Play@YSDC

Scaevola's Villa- southwest of Rome, Italia
Late morning- March 15, 44 BC

Germanicus, Claudius, Marcus, Nefertiri, and her guards raced in through the gates to find their friends, along with several of Scaevola's guards. standing around. Scaevola himself lay dead upon the ground, his robes soaked with even more blood than they had been before.

Claudius grumbled to himself in disappointment. It looked like he wouldn't be doing any stabbing after all. Who was the lucky one who had got to kill Scaevola though?

Even for an evil one, the ferryman requires payment. Titus places coins on the dead man's eyes.

Artemis looked at the fallen body of the Senator. When he saw Germanicus enter into the Villa, he saluted and asked, "General, does our beloved Caesar still live?"

Decius ties Scaevola's horse to some sturdy looking shrub and rubs its nose making soothing noises. He turns to speak to Caelia but at that point Germanicus et al arrive. With a deep breath, he strides over to Germanicus.

"General, these guards are our comrades now and have proven themselves trustworthy." In a much quieter voice, leaning towards the general, he goes on, "General, I must speak with you urgently about the guards."

OOC,When the General allows, in a hushed undertone, [b]Decius[/b] will explain the promise he has made on his and [b]Germanicus'[/b] behalf to the guards. He will apologise and go on to offer, if [b]Gemanicus[/b] is unpleased, to work for the General just for food and board until the General considers the debt repaid.

The sky was beginning to lighten. The starlight faded, and daylight started to return.

"Alas, Caesar is slain," said Nefertiri. "By the time we got there, it was too late. My men and I rode to the Forum, and the word was already spreading. Scaevola used his magics to slip past us, but we pursued him. It is good that he has answered for his treason, but he is far from the only traitor. There are too many of them for us to confront. We must see to the safety of Queen Cleopatra and of her son by Caesar, who is his rightful heir. The murderers may come after them too. My men and I must return to Rome at once and bring them Ostia, where we can take ship for Alexandria and return to Egypt."

"I am Awan, captain of the guard," said one of the guards who bore a torch. "We are at the Queen's service, and we would like to escort her back to our homeland."

"Excellent. See that your men are ready to travel by the time I return from Rome with the Queen."

Germanicus took Decius aside and spoke to him quietly.

Decius Lupus,"You did well," said [b]Germanicus[/b]. "Had I been here, I would have gladly made such an offer myself to bring a swift victory with a minimum of losses. It was well worth the cost. Had you not done so, we may have ridden right into a trap instead of our foe. I shall see to it that you are promoted. A man with your initiative, courage, and ingenuity should be a decurion, at the very least."

Decius looks mightily relieved. "General, such praise from you is a great reward just of itself."

"But great Caesar is lost? He deserved to spend the rest of a long life enjoying the reward for his accomplishments, not this. And what does this mean for Rome I wonder?"

Caelia is relieved that the fight is short and only Scaevola suffers. She looks down at the shell of the intelligent but evil man - what a waste. As the others race through the gates, her immediate alarm changes to pleasure at seeing her old friend and his companions. "Senator Germanicus! You are safe! But we failed. We have lived twice through the death of Caesar in two days; it surely must be meant to be. We all have long dark days ahead of us now; there will be battles at the senate and on the field and we will all be affected by what has happened this morning."
She turns to Nefertiri,
"Madame, I pray you have a safe journey back to your homeland; it will be perilous with so many of the Brotherhood still around. We know of its existence and what it stands for, if only we could do something to stop them."

Germanicus sighed. "It means trouble for Rome," he said. "It may still be possible to save the Republic. The people will not stand for this. Our work today is not yet done. We are needed, and we must return to Rome with all haste. Would that Caesar had lived, but the Fates had other plans. I am relieved to see you safe, Caelia Alba. I had not wanted to leave you in their hands, but I could not abandon Caesar when he needed me most. I knew you would be in good hands with the cavalry coming to your rescue."

"The other traitors are Senators," said Nefertiri, "but they do not seem to be members of the Brotherhood. From what I heard in Rome, they acted for political reasons. So did Scaevola, but he had other motives as well. This was the nest of those scorpions here, and you appear to have cleared it out. The Brotherhood is widespread, however, especially in Egypt. They must be rooted out and destroyed. So must the rest of those who slew Caesar, but that is not a battle that will be fought today. Right now our top priority must be the safety of the Queen and her son. We must ride back to Rome now!" She wheeled her horse around and led her men back out of the gates and down the road to Rome.

"So, that is how greatness falls, butchered in the halls? Will Rome survive this, General? " Artemis turned towards Germanicus as he shook his head slowly in disbelief.

"It will if I have anything to say about it," replied Germanicus, sitting up straight on his horse. "We must move quickly to restore order, though. Mount up everyone! We're returning to Rome!"

Artemis smiled at Germanicus. He rendered a sharp salute, To Rome and for Our Ceasar!" Artemis looked about for the horse and mounted it when he found it.

Marcus just stood baffled in front of the scene, he was surprised but relieved at the same time.

He addresses Nefertiri with a rather smug face and signature crooked smile. "So, would this mean my debt is paid? Or do you need something more from a lowly thief like me? One can never have enough work."

"You may consider the debt repaid," said Nefertiri to Marcus, "but you are welcome to accompany me. There will always be work for someone of your talents." With that, she began riding back to Rome.

Everyone else followed, and they soon reached the gates of Rome and entered the city. Small fires could be seen in the distance, though fortunately they did not seem to have spread as of yet. As the group proceeded to the Forum, mobs of upset people were visible. It was obvious they were angry, but they did not seem to know where to direct their anger. The Forum itself was crowded, confusion, sorrow, and rage on the people's faces. Neferitri and her guards continued through the Forum on their way up the Palatine Hill to return to Cleopatra's guest palace. Story and his companions recognized the alley down which they had left the TARDIS.

