Chapter XII
The Merovingian
Just as Merit had managed to hide, the door was flung back and a shadowy tall figure appeared in the doorway; “There’s nothing here I tell you, and we're late for supper and with some of the gluttons round here there won’t be much left unless we get there fast.”
The man stepped into the room and removed his helm. Long golden hair descended to his nape, blue eyes pierced the gloom; he held up a lantern and waved it in front of his face. There was an old scar above his left eye which added age to his youth. The crest on his jerkin could barely be made out in the dim light, but it did appear to be the fleur-de-lis.
The man stepped back out into the hallway, “That dog was just being jittery so let’s just leave it at that. We’ve already checked these rooms, anyway there was nothing before, and there’s nothing here now. And besides we’ll inspect the entire household tonight with the dogs, if there’s anyone they’ll surely sniff them out.”
As the door closed Adamous stepped from behind it; he could hear muffled sounds outside, and then fading footsteps. He crept over to the bed and lifted the cover and helped Merit from beneath it.
“That was too close,” said Adamous.
Merit dusted herself down, “Yes and the problem will be when they come back later to do a fuller search. We need to be out of here by then.”
“It’s the change of the guard anyway. So let’s see if Paulus has managed to drug Charon.”
Adamous carefully opened the door and leant forward to peer into the corridor. It was thankfully quiet, he ushered Merit outside and followed on behind her. They made their way to where Paulus should have been waiting for them, but he was not there. They pretended to clean around the skirting boards and dust off various picture frames, when a door opened and four tall imposing well-armed guards stepped out, drew their swords and stood either side of Merit and Adamous.
"I take it you don't like our cleaning methods."
Another man walked into the hallway and smiled, he wore a silk tunic and was cloaked by a thick red robe, he was also tall with long golden hair and grey eyes, his dark breeches were tucked into tight fitting leather boots, when he spoke it was with a calm tone, “Your fellow conspirator Paulus was quite forthcoming after a fashion, and after much persuasion. Take them to meet the King.”
Adamous looked at Merit and gestured for her not to do anything silly. They were quickly searched and had their daggers removed, then under armed escort were taken up two flights of stairs, to a large vacant chamber where they were harshly thrown inside; the door was then shut and locked behind them. The room was furnished to a different style than you would expect for Byzantium. Everything was bigger, the chairs, tables, even the frescos and paintings were a much larger size, and in one corner was a bust of the emperor, next to it was a short wooden carved platform where a golden throne stood. A tall mirror was fitted to one wall. It had an ominous dark look to it; everything had a hard austere feel. The room was sombre even the hearth looked like it had not been used for some time.
“I hope Paulus is okay,” whispered Merit.
“I’m afraid they would’ve punished him quite severely to get him to talk,” replied Adamous as he quickly took in his surroundings.
There was a long table with food upon it so Adamous sat himself down and helped himself to the chicken.
"How can you eat at a time like this?"
"Because I'm hungry, and you know us Christians, last supper and what not. And besides the meat is good and so too is the bread."
"Shouldn't we be thinking about trying to escape?"
"But we've only just arrived. Merit do not look so worried, everything in its good time."
Merit looked incredulous which drew a smile from Adamous. She sat herself down, crossed her arms and waited for that 'good time'.
“Well what do we do now?” asked Merit once Adamous had finished inspecting their prison.
“One thing’s for sure, I think we're about to find out what’s really going on. Strange though, we could tie the drapes together, make a rope and be out the window and away if we wanted to, it’s almost as though they are inviting us to escape.”
“Ha, escape to where?” the man at the door was tall, long black hair ran just below his shoulders his eyes were piercing, intense, his Jerkin had the same motif that the guards around the palace had, it was that of a white flower, Adamous recognised it instantly. His breeches were sunk into full length leather boots. In his hand was a short black rod, its head was carved into the shape of a hand which clutched a bright red stone that glinted in the soft light, he moved purposefully to the large throne like chair, and sat himself down. As he did so others of his guard entered the room, as did Charon with a Wraith at his side and a very large Dog that was similar to Garm but more savage.
As the man made himself comfortable on the throne, Adamous wryly smiled. There was a hush in the room; not an uncomfortable cold disquiet, but more a curious expectation.
