Chapter 427: The New Guard

"…And if anybody does not accept this peace, I will go to war against them, with those who want these things, on foot and by sea, with ships and with money."

-        Xenophon, Hellenica 5.1.31

Later that day at night, the curfew of Thessaloniki is broken for the first time with the entire city getting mobalised for the war. Just a few streets away lays the residence of their Caesar, and its master Antonius is preparing all the things he need to bring for the expedition, while the mistress Anna is in another room telling bed side stories to their daughter. A few minutes later, the infant entered her deep slumbers finally giving Anna the chance to slip away from the tiring responsibilities as a mother and have a peek on what her husband is doing.

She walked in to the room sneakily, and placed her hands on the shoulders gently. The later is still frowning over a table of maps and reports making an analysis of all the various factions and powers that are present in Epirus, with a rough estimate on how many enemies they might encounter, a letter of complaint from Abdullah regarding the situation of the logistic supplies they have right now, saying that they do not have enough grains and coins for a fifty thousand strong army to operate for more than half a year. All of these are giving Antonius a headache.

Anna looked at the Italian mechanical clock, it is almost mid night, but her long missed husband is still here busy with all the affairs of the state.  She spoke softly beside the ears of her husband. "You know, it is almost impossible for a man to keep his focus on his work if he is not having enough rest he needs on the bed…"

"Well, I am afraid that I might get even more tired if I am to go to bed now." Antonius moaned massaging his forehead. "And besides, I do need to double up the speed in dealing with all these plans and papers, if I drag for too long here, Abdullah and the rest might take even longer in their preparations, and in the end the war might drag on to winter…"

Seeing that she is unable to persuade her husband, Anna sighed and suggested that she can join in as well assisting her husband in the paper works. There is no reason for Antonius to refuse this proposal, and so instead of doing the usual couple's stuff this couple went on working together burning mid night oil staring at a bunch of dry papers and numbers. This is almost a torture for Antonius, as he enters the age of thirties, he can feel that his stamina and level of concentration dwindling over time. He knows that he is no longer that vibrant youngster who are always filled with energy, able to burn mid night oil all the time and not sleep for several nights in a row.

Antonius' head dipped and almost reached the table when he became awake and leaned back, almost making him fall off the seat. He shook his head and looked at Anna, who is looking at him with a concerned face. He smiled, showing her that he is perfectly alright, and massaged his face trying his best to stay awake. Antonius got a trick for this, usually he would take a sip of his 'energy drink' and he would be back on the production line with his stamina refilled, and that energy drink, is non other than a cup of alcohol.

Feeling both frustrated and dizzy from the tiredness and piles of work Antonius shouted towards the direction of the door. "Yuri! Where the hell are you! Get me a cup of…"

Then the moment of realisation came up to Antonius' head as he remembered that the man whom he always used to call before, is now no longer here with him an of course, unable to pass him a cup of alcohol ever again. Antonius placed his quill on the table, close his eyes and lowered his head giving himself a bit of rest, to emotionally recover from the sudden sense of loneliness that suddenly got on to him. He is a strong man who never showed any of his weakness within himself to others, but now under the darkness of the night with only his wife around, Antonius could hardly hold his remorse any longer.

Anna sensed the sadness coming from her husband, she walked up to him, poured him a cup of mead and placed it on to his table, then went to his back and massaged his shoulders. "Here is your wine admiral." She spoke softly as she pushed the cup towards him. "Why don't you have some rest first, there is no need of getting this amount of sorrow for this, you got to move on my dear. Remember the time when we were studying Latin literature of Quintus Horatius Flaccus back then in the church of Constantinople? There are a lot of interesting abstracts inside the Carmina regarding death, but you told me that there is one abstract you found that is rather interesting, that is…"

Antonius tried his best to recall, but he dared not tell his wife that he has forgotten what he has read in this book long time before. While Anna, after a moment of thinking, memorised the abstract fully bit by bit.

"Omnes eodem cogimur;

omnium Versatur urna serius, ocius

Sors exitura.

You remember the meaning of this abstract? Horace was trying to say that we, as humans, are all compelled to take the same road; from the urn of death, shaken for all, sooner or later the lot must come forth. Every one dies, but the treasure they leave behind lives forever."

Antonius made a smile, dunk the entire cup of alcohol at once, and thanked Anna for her effort. He then mentioned that he is not feeling any bit of sorrow, he is just feeling way too tired that is why he is having hallucinations and shortage of memories. Of course Anna would not believe these words from her man, but she understands that Antonius is having the typical 'man's pride' to not express his thoughts in front of his wife, and so she acted like she believed his words and sat back to her sit.

"I am perfectly fine, really, my dear, it is just that I am getting way too used to having Yuri by my side as my body guard, aiding me with all the various affairs for the entire past five years, you know. I am still not getting used to the feeling of not having a body guard and assistant by my side…."

"In that case." Anna suddenly interrupted and looked at her husband straight in his eyes. "In that case, I have an idea for you, why don't you appoint me as your new body guard and assistant?"

Antonius is startled upon hearing this interesting proposal, and then bursted in to a wild laughter clapping his hands. "Anna, I appreciate you for your willingness to help, but you ought to know that I have made a strict regulation since the creation of my tiny army six years ago that no one is allowed to bring woman in to any camps, no excuse given. You see Anna, I cannot break the rule that I made myself, am I right? Furthermore, you got to know what is a battle field like Anna, just like what you have told me, death is every where in a heated conflict, any one, even including me, can die there. I cannot protect you in that case scenario."

"I can protect myself, and I can protect you by keeping you away from all the situations that can get you in to danger, with my knowledge and senses, for the teachings by the ancient saints and scholars have never went wrong. I can dress myself up as a man, covering my face and my body in armour all day long until night and never speak a single word so no one can find out that I am a woman, I can help you with all your paper works and transcripts, so you shall never have any mistake or errors in these areas… Most importantly, I do not want to be separated with you for such a long period of time each time you leave Thessaloniki…"

Antonius forced another smile on his face. "Don't worry, Epirus is not that far away, it is just a week's distance away from here. I promise you that I shall settle the affairs over there as soon as possible, and get back to you and our daughter, I promise you that I shall come back within three month…"

"You lied, Antonius, you lied again." Tears started showing up in the eye sockets of Anna. "I know the situation over there in Epirus, I have studied the enemies you are going to face this time round, and I too knows that you definite cannot come back to me within three month time…"