LUCIOUS FLAVIA GRIMALDIUS: A ROMAN'S TALE (CHAPTER ONE)
Title: LUCIOUS FLAVIA GRIMALDIUS: A ROMAN'S TALE
Author Lure247 (AKA Laura)
Characters/Pairings: LUKE/REID
Summary: Luke is a Roman General, when injured in battle he ends up in Hospital, under the care of Reid, who dislikes Romans and every thing they stand for.
Warnings: Ratings will vary per chapter
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters; if I did then things would be different
## I HAVEN'T POSTED ON HERE FOR A WHILE BECAUSE IT SEEMS THAT NOT THAT MANY PEOPLE READ MY ENTRIES ON HERE, BUT LRONLINE INSTEAD...
.IF THERE IS STILL....EVEN IF IT IS SMALL.....A NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO WISH FOR ME TO KEEP UPDATING MY STORIES ON HERE, THEN PLEASE EITHER EMAIL OR COMMENT TO LET ME KNOW.
CHAPTER ONE
“Your orders sir?”
My orders……Lucious contemplated. Weighed down by his thick heavy armour, his stomach empty, the cold winds of the vast expanse of British waste land in front of him nipping at his exposed shins and hands. The wind cutting into the grazes he carried on his skin from the last battle, cuts and bruises that needed attending, but they were so far from the nearest Roman base and even further from home.
He was tired, hungry and frustrated; he and his men had not been home in over two years, had not seen their families, he missed home. We can’t continue this much longer, Lucious thought to himself, my men can’t do this much longer. Two years of constant war, constant fighting, for what? So that they could just keep on fighting, for power hungry men who slept in comfortable beds at night and feasted on rich food and wine. Ordering Lucious to keep taking more and more of what wasn’t theirs to take?
Lucious knelt down, rubbing his hands with a little dirt from the ground he looked up as the sun just started to rise ahead of them, showing the true fate that awaited before them.
They were outnumbered, but Lucious knew that the outcome of battles weren’t always decided with how many men you had, they were won with spirit and courage, with determination and honour. But never before had his men been so weary, so starved of food, they needed rest but rest would not come.
“General, your orders sir.”
Lucious looked at Quintus, his vice, his deputy, his friend, he knew that Quintus would follow him anywhere, would never leave his side and he could see from the expression from his dear friends face that he also feared the same fate would befall the men as Lucious did, maybe this was one battle too many.
Lucious stood, he knew the orders, but as he looked out across at the opposing army, or rabble and saw boys, young boys of nothing more than ten or eleven he tossed the dirt that he’d been holding in his hand to the floor with temper.
This wasn’t right, the battle field was no place for children, how many children had he already slaughtered and how many more would he have to kill, they haunted his dreams at night and terrified his living day, he saw their faces, remembered every one, every single one.
The Emperor had been wrong to assume that Britannia could be taken so easily, although they looked more like a rabble than an army, they didn’t have the same training and they didn’t fight with the same spirit, they fought with one connected truth between them, “this is our land.”
They’d been pushing west since arriving at the East coast of Britannia two years ago and although they had reached the borders of Wales ten months ago they had not moved much further since. On the borders of Caernarfon, Lucious and his men had found themselves fighting solidly for three months. Whereas the opposing Britain’s could muster new numbers from neighbouring towns, Lucious had the same men that he’d started with two years ago and he knew no reinforcements were coming, the Emperor could not waste more men on this area of Britannia but he would also not allow Lucious and his men to retreat, they must hold the towns that they’d already captured and continue in the glorification of Rome or die trying.
This hadn’t meant to be his life, if it hadn’t of been for his father, Daminus, the greatest Roman general of their time, whose son must follow in the same footsteps “make me proud son, don’t disappoint me.” But it had been several years since he’d last seen his Father and he’d received no word from him either. He knew not whether he was dead or alive and he so desperately seeked his council, his guidance.
Lucious’ own intuition had gotten his men thus far, he was a good general, his men respected and adored him, but how much longer could he continue to watch his men die, or to be captured by the Britain’s and be publically slaughtered.
Lucious rested his hand gently onto Quintus’ shoulder and spoke softly into his ear and within moments Quintus was repeating the orders to his men.
