Chapter 84 Striking First

Sigefrida looked at the note in her hand with a concerned gaze on her pretty face. She had received word from her Frumentarii embedded in the ranks of the Conspirators that they were plotting alongside Yazdegerd I to assassinate Marcellus.

The plan was simple. Marcellus would undoubtedly be parading Constantine through the streets when he returned from his campaign. When that happened, the conspirators planned to use an assassin to eliminate him with a poisoned arrow.

This was an insidious plan, but more importantly, it would be exceptionally difficult to prevent. For starters, it was impossible to know who this assassin was without an identity being revealed by the Frumentarii prior to the assassination attempt.

Her agents would have to voluntarily expose themselves if they wanted to get this information in time to prevent the attack. This simply wasn’t an option. Sigefrida had spent great effort infiltrating the conspirators and would not reveal her hand so soon.

The other option she had was to beef up security for the event. However, this would again prove difficult, as an average roman composite bow had an effective range of 230 meters. The assassin could take up a position at any point overlooking the parade and strike without alerting the guards. By the time the poison entered Marcellus’ bloodstream, it would be too late to save him.

The Suebi beauty bit her nails in anxiety as she struggled to come up with a solution to this problem. As she did so, the door to her room opened to reveal one Galla Placidia. The young woman gazed at Sigefrida with a hint of envy in her eyes.

She knew that the barbarian women was sleeping with her fiance, but she could not bring herself to request that the man put a stop to such activities. Thus, the young woman had decided to confront Marcellus’ concubine while he was away at war. Sigefrida immediately noticed Placidia’s arrival and sighed heavily before speaking to her.

“To what do I owe the pleasure…”

Placidia glared at Sigefrida before walking up to her and getting in her face. Compared to Sigefrida, who was a tall and busty barbarian woman, the not yet fully developed roman girl was considerably smaller, so much so that Sigefrida found it laughable that she was trying to be intimidating. Yet she did not reveal this, and instead gazed sternly at Placidia as the girl made her demands.

“I want you to stay away from Marcellus from now on. Don’t think that I don’t know what you two get up to at night, and I must say as his fiancee I do not approve. I have watched that man pine after you for years, and yet he has chosen me to be his bride. Thus, I will not allow you to steal him away from me now that he is finally in my grasp.”

Sigefrida gazed at Placidia with a look of pity in her eyes, though she wanted to tell the girl the only reason Marcellus was marrying her was because of politics, she stayed her tongue, after all she had far more important matters to attend to, things that were much more dire than the petty jealousy of a teenage girl. Sigefrida merely sighed as she expressed these exact thoughts to Placidia in an attempt to shoo her away.

“Placidia, as much as I respect you, I have to say I don’t have time for your shit right now. There are important matters of state I must attend to, and you are wasting my time. So could you please leave me alone at my work?

No matter how much you kick and scream, I am not leaving Marcellus’ side. The two of us have been in love since we were children. As much as it pains me to say this, now that Aeliana is gone, the two of us can finally be together, and a little girl like you isn’t going to change that.”

Placidia could only curl her fists in rage, as she wanted to scream at Sigefrida at the top of her lungs. However, she remained calm. After all, she would be the Empress soon, and she needed to maintain her dignity. All she did was give a hateful gaze to Sigefrida as she backed out of the room and left behind some cryptic words.

“We will see about that!”

With this, the girl disappeared from Sigefrida’s sight, no doubt to go off and scream into her pillow about how unfair life was. What would she know about fairness? The girl was born with a golden spoon in her mouth as the younger sister to the previous emperor.

If Marcellus did not need the girl as his wife, Sigefrida would have been far more harsh with her treatment. While Placidia may have been watching Marcellus pursue Sigefrida all these years, Sigefrida had watched Placidia pursue Marcellus. Naturally, she knew of the girl’s envy, but had never dared to bring it up.

However, Sigefrida had more important things to attend to and immediately sought after the leader of her Frumentarii, a man by the name of Falconius. The man quickly responded to the summons and entered Sigefrida’s quarters, where he stood at attention. Since Sigefrida could not protect Marcellus from Eudoxia’s assassins, she decided to take an offensive position where she quickly inquired about the feasibility of her plan.

“Falconius, answer me this to what extent are your Frumentarii’s assassination capabilities?”

This question startled the man, but he quickly answered it with a firm resolve in his eyes.

“I’d say our assassins are well trained. Why do you ask?”

Sigefrida stared sternly at the man before asking another question.

“How would you say they fare compared to freelance assassins? Or those of our rivals?”

Falconius thought about it for a while before coming up with a proper estimation of their strength.

“I would say they are better than freelancers, and slightly below the agents of the East. However, my question remains, why do you ask? Is there something you need me to do?”

Sigefrida smiled and nodded her head as she handed the report she had received from Velius over to the man. She gave a brief summary of its content before stating her response to these actions taken by her rivals.

“Our enemies in the east have decided to plot with our conspiring patricians to assassinate our emperor when he returns from his campaign to eliminate the usurper. Since I can not find out the identity of the assassin, they will be choosing to undertake the task, nor can I adequately protect the Emperor from such a threat, I have decided to strike first. I want every man and woman who has dipped their hands into the art of assassination to be silently taken out behind the scenes.

If we kill enough assassins, it will act as a proper deterrence for any freelancer who even thinks of taking this job, forcing Yazdegerd I to use one of her own assassins for the job. This will make it much easier to identify and apprehend them before they can commit the attack.

As for the Eastern Roman Empire, eliminate one of their Generals as retaliation for this dastardly plot. I want them to know the price they have to pay for conspiring against Marcellus. For every attempt they make on my man’s life, I will ensure they lose a general. If they still desire to assassinate Marcellus, the east will soon find itself completely without military leadership. What do you think of my plan? Is it feasible?”

Falconius thought about this prospect for several seconds, before giving an answer to the woman’s question.

“Only a woman could be so black-hearted towards her enemies. Alright, I will give the orders to my men. I will make sure that every freelance assassin in the Western Roman Empire is silently taken care. As for the General you wish to eliminate, do you have a candidate in mind?”

Sigefrida wore a sinister sneer on her pretty pink lips as she condemned a man to death by simply uttering his name.

“Aulus Pontidius Frugi”

Falconius was startled by this news. The woman wanted to take out the Magister Militum of the East. This was not a simple task to accomplish, but if done successfully, would cause serious damage to the ranks of the Eastern Roman Army. After thinking about it for a moment, the man bowed his head before responding in affirmation to his orders.

“I will see it done…”

Upon hearing this, Sigefrida nodded her head before shifting her gaze out the window and into the moonlit sky above. A single phrase escaped her lips as she responded to the man’s claim.

“See to it that you do…”

With this said Falconius was dismissed, and begun to give out Sigefrida’s orders to the agents of the Frumentarii. A bloodbath would soon occur as assassins mysteriously vanished from the borders of the Western Roman Empire. Unknowingly, while Marcellus was away at war, the love of his life had condemned hundreds if not thousands of men to their fates. Had he known she was capable of such cruelty, he would be shocked.