The Writers' Block Anthology

Island VII: Antony

Bought Siren's Curse and a Silver Lunette

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If you don't tell me where the treasure is, I will make you a spectacle of Rome.

Mark Antony was very explicit with his words and made little room for negotiation. This was his first and final warning. One that echoed in my mind through the silence of my jail cell. A gladiatorial execution was promised, an entertaining exhibition of my pain as a letter of apology to all of Rome. Caesar would make a personal appearance as they expected me to spill my guts, figuratively and literally, as a last desperate act of self-preservation. A display of power by the divine, as was his title of 'emperor'.

"Don't tell me you spent all your resourcefulness in Egypt?"

I looked up from the cold stone to see a beautiful woman in a silver dress peering at me from beyond the iron bars. "Who are you?"

The woman smiled. "Dear child, I am the Sorceress Circe. I've come to offer my help."

"Forgive me, but I'm not too keen on accepting help from anyone at the moment."

"That's a fair reaction. You haven't had great luck in this world, but I could send you to another."

"An offer like that doesn't come without a catch," I said. If she had an ulterior motive, she wasn't giving it away. Her face remained kind. Soft. If I didn't know any better, it was almost as if she looked concerned.

Circe regarded me carefully, her eyes raking over me as I stared. "Your time here has definitely made you more instinctual. You'd be doing me a personal favor. A quest, if you will."

"What type of quest?"

"Privileged information only for the one that accepts my offer. No need to know the information if you're dead."

"Blunt but reasonable," I muttered.

"Will you accept my offer?"

"The quest can't be the only catch. What? Am I going to return to this jail cell as soon as I complete this 'quest'?"

Circe shook her head, her face etched in something like pity. "You really are such a jaded mortal."

"It's called healthy suspicion."

"Do--"

The latch from the entrance door cut the conversation. In a blink, Circe was gone and two of my usual guards entered after their dinner. Over my weeks here, they never told me their names, at least directly. I mainly listened to them talk dirt about whoever was giving them orders at the moment, but they never were cautious about what they were saying. This is how I found out that their names are Aulus and Servius, most of the affairs in the government, and a lot of information on the military.

"I'm not going down for this," Servius groaned, taking off his plumed helmet.

"Stop whining. We were given an order and we need to obey it," snapped Aulus. "And don't take off your helmet! We're on duty!"

"Yeah, but we're just fodder. Expendable. We'll be the ones killed for this if we start digging too deep."

"I'm not about to get skinned because we didn't follow a direct order."

"We'll be skinned either way."

I grasped the bars, peering at the two. "Having a bit of trouble, boys?"

Aulus turned to me. His mouth curled to one side as his eyes found mine. "Nothing that concerns you, pirate."

"You know, if it's a scapegoat you're after--"

"Shut it!"

Servius stepped forward with wide eyes, waving his finger as a thought came to mind. "Wait, wait, wait, she might be onto something."

Aulus groaned, "No, we're not listening to a filthy pirate!"

"Just consider! No one would suspect her. She's already in jail, soon to be executed. The secret would die with her and we would get off clean."

"No. What if she's found? They would know we didn't do our duty at best or we let her go at worst. It's suicide."

"Not if you blame it on the change of guard. You know, let me out on their watch," I cut in. "They hardly stay down here anyways. They think it's a waste of manpower and often enjoy their night playing whatever game you guards play upstairs."

Servius turned to Aulus. "Why don't we ever do that?"

"Because we actually do our jobs."

I stood up. "Just let me go and do . . . whatever it is you need me to do. No one will know."

"And what's in it for you, pirate?" Aulus growled. "You aren't doing this out of the kindness of your heart."

I shrugged. "For me to know and for you to find out."

"No deal."

"Aulus!" Servius whined. "She's perfect! No one cares if a pirate is killed. We don't even know why we're keeping her under guard--"

"Exactly, there must be a reason!"

Servius groaned, "Aulus, when is there ever an actual good reason? No one will ever know."

"They will if she is seen."

Servius turned his attention to me, coming close to the bars and looking straight into my eyes. "You will not be seen. You will go to the general's tent and search through the records, finding anything about someone breaking into an Egyptian tomb. Afterward, you take those documents and bring them straight back here to us. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

Servius nodded in agreement, looking back to Aulus. "We'll wait until the change of guard and we're releasing her."

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It was easier than you think to break into the general's tent. It seemed the love of drinking wasn't just with the soldiers and being away at war for so long made certain other pleasures almost irresistible. I was able to slip into the tent with ease as the general and soldiers were enjoying their fair share of booze and women, surely too occupied to see or hear me.

At his desk were several documents, mainly about the conquests of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. However, as extensive as the documentation was, he also left letters opened neatly on the side. Most of them were orders from higher up the chain, but there was one that caught my eye. It was a letter that was sent from Mark Antony. I picked it up, scanning over the writing.

He had ordered the break-in of the tomb. He was searching for the treasure. The treasure both I and Cleopatra denied him information of. And he wanted two guards to take the fall for it. I sighed, that's why Servius and Aulus were ordered to look into this. They were going to be set up.

"And what the hell do you think you're doing?" a voice barked from the tent entrance.

I recognized that voice. I carefully placed the papers back down on the desk and forced myself to look up. "I was going to ask you the same question the next time you came to my cell. I'm not the one stealing from my lover, Antony."

Mark Antony glared at me, there were several soldiers behind him looking eager to carry out any form of punishment he ordered. "I'll make sure you have a slow and painful death."

I smiled. "Only in your fantasies." I took a deep breath and said, "Circe, I accept your quest."

As Antony lunged, there was a bright light and everything disappeared into nothingness. A voice came to my mind. It was Circe.

"I'm glad you decided to accept my quest. I need you to find out why people are mysteriously missing from this village. You're resourceful. It shouldn't be too hard."