Aurelia || SERIES ROMANA I

Chapter 5 ~ Stranded

For three days Aurelia was sitting at the window and stared at the bay. But she couldn't wake up. She didn't eat, she didn't drink, she didn't talk, she simply looked at the sea. At some point she didn't had any tears left to cry. She felt empty.
She registered when Caligula came or went. Sometimes he sat down next to her and looked at the sea with her in silent like he was trying to figure her out. But she didn't have the energy anymore to shrink back. If the mania had started to poison his mind? She didn't know. Completely desperate she was trying to remember every little detail that she knew about him. But until know she had been more focused on Cicero, Vespasian and Seneca. The only facts she knew about Caligula was that he used to be a great emperor at the beginning but after a sudden illness (maybe caused by poison or stress) he became insane. One time he even made his favourite horse consul. Sometime in 41 A.D. Caligula was assassinated by his Praetorian guards and replaced by his crippled uncle Claudius. If she doesn't miscalculate, he will become emperor of Rome within the next year. But that really caused her headache was one question: What had the most notorious emperor of Rome planned for her? He could have hand her over to his great-uncle's guards back then he found her at the beach. Hadn't Tiberius had a preference to push intruders and guests from the cliff? Why was she here?

Suddenly a warm, small hand petted her shoulder. Surprised she turned her gaze from the sea beneath her and looked into the friendly face of an old woman. Caligula was nowhere in her sight.
"Who are you?", she asked and her voice creaked after days filled with silence. The old woman smiled softly at her and put a cup in her hands. Uncertain Aurelia stared at the indefinite drink. Was that with water diluted wine? She sipped carefully. The wine was surprisingly sweet and light despite the water part. With bubbles it could be a fruity sparkling wine. Memories of mild summer nights in her grandmother's garden came into her mind.
She looked confused over the edge of the cup at the old woman, then she drank the whole cup. Worked up she wiped away a drop of water-wine from her chin. Why couldn't she drink properly like every normal human? Rushed she checked her dress, but it was still unblemished white. In passing she asked for the old woman's name.
"My name, child", started the old woman suddenly and Aurelia looked her in the eyes. "Is Sophia. I am surprised that you are interested in the name of an ordinary slave. Not many of your class do"
Aurelia frowned. Her class? Now she didn't have a different worth than Sophia. When she suddenly understood that maybe this had always been Caligula's plan. As soon as she was fully recovered, he would sell her into slavery. The old slave felt her patient's growing panic and took her hand. Immediately Aurelia calmed down.
"Eat!", Sophia requested and placed a bowl with something that looked oddly similar to porridge in her hands and a spoon. Aurelia sat up a little bit more upright and started to eat her porridge without complaining. Until now she never understood the hype about porridge, but this bowl tasted amazing. It was neither too sweet nor did it have a too intensive oats-taste. Simple, but tasty. A little bit too soon she finished her bowl and returned it to Sophia.
"Thank you, Sophia", Aurelia said. "It was very tasty"
The old woman stood up confused but pleased and left the room without looking back. Before the thought came to her that this encounter with the old lady had been very odd, she sank back in the pillows and fell asleep.

Sophia closed the heavy door behind herself without any sound. Immediately the young master, who leaned casually against the opposite wall, looked up and asked concerned whether the girl had eaten finally. Without saying a word Sophia showed the empty bowl and the empty cup to him and the young master exhaled in relief. More to himself he muttered that she hadn't wanted to eat something he gave to her. The old slave shifted from one foot to the other uncertain. She wasn't in the place to say something as long as she wasn't allowed to. But then she thought about the girl who she had mixed a sleep-inducing potion in her wine after the young master begged her to add it.
"You strike fear into her heart", Sophia whispered and this instant his eyes narrowed hers. But in his eyes were no space for furry because she had addressed him unauthorized. His eyes were filled with despair.
"I know", the young master moaned quietly. "I know"
He passed her with hunched shoulders and before he could open his door she added: "She have eaten in a sitting position"
He froze in the middle of his move.
"Are you sure?", he demanded to know and exchanged a fast look with Praetorian Clemens. Sophia nodded heavy hearted.

