The next day Lydah and Titus said good bye to the place that had been their home for the past three years and half. But they had no regrets. The child was excited by the prospect to play outdoors and to learn how to ride Maximus' donkeys, while his sister felt like a queen as her man led her outside the brothel- without any sound of tiny bells following her everywhere she went. That morning, in fact, she had asked Maximus to remove the anklet, for somehow it did not seemed right for the new life she was going to begin, and he had done as she wished. However she had not been able to leave the little chain behind, because there were too many memories tied to it, and it was now safely stored alongside her other possessions in the leather bag Maximus was carrying over his shoulder.

Her fellow lupae and friends came in the common room to wish her good luck, but she also received more than one envious glance: her man was not wealthy or powerful, but he was handsome, strong and obviously in love with her, and he would make her happy, of that they were sure.

As for Ulpia, she had contrasting feelings upon seeing her go away. The brothel's owner was displeased to lose her for Lydah had always been very popular with the men, but the woman was happy to see the girl she cared so much for leave the lupanar with the man she loved and, in the end, she could only add her good wishes to those of the others.

Maximus, Lydah and Titus settled well in their new life.

The cottage was small, but they were able to optimize the space at their disposal. Using poles, ropes and hanging fabric, Maximus created three rooms: his and Lydah bedroom, Titus' chamber and a private corner used for bathing. He also bought real beds and two woven rugs to be put near them. The kitchen area was moved outside to the stone and wood porch Maximus had built in the previous months, while the food provisions were stored in the tack room inside the barn that Melissa and her kittens kept mice-free. When Lydah told Maximus she could make their bread if she had an oven, he hurried to build a small one of stones and bricks, ending up saving money by buying simple flour instead of already baked loaves.

Both Lydah and Titus were eager to help Maximus wherever or however they could, and the boy felt very important when the man he had begun to look at as a father, taught him how to groom the donkeys. The three animals, even irritable Brutus, seemed to sense Titus' young age and inexperience and always kept the best of behaviour when the boy climbed onto a log - he was too short to reach the beasts' back without help - and brushed them.

Titus also helped around the barn, and his reward came in the riding lessons Maximus gave him in the evenings, before dinner, and in all the time he was allowed to play between the palms or the olives, alone or with the friends he had made among the children living in nearby farms.

As for Lydah, she took care of the cottage and the kitchen garden behind the house. Maximus' perseverance had given fruit and while the plants did not produce enough for the market, they certainly allowed the little family to have a varied diet. Lydah loved to tend to the plants and aromatic herbs, to pull away the weeds, to draw water from the channel Maximus had excavated, and pick the ripe vegetables. Her hands lost some of their smoothness, but she did not care, as she gained joy by the loving, approving way Maximus looked at her or by how his eyes widened in delighted surprise when he returned home from a day spent at Proximo's school and found an appetizing dinner waiting for him. Little, simple joys that filled her heart - their hearts.

After dinner, they all sat outside the cottage, enjoying the light breeze as Maximus told the siblings tales about the places he seen and the traditions he had been in contact with during his long years in the army. Lydah and Titus, who had never left Zucchabar in all their entire life, listened with rapt fascination to the stories about Germans, Thracians and Celts, as his voice rose and fell to create suggestive atmospheres. The storytelling concluded, Lydah would then take Titus to bed, while Maximus waited outside for her to join him again, and spend some time alone cuddling and kissing. More than once they ended up making love under the star-filled sky, their cries of fulfilment mingling with whose of the nighttime birds and insects.

Regarding Maximus, despite the added responsibility to have to provide for Lydah and Titus, he felt relaxed and carefree as he had been as a young man, before the army life had changed him. He laughed more, joked often and felt a good ten years younger than his thirty-seven. He looked at tomorrow with expectation and his mind was full of projects: now that he no longer needed to pay to keep Lydah free, he could save much of the money he made working for Proximo for future uses- perhaps to enlarge his land if the good occasion would arise. Maximus felt blessed and content with his new life and family. He loved and treated Titus as if he were his son and was delighted to teach him things and see him grow strong playing and running outside. As for Lydah, he loved her more with each day he spent at her side. She was loving, intelligent, smart, witty, a hard worker and so beautiful. She instinctively knew when he wanted to talk or when he needed to think, when he wished for her passion or when he needed her tenderness. He felt carried away by her as he had thought would never happen again, and he wished to give her everything he could, make her happy and make amends for all the pain she had suffered in her young life.

And yet, despite his joy and his contentment, Maximus was plagued by a vague sense of nagging uneasiness that sometimes caused him to remain awake in bed as Lydah slept serenely at his side.

It took him time to understand what was wrong, but in the end Maximus came to the conclusion he was concerned about his past. He was worried his former life might return to ruin his happiness. Rationally, Maximus knew it was highly unlikely something like that could happen. Four years had passed since General Maximus had died in the German woods and Zucchabar was only a spot on a map - he too had barely known of its existence - it was certainly not the place the emperor might decide to visit... But still he could not quell his worries- which did not concern himself, but Lydah and Titus. When he had been alone, he had not cared if someone recognized him, but now he could not even imagine causing their deaths - to see them end like Selene and Marcus. That was the reason he never told anyone his complete name and had not yet married Lydah and asked her to start a family, as much as he longed for it.

The following spring, as Maximus started to spend more time at the farm, to deal with the harvest of the dates, and the ploughing and new sowing of the kitchen garden, the unrest of the nomadic tribes living in the desert broke in a series of incursions and pillaging of the villages near the south border of the province. The problems had begun with the appointment of the new governor more than one year before, for the man had inaugurated his rule by raising the amount of the tribute the tribes had to pay to Rome. The move had been looked on with perplexity by the long-standing inhabitants of Zucchabar and even Maximus, while being a "newcomer" had heard people comment on the matter in the market or in the inns. Indeed it had been Lydah, when she still worked at Ulpia's place and their relationship was moving its first, tentative steps, to tell him about the tribute increase, and they had speculated if the new governor would then raise the taxes for the citizens. He had not, but by antagonizing the tribes, he had ended up causing even more troubles, worries and money losses to the province. The straw that broke the camel's back was the governor's decision to forbid the tribes to draw water from the only big lake of the area, which was the natural border between the province and the lands free from the Roman domination. It was true that the winter had been less rainy than usual in that part of the province, and that the water was less abundant, but certainly was not so scarce to require such drastic measures and break the unwritten rules that had always regulated the relations that part of the Empire and the tribes in the southern territories.

The governor's measure and the subsequent killing of the nomads who had gone to draw water had causes the tribal chiefs to react and, forgetting for a while the wars that often divided them, they had joined their forces to teach a lesson to the Romans and take back what was theirs. The tribes' mounted warriors penetrated the borders time and time again, causing terror and destruction in the previously quiet area. Farmers were killed, the crops set on fire, the animals stolen. And since it was the first time such a problem arose, the military forces at the governor's disposal were too small to counteract thousands of angry warriors. Uncontested, the rebels penetrated deeply inside the Zucchabar province, arriving within fifty miles from the capital, thus causing the governor to ask help from Rome.

Rome sent one of her best legions.

As the crisis unfolded, Maximus kept himself informed about the events happening in the south, visiting the market every day, not only to sell his produce, which was even better than the previous year, but also to know any news about the revolt and what the government was doing to stop it while they waited for the legion from Italia. His farm was located at north of the capital, thus there were the large town and a series of hills between the marauders and his property, but still the situation made him uneasy. Although more than one hundred years had elapsed since those events, the disastrous results caused by the Celtic revolt in Britannia were still fresh in his memory. It that case too, all had begun because an inept governor had violated the rights of the people Rome had sent him to rule. It had taken three legions to stop Queen Boadicea's army, but not before they had devastated Londinium and spread terror in the island. Maximus hoped such events would not be repeated.

His prayers were listened to by the gods: the legion sent from Rome drew the marauders in a trap and then smashed them, efficiently re-establishing order in the south of the province.

As a former military commander, Maximus was impressed by such display of efficiency, especially because he had heard the general had not led his men in battle, but waited safely inside the governor's residence- which meant the victory was completely of the legionaries and the officers that had trained them. Maximus had always disdained the commanders that sent their soldiers to battle but stayed behind, and he felt uneasy knowing such a man and his staff were housed so near, while the legion was camped on the other side of the town, awaiting return to Italia. Thus he tried to stay away as much as he could and the day Lydah, while they were eating, told him she had heard the name of the legion at the market, and that it was Felix, Maximus almost choked on his food. There were seven legions bearing the Felix name, and while in Germania, he had had the direct command of the III and VII...Could it be possible the legion in Zucchabar was one of them?

Maximus was not sure he wanted to know, so he kept to his farm all the time, hoping the soldiers would leave soon and allow him to relax again.

