“That’s another strange thing. Their quarters are next to my main reception room. Everything of value has been moved out.”
“You’re saying Jason and Phoebe are gone?”
“So it would seem, Arcadia. And after all I’ve done for those two—”
“Senator,” Nathaniel broke in, “what is it you have that involves Judeans?”
“This.” Maximin held up the mud-encrusted tube. “I found the case strapped to the abbot’s body. There was a horrible wound on his side where the leather had chafed his skin raw.”
“Yes, he came to me about it,” Getorius recalled, “but…what’s inside the case?”
“In light of the events that have happened since that monk was found dead, in November, I thought you should see it.” Maximin glanced at Nathaniel. “Whether you tell the Judean community is your affair. I would not.” He pulled white vellum sheets from the cylinder, unrolled the first and held it up to show the title and a red cockerel drawn above it in red ink.
“The Gallican League,” Arcadia read aloud. “That’s the name the abbot mentioned at Behan’s funeral. What is it, Senator?”
Maximin cleared his throat. “The document seems to be some kind of declaration by the organization.”
Getorius joined his wife in reading. “They call themselves ‘The Vigilant Ones.’ That helps explain the cockerel drawings we found. I said they were symbols of vigilance.”
“Cockerels?” Maximian repeated as a question. “You have seen this charter before?”
“No, just images of the bird.”
“The symbol is not important now,” Nathaniel said, “but you may have found the key to this mystery. Quick, continue reading. This abbot undoubtedly has accomplices who are not dead.”
The others listened in silence as Getorius repeated aloud the rationalization of the Gallicans for unleashing their apocalyptic plan.
Arcadia was the first to comment. “War, famine, murders…unimaginable horrors. Nathaniel, Rabbi Zadok predicted that these would result if the papyrus was released.”
“And I see now that they would not only affect my people, but also any Christians who opposed these fanatics in their attempt to impose a theocracy.”
“Fanatics?” Maximin scoffed. “These are traitors to Rome, with that Hibernian abbot as their leader.”
“This may not be over yet,” Getorius warned. “That charter lists accomplices in the empire’s major cities. Let me…yes…the code name of the League’s contact here in Ravenna is Smyrna.”
“So when Brenos contacted this Smyrna,” Arcadia reasoned, “he found out that the man didn’t have the papyrus, that it had accidentally been discovered.” She pointed to a section of the text. “This Clause Four shows Zadok was correct. The Nativity Vigil Mass tonight was the occasion set to make the will public and fulfill the prophecy.”
“You keep talking about a papyrus, and now a will,” Maximin said. “The charter only speaks of a scroll, and you’ve mentioned a papyrus twice now. Was it some kind of testament?”
Arcadia glanced at her husband.
“Theokritos called it the Secundus Papyrus, Senator,” Getorius told him.
“Ah. There was palace gossip about the librarian finding an ancient document. He believed it to be authentic.”
“Authentic? That’s impossible,” Getorius told him, “yet if Theokritos reported that it was to Galla Placidia, she may have thought it true. We must get this Gallican charter to her immediately. It confirms the conspiracy she suspected, if not all of the actual persons involved.”
“It is still of concern,” Nathaniel said. “The librarian was mistaken in his conclusion—or chose not to tell the truth. Even though the abbot is dead, this Smyrna could yet reveal the false will.”
“Nathaniel”—Arcadia touched his sleeve and looked into his eyes—“I think not. Remember when Rabbi Zadok predicted that if this were not of God it would fail? It’s too evil to be His work.”
Nathaniel shook his head, unconvinced. “I need proof that the document will not be revealed.”
Getorius recalled his wife’s cryptic assurances of the night before. She still hadn’t explained how, just by looking at winter stars, her boots had become soaked and her fingers bruised. What had she done to help God?
“Arcadia, if Placidia thinks the will is authentic,” Getorius said, “she’ll be frantic to find it. If she even suspects we’re involved in disposing of the papyrus, there’ll be more than house arrest in both our futures. Can we afford to wait and find out if this is from God or not?”
“Until the General Resurrection, husband.”
“Resurrection?” My God! After Arcadia went out, did she somehow slip the golden case into Behan’s coffin? Hid it under his robe? Getorius blanched at a third possibility. “Y…you didn’t—”
“Senator,” she interrupted quickly, looking past her husband, “will you see to it that Placidia gets this Gallican charter?”
“Of course.” Maximin snickered softly. “Those other cities. When the prophecy about the discovery of Christ’s will is found to be baseless, those who announced it will be seen as fools.”
Christ’s will? Arcadia glanced back at Getorius. Maximin said he was unaware of the nature of the papyrus, and Nathaniel only mentioned a will in a general way. Since its details are not specifically mentioned in the charter, how could the senator know what was to be revealed?
“Over-ambitiousness,” Maximin continued, sneering. “That was the flaw in this abbot’s plan. I doubt he could have gotten accomplices to act in all the cities he named. Hibernian monasticism is in its infancy on the Continent.”
“Looking back, Senator, what do you think were the roles of Sigisvult and Renatus in all this?” Arcadia probed, to ascertain how much Maximin knew. “Was Theokritos one of the Gallicans?”
“It…it’s possible, I suppose.”
Getorius picked up his wife’s speculation. “Theokritos could have been going through the motions of testing the papyri, even though he planned to declare them both authentic all along.”
“His tests were pretty convincing to me,” Arcadia said, “but I can’t believe Sigisvult was involved. It was his workmaster who was found dead in the harbor.”
“It’s clear now that was no accident,” Getorius added. “After the chance discovery of the papyri, it was necessary for this Smyrna to eliminate the witnesses.”
“Yet the impact of this false will would be so great,” Nathaniel added, “that Behan needed
