Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
“Master Aaron, count off your troops,” Octavia instructed Aaron.
“Fifty thousand!” Aaron cried excitedly.
She raised an eyebrow at him. “I did not tell you to scream the answer at me. I told you to count them off – and show me as you do. Knowing an answer is one thing, but how you come to it is just as important.”
Aaron literally shook with excitement, and Octavia knew that it took all the self-control that he possessed to contain it and not explode. But just as she knew that about him, she knew how desperate he was to show her that he could, as instructed.
He wants to prove that he can do it. And not just to me, but to himself, also. Attention given for doing the right thing, rather than misbehaving.
“Ten thousand… twenty thousand…” Aaron began to count.
It was Octavia, Aaron, and Henry today. They stood in the back garden, on a large patch of grass, well into the throes of their lesson. It was history that they were being taught this day, and as Octavia had been instructed by Miss Spencer, Roman history was the topic of choice.
The rise of the Roman Empire was a particularly fascinating topic and one that Octavia knew well.
She loved how it showed the consequences of actions, but not as they happened immediately, rather the slow and steady march of cause and effect.
Decisions made, actions felt decades later, often beyond what anyone could have guessed.
I hope to show Aaron how his own actions might have a similar effect, the little things he does that seem to cause no harm, rippling through time and hurting people in ways that they did not even know.
However, sitting in a classroom and learning history was boring, and it would not behoove anybody to waste time with such things as that. For this reason, Octavia had come up with a rather brilliant idea…
Aaron stood on one side of the path of grass.
Lined up before him were a series of wooden blocks of various sizes – she had found them amongst his toys from when he was younger.
Those blocks represented the number of troops, as well as the type, and only once he had learned them did she deem that she was ready for this exercise.
On the other side of the grassy path stood Henry. He had his own blocks, lined up in a different formation, and the look he wore on his face was just as excited as Aaron’s.
“Fifty thousand!” Aaron cried as he finished counting his final block. “Thirty thousand infantry, ten thousand cavalry, and ten thousand light troops.”
“Good boy.” Octavia nodded once and turned to Henry. “Henry, your turn.”
Henry started to count his own blocks…
Today, Aaron and Henry would be re-enacting the Battle of Cannnae, a famous defeat for the Roman army, and hopefully another lesson. It showed the importance of using one’s brain over brawn, and how a more subtle approach to an impossible task could see victory achieved.
“Eighty thousand!” Henry declared. “Fifty-five thousand infantry, fifteen thousand light troops, ten thousand cavalry. Eighty thousand.”
“Good boy,” she said to her brother.
Octavia walked to the middle of the grassy patch. She looked at the two boys, so eager to start. And she smiled, the thrill taking her, pleasure found in a job that she was starting to love.
“Henry, as you have the larger army, you can start. You remember what I showed you…” She looked at him.
“I do,” he said.
“Well…” She raised an eyebrow. “Show me.”
She had taught both boys separately the details of this battle, making sure that they knew their own strategy.
What she had not shown them, however, was who won, and she hoped that by the time that this was done, they would not only understand why this battle was lost by Rome, but why it was so important in history… the larger lesson to be learned.
It took ten minutes for Henry to move his blocks forward and line them up as had been done over two thousand years ago. It was a simple formation, one that relied on a large force and a lack of concern over their enemy.
“Master Aaron…” She looked at Aaron and grinned. “Show Henry what I taught you.”
“All right!” It took Aaron even less time than Henry, just because he was so eager. He expertly moved the blocks, creating a weaker center with heavier wings.
As Octavia watched, she could not help but feel a sense of pride. It would be easy for a child like Aaron to disregard what she had shown him – and that was a part of the test. To see if he could listen and take instructions. That he had the patience to do as he was told.
Once the two forces were assembled, Octavia walked the line.
“Now, based on what you can see, who is going to win?” she asked them both.
“I will,” Henry said immediately.
“Oh. And why is that?” she asked.
Henry shrugged. “My force is bigger. Stronger. And Aaron…” He pointed to the formation. “He made a mistake.”
“I did not!”
“Master Aaron,” she warned him. “Let Henry explain.”
Henry scowled at Aaron and then went back to Octavia. “His center is weak, see. I will punch through it easily.”
“Is that right?” Octavia rubbed her chin. “And then what?”
“I…” Henry blinked. “I will drive him back. His men will run when the center breaks. Won’t they…” A shadow of uncertainty passed behind his eyes.
“Let us find out,” she said with a wicked grin of her own.
The following thirty minutes were perhaps the most fun that Octavia had yet.
She watched with delight as the two boys brought their armies together.
She withheld her laughter to see how proud Henry was of his prediction that his troops would punch through the center of Aaron’s forces.
And she burst into laughter when Henry’s face dropped at the sight of Aaron bringing the wings of his men around the side of Henry’s much larger body of troops, trapping them and pushing them back into one another.
“What? No!” Henry cried. “He can’t… that’s not allowed!”
“It is!” Aaron giggled excitedly as he performed the famed pincer movement of Hannibal Barca and his Carthaginian men. “It is! Tell him, Ms. Finch.”
