THE LAST CAESAR 6
USUAL DISCLAIMER
"THE LAST CAESAR" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family, opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcomed guest.
THE LAST CAESAR
By Andrej Koymasky © 2020
Ended writing on December 2nd 2005
Translated by the Author
English text kindly reviewed by Talo Segura
CHAPTER 6
DEFYING FATE
Orestes, in the name of his son, administered the empire with prudence and cunning, but the times were turbulent: the authority of Rome, of the emperor and especially of the Senate itself, had by now definitively disappeared. Many peoples, for too long subjugated grew more and more fierce, discontent brewed, even if not necessarily and not always to destroy the Latin civilization that retained a considerable fascination for these barbarians.
Ravenna, the de facto capital of the Western Empire, enjoyed an apparent tranquillity, but the fire smouldered under the ashes, ready to ignite with the slightest spark.
Helvius had not given up trying to see his beloved boyfriend again. Attending the baths and talking to some important clients to whom he provided boys, with astuteness he managed to steer the conversation to the Caesars' palace. With wise and apparently innocent questions, he finally managed to figure out which were the windows of the part inhabited by Romulus.
Not wishing to arouse suspicion, this discreet investigation took him almost three months. It was therefore the end of February 1229, when, finally, he knew how much he cared about it. He began to monitor the imperial palace, to note the patrol rounds of the sentinels, their fixed positions, the schedule they followed, especially during the night.
During the day, however, he carefully studied the outer wall of the building in correspondence with the windows of the imperial rooms, to see if there were any holds. He realized that alone he would not be able to climb it.
He needed help and who else could he ask but Cimon? He imagined his friend would have dissuaded him with a thousand difficulties, that he would have done everything in his power to convince him, but he hoped to be able to win his friend over.
Another problem was that, being in the midst of winter, the windows were not closed with the open wooden gratings, but with frames with thin slabs of alabaster. Only at certain times of the day and for a short time were they opened by slaves, to change the air in the rooms. But certainly he could not hope to be able to jump inside during the day time, with passersby in the street and the servants in the room, in addition to the patrols.
Once he climbed up, he could knock on one of the plates... but if it wasn't the window of the room where Romulus slept, he wouldn't hear it... From what he had learnt, there were three private imperial rooms, corresponding to the three large windows, but he had failed to discover which corresponded to the room where Romulus slept. So he had one chance in three to hit the right window... Of the three, the easiest, or rather the least difficult to reach, was the one on the left...
When darkness fell, he had never seen any light leak from the windows, which made him think that at night there were heavy curtains pulled across in front of them, probably to better protect the interior from the winter cold. So he could not even see in which of the three rooms the light was kept on longer, which could tell him where Romulus slept.
Helvius quivered with frustration. Everything seemed to conspire against him. Each time, by dint of thinking about how to find a way to enter Romulus's room, he got a severe headache.
Cimon realized that his boss and friend was in a state of feverish prostration.
"You just cannot get him out of your mind, eh?" he asked him with sympathy and affection.
"No..." the handsome young man almost moaned. "I have to see him, meet him... When he leaves the palace he is always escorted by the guards, nobody can approach him..."
Then he told Cimon and Icenius about the possibilities and difficulties he had seen in his explorations outside the imperial palace. The two youths listened to him carefully.
"No..." Cimon said finally, "it is a desperate task to try to climb up to the windows... at best you could try it in the summer, when it will be good weather and the windows will be open..."
"I cannot wait that long!" protested Helvius.
Then Icenius asked, "May I speak, masters?"
"Speak." Helvius told him as Cimon nodded.
"I noticed that you, Helvius, never wanted to sell the things you had taken in your Romulus' room."
"Of course not."
"So I thought... if Cimon pretended to be a Greek merchant... he could ask to sell those precious objects to the emperor... who would surely recognize them and maybe he could tell him that you sent him and perhaps together they could find a way for you to see him..."
"You imagine if they will let me talk to the emperor!" Cimon objected. "At best, they'll let me talk to the palace master..."
Helvius, however, was interested: "But it could work, you are a genius, Icenius! Yes... Cimon, you could go with one piece, the most precious one... and if they do not allow you to talk with him you can always say that you have other pieces to propose to the emperor... However, Romulus will recognize it and he will want to meet you... "
Thus, they organized all the aspects, discussed the details, Cimon, dressed in the fashion of the Greek merchants, followed by Icenius with the most precious piece, a gold goblet decorated with embossed mythological figures, enclosed in a wooden box, showed himself at the door of the palace of the Caesars and said that he had a precious piece to sell for "the joy of the emperor".
