I put out his fire

After sunset, charcoal fires were still burning in the braziers on both sides of the street.By this time the crowd had dispersed.

Rhodes stepped on the petals and husks and walked to the camp of the Guards, holding his sword in his hand.His shadow was elongated by the afterglow of the setting sun, like a stroke of black ink splashed on golden paint.

Suddenly, a series of tinkling sounds sounded behind the ears.Rhodes drew his sword almost instinctively, and the light of the sword leaped like a fish, and landed on the neck of the visitor.

Virgil opened his eyes, his face was flushed with fright, and the blood color seemed to solidify on his face instantly.His legs and feet were shaking, and the copper coins in his hand were scattered all over the floor, which was more greasy and shiny than his hair.

Rodden paused and put away his sword.He looked at Virgil, who was dressed in coarse cloth, and said, "Why are you?"

Virgil punched him, puffing out his nostrils, his thin body twisted a few times, like a monkey scratching its ears and cheeks.

"You have scared my soul back to the Corsica military camp!" His voice trembled, "God never makes it easy for a good person like me!"

Rhode glanced at him, "You escaped from the barracks?"

"It's not an escape." Virgil wiped his nose, and his bulbous nose moved comically, "I gave the guard brother a little favor, but I have to go back tonight..."

Rhodes tightened his loose gloves, and his hard shoulders were like a bow lying down.

He asked with a cold face, "What are you doing in Rome?"

"To make money, of course!" Virgil put the money bag in front of his face and shook it, making a crisp knocking sound.

"The torch smeared with rosin earned me five hundred sesterces! I was stuffed with coins like a stone beast's mouth in a temple!"

"You really have a heart in the shape of a coin." Rhodes satirized him, and the corners of his sharp eyes evoked a very faint smile.

"I am willing!" Virgil put the money bag into his arms, with the usual philistine shrewdness in his eyes, "The people in Rome are really rich, and the carnival fires are endless day and night! After I retire, I will be in Torches, grease, and hay are sold here, and my threshold will be broken by these rich people at that time!"

Rhode tightened the scabbard, his eyelashes drooping like a polished thin blade.His feet took a step like the edge of a sword, and there was a touch of will in every move.

"Then I wish you a rich fuel dealer soon!" After speaking, he turned around and prepared to leave.

"Don't worry..." Virgil put his arm around his shoulders, with a playful smile on his face.

His stubby fingers fumbled in the collar and unearthed a strip of bronze carved with Venus and her son Cupid embracing each other.

That was the amulet that every Roman wore.Since half of the babies born will die, parents put amulets on the newborn children to pray for safety, and they can't take them off until they are 15 years old.

"You haven't worn this before, so you won't appreciate its benefits!" Virgil hung the amulet around Rhodes' neck, and a trace of seriousness flowed in his carefree temperament like a floating cloud.

"I once resold illegal salt, drank the commander's wine secretly, and went to a brothel secretly in violation of military orders. But I was not punished... probably because of it!"

Rhodes stroked the amulet, and there was a flash of dark light in his eyes.

"A gift at the time of parting..." Virgil put on a proud expression, and boasted bluntly, "How is it? Am I a loyal friend?"

The scene in front of him is actually very familiar to Rhodes, such as wearing familiar underwear that is pressed to the bottom of a box, such as parchment that has been memorized and then closed, or an outdated song with a melody that has been hummed badly and is no longer sung.

In short, it is the kind of thing that is hidden in the memory and occasionally pops up to make people recall and sigh.

Back then, Nero gave him the most precious thing in the same way.

—and his life.

Rhode's eyes drooped, his thoughts were a little detached.His icy lip line moved slightly, almost saying to the old image of Nero in his memory: "Thank you..."

The shadow of his eyelashes was elongated by the afterglow, and the eyelashes were like sharp cones, as if they could be stabbed just by looking at them.

Virgil stared at him for a while, his expression loosened, and he let out a long sigh, "Oh..."

Rhodes straightened his neckline and glanced at him.

Virgil spread his hands exaggeratedly, and said in a strange way: "Your skin, which is comparable to a red rose, how many people's blood do you want to soak in?!"

Rhodes despised his compliment from the bottom of his heart.

……

The guards were stationed near the palace and concentrated in a villa, which was convenient for the royal family to dispatch at any time.