An annoying scratching noise woke Aurelia up. Blinking she sat up and whipped the sleepy dust from her eyes.
"Good morning, sunshine", a mocking voice behind her greeted her and she flinched in shock. Caligula sat cheerfully at his desk and laid down a strange looking tool. Against her common sense she jumped out of the bed, came to him and grabbed the tool. Fascinated she started to study it. A little bit ink was still at the top of the tool – at least she thought that ink was already invented by now. Beside that reed pen felt surprisingly right in her hand. Until now she had seen this kind of tools only behind glass at museums but this one was made of flawless bronze and seemed as good as new.
"That is a calamus", Caligula lectured her, but Aurelia rolled her eyes. Carefully she put the calamus down and told him casually that she definitely knew that a calamus was. Their eyes meet in amusement and this instant Aurelia became serious again. He was still Caligula. Abruptly he looked away and took his calamus again. He didn't dip it in the glass of ink again, but he studied it with so much sadness that she couldn't stop herself from feeling a little bit concerned about him.
"He belonged to my father", he muttered melancholy and Aurelia started to fight her mixed feelings. A big part of her wanted to ask him so many questions about the legendary and utterly famous Germanicus, but his deep sadness hit directly in her heart. Then she remembered that Caligula had to be an excellent actor to survive Tiberius and she pushed those feelings away. The man in front of her had suffered so many horrible things that he had to have deep psychological injuries.
Caligula put the calamus down and studied her. Then he stood up, walked to the door, opened it carefully and exchanged a few fast spoken words with the guard before he closed the door and returned to his desk again.
"Where do you came from?", he asked finally. Aurelia looked at him without any expression. "Your accent doesn't fit into a Latin-Italic dialect or a provincial accent. So: Where are you from?"
Feverishly Aurelia was trying to find an excuse, but when she shook her head sadly.
"You won't be able to believe me", she said and turned her back on him. As soon as she wasn't exposed to his piercing gaze she started to relax. She heard the scratch of a chair behind her. When she felt surprisingly tender hands moving her around so that she had to look into his eyes again.
"Sooner or later you will tell me who you are, Aurelia", he predicted solemnly. Then he let her go, turned up his nose and said: "But you will take a bath first"
Automatically she lifted an eyebrow and looked very slowly around the room. Finally she gave him a flashing smile and ensured that her voice poured of sarcasm as she said: "Oh really. It's too bad, but I can't see a bath here"
Immediately his expression darkened and then he suddenly burst into an uproarious laughter. In the moment he calmed down, he reached out his hand with a dazzling smile on his beautiful face.
"Come", he said warmly. "It's time for your bath"
Without hesitating she took his hand and let him pull her to one of his bookshelves. Before she could make another mocking comment, he pushed a few scrolls out of the way and activated a hidden lever. Completely soundless the shelf moved elegantly out of the way and unblocked a long floor. Her heart was racing in her chest as she followed him into the darkness.
He guided her focused and purposeful. She lost the orientation after the third turning. Even after her eyes got used to the darkness, she couldn't see anything else than his fair hair. She couldn't hear anything else than the echo of their footsteps. Without noticing Aurelia clung harder on his hand, without him she would never be able to get out of this secret labyrinth.
Suddenly he stopped so that she crashed hard into his back. Before she was able to protest, he pulled her in front of him and pressed his free hand at her mouth. His voice whispered softly in her ear to not make a sound. She nodded unwillingly and he let her go in the same moment. With every second passing by without anything happening Aurelia became more and more restless. When she wanted to turn around and face Caligula to ask him how much more they were going to stand in the darkness, the wall slid to the other side and she was blinded by the soft light. Still half blinded she entered the room and blinked.
She was surrounded by beautiful mosaics in those dolphins and an unbelievable and uncountable number of fish were dancing in the waves. In front of her was a huge basin filled with water that reflected the light on the walls in the perfect way so that it looked like the room was under water. Marvelling she slowly turned in circles around herself and soaked up the beauty. Smiling her gaze fixed on Caligula who was still standing in the darkness of the hidden passage. Impatiently he pointed at the basin and mumbled: "You will find soap and a towel here. I took care that nobody will disturb you here for a few minutes. Sophia will assist you"
Only now Aurelia registered the old slave who was standing like a tiny shadow close to the hole in the wall. Aurelia nodded at them both, then Caligula turned around and the wall closed behind him. Immediately Aurelia felt more carefree and turned to the beautiful swimming pool. The old slave's hands helped her out of her tunica and then Aurelia glided carefully into the warm water. Maybe she could live her in anyway.