"Why are we putting into land?" Aurelia asked Maximus the next morning. "Are you raiding old ladies' larders again?" she laughed, finishing off the rest of the dates.

He plucked one from her palm and ate it, spitting the stone out into the water deftly. "The amount of food you eat, we'll need to raid the nearest fort, never mind a larder. Where does a little thing like you put it all?"

She swatted his arm. "I'm a growing girl...!"

He chuckled, pinching her buttocks. "Just watch where you're growing...I like a good arse on a woman but..."

Aurelia howled at that, almost deafening him with the scream as she bowled him over. "YOU BEAST! I am not getting fat!"

He wrestled her hands, laughing broadly, until he managed to restrain her and sit her down. "Behave! I was jesting, as you well know...! Let me explain... We need to make land because I think we have to change our mode of transport. It's not a good idea to follow a linear path. They're not fools, Lia. They'll work it out. And they have huge resources of men and equipment at their disposal..."

"Do you think they're sailing after us? Surely they would have caught up with us by now if they were? Their vessel is bound to be swifter than this...they will have rows of oarsmen..."

Maximus nodded. "But a large ship cannot skirt the coast as we've been doing. No doubt one of the ships that have passed on the horizon has carried our pursuers but they'd have to stop every tiny craft to get us. We look like a local fishing boat just off shore. However, we cannot take too much for granted...and we're running out of money. I have to decide exactly where we are heading..."

"Have we nothing left? Are we destitute?" Aurelia asked, worried now.

He smiled and put his arm around her. "Not exactly. Money itself is not the problem. I have promissory notes that add up to a small fortune in my money belt. Gracchus was more than generous - although it was no more than I deserved. It was my money, after all, part of my wealth deposited in the Treasury and sequestered on my fall. The problem we have is redeeming it. It could lead them straight to us..."

"I don't understand...what are promissory notes?" Aurelia asked.

Maximus pulled her against him and they sat close in the prow of the boat as he steered her towards a small bay. "It's dangerous to carry large sums - and heavy. Coin takes up space. When travelling for long periods it is usual to convert one's money into these notes which can easily be exchanged for the sum stated at any of the provincial Treasuries. But the word will by now have gone out. We show up with a bond of this value and we will stick out like sore thumbs. Questions will be asked and in no time at all they will realize that it is us..."

"So we can never make use of them?" 

He raised his hands. "Not necessarily. There are other people who will exchange them - but not for the full value. If I go to some merchant then it is obvious I have some reason for keeping my identity secret from the authorities - and they will drive a hard bargain...we will lose a very large amount of silver..."

"But you have a plan already, don't you? You are always one step ahead..." Aurelia's total belief in him was touching but he was not sure that he was quite as invincible as she seemed to think.

They were reaching the shallows. He jumped into the water and hauled the boat towards the beach, pushing it onto the sand and helping her out. Together they found a place to conceal it as best they could. "We'll talk later. How are your feet?"

Aurelia held them out to him; they seemed to be healing nicely. "I can walk. I will wrap them in cloth and wear the sandals you stole."

He nodded his approval while she donned the footwear. Looking about he satisfied himself they were alone and then indicated a copse of trees at the rear of the sand. "If there is anything you need to do first...I suggest you do it over there...I will stay at a polite distance to give you privacy..."

Aurelia blushed when she realized exactly what he meant. Despite their intimacy she was still shy about many natural functions in his presence and he knew that she would be grateful for the chance to relieve herself in comparative seclusion. A gently brought up noblewoman could not be expected to become inured to such things as was a soldier used to being surrounded by thousands of men. There was no room for delicacy in the army.

She took herself off into the trees while he sat down on a rock to wait on her, near enough to be in hailing distance but not close enough for her to feel inhibited. He was soon lost in thought, still musing on where they went from here. Shortly afterwards he heard her footsteps as she came back out, fastening up the belt of her dress and tying back her hair. He watched her loose-limbed walk and observed that she was beginning to lose that girlish colt-like fashion; her stature was more and more that of a woman, hips swaying sinuously, back held straight, pressing her breasts forward. She seemed to have a new confidence in her body. It was very arousing to watch her.

As she noticed him looking her way, she smiled, and as ever his heart sang. The past few days had been so good. Aurelia was learning fast and unconcerned by unnecessary prudity. She loved him and trusted him when he said nothing they did together - as long as it was to her taste - was wrong. And her free spirited tastes sometimes surprised him. Pleasantly.  He smiled to himself at his sex-soaked state. All those years of denial and now he was as priapic as a young boy, no sooner taking his pleasure than wanting it again. Nor did she seem to ever be satiated.  But then she was very young and at the peak of her desire.  It was that time in a relationship, like the first few weeks of marriage, when a man and woman were incapable of thinking of anything else but each other - and the pleasures of their conjoined flesh.

Yet he knew his mind should be more focused on the danger that was ever-present. This was when he had to keep the most alert. "I'm ready...where to next?"

"Find a town. See if we can get some transport. And learn our whereabouts. I have no idea where we are..."

He bundled up a few of their meagre belongings in his cloak and slung it over his shoulder. He threw a smaller parcel over to her that he could easily have carried but he had decided that she needed to begin to do her share. "First lesson of an army on the move. Everyone carries their own gear..."he grinned and she held the bundle in her arms, rather as if she was holding a child.  "Over your shoulder. Keep a hand free...' he ordered and helped her rearrange the baggage.

