Fools Scorn Love Pt 4

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Part Four

“Mind Like a Sieve”

Valens groaned and rolled over. His pounding head and the memory of a pleasant dream made him want to go back to sleep. Sitting up, he looked about to find himself in the grass, surrounded by thick mist. He wondered if a sudden change in weather had delayed their march.

Noting a soldier lying nearby, Valens sought to dispel his confusion. 

“Hey, friend. What’s the hour?”

Valens spoke louder.

“What’s happened, friend? My head’s foggy.”

Valens shook the man gently.

“Rise, friend.”

Again, no reply came.

“Wake up!”

The silence made his skin crawl.

“Get up! Are you dead?”

Valens knew the answer. 

Wobbling to his feet, he rolled the body and retched. He had to pause and steel himself before investigating further. But in every direction, he found only death. 

Gods! How? How? 

Numb, Valens staggered aimlessly in the mist, probing every corpse he found for signs of life.

“Am I the only one left?” he shouted.

 Disorientated, leery of the swirling mists, Valens knelt weeping and prayed.

Beauteous Lady, Jewel of the Gods, I beseech your aide. If another survives, surely it must be Crispus. Please guide me, Venus. 

Valens’s heart sank as the silence persisted. He rocked gently, mumbling to himself. 

“Crispus. Crispus. Crispus.”

Crispus’s voice rang out, piercing the gloom as if waiting for Valens to utter his name.

“Valens!”

Valens leaped to his feet.

“Crispus?”

Silence hung in the air, making Valens fear he might be hallucinating. Despair swallowed him until he heard his name again.

“Crispus! Where are you?”

Not waiting for a reply, Valens charged blindly in the direction that felt sure right. 

“Keep speaking! I’ll follow your voice!”

“Valens!”

“That’s it!”

Hope restored, Valens ran, dodging or leaping bodies as needed.

“Damn this mist! It’s not natural. Crispus?”

Valens stopped, concerned he had somehow turned himself around. He recognized the distinct trickle of flowing water and remembered the river. Valens had last seen Crispus holding the signum high on the bridge. Guessing the direction, he hoped to follow the river to the bridge. 

“At the river! Don’t know which way the bridge is! I need you to yell again!”

“VALENS!”

The cry sounded close. With a quick dash, Valens saw massive stones materialize before him. Peering across the bridge, he thrilled as the mists thinned, revealing a figure far off on the other side.

“Crispus!” 

Rushing across the bridge, Valens experienced an attack of vertigo right before stepping onto the other side. Pulling him up abruptly, the sensation knocked him to the ground. Dazed, he tried to collect his wits.

“Valens!”

“I’m… coming. I Must have run too fast. Whoo! Felt like I was falling. I’m coming.”

Crawling to his hands and knees, he looked to see how much further he had to go.

“Gods!”

Valens remembered crossing the river, yet somehow, he hadn’t moved. Crispus’s figure still stood across the bridge on the other side. Bewildered, Valens turned slowly, surveying his surroundings, gasping again at the slaughter as if seeing it for the first time.

“Gods! The legion’s gone!”

His hands flew to the sides of his face, inadvertently brushing a gash on his temple. He winced. 

“Wounded? I… don’t remember.”

“Valens!”

“Crispus! Yes, he’ll know what to do. He’s on the other side waiting.”

 Valens ran, nearly reaching the other side of the bridge until vertigo struck, and he found himself back where he had started. Something refused to let him cross; the thought frightened Valens. 

The gods toy with me. Venus, help me.

Valens tried to cross repeatedly, only to end up at the beginning each time.

But he sensed something else happening. He increasingly had difficulty thinking clearly, and he struggled to remember things.

“Strange place. So cold! What was the name?”

Valens grip on sanity continued to deteriorate, and eventually, only the carnage and finding Crispus alive filled his mind.

“Dreadful. So many dead! They’ve sacked Rome, and their gods blight our lands with ice and snow. Crispus’s surely nearer death in this cold.”

The power of the bridge gnawed at his self-awareness.

“Why am I carrying this spear?”

Removing his cloak, Valens stared, trying to understand what he wore.

“A wolf pelt? Strange. Just cross the bridge. Crispus will explain.”

 Valens suspected every attempt to reach the other side stripped another piece of him away, and suddenly it occurred to him the bridge could take his memory of Crispus too. The realization froze Valen in his tracks. Panicked, unsure if he should continue, he frantically deliberated about what to do. He stared longingly at the figure waiting on the other bank. 

Why isn’t he coming to meet me? 

Is he hurt? If so, how does he stand on his feet?

“Crispus?” he shouted.

Seemingly in response to his call, multiple shadowy figures coalesced in the mists at the other end of the bridge. Valens’s heart raced, and his bowels squirmed as the shadows solidified, barring his way.

Gods! Is this what destroyed the legion? 

The shades crept closer, and Valens trembled, knowing he must face them. His spear felt heavy and dull in his hands.

I’m no warrior. Not yet, anyway. Venus beseech Mars to aid me. 

The stench of death grew, and a sinister chill gripped Valens as he forced himself to confront the evil presence. He advanced with increasing difficulty. Monstrous features resolved more clearly with each step, sapping his courage.

 The beasts have killed everyone except me. I’ve no chance.

No. Another survives.

Someone dear. A friend? No, one more than that. 

That’s why I cross this bridge!

Caught between conflicting desires, Valens stood, feeling his resolve break.

“I’m sorry, whoever you are! Sorry, I can’t remember your name or even your face! I am weak! The terror is too great! Forgive me! I dare not cross!”

“VALENS!”

The shout engulfed him with a flood of harmonic noise. With his fears washed away, Valens felt his courage welling up in response to hearing his name. He stood a little taller and raised his spear with a firm grip. 

“Love rushes to fortify me, impelling me forward whatever the cost! If reunion in this world eludes us, then know love will bring us together in death!”

Valens roared a battle cry, brandished his spear, and rushed headlong into the beasts blocking his way.