“Well you did want to see the Merovingian, and as the Saracens say if Muhammad can't go to the mountain let the mountain come to Muhammad, it does appear it’s unnecessary for us to visit him after all,” said Adamous quietly.
"Yes," whispered Merit as she drew close to Adamous, "But this mountain could have a violent temper at its heart, please don't mention I wanted to see him, he might take me for a spy."
“We’ve been expecting the Angelos,” said the Merovingian studying the two conspirators carefully.
“Well met Watcher, this is most unexpected. And your choice of friends leaves a lot to be desired, Charon I take it, it's been a long time.”
Charon merely smiled at the slight, while Merit keeping calm, observed the exchange warily and with more than a hint of curiosity.
“Since you all appear to be long-time associates, why don’t I just leave you to it,” said Merit preparing to walk away.
“Stay your ground,” said Adamous.
“Yes my dear, I’m afraid your choice of friends has gotten you into a little trouble,” replied the Merovingian.
“He’s not really a friend,” said Merit. “In fact I barely know the man.”
“Yes, so the legionary said. I believe you go by the name of Adamous,” said the Merovingian ignoring Merit for the time being, “but I’d be intrigued to know your real name, you may call me by my Merovingian name, Dagobert.”
“You know as an Angelos, I’m not going to just give you my real name, and you also know you cannot get it out of me, so Watcher, you may call me Adamous.”
Dagobert thoughtfully looked the two of them up and down. He and Charon had expected the Angelos to intercede at some point, but the question was whose side of the divide did they stand on, and how did they know to be in Byzantium at that time.
“I don’t suppose you have it with you? That would be too easy.”
“Have what?” asked Adamous stoically.
“Don’t be obtuse, the Sacred Seal of course,” replied Dagobert.
Adamous half smiled, “Sacred Seal what’s that?”
“You can play coy all you want Angelos; you know very well what I’m talking about.”
Charon approached the throne, “We’re wasting time here, they can’t have it, and if they did, that Stratiotai would surely have told us about it. We should wait for Garm and the Wraith to report back. Let’s place them in the dungeons where they'll be secure, and have done; we can then keep them out of sight of the Djinn, whose powers far exceed anything on this primitive world; remember if they discover we are holding the Angelos, all our plans will be for naught.”
“The Djinn,” cried Adamous, “I didn’t think Charon allied himself to anyone, especially I thought him too intelligent to have dealings with the Djinn.”
“Desperate times, above all you should realise that.”
Dagobert sat smiling at the exchange, “I don’t know why you are worried Charon, the Djinn already know of the Codex, but not yet that the Angelos are here, we j
ust need to keep to our pact with them and everything will be fine.”
“And what pact could you possibly have with the Djinn regarding a Blessed Codex, they are not to be trusted, they talk of neutrality but their acts often speak otherwise,” said Adamous, “You’d be insane to have dealings with them.”
Dagobert smiled, “He seems to know you well Charon but perhaps not well enough, Charon is not insane and nor are the Wraith; they are very deliberate and very calculating.”
Charon nodded in acknowledgement of what he perceived as a compliment.
Adamous looked around quite perplexed, “I can’t believe I’m hearing this, perhaps you’re all insane. This pact with The Djinn wouldn’t include betraying them? You know it wouldn’t take them long to realise your treachery; and if they go to war, the devastation is something not even the Angelos would be able to contain.”
“That's exactly what we're trying to prevent, our involvement in the war. And that’s where Charon truly comes into his own, since the Djinn are wise enough not to use the Codex he will simply exchange it; with, how shall I put it, a duplicate. You see the Djinn aren’t going to be concerned about something that they don’t know is missing, are they. We then would have the original. But first we must get hold of it, and that’s where the Byzantines come into it. They stole the real Codex, from the place where it had been hidden for all these long years, purely by accident of course, but I'm afraid the result is going to be unfortunate for them.”
“This story is just getting surreal; you intend replacing a Blessed Codex, that was hidden and is now probably lost; sorry not lost; you believe the Byzantines have it, even though they wouldn’t recognise one if it was laid out in front of them, and you then think the Djinn aren’t going to find out about your duplicity.”
