Heir of Aurelian

In the city of Ravenna, the foolish Emperor Honorius was throwing a fit, to his new Supreme Commander. It had been weeks since Stilicho was executed, and yet Marcellus was supposedly still standing in Raetia. The over grown man child needed an explanation for why this was the case.

“Olympius, you told me you dispatched an army to Raetia. Why have I not heard a word yet from them? I want Marcellus’ head!”

In response to this, Olympius scratched his head before revealing the reality of the situation to the emperor.

“Your Majesty, the Gothic foederati have defected. Without their support, we do not have the means to fight Marcellus. I have recalled the army that was sent to his lands to protect Ravenna. Without them, Constantine would march his armies into our lands, or worse, Alaric.

You must be patient. I assure you that Marcellus is going nowhere. We have intercepted Stilicho’s letter, calling for him to flee and disposed of it. As far as Marcellus is aware, everything is normal. He should not even know of his godfather’s death.”

This news did not please Honorius, who began to scream like a fat child who had been denied an extra slice of birthday cake.

“But you promised me he would die! Olympius, if you don’t find a way to get rid of him, I will have your head removed for deceiving me!”

Olympius could only sigh in regret. Had he known what Stilicho was always dealing with, perhaps he wouldn’t have had the man’s head removed. Honorius was a petulant child, and convincing him to do anything was a major chore. Still, the man was quick-witted and came up with a solution that would appease the indolent emperor.

“How about we dispatch him a message informing him that his presence is required in Ravenna? Once he arrives, we have him arrested for treason and then behead him!”_.

Upon hearing this discussion, Honorius nodded his head in agreement. He very much liked this plan, and quickly ordered it to be enacted.

“Yes, yes! Send Honorius a message demanding his return to Ravenna. With haste, the longer he remains on the frontier, the more anxious I become! His mother still lives in Rome, have her arrested as well, and hold her hostage in case he refuses to comply!”

Olympius smirked as he heard this suggestion. Sometimes the idiot could use his brain, but in very rare circumstances. He bowed his head and spoke empty words of praise to please the emperor.

“Truly, your mind is the greatest in the realm. I could have never thought up of such a scheme. I will have the woman arrested at once.”

After saying this, Olympius departed from the Palace and began to enact these plans.

—

Enough time had passed, and Olympius had arrived in Rome, with a contingent of forces beneath his command. In order to ensure that everything went as planned, he personally led the task force to arrest Aeliana. At the moment, Marcellus’ mother and Placidia were within the young girl’s villa.

During the past few weeks, they had been incredibly anxious about the ongoing changes in the Empire. Placidia had barely enough time to grieve the passing of her foster father. Worse yet, the emperor seized Marcellus’ assets. As a result, Aeliana had opted to live with Placidia until a time where new quarters could be established for her.

The two women huddled over the fire as a rainstorm covered the city of Rome. Though they were beneath the cover of her villa’s mighty roof, the cold steel seeped in through the walls. They had no idea that a group of roman soldiers had surrounded the manor.

Aeliana had a worried expression on her face as she prayed for her son’s safety.

“Do you think Marcellus will be alright? Surely he has learned the truth by now and fled to the east?”

Placidia was equally anxious. However, despite the need for calm words, she spoke the grim truth.

“I think Marcellus will not have fled, it is not in his character. If anything, he is raising a rebellion as we speak, so that he may put my bastard of a brother to the sword. I can’t believe Honorius would do this to Stilicho!”

Just when Aeliana was about to comment on the matter, the door to the villa was kicked open, and a group of armed soldiers rushed into the scene. Olympius had a wicked sneer on his face as he proclaimed the arrest of Honorius’ mother.

“Valeria Aeliana, you are under arrest for the crimes of High Treason. Come with us now! If you resist, I will not hesitate to put you to the sword!”

The moment the soldiers approached the woman, Placidia jumped out in front of her to defend her.

“What is this madness? Aeliana has done nothing wrong! You can not arrest her without reason!”

However, Olympius was not tolerating the girl’s defiance and backhanded her on the spot, forcing Placidia to her knees.

“Galla Placidia, the emperor would like to have a word with you as well! Take them both!”

The Roman soldiers dragged the two women from the villa. Placidia continued to scream at the guards while Aeliana sobbed miserably.

“You can’t do this to me! I am the emperor’s sister. Get your damn hands off of me this instant!”

Despite her cries of protest, the guards did not react, and continued to ruthlessly drag the two women off towards Ravenna.

—

It did not take long for word to reach Marcellus, an imperial messenger approached Castra Regina with a protective guard. Initially Marcellus was hesitant to allow him entry, but he had not officially declared rebellion yet, and thus he thought to entertain Honorius’ ploy.

Marcellus, Primus, Ordius, and Sarus were all standing in the great hall of the Roman Villa that acted as Marcellus’ residence. They were all clad from head to toe in their armor, and were prepared in case violence broke out between them and the false emperor’s lackeys.

The messenger strode into the room as if nothing was strange about this scene. Perhaps he didn’t even realize who sarus was. Instead, he handed a letter to Marcellus with a smug grin on his face.

“Titus Claudius Marcellus, the Emperor Flavius Honorius, has demanded your return to the capital.”

Marcellus raised his brow in curiosity. Was Honorius so foolish that he thought Marcellus would fall for such an obvious trap? Still, he read the contents of the letter, which appeared to have been written in blood. The more he read from it, the more his expression sank.

“Dear Marcellus. I would like to inform you that I have your mother as a hostage, so keep that in mind before you decide to reject my demands. Do you like the color of the ink? Pretty isn’t it? Your mother’s blood, that is… I will keep this short. My demands are simple. You must ride to Ravenna forthwith and present yourself to me. You are a traitor, just like that bastard Stilicho, and I can not allow you to live. So, what will it be, your head? Or your pretty mother’s?”

Such a condescending message filled Marcellus with rage. The fire in his eyes was enough to burn the soul of anyone he came into contact with. He responded to this news by backhanding the messenger, which immediately caused his bodyguard and Marcellus’ troops to unsheathe their blades.

The messenger stared at Marcellus in disbelief, and before he could protest his treatment, Marcellus plunged his blade through the man’s heart. After doing so, he severed the man’s head and tossed it to one of his bodyguards. With a murderous glint in his eyes, he gave his response to Honorius.

“You tell that little bastard that I will be returning to Ravenna, however, I won’t be going alone. I will bring an army with me! When we finally arrive, if Honorius has so much as harmed a hair on my mother’s head, then I will strip the skin from his bones piece by piece while he still draws breath! Go and take his head with you!”

After saying this, the bodyguards sheathed their blades and carried the severed head with them back to Ravenna. As for the commanders beneath Marcellus’ authority, they began to chastise him for his ruthless response.

“What have you done? If we march on Ravenna now, Alaric’s army will burn these lands to the ground, and kill everyone in it! We can not leave Raetia undefended!”

However, Marcellus was far from a state of reason as he shouted back to his commander with wild eyes.

“Then let it burn!”

The officers beneath Marcellus’ command gazed at the young general in disbelief that is until he made things clear.

“He has my mother…”

After saying this, Sarus snarled before making a comment about the whole damn situation.

“That fucking bastard. He won’t dare ride out to battle himself, but he will murder innocent women and children and hold them as hostages. I’m with Marcellus. We can not wait here any longer. Honorius must die!”

With that said, Marcellus’s rebellion had begun in the fall of 408 AD. However, in doing so, they would abandon Raetia, and its people, to the mercy of Alaric and his gothic horde.

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