Again Lucious knelt to the ground, once more sifting his hand through the dirt and rubbing it in between his fingers, standing he reached for his helmet that he’d settled onto a large rock whilst he’d thought his strategy through, he lifted it above his head and then over his face, securing it tightly…..more weight. He grabbed his sword, the sword his father had given to him when they’d last seen each other and which had served him well, but had claimed so many lives.
Breathing in heavily and releasing it slowly, Lucious allowed all other thoughts to evade from his mind, his men needed him and equally he needed his men, he needed all of them to focus so why should he give them any less.
Grabbing the reins of his horse, Celar, Lucious mounted him and patted him gently behind the ear. He leant down to Celar’s ear and whispered “Know this my friend; if this is our time then I could have not wished for a worthier companion.” Kissing him gently on the back of the neck, Lucious then whipped at the reins lightly, Celar neighed and followed his master’s instructions, trotting to the front of the military line.
“MY MEN” Lucious shouted to his thousand strong comrades “Again I ask of you as always too much, for I know that you are all, as I am, eager to return to your homes. You wish to return to your wives, to your children, but I ask you once more to honour Rome, I ask of you once more to allow me to lead you, to ask that you follow me, to victory, where there’ll be a FEAST”
The men standing in front of Lucious roared as he sat on Celar’s back and the two of them galloped back and forth along the front line. Lucious always knew that the mention of a feast would get them cheering, but as the sun now marked the start of the new day he honestly didn’t know whether they’d make it till mid-day, let alone evening time.
Maybe if they’d had more time to rest, to find food, to heal, but….Lucious shook his head, there was no point in thinking like that, what was done was done and what was happening right now was what he needed to focus on, for his men.
Lucious headed to the side of the front line and within seconds of doing so was commanding his infantry forward. He then counted, “One….two…..three” Quintus, who was beside him once again, saw him muttering and smiled, then resting a reassuring hand against Lucious’ arm he nodded. Raising his arm into the air, his sword high above his head Quintus looked across to Lucious who nodded back in response and the cavalry headed off in hot pursuit of the rest of men.
Within a brief moment they were in the middle of battle, Lucious’ sword felt so heavy but he still managed to move it with skill. Celar roared through the crowd with ease, allowing Lucious to easily pick off men one by one, he turned Celar around, heading back from where they’d come, seeing Quintus in the corner of his eye, he always counted his dead and from the loud shout of 19 that he heard Lucious knew that he had some catching up to do.
With a quick turn he swiped his sword downward, just scratching across the flesh of a boy, Luke retracted his blade. The boy was weaponless, his arm was cut badly from a previous fight and he couldn’t have been much more than nine years old. Luke turned Celar around to come back at the child, “Don’t hesitate son” his father’s words, “the enemy comes in all shapes and sizes”. But as Lucious lifted the blade up and soared it back down again as before something compelled him to stop, where was the honour in this? A child, with no means of defending himself, with tears streaking down his face, he couldn’t do it.
As he turned Celar once again he heard Quintus call out to him, he felt a sharp pain to the back of the head, but then after that…….darkness.
**********************************************************************************************************
Father?
Yes Lucious
Have I dishonoured you?
No my child, you have made me very proud.
But this was never my calling; I never wanted to be a solider….I never wanted to kill….
I know, but look what you have become, I was right, was I not, that you would succeed me in being the greatest General of Rome.
But, Father……………..is it all worth it, afterall, that was always your calling, not mine.
**********************************************************************************************************
Light……..sun light, soft sheeting, a slight medicinal smell, Lucious opened his eyes slowly, a figure was hovering over him, moping his brow with cold water.
“Is this heaven?” Lucious asked, his vision still slightly blurred he couldn’t make out the figure that was before him.
The person laughed slightly “What would that make me if it were?”
“An angel?” Lucious could make out that the figure was dressed all in white, a white dress robe with brown rope tied around the middle, but he still couldn’t make out the face.
“Hah” The male figure responded “You are far from Heaven I am afraid, no, you are in Deva, you’re in hospital, under my care.”
Lucious sat a little, gazing down at his body, his legs were bandaged, blood soaking through the white linen as he grimaced with pain he laid back down once again.
“It looks much worse than it is…..”
Lucious interrupted abruptly “My men……”
“I don’t know…….you arrived here by horse, I’m a physician I don’t….there are officers here, maybe they know about your men!”
