On Gods, Knights and Kings
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Correct Answer
HARRY,
MARYAM SUGGESTED I GET IN TOUCH AS WE NEED A COURIER AND SHE THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN JOINING US. HER SOURCES HAVE CONFIRMED THAT THE BOOK IS BEING HUNTED BY AN ILLEGAL FUNDRAISING GROUP NAMED MIDAS WHICH HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH SEVERAL TERROR NETWORKS IN THE LAST FEW YEARS. MARYAM HAS TRAVELLED TO ISTANBUL FOLLOWING A LEAD ON THE BUYER IN THE HOPE WE CAN SCARE THEM OFF, BUT IF THAT DOESN’T WORK THEN WE WILL NEED TO FIND THE REST OF THE BOOK CHAPTERS BEFORE MIDAS DO. WE ARE BOTH HOPING YOUR DIARY IS CLEAR, BECAUSE IF I AM RIGHT WE WILL HAVE ANOTHER THREE PLACES TO VISIT AFTER THIS ONE, AND I AM NOT SURE HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE.
I FINISHED MY WORK ON THE THIRD CHAPTER OF TACITUS’S MONOGRAPH WHICH I FOUND ON RHODES. IT WAS CONCEALED IN A LARGE STONE LINTEL BEARING AN IMAGE OF A ROSE, THE SYMBOL OF THE CONSORT OF THE SUN GOD HELIOS. INTRIGUINGLY RHODES IS ALSO KNOWN AS THE ISLAND OF THE KNIGHTS, NAMED AFTER THE KNIGHTS OF SAINT JOHN OF JERUSALEM, AND THE CLUE AT THE END OF CHAPTER THREE POINTED TO ANOTHER HOME OF THE KNIGHTS AT BODRUM, SO I TRAVELLED THERE AND WAS NOT TOO SURPRISED TO FIND CHAPTER FOUR CONCEALED IN THE REMAINS OF THEIR FORT. I WAS HOWEVER ASTONISHED BY THE TEXT! IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO CRACK IT AS I DIDN'T RECOGNISE THE ENCRYPTION AS ANYTHING CLASSICAL. WHEN I FINALLY BROKE IT I DISCOVERED THAT TACITUS HAD USED A CIPHER THAT WE THOUGHT HAD BEEN INVENTED IN SIXTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE. IT SEEMS THAT THE IMPERIAL CIPHER SCHOOL WERE MUCH MORE ADVANCED THAN WE HAD ANY REASON TO EXPECT. IF COURIER DUTY ISN'T EXCITING ENOUGH FOR YOU PERHAPS THE CHANCE TO DISCOVER MORE IMPERIAL CIPHERS WILL BE?
THE CLUE AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER IS VERY SUGGESTIVE, AND I HAVE BOUGHT A TICKET TO SELCUK TO INVESTIGATE. I AM PRETTY SURE I WAS FOLLOWED TO THE TICKET OFFICE.
IF YOU CAN COME THEN WE NEED YOU TO DROP BY THE BRITISH MUSEUM BEFORE YOU COME OUT. I THINK THERE IS SOMETHING THERE THAT WE NEED AND WILL SEND A MESSAGE TO MY CONTACT IN ROOM TWENTY TWO TELLING THEM TO EXPECT YOU AND BRIEFING THEM ON WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR. IT WOULD BE GOOD IF YOU COULD BE VERY DISCREET ABOUT THAT, BUT MAKE AS MUCH FUSS AS YOU LIKE ABOUT MEETING ME IN SELCUK. I WILL EXPLAIN LATER!
ALL THE BEST,
JODIE
Volumen IV, Caledonia victor
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Correct Answer
OVER THE YEARS THE HEROIC ROLE OF AGRICOLA AT WATLING STREET CAME TO THE NOTICE OF ROME AND TWO DECADES LATER HE WAS APPOINTED PRO CONSUL AND GOVERNOR OF BRITANNIA BY EMPEROR VESPASIAN. A FEW YEARS AFTER HIS APPOINTMENT VESPASIAN’S SON, DOMITIAN, BECAME EMPEROR, AND ONE OF HIS FIRST ACTS WAS TO ISSUE THE ORDER TO IMPLEMENT THE NEW IMPERIAL CIPHERS INVENTED BY THE CIPHER SCHOOL.
IN THE INTERVENING YEARS THE NINTH HAD BEEN LEFT TO FIGHT LONELY SKIRMISHES AND BATTLES FROM THEIR BASE AT EBORACUM. WITH FORTITUDE AND RESOLVE THEY REPEATEDLY DROVE THE BARBARIANS BACK INTO THE COLD HEARTLANDS OF CALEDONIA. DURING ONE SUCH SKIRMISH VARUS WAS MORTALLY WOUNDED AND AGRICOLA PROMOTED THE TRIBUNE MARCUS FIDELIUS CATO TO THE LEGATUS OF THE NINTH.