It was late afternoon and Maximus was working in the vineyard, cleaning the watering channel from the weeds that grew in it facilitating the production of the stagnant water so liked by the mosquitoes, when he heard Brutus bray with insistence. Rising to his feet, and distractedly cleaning his hands on his tunic, he tensed his ears as Lydah first silenced the donkey, then greeted someone, "Hello sir, what can I do for you? Did you get lost?"

"Good afternoon, lady," replied a male voice, "I hope to not disturb you, but I would like to know if you still have some dates for sale. I have been told at the market yours are the best."

Maximus smiled with pride at the man's words, while a part of his mind wondered about what there was so strange about that voice. It seemed somehow familiar, but he was not able to place it.

Lydah's answer recalled his attention. "Yes, we still have some fruits on the palms, but I am not sure they are already ripe. If you could excuse me a moment..."

"Of course, lady."

The conversation ceased as Maximus heard steps come closer and turned around, walking to meet the approaching young woman half way in the kitchen garden.

"Did you hear?" Lydah asked, tilting her head in the direction of the front yard.

"Yes, I did. The dates are ready, but only those of two palms. Would those be enough for that man?"

"I don't know. Perhaps it is better if you come too and deal with him - among other things, I am too small to reach the dates." Lydah's green eyes flashed with mirth and Maximus laughed.

"As you command, my lady," he bent his head and they shared a brief kiss, before joining their intended customer in the front yard.

The man was dressed in the rough, simple clothes of a servant, and his back was turned to them as he leant against the fence and tried to coax stubborn Brutus nearer. As soon as he heard their steps approach, he turned around, facing them and the world ceased to exist for Maximus, as his eyes stopped on the familiar face of one of his best friends from his past life.

"Cicero?" he whispered, unsure if his former Celt servant was really standing in front of him, or if it was only a trick caused by the heat.

"General? General Maximus!" The other man's scarred face was equally stupefied, but he recovered quickly. "It is really you, sir!" he exclaimed, moving forward as Maximus did the same. They hugged each other under Lydah's delighted and curious eyes. Cicero then stepped back and gave a good look to his former master. "We thought you were dead!" he commented.

"Close," Maximus joked. He was confused: on one hand, he was happy to see his friend again, on the other he was worried, for what he had been fearing all along had happened. His past had reappeared, no matter how he had tried to stay away from potential sources of trouble.

The Celt looked around the place and asked, "How did you end up here, General?"

Maximus sobered. "It is a long story. Perhaps it would be better if we sit down... have you time to spare?"

"For you sir? Always."

Maximus smiled again. "Good. But first, some introductions are in order," he wrapped his arm around Lydah's waist, pulling her closer. "Lydah, this is Decimus Cicero, my friend, manservant and freedman. Cicero, this is Lydah - the light of my heart." The young woman's eyes filled with tears at his public declaration of love, but she managed to regain her composure to salute the other man in kind.

They all moved to the porch and, as Maximus and Cicero sat at the table, Lydah prepared and served them two cups of the hot mint infusion so popular in the area. Maximus sipped his drink immediately, while Cicero frowned at the steam coming from it.

Maximus smiled. "I know it seems madness to drink such a hot liquid with this climate, but it helps with the sweating." The Celt nodded his head and gave a try to the beverage, as Maximus and Lydah watched him intently, smiling when the pleasant expression appeared on his face told them he had liked it.

Then the young woman turned to her mate and said, "I am going to retrieve Titus from his friend's house."

"All right," Maximus squeezed her hand in gratitude, knowing she was purposely leaving him and Cicero alone.

The two men watched her retreating back till she disappeared along the road, then the Celt turned to look at his former master. "What happened to you sir?"

Maximus took a deep breath and in the next several minutes proceeded to narrate his story, starting from the forsaken night when they had seen each other for the last time, and ending with their meeting that afternoon.

Cicero listened to the account with a mixture of horror and fascination, feeling sorry for all the pain his general had to suffer, but also proud of how he had been able to survive and rebuild a life for himself in a place so much different from the one he had been used to.

"And you my friend?" asked Maximus after he had finished to talk. "What are you doing here?" 

"I am here with the Felix III. I am Valerius' manservant now, sir."

"So he is still on duty. Good- the army had always been his life and I cannot see him get settled in some place." He smiled fondly as he pictured the burly, curly haired infantry commander.

"All your senior officers are still at their places, sir, and it is a good thing, otherwise the men would have long ago rebelled against the fool who commands us now."

Maximus frowned, and invited the other to continue.

"After your  'execution', we were transferred in Italia, and camped in Ostia for months, as Commodus appointed a new general, a certain Camillus, an idiot from Rome who had never put a foot outside the Italian peninsula, and who prefers to live in his villa on the Viminal hill instead of in the camp with the soldiers. This is the first time he actually travelled with the army to a war zone. Usually he remains in Rome, satisfied to dictate pages of orders for the tribunes and the centurions, orders that Valerius and the others don't even read- luckily for us. But the fool does not care; the only thing that matter to him is to see the job well done, so he can benefit from the successes due to your training and tactics- as it happened this time." Cicero stopped and gulped down half the cup of the now cooler beverage.

Maximus nodded, lost in thought. The silence stretched for a while then he asked, "What about Rome? And Commodus?" He had to force himself to pronounce that name, in the same way he sometimes had to restrain his impulse to throw away all the coins, for they bore Caesar's hated image. "I am afraid I don't know much of what has happened or is happening outside this province."

Cicero looked at his former commander for a long while. He knew how much he had loved the late Marcus Aurelius and with which devotion he had served him and Rome, and he would have given much to spare Maximus the sorrow he would certainly feel when he heard what he had to say. But Cicero knew he could not stay silent or lie, for the other man deserved to know the truth. And also because, the little sparkle of hope he had always carried in his heart since the day the soldiers in Germania had returned from the woods saying they had not found the General's body, but four dead Praetorians, had started to burn with new intensity. There was no way to repair to Marcus Aurelius' death, or to the General's family's murders, but maybe, just maybe, there was still hope for Rome...

Cicero collected his ideas then began. "General, I suppose you know what happened here- I mean the real reason behind the tribes' revolt?"

"Yes, I know."

"Well sir, this is the perfect example of how Commodus is ruling the Empire: with arrogance, brutality, violence and no respect at all for the ideals and the traditions that have worked so well till now. He is obsessed by the desire to "renew" the Empire as he thinks to be the best way, and everything "old" means "bad" in his eyes. Everything must be done as he wishes, no matter how many damages he causes in the meantime. I believe that, despite honouring him with monuments and celebrations, he wants nothing more but to erase everything his father did and substitute them with things he himself has done." Cicero shook his head.

"And what about the army and the Senate? They do nothing to oppose him?" Maximus sounded incredulous and outraged.  

"The legions have all new commanders, loyal to Commodus. In truth there had been some revolt in the provinces, but it was suffocated in blood for the rebels were not able to gain support. The Senate, which Commodus periodically tries to disband, but cannot otherwise the populace would revolt, is practically powerless. Or better, they have power, but they cannot use it against Caesar - not if they don't want to be accused of treason and see themselves and their families executed by the Praetorians. By the way, sir, Quintus is now the Prefect of the Praetorium- the reward for his betrayal." Cicero's eyes flashed with even more disdain than Maximus'. Perhaps because the Spaniard had found a certain degree of peace and acceptance along the years, while the Celt had continued to berate himself for not having been able to help his master and friend when Quintus had come to arrest him.

The sound of someone talking and laughing reached their ears, and both the men stretched their necks, seeing Lydah and Titus approach. The child was talking excitedly and making wide gestures with his arms, as his sister smiled indulgently to him.

Cicero looked at them, then to the sun's position, and commented, "It would be better I return to the camp. Valerius will be awaiting his dinner."

Maximus nodded, "Yes, it is better so. Will you come back?"

"Do you wish for it, General?"

"Of course, we need to talk again. And please, stop calling me that. I am just Maximus now."

"No." Cicero shook his head with decision. "No matter what happened or will happen, you will always be my general- and it is the same for the whole Felix III. The men never refer to Camillus as general, when they talk among themselves. He is always Camillus or, more likely, the Fool. When the soldiers say "the General did that" or "the General said so", they are always speaking of you. Sir. The brutal way you were disposed of, instead of cutting of the ties between them and you, made the bond of loyalty even stronger. They would be ready to fight for you tomorrow, if you should just give the order."

Maximus blinked his eyes, uncomfortable with that declaration of devotion. Yes, he had always known his men were loyal to him, as he had been to them, but four years had passed, and many things change with time.

"Many things, not everything."

