VII

With the late afternoon sun on their backs Eoghan's forces took up their final fighting place on the field in front of the Roman garrison. Their numbers littered the entire length of the field resembling one, long human wall of open rebellion and three men deep. Eoghan was stood at the centre of this man made wall and could feel the trepidation washing over his body.
He knew he had to settle his men, to build their courage in these moments before some of them made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, but no words he could think of seemed sufficient.
Gripping his sword hilt in his hand he turned to face his men; a mixture of old and young faces looked back at him, waiting on him to speak but when he opened his mouth to do so nothing came out.
A strange lump had formed in his throat causing his mouth to become dry and his heart to speed up. He tried to again but the only thing to come out was an overused call for ferocity and no surrender. It was nothing invigorating and he could feel their eyes on him, judging him. Eoghan's skin grew tight as a heavy weight seemed to press down on his shoulders, threatening to push him through the soft ground that rested beneath his boots. 
Turning away from them suddenly, Eoghan focused on the garrison in the distance that had just opened its gates and uniformed lines of soldiers began to flood out into the open field. 

His men would have to do without any encouraging words today, Eoghan thought as he watched the Roman numbers grow in front of them, obliterating the field. 

* * * 

She was inside the belly of the beast, and it was a frustrating maze of corridors and walkways. They'd turn down one corridor only to come to a dead end or up a set of stairs and find themselves at the beginning, and now they came to the end of another hallway she was about to let out a cry of frustration. 

"Which way?" Frieda asked looking left and right, both directions mirroring each other and every other walkway they had taken since they entered the garrison. Frieda could feel herself beginning to panic that they were running out of time. Eoghan's army and the Romans must have engaged by now, Frieda could hear the barking of orders and clashing of swords in the distance. Soon the battle would come inside the garrison and swallow them up with it. 

"Right," Diomed told her, his voice filled with a certainty that calmed her nerves for the moment, "Hurry." He added, which put her back on tenterhooks. 

Holding her sword close to her side, Frieda turned right and checked inside all the rooms they passed but to no avail. They were halfway down the dimly lit corridor when a doorway swung open less than an inch from her face. Her heart hitched a little as she waited to see who was behind the door - was it Alena? - when a group of soldiers came clambering out of the room, almost falling over each other in their haste to get out. Frieda and Diomed looked at each other, wondering what would happen and how they should proceed. Someone still inside the room was shouting, telling the soldiers to make haste even as some were still trying to pull on their armour and fasten their belts as they went, when one of them knocked into Frieda, pushing her against the wall. 

"Hurry! To the gates! Defend the garrison!" The voice carried on shouting as it followed them down the corridor, "Defend Rome!"

As quickly as it started the flurry of movement was over as the last man passed them and the group of soldiers turned down the corridor Frieda and Diomed had just come from. They barely took note of Frieda and Diomed being there. They looked at each other in surprise for a moment before a rush of confidence flooded their bodies at their newfound invisibility. Hurrying through the garrison taking less precautions, they no longer paused to look around a corner, they just went, knowing that time was of the essence if they did not wish to be caught in the middle of a battle. And with the way they were dressed, with Diomed as a guard and Frieda a rebel, any one of the men on the battlefield would not pause to kill them. 

"How big is this place?" Frieda muttered to herself as they came up against yet another dead end and had to backtrack. She could feel herself getting lost and turned around until she could barely remember what this labyrinth looked like from the outside. They were moving deeper and deeper into the roman fort with the constant distant noise of clattering of swords and screams reminding them what awaited outside when, in the middle of a long corridor with nowhere to hide, a loud, commanding voice suddenly shouted from behind them. 

"You there, halt! Why are you not at the gates?" 

Frieda and Diomed froze and remained silent for a moment as if they were waiting for someone they couldn't see to reply, but the man's domineering voice shouted at them again with more ferocity. Frieda realised their disguise may have failed them. Diomed gave her a confusing look before his face changed. She watched it became more docile and compliant like a real Roman soldier should be to their commanding officer before he turned to face the man. Frieda wanted to grab his arm and tell him not to but it was too late. Keeping her head low and her sword hidden down by her leg, she turned a little bit to the side and looked at him from the corner of her eye, remembering to keep her head down like the captured prisoner she was dressed up as.