They made their way along the beach in the shade of the scrub-like trees, trying to find relief from the burning African sun. He told her to tie a cloth around her hair; she was so fair he thought she could suffer badly from the sun. Roman ladies of her class stayed well out of it and their skins were ivory pale. The damage she could suffer so un-weathered had to be considered. Apart from the fact he preferred the white satin of her natural complexion.

"Maximus..." Aurelia began after they had walked for about a few miles. They had some fresh water but not much. He was hoping to get to a settlement soon.

"Yes? Are you tired? Hungry? Thirsty?"

"A bit...but that wasn't what I meant. I was thinking about something..." He was beginning to recognise that certain tone in her voice and wondered quite what was coming next.

"What's on your mind?' he glanced over and she seemed to be deep in thought. He loved the way she wrinkled up her nose as her brain worked.

Suddenly she turned and addressed him full-faced. "Could you teach me how to use a knife? Properly I mean."

"You mean for cooking?" he replied obtusely, full well aware of what she really meant.

"No! For fighting." She answered blithely.

He stopped and gave her a stare, lips pursed in disapproval. "You want me to teach you how to fight?"

"With a knife. Throwing it, and where to stab someone and how to make it count..." she added with gusto.

"Women do not fight. Most especially Roman patrician women..."His answer was clipped and betrayed his total unwillingness to even consider such a course of action.

Aurelia was not at all put off. "Most women are not being pursued by Rome's finest, Maxime. You gave me a knife, but you won't teach me to use it? Isn't that rather negligent? Would you do that with a young tiro? Give him a gladius and not make him do sword drill?  I see you are happy to teach me to prepare food and carry bundles but not to protect myself? Don't you think that is rather unwise in our circumstances?"

"Aurelia. No." He strode on and completely refused even to discuss the matter further. She trotted behind him trying to keep up with his longer stride.

"But why? It makes sense!"

"I will not have you even imagining that you can defend yourself with a knife. You are already reckless enough... all I need is you launching yourself into some dangerous situation..."

"YOU GAVE ME THE KNIFE! Is it only to open my own veins?"

Maximus spun round and took her by the arms. "Do not talk like that, do you hear me? I will not hear you talk of doing yourself harm...!" He had never raised his voice to her like this before.

Aurelia fell silent for a moment; he was angry and she could tell by his breathing that he was trying to control himself. She wondered what was scaring him so much. And then she knew. Even now, with all that was happening to them, he could not face even thinking that one day he might lose her as he had his wife. Nothing else in life could frighten such a man.

She reached out a hand and held his, drawing him to sit beneath a tree with her. "Maximus...I have told you why I believe that this is important. I know you can protect me - but you may not always be at my side. If they should come for me...do you not think you would be happier if they could not take me alive?"

He said nothing, swallowed hard and looked away into the distance. She leaned over and kissed him softly whispering, "Think about it for a while, Maximus. And then, you can pretend it was your idea..."

Her comment caught his attention at once and he suddenly began to laugh. "You are a little vixen...so you think you have my measure, do you?" With one swift motion he had her on her back and was kissing her passionately, fired by his love for her tinged with the cold hand of fear whenever she forced him to look upon what was sure to come. But she was right. By Jupiter, she was right. He had to make sure she was not defenceless, as his own poor wife and son had been.

For he was not invincible and did not know himself if he could prevail against these odds.

The man observed the two travellers from a distance as they strolled down the road deep in conversation. There was nothing unremarkable in strangers on this road leading to Paraetonium but something drew his attention. He sat crouched behind a rock a distance away and followed their progress with his eyes. The woman was young and seemed very animated as she chatted away; the man was taciturn, saying little except for occasional comments. He did not appear to be very amused by her conversation.

What was unusual about them? He decided that it was in their bearing. They both walked with that sure confidence of people who have a place, a rank, a sense of their own position in the world. He had met men like that before and somehow this person was familiar to him, or at least he thought he had known someone of a similar appearance. But he couldn't recall who. It was probably just a fancy. The hot sun could make all sorts of strange images appear before one.

About to turn away and continue his own journey, his eye was caught again when the couple stopped, sat by a tree and then shortly after began to kiss. He watched without prurience, simply interested in what had made this sudden change occur. Was the man going to take her out there in public view? There was nothing lewd in this kiss - and the girl seemed as involved as he was. These were lovers whose passion even at this distance was palpable. It brought a smile to his serious demeanour. Lucky man to have found this! And to still have it.

They broke and lay side by side on the sandy ground, talking quietly and touching each other tenderly. He wondered again where they were going and what their story was. Somehow he knew instinctively that they were in some kind of trouble. It was not his problem. He had enough of his own.

Running down to the road from his vantage point, wrapping the white sheet of his garment over his head, he continued on with his own journey. After a few steps he could not resist looking back once more; the image of the man still lingered in his mind. There was something familiar about him he could not deny it...But the road behind him where they had been lying moments before was now deserted.

Had he imagined it? Was the sun affecting his mind? Or had they taken cover when they had become aware of his presence? He suspected the latter. They were in trouble for sure. He wondered what they had done.

