Act 2 Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Augustus had made his way down to his cabin in a hurry. The trip wasn't long, only a few minutes travel and a couple levels up. As he walked through the hallways, he made no effort to skirt out of the way from crewmen going about their duties. Without even an apologetic smile, Augustus simply shoved them from his path. The lack of nonchalance radiating from Augustus gave more cause for puzzled looks than the actual shoving, since people were shoved all the time in such cramped spaces. He gave no thought to this, however, as he other matters occupying his thoughts.

What does that kid think he's doing, thought Augustus. What's his ploy? What does he know? All sorts of questions rolled through his mind. When he got to his door, he fumbled with the key to his lock. “D****t! I can't even hold these damned keys. I'm not that old...must be the kid. But why?”

When he finally opened the door, he slipped inside quickly and closed the door right behind him. He quickly locked it again, much easier than before. Looking around his quaint living space, he sighed. His life was never one of splendor, and the modest accommodations he had insisted on reflected this. A couch, a small table and two chairs, a bunk bed, a dresser, a nightstand, and a chest were all that occupied the room. His wasn't the serious war-room that Cassius had demanded. Some people liked to say, “Simple minds, simple pleasures” about Augustus behind his back, but he always heard them and never cared. Everyone who really knew him could tell that he was far from simple. And very few people really knew him.

It wasn't until he through himself down onto his couch that he noticed Dante sitting at the table, drinking a cup of something. Augustus jumped up immediately and drew a small pistol from seemingly nowhere. This caused Dante, who had been looking quite calm and sure, to jump up as well and spill his drink on the floor. It was coffee, and coffee was terribly hard to remove from carpet.

“Gods d****t kid! Why are you in here? No, wait. How are you in here?”

Dante was shaking visibly, holding his hands up above his head.

“I'll tell you...just don't shoot! Please!”

Augustus lowered the pistol down, changing his aim from Dante's heart to the floor between his feet. He took a moment to catch his breath, getting over the quick surprise given to him at the moment. He waited a few more moments for Dante to stop shaking and lower his hands.

“Alright kid. Talk. How did you get in here before me without me noticing, and how did you get through my lock?”

“Oh...that. Well, it's quite simple. I'm a mouse.”

A puzzled look came over Augustus. “Well...yeah. But not literally. I hope.”

“Um...suffice to say...no, not literally. But I'm in Military Intelligence, or at least I was. I was trained for field intelligence, so I guess I'm just really good at sneaking around. I thought I'd see what was bothering you, so I just...helped myself in.”

“Heh, thanks kid. But next time, knock. I've been through too many surprises in my life. I might accidentally blow your head off.”

Dante looked down at his hands, now in his lap, and muttered, “Wouldn't want that...”

Augustus sighed and slid the pistol inside his dress vest. It was special design, and he had several different ones. Each was sewn out of deceptively thick velvet, allowing him to easily hide small items inside without them being noticeable. His pants and boots were similar in fashion, with hidden places for keeping weapons and other things. He knew he was more paranoid than the normal man, but Augustus's life had been saved many times over by that paranoia. So he would indulge it until it started messing with his mind. He looked over at the young man sitting at his table, and took some mental notes.

Dante was still wearing his formal uniform. A dark brown dress jacket and pants, it was nothing special. This uniform did not utilize the standard breast plate or helmet, and instead offered little protection from anything. But the cut was fair and the color pleasing, so it wasn't a hated piece of attire. But Augustus wasn't focusing that much on the actual clothes, and instead the fact that Dante always seemed to wear his uniforms. Dante had the choice to shop at the decently sized store that the Blooded Bull possessed, since he held a decent sum of money in his possession. It was, according to Augustus, a little bit peculiar.

“Say, lad, can I ask you a wee question?”

Dante looked up from his hands. “Of course, Augustus. It's your room.”

“Yes. Well, for now at least. No telling what's gonna happen when we reach wherever it is. You wouldn't happen to have any idea 'bout that, would ya lad?”

“Erm...no. Valencia doesn't deem a lot of people 'in-the-know”, you know?”

Augustus stood up and walked over to his door. He unlocked it and nudged it open. He gestured outward from the door, indicating for Dante to exit ahead of him. He gave a small wink and said, “Well then lad, I know just where to find out.”

“And where is, uh, that?”

“Cassius.”

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The pair of men hurried through the ship's hallways. As men scurried to their various duties, Augustus and Dante were forced to dodge and weave along the path to Cassius's room. The ship's crew never rested from duty. Such a massive creature required massive amounts of care and effortless diligence in order to function. As a result, the men who served on a dreadnaught rarely got to experience the regular sleep cycles sailors on other ships did. There were times when not a single man or woman was sleeping and everyone was doing something to keep the beast roaring.