"I am transporting this prisoner to the dungeons, Commander," Diomed replied. 

From the side she could see that the Commander was tall with a head of thick black hair and an olive complexion to compliment it. His shoulders were broad from the armour adorning them and a short red cape was fasted across his chest before resting over his shoulder and flowing down his back. His eyes were as black as his hair and they were boring down on Diomed with disbelief.

"Fuck the prisoner," He bellowed, "We are under attack! Get your ass to the gates or I will kill you myself for desertion! We need every man!" 

Diomed looked back at Frieda and she saw a flash of something cross his eyes. No, Frieda started to shake her head. 

"NOW soldier!" The commander shouted in Diomed's face.

Frieda began to raise her sword, her body turning towards the Commander to run it through his chest, she should just kill him now and they could carry on looking for Alena, when Diomed took a step forward so that he was stood in front of her, blocking her attack and her sword from view, and bowed to the commander. 

"Yes sir," Diomed nodded as the commander stormed past them and began to march down the corridor. As Diomed followed him he gave Frieda a strong look and whispered "Find Alena." 

"But-"

"-Do not worry about me. Find Alena and get out of here." Diomed urged her. Before he lost sight of the commander Diomed turned away and hurried after him. Frieda watched Diomed grow smaller the further he walked away, being led to the battlefield. She felt helpless to stop it and hated every second of it.

Diomed knew Frieda had wanted to kill the commander but that would draw too much attention. At the moment no one knew she was there, that was her biggest advantage and if it meant he had to fight in another battle to keep it that way so be it. Funny, Diomed thought as the sound of their footsteps echoed around them, after all this time of trying to escape he was right back where he started - fighting for the Romans. 
He had fought in numerous battles, this would be no different and he could find Frieda afterwards. Before they turned a corner Diomed looked back down the corridor at Frieda and saw her just stood staring after him. 

As Diomed looked back at her Frieda could not help but think that this was the last time she was going to see him alive and her heart ached. Swallowing the lump in her throat she forced herself to focus, re-grip her sword, and take a step in the direction they had just left when she stopped. That was the commander, Frieda thought, and Eoghan had said that he was the one who had taken a liking to Alena. Maybe he had just come from her when the battle started, Frieda thought, and he come from behind them.
Spinning around Frieda looked behind her but she saw nowhere that he could have come from unless when they had turned right he had come from the left? Backtracking, Frieda quickly checked back in the all the rooms she had already looked. They were all empty and then she passed the corridor they had emerged from - now on her right - but instead she kept going as if they had turned left instead. The first door she came across appeared to be an armoury, the second held a few beds but nothing more. Her footsteps sounded deafening in the silence and she was conscious that someone could be around the next corner when she finally came upon the next door and a pleasant smell of perfume hung in the air. As if a woman occupied the quarters.
In a hurry, Frieda first listened to see if she could hear anyone on the other side and when she couldn't she put caution to the wind and flung the door open; she had to hurry and get Diomed out as soon as possible. 
Looking inside the room Frieda noted how much more luxurious and spacious it was compared to the other rooms she had seen, there was a large wooden four poster bed with a mound of animal skins on top of it, candles lit in the corner and an incense burning on a table. That explained the smell of perfume, Frieda thought but the room was empty and she began to leave when she heard the faintest of noises and stopped. 
Not moving Frieda listened intently to see if she could hear it again but there was only silence. Confident that she had not imagined it she turned back and took a step deeper into the room, letting the door shut gently behind her. Turning slowly she cast her gaze across the room but she could not see anyone, but then what had made that noise? It had sounded human. Raising her sword she quietly walked deeper into the room until she was beside the bed. Placing the tip of her sword beneath the mound of animal skins that adorned the bed she raised them up and looked underneath - nothing. It was just bed sheets. Looking around again she suddenly spotted an oak chest with metal hinges on the opposite side of the bed, walking around the back of the bed she approached the other side and tentatively reached out a hand towards the handle. As her fingers coiled around the handle she heard a scraping noise and then a sharp pain erupted across the back of her calf. Releasing the handle she spun around, her sword rising up to face a foe but instead what she saw caused it to almost slip from her grasp entirely.  