One moment the gentle lover, the next the alert warrior, Maximus had seized Aurelia and dragged her forcibly to the beach, rolling with her down a sand dune until they were out of sight of the dusty road. He put his hand on her mouth to silence any involuntary sound she might make and drew his sword, lying in wait ready to pounce. Nothing happened. The silence was broken only by the lap of the wave and the occasional cry of a sea bird. They lay breathing heavily and waited for what felt like endless time but soon Maximus let her go, crawling up to check out the road. It was empty.

Sitting down heavily, he breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he had been trying to warn himself all along. He had to say alert. That time he had missed the presence of another body on the road completely. This was not good enough

"What did you see?" Aurelia whispered.

"A man. I did not want him to observe us. He has gone now."

She scrambled up and stared down the road. "He could have told us where we were. Or where the nearest town is..."

"I know we're in Libya Inferior. Egypt cannot be far. Alexandria is on the coast somewhere near here..."

"Alexandria? Won't they expect us to go there?" Aurelia asked. It was the largest city in the region. 

Maximus nodded. "Yes, they will. It will be crawling with people looking for us..." he observed.

Aurelia frowned. "Then why are we heading there? I don't understand..."

"For a number of reasons. There's a saying in the army. Hide in plain sight. Sometimes you do what the enemy does not expect - but at other times you do exactly what he has already provided for-  and you find  he is looking further away, sure you will surprise him...It is a risk, but one that is worth taking, I believe, in this instance. The city is large with a vast, ever-changing population. People come there from all parts of the known world. There is no better city in which to lose oneself. And - the Roman presence there is restricted. You know how Egypt is kept down. The administration is nominally Roman but as long as the grain is shipped out and the country left penniless, it is not given much attention. The governors are lower rank, generals are forbidden to enter so the garrisons are commanded by lesser officers...Cinna won't find it quite so easy there to throw his weight around..."

"Cinna? Aemilius Cinna? Is he the man who is after us?" Aurelia gasped, her memories of this man almost as bad as that of his now-dead companion.

Maximus nodded. "I recognised him at Leptis that night...briefly. But it was Cinna. There will be more than duty involved in his obsession to apprehend us. He's after revenge. I killed his lover..."

"What? You killed his woman? How? When?" Aurelia was astonished. Maximus kill a woman?

He smiled softly, squeezing her cheeks as one would do to a child. "Publius Sentius. The night we fled from the palace...they were lovers..."

"But they are both men! Do you mean they were...homosexual? Like a Greek?" Her surprise was total. She was still so innocent. He wondered if she even knew what that really meant.

"Yes. They liked women well enough but each other more. Some men are like that. It is not unusual amongst soldiers. War makes strong bonds among men. Sometimes it becomes physical..."

"Are you like that?" She asked in horror. Maximus burst into laughter.

"Me? You ask that of me? Have I not proved myself a man for you often enough of late?" 

"But you might have liked men in war..." Aurelia insisted.

"...Not enough to fuck them...!" he replied and pulled her to her feet still laughing. "Come, let's get back to the road..."

Aurelia was silent for some time as they carried on, for which in some ways he was grateful. He was thirsty and tired and not in the mood for her endless questions.

"Maxime?"

"Yes?" he replied tersely.

"What do men do? If they are lovers?" The question was probably to be expected from her eventually. He might as well deal with it now as later.

He shot her a look. "Use that imagination of yours. Much the same as we do..."

"But...but.... How? But...oh...that's disgusting! Do they really do it like that?" She pulled a face as the truth dawned on her.

"Apparently. Or so I have heard. Let's hope that shuts you up for a while, hey?" And with a smile, he pulled her against him in a hug. "The world is a strange place when you are a young person just finding your way. Don't worry about it...everyone has their own way of living. It isn't up to us to judge what we don't understand..."

She thought about that for a while. "But if you caught your men behaving in that way...caught them in flagrante..."

"In the act? Probably have them run through. It's a discipline matter if it's discovered in camp. But if they kept it quiet? Then I turned a blind eye. We've all heard the noises under blankets at night. The poor bastards haven't got much else for solace in the field..." he replied with a sad smile. "A commander must never be seen to be weak. But he must also never be without humanity. And that is a very fine line to walk..."

That seemed to satisfy her for a while or at least gave her something else on which to cogitate; either way, she sank back into silence as they carried on down the road.

Maximus himself had given the matter of their next destination great thought over the past days. In the end, their need for money had forced his decision. If he took the notes to one of the wealthy Jewish bankers in Alexandria, the transaction would appear perfectly normal to them; they handled such amounts for the administration as a matter of course on a daily basis. By the time the note was surrendered and anyone raised a suspicion at its origin, he and Aurelia would be long gone - and what would their trackers learn that was of any real use to them? That the pair had been where they were most expecting them to be? Hardly a great revelation - more of a taunt if the truth were known. It certainly did not reveal any clue as to where he might be intending to take her next.

But this time, they had better keep their wits about them. The city would be crawling with potential spies.