That line from a long past conversation with Lucilla emerged from Maximus' memory. He had forgotten to ask Cicero about her and her son...Lucius, that was the name. Were they all right? In the years elapsed since the night when he had seen Lucilla sniffling near her father's corpse, Maximus had come to the conclusion she probably had no hand in what Commodus had done, nor she approved it. Yes, she was able to lie very convincingly and she had hurt him in the past, but her distraught expression and her grief had seemed genuine. Maximus still remembered her worried glance when he had looked at her after Commodus had asked him to take his hand- she had seemed to beg him to do it...perhaps because she was afraid of her brother. Maximus wished to know if his reasoning was correct, but Lydah and Titus had almost reached the porch and he decided to keep his questions for Cicero's next visit.

"Come," he said to his former manservant, "I will give you the dates you wanted, so they won't accuse you of wasting time strolling around."

Cicero smiled and followed him in the palm-grove, holding a chest as Maximus filled it with ripe fruits.

"Here you go," he said when the chest was full. "You can bring it back the next time you visit."

"Are you always here?"

"In this period, yes. It is harvest time and I have a hundred things to do."

"Good. I will return soon."

"I was a pleasure to see you again, my friend." Maximus smiled.

"It was the same for me, General." Cicero grinned in response.

The two men then embraced and after a quick salute to Lydah and Titus, the manservant was gone, leaving behind a very thoughtful Maximus.

After Cicero left, Maximus tried to behave as nothing had happened with Titus and Lydah, but it did not work. At dinner and after it he was strangely silent, his gaze fixed far away, his mind lost in thought.

Lydah was curious about the visit, but she sensed Maximus had been troubled by it and, although she wished nothing more but help him, she knew he was not yet ready to talk about what upset him.

So, when arrived the time to put Titus to bed, she decided to retire too and leave her mate alone with his thoughts.

"I am going to bed," she whispered to him before entering the cottage. "Please don't stay up too long. Tomorrow will arrive all too soon, and you need to rest."

"Yes, mother," he joked, his eyes flashing briefly with mirth, before sobering again. "Thanks for your understanding, my love." He reached out to take her hand and kissed it. "Now go to bed; I will join you soon."

Lydah nodded and disappeared inside the house, as Maximus returned to staring in front of him- but his eyes did not see the olives trees or the palms. His sight was unfocused as in his mind, lines of a long past conversation mingled with those of a most recent one.

"You are the son that I should have had."

"He wants nothing more but erase everything his father did and substitute them with things he did."

"Commodus cannot rule. He must not rule." 

"This is the perfect example of how Commodus is ruling the Empire: with arrogance, brutality, violence and not respect at all for the deals and the traditions that have worked so well till now."

"I want you to become the protector of Rome after I die."

"The Senate is practically powerless..."

Maximus blinked his eyes and looked up at the star-filled sky, searching for an answer in its bottomless depth. 

Cicero's totally unexpected visit and words regarding Rome had woken up a part of himself he believed dead forever. They had awakened the general, the soldier inside him. The man who had served Rome for much of his life and promised to always do so. The man who had put his loyalty to his Emperor before those to his family and thus caused his wife and son's death... Maximus buried his face in his hands. What was he to do? Now he understood what Cicero had really meant when he had said the men would be ready to fight for him tomorrow- he had wanted to tell him he still had a legion at his disposal, should he decide to get even with Commodus. Maximus thought that, had he been alone, he would probably have no doubts to grab his chances. But now he had Lydah and Titus to provide for- he could not let them down. Also, he did not want to renounce to his hard-fought happiness.

And yet he could hear Marcus Aurelius' voice whisper again and again, "There was once a dream that was Rome..."

Maximus stood up, sighing in tiredness and frustration, and retired inside the cottage, moving as silently as he could to not disturb its already sleeping occupants. Once in his bedroom, he looked down at Lydah, who was lying on her side curled into a ball, her hair spread over the pillow, her face relaxed, innocent and full of trust. Maximus felt love surge inside him, along with the powerful desire to protect her. "Nothing will ever happen to you, my love," he whispered with solemnity, a promise to her, himself and the gods.

Then he stripped down and slid naked under the sheets, a contented sigh escaping him as Lydah moved in her sleep to spoon against him. Maximus surrounded her waist with his arm, closed his eyes, and soon fell asleep, a little smile on his lips.

It was early dawn when Maximus woke up with a start, his body covered in sweat, his heart still thundering because of the nightmare he had just experienced.

It had begun with images of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, then, for the first time in two years, the memories of the day he had found Selene and Marcus' tortured bodies had returned to haunt him, opening again that old wound. And also causing a new one when, during the dream, as he watched heart-broken and devastated the crucified bodies, they had changed under his eyes, becoming those of Lydah and Titus. He had screamed in agony in his nightmare and mercifully woken up, but now he was shaken and shocked, afraid to go back to sleep. So he left the bed, careful not to wake Lydah, dressed and went out to work, hoping the methodical gestures of mucking the stalls and grooming the donkeys would calm him.

As the day progressed Maximus did a lot of thinking, and he sensed his confusion disappear as he came to the conclusion he still had a duty to fulfil, to his emperor and his late family, if he wanted to really find peace and contentment. If he wanted to ensure Lydah and Titus' safety- forever. He had to go to Rome and obey to Marcus Aurelius' command: "Commodus cannot rule. He must not rule." Only by doing so he would really feel free and able to give Lydah that part of himself he had not yet been able to share with her. It was risky, yes, but now that he knew what was going on and had the means to make things right again, he could not ignore them like an ostrich hiding its head in the sand. He had one more battle to fight and he would do it- it was his destiny.

His mind made up, Maximus waited with impatience for Cicero's arrival. He often felt Lydah's eyes over him, curious and worried, and he replied to them with reassuring smiles, for he was not yet ready to face her with his decision.

When Cicero finally arrived, he was not alone, but was accompanied by two other men. They all wore civilian, anonymous clothes, but Maximus recognized them at once: one was Valerius, the other Sabinus, the Magister Equitum of the Felix Legion III, the man that had flanked him during each and every cavalry charge he had led. They had been his closest aides, along with Quintus, but unlike him, they were also real friends.

The three men embraced warmly, patting each other's back, as Cicero watched amused and Lydah observed the scene from the barn were she had been milking the sheep. Maximus seemed happy to see those men, but the young woman could not shake the feeling something bad was going to happen, and the idea tightened her already troubled stomach. However she did not want to look like a silly woman who worried for nothing, thus decided to go on with her plans for the day, and not hide and eavesdrop as Ulpia and some of the girls she used to know would certainly do. Lydah trusted Maximus, and she was sure she would know everything when he was ready to tell her. What she was not sure of was if she would like it...With a sigh Lydah cleaned her hands with a piece of fabric before leaving the barn and going onto the road. She had an appointment with a woman living nearby, and she did not want to be late for what could turn out to be one of the most important moments of her life: the examination that could confirm she was pregnant as she believed and hoped to be...

In the front yard, the greetings completed, Maximus had invited his guests to sit at the table, offered them the mint tea, and asked to Cicero, "Why did you tell them about me?" He was not angry, but just surprised the Celt had revealed it, without first asking if he agreed.

"It was because of the Fool's behaviour," Valerius answered in Cicero's place, "This morning he came out with the brilliant idea to organize a public exhibition, a series of infantry and cavalry manoeuvres to entertain the governor here before we leave, and the men did not take the news well. We are tired from the battle and after so many years spent being stationed in the in cooler places, this climate is very hard, and we have no mind for these idiocies. When Cicero finished tending to my sleeping quarters, he found me pacing my tent while I was telling Sabinus, in explicit details, what I thought of our commander..."

"And when he said," Sabinus interjected, "that 'General Maximus would put the idiot to muck stables for the rest of his life', Cicero came out telling us he had incredible news..."

"I wanted to calm and distract them, sir," the Celt explained to Maximus, "they were so furious..."

The Spaniard nodded, "You did the right thing. I am glad they know," he smiled, then silence fell on the table for several moments, until Valerius cleared his throat and spoke again.

"Cicero told us what happened to you, sir. I have no words to express you how sorry I am, for you and your family."

"The same goes for me, sir," added Sabinus.

Maximus bowed his head. "Thank you, I really appreciate your words. And since I know they come from your hearts, you deserve to be informed about something I had decided to keep secret- until Cicero told me how Commodus is "ruling" the Empire." Having gained the three men's complete attention, Maximus proceeded to reveal the contents of his meeting with Marcus Aurelius, the morning before the old Caesar was killed.

Cicero, Valerius and Sabinus listened to him with a wonder that soon turned to awareness. 

"So this is the reason you refused to swear loyalty to Commodus and why he ordered your death in the middle of the night. Not because you were a traitor - something we never believed - but because you were the rightful heir," commented Valerius, while Cicero and Sabinus nodded in agreement.