As he had foreseen, he was not admitted in the presence of Romulus, but that of the palace master, who examined the piece and asked him how much he was asking. Being an attractive price, he decided to buy it. Then Cimon said, "Tell Romulus Augustus that I have other beautiful pieces made by the famous goldsmith Helvius and that if he is interested, I can sell them."
"Where can I find you, in case, merchant?"
"I'm travelling, I will not be in town, but I'll be back in six days and I'll come and see you. If the emperor might be interested, I'll try to get more pieces from the jeweller Helvius for his delight..."
When the master of the palace, proud of having bought that piece for a very good price, and cuningly recording it in the palace books at a higher price then pocketing the difference, he took it to Romulus, who immediately recognized one of the objects that had been taken by Helvius.
"How did you get this nice cup?" he asked, trying to disguise his agitation.
"I bought it from a young Greek merchant. He says it was made by the goldsmith Helvius, and that he has other pieces..."
The heart of the young emperor lept: "I want to see this Greek merchant and what other works of this goldsmith Helvius he has to offer me! Send a messenger to him and bring him here to me at once!" he ordered, trying not to let his excitement show too much.
"Augustus, unfortunately, the merchant is no longer in Ravenna..."
"Ah." the boy said with great disappointment.
"But he says that in a few days he will pass again and he will come to the palace with other works by that goldsmith..."
"Good. When he shows up again, tell him that I want to see him and I want to evaluate in person what he has to offer me. This Helvius is a true artist, do you not agree?"
"Yes... the cup is beautiful... it almost seems like an ancient piece..."
"Oh, you know, sometimes the craftsmen imitate works of the past and give them a patina of antiquity to make them more interesting..." Romulus promptly said, knowing that the cup had actually sat on the table to the emperor Tiberius.
Helvius waited anxiously for Cimon to return home. Cimon told him what had taken place and gave him the coins that the palace master had paid him.
"No, keep them, they're yours. You had a brilliant idea to say that the chalice was the work of master Helvius. I only hope that the master of the palace does not keep the chalice for himself... that Romulus sees it... and he will surely understand that I am sending it to him. But why did you say you'd be back in six days? Six more days of waiting..."
"I could not tell him that I live here, you understand? A merchant moves around, and at most stops at an inn. Besides it is not certain that the master of palace would immediately bring the chalice to the emperor, right?"
"Yes... you are cunning, clever as a Greek!"
Cimon handed him the coins again: "You're kind to give me these... but I beg you to subtract them from how much I owe you for Icenius..."
"No, keep them... and if I can meet Romulus, I'll erase all the rest of the debt. I owe it to Icenius and you, after all. You're real friends, you two."
So, six days later, as before, followed by Icenius with the casket holding other precious pieces, Cimon showed up again at the Caesars palace. The master of the palace, after having them carefully searched to make sure they had no hidden weapons, introduced them into the emperor's private rooms.
Romulus dismissed everyone, in order to remain alone with the two young men.
"So, merchant... you know... the goldsmith Helvius?" he asked, wondering if by chance his beloved had sold the pieces he had taken from the villa to the merchant.
"He's a dear friend... he begged me to bring you these pieces... that belong to you."
Romulus brightened up: "Did he send you? I guessed it... I guessed it! Where is he? How is he? Does he think of me?"
"He does not think of anything else, Augustus, night and day. He would like to find a way to see you..."
"Me too, me too! But could not he come instead of you?"
"See, Augustus, here at court he's known... because of his other job he told you about. He could not risk it, they would not have believed him if he introduced himself as a merchant... "
"Yes, that's true. But then, I cannot sneak out like I used to..."
Cimon told him about Helvius' idea of climbing up to his windows, but of the difficulties, first of all, being winter, the windows were always shut. They discussed this and agreed. Romulus took only one of the pieces, so that Cimon had more to offer should he need to return, and gave orders to the palace master to pay him.
Cimon and Icenius returned to Helvius.
"Then? Did you see him? Did you talk to him?" he asked as soon as he saw them.
"Yes. He regretted that it was me and not you... I told him your crazy plan... He said that the window of the room where he sleeps is the one on the right and that from this night on he will leave it ajar. He told me to tell you to be very cautious... but he is waiting for you. "
Helvius hugged him, excited and happy.