A wagon passed them shortly afterwards bound for the market at Paraetonium, which they soon found was their nearest town. Maximus hailed the driver and hitched them a ride. The farmer, in his heavily accented Latin, seemed to accept their explanation that they had been robbed by bandits on the road and relieved of their horses; Maximus said he had fought them off but not before they had absconded with their mounts. The man gave him a silent scrutiny and did not appear to find it unlikely that this man could have thwarted robbers and driven them away. Aurelia said nothing, partly because she did not wish to drawn attention to herself but also because she found the man difficult to understand. Maximus's skill at opening him up fascinated her too. He managed to elicit a great deal of information without giving the impression that he was asking questions, talked freely himself but about nothing of any real importance and gave nothing about them away. Even this taciturn countryman was led into revealing everything that Maximus wanted to know.

It was mid- afternoon when they reached the town. The man intended to pitch a tent in the forum ready for the night market. They thanked him for his kindness and Maximus jumped down at the outskirts, lifting Aurelia gently and then securing their meagre baggage. Hand in hand they approached the town, stopping at a wayside inn where they took a room for a few nights - although the intention was to leave early the next day. The innkeeper insisted on payment up front; Maximus counted out the coin. Aurelia wondered how long it would be before they ran out of money entirely.

The room was on an upper floor, reached by a wooden stairway that led on to a rickety balcony that ran around above the inner courtyard. Aurelia did not understand the nature of the place in which they were staying. It was an inn but to a more experienced eye it was plainly more of a brothel; these rooms were usually rented out for business to whores who kept their families in the little cells that led off the yard below.

Aurelia stared about her at the activity that was apparent all around, men and women lounging and talking at doorways, children running about, dogs, chickens and other domestic beasts scuffling about on the sandy floor below. It was noisy, none too clean and alive with vibrant colours, the shouts of residents calling from balconies, the smoke of fires cooking food and here and there a musician playing a flute or a drum. Maximus pushed Aurelia along as she dawdled, taking in the scene with her insatiable curiosity until they reached the room he had been given. Once inside, he pulled over the tattered curtain that appeared to be the only door and looked about him into the gloomy interior.

It was dark inside, the one window shuttered against the heat of the late afternoon. There was a rudely carved table, one chair and a wooden framed pallet. With a sigh he threw down the baggage and rubbed a hand over his forehead. He hated having to bring her here to such a lowly place.

"I would like to wash..." Aurelia asked hesitantly, lowering herself down to sit on the bed.

"There's a bathhouse somewhere. It will have a woman's section in a town of this size..." he muttered. "We need to find something to eat and drink too. Come on...let's leave the baggage and go and wander..."

"Is it safe? People could steal our belongings..."

Maximus laughed. "What is there here worth having? And we can't sit here all night..." She sensed his mood was bleak and thought better than to cross him; for once she merely nodded at his suggestion, getting up and following him out of the door meekly.

First, he took her to the market where he picked up a change of clothes for her. She told him it didn't matter. She could still wear the dress she had on, but he shook his head and bought a simple dress of a pale blue fabric anyway. She knew it was wasteful of him when they had so little coin to spare but also that her objections would not stop him once his mind was made up. With this garment in hand they made their way over towards the bathhouse that the woman at the stall had indicated to them. On the steps there was a young girl selling hair ribbons and trinkets. She called out to Maximus as he passed. "Hey, handsome...buy a gift for your pretty lady?"

Maximus stopped and smiled; the girl blushed and simpered back. Did all women do that when he turned on that rare beam of his? Crouching down, Maximus looked at her wares. "What do you like, Lia? The dark blue?" He held up a plaited ribbon for her to view.

Aurelia shook her head. "I don't need it. I can use one of these old scarves I have..."

"Nonsense...I insist...I love you in blue...it brings out the colour of your eyes..." he looked up at her - and this time his smile was for her alone.

"Oh, Maxime....I don't need all this...!" she murmured back fondly, tears pricking her eyes. This cheap gift seemed more precious to her than any fine cloth or jewel she had ever been given.

"Please...wear it for me...it is all I can give you..." he whispered gruffly. It was futile and even cruel to him to argue about this. It occurred to her he needed to make such gestures to establish some masculine symbol of his own pride amidst the hopelessness of their situation.

With her two new purchases, he sent her off into the baths, explaining briefly what she might expect inside, giving her a coin for the slave to guard her clothes and telling her not to linger or involve herself in conversation - if she was spoken to, she had to be very careful what she said by way of reply. He would wait at the door until she was finished.

"Will you not bathe?" Aurelia asked. Maximus replied that he would do so later when she was safely settled back in the inn. Her faithful guard would not leave her side until then.

Aurelia had never used a public bathhouse before, although she knew of their existence. This was the first time indeed she had ever bathed herself, being used to the services of her slaves. Stripping off her clothes in the apodyterium, stowing them in the pigeon-holed recesses and tipping the little child who was sitting there to keep an eye on them, she took the towel that was offered and wrapped it round her quickly, embarrassed to be naked before other women in this communal space.

Passing through the rooms, Aurelia observed other women and followed their lead letting a slave rub her skin with a cheap, rather sickly-scented oil and then taking a seat for a while in the caldarium. Even if the surroundings were rudimentary and basic, she could not help feeling better as the steam cleansed her, sweating from her pores the grime, sand and salt of the days at sea. After she was scraped down, she lay basking in a warm pool, slipping in and dropping her towel discreetly on the side, using her fingers to idly comb out the tangles of her thick hair.

