Left hanging?
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Correct Answer
WELL THAT WAS A SURPRISE! AND QUITE A RELIEF. AS I SAID BEFORE, NO-ONE REALLY KNOWS WHERE THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON WERE LOCATED, AND I DON’T THINK WE WOULD HAVE HAD A CHANCE OF FINDING THE NEXT CHAPTER IF THAT WAS WHERE IT WAS BURIED, BUT IT SEEMS THAT TACITUS HAD A BETTER IDEA. THE BABYLONIAN GODDESS OF LOVE AND WAR WAS ISHTAR, AND THE ISHTAR GATE FROM BABYLON WAS ONE OF THE ORIGINAL SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD. IT WAS LATER REPLACED BY THE LIGHTHOUSE OF ALEXANDRIA, SO I AM NOT SURE WHY TACITUS USED BOTH, BUT MAYBE BECAUSE HE DIDN’T KNOW WHERE THE HANGING GARDENS WERE EITHER. OR MAYBE HE JUST WANTED TO CONFUSE THE UNINITIATED AND TO ADD AN EXTRA LAYER OF SECRECY VIA CONFUSION. A BIT LIKE HE DOES BY PILING UP CIPHERS IN THESE LATER CHAPTERS.
ANYWAY, WE ARE IN LUCK. THE ISHTAR GATE NOW LIVES IN THE PERGAMON MUSEUM IN BERLIN, AND I HAPPEN TO HAVE A PASS TO THE FULL COLLECTION. I AM NOT SURE HOW THEY WILL FEEL ABOUT US DISMANTLING IT TO TRY TO FIND CHAPTER SEVEN, BUT IF WE EXPLAIN WHAT IS IN IT I SUSPECT THE CURATOR’S CURIOSITY WILL OVERCOME HIS NATURAL PROTECTIVENESS. PERHAPS THERE WE WILL FINALLY UNLOCK THE SECRET OF THE IXTH LEGION? THAT LEAVES THE QUESTION OF HOW WE DEAL WITH MIDAS, AND MARYAM HAS A CLEVER IDEA. WE SHOULD LET THE COLLECTOR DEAL WITH THEM. THE RUSSIAN MAFIA CAN BE PRETTY RUTHLESS IF THEY FEEL BETRAYED, AND SHE HAS SUGGESTED A WAY WE MIGHT MAKE THE THIEVES FALL OUT. IT IS A CUNNING PLAN, AND I THINK I CAN HELP.
Volumen VII, Oblivion, betrayal
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Correct Answer
WITH HINDSIGHT, AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PEACE WAS THROWN AWAY. CALGACUS MAY HAVE BEEN A TRAITOR, BUT HE WAS BORN A ROMAN AND HAD FORGED THE LOCAL TRIBES INTO AN ORGANISED AND DISCIPLINED FORCE. IT MAY HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE TO TREAT WITH HIM, BRINGING CALEDONIA WITHIN THE EMPIRE IN EXCHANGE FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP OF CALEDONIA. BUT SALUSTIUS WAS A GREEDY AND AMBITIOUS MAN, FOR WHOM VICTORY WAS EVERYTHING. HE HAD NO WISH TO SHARE CALEDONIA, OR GLORY, WITH CALGACUS AND THUS CONCEIVED A PLAN TO REPAY THE TREACHERY OF THE CALEDONII IN FULL. HE MADE A GREAT FANFARE OF PUSHING HIS FORCES INTO NORTHERN CALEDONIA TO THE REMOTE FORT OF INCHTUTHIL. SALUSTIUS, IN SECRET, HAD CONCEIVED A SLY AND AUDACIOUS PLAN.
CATO WAS INSTRUCTED TO PROCEED WITH AN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE FROM EBORACUM TO THE FRONTIER FORT AT INCHTUTHIL WHERE HE WOULD RELIEVE THE II LEGION ADIUTRIX PIA FIDELIS WHO WERE REQUIRED IN DACIA. HE QUICKLY ESTABLISHED THE LEGION IN A STATE OF BATTLE READINESS AND WAS JOINED THERE BY SALUSTIUS WHO TOOK COMMAND OF THE IX LEGION, HUMILIATING THE FAITHFUL CATO IN FRONT OF HIS OWN MEN.
SALUSTIUS WAS NO STRATEGIST, BUT IN TACTICS AND CUNNING HE KNEW NO PARALLEL. FROM THE LEGION’S EXTENSIVE SCOUTING NETWORK HE HAD LEARNED THAT CALGACUS HAD ESTABLISHED HIS HEADQUARTERS IN THE MOUNTAINS WEST OF STRACATHRO, THE MARCHING CAMP. LEAVING CATO IN CHARGE OF A SMALL HOLDING FORCE OF TWO COHORTS AT INCHTUTHIL, SALUSTIUS OSTENTATIOUSLY LED THE REST OF THE IX LEGION TO STRACATHRO. HE SET UP CAMP AND LAID WASTE TO THE VILLAGES AROUND HIM. IN AN ACT OF GROSS PROVOCATION AND CRUELTY HE EMULATED HIS HERO CRASSUS KNOWING THAT THE MANY CALEDONII WHO SUFFERED A GRUESOME END ON HIS “CALEDONIAN WAY” WERE NOT INVOLVED WITH CALGACUS AND HIS REVOLT. THEY WERE JUST FODDER IN HIS ATTEMPT TO PROVOKE A CONFRONTATION.