After a while, the pair reached the open door to the room they had just been in a scant few minutes ago. Augustus knocked on the edge of the door, causing a smooth ring to echo inside the room. After a long moment of no reply, Augustus began to worry. He pushed the door open further, and poke his head him. He was greeted by the empty room. His sharp eyes caught sight of the stack of papers laying on the table that weren't there before. After a quick scan that covered the rest of the room, his stomach sank when he saw the missing revolver. Lucky me, he mused, the sword is still here. Augustus entered the room and was followed by young Dante.

“Lad's not here. Neither's his gun. What do ya make of that, Mister Intelligence Officer?”

“Um...target practice? Legate Cassius usually goes up to the deck once a day.”

As he walked about the room, Augustus replied absent-minded, “Kid can hit the ear off a flea off a dog at fifty paces. Don't see the purpose of shooting targets...”

When Dante reached for the documents sitting on the table, Augustus swooped up upon him and snatched them.

“Best let me read 'em first, kid. Some things are better found out on yer own, and some things are best explained later.”

As his eyes took in more and more of the letter, his heart sunk down to where his stomach landed. He thought to himself, “This is the worst thing that could have possibly happened, short of the Emperor himself telling the lad.” He sank down into the nearest chair, placing his head in his hands. The papers fell down in front of Dante. He picked them up, and read the letter over.

“Wait...so this means...”

“Aye, the Republic could have survived. A puppet, yes, but survived another day as a nation instead of a boat.”

Dante sank down into a chair himself.

“And you...”

“Aye. Junior loves to play that name. It's got honor in it that he never had, and never will. But mark my words Dante, I owe no loyalty to the b*****d. He's a tyrant, a monster, and all he cares about his some stupid idea of glory. He's the reason for Rome's terrible state.”

What Augustus spoke was true, no matter what view was taken. While the Roman Empire was the most powerful military machine in existence, that power came at a price. The people of Rome were second-place to the Legionaries who fought in the fields. When Sevarius II was crowned Emperor after the death of his father, Roman society took a turn for the worse. The nation was suffering from an economic downturn, since almost no government funding went into supporting healthcare or businesses, except the war industry. Even with those businesses booming, there was only so much space available for people to make bullets or craft helmets. The grand cities of the Empire, each named in the local dialects of the native people still appeared as beautiful as before, but had a lot more dirt to stuff under the carpet. Roma, Versailles, Berlin, Budapest, Athens, Sparta, and many others still attracted sightseers and wandering youths. But if one looked below the surface, they'd find as much refuse and garbage as any city down on its luck. All for the vanity of one man, and it was constantly getting worse.

“I...I believe you, Augustus. It's just...”

“Just what, lad? You can tell me. After all, my big secret is out.” Augustus said the last sentence with a sad laugh, and an even sadder smile. It seemed that all he smiled about these days was decked with sadness, he thought. Such a terrible thing to waste a smile on.

“Well...you're supposed to be dead.”

At this, Augustus burst out with legitimate laughter. “Haha! Dead! No...no! Ha! Damn Junior, filling everyone's heads with hopeful lies. No, I'm not dead. Shame for him, isn't it?”

This got Dante to smile, calming any tension still built up inside his small self. He stood up, and buttoned his coat.

“We should probably find Legate Cassius then. Get you to explain things to him. I don't think he would take it as easily as I did, but that's because he never grew up with tales of 'The Octavians'.”

As Augustus stood up, he checked his side. Yes, he had thought to take his revolver with him. It was a different model than the standard Cato. The Aurelius revolver held nine shoots instead of six, and was much larger and had greater stopping power. However, it was had a single-action firing mechanism, as opposed to the Cato's double-action. This meant that after each shot, the hammer had to be manually cocked, while the Cato's hammer was cocked automatically after each shot. This was of no consequence to Augustus, since he had quite a few years to master his particular gun. His job gave him early access to the good toys. Just one good perk in an otherwise soul-wrenching profession.

“I don't think he's up there for target practice, lad. You got a chest piece under that jacket of yours?”

“Erm, no.”

“So...you wear the hottest possible pieces of clothing you possess, don't buy new clothes at the shop, and don't even wear proper protection when you could very well conceal it. What in the name of the gods do you wear that getup for? “

“I think it looks nice.” A simple enough answer, and one that satisfied Augustus.

“Well then lad, just make sure you keep out of the line of fire. I'd hate for you to take one where one really shouldn't be taken.”

