Book 2 – Chapter 6 – “Do Your Duty”
232 – Summer – The Consulship of Lvcivs Postvmivs Albinvs and Vibivs Carvilivs Maximvs Rvga

My Brother,

You are right. I will do my duty.

I will kill the filth that have caused so many of our countrymen to die. If you do not receive a letter from me a month after receiving this one, then you must assume that I am dead. I have a plan forming in my mind of what should be done.

Your brother,
Vibivs Postvmivs

*******ONE WEEK LATER*******

Vibius stalked silently into the camp, pulling his hooded cloak higher around him. The summer night was warm, though not oppressively so. He moved with the shadows, making very little noise, at least as little noise as a man as well built as he could make.

The fabric tent which was his destination for tonight’s bloody work was in front of him. Vibivs approached slowly and carefully, fortunately the night sky was shrouded in clouds and as such there was a shadow most of the way around it.

Vibivs approached the front tent flap, getting down on one knee to help make himself invisible to the naked eye. He ducked his head around the corner, and took in everything at once.

There was a couple of torched placed in front of the tent, and two armed guards. The guards were each large, burly looking men. In front of the tent was a clear area, with a dirt track leading to the remainder of the tent. Around that were further torches. Vibivs ducked back to his hiding place.

The guards would pose a problem, as would the torches; however Vibivs knew what needed to be done. He moved back from the tent a couple of steps, still keeping low, and then started searching with his hands for what he knew would be there.

He found what he was looking for, a bare handful of stones.

Then he returned to his spot and waited.

An hour later, according to the moon, two figures approached the far torchlight. Vibivs prepared his rocks. He heard a grunt from one of the guards at the tent flap and he spoke a few words to his fellow guard, though Vibivs was too busy concentrating to notice what was said.

The two figures materialised into two new guards, coming to relieve the current ones. Vibivs lifted one of his rocks from the small pile he had next to him. He lifted it high and threw it as hard as he could at one of the new guards. It connected with a ring on the man’s breastplate, and the man froze in place.

Vibivs lifted another rock and took aim again. By now the man had recovered and was searching around him, looking for the source of this threat. He started to lift his sword. Vibivs threw another rock.

The metallic ring cried forth again. This time the man started to run for cover, running away from Vibivs. His fellow guard did as well. Then, a moment later the other two guards appeared out from behind the cover, running off into the shadows, yelling orders at one another.

Now Vibivs reached into his cloak, trying to suppress the adrenaline running through him. He pulled out a dagger, no larger than his hand and then started to slice at the tent’s fabric.

He created a small hole and moved into the tent.

He saw only crates.

A moment of panic seized Vibivs and then subsided as he looked further around the tent. The crates only took up part of the room. The rest was taken up by a bed and desk. On the desk was a sheaf of papers. On the bed was his target, the man he had come to kill.

Qvintvs Maelivs Fravcvs.

Vibivs approached the bed and simply stood there, looking at the man below him. The man looked almost peaceful, his face the picture of serenity.

Vibivs couldn’t kill a man who looked like this. How could anyone?

He placed his hand over Fravcvs’ mouth and used his thumb and forefinger to block his nose. Fravcvs immediately woke up, spluttering all over Vibivs’ hand, fortunately most of the sound was muffled by that same hand.

Fravcvs’ spluttering eventually subsided, then his eyes widened as he realised that Vibivs was holding a knife in his other hand. He started to pale in the dim torchlight and ther was the distinct smell that showed that he had vacated his bowels.

“Much better,” Vibivs whispered to himself. He plunged the knife deep into the man’s chest, the blood spraying all over his hand and the rest of his cloak. Fravcvs’ eyes widened further momentarily, then his chest seized up and he drew his final breath.

Vibivs finally took his hand off of Fravcvs’ corpse, wiping it on Fravcvs’ bed clothes. He turned around and walked back to his hole, sheathing his knife back into his cloak. He felt numb. He had never killed a man in cold blood. Then he thought of his people. Fravcvs’ was the reason that so many of them now were lying in shallow graves.

He climbed out through the hole, and straight into a guard.

The guard yelled a cursed, then immediately jumped onto the stunned Vibivs.

The guard manhandled him all the way through the camp, to the jail. He barked orders at any guard he saw and kept hitting Vibivs whenever he stumbled. Vibivs was soon bleeding from his head and his left shoulder.

Eventually then reached the makeshift jail, a wooden building that was probably once servants’ quarters on a villa. It was now vacant and guarded by a single man.

The guard explained the situation to the jail guard, who simply nodded and admitted Vibivs. Inside there was no one else, just a bucket and a small torch that was precariously close to the wooden sides of the jail.

The door slammed behind him. Outside the guards were making a ruckus, trying to create some semblance of order and to take stock of their situation. Vibivs smiled to himself. He was going to die a death for the sake of his own people.

After what seemed like several hours, the door opened to admit a man. Vibivs vaguely recognised the man as one of the four military tribunes who had been in the recent campaigns in Gaul. A good man, or so he was told.

The man turned to the guards who were with him and with a flick of his wrist, dismissed them. They simply nodded and turned. The Tribune turned back to the door, closing it.

“Hello, you may not know me, but I certainly know you. You are the one they sent.”

Vibivs remained silent. He merely cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh, they did not explain the whole situation to you? Let me explain. My name is Oppivs Aelivs Leontivs. I am a former Quaestor with the Romans, though I am on the verge of achieving the office of Praetor. Unfortunately, there are very few positions open with the army, and Fravcvs was taking one of those.”

“In Rome the army is the chief way to make you stand out. Fravcvs was a fool, unable to plan a military campaign with any degree of competence. He was a waste of a Roman life, as I am sure that you and your men would gladly attest to.”

Vibivs simply nodded. He did not know where Aelivs was going with this.

“I suppose you are confused? I would assume so. These things are beyond what most people could comprehend. You see, I, how shall I say this… arranged, for our friend Fravcvs to be murdered.”

Vibivs looked confused for a second, then spoke, “No you didn’t… the Gauls did.”

Aelivs laughed, “Of course that’s what they told you. They only seek glory for themselves and their tribe. Oh well, they shall be dealt with in due time. Well I shall tell you the truth. I arranged for the Gauls to release a prisoner, for a good price I might add, in order to have someone kill that waste of a life.”

Vibivs was stunned. He was a part of a greater plot? A Roman released him? What could he possibly get from it?

“Now I am going to tell you something very important. Within the next twenty minutes, I am going to arrange an… accident for the chief guard here. You are going to escape in the confusion. I am going to move this army back to Rome, and expect to meet you there. I will need good strong men like you in my army for what I plan in the future. Do as I tell you and you live. Do otherwise, and these men are going to kill you.”

Vibivs nodded, he knew that yet again, he had no choice.