Each new guard is assigned a separate room, and there are public slaves in the villa for others to send.

Rhodes had no luggage and only carried a sword with him.After registering at the door, he followed the slave's guidance to his room.

It was late at night.

The slave lit the candle and made the bed for Rhodes.

"There is everything here!" the slave introduced, "fish sauce and foie gras for lunch, warm goat's milk and fish for dinner. There are also expensive ice cubes, but you have to pay to use them. If you want, you can also Take some olive oil from the table and use it to shave your body in the bath. There is always wine in the dining room, which is a high-end import from Gaul..."

"Is there any beer?" Rhodes hung the long sword on the wooden stand, and stroked his somewhat messy hair casually.

The slave was surprised and replied: "...No, beer is a cheap and inferior drink."

Rhodes snorted coldly, with a look of disdain, "Then what is everything?!"

He stepped on the desk, jumped onto the window sill next to him, and smashed open the blinds with his knees, his movements were extremely casual.

The slave was dumbfounded.

Rhodes changed from a pirate to a soldier.The pirate habits he has accumulated over the years are like the strong smell of wine left in a wine bottle.

He sat by the window, and the night wind made his long hair dance around his temples like black flames.He raised his head, his calves hanging out of the window.

This angle allowed him to see a little of the spiers of the palace palace.In the field of vision, the silhouette of the pointed spire is just embedded in the center of the moon, as if the moon was pierced by the spire.

He was silent for a while, then suddenly raised his finger and pointed outside: "Is that the palace?"

"Yes." The slave replied humbly, "It's less than fifty steps away from the imperial palace. If you walk there, the line of the water clock will not exceed half a block."

Rhode's eyes moved down, fixedly staring at the colorful murals on the walls of the palace.

"Purple..." He suddenly raised his hand, pointing at the oil paint on the mural, which startled the slave, "When it gets dirty, it's no different from other colors."

Seeing that his mind was wandering, the slave reminded him kindly: "You are exhausted from traveling, you'd better rest early tonight. Tomorrow you have to participate in Lord Domitius' divination ceremony. Adults are mortals who are closest to gods, and they love to work with gods." communicate……"

"Domitius?" Rhodes wondered, "Is that Nero?"

"...Yes." The slave responded, "But we shouldn't call the adults by their names, are you right?"

Rhodes ignored his suggestion and remained stubbornly silent.His hair has long been disheveled by the night wind, and he doesn't care about it.

The slave was a little helpless, cleared his throat in embarrassment, and continued: "I must remind you that there will be a rodeo after the divination, and all your guards will participate in it, including the newcomer of course you..."

Rhodes grabbed his hair, seemingly casually, "Competition?"

"Yes." The slave nodded, "Blood and battle are the highest rewards to the gods, and this is the practice of divination."

As he said that, he took two steps towards Rhodes, his eyes dodged, "Well... do you need some special weapons..." He lowered his voice and said.

"What weapon?" Rhode turned his face slightly.

"It's just some swords and forks with hidden mechanisms." The slave said with a guilty conscience, "Many guards have bought these secretly. Although the price is a bit expensive, it may save lives at critical moments... The nobles are only interested in watching the blood. , will not pursue these little tricks..."

Rhodes took out a silver coin, flicked his thumb, the silver coin rolled a few times in the air, and landed at the slave's feet with a loud sound.

The slave was overjoyed and quickly picked it up, "Do you want to buy a double-edged scimitar or..."

"I don't need those!" Rhodes evoked an unruly smile, "This is your reward."

Slaves are unbelievable.He was stunned for a while, then knelt down to thank him and then retreated.

Rhodes pressed his fingers against the blinds that had been blown wildly by the wind.His nails moved in the moonlight and were a very healthy flesh color.

This meant that the poisonous reed in his body had been completely removed.

……

On the day of divination, when Rhodes came to the temple with the team, Nero and his mother were already sitting in the distant curtain.

The figures of the mother and the child were covered by the golden yarn gauze, like two erratic clouds of mist.

In the previous life, the prophet made two predictions about Nero:

The first is that Nero will become emperor, but he will also commit the crime of killing his mother; the second is that all the disasters in his life were brought about by fire.

Back then, these two prophecies were widely spread, and they all came true in the end.