"So is this our exit Story?" says Elizabeth, nodding towards the alley where the TARDIS is.

Decius canters over to Caelia, looking much happier now he's back in the saddle and largely unruffled by the chaos emerging in Rome. Alert but not alarmed. (And spectacularly ugly in a battle scarred sort of way.)

Decius clears his throat politely. "Lady, as a result of all my bad habits, I have discovered several very fine taverns high in the hills around Rome that serve the finest quality crisp wines. Possible civil war and murderers aside, I wonder if - sometime in the near future - you would allow a rather scarred old soldier to buy you a mug of the very best white wine, while you tell me the story of what happened to you after the Egyptian guards grabbed you? You seemed to handle it very bravely."

Brook glances down the alley, then looks at her companions. "Seems like there's nothing much left to do here..."

Story just takes the entire scene in. As he stands there quietly observing and recalling their time here in Rome, he's glad that history wasn't changed. However, Lucius, his friend and traveling companion, has suffered yet again because of the horrors of their travels.

Hearing Elizabeth and Brook he looks at them and says, "Sadly there is..." he looks at Lucius before continuing, "Lucius, not only are you a dear friend, loyal soldier, and a faithful travel companion... most of all you are my - no, our - brother. It pains my hearts to see the consequences of our travels on both your body and mind. " He quickly glances at the ladies before turning back to their dear friend, "I don't know if I can get you any closer to home than this. If you wish to disembark, I would understand."

"I do not know how to explain to explain what we prevented, but I think in the end, I can return to my community and explain how on this dark night, we learned of Caesar's death and who his true friends were. Maybe the sale of the horses still will occur, but I suspect our hope of being designated a colonai is probably lost now." Artemis sighed. He looked at Germanicus. "That may be something I can bring back to Caesar's heir and successor. I do think I may leave with a calendar stone, see if the carver could at least reference Caesar and his Queen. This mace will be a point of pride in my establishment."

Artemis sighed again. It was a rather strange story that he now had. He shook his head in disbelief.

Lucius sighed. "I think that may be for the best," he said at last to Story. "I have enjoyed the time we spent traveling together, but I am in no condition to continue. This is my home, or near enough, and Senator Germanicus will need all the help he can get to restore order to Rome. I shall miss all of you greatly."

Germanicus dismounted from his horse and mounted the steps of the Forum. Turning to the crowd, he raised his arms and addressed all those assembled. "People of Rome!" he called to get their attention. All eyes were drawn to him.

Brook walks over to Lucius, giving him a hug. "I'll miss you....Take care of yourself, okay?"

Lucius returned Brook's embrace. "I shall," he said, "and you take care of yourselves as well. I wish you all good fortune on your journeys to come."

"It was a pleasure, travel safe." Marcus said to the group, deciding to stay on Nefertiri's side, this was an opportunity he wouldn't get ever again.

"You've been a wonderful friend," says Elizabeth, going over to hug Lucius too. "We will all miss you so much. Thank you, for everything!" She wipes a tear, quite overcome with emotion.

"Thank you, Elizabeth," said Lucius, hugging her back. "You have been a true friend as well. You saved all of our lives back there. I had no hope when we were chained up in that horrible place - except for you."

Caelia watched the milling people and saw the fires. It looked like the hecticness of the last few days was likely to continue and her skills would be much in demand. She shook hands with Marcus, "Good luck with your travels; I'll look you up next time I'm in Egypt." To Artemis and Spurius she said, "Stay safe in the battles to come but remember you will always be most welcome at the clinic whatever your injuries are."

And she listened to her old friend Germanicus as he spoke to the people of Rome; if anyone could lead them through the dark days ahead, it would be he. She smiled up at the ugly soldier astride his fine horse, and remembered how he had surely saved her life,"If we can find a hour spare in the days to come, Decius, then a trip up to the fresh air in the hills and a cold amphora of wine will be most welcome." She looked around at the confusion that would be some time sorting itself out, "As a matter of fact, what about now? Before anyone else notices."

"Lady Caelia, it has been an honor and privilege to serve you in all of this," Artemis responded to her kind offer. "Yet, I suspect I will be departing from Rome as soon as I can to head back to the colony. May the days ahead be ones that Fortuna ensures your safety."

Decius nods happily at Caelia's decisiveness. "No time like the present," he adds quietly.

The scarred veteran gives the General and the rest of the group a military salute. "Travel safe until we met again." His gruff voice has just a trace of huskiness.

Turning back to Caelia, he gestures. "Lady, may I show you the way."

After the girls say their goodbyes, Story hugs Lucius and says to him, "Your tour of duty is over. Go and find rest my friend. Perhaps we shall meet again." He then - for the last time - nods farewell to his friend and begins walking to the TARDIS.

Brook gives a last wave to Lucius, and looks around at the city in turmoil before following Story towards the TARDIS.

"Take care ..." says Elizabeth, before turning and walking with the others to the TARDIS.

Caelia watches the small group of people for a moment as they walk towards the strange, squat blue pillar and then shrugs a delicate shoulder. She turns, and while everyone else is diverted, climbs back onto her 'borrowed' horse and walks him quietly down the street to follow the old veteran.

Lucius waved as he watched Story, Elizabeth, and Brook head down the alley. The TARDIS was right where they had left it. Scrawled across one side were the words "RUFUS LOVES LYDIA." Even in ancient Rome, there was still graffiti. Story unlocked the door, and he and his two remaining companions entered. Then the door closed, and the blue box slowly faded from view to a faint wheezing and groaning sound as they headed off to new adventures...