Heir of Aurelian

Marcellus gazed upon the city walls of Ravenna and smiled. Months had passed since he had first set out on his campaign to reunite the Western Roman Empire, and finally, he could return home as a triumphant hero. He was entirely unware of the plots against his life and thus rode atop his steed proudly through the city.

Alongside Marcellus were the six thousand soldiers of his first legion. Though he had embarked on the campaign with nine legions of soldiers, he had returned with one. Why was this? It was because he had sent the other eight legions to the various regions of the Western Roman Empire to act as the main force in their defense. Two legions were sent to the four diocese that contained the regions of Britannia, Gaul, and Hispania.

Though the local troops of Hispania had sworn their allegiance to Marcellus, he needed his own forces present in the region to ensure their loyalty, and to continue their training so that they could become a proper force to be reckoned with. He would not stop until he had resurrected all thirty-three of Rome’s ancient legions. Perhaps he would one day mount an expedition to Germania in search of the lost eagle that was never recovered.

As for the other Diocese, such as Italiae, Pannoniarum, and Africae, they were currently under the protection of a mixture of Roman Legionaries and Barbarian Foederati. Marcellus still intended to make use of the Goths, as per their treaty, and had thus dispatched large numbers of them to North Africa and Italia.

Sarus commanded the troops in Italia, while Alaric led the forces in Pannoniarum. As for the Foederati in North Africa, they were under the orders of Alaric’s brother-in-law, Athaulf. Thus, for the time being, the Western Roman Empire had sufficient forces in place to protect its borders. Though much warfare would have to be waged in Gaul to drive the Franks, Vandals, and Suebi from the lands. Something Marcellus had faith that Ordius could accomplish.

Marcellus rode through the city’s gates at the front of his Legion’s formation. In one of his hands was the rope that was tied to Constantine’s hand bindings, which dragged him through the streets. The man had been stripped naked and was propelled forward by the sting of a whip. Marcellus smiled and waved with his free hand as he brought forth his prize through the streets of his capital.

The citizens of Ravenna cheered for the triumphant return of their emperor and jeered at the usurper, who was now bound and whipped through the city’s streets. Marcellus was entirely unaware that on a rooftop above a man was dipping an arrow in poison, before stringing it to his bow._.

Despite Sigefrida’s purge of assassins, a man had made his way through the net of her security. This man was a member of Yazdegerd’s personal assassins. The Regent of the Eastern Roman Empire had been forced to employ his own agents in order to take out his rival. After what Sigefrida had done to Western Rome’s freelancers, nobody in their right mind was willing to take the job that Yazdegerd had devised.

This assassin prepared his shot by pulling back on the bowstring and aiming towards Marcellus’ exposed flesh. After all, he doubted his arrow could pierce through the thick scale armor that the Western Roman Emperor wore. Just when he was about to lose the arrow and end Marcellus’ life, the door to the roof he was standing on burst open, and startled him, causing him to launch the arrow and miss his target. Instead of killing the Western Roman Emperor, the Assassin had struck Marcellus’s prize, piercing through the heart of Constantine as the man struggled to believe his fate.

Marcellus immediately reacted to this sudden occurrence by dismounting from his horse, and finding himself under the protection of his legionaries, who razed their shields in a testudo formation. When the assassin realized he had failed in his tasked he cursed before switching his gaze over at the men who stood in the doorway with swords in hand. They were agents of Frumentarii who had successfully identified the would-be an assassin, and not a moment too late.

Before the Assassin could speak his words, he was surrounded and apprehended by the frumentarii, who made sure to gag him so that he could not bite his tongue and end his miserable life. Falconius was the man who led this arrest as he gazed upon the Eastern Roman assassin with disdain before stating the man’s identity with a proud expression on his face.

“Tsk tsk tsk, I’m not going to lie. We had a hard time finding out who that bitch would send to kill the Emperor. However, imagine my surprise when I learned the infamous Septimus Marcius Rullus was the man chosen for the task. Don’t worry, we will make sure you are given a quick death. That is, after we have learned everything we can from you.”

The Assassin known as Rullus screamed through his gag, but his voice was muffled. He wanted to curse these men to death, but he could not say a word. Instead, Falconius gave him a quick kick to the head before grinding the man’s skull beneath his shoes.

“Shut the fuck up!”

After saying this, Falconius pointed to his frumentarii and gave them further orders.

“Take this man to the dungeons. I wish to personally interrogate him as soon as the Emperor has been informed about the current situation!”

The Frumentarii saluted their commander before carrying out their instructions. As for Marcellus, he was carefully led through the streets and into the palace, completely surrounded by a shieldwall of his soldiers. Once he was safe and sound inside his home, he gave his orders to the men.

“Find out who is responsible for this and bring me his head!”

However, before the soldiers could run off and conduct these orders, Sigefrida appeared with a calm expression on her face.

“That won’t be necessary. We have already identified and apprehended the would-be assassin. It appears your enemies in the east want you dead, your majesty. Yazdegerd I has conspired with your patricians in an attempt to end your life, and assert his charge’s claim over your throne. I assure you that our agent, who is hiding among the conspirator’s ranks, will deal with them shortly.”

After saying this, Sigefrida dismissed the soldiers. She remained as cold as ice until she was alone together with the man she loved. The moment this occurred, she dropped her stoic facade and rushed over to Marcellus’ arms, hugging him tightly while whispering her concerns into his ears.

“I was so worried… Even though I made ample preparations for this moment, the assassin remained undiscovered until the last moment. If the frumentarii had been a second later in their arrest, you would be dead.”

Marcellus was stunned that Sigefrida had known about this assassination attempt for some time, and did not warn him in advance. He quickly questioned her reasoning for this.

“Why didn’t you warn me, if you knew about this? I could have died!”

Sigefrida bit her lip in frustration before revealing her reasoning for taking such an enormous risk.

“If we had alerted you, the Assassin would have aborted the operation and made another attempt at another date. By using you as bait, we could take him alive. This way we can gain much information about Yazdegerd and his spy network! We just need to be thorough in the interrogation.”

Such a response seemed logical enough, though it unnerved Marcellus to see just how well Sigefrida had settled into her position as his spymaster. If it was before, he did not believe she would so easily risk his life to apprehend an assassin. Now, she seemed to take the big picture into consideration instead of her feelings.

Marcellus himself did not know how to feel about this change of character. Before he could inquire further about this, Placidia ran into the hall and hugged him tightly. She was entirely unaware of what had just happened in the streets, and was more concerned about her fiance’s return.

“You’re finally home, Marcellus! I missed you so much!”

It was only after gazing upon the uneasy expressions on Marcellus and Sigefrida’s faces did Placidia suspect something was wrong.

“What happened? Why do you both look so glum?”

Marcellus sighed and wore a bitter smile before patting the young girl’s head. He shook his head before denying that anything had happened. After all, he did not want to cause his fiancee to worry about such dreadful matters.

“Nothing Placidia, I was just discussing something of ill importance with Sigefrida. Come, let’s get something to eat. I’m dying for some Alfredo.”

Placidia smiled and dragged Marcellus off to the dining table before giving Sigefrida an order with a sly expression on her face.

“I’m sure Sigefrida would be happy to make us a meal, won’t you?”

Sigefrida gazed upon Placidia with contempt in her eyes, before sighing and nodding her head in defeat.

“Certainly…”

Thus Marcellus went off to have a meal with Placidia, completely ignoring the assassination attempt that was just made in his life. After all, there was not much for him to do now that the would-be assassin was in the custody of his frumentarii. All he could do was wait until the information he desired had been pried from the man’s lips.