"Where you from? With hair like that I'd say Germania or Gaul..." Aurelia turned and saw a buxom dark-skinned woman sliding into the water beside her. She could have been Libyan or even Egyptian from the slant of her almond eyes. Her accent was foreign to Aurelia but she spoke the language well enough.

"Germania..." Aurelia confirmed in as few words as possible.

"Long way from home, Blondie..." the woman laughed. Aurelia was not sure if she was being mocked or this was just friendliness. People did not normally address her in such a way.

"We are travelling..."

"We?"

"My husband and I..."

"The big guy you were with outside? He looks like he'd be a lot of fun..." The woman raised her eyes suggestively. "I'd say he was a bit too much of a handful for a little thing like you...but, they all like a tight fit, hey?"

Aurelia swallowed hard at the comment. Did the woman mean what she thought she meant...?  She decided not to engage her further and merely smiled wanly, reaching for the towel to make her exit before the woman went on any more. But a hand stayed her.

"Running away, little girl? Did I say something to offend your dainty manners?" This time Aurelia recognised the barb clearly.

"Go and find someone to annoy who actually gives a damn about your insinuations...I have better things to do than bitch with you..." Aurelia shrugged away the hand and stood up, this time flaunting her slender naked beauty before the older woman. She was shrewd enough to realise that this was just jealousy - and what did she have to lose from that?

"I was only being sociable! Be like that if you want to..." the woman snapped back as Aurelia climbed out and made her way to the changing room. There she dried and clad herself in the new dress. The material was rough compared to what she was used to but she was beginning to be accustomed to discomfort. As much as she wished she could clothe her body in fine silks again, she was resigned to these small irritations. Life was a greater adventure than to be a spoilt rich girl trapped in a golden cage.

Outside Maximus was waiting perched on a low wall, his eyes dancing with pleasure as he saw her exit, clean, combed and sporting his gifts; she had tied her hair back clumsily with the ribbon, realising how little she had appreciated the skill of her handmaids over the years.

"You look so beautiful..." he muttered as he came to her and stood before her.

"Well, clean anyway," she answered with a grin. "I have to smell better than before, even with the dreadful cheap oil they use..."

He bent to inhale her neck. "It's working for me already..." he teased. She pushed him away playfully.

"Oh no, you don't...! Not until you've bathed... I don't want a sweaty man in my bed tonight..." Her eyes sparkled with promise, he groaned with feigned pain at her rebuttal.

"You're a hard woman to please...let's go find some food and drink and maybe I can loosen you up...?"

It was surprising how a simple act like a hot bath and a reasonable meal improved both their moods. After they had eaten at a stall in the market, sitting for a long time chatting and watching the crowds, Maximus took her back to the inn and told her to stay inside, keep away from the others and have the knife on her at all times. Then he took a quick trip to the bathhouse himself, uneasy to be away from her for long or leave her unattended in that brothel. But she amused herself by trying to improve her skill with her hair and by playing with the dress he had bought her, trying different ways of tying it to give it a little more drape and fall so that it framed her body more invitingly. She longed for a mirror in which she might preen, having merely to imagine what he might see when he finally returned.

It was growing dark when he finally pushed back the curtain and entered, himself now restored to a more civilised man, shaved and oiled, his hair trimmed and tamed. He looked once more the Roman and she wondered as she admired him if that was quite the right image he ought to be portraying. Maximus could not keep the dignity of his rank from his persona - and this bearing of his would only draw attention to his class. But she imagined he knew nothing else and that to array himself this way was just how he had always done so, unaware of vanity or image.

He found her at the shutter which she had now opened, sitting on the chair, her chin on her arms as she looked out over the scene below. As he entered, she spun around and looked at him, her smile alone enough to drive a man to distraction. He stood there a moment and simply gazed on her as she jumped up and all but danced over to him. "Hey, handsome...you interested in spending some time with me?" she giggled, throwing her arms around his neck.

He picked her up and walked her inside. "What have you been up to?"

"Watching. I think some of these women are prostitutes! Did you know that? Men keep coming and going all the time...how amusing!" Aurelia giggled.

"Your education continues apace, madam...and your delight does you no credit..." he replied, setting her down and fingering the neckline of the dress which now revealed one sleek shoulder and clung to her breasts, gathered by a scarf tied belt-fashion at her waist.

He drew the ribbon from her hair and let it fall then slipped the other shoulder fastening so that the dress slid down as he pulled on the belt. "I want to see you naked..." he whispered as the garment slithered to the floor.

Outside, the din of the busy establishment continued while the two lovers hid away, oblivious to the sights and sound of the squalid world beyond the dark confines of their humble chamber. As the days together passed, any initial reluctance that Maximus had felt about Aurelia's modesty and youth was dissipating. She was not shy with him and he no longer regarded his attentions as unsuitable. They were lovers. So they loved. Unashamed and uninhibited, he the teacher and Aurelia the willing pupil. 

Falling to the simple bed, naked, they came together, meshing their bodies and eagerly feasting on each other. At one point, Aurelia thrust him down to lie on his back, climbing above him and working down his body, lavishing him with kisses until she reached his lower belly where she lay on one elbow idly playing with his erect member. He lay back and groaned in contentment. Suddenly she dropped her lips and kissed his tip. His eyes shot open. He had never broached such a service to her before and was not entirely comfortable with her action. To him it was not the practice for a wife to attend to him in such a fashion.