After Nero ascended the throne, he sent guards to kill his mother; later, because of a fire that burned for three days and three nights, the Senate began to impeach him, suspecting that he deliberately set fire to expand the palace.He has since lost popularity.

The prophecy stood on a high place, and the ivory table was engraved with Latin letters.The moonlight cast down through the hollow of the dome, covering the prophecy like a beam of light.White candles lay on the ground like tiny hairs on the corals of the seabed.Priests with white veils on their heads surrounded the table, shaking golden bells in their hands.The sound of bells spread like boiling water vapor.

The entire hall was filled with golden candlelight, and even the dust in the air condensed into suspended gold.

The guards wore gray iron-colored military uniforms and lined up under the prophecy platform, looking from a distance like a piece of molten iron that was about to solidify.

Rhodes wore an iron helmet, and his mouth and nose were tightly wrapped.The sharp corners of his eyes were partially blocked by the helmet, leaving only a pair of stern black eyes.

The divination ceremony will begin soon.

The all-white-haired prophet is already an old man.He is dressed in a white robe, with a fluttering white satin on his head, and holds a bronze staff with the image of Jupiter engraved on the top of the staff.

He walked steadily onto the prophecy platform, followed by two saintesses, one with a rooster in his arms and the other with wheat in his hand.

His expression is as pious as a pilgrimage, and his whole body is dominated by an absolute belief:

"The world's naked eyes are cloudy, so they are endowed with suffering to wear away their blindness; the world's natural lust | desires, so they are given pain to erode their desires. Minerva gave me wisdom, Venus gave me love, and I am like a shackle among saints and mortals. ;Diana gave me hope, Latona gave me darkness, and I tortured myself in the reality of my wishes. Jupiter, father of the gods, you still have fans in Rome, and Augustus vowed to rely on you all his life. Even if the sun is cold, this oath is warm; every color fades, this oath never fades; every marble is corroded, this oath never fades. For this oath Tiber Nero flows, and all devils grieve for this oath! "

The priest lights the stick, and the dark blue smoke rises slowly.The smoke has a slight smoky smell of Indian spices, and all the candlelight is haloed, wrapped in the halo like an embryo in a cell.

The prophet throws the wheat onto the table, cuts the rooster's throat with a knife, and the blood of the chicken spurts on the wheat in an instant.

He chanted a mantra:

"Fate is fleeting like phosphorous fire, and fortune is unpredictable like flowing clouds.

The destiny of man is a drop in the ocean, but the oracle of God is as firm as a rock. "

He picked up the initials and carefully peeled off the blood-stained wheat.This is quite time consuming work.

After a long time, he put down the initials and stared at the revealed letters.

The prophet opened his eyes wide, and his lips engraved with ravines opened doubtfully.He was obviously very flustered, his throat vibrated tentatively a few times and then returned to stillness, as if hesitating to speak.

He seemed about to say something heresy; and before that, a hesitant silence reigned over the temple for a moment.

"What's wrong?" A slightly forceful female voice came from the gauze tent.

This is Nero's mother, Agrippina.She is the great-granddaughter of Octavian.

The prophet hesitated, "This is a very weird oracle, I have never seen it in my life..."

"Speak up!" Agrippina ordered.

The prophet was silent for a while, then said: "The fate of your son's life will be in the hands of three people."

He looked puzzled, "The first one is the talking dead man, who will let him have everything..."

"The dead can still talk?!" Agrippina wondered.She opened a gap in the gauze, revealing her gloomy pupils, as cold as the eyes of a snake.

"Yes, my lord," said the prophet, "the second, a woman with a beard, will make him lose everything; It will cost him everything."

Nero behind the curtain has been silent.Agrippina next to him put down the veil and counted: "The dead who spoke, the woman with the beard, the child born of a virgin... this sounds too absurd, doesn't it?"

"I'm sorry, my lord." The prophet said respectfully. "This is the oracle. All I did was convey it."

His old bark-like hand caressed the ivory stand, and the voice of an old organ came out of his throat: "In addition... all the disasters in your son's life were brought about by water."

Rhode's eyelashes trembled slightly, and his gaze was like the tip of an arrow about to be launched, with a hint of danger.

In this life, Nero's catastrophe changed from fire to water.