“You’re British?” Lucious questioned.
“I am………” the physician’s Italian was enough to get him by, but he had no intention of learning to speak like these Romans “and you’re the great Lucious Flavia Grimaldius, son of the great Daminus Flavia Grimaldius.”
Lucious noted the slight hesitancy at the word great “You say that with slight distaste to your words?”
“We know you as something slightly different in these parts.”
“Oh, prey….do tell me.” Lucious sat onto his elbows, his vision now becoming clearer he could make out the shape of the physicians face and the slight auburn tone to his hair.
“Lucious the merciless…..although, with that kind of title I imagined you as much older.” And more brute like, the physician continued in his head, this guy was far from being a brute, his long blonde hair streaking across his brow, still slightly wet from the damp cloth he’d placed on it moments before. He looked too soft to be a general, too delicate, too………..fair.
“Merciless?” Lucious shuddered, was that really what people thought of him? “And what is it may I ask that you think of me?”
There was no response.
“I order you to tell me!” Lucious commanded.
“I refuse! I’m not one of your men and you can’t easily order me around as you would do them.”
“You refuse?” Never had Lucious experienced such insolence before “You don’t refuse a general of the Roman army, I order you or I’ll have you killed!”
“And you questioned the use of the word merciless before? Your threats don’t scare me!”
Lucious had no intention of having this man executed, but he’d thought that would work and was shocked that it hadn’t.
“Besides” the man continued “if you ever want any hope of walking again you’ll need me alive, trust me.”
“You’re good?”
“I’m the best…”
“But…..I presume you’re not a prisoner here; with your clear distaste for Romans I find it hard to understand why you would be prepared to treat me with free will!”
“Where else would I go, this is my home, this was my hospital, before………………”
Clear vision now came to Lucious and he gasped slightly, he must be in heaven afterall for clearly the man before him could be nothing other than an angel. The most beautiful thing he had ever seen, blinding auburn curls that maned his head, skin that looked so soft, slight rosey red cheeks. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, but Luke could see through the thin linen robe that he was well defined man, no roman, but still, there was something about him that Lucious felt drawn to.
“What’s your name?” Lucious asked
“Reidinius!”
“Can I call you Reid?”
“Call me what you like, it’s not like I have any interest.” Reid had noticed the change of expression in the generals gaze, he was looking over him, “Why are you staring at me so?”
“I…….I interrupted you earlier you were saying that this was your hospital before……..before what?”
“It doesn’t concern you.” Reid stood from the bed.
This mans lack of respect for duty bound orders fascinated Lucious, if he had spoken the same way to his father he would have been severely scolded, to a general….well, he would no doubt have been imprisoned or executed. But this man had no fear, he freely expressed himself and Lucious found that very intriguing.
“Tell me……please!” Lucious asked again
Please? This didn’t seem to be the same man that Reid had heard rumours of, he didn’t offer sympathetic gestures, he certainly didn’t offer gratitude. “Before......... your men took everything from me!”
“Not my men” Lucious protested “I’ve never……”
“Not specifically you no, but men like you, Roman’s, you take what you like, when you like, you kill, you enslave…..” Reid stopped abruptly.
Lucious watched as Reid turned his head away slightly “We took someone from you?” Reid didn’t respond…….”Your wife” Reid turned his head to look at Lucious, he wasn’t crying, he didn’t appear upset, he was just blank “A child, son….daughter, patient…….”
“Let us not pretend that you care General, let’s leave that to me, now excuse me, you’re not the only patient….”
“I hope you can learn to trust me, to understand that I’m not this man that your people call me.”
“Man!” Reid laughed “You’re not much more than a boy.”
“I’m nineteen; there are many much younger than me serving for Rome.”
“None of them are generals though; I wonder how that came to be….. a little help from Father perhaps.”
“You presume far too much, you don’t know me, how I’ve led my men into many a victorious battle and they do so because they trust me, because they want to honour me and to honour Rome, you dishonour it greatly by speaking so harshly.”
As Reid stood in the doorway he turned to look at Lucious “The people of this town called you Lucious the Merciless after learning of your many great battles, how many Britain’s you’d slain, how many……..children you’d killed, so yes I do presume to know you, but I always referred to you under a different name.”