With a grunt, he pulled away, easing her back up to him and rolling her beneath him. But she pushed him away. "Did I offend you? Was that wrong to do?"

Maximus shook his head and tried to kiss her again; Aurelia recognised he was not prepared to discuss the matter. She pushed him away again and wriggled to sit up against the wall. "Why are you angry with me?"

"I am not angry...Aurelia, don't start...!" He rolled onto his back   and stared at the ceiling; she could tell by the set of his expression and the tight purse of his mouth that was not the case.

"Maximus...please...tell me why you don't want me to do that to you! You do it to me. You kiss me down there with your mouth..."

"What put it in your mind, Lia? Did you watch whores doing this?"

Aurelia blushed. "No! You think I would watch someone's private moments?"

He shrugged. "Then how do you know to do it?"

Aurelia slid down to lie at his side, her arm resting on his chest. "I just wanted to do it. I love you. I love your body. You said nothing was wrong between us. I just ....I just did it without thinking...is it so very wrong?"

Maximus sighed and turned to his side, pulling her against him. "It is not wrong. But decent women rarely do that for a man. It is the whore's art. I did not feel comfortable in having you perform such a service on me..."

"It was not a service! I did what I did in the heat of passion! Because I wanted to!" she replied in indignation.

It was his turn to feel ashamed that he had turned her act of love into something shameful.

"I am sorry, Aurelia...I misunderstood..."

"Don't you like it?"

He smiled and stroked her face. "I adore it. Every man does. It is the ultimate pleasure to lie and watch a beautiful woman love you with her mouth..."

"Then let me! Let me be a whore for you...let me be all women for you..." she murmured as he moaned softly in her ear. Wriggling down his body, she returned to her attentions and this time he simply lay back, fondled her hair and let her, his eyelids flickering with the intense pleasure of the stimulation. Aurelia could barely believe how much he derived from this and how vulnerable he seemed in her hands. Perhaps that was the problem. He was not used to being helpless. But he had no fear of her. She would never reveal his secrets to anyone, even if her life depended on it.

It was the first time she realised the full extent of the great power she had over him and the moment when she truly came to understand that she must take the greatest care with the wonderful gift she had been given.

Later, at his side, wrapped in his strong arms, she lay a long while and listened to the sounds of the night, recognising the cries and grunts of people round about them in coitus and snuggling deeper into his embrace as he slept. It seemed as if the adult world was suddenly becoming clearer to her, that mists were evaporating and that she too felt older and wiser. She had to take care of him as much as he took care of her. That was the responsibility of the bond of love they shared and it was what he needed just as much as she did.

He awoke early, rolled from the bed and threw on his leggings to go and ease himself outside. Pissing against a wall in the street, he heard a whistle and looked up. A brazen young hussy was hanging from her window ogling him. "Why don't you come up and I'll put that hunk of meat to some use, handsome?"

Maximus grinned back, rearranging his clothing. "A very tempting offer but one I must sadly decline..." he answered with a small bow.

The girl snorted. "You with that little blonde? Bet I know a few more tricks than she does..."

"I'm sure you do. But neither of us are performing animals, girl. There is more to life than tricks..."

That made her laugh. "Your loss, big guy...now you'll never know..." And she pulled her head back in the window and disappeared. Maximus shook his head grinning at the exchange before running back up to the room to check on Aurelia.

He found her sitting crying on the bed, her arms wrapped round her legs and the blanket pulled up to her face. Walking in, the smile on his face soon died away. "What's the matter, honey?" he asked, kneeling by the bed. Aurelia turned away, rolling herself into a ball and hiding her face from him. "I can't tell you!"

"Aurelia...if there's something wrong..."

"It's embarrassing!"

"How can you be embarrassed before me? Aurelia, look at me...tell me what is wrong!" he chided softly and gently forced her to look his way. Her cheeks were smudged with tears.

"I have a woman's problem. I don't know what to do..." she muttered, blushing.

He smiled benignly. "You mean you have started bleeding? Yes, I know...I'll see if I can find you some rags..."

Aurelia knitted her brows at that. "You know? Rags?"

He stood up and went to put on his tunic. "There was blood on my prick. Must have been from last night..."

Aurelia gasped and began to weep again. "Oh, I am so ashamed...!"

This time he chuckled. He had a sudden sense that the next few days were going to be somewhat less than pleasant with his temperamental mistress. "Women bleed. It is not something men do not know about. And frankly, it is a relief. I was beginning to wonder if we might not have made a child..."

Her eyes widened at that. "So soon?" she exclaimed.

Maximus held his hands out. "It is the will of the gods...sooner or later that is what sexual pleasure will leave us with...You knew that, did you not?"

"Of course I did! I just...I just never gave it any thought...' she replied in a subdued fashion. The reality of that possible outcome had shocked her a little.

He sank down again to hold her. "There is nothing in this world that would make me happier than to make a child on your body. But in our current situation it would be foolhardy and dangerous. We have had a lucky escape. When this bleeding is over, I will take you to some old midwife. No doubt she can suggest a method to intercept my seed..."