"Then... this very night you will come with me and help me climb up to his window. Without your help it would be almost impossible. We will have little time between one passage of the patrol and the next one. We will go there at the sixth hour of night, the safest, because everyone has been sleeping for a long time."
He went immediately to the thermae to relax and clean himself thoroughly, he shaved his beautiful face carefully, paid a masseur to relax his muscles... In the evening he almost did not eat, he was so excited.
Finally, when the night was at its full, the three slipped, silent and cautiously, onto the street at the back of the imperial palace, where the windows of Romulus's rooms were. Well hidden in the shadows, they waited for the four soldiers of the patrol, with their cadenced steps, to walk the street and turn around the corner.
Then Cimon leaned against the wall, under the window of the room, he made a ladder with his hands and Icenius climbed up on him, until he stood on his shoulders, leaning against the wall to maintain a good balance he too made a ladder with his hands. Finally Helvius climbed over the bodies of the two youths, managed to hoist himself onto the shoulders of Icenius and clung to the cornice that passed under the windows. As he hoisted himself up, cautiously, Icenius jumped to the ground. In that moment they heard the rhythmic step of the watch return.
"Get on the ground, master, pretend to be drunk!" Icenius whispered.
Cimon immediately understood and let himself go down on the pavement of the street, while Icenius nestled next to him and called him, starting the scene for the benefit of the patrol: "Master, master, get up... let's go home, master..."
Helvius looked down and understood. He flattened himself against the wall, motionless, hoping that none of the soldiers looked up. Icenius' stratagem worked: the four soldiers' eyes were attracted by the two figures on the pavement.
"Hey, what are you doing here? Stand up, and go!" ordered the patrol leader.
"My master is completely drunk, he cannot stand!" Icenius complained.
"And you take him by the armpits and drag him away. You cannot stay here. Go! Go!"
Icenius passed Cimon's arm around his neck, made him stand up, and he put his arm around his waist and staggered away, while Cimon hummed obscene songs. The soldiers laughed and resumed their rounds. Then, finally, Helvius could move to the window and push the casement, which gave way silently.
He heaved himself onto the windowsill and, smoothly and quietly, slipped into the room. He closed the window behind him and pushed a aside the heavy curtain.
Romulus was not asleep; he was too excited. Sitting on the bed, a lamp on a small cabinet next to it, the wide brazier on the floor, lit, he waited, his eyes fixed on the curtain that hid the window.
When he heard the voices of the soldiers in the street he had a start: he was afraid that they may have surprised his Helvius. Then he heard the voice say that the master was drunk and was not able to stand up... He wanted to go to the window to make sure that nothing had happened to his Helvius, but then he thought that maybe he had not yet arrived there, that maybe he would came the following evening... He heard the drunken singing, the steps of the patrol going away...
He then saw the curtain move, slide away... and his beloved, his sun, lit the whole room with a wide smile.
"My beloved! Finally!" the boy murmured excitedly, getting out of bed and going to meet him.
Helvius went to him, took him in his arms and kissed him holding him tightly to himself.
"Here I am, my love!" he whispered. "How are you?"
"Now well... and soon even better. Come, it's cold, come on the bed, under the blanket."
They quickly got rid of their clothes and lay under the warm blanket, hugging each other again.
Their erections arose beautiful, strong, pressing against each other. Their bodies heated each other, burning with passion.
"Take me, my beloved, let me feel that I am still yours... all yours."
"I wish you were all and only mine and I had not to share you with Rome, with the empire!"
"I hate being emperor, only for the absurd aims of my father! I would rather be a beggar, a beggar but free." Romulus whispered.
"You remain for me the sweet boy who gave me his virginity... my flower." Helvius replied and kissed him again.
Then Romulus broke away, turned in his arms and pressed his little ass against the hard shaft of his beloved.
"Oh... take me..."
"Yes, my flower... here I am..." Helvius whispered starting to slide into him.
Romulus felt him enter and sighed joyfully, pushing against him to speed up the entrance of his sun into the sanctuary of mysteries.
Helvius began to make his messenger of love dance in him, feeling happy, inebriated by the secret rite that he could finally celebrate again.
"I love you... I love you... I love you..." Romulus murmured, feeling ecstatic.
"My love... my everything... my flower..." was the counterpoint of the young man.
CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 7
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