"Yes, that is the truth," Maximus replied.

"You would have made a great ruler, sir," remarked Sabinus, but it was Cicero who spoke aloud what Maximus had been pondering all the day. "Why don't you try to get back what is yours, General? I am sure the Felix Legion would side with you without hesitation."

Valerius and Sabinus exchanged a stunned glance - after all they had not had all the time Cicero and Maximus had to mull over the situation - then they nodded in unison.

"Cicero is right, sir. The legion IS at your disposal. We are sick and tired of fighting for men that do not care for or respect us. But for you, General...We would travel to Hades for you," Valerius said, his voice full of emotion but his gaze unwavering, as he tapped his chest with his right fist.

"To Hades and back, sir. For you," Sabinus added, repeating the salute.

"For your wife and son," Cicero said, imitating the others' gesture.

"For Marcus Aurelius and Rome," Maximus' fist raised slowly and purposely to tap his heart.

Silence fell again over the group, as Maximus locked gazes with each of the men sitting at the table, wanting to be sure they really understood what they had committed themselves to. They did- there was no hesitation or anxiety in their eyes, only determination. The Spaniard was moved by such loyalty, and felt it was his duty to thank them, but his throat was so tight he was not able to speak.

Valerius, Cicero and Sabinus understood all the same. "There is no need, sir. We know," the Celt said, and the other nodded.

Once the emotional moment was over, the four men concentrated on more practical matters, such as getting close enough to Commodus to kill him- for it was clear to everybody that would be his end- and gain the political support for their actions, and not be considered traitors.

The first part of the problem was resolved easily, for the gods who had been against Maximus in the past, now seemed to line at his side. In fact Valerius informed him that Camillus was going to be granted an Ovation, a public celebration of his value as soldier, upon his return in Rome.

"Naturally, it is not an honour won of the battlefield," the infantry commander commented with disgust, "but a farce paid with a lot of money- Commodus is always seeking money for the Imperial Chests."

"This is the reason the Fool moved his ass from Rome and followed us here," Sabinus added with sarcasm, "It would be rather difficult to be hailed as 'Camillus Africanus' during the parade in Rome without having even travelled outside Italia!"

"With the only difference is it will not be him to ride along the town streets, but you, General. And the men will be fully armed and ready to fight as they march with you."

Maximus nodded, approving the plan. It was the perfect occasion to have the whole legion inside Rome, something that was otherwise forbidden. His only worry for the civilian populace that would probably show up to attend the parade. He did not like the idea they might be caught in the battle between the army and the Praetorians...But perhaps, there was a way- if they captured Quintus soon enough...Yes it could be done.

The second half of the problem was more difficult to be resolved, because of the little time that would elapse between the Felix Legion's arrival in Italia and the Ovation day. Maximus and his officers thought they would have just a few days, and that made it very difficult to contact the parties that opposed Commodus.

"What about Lucilla?" He asked, remembering his thoughts from the previous night. "What is her position?"

"That of a mother scared for her child," replied Sabinus. "Commodus' wife, Crispina, has yet to produce a living child, hence young Lucius Verus is still the heir to the throne, and Lucilla lives in fear for him. Caesar is paranoid and more than once he had sentenced people to death because he thought they were conspiring against him, and Lucilla is afraid he might turn against her son should he ever hear some rumour involving the boy. My cousin, who is seeing one of Lucilla's maids, revealed to me the girl had told him the Augusta often cries when she is alone and, more importantly, that she often meets some of the senators that are more against Commodus. I think she would side with us - even alert the Senate in our behalf - if there was a way to contact her."

"We will find it," Maximus said with determination. Even if trusting Lucilla would be a gamble, it seemed to be the only option they had... A risk he had to take.

After that, there was only to be decided when Maximus would join the Felix Legion, and that fact did not present problems either for Camillus, who liked to travel comfortably, was going to leave Zucchabar as soon as the public exhibition was completed, while the troops would follow at a slower pace. It was agreed upon that Maximus would join the legion as soon as Camillus was gone, and travel with them to Rome, using that time to bond back with the men.

When everything was settled, Valerius, Sabinus and Cicero stood up, saluted their commander, before taking their leave and return to the camp, to prepare the ground for Maximus' return.

As for Maximus, he had a very important and painful matter to attend to. He had to talk with Lydah -  and he knew it was not going to be easy at all.

Maximus waited till dinner to speak with Lydah, hoping to find the right words to tell her what he was going to do and why. But, as he had predicted, it was not an easy task, and he became so nervous he was almost startled when Lydah dropped her eating utensils on the table and asked, "Is there something wrong, Maximus?"

"Uh? Oh, no, there is nothing wrong," he hurried to reassure her.

"Then why you are not eating? Don't you like it?"

"No, it is wonderful... It's just I am not hungry." Maximus cursed himself. Why was it so difficult? True, he had never been good with words, but it had never been so bad with Selene, the many times he had to inform her he was going away. But it had been different with her: his late wife had always known that as a soldier, he would have to leave her frequently. It was part of his job and she had accepted it when she had married him. Instead Lydah had not come to live with a soldier, but with a farmer, and the news was certainly bound to shock her- and there was nothing he could do to avoid it. Maximus sighed aloud, and looked to her, admiring her features in the vanishing light of the sunset. His heart constricted: she was even more beautiful than usual that evening. Her skin glowed and her eyes shone with a radiance he had never noticed before, despite spending hours staring at them. And now he was afraid to cause them to fill with tears...

"I must tell you something, Maximus."

"I must tell you something, Lydah."

They spoke in unison then burst into a short laugh.

"You first..."

"No, you do it- ladies first," Maximus smiled.

"All right." Lydah joined her hands over the table, took a deep breath, as if she was trying to calm herself then spoke. "This afternoon, I had an appointment with a midwife living nearby and she confirmed it..." Her voice died, as she swallowed.

"What?" He whispered, although he already knew. That inner radiance...

"I am pregnant, Maximus. We are going to have a baby." Lydah smiled and looked at him with expectation, but he was not able to articulate a single word.

Pregnant. Lydah was pregnant. She was carrying his child.

Almost without noticing he began to cry, out of joy and desperation. Because it was a wonderful news and because it was the worst possible moment for receiving it. He had to go away now that she would need him more- why did the gods have such a perverse sense of humour? Had he not entertained them enough?

"Maximus? Are you all right?" Lydah asked, as she stood up and moved closer to him, surrounding his shaking shoulders with an arm.

"Yes, yes I am," he murmured, brushing away his eyes and cheeks. "This is beautiful news. Have you known it for a long time?" 

"Some weeks. I- I sometimes forgot to use my sponges and..." She blushed. "But I thought it was better to keep silent until I was certain. And this evening, with Titus sleeping at his friend's, was the perfect occasion to tell you and celebrate..." Her voice lowered in a husky whisper as she smiled at him.

Maximus smiled back, but it was forced. The time had arrived, he could not postpone that moment anymore.

"Lydah," he began, "I must tell you something. Something very important."

Her face lost its cheerfulness, as she sat back on the chair with her hands on the table, and looked at him with serious eyes. "I am listening."

"Do you remember when I told you about my past? That I was a general and that I was accused of treason?"

"Yes..." 

"Well, I did not tell you the whole story. I was not a simple general- I was the commander of the Army of the North, the most powerful man in the empire after the Emperor."

"Oh." Lydah's eyes widened in awe.

"And the reason I refused to recognize Commodus as the new Caesar was not only because I knew he had killed his father, but also that Marcus Aurelius had told me he had chosen another successor."

"Who?" The girl's voice was a mere whisper.

"Me."

"You?"

"Yes," Maximus nodded to emphasize his words, "That's why Commodus killed his father and sentenced me and my family to death."

"I see." Lydah stared at her joined hands for a while, then her head suddenly snapped up. "Why are you telling me now? Is it connected to those men that came to visit?"

"Yes." He took a deep breath and braced himself. "Those men are former officers of mine...They are still my officers. We are going to travel to Rome to remove Commodus."

"What?!" Lydah's mouth hung open, "You are going to do what?"

"I am going to travel to Rome, Lydah," Maximus repeated calmly, although his heart was thundering in his chest, "and do what Marcus Aurelius asked me to do four years ago. I will make sure Commodus does not cause more damage."

"No. No. NO." Lydah was shaking her head with ever increasing insistence. "You cannot mean it. You cannot leave."

"I must, Lydah. It is a chance I cannot miss." He kept his tone, light, reasonable, wishing for her to understand his motivations. 

"And what about me and Titus? What about our child?" The girl's voice wavered, but her eyes were firm.