ONE DAY THE LUCK OF THE NINTH SEEMED TO CHANGE. A RECONNAISSANCE SQUAD REPORTED THAT THEY HAD SEEN THE AQUILA FLYING FROM A TREE AT MONS GRAUPIUS, IN A CAMP RULED BY A TRIBESMAN CALLED CALGACUS. THE NEW LEGATUS RECOGNISED THAT THE PRIVATIONS OF A LONG MARCH HAD EXHAUSTED HIS MEN, THEY WERE NOT READY FOR BATTLE AND CATO SHOULD HAVE SENT FOR REINFORCEMENTS, BUT THE JOY OF SEEING THE LOST AQUILA SO CLOSE AT HAND CLOUDED HIS JUDGEMENT, AND HE LAUNCHED AN ATTACK UNDER THE COVER OF DARKNESS.
FIGHTING UPHILL AGAINST WAVE UPON WAVE OF BARBARIANS, THE LEGION’S HEROIC EFFORTS WERE FRUSTRATED BY THE SUN RISING TO BLIND THEM AS DAWN BROKE. THE TROOPS IN THE FRONT LINE GAVE WAY WITH EXHAUSTION AND THE WILD CALGACUS DASHED OUT OF THE SUN DOWN THE BLOOD-SOAKED SLOPE WITH HIS CAVALRY INTO THE HEART OF THE LEGION. THE LEGION RAINED FLAMING ARROWS UPON THE ENEMY AND MANAGED TO UNHORSE CALGACUS TAKING HIM PRISONER, BUT COULD MAKE NO HEADWAY AGAINST THE SAVAGE HORDES AND WERE UNABLE TO REACH THE STOLEN AQUILA. WORSE WAS TO COME.
WHILE CATO ORGANISED A RETREAT WITH THE PRISONER CALGACUS IN CHAINS, THE REMAINING SOLDIERS HELD THE LINE AGAINST REPEATED CHARGES BY CALEDONIAN AND ICENIAN TRIBESMEN. WHEN THE LINE FINALLY BROKE, CATO AND MANY OF THE NINTH LEGION HAD REACHED SAFETY AND TOOK STOCK. THE CAVALRY WERE SAFE, AS WERE MANY OF THE BRAVE LEGIONNAIRES, BUT TO HIS HORROR, CATO REALISED THAT IN THE BATTLE HE HAD LOST THE SECOND AQUILA, AND WORSE, THE LEGION’S COPY OF THE CODEX HAD ALSO GONE.
THE DOCUMENTS LEFT TO ME BY AGRICOLA ARE UNCLEAR ON THIS POINT. DID HE KNOW THAT THE CODEX MIGHT HAVE FALLEN INTO ENEMY HANDS AND THAT A SECOND AQUILA HAD BEEN LOST? OR DID CATO ASSURE HIM THAT THE CODEX HAD BEEN DESTROYED AS PART OF AN ORDERLY RETREAT? PERHAPS CATO WAS YET TO RE-JOIN AGRICOLA AT THE FORT, AND COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE BATTLE HAD YET TO REACH HIM. IN A LETTER TO EMPEROR DOMITIAN, AGRICOLA WROTE “MOST EXCELLENT EMPEROR, AS YOU HAVE MOST GRACIOUSLY REQUESTED I HAVE FINISHED MY AFFAIRS HERE IN BRITANNIA IN PREPARATION FOR RETURNING TO YOUR SIDE IN ROME. IT PLEASES ME TO REPORT TO YOU THAT BY ACTS OF DIPLOMACY AND STRENGTH I HAVE PERSUADED THE NORTHERN REBELS TO YIELD TO OUR ARMY AND TO TURN OVER TO US THE REBEL CALGACUS WHO HAS REMAINED FREE SINCE THE WARS AGAINST BOUDICCA AND THE ICENI.” HIS LETTER APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN A REPLY TO NEW ORDERS FROM ROME IN WHICH DOMITIAN WROTE “MY ESTEEMED GNAEUS, UPON RECEIPT OF YOUR MOST RECENT LETTER I HAVE BEEN MOST TROUBLED. IT APPEARS CLEAR TO ME THAT THE SITUATION IN BRITANNIA HAS WORSENED AND SO I MUST ASK YOU TO RETURN TO ME AT ROME WITH THE UTMOST SPEED. CONDUCT YOUR REMAINING AFFAIRS IN THE PROVINCE AND DO NOT UNDERTAKE ANY ACTION WHICH MAY ENFLAME THE CURRENT TENSIONS BETWEEN YOURSELF AND THE CALEDONII.” THE FINAL LINE OF THE EMPEROR’S LETTER SET A DEADLINE FOR AGRICOLA’S RETURN, “I SHALL EXPECT YOU TO HAVE CROSSED THE RUBICON BY THE END OF THE YEAR”, AND PERHAPS HE FELT THAT CONTRITION WAS A SAFER REFUGE.
WHATEVER AGRICOLA KNEW AT THAT POINT, WITHIN A MONTH HIS WORLD HAD BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN, AS FURTHER REPORTS FROM CALEDONIA MADE CLEAR THAT HIS HOPE OF RESTORATION IN THE EYES OF THE EMPEROR WERE IN REAL JEOPARDY. HE SET OUT TO RECOVER THE TWO AQUILAE AND TO DETERMINE WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO THE CODEX BEFORE RETURNING TO ROME.
THOSE WHO READ ON MUST SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH IN THE SPIRITUAL HOME OF THE AMAZONS.