"Get away from that chest!" Alena shouted at her, shakily pointing a small dagger at her throat.  

Frieda looked down at her leg but it was nothing more than a surface scratch. In a daze she could no longer feel the pain as she looked back up and saw the person she was staring at, unable to believe that she had managed it. She had found her sister. 

"Alena," Frieda gasped, lowering her sword. She had grown so much since Frieda had last saw her. She was no longer the little girl that followed Frieda everywhere, she was tall and slender with her blonde hair plaited over her shoulder and nearly reaching her waist. She was wearing a lilac roman toga and staring at Frieda as if she was a barbarian. 

"Alena, it's me-" Frieda started.

"-Get away from the chest!" Alena shouted again, more confident this time. 

Frowning, Frieda looked back at the chest in confusion. What did she not want Frieda to see? Reaching out her hand she re-gripped the lid-

"-No!" 

Hoisting up the lid Frieda gazed in at a small child curled up on a pile of sheets. He looked up at Frieda with wide blue eyes and porcelain skin. 

"-Linus come here, now," Alena called and the boy scrambled to his feet, jumped out from the chest that Frieda was still holding open in a daze and ran across to Alena, hiding behind her long dress. A second later Frieda heard scrambling from under the bed and another child with long dark hair ran to her as well. 

"These are your children, are they not?" Frieda let the chest lid close and stared at Alena in bedazzlement.  

"You will not touch them, I will not allow it," Alena held the dagger in one hand and held the other out to the side, keeping the children back. Her eyes were wild with that fierce protection that only motherhood could give you. Frieda had seen it before, with Krista, and knew what it could make you do so she kept her distance. 

"Alena, I will not harm them," and to show she was telling the truth, Frieda threw her sword onto the bed, "Do you not recognise me?" Frieda asked, "Sister." 

"Sister?" Alena's sculpted brows drew together on her forehead, "My sister died long ago, you are one of those heathens that are at the gate now! I do not know how you managed to get inside but you will not-"

"-No Alena! I am your sister," Frieda rushed forward a step but Alena jabbed the dagger towards her and she stopped, "Do you not recognise me? I have been looking everywhere for you!" But still Alena's face seemed to not trust her. 

"I'll prove it," Frieda rushed, her heart racing to think that she had actually managed to locate her, despite wanting to there was always a little bit of doubt in her head that said she might never succeed but she had, "When you were little you asked father for a pony-" 

"-Every girl asks that of her father." 

"-No but you asked for it not for yourself, but to help mother at market. Alena, you used to follow that little Tiberius boy around the village all day because you had a crush on him, you love daisies, and- and-" Frieda tried to think of more but she had suppressed so much of her past that she could barely remember it now, "-And you had a pet rabbit! You caught it when we went out hunting with father but you couldn't kill it so father let you keep him and you named him-"

"-Raindrop"

"-Raindrop" Alena whispered in unison with Frieda, her mouth parted wide in shock as the knife fell from her fingers, "Frieda, is it really you?"

"Yes, yes, its me," Frieda almost ran over and enveloped her sister in her arms, "I found you." She clung to her little sister, her eyes sharp with the pain of tears, "I am so sorry I let you go."

"I thought you were dead," Alena cried into her shoulder, "They said- they said you had died on the ship."

"No, no I didn't die....not for lack of trying on their part," Frieda muttered as she ran her hand over her hair, "I am so glad you're okay though." And as she said it Frieda opened her eyes and looked at the two children staring up at her in bewilderment and in that second she saw in their faces the features of their father, the commander. A piece of Frieda reared up at the idea of Alena sleeping with the enemy but she had done what she needed to survive, Frieda told herself, there was no shame in that.