“What?” Lucious asked
“I’ve always known you as Lucious the murderer!”
Author Lure247 (AKA Laura)
Characters/Pairings: LUKE/REID
Summary: Luke is a Roman General, when injured in battle he ends up in Hospital, under the care of Reid, who dislikes Romans and every thing they stand for.
Warnings: Ratings will vary per chapter
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters; if I did then things would be different
## I HAVEN'T POSTED ON HERE FOR A WHILE BECAUSE IT SEEMS THAT NOT THAT MANY PEOPLE READ MY ENTRIES ON HERE, BUT LRONLINE INSTEAD...
.IF THERE IS STILL....EVEN IF IT IS SMALL.....A NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO WISH FOR ME TO KEEP UPDATING MY STORIES ON HERE, THEN PLEASE EITHER EMAIL OR COMMENT TO LET ME KNOW.
CHAPTER ONE
“Your orders sir?”
My orders……Lucious contemplated. Weighed down by his thick heavy armour, his stomach empty, the cold winds of the vast expanse of British waste land in front of him nipping at his exposed shins and hands. The wind cutting into the grazes he carried on his skin from the last battle, cuts and bruises that needed attending, but they were so far from the nearest Roman base and even further from home.
He was tired, hungry and frustrated; he and his men had not been home in over two years, had not seen their families, he missed home. We can’t continue this much longer, Lucious thought to himself, my men can’t do this much longer. Two years of constant war, constant fighting, for what? So that they could just keep on fighting, for power hungry men who slept in comfortable beds at night and feasted on rich food and wine. Ordering Lucious to keep taking more and more of what wasn’t theirs to take?
Lucious knelt down, rubbing his hands with a little dirt from the ground he looked up as the sun just started to rise ahead of them, showing the true fate that awaited before them.
They were outnumbered, but Lucious knew that the outcome of battles weren’t always decided with how many men you had, they were won with spirit and courage, with determination and honour. But never before had his men been so weary, so starved of food, they needed rest but rest would not come.
“General, your orders sir.”
Lucious looked at Quintus, his vice, his deputy, his friend, he knew that Quintus would follow him anywhere, would never leave his side and he could see from the expression from his dear friends face that he also feared the same fate would befall the men as Lucious did, maybe this was one battle too many.
Lucious stood, he knew the orders, but as he looked out across at the opposing army, or rabble and saw boys, young boys of nothing more than ten or eleven he tossed the dirt that he’d been holding in his hand to the floor with temper.
This wasn’t right, the battle field was no place for children, how many children had he already slaughtered and how many more would he have to kill, they haunted his dreams at night and terrified his living day, he saw their faces, remembered every one, every single one.
The Emperor had been wrong to assume that Britannia could be taken so easily, although they looked more like a rabble than an army, they didn’t have the same training and they didn’t fight with the same spirit, they fought with one connected truth between them, “this is our land.”
They’d been pushing west since arriving at the East coast of Britannia two years ago and although they had reached the borders of Wales ten months ago they had not moved much further since. On the borders of Caernarfon, Lucious and his men had found themselves fighting solidly for three months. Whereas the opposing Britain’s could muster new numbers from neighbouring towns, Lucious had the same men that he’d started with two years ago and he knew no reinforcements were coming, the Emperor could not waste more men on this area of Britannia but he would also not allow Lucious and his men to retreat, they must hold the towns that they’d already captured and continue in the glorification of Rome or die trying.
This hadn’t meant to be his life, if it hadn’t of been for his father, Daminus, the greatest Roman general of their time, whose son must follow in the same footsteps “make me proud son, don’t disappoint me.” But it had been several years since he’d last seen his Father and he’d received no word from him either. He knew not whether he was dead or alive and he so desperately seeked his council, his guidance.
Lucious’ own intuition had gotten his men thus far, he was a good general, his men respected and adored him, but how much longer could he continue to watch his men die, or to be captured by the Britain’s and be publically slaughtered.
Lucious rested his hand gently onto Quintus’ shoulder and spoke softly into his ear and within moments Quintus was repeating the orders to his men.