Again Dagobert smiled, “Well in time they will discover the deception of course; but by then it will be too late, it is hoped we will have the power to ourselves and the ability to at the very least, keep the demons from our door. The Codex will shield us from your war, and we will not go the way of so many other innocents. But the thing you should worry about is who has the Seal, you see it is the key in all this, being a major part of the Codex, and whoever has it had better beware, you see the Djinn in their wisdom, will not wait patiently for it to be returned, they will simply use all their might and power to get it back, and I fear for the Angelos when that happens, you cannot hope to maintain any form of the Equilibrium once the power of the Djinn has been unleashed; and you cannot fight both the Djinn and your brethren without causing great hardship. Guards take them both away; Adamous you might want to reflect upon that in the dungeon.”
“Before I leave one thing,” said Adamous, as a guard took him roughly by the arm.
Dagobert gestured for the guard to let him speak, “And what might that be?”
“How can you be sure that the Djinn will behave exactly the way you expect them to? History has shown they are not easily manipulated, so I would not underestimate them if I were you. They probably already know what you’re up to. You might want to consider that in your planning.”
Adamous was then unceremoniously taken away, with Merit at his side, and under heavy escort; Dagobert merely stared thoughtfully after him; he knew Adamous had a very good point, no one ever actually knew what the Djinn would do next, he gazed at his Rod and turned it over in his hands; it was a power he had thus far kept secret, he knew it would not be long before less desirable elements knew of its existence, but by then it was hoped he would have the Codex.
They were taken to the most irreverent tainted hole imaginable. It was damp, cold and too disgusting even for rats, although the lice, the cockroaches, and other nasty creatures seemed to make themselves welcome there. A grill was opened and they were cast down into the pit. Their legs gave way as they hit the hard ground. Merit groggily got to her feet, and when Adamous reached out to lend her a hand it was indignantly brushed aside.
“You have a talent for getting into trouble; tell me is there anyone you Byzantines aren’t at war with. And why did you keep calling Dagobert, Watcher, I once heard that term from someone, it comes from the book of Enoch, and another thing, they referred to you as a Angelos, my Greek is not so bad that the word has no meaning for me.”
“I called him Watcher as in guardian of his people," replied Adamous, "and in Byzantium Angelos means do-gooder, someone who is honourable, incorruptible, and I had no wish to give them the name the enemies of Byzantium call me.”
Merit studied Adamous a moment; he turned away; there was something about her gaze that made him feel uneasy, and as a distraction, he began to feel the walls, they were made of roughly hewn stone, and squared off. The floor was soft, he kicked at it, and startled a cockroach that scuttled over to Merit who quickly jumped out of its way, and with a humph, she just stood there furiously staring at Adamous’s back. From the dark came a groan and a garbled cough, they heard the clinking of shackles and a whimper. Adamous moved toward the sound, it was Paulus, he was still alive; barely.
“Merit quickly we need some light.”
Merit looked up to see if there were any guards watching, she could not hear or see anything and so she removed the amulet from beneath her tunic, rubbed it in her hands and whispered something into it. The guards had obviously neglected to take it from her, or had missed it, when they had searched her and removed her dagger. It began to glow, and displayed enough light to illuminate that dastardly scene.
“Is there anything you can do for him?”
Merit hesitated.
“Merit he’s dying, you’re an alchemist, a physician, if you can help him; then help him. But make sure the energy your amulet gives off is not so strong as to alert our enemy to your power.”
Merit stepped forward, she placed the amulet against his wounds, and one by one she closed the worst of them; once she was satisfied her work was done she stopped with a sigh of relief.
Adamous patted her kindly, “Well done Merit, well done.”
Paulus looked up at both of them, once more alert to his surroundings, “When you two have quite finished congratulating yourselves, would one of you please help me out of these manacles.”
Merit with the help of her amulet, eased his hands through the shackles.
Paulus rubbed his sore wrists as best he could, “I’m afraid sir I got caught trying to administer the drug, but I never told them anything of importance, they did after a time get your names from me but that was only after that servant we followed to the apothecary, recognised me, and remembering that we were all together, informed on us. They kept asking me how many Angelos were here and some other stuff I didn’t quite understand; they seemed to mistake me for someone else, or something else but with all the strange things that have been going on I just thought it was more of the same bizarreness; and it seemed to me, unfortunately enough for us, that they were expecting someone to come along, and were prepared. The thing is what do we do now?”