"You will wait for me here. I will ask Proximo to look after you while I am away. He is basically a good man under his hardened exterior and I think he will do it with no problem."

"Let us come with you!" Lydah asked, reaching out a hand he caught with his, their fingers intertwining.

"It is not possible. It is too dangerous. I need to know you are here, safe." Maximus kissed her knuckles, but she pulled her hand away.

"And what about me?!" The girl jumped on her feet, put her hands square on the table, leant forward and cried, "You speak of what you have to do for your emperor, a man dead for more than four years, but what about your duty to us? I love you! I need you by my side!"

Maximus stood up. "I love you too! And I need you. But I will not be able to give you all of myself if I continue to feel guilty in my duty to my lost family and the emperor."

"And what if you don't return? What will become of me and Titus and our child if you should die in Rome?" Lydah's voice lost part of her anger as her face softened, "Please Maximus, let someone else deal with Commodus..."

"I can't, Lydah." Maximus shook his head. "The Gods know I don't wish to leave: in my life I have already said too many goodbyes and I hate to have to say another. All I want is to remain here and see you grow rounder and softer with our child...but I MUST GO. It is my duty." Maximus took a deep breath to control his voice, "Lydah, I have been taught to do my duty and to serve Rome since I was a boy and it shaped my life. I would not be able to consider myself still a man if I turned my head away in this moment when the Empire needs me and I have the means and the opportunity to do something. It is part of what I am, of the man that loves you, of the man you love - and I cannot ignore it. You are a fighter, my love. You know what integrity is... Please understand me..." He reached out with his hand, but Lydah pulled away before he could touch her, stepping back from the table. They stared at each other for several moments, then, slowly, without uttering a word, the girl turned on her heels and entered the cottage, closing the door behind her back.

Maximus stared at the place where she had disappeared for a while, before backing to his chair and falling on it, exhausted. He sighed and poured himself another cup of wine, but almost choked with it when a muffled sound of weeping reached his ears.

'Lydah,' he thought, his heart constricting in pain and guilt. He had made her suffer so much... Nothing had gone as he had expected- hoped. He had known all the time it was not going to be easy, but he had not predicted it to be so difficult either. And certainly he had not envisaged that she would choose that day to break such news to him.

Pregnant. She was pregnant.

At the mere thought of becoming a father again, Maximus felt his heart sing. It had been so long since he had cradled his only son in his arms...Lydah was right. He should give up his plans to go to Rome and get his revenge. His duty was there, in Zucchabar. In that gods' forgotten corner of the Empire where he had unexpectedly found peace in a patch of hard, reddish land and love in the arms of a girl twenty years younger than himself who had been a whore and now was carrying his child...

Tiredly, Maximus rubbed his eyes then sighed.

He had a duty towards his woman and his child, yes, but he also had a duty to his emperor and his family. To the man, the woman and the child who had died only because they had loved Maximus. And he also had a duty towards Rome. To the Empire he had devoted his life and honour to.

Why did it always to have to be so hard? Why did he always have to choose between what his heart told him and what his honour and duty demanded from him?

He had sacrificed his family life with Selene and Marcus to serve Rome and her emperor and his only reward had been seeing them crucified and burned alive then being sold as a slave to three endless, hellish years fighting for the amusement of the mob, saving coin after bloody coin to buy back his freedom... And now... now...

Maximus shook himself and forced his mind away from that line of thinking.

His decision was taken and soon he would depart with his men to Rome but, perhaps, he would still manage to make some kind of amends with Lydah. Perhaps she would allow him to take her in his arms and sleep with her head on his shoulder as she so much liked to do. And perhaps she would allow him to touch the belly that soon would swell with the baby they had conceived... The belly he would not be there to see round and ripe as his child grew inside...

Maximus finished his wine, stood up, and cleared the table, giving the food remains to Melissa and her kittens, and putting the plates in a basin full of water. After that, he threw a last look around, opened the door and entered in the cottage.

Once inside, Maximus was welcomed by silence and darkness. He did not need a light to find his way through the small room he shared with Lydah. Besides, he already knew how fiercely she refused to show any sign weakness, especially when she was angry. If he lighted a lamp and she was still weeping, she was not going to be in the least thankful.

"Lydah?" No answer came from the bed. She was either asleep or too angry to talk to him. 

Maximus untied his sandals and took them off, then unbuckled his belt and let it fall on the woven rug as he took another step. "Lydah?" he repeated, not wanting to startle her if she was asleep.

Then, he heard the sound. It came from his back. And it had nothing to do with weeping.

Instead, it was the chiming of the anklet's bells.

Before he could turn around, a slender but surprisingly strong arm slid around his waist, stopping him in mid-movement. Then, he felt a warm, soft, female body rest against his back.

"Lydah..." he said, his nostrils dilating as he sniffed the perfume she always used. It was a fresh and clean fragrance but not enough to cover an underlying womanly perfume that immediately warmed his blood. "Lydah...?"

Instead of answering, the woman at his back flattened her body tightly against him. Maximus swallowed. Although he still had his tunic on, he knew beyond any possible doubt that she was completely naked.

Without uttering a word, Lydah slid her other arm around his waist and pressed her pelvis harder against his buttocks. He could feel her warmth and the soft roundness of her breasts against his back and before he could stop himself Maximus moved his own hand back to touch her- but Lydah swiftly moved away, the tiny silver bells chiming their song and leaving him standing in the darkened room.

The loss of her warmth was unexpectedly painful. They had been together long enough for Maximus to recognize her moods. She was usually a loving partner, passionate in bed but full of tenderness even in the wildest moments. But the woman at his back, moving with cat-like swiftness as she remained wrapped in the shadows was somehow a stranger. And he felt the familiar stirring.

With a little chiming sound, she moved back towards him and he needed all his strength to refrain from turning around, taking her in his arms, throwing her on the bed and seeking warmth, comfort, and relief between her legs. But he knew that she would not permit it.

Lydah's arms came again around Maximus' waist and he let her do it, breathing hard when she pressed her body against his and forgetting to do it when her hands moved up his chest, slowly caressing his pectorals as they described lazy circles. He arched his back, pushing himself harder against her small frame, clenching his fists to refrain from grabbing her buttocks and gasping when she slid a naked foot up the inside of one of his calves.

Lydah's hands moved down to his waist, then over his flat belly and he felt his manhood harden with a painful intensity. He gasped for breath but, before he could get air into his already burning lungs, the small, inquisitive, demanding hands reached his member and boldly stroked it through his tunic and loincloth.

Throwing his head back, Maximus softly moaned and then did it again, louder this time, when she took advantage to bite his nape. How did she do it? A few minutes before he had been ready to leave her and their unborn child behind and go to Rome to right wrongs long ago done and now- now he was standing in their darkened room, burning for her...Lydah moved away again and he moaned for a third time, but this time out of disappointment.

Her skilled hands skimmed down his back as they used to do when she helped soothe his work beaten muscles then stopped at his buttocks and caressed them, following their natural curve then sliding even deeper and finding their way between his legs. Maximus thighs spread as if on their own volition but frustration overcame him immediately as Lydah's hand retreated.

There was a soft, chiming sound as she took a step back then grabbed his tunic's hem and started pulling it up his body. Maximus helped her by remaining immobile but for raising his arms but he had to bite his lip hard to avoid touching her once the fabric barrier was removed and there was nothing left between their naked skins but a mere inch of emptiness.

Lydah's nails slowly traced his spine then rested for a moment on his lower back, gently scratching the bronzed skin above the crevice that divided his buttocks. As she did, her foot caressed the inside of his calf again and Maximus bit his lips another time to remain quiet, knowing that she wanted him to do it but finding it harder than facing any one of the many dangers he had already faced along his life as a soldier and a gladiator. But when she rubbed her breasts against his bare back, he felt as if he had been stricken by a lightning bolt. "Lydah..." he gasped but she remained in silence.

Sweat beaded his forehead at the effort of remaining immobile while his manhood throbbed and blood thundered in his veins. He wanted her so much that he felt dizzy.

The knowing hands moved towards his hips and Maximus felt like weeping with gratitude when he felt her tug at the ties of his loincloth. The scant piece of cloth fell to the floor and he moaned as his member twitched with the force of his desire as Lydah flattened against him once more and caressed his flanks, then the sides of his thighs. His heart pounding wildly, his breath but a ragged panting, Maximus licked his lips only to taste the salt of his own sweat. For sure it was enough. For sure she had had her way long enough and now was ready to allow him to take her, love her and pleasure her while she made those purring sounds in the depth of her throat that were as arousing as the firmness of her small breasts and her taut, cinnamon-coloured nipples...