AS HE KNEW THEY MUST, THE CALEDONIAN ARMIES MUSTERED FOR A FINAL SHOWDOWN WITH THE LEGION AND MARCHED ON STRACATHRO. SALUSTIUS SET HIS FORCES, WITH PICKET FENCES AND TRAPS BUT AGAINST THE SCALE OF THE CALEDONIAN FORCE THERE WAS LITTLE HOPE OF SUCCESS. NONETHELESS, WITH THEIR PRIDE AT STAKE, AND ACCEPTING THEIR FATE, THE LEGIONNAIRES OF THE IXTH WATCHED AND WAITED TO JOIN BATTLE. UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS, AND BEFORE ANY SKIRMISH COULD BE CONDUCTED, SALUSTIUS SECRETLY SET OUT WITH A SMALL FORCE OF HANDPICKED SOLDIERS WHO HAD TRAVELLED WITH HIM FROM ROME, WITH A DEVIOUS PLAN TO STEAL THE CODEX FROM RIGHT UNDER CALGACUS’ NOSE.
SALUSTIUS WAS A VERY UNPLEASANT MAN, BUT HE WAS WIDELY READ AND KNEW OF THE HEBREW TALE OF GIDEON. HE SET HIS GUARD AT KEY POINTS AROUND THE PERIMETER OF THE CALEDONIAN CAMP, AND IN THE DEPTHS OF NIGHT WHEN ALL MEN ARE AT THEIR LOWEST EBB, THEY ROSE AS ONE, BREAKING COVER AND MAKING NOISE LIKE A MUCH LARGER ARMY. IN THE CONFUSION SALUSTIUS’S LIEUTENANT STOLE INTO THE CAMP AND MADE AWAY WITH THE CODEX, RETURNING IT TO SALUSTIUS WHO REMAINED THROUGHOUT AT A SAFE DISTANCE.
PERHAPS SALUSTIUS CARED NOTHING FOR THE FATE OF THE IXTH LEGION, PERHAPS ITS DESTRUCTION WAS PART OF DOMITIAN’S PLANNED REVENGE, OR PERHAPS IT WAS JUST A DIVERSIONARY TACTIC TO HAVE THEM CAMPED AT STRACATHRO, BUT THE OUTCOME WAS THE SAME. ROUSED BY THE SURPRISE INVASION OF THEIR CAMP THE CALEDONIAN WARRIORS LAUNCHED A MASSIVE ASSAULT ON STRACATHRO.
WHATEVER HIS MOTIVATION IN AN ACT OF THE GREATEST TREACHERY SALUSTIUS ABANDONED THE IXTH LEGION TO OBLIVION AND SET OUT SOUTH FOR THE FORTIFIED PORT AT CARRIDEN WHERE HE INTENDED TO ESCAPE BY SEA FROM BRITANNIA WITH THE CODEX. HE SENT A DESPATCH TO CATO ORDERING HIM TO RETREAT WITH ALL ABLE MEN TO CARRIDEN, RAZE INCHTUTHIL TO THE GROUND AND LEAVE NONE OF THE WEAK OR WOUNDED ALIVE IN ORDER TO PROVIDE NOTHING OF VALUE TO THE ENEMY.
SALUSTIUS AND HIS GUARD MUST HAVE THOUGHT THEY WOULD BE SAFE, BUT ONCE MORE A PROUD SON OF ROME HAD GROSSLY UNDERESTIMATED CALGACUS. REALISING QUICKLY THAT THE CODEX WAS LOST, HE SET OUT TO RECOVER IT, MARCHING HIS MEN DOUBLE TIME IN PURSUIT OF THE FLEEING SALUSTIUS
AND SO, AT CARRIDEN, SALUSTIUS REGROUPED WITH HIS TRUSTY GUARD AND THE REMAINING COHORTS FROM INCHTUTHIL, LED BY THE STEADFAST MARCUS FIDELIUS CATO. IT WAS NOT LONG BEFORE THE PURSUING CALEDONIAN FORCE ARRIVED BEFORE THE GATES OF CARRIDEN AND LAID SIEGE. WITH THEIR BACKS TO WATER, THE ROMAN FORCE WAS TRAPPED.
THEIR SAFETY LAY IN A REFUGE FAR OVER THE SEA, AND IT IS FITTING THAT THE ENDING OF MY STORY WILL LIE BURIED SAFELY IN THEIR REFUGE AT NOVIOMAGUS BATAVORUM.