In the Nightlands - Part One

Iron Born Capital St. Joseph, Missouri Fulmene Ferri Senate meeting February 25th.

"Lent is almost upon us. It is time for the raids to be decided," Catellus Magnus said, standing from his seat in the small chamber.

"Is it wise to raid this year, with all that is happening?" Maria Forma said from her seat in the Fulmene Ferri senate. "Armed excursions outside of the Iron Born territories could be misinterpreted.

"Let them misinterpret!" Catellus spat. "Our traditions have been hemmed in enough by the British. We have an enemy that has declared war on us! Since when has it been the Legion's way to simply sit back and let our people be taken!"

Broc Beag stood from her seat. "Raiding the Black Hills and other places is tradition, but things are too tenuous..."

"Tenuous!" Acestes Colt boomed, leaping to his feet. "We've been sitting for months while this Iron Born senate of yours has prattled on. All the while the British tighten the noose around us. I for one will not stand by and let myself be caged like an animal. We must fight! I say that the Lenten raids be turned against the real threat, the British!"

"It is your right to make yourself known, Acestes Colt," Broc Beag said.

Hekration watched his wife from the entryway to the Senate. "Always the diplomat," he thought.

Broc Beag continued, "But the decision is not yours alone. You are a Free Man. Do as you must, but your actions must not endanger the Legion."

"They began this! They've imprisoned Sian! What has she done, but shed her blood for them? She is our emissary and now they threaten her with execution? Acestes yelled.

"You would have us sit by and be rolled over by the British and those from the cities!" Catellus roared. Other strident voices joined his.

"No," Hekration said, stepping into the senate chamber.

"It is not your place to speak here, Hekration Valerius Marcellus," Pherusa Gaius said from her seat on the dais alongside her co-consul. "This is not the Iron Born senate. You gave up your seat here when you became First Consul to the Iron Born."

"That is true, but I still carry the responsibility as Praetor. And that gives me right to speak on matters that touch on my office."

"Go back to hand feeding soft bread and warm milk to the Iron Born, Hekration! It's you who's left Sian imprisoned. Leave the governing of the Legion to those who remember who they are!" Catellus growled.

"I hear the strength in the voices of you and your friends, Catellus. That's good. But strength alone will not carry us through this." He looked around the rest of the Fulmene Ferri Senate. "There are many young men and women in this gathering now. Why is that?" he asked. "Because HRF killed many who used to speak here. War with the British will not bring them back."

"You are afraid of them! There is no other reason!" Catellus boomed. Many of the senators came to their feet shouting angrily at Catellus. His supporters rose to meet them. The room verged on anarchy. "You hide behind peace talks and politics," Catellus accused. "I would rather die than waste away on hand outs from the British!"

Broc Beag lent her voice to the fray. "Be SILENT, Catellus!"

"I speak as a Free Man and others agree with me! This is not who we are. We are..."

"The LEGION!" Hekration boomed into the crowd. There was assent from many in the room.

"The Legion is for the Legion, Catellus! Not for one Free Man's pride or anger! You are a Legionary, or have you forgotten that?"

"Who are you to talk to us about what it means to be a legionary? You've sold us like dogs to the British and have turned us into wet nurses for those who should be vassals!"

"Those ways are dead, Catellus!" Hekration retorted. "I care nothing for what you WANT! We've lit enough pyres for our people. I wept alongside you when your family died. I will not let your anger drive us to more deaths that can be avoided. You would fight and die and leave the rest of the Legion slaves."

"And what about your family, Hekration? Strange that Broc Beag and Scythia were spared by the disease. Why is that? Medicine from the city that you didn't share with the rest of the Legion?"

The words struck Hekration like stones. The accusation turned the room silent. Acestes Colt abruptly sat down as did many whose voices had joined Catellus.

"How DARE you!" Broc Beag roared.

Pherusa Gaius' powerful voice cut through from the dais. "Catellus! Your anger has taken rein of your thoughts and words. You will control yourself in the senate."

"I've said nothing many haven't thought and whispered. Explain this to us, Hekration," he goaded.

Hekration let the white wrap of his office as Consul fall away from his crimson legionary's tunic. The fabric pooled around his boots on the floor. He stepped away from it into the center of the room.

"All know that my daughter Scythia nearly died of the disease. Fortune was with my family, just as it was for many others." His voice turned cold. "As I've said." He let the words hang in the air. Many of Catellus' remaining supporters took their seats again.

"Are you challenging my words, Catellus?" he asked.

"Hekration! This is neither the time or place for this," Pherusa Gaius said.

"A Free Man is responsible for his words, Consul..." Hekration replied calmly. "I want an answer."

Catellus stepped onto the floor of the senate, stopping a few feet away from Hekration, glaring across the space at him. Hekration watched his eyes. He recognized the look in them that he'd seen all too often since HRF had ravaged the Legion. Grief and loss so intense that there was no worldly balm for it. Only the forgetting that came with being drowned in Lethe would silence the torment of a father and husband who'd been powerless to save his family. Catellus was already dead, his body was now only animated by a shade of the man he'd once been.

Hekration nodded to him thinking, "So be it."

"If it is death you seek, Catellus. Then come and die with honor, Old Friend," he said.