This seemed to shock Dante, for he exclaimed, “Line of fire? What, are you going to kill him? You...you...can't do that!”

“And why's this lad? He's not a god. Not yet, anyway.”

“What? You don't mean that literally, do you?”

“I'm talking about deification. Caesar was named a god, and so was Brutus. If Hephaestus was still around, he'd have moved for Cassius to join the Pantheon. Replace Mars or something, I dunno. Doesn't matter. We've got business to attend to.”

With this the two men, one young and ignorant and the other old and tired, headed off to the deck of the Blooded Bull to confront the prospective god. Dante's last thoughts in the room were about how this did not bode well in any feasible manner.

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Running out across the endless deck of the dreadnaught, Augustus regretted many decisions. He regretted his failures during his first war, he regretted his failed marriage, he regretted his last words to his brother, and he regretted leaving his daughter. But most of all, he regretted the life of deceit he had lived. Should he survive this coming confrontation, he'd fix as much of that as he could. He was past the glory days, or so he thought, and needed some decent path to follow to the grave. Dante trailed on his heels, and all he regretted was buttoning up his jacket. It was starting to choke him a bit.

As Augustus approached the solitary figure standing in the middle of the deck, a loud crack sounded out. Sparks flew up from a scant few feet from his feet. The shooter shouted out, with an emotion never witnessed within him before: delirious rage.

“Augustus Octavius! The Fox! It all makes damned sense now. You left us out to dry. You let us shrivel up and die. And I bet you had a damn good laugh about it!”

“Alright kid! I get the point. Now drop the piece or you'll do something you can't fix.”

A shout, filled with a hate so deep the listeners nearly drowned, answered. “F**k you! You traitor! I'll shoot your lying tongue out, and then I'll crush the rest of you unto oblivion.”

Another bullet whizzed through the air, this one nearly clipping Augustus in the left temple. He spun around and shoved Dante to the ground, following right behind the confused kid. This proved to be a prudent maneuver, since three more bullets quickly flew through the space they had just occupied.

“Enough,” shouted Augustus from the ground. “Save that last shot. We'll settle this like men.”

“I doubt that, cheap b*****d. But I'll humor you. Your proposal?”

Augustus clambered up to his feet, almost losing his balance and falling back down. This garnered a hard sneer from Cassius, who was walking towards Augustus, revolver aimed at his head.

“Duel. Twenty paces. We shoot when we deem necessary. You win, I'm dead and a traitor. I win, well, you know.”

“Why? You'll just lie when the crew sees this, should you actually kill me. You're scum, Augustus. When I called you an old dog, I had no idea how right I was. You're old, past your prime, and a dog. No better than the filth I wipe off my boots after it rains.”

By this time, Augustus had leveled himself and positioned himself in front of Cassius. He stood taller than the young man, and his face no longer bore his trademark smile. Instead, it was substituted with a look of fierce determination and annoyance. He reached down to his holstered revolver and slowly drew it out, gripping it by the barrel as soon as he could. Cassius watched him as he slowly opened the cylinder and let eight bullets drop out. They clattered on the hard steel of the Blooded Bull, echoing across the ship and the sea.

“There, we're even. My piece holds nine shots. Now it's got one. Let's settle this angst you've got built up.”

Without responding, Cassius turned away and marched off twenty paces. With a shake of the head, Augustus mentally damned the Emperor and marched his steps off as well. Dante hurried back several feet, in order to get a good view of the approaching storm. Once the two men reached their places, they turned about to face each other, each man holding his hand just over the grip of their gun. Augustus said some final words to Dante. “Dante, lad, go get the others. And the doctor. We'll need them.” So Dante ran off, leaving the two men to decide fate.

The wind died. The birds ceased their songs. Even the ship itself seemed to tighten its lips as the two warriors stared into the souls of their opponent. In the course of history, there have always been significant events that determined the history of mankind. Wars, revelations, and entire eras have been studied and recounted in schools and minds throughout the world. The common consensus is that each of these could be truly traced back to a single event. An event that was the culmination of rushing waters pushing out and bursting through their dams, unleashing their torrential devastation upon the earth. These events destroyed nations, butchered peoples, and gave rise to the utmost chaos. This was one of those events.

The men moved at exactly the same time, but one was slower than the other as they moved. One always was. A shot rang out loud, crisp, and clear to all who cared to hear it. A man dropped to his knees, clutching his side, and then fell over onto the cold steel of the ship. Even as the man crumpled to the ground, Augustus felt another regret growing inside of his heart.

Author's Note

Far too long since I posted something. I'm actually up to the Third Act now, just haven't updated here.