As if she had read his thoughts, Lydah moved one of her legs between his, rubbing the inside of his thighs with her own as she nudged them apart. Unable to resist the bold coaxing, Maximus obliged while his breath became more and more laboured. In the hot darkness, only the chiming sound of the silver bells allowed him to follow her movements but it did not prepare him for what she did next: sliding her body against his, she bent down, caressing his legs and using her nails first on the sensitive skin of the back of his knees and then on his ankles.

Maximus hissed but, before he could move, Lydah knelt on the floor and ran the palms of her hands up the inside of his legs.

He moaned and instinctively rocked his hips, his manhood so hard and hot that he felt light-headed but she did not give him respite and went on caressing him, moving closer towards her goal.

"Lydah... " he panted, "Lydah..."

No sound came from his back but a soft chiming as Lydah moved, pushing his legs wide apart. As it had happened the first time he had met her, Maximus felt caught in something that he was unable to stop... and suddenly, he discovered that he was also unwilling to do it. Without resistance, he spread his legs- and gasped as her hand slid up between his thighs and touched his scrotum from behind. The skilled fingers moved with maddening slowness, softly caressing the underside of his sack then retreated towards the crevice between his buttocks but not before touching the sensitive spot behind the testicles. Maximus shivered violently, his belly tightening hard and the tension running from his groin towards his lower back.

"Lydah..." he tried again but his mouth dried when he noticed she was sitting on the floor between his spread legs, firmly grabbing his thighs to keep him in place. He swallowed with difficulty as he vainly tried to control the shudders that ran down his spine. The air in the small, darkened room felt so hot that it seemed impossible that the whole cottage was not burning.

Lydah raised her head and slightly, delicately touched the soft spot behind his scrotum with her wet tongue then slid it towards the swollen sack with a slow, lazy movement...Maximus cried out as she tightened her hold of his spread thighs as she went on licking him from behind.

He was moaning. Gasping. Panting. He felt as if he was waist deep into molten lava. As if the ground was going to open beneath him and devour him. He felt as if he was drowning, unable to get enough air in his straining lungs...And Lydah went on working him, her tongue scalding hot and maddeningly skilled, its damp heat bathing his burning, sensitive spot.

Unable to stop her, Maximus gave up any hint of resistance and gave himself to her, softly moaning and rocking in perfect rhythm with her unrelenting lapping. With a deep sigh, he closed his eyes and let her have her way and allowed the heat to engulf him.

He did not notice that she had freed his thighs. Not even when her palms slid upward and reached his belly. But when she took one of his testicles in her mouth and gently sucked it, he groaned again.

And when her hands started stroking his manhood in a perfect rhythm with her mouth Maximus knew he was going to die. He knew he would never go to Rome because she was devouring him alive...

Lydah freed his testicle and Maximus moaned at the loss of her mouth then did it again and louder as her lips engulfed its swollen, aching twin and the sweet torture started again. Part of his mind vaguely registered the way sweat ran down his back and chest, tracing rivulets on his belly, his buttocks, his thighs as Lydah went on sucking and stroking him, her right hand moving over his engorged, aching member, the left one alternating between his belly and his scrotum as she mercilessly drove him towards relief, yes, but also towards something unknown. Something scary... Something...

Maximus' eyes snapped open as the realization dawned in his mind. He knew. He had always known. She was not only devastatingly attractive in the sensuous way of a wild nymph emerged from the misty woods of some legend. She was also a woman who put her mark on men when she chose to do it. And she was putting it on him. His mind screamed that he should get free, that there was still time for him- but his body refused to obey. 

He was burning, every laboured breath bringing fire into his lungs. He was dying, his heart drumming the wild song of his pounding blood. He was going to come, to spend himself in her hand...He was going to spill his seed and there was nothing he could do to stop it...

"Lydah... Lydah... Lydah..."

He had to have her. He had to bury himself in her wet, hot, welcoming body. He had to have her or die..."Lydah..."

Maximus could feel the first drops of his seed dripping from his painfully throbbing manhood... The darkness around him felt like something with a life of its own. Something that had already devoured him in the same way Lydah's mouth was consuming him..."Lydah..."

His hips jerked with a will of their own, the orgasm closing on him with painful speed... "Lydah..."

His hips jerked once more. Close. He was so close... "Lydah..."

She freed his testicles then licked his scrotum one last time as fingers closed at the base of his manhood. Maximus moaned one more time, a ragged, pained sound. Lydah's grip brusquely tightened around his manhood. It did not hurt but whatever the resulting feeling was, it was so overwhelming that his mind refused to register it. The surrounding darkness turned into blazing, red light. His knees buckled, unable to support his weight. With a final moan, Maximus collapsed on the bed. As the blazing light faded and a darkness of a different kind engulfed him, he heard the distant sound of the tiny, silver bells...

Maximus did not need to open his eyes to know he was no longer surrounded by darkness. He could see the light even through his closed eyelids. Perhaps it was not merely light but fire... Perhaps the whole cottage was ablaze...He felt curiously detached, still too shocked by what had happened in the darkness of a room he used to consider familiar.

As he licked his lips, he took notice of the mattress under his naked back and the fresh linen sheet against his skin. He was lying on his bed but he could not remember getting there. Not that it mattered... He still felt too dizzy, too exhausted, too- the fire brought him back to reality.

The flames were licking his lower belly, lazily tracing smouldering paths up his groin.

It was like molten lava, incredibly hot but liquid, pouring over his manhood and making it burn. Letting out a moan, he arched his hips and the scalding dampness seemed to engulf him even deeper.

Maximus' eyelids fluttered open and the brightness that welcomed them felt like needles, forcing him to close them again. It was only when he did it that he noticed his own, ragged breath... Little by little, he opened his eyes again, gradually getting used to the fire.

The little room was ablaze with light but there was no fire burning. Not at least one that he could see even if the hot feeling in his lower belly had extended to his buttocks and lower back. Instead, the room was ablaze with light, ever single lamp, lantern and candle he owed already lightened and disposed around the bed forming a circle of golden light.

And somehow, that luminosity was as unsettling as the previous darkness, for it had hidden a woman who was and at the same time was not the one who had given him back hope, tenderness and the chance to love and be loved again but a complete stranger. And in the blazing light that had replaced the previous darkness, there was no way he could hide from that same, dangerous stranger...

The flames engulfing his lower body leapt with renewed force and something soft as silk moved over his spread thighs. Maximus moaned again, arching his hips high as the fire swirled and licked him. As he did, small, cool, soft hands slid beneath his buttocks, cradling them and guiding them in their instinctive movements as they rocked in perfect rhythm with the liquid flames. Feminine hands... hands he knew so well... that had soothed him in his pain and anger and made him burn with their knowing caresses...

Lydah's hands.

Maximus' eyes snapped open and he tried to sit up but was forced to lie back on the mattress. 

He clenched his fists but when he tried to move his arms he discovered he could not. 

Blinking, Maximus took notice of his surroundings.

He was in the room he shared with Lydah, lying on his back on the bed that was now surrounded by a dozen or so lamps and candles. He was naked, his thighs spread wide and his body bathed in sweat. There was a pillow under his head and his arms were raised high above it. And he was tied to the bed's headboard.

He turned his head to give a better look and found that he had been restrained with leather thongs tied over the leather strips he used to wrap around his wrists to support them while working on the farm. They seemed strong and the knots had been done with care, more like the work of a caravan merchant than that of a woman. He tested his restraints and found them to be surprisingly effective. Not that he could not break them if he wanted. It would take some strength, but he had needed more than that to fight for his life. He flexed one arm but forgot his intention in mid-movement as the liquid fire devouring him reached another, higher level.

Raising his head the best he could, Maximus glanced at his lower body. 

She was crouching between his spread thighs, her long, wavy, mahogany coloured hair spilled all over them as she worked him mercilessly with her tongue and lips.

"Lydah..."

There was no other reply from the woman but a squeezing movement of her hands as they still moved over his buttocks. It was not painful but somehow it was unsettling, a renewed proof that he was in her power.

"Lydah..." he tried again but the licking flames leapt again and he forgot to breathe.

She was killing him with that maddening mouth and that skilled, scalding tongue. She was devouring him alive and his manhood was throbbing in a pounding, wild rhythm with his heart.

Now her hands, her lips and her tongue were sliding all over his lower body. His burning flesh was tender and sensitized like a bleeding wound. Maximus moved his arms and he felt the headboard creak as his restraints tightened with his effort to get free... The woman between his legs had been living with him for months and was now carrying his child yet she was a stranger. And the only thing he knew about her was that he could not expect mercy from her. He tensed his arms again but the her hands moved deeply between his legs, one of them taking his sack and softly squeezing it, rolling its precious contents between her fingers while the other searched behind for the spot that burned even more intensely than his already burning manhood. And when it reached it Maximus forgot his need to free himself and let out a hoarse cry.

