked up at him with one gorgeous blue eye. Both eyes snapped open as she screamed 
something Caeles couldn't understand. Her left hand reached to her waist and she 
whipped a sword from its scabbard at Caeles.

He jerked his hand back and shook it slightly as he could feel that the sword nicked it. 
Caeles backed up as the redhead picked herself off the stone floor as fast as she could. 
She screamed something in her language again and took another swing at him, which he 
ducked under. Caeles backed up, under a full panic now, and started to run down the hall. 
He cursed himself for not paying more attention to the building plans that he had in his 
room. He had no idea where he was, but one look over his shoulder at the swirling mass 
of screaming red hair that was behind him was enough to convince him that anywhere 
else was preferable.

Cold fear burned down his back as he rounded a corner and found that he'd come to a 
dead end, except...At the end of the hall was a door! Caeles opened the door and slammed 
it shut behind him just as that girl-beast-thing ran headlong into it. The door shuddered 
again, but held. Caeles breathed a slight sigh. The door shook again as the girl beat on the 
outside, screaming in her own language, which Caeles could now make out was 
Germanic. What was a dangerous girl like that doing in the governor's mansion?

Caeles eyes grew big as a long shaft of the girl's sword emerged from the door, at about 
head level. He bolted the door and backed off as the sword withdrew. She was aiming to 
kill him all right. What a beast! Caeles had no idea where he was, but he backed up 
slightly. The sword splintered the wood of the door again and Caeles jumped back. The 
back of his leg caught against something and he went backwards onto-

A person?! Someone else! Some kind of cloth flew up around him as he tried to struggle 
to his feet. He lost his balance and once again landed on his stomach on what felt like a 
bed. He reached out to try to grab the edge of the bed and his hand closed around 
something infinitely softer. And round. And kind of firm in a fleshy kind of way.

A hand closed around his wrist and wrenched his arm around him. Bright lights flashed 
and popped against his eyes as the pain in his shoulder grew. Caeles stopped trying to 
move and the pain subsided. So he just lay there. Whoever had a hold of his arm was 
quite strong and Caeles felt that person straddle his legs as they got a better grip on his 
arm.

"Great," he said quietly, "What else could go wrong?"

And he heard the door finally come open. Mistura blinked blearily into the room as 
Lycisca held a lamp high. Mistura noticed that Lycisca had changed the color of her hair 
once again. She wondered why the woman did that so often? It was her natural color 
when they had been in the forest and now it was a blonde color, but it looked like Certus 
hadn't had a chance to finish it all the way. Or Lycisca actually LIKED looking that way. 
Mistura shrugged to herself. Her friend was an eternal mystery.

Certus brought another oil lamp with her as they followed the young Lagena Aestus as 
she stormed into the room. Flustra was kneeling on the bed and had straddled someone 
under the sheets. She looked calmly over to the group. She always gave Mistura the 
shivers, with her one eye. Mistura never asked where her other eye had gone and such, 
because Flustra was always so aloof and untalkitive. It unnerved her that such a girl could 
somehow be close to Caeles' father. There was still a link there that she hadn't uncovered. 
Her missing eye, and the fact that she was an albino was more than enough to keep away 
most inquiry.

Lagena tore back the sheet and revealed a very confused Caeles, who blinked in the 
flickering light. Lagena pulled him out from under Flustra, who didn't make any 
indication of feeling either way. Mistura just shrugged. That was her way.

Lagena then wrapped an arm around his neck and held him up and seemed to ignore the 
fact that Mistura was trying to keep from laughing.

"Even though the Lady Caecus captured him, I'm sure it was only a matter of time before 
I caught up to him, but no matter!" she shouted into his ear.

He tried to gurgle a response.

"Tell me!" she shouted, "Why have you snuck in to the Lady's chambers?! It was to take 
her in a flurry of lust, wasn't it?!"

"It was?" Flustra said as she pulled a sheet around her.

"Tell me just what you think you're doing here this night?!" Lagena shouted once more.

Caeles let out a little gurgle as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"Oh, for the sake of the Gods, Lagena," Mistura said, "Put him down! He's turning blue!"

"Lagena," Certus interjected, "I'd like you to meet our newest guest. This is the son of 
Effero Soter, the Imperial Proconsul. This is Caeles Soter."

"He is, is he?" Flustra said quietly with a slight smile.

Lycisca raised an eyebrow, but said nothing at this sudden flurry of emotion from the 
albino. A dozen emotions warred with Lagena and finally one of them won out.

"Oh...Damn!" she said.

She let go of the boy who collapsed in an unconscious heap.

***

Lycisca grabbed the hilt of Lagena's sword and pulled it from its position in the door. She 
looked at it distastefully and handed it to Mistura, who hefted it and looked down the hall 
towards the fading sounds. Both of them could still hear Lagena grumbling in her native 
Germanic tongue all the way down the hall. And while she had Certus to help, Lycisca 
made sure that she was the one that got him safely back to bed, considering Lycisca 
would have to apologize to the boy tomorrow. She'd thought that perhaps Mistura or 
Certus could do it, but that wasn't really their assignment and she didn't want to end up 
with any of their tasks as a result. But, perhaps, something could be done in the future to 
prevent it.

"Should we keep them separated?" she asked of Mistura.

"No. No good can come from that," Mistura replied as she rubbed at her eyes, "All we 
can do is hope they get along. I'm more worried about how he'll react to Flustra."

Lycisca gave a quick, sharp laugh and looked back to the door.

"I have an idea they'll get along fine. Just call it a hunch..."