"What method?" Aurelia asked. "Is it possible to stop conception?"

Maximus shrugged. "I have no idea of the methods. But I know women do use some practices when they would rather not conceive. It has never been a subject that concerned me greatly..." he admitted. Aurelia thought it odd. She expected him to know everything but he seemed strangely naïve and poorly informed on this topic.

"How do you know they do then?"

"Men talk. And..." then he tailed off, looking suddenly ill-at-ease.

"...And your past mistresses must have or you would have a lot of bastards about the place. Is that what you mean?" she asked him directly.

"I am not prepared to talk about that with you, madam..." he replied curtly. "I shall go off and find some rags. Stay here until I return."

"I don't use rags."

"What do you use then?"

"Lambs' wool. My ladies used to make a soft pad of it and insert it gently..."

"They penetrated you?" he said turning back in shock.

Aurelia hunched her shoulder. "Just enough to mop up the flow. It is normal."

"And you never did this for yourself?"

She shook her head. "It was just what they did..."

He said nothing, merely shaking his head and striding out. "I will get rags. Then you can learn to attend to yourself as most women do..."

Aurelia sank back on the bed with a sigh, jamming her thighs together to try to stem the leaking. She had managed to offend him again somehow. When would she learn to work out his moods and what he seemed to find unacceptable?

The tetchy interlude between them left him in a sour frame of mind as he walked through the early morning stalls and bought some soft cheap cloth from a vendor. He wasn't entirely sure why he was annoyed with her. It shocked him that a girl had been so pampered that she did not even attend to her own intimate needs - for all that he had been raised in a good household, such excesses were never found amongst the women of his class. He had almost forgotten the customs amongst the imperials.

But he knew that what was the real underlying cause of his mood was that Aurelia had managed to recall Lucilla and an earlier time in his life. It had been the mention of contraception. Lucilla had been using something back then, although she never told him exactly what was the concoction that she inserted inside herself on a lambs' wool roll very much like the one to which Aurelia had referred.

The comment had triggered in him images from his youth he would have preferred at this stage to have forgotten. Particularly as one of the memories recalled Aurelia's own mother and a strange interlude they had once shared.

It had taken place not long after he and Lucilla had begun their reckless affair. He had told her to find out from someone she trusted how to prevent the conception of a child. Neither of them dared risk such a thing happening.

One night he had been in the Principia late on working on some reports he had to finish. The candle on his desk had suddenly sputtered, flickering and almost going out. He had glanced up, wondering what had stirred the curtain to the night breeze....

"Tribune?"

He had jumped to attention as the woman, swathed in a silk veil, vivid green trimmed in shimmering gold, appeared before the desk where he was sitting at work. His response was instinctive, even though his brain had as yet failed to fully register the reason for the presence of any woman - much less a vision of this perfection - in the headquarters of a legionary fort on the German frontier.

He could not see her face but he could smell the intoxicating fragrance she was wearing and observe the golden curl that escaped from the confines of her veil. It was not Lucilla - her hair was not that colour and she would never have taken such a risk that would have endangered their safety.

"My Lady?" he answered, placing his right hand across his chest in military fashion. His action was rewarded with a tinkling laughter with a hint of mockery.

"Oh...very impressive. What an officer you are! Do you always stand to attention to ladies who visit you late at night?"

Her innuendo was clear. He felt himself redden slightly and look down, his eyelids blinking rapidly, wondering what this was all about. His instinct told him it was not good.

"Can I be of service, Domina?"

She laughed again, that deep throaty seductive sound that seemed to reach inside his loins and stroke them. He felt sweat breaking out on his forehead. 

Letting the veil slither from her head, Annia Galeria stood before him in all her beauty. He had never seen anything as alluring in his life. She might just as easily have been Venus as a mortal woman. Were there such creatures in this world as she?

"I am Annia Aurelia Galeria Faustina Augusta. You are my father's pet officer, so I hear. He thinks highly of you. You are some sort of god amongst men, I believe...oh no... That wasn't what my father said! Silly me! That was my dear little sister! You seem to have made such an impression on all of my family...I thought it high time I judged you for myself..."

She stepped out of the shadows and rounded the table, advancing on him slowly until she stood before him. Galeria was a tall woman. She looked him straight in the eye and then let her eyes sweep down his body, her hand reaching out to trace a sensuous path along his leather lorica and downwards. He held his breath. What was she about to do?

He soon found out. Her fingers cupped the bulge of his groin beneath the short red tunic. With the deft facility of a whore she slipped into his the opening of his leggings and fingered his naked flesh with a hooded smile on her beautiful face. "Impressive! I can certainly see what is attracting Lucilla...But how would the tribune like to be pleasured by a real woman though? One who knows exactly what a man wants...one who has a few more tricks than a little girl...."

Maximus swallowed hard and willed his flesh not to betray him. He was not sure he could remain flaccid under this intense provocation. He pictured wading waist deep though ice cold marsh land in winter hoping that the image would interfere with the stimulation she was giving him. "My lady...this is unseemly..." he muttered in a hoarse voice.

Galeria chuckled. "...But acceptable for you to ask a young virgin for the same attention? How dare you take her innocence! I should tell my father and he would have you flayed alive and your sizeable cock thrown to the pigs..."