Again Lucious knelt to the ground, once more sifting his hand through the dirt and rubbing it in between his fingers, standing he reached for his helmet that he’d settled onto a large rock whilst he’d thought his strategy through, he lifted it above his head and then over his face, securing it tightly…..more weight. He grabbed his sword, the sword his father had given to him when they’d last seen each other and which had served him well, but had claimed so many lives.
Breathing in heavily and releasing it slowly, Lucious allowed all other thoughts to evade from his mind, his men needed him and equally he needed his men, he needed all of them to focus so why should he give them any less.
Grabbing the reins of his horse, Celar, Lucious mounted him and patted him gently behind the ear. He leant down to Celar’s ear and whispered “Know this my friend; if this is our time then I could have not wished for a worthier companion.” Kissing him gently on the back of the neck, Lucious then whipped at the reins lightly, Celar neighed and followed his master’s instructions, trotting to the front of the military line.
“MY MEN” Lucious shouted to his thousand strong comrades “Again I ask of you as always too much, for I know that you are all, as I am, eager to return to your homes. You wish to return to your wives, to your children, but I ask you once more to honour Rome, I ask of you once more to allow me to lead you, to ask that you follow me, to victory, where there’ll be a FEAST”
The men standing in front of Lucious roared as he sat on Celar’s back and the two of them galloped back and forth along the front line. Lucious always knew that the mention of a feast would get them cheering, but as the sun now marked the start of the new day he honestly didn’t know whether they’d make it till mid-day, let alone evening time.
Maybe if they’d had more time to rest, to find food, to heal, but….Lucious shook his head, there was no point in thinking like that, what was done was done and what was happening right now was what he needed to focus on, for his men.
Lucious headed to the side of the front line and within seconds of doing so was commanding his infantry forward. He then counted, “One….two…..three” Quintus, who was beside him once again, saw him muttering and smiled, then resting a reassuring hand against Lucious’ arm he nodded. Raising his arm into the air, his sword high above his head Quintus looked across to Lucious who nodded back in response and the cavalry headed off in hot pursuit of the rest of men.
Within a brief moment they were in the middle of battle, Lucious’ sword felt so heavy but he still managed to move it with skill. Celar roared through the crowd with ease, allowing Lucious to easily pick off men one by one, he turned Celar around, heading back from where they’d come, seeing Quintus in the corner of his eye, he always counted his dead and from the loud shout of 19 that he heard Lucious knew that he had some catching up to do.
With a quick turn he swiped his sword downward, just scratching across the flesh of a boy, Luke retracted his blade. The boy was weaponless, his arm was cut badly from a previous fight and he couldn’t have been much more than nine years old. Luke turned Celar around to come back at the child, “Don’t hesitate son” his father’s words, “the enemy comes in all shapes and sizes”. But as Lucious lifted the blade up and soared it back down again as before something compelled him to stop, where was the honour in this? A child, with no means of defending himself, with tears streaking down his face, he couldn’t do it.
As he turned Celar once again he heard Quintus call out to him, he felt a sharp pain to the back of the head, but then after that…….darkness.
**********************************************************************************************************
Father?
Yes Lucious
Have I dishonoured you?
No my child, you have made me very proud.
But this was never my calling; I never wanted to be a solider….I never wanted to kill….
I know, but look what you have become, I was right, was I not, that you would succeed me in being the greatest General of Rome.
But, Father……………..is it all worth it, afterall, that was always your calling, not mine.
**********************************************************************************************************
Light……..sun light, soft sheeting, a slight medicinal smell, Lucious opened his eyes slowly, a figure was hovering over him, moping his brow with cold water.
“Is this heaven?” Lucious asked, his vision still slightly blurred he couldn’t make out the figure that was before him.
The person laughed slightly “What would that make me if it were?”
“An angel?” Lucious could make out that the figure was dressed all in white, a white dress robe with brown rope tied around the middle, but he still couldn’t make out the face.
“Hah” The male figure responded “You are far from Heaven I am afraid, no, you are in Deva, you’re in hospital, under my care.”
Lucious sat a little, gazing down at his body, his legs were bandaged, blood soaking through the white linen as he grimaced with pain he laid back down once again.
“It looks much worse than it is…..”
Lucious interrupted abruptly “My men……”
“I don’t know…….you arrived here by horse, I’m a physician I don’t….there are officers here, maybe they know about your men!”
“You’re British?” Lucious questioned.