"Come, quick, we must hurry," Frieda said as she released her sister's body and turned to collect her sword.

"What do you mean?" Alena frowned, "It is not safe out there, we were told to stay here and hide." 

"I know but I am taking you away from here Alena, I'm saving you from these people," Frieda squeezed her shoulder. 

"These people?" Alena brushed her off and took a step back, "I do not need saving Frieda, this is my home now," Alena straightened her shoulders and looked her square in the eye. 

Frieda could not help but laugh, "But they're Romans, Alena! They killed our parents, separated us and tried to-"

"-That wasn't them! And I love Atticus now! We are married," She said, "I cannot leave my husband." 

"It wasn't them?" Frieda scoffed, "You saw them do it with your own eyes!" 

"Yes but it was not my husband's wish, he had tried to-"

"-Oh spare me!" Frieda turned away, disgusted, "Alena I have travelled across the continent to find you," Frieda turned back and looked at every feature of her face, soaking up the image of her as a grown woman - she never thought she would see it. 

Alena looked away, "Perhaps you should not have. I have to think of my family, Frieda."

That hurt Frieda more than she would say, "Am I not your family too, Alena?" 

Alena looked at her sympathetically before she drew her boys close, one arm around each of their shoulders, "I have to look after them, they need me Frieda," She looked Frieda over from head to toe, "I need to protect them."  

From themselves? Frieda thought but she did not say it out loud. "So I have found you . . . only to lose you again?" Her brows deepening. 

Telling the boys to stay where they are, Alena walked forward and for a moment Frieda wondered what was about to happen, her instincts on high alert as she stared at the dagger still in her hand, but she need not of been worried. Alena, instead of stabbing her, wrapped her arms around Frieda's body and held her tight, so tight. 

"I have missed you, sister," Alena whispered into her hair. 

Frieda coiled her arms around her sister's waist quickly in an out pouring of love, "I cannot believe I found you." 

"You did," Alena cried, "And I am glad to see you alive too." They stood there for a moment clinging on to each other, as they thought about that night years ago that separated them and how much has happened since then. Their paths had taken them on complete opposite journeys. Looking down at the boys stood behind Alena, they were looking up at her in confused bewilderment. Alena had probably told them this was a game, and did not realise they might soon be killed if Eoghan was to win this match. Eoghan could potentially kill her nephews. The thought sobered her up. Pulling back she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand before they could fall and looked at her sister, her eyes the same as when she last saw them, "We must get you to safety." 

"My husband said this was the safest place for us. The rebels will not get past the gate, he said." Alena said devotingly. 

Frieda did not wish to dash her hopes, "Just in case, is there a back way of out here?" 

Alena shook her head, "the front gate is the only way in and out." 

Frieda bit her bottom lip as she heard the unfortunate news, "We shall fortify this room then. When I leave put everything heavy up against the door and then hide. Do not come out for anyone but your husband, do you understand?" 

"When you leave?" Alena repeated with a confused look on her face. 

"I have a friend that needs my help-"

"-But what can you do?" Alena questioned. 

Frieda thought of the past years in the  arena, "Do not worry about me. I learnt to look after myself. I will do everything to keep them from getting to you." Frieda pulled her in for one last hug, "It was good to see you again, Alena." 

"And you," Alena sobbed. 

"Barricade the door after me and do not open it for anyone." Frieda said as she retrieved her sword from the bed and walked to the door. Looking back she made a mental image of her sister, now grown, with two young sons by her side. She replaced the last memory of her sister, crying and screaming, with this happier one. 

Without saying anything else she bowed her head and left the room. She waited outside for a moment to listen to them drag furniture across the room to the door and make sure they listened to her before she took off back towards the gate. She needed to find Diomed and stop Eoghan. She could not let the rebels get inside cause once they did they would make an example of the Commander and his family. Her family. 

Frieda was about to do something against the very fabric of her being . . . she was going to defend the Romans.