“You underestimated Master Aaron’s men,” she told Henry. “Being bigger and stronger isn’t always a boon.”
“But… why… what if I push this way…” He tried to move his blocks outward as if to attack the sides.
“You can try,” she said. “But now, his forces outnumber your own on the wings. See…” She showed him how. “And while they moved inwards, you are trying to push back. It is not so easy.”
“Victory!” Aaron shouted as she pushed his blocks in closer, while picking up Henry’s and tossing them away. “I win! I win!”
Although Henry was annoyed that he had lost, he was not upset. Octavia had chosen him to lose on purpose, knowing her brother would take the loss graciously… just as she knew that Aaron would not be so humble in his victory.
“I knew I would win,” he said proudly, hands on his hips. “I knew it.”
“You didn’t win,” Henry said. “Hannibal did.”
“I did win. Miss Finch, tell him!”
“The real victory is the lesson you both learned,” she said rightly.
It was as she had the boys collect the blocks that Octavia looked toward the mansion and noticed the Duke lurking in the window and watching. A small part of her worried that he might question her methods, as there was nothing traditional about what she did here today.
But a greater part knew too that he would not mind nearly as much as he might pretend. While her job was to educate Aaron, it was also to help him grow. And that was a task she had risen to in spades.
For that reason, Octavia looked directly at the Duke so that he could see her, and then she waved.
He did not wave back, which was not a surprise. Nor did he duck away from the window as he had done in the past. Rather, he continued to watch her, and Octavia did not mind how it felt. Not one little bit.
“What now?” Aaron asked once all the blocks were collected.
“Hhmmm…” Octavia looked to the sky, taking note of the time. They still had another hour of lessons, but she felt that such things were not needed today.
It is important to know when a victory has been won and not to push beyond what is necessary. And based on both boys’ reactions, I would say this lesson was a resounding victory, so best to savor it.
“I think a game to end the day,” she said.
They both gasped and started to buzz eagerly.
“Hide-and-seek… yes, that will do nicely. The two of you hide, and I will come find you. The loser…” She flashed her eyes at them. “I have not decided yet, but know that neither of you want to be found first.”
Octavia sat down on the grass and covered her eyes. Then she countered to one hundred as both boys scampered away, laughing the entire time.
It was only when Octavia removed her hands and called out to them that she was ready when she realized her mistake…
She looked across the garden and then toward the mansion.
In all her excitement, she realized now that she had not given them any instructions on where they could and could not hide.
Ordinarily, she might confine them to the lower level of the mansion, or even just the garden.
In this instance, no such rules were set.
Well done, Octavia. Perhaps you could learn a thing or two from Hannibal.
She sighed loudly as she started around the edges of the garden, knowing too well that the boys were likely to be found somewhere inside. When the garden was properly checked, as well as the sides of the manor, she trudged inside.
The next twenty minutes were spent exploring the large mansion. She went from room to room, calling out to the boys, knowing they would never respond, just as she knew how unlikely she was to find them.
They will hide for the rest of their lives, if that is what it takes. I really should have been more careful.
Another twenty minutes passed by, and still she came up empty.
Finally, with all the rooms checked, a realization dawned upon Octavia, and it was one that sent a spike of worry through her very being. She felt comfortable in this home, but it was not her rightful place, and there were still rules attached to where she could and could not go.
With this in mind, Octavia found herself standing by the eastern wing of the manor. The hallway leading down its length was long and dark, an ominous energy called to her; a warning that she would do well to not traverse such a mysterious place.
While the rules that the Duke had set were somewhat bendable – she had already broken one of them – her being banned from the eastern wing was one rule that she sensed she would do well to stick to.
It was undoubtedly his most random rule, which tells me how important it is. Whatever is in the eastern wing, he does not want me going there. And should I do so…
A cold shudder ran up her spine at the thought.
Octavia did not fear the Duke. She did not think of him as violent or vengeful. She did, however, respect him, and she had made a promise to obey his rules… she was his employee, after all.
But as she stood on the precipice of the eastern wing, her curiosity grew. The Duke was a mystery to her, and he had made himself so on purpose. There was so much about him that she did not know, and so much that she wanted to.
Don’t do it, Octavia. Respect his rules. Turn around! Behave!
She almost laughed at the notion that she was hired to teach Aaron to behave and follow instruction, but that she could not do so herself.
The longer that she stood by the entrance to the eastern wing, the more her curiosity piqued. This wasn’t about the Duke… it wasn’t about some rules… it was about finding the two boys… that was why she wanted to go down there.
That was a lie, but it was a lie that she needed to believe. For that reason, Octavia threw caution to the wind and started into the eastern wing of the mansion. In and out, she would duck, so quickly that nobody would know that she had been.
Should the Duke learn of this, she supposed that she would find out why he had banned her from entering in the first place. That thought, as terrifying as it was, was just as exciting, and she held onto that feeling as she waded into the depths of the eastern wing… another rule resoundingly broken.
Consequences be damned.