“I am………” the physician’s Italian was enough to get him by, but he had no intention of learning to speak like these Romans “and you’re the great Lucious Flavia Grimaldius, son of the great Daminus Flavia Grimaldius.”
Lucious noted the slight hesitancy at the word great “You say that with slight distaste to your words?”
“We know you as something slightly different in these parts.”
“Oh, prey….do tell me.” Lucious sat onto his elbows, his vision now becoming clearer he could make out the shape of the physicians face and the slight auburn tone to his hair.
“Lucious the merciless…..although, with that kind of title I imagined you as much older.” And more brute like, the physician continued in his head, this guy was far from being a brute, his long blonde hair streaking across his brow, still slightly wet from the damp cloth he’d placed on it moments before. He looked too soft to be a general, too delicate, too………..fair.
“Merciless?” Lucious shuddered, was that really what people thought of him? “And what is it may I ask that you think of me?”
There was no response.
“I order you to tell me!” Lucious commanded.
“I refuse! I’m not one of your men and you can’t easily order me around as you would do them.”
“You refuse?” Never had Lucious experienced such insolence before “You don’t refuse a general of the Roman army, I order you or I’ll have you killed!”
“And you questioned the use of the word merciless before? Your threats don’t scare me!”
Lucious had no intention of having this man executed, but he’d thought that would work and was shocked that it hadn’t.
“Besides” the man continued “if you ever want any hope of walking again you’ll need me alive, trust me.”
“You’re good?”
“I’m the best…”
“But…..I presume you’re not a prisoner here; with your clear distaste for Romans I find it hard to understand why you would be prepared to treat me with free will!”
“Where else would I go, this is my home, this was my hospital, before………………”
Clear vision now came to Lucious and he gasped slightly, he must be in heaven afterall for clearly the man before him could be nothing other than an angel. The most beautiful thing he had ever seen, blinding auburn curls that maned his head, skin that looked so soft, slight rosey red cheeks. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, but Luke could see through the thin linen robe that he was well defined man, no roman, but still, there was something about him that Lucious felt drawn to.
“What’s your name?” Lucious asked
“Reidinius!”
“Can I call you Reid?”
“Call me what you like, it’s not like I have any interest.” Reid had noticed the change of expression in the generals gaze, he was looking over him, “Why are you staring at me so?”
“I…….I interrupted you earlier you were saying that this was your hospital before……..before what?”
“It doesn’t concern you.” Reid stood from the bed.
This mans lack of respect for duty bound orders fascinated Lucious, if he had spoken the same way to his father he would have been severely scolded, to a general….well, he would no doubt have been imprisoned or executed. But this man had no fear, he freely expressed himself and Lucious found that very intriguing.
“Tell me……please!” Lucious asked again
Please? This didn’t seem to be the same man that Reid had heard rumours of, he didn’t offer sympathetic gestures, he certainly didn’t offer gratitude. “Before......... your men took everything from me!”
“Not my men” Lucious protested “I’ve never……”
“Not specifically you no, but men like you, Roman’s, you take what you like, when you like, you kill, you enslave…..” Reid stopped abruptly.
Lucious watched as Reid turned his head away slightly “We took someone from you?” Reid didn’t respond…….”Your wife” Reid turned his head to look at Lucious, he wasn’t crying, he didn’t appear upset, he was just blank “A child, son….daughter, patient…….”
“Let us not pretend that you care General, let’s leave that to me, now excuse me, you’re not the only patient….”
“I hope you can learn to trust me, to understand that I’m not this man that your people call me.”
“Man!” Reid laughed “You’re not much more than a boy.”
“I’m nineteen; there are many much younger than me serving for Rome.”
“None of them are generals though; I wonder how that came to be….. a little help from Father perhaps.”
“You presume far too much, you don’t know me, how I’ve led my men into many a victorious battle and they do so because they trust me, because they want to honour me and to honour Rome, you dishonour it greatly by speaking so harshly.”
As Reid stood in the doorway he turned to look at Lucious “The people of this town called you Lucious the Merciless after learning of your many great battles, how many Britain’s you’d slain, how many……..children you’d killed, so yes I do presume to know you, but I always referred to you under a different name.”
“What?” Lucious asked
“I’ve always known you as Lucious the murderer!”