Royals Through Time 6: The Romans

Part Seven: Traitor

The Roman reinforcements met the Roman and Barbarian armies in a huge rocky gorge. The Romans cheered, and the Barbarians shivered. They had heard of Rome's strength, and their previous victories were suddenly less valuable. Then a cry went up from both armies: "They've brought the Empress!" Holding on to her horse with one hand, Sarah raised her other to stay the troops behind her. Alongside her sat Justinus, Tiberius, and the very scared Royals. Then with one fluid motion, Sarah drew her sword and pointed it to the sky. When she lowered it slightly, the charge began. Within seconds, the reinforcements were thoroughly engaged in the battle. Sarah tried not to count the people she hit. But with the swing of her blade, the numbers came like words to a beat. Three...four...five...six... Sarah knew that these people were trying to kill her. Anyone who did would probably get a large reward. But it wasn't so much fear for her own life that made her keep swinging her sword; it was the fear for the lives of her people. Though she couldn't look, Sarah knew that the others were fighting just as hard. My kingdom is not theirs, yet they risk their lives anyway. Sarah was gaining more and more respect for her friends the more she was around them. She could feel another person behind her and whirled, ready to slice another enemy. But instead she found Justinus. They both smiled slightly. When attack came from both sides, Sarah and Justinus were pushed back to back. Moving in different ways at the same time, they swirled and dodged, slicing and blocking. Over the noise of battle, no one could hear the twang of a single bowstring. It came from a rocky ledge far above the fight. In the act of loosing the arrow, the archer tumbled over the ledge, falling to his death. But the arrow flew, just the same. Straight towards Sarah, still mounted upon her horse. No man saw it, save one. And that man drove his horse so that he stood in the arrow's path. Sarah didn't know the arrow had flown until Justinus grasped his shoulder in pain. He turned his head, and their eyes met. They had to get out of this battle, if only for a moment. They might be killed otherwise. Within a minute, the Royals, Amet, and Justinus had found shelter in a small cave, and Gracina was opening the door to the Stone Circle with her key. Justinus nearly tripped down the stone steps. Sarah began to tend to his shoulder almost immediately after she settled him in the center of the Circle. The others paced nearby. Amet began to analyze the battle they had left behind. "We were doing fine....but we weren't really getting anywhere. It was like we were treading water." Justinus spoke up: "Almost like they had a spy within Rome to hear our plans." Amet shook his head. "That would be nearly impossible. The only way they could do that would be to get spy inside the Imperial Palace." Sarah had been partially tuned out until she heard that. Spy within Rome...within my own home...someone who knows me...someone who could come and go without being noticed...someone with possible reason to wish Rome or myself harm...no.. Sarah's head snapped up. She knew who the traitor was. As the single name passed her lips, the very same emerged into the Stone Circle, dangerous look on her face. "Hello, Mistress." She said in a mocking tone.
"Feria."
"Yes. How much it must hurt to know you were outmatched by a simple servant girl. One in your own house."
"Feria, you know me. I have no time for such talk. How much do you know, what did you do, and why did you do it?"
Feria's smug expression faltered for only a moment. Then it was back at full force.
"If you wish. I know about this place. I know about the magic it possesses. I know about all the Helpers of the different countries. I know each and every one of their names, as well as those of the Royals. I even found your key last washing day, tucked into your tunic. I led the so-called barbarians in war against Rome. I gave them the information they needed, all for the sake of my goal: to destroy Rome, and to destroy the Imperial line, and all their accomplices!"
Sarah looked at the face of the traitorous servant and asked a one-word question:
"Why?"
Feria began to speak, her voice rising to a scream as she told her story.
"Because no man or woman shall be higher than any other! No one shall rule another! No one shall decide right and wrong! No one shall tell the other to go and be obeyed! No girl shall be ripped from her homeland and sold into slavery!"
It was then that Sarah remembered a vague tale, one whispered throughout the palace years ago. It was said that the Romans had raided a Barbarian village in Britannia, and had killed all the men in the village. The women and children had all been carried to Rome and sold, except for the very important ones. Most notable among them were the chieftain's wife and his two children, a son and a daughter. The mother and son were executed as prisoners of war, and the daughter, barely seven, had been taken to serve in the Imperial Palace. That girl was trained to be the servant of a royal lady, and assigned to one of the daughters of Caesar at age ten. That girl would grow up alongside this daughter of Caesar, who was five years her senior.

That slave girl was Feria.

The servant spoke again. "You Romans took everything from so many people. Even Hermanus was a Barbarian once, a slave to a soldier. It was easy for him to see the merit in my cause. It was his idea to lure the Empress herself into battle and get herself killed." She looked disdainful at Justinus. "Too bad he got in the way of the arrow meant for you." Justinus's eyes now blazed with fire. "I'd do it again."
Feria tossed her head and looked him right in the eye.
"Of course you would. That it what the Helper of Rome must do, is it not? Though, even if you weren't the Helper, you would have done it anyway. You are sickeningly loyal like that. Your being so captivated with your Empress doesn't help me, either."