"I love your sister..." he protested in a futile whisper.

"Oh please...!" she murmured and blew into his ear. "Maximus...Maximus...well named indeed...Do not pretend to me. I have had many men and I know how they think. My sister is a little fool but I will not have her hurt by a lecherous young soldier on the make. I know your game. You hope to win her hand and worm your way even further into my father's trust. Do you think he will bypass one of his own sons for you? Who knows? Perhaps he will... Lucilla asked me to help her prevent the conception of a child. I made her tell me all..."

"It won't work..." Maximus suddenly found his voice and stepped back removing her hand firmly and rearranging his clothing." I am not interested ...."

"How dare you touch me!" Galeria exclaimed as he touched her hand to free himself.

"It works both ways, madam..." he answered curtly. Galeria viewed him thoughtfully. "I have no interest in whatever game you are playing. You can choose to believe me or not. I cannot stop you reporting our affair to your father.  But I love the lady Lucilla and intend her no harm. I know what we have done is wrong...but love is hard to fight."

"Are you refusing me?" Galeria asked him directly.

"I do not believe you offered anything. It would not be the behaviour of an imperial lady towards a humble tribune..."

She smiled and patted his cheek fondly.  "An excellent and diplomatic answer. Perhaps we will make a politician of you yet! Are you really too good to be true? How ironic. The man I have looked for all my life. The one good man. And he loves my sister."

Maximus stood straight and did not let his face react to her admission, saying nothing by way of reply.

"You are a beautiful young man. Inside and out. Lucilla told me you were different from other men. I thought she was just carried away by love. But I rather think she was telling the truth. I wish you both well of your love but I can only imagine it will end badly. Women of my family are not allowed the luxury of happiness. Or the tender embraces of beautiful earnest honourable men. I will keep your secrets and I will advise my sister on preventing a child. But I will not forgive you if you break her heart...I will never forgive you if you harm her. Do you understand me?"

The Domina replaced her veil and took her leave without another word, disappearing into the night. Maximus breathed out slowly and sank down into the chair, his head in his hands. Would she keep her word?

Maximus had taken a seat at a stall and sipped an herbal infusion as he remembered that long ago night when he had been a young foolish man and he had met the greatest beauty in the land - and rejected her advances. And now he had fallen in love with the woman's daughter. The memories made him feel uncomfortable. What would Aurelia think if she knew such things?  When she had once asked him more or less outright he had given her an oblique answer. He could never say to her the truth about her mother. But what was the truth? That her mother had been exactly what the young woman feared most? An amoral decadent whose sexual appetite was legendary? Or was he just being unfair, judging her as all men do women who take their pleasure as freely as men. Had she been merely testing him to see if he would take the offer and thus prove he was unworthy of her more innocent sister? But her approach had been shockingly aggressive. Was the lust for male flesh something that her daughter had inherited too? Or was it merely a matter of a healthy sexual spirit warped by the lonely abuse of an imperial marriage?

He knew he did not have the equipment to answer some of these questions. He was a simple man at heart. Aurelia was such a child at times but...sometimes she made him feel afraid for her. She carried the blood of emperors in her veins. Did that make her different from other people?

Blood. He remembered her plight. The poor child was alone and frightened, ashamed of her body and unused to dealing with such times without her maids. He jumped up and made his way back. She had done nothing wrong. The problems lay in his head. Deep in thought, he did not notice that his movements were being observed. That was rare.

The watcher followed Maximus at a distance as he made his way back to the inn. It was uncanny. This man was so like the general - and yet it could not be. He was dead. He had seen him die, lying on the floor of the arena, closing his eyes for the last time on this world that had treated him and those he loved with such unremitting cruelty. He had no brothers.  Maximus had once told him he was an only child when they had talked late into the night, both wakeful, full of that nervous tension that always settled over them on the night before a fight. He had said then that he had no family left and was alone in the world. So who was this man, who although not bearded and looking younger and leaner, appeared like an apparition of his long dead companion? Was he a spectre?

He hid in a doorway as the man ran up the wooden staircase of a rundown inn and entered a doorway. Looking about him, he chanced following. It was still quiet and few people were about. His curiosity was too urgent to be ignored. He had to find out who this man was who seemed to walk in the same shoes as Maximus.

Inside the room, Aurelia was subdued. Maximus tore the cloths into strips for her and asked her if she knew how to bind them. She muttered that she would find a way. "I'm sorry, Aurelia. I was unkind..."

She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I don't understand you sometimes. But then I don't understand myself either..." she smiled softly up at him through her dewy lashes. "Just love me, Maximus. Even when I make mistakes. Just love me. As I love you..."

He knelt and kissed her then. She might be young and unpredictable but she always knew how to make it right. Love. It was all her mother had ever wanted. It is what they themselves had found. I will not break her heart, Annia Galeria. I promise she is safe with me...I understand....

"Now go and clean yourself up. We will lay low here for a few days until you are fit to travel again. I'll wait outside to give you some privacy..."

Maximus stepped to the door and slipped beneath the curtain into the blinding sunshine. 

And found himself staring at a face that was like a ghost from his past.

With an exclamation, he shouted in total astonishment: "Juba? Juba? Is that really you?"