He had reached his limit and gone beyond. He was shivering violently. He was dying.

Suddenly, it was over.

The fire and the licking flames. The damp heat and the sucking. The knowing caresses and the liquid burning. Everything was over but the merciless throbbing of his engorged manhood and the painful aching of the resulting emptiness.

Panting and protesting, Maximus fell again on his back, squeezing his eyelids to shut off the light and the frustration as his rigid member twitched and he shuddered so violently that the bed's headboard creaked like a ship's planks in the middle of a storm.

For a long moment there was no other sound in the room but that of his ragged breath and some occasional flickering of the candles. Then, he heard it. The silver bells' chiming. The tiny sound was followed by the notion of her moving between his legs and he could feel the silky caress of her hair as she raised her head and shifted her position.

Still panting, Maximus opened his eyes- and swallowed at the sight of her.

Lydah was kneeling between his spread thighs, her hair a wild array of mahogany waves that shone reddish under the lamplight. Her face was unreadable, the slanted, feline eyes luminous as gems against her bronzed skin. Her lips were reddened, swollen and still damp from her efforts.

Acting on reflex, Maximus tried to trap her between his thighs but he was still too weakened by the combined arousal and frustration and, moving swiftly, she escaped his intent and instead straddled him, carefully avoiding touching his tormented member.

Maximus swallowed again as she saw her straighten her back and toss her hair with a movement of her head, offering him the unimpeded view of her naked, luscious body.

Vaguely he asked himself how he could have missed the signs of her pregnancy. Her breasts were fuller and heavier, the nipples darker and the areola visibly enlarged. Her skin was even softer than usual, her mane more luxurious and vibrant and there was a special radiance all over her. It was not only her body, he thought, but her whole self.

Lydah followed his gaze as he traced a path down her still flat belly and her female mound, now veiled by soft chestnut curls. In the unforgiving light, he saw that they were damp with her arousal.

But when he raised his eyes, Lydah's face still gave nothing back. Instead, she brought her hands to her breasts and cupped them, fondling them with long, slow movements, arching her head back and closing her eyes. Maximus could feel her breath's increasing rhythm and convulsively swallowed at the sight of her deliberately fuelling her excitement. And his.

Still with her eyes closed, Lydah rolled her pebble hard nipples between her fingers, lightly pinching and plucking them.

"Lydah..." he gasped, clenching his fists and making the headboard creak once more.

She turned towards him and opened her cat-like eyes, locking them with his as she run her hands down her torso and towards her belly and her parted thighs. Always looking at him, Lydah slid the fingers of her right hand down the inverted delta of her mound seeking her swollen nether lips.

Maximus' eyes followed her movements as his throat became dry. He wanted to avert his gaze but he could not. He had to close his eyelids but they refused to obey.

Enthralled, tied and aroused to the point of breaking down, he looked as her slender fingers slid over her sheath and felt her shiver as she reached her most sensitive flesh.

Lydah bit her lip to control her shuddering and keep her own arousal under control then slid her fingers all over her damp slit again, always looking at Maximus staring at her.

"Lydah..." he panted. Now he knew he was not going to die but he was going to go mad.

He would go mad if he could not touch her, take her, love her. He would go mad if he would have to go on looking at her touching herself as he should have been doing ...

Lydah took her fingers from her slit and raised them to the light and Maximus could see them glistening, coated as they were with the proof of her excitement. At the sight, his manhood twitched in response, painfully reminding him of his own hunger and need.

She looked at her damp fingers for a moment then moved her hand towards Maximus and before he could anticipate what she was going to do, she rubbed them all over his mouth.

His nostrils flared at the closeness of the pungent, fertile, female scent and he avidly licked her finger pads then took them in his mouth and sucked them as if his life depended on it.

Lydah let him do it and when her fingers were clean, she brusquely took them away. 

Maximus started to protest but she lowered her head and silenced him with a ravishing kiss, sliding her tongue inside his mouth, licking her own essence from his, taking, demanding and punishing as she did. It ended as abruptly as it had started, leaving Maximus panting and dizzy, too weak to offer resistance to her following movement.

Crouched on top of him, Lydah slowly straightened till her bosom was aligned with his face. She glanced at him for a moment, long enough to make herself sure that she had his attention, then slid her hand behind his head, cupped his nape and rubbed her breasts against his face.

Caught between her iron grip and the soft silkiness of the twin, bronzed orbs, Maximus struggled to free himself as his mouth avidly tried to reach her nipples and catch them between his lips. He managed to get at one and clamped his mouth around it but before he could suck it, she put her hands on his shoulders and firmly pushed him back.

Shaking his head like a man who has surfaced after plunging into cold water, Maximus struggled to clear his mind and had the grim satisfaction of seeing that she was panting as much as him. He allowed himself a small smile. She could not take it much longer. She was too far gone into her arousal. She was going to take him inside her and ride him till completion. Hers. His.

As if she had read his mind, Lydah retreated but Maximus bent his knees and raised his thighs, stopping her. Their eyes locked for a moment. Then, Lydah grabbed his right leg with her hand and slowly raised on her knees. She used her other hand to caress the inside of his thigh and when Maximus hissed at the contact, she took him in her hand and brought the tip of his inflamed manhood towards her swollen sheath.

Maximus hissed again as he felt the wet heat of her female slit and groaned loudly as she moved his member all along her slick nether lips. She braced against his knee and repeated the movement time and again, and Maximus rocked his hips vainly trying to reach deeper. He could feel her open and ready but she was keeping her hips high enough over his own to avoid him penetrating her. Clenching his fists once more, he violently struggled against his restraints but the leather thongs resisted his attempts and he found himself helpless to reach her as she went on using him to pleasure herself.

He could feel her tension mounting along with his and the throbbing in his manhood turned into a painful pounding that echoed in his belly, his chest and his head. A reddish fog replaced the blazing light and through it he saw her rhythmically rocking as she kept on rubbing the tip of his member against her core. Her head was arched back and her hair cascaded down her bare back. As she moved, the bells in the silver anklet chimed their little, jingling song.

Even if his body was screaming for release, Maximus could not but savour the sight of her so wild and so close to the edge, so beautiful in her passion even if she was keeping him out of it.

Release crashed on her with the swiftness of a lightning. Lydah cried hoarsely and Maximus drank in the sight of her belly, visibly clenching with the spasms of her orgasm as her whole body shook and glistened under the light as sweat run down her skin.

She was so beautiful that Maximus forgot his own arousal for a moment, relishing the sight of her pleasure. With a last shiver, Lydah let him go then collapsed on top of him.

Maximus groaned as her bare skin slid on top of his, painfully reminding him of his frustration. She remained sprawled over him like a rag doll but unlike one of them, she was warm and damp and he could feel her heart beating wildly against his own. He bit his lip till he could feel the taste of blood and hoped that the sharp pain he had caused himself would be enough to distract him from the other, acute pain radiating from his tormented groin. Then, he closed his eyes and turned his face till he could press it against Lydah's temple.

They remained in silence for a long while then Lydah stirred.

Her head was buried in the curve between Maximus' neck and shoulder and she felt as if she had been lying on a bed of softly burning embers. He was so strong and so warm! Enough to make her feel safe and cared for- and now he was going away, leaving her and their unborn child behind...She buried her face deeply, half shivering and half cursing herself for her inability to remain detached when it came to him. Suddenly, despite his warmth and the feeling of his silky skin and rock-hard muscles, Lydah felt indescribably cold. Cold and helpless. And most of all alone.

She closed her eyes struggling to shut off the light of the lamps she had lighted while Maximus remained unconscious and before tying him to the headboard. She had been the one to do it, to set the room ablaze with light so he could not hide from her while she put her mark on him. Yet now she was the one who wanted to hide, but there was no other place to go but into her own mind. She had fallen into her own trap- and not for the first time.

Lydah closed her eyes struggling to shut off the light but most of all to shut off the well-known helplessness. She buried her face against his shoulder but there was no way she could block out the weak, rasping voice that had haunted her dreams before she had come to live at the farm.

"Lydah... take care of Titus..."

"Mother..."

"Lydah... I have so little time... listen to me..."

"Mama, no!"

"Shhhh... You know I am dying...You will have to be strong... to care for your brother..."

"Mama, I can not do it! Please, don't leave me mama! Please!"

"I...can not...I am sorry..."

"Mama! Mama! Don't leave me! Please, mama! Don't leave me!"

But her mother had died and her father had followed her three years later, leaving Lydah by herself with a child to care for, a girl too young and too pretty to go unnoticed in a world where too many men were set on having their own way. She had done whatever she could to provide for Titus but the little money remaining after the trial had not lasted long. Then she had been forced to leave her home and walk all the way to Zucchabar carrying a child too young and too weary to walk by himself. On the road she had mostly met people who wanted to take advantage of her and only a few times a bit of help in the form of a goat milk bowl for Titus or some bread she had nibbled while silently sobbing when the boy was asleep. She had even found people who had advised her to sell her own brother as a slave so she would be free of him and get some money at the same time. Ragged and hungry, thirsty and exhausted she had stubbornly clung to her love and her promise and long before she had arrived at Ulpia's door she had decided that there was no sacrifice she was not ready to do to feed and shelter and raise Titus. Her own fate was already sealed but he would have a chance and she would give it to him.

It had been only when she had gone to bed after nights spent pleasuring her clients that she had allowed herself to lower her barriers and her last thought before falling asleep had always been but the same...

"I miss you, mama, papa... I miss you so much..."

And then, Maximus had come out of nowhere and she had gone to him not knowing her destiny was going to change forever. She had gone to him and he had been trouble as Ulpia had predicted but he had also been warmth, love and hope.

He had taken her away from a life of public scorn and private misery. He had bought her time at the expense of his own sacrifice so she need not go to other men but him. And he had taken her and Titus to his farm and given her love and hope and the promise of a baby of her own. And how, he was going away, leaving her and their child behind.

He was leaving them behind to pursue his revenge in a city so far away that she simply could not imagine it. Going away to probably never come back again...Leaving her alone to fend again by herself. To take care of Titus and their child. To tremble in the nights out of fear and loneliness. And there was nothing she could do about it. He was a man of honour and he had a duty to fulfil. He was a man of honour and she loved him for it. Oh yes. She had fallen in her own trap. More than once.

Maximus was going and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

But there was something she could do and she was already doing it: she was going to put her mark on him forever and he would never be able to free himself from her. Sleeping or awake, here or in faraway Rome, he would carry her in his mind and heart but most of all in his body's memory.

Turning her face in the damp curve of Maximus' neck, Lydah kissed his warm skin then nibbled him. Beneath her, he produced a long, deep growl. She licked the offended spot then kissed it avidly, sucked it and bit it harder. His growl turned into a groaning moan. Lydah rubbed her naked body against his, insistently grinding her pelvis against his lower belly so his manhood was trapped between her spread legs.

His moan became louder and Maximus reflexively tried to grab her in his arms but the leather thongs prevented it. He struggled against them in growling frustration, making the headboard creak. For a moment Lydah thought that he would free himself any time and when it would happen he would go for her in such a blazing passion and fury that he would kill her- but the leather thongs did not break. She knew the trick to make a knot last, her father had taught it to her when she was a child. She had tied every knot twice then poured water on the leather. The dry, desert night and Maximus' efforts had done the rest.

She rose unimpeded, towering above him in a flurry of mahogany-coloured waves and bronzed skin, the light revealing every curve and every contour to Maximus' shining eyes.

Lydah saw him lick his dry lips then swallow hard. "Lydah..."His voice sounded hoarse, as if he had been making an effort to talk or it had been rough out of it.

She did not answer. Instead, she raised higher above him and without a word, she slid her hand behind to capture his straining manhood. 

At the touch of her hand, Maximus hissed and instinctively arched his hips but she grabbed him firmly, keeping him where she wanted him, close but not there.

He revolted against his restraints with renewed strength managing only to stretch the thongs and make the knots even tighter. "Lydah..."

Without a word, she stroked him. A long, slow, languid movement running from the base of his manhood to the swollen, already dripping head. Then, she rubbed her thumb pad over it, spreading the hot, sticky fluid all over it.

Maximus' hips jerked upward and he cursed under his breath. Lydah repeated the movement and he cursed in a loud voice. A long, colourful string of soldier's curses directed more to himself than to her. When he was done, Maximus fell back on against the mattress and closed his eyes.

Lydah remained in silence, straddling him, wide open and waiting, burning and empty, ready and hungry but determined to have things in her own way- at least once in her life.

Maximus' sighed then opened his blue-green eyes that blazed like flames. He was bathed in sweat, every tense, well-developed muscle perfectly delineated beneath the bronzed skin. His breath was ragged and she could see his pulse madly beating at the base of his throat. He looked at her for a moment then sighed again, his lips parted, the lower one slightly swollen where he had bitten it to keep himself under control.

"Please..." he gasped. "Please..."

Lydah stroked him one more time eliciting a loud moan then brought him to her sheath, rubbed herself with it for a moment and when she felt him become tense and raise his buttocks to slide inside her, lowered her body impaling herself.

They cried in unison at the friction between their aroused flesh, as he filled her to the limit and she wrapped herself impossibly tight around him. Lydah's back arched convulsively and Maximus raised his legs again, giving her support. She rested against his thighs and braced against them, then started moving.

Maximus moaned and gasped as she rode him with long, slow movements. She rode him, rubbing herself against his pelvis as she dug her nails in his upraised thighs, her hair flowing around her with every movement, looking all the more like the wild nymph he had imagined her to be. Soon Lydah was moaning and gasping as hard and as loud as him, sweat dripping down her body and tracing paths down her skin that Maximus longed to lick dry with his tongue...

Soon she straightened again, sliding her knowing hand behind, down the inside of his thigh, seeking and demanding in that bold way of her. Instinctively, Maximus spread his legs wider, giving himself to her.

She needed no further coaxing. Her hand slid towards the scrotum and first caressed the heavy sack then rolled his hard testicles between her fingers as she went on riding him harder and faster, mercilessly driving him towards release but also towards the unknown and beyond.

Maximus' buttocks raised once more, his lower body tense and burning, his laboured breathing bringing nothing into his lungs but fire, his heart beating so madly that he thought he was going to die.

Through half-closed eyes, he saw Lydah's face now contorted in the agony of mating. Where there had been nothing but an unreadable mask now was the face of absolute, naked passion.

Trapped inside her, her tight sheath engulfing him, Maximus felt his manhood throb with an insistent rhythm that echoed in the back of his head. Then, her small hand let his sack go and before he could cry in frustration, her fingers found the spot behind the scrotum and with a deafening roar he came.

He had never imagined that release could last so long or be so intense, his seed pouring in seemingly never ending spurts, the contractions of her muscles coaxing them to go on and on. Maximus' head swam in a blaze of light and fire, the roar in his ears so loud that it reminded him of that of an angry sea.

Lydah' release crashed on her with such force that she was sure she was going to die, her rhythmic spasms so hard that they were painful, each breath so ragged that she thought she would choke... It took her a moment to notice that she was shivering as badly as if she had been in the throes of a violent fever and even longer to understand that she was sobbing aloud, pained, dry sobs like those of a heartbroken child.

It took some time but, little by little, they calmed down. When their hearts had stopped drumming in their heads and their blood's roar had somehow diminished, when they were able to breathe with more ease, Lydah raised her head and used her hand to push the damp tendrils away from her face.

Maximus was looking at her, his eyes darkened to a deep blue, his lips damp and slightly parted, his body glistening with sweat. And at the look in his eyes, she knew she had done it. She had put her mark on him. He would never be free from her no matter how far he went and how much he went through. Every single moment of his remaining life, he would carry her in his heart and mind. Each morning, he would look for her when he awoke and each night he would roll on his pallet, blindly seeking for her in the emptiness of his life. She had put her mark on him and he would never be able to forget her. Not even in death.

She should have been happy but somehow she was not.

For she would look for him every single morning when she opened her eyes and blindly seek for him in her own empty bed every night. She had put her mark on him but he had also put his on her that night at the inn, seemingly a life time ago. Without taking her feline eyes from his burning ones, Lydah tossed her hair with a movement that demanded whatever little strength she still had.

"I understand," she said and had the grim satisfaction to notice that her voice did not fail her. "I understand," she repeated, "Do you?"

This said, she freed herself of him and rose from the bed, somehow managing not to falter despite her trembling legs. She took the knife she had left on the nightstand and with swift, efficient movements cut the leather thongs freeing Maximus' arms.

Then she padded out of the room and outside into the night.

When Lydah returned inside a long time later, she was feeling calmer, her turbulent emotions under control. The candles and the lamps she had put around the bed had burnt down, all except one. And in its scarce light he could see that Maximus was still awake, waiting for her.

They looked at each in silence for a long moment, their eyes telling things their lips could not, then Maximus pushed away the blanket the had pulled up to cover himself, and widened his arms.

Lydah stared at him an instant more then accepted his invitation, slipping in bed at his side. Maximus covered them both then settled back against the mattress as she lowered her head over his shoulder, and he encircled her back with one arm.

The last thing Lydah registered before falling asleep was Maximus' hand sliding between their bodies until it reached her belly and stopping there, cradling the tiny child growing inside her womb.