“Now my dear Paulus we escape,” said Adamous who walked up to the wall and tapped it three times.
“What we’re just going to walk out of here are we, and how do we do that; we can’t exactly walk straight through these walls not without that device of yours.”
With that the wall shimmered, it seemed to become translucent, as though it were made of glass. And Germanicus stepped through.
"That device works both ways," said Adamous.
“Everyone hurry there's not a moment to lose,” cried Germanicus.
Paulus was dumbfounded by what he saw, “You have to be joking, you lot could teach Heron a thing or two.”
“Come on everyone, no time for explanations, you’ve seen this all before, it’s really straightforward, you pass through the open doorway.”
With Paulus under his arm, Germanicus carried him through closely followed by Merit and Adamous. As soon as all four were through, the gate closed to the echo of a unearthly howl and the sound of an alarm. Their captors must have realised
something was up when they sensed the energy displacement from the Seal but it was too late they were outside the city of Thebes and back in the old provincial town they had originally entered from. This time there were many more people that had had the same desire of escaping the clutches of the Merovingian and Charon; hence the reason why the passageway had collapsed so quickly, it had been used previously to help people escape the City and consequently had used up a lot of energy transporting them.
“Did you find out what was going on?” said Adamous, as he and Paulus began to change into more soldiery ware.
“Yes, the ploy worked, while they were distracted by you, I set the Seal on the lowest setting possible and by using the same amount of energy as an individual gives off, was able to have a look around,” replied Germanicus. "As predicted it required a lot more power to get you out of there, and to open a portal, and our situation wasn't helped by the fact that they had the means to guard against such an eventuality: by the use of what must have been a dampening field that displaced the energy emanating from the vortex."
"Then how did you manage to get in?" asked Adamous.
"We were only successful because this is a very powerful Sacred Seal beyond that of any other I have known. It is just unfortunate that as soon as the portal finally stabilised they immediately realised we had crossed into the palace."
"We should then be thankful that the ruse worked, if only just."
“Ruse,” cried Merit who was also busy flinging on more fitting attire for the journey ahead, “What do you mean ruse; are you saying we were meant to get caught; what if Paulus had been killed or more importantly what if I had?”
“Merit, I think you're overreacting, no one died.”
At this point there was a broad smile on Paulus’s face as he rubbed his still sore chin, “I’m sorry Merit but you have to laugh; next time though, if they decide to do such a thing, perhaps they’d keep me out of it or at the very least keep me more informed.”
“You can just keep me out of it!” seethed Merit.
Adamous began counting how many had escaped. They had been joined by a few priests and monks, several guards, and a number of civilians, all had wished to leave the city, even if it was by way of some ancient art of antiquity; the old Priest had remained behind, his legs would not carry him for the next leg of the journey. The problem they had was in the struggle to open the vortex the Sacred Seal had in essence used up the majority if not all of its power, and would need time to regain its energy; and with Merit's amulet also needing time to recover after healing Paulus, there was no other means of energising the Seal. And that meant they were in a vulnerable position as it would take a while to renew itself.
Germanicus and Adamous surveyed the scene; the faces confronting them were tired and distraught from the ordeal of being under the yoke of an unnatural, as well as natural enemy.
“We’re going to have to split up and spread out, if you know places to hide in, or have family close by, I suggest you seek them out,” said Adamous grimly.
Some of the people looked anxious, they had hoped to stay with the Stratiotai for protection.
Germanicus felt their uncertainty, “This is what we’ll do, so that you can make your escape, we’ll draw off the Franks and their Wraith allies until we believe you’re safely away, and then we also will make our escape. But there’s not much time, you must all leave while you can.”
“Paulus you lead one group, the monks can lead another; you go east, you south. We’re going to be heading north to Constantinople,” said Adamous.
Merit looked sceptical, “If you have to get to Constantinople don’t you think Charon and the Merovingian will realise that.”
“Of course they will, in fact I’m counting on it.”
“You’re counting on it; Adamous, I think you Byzantines are crazy,” replied Merit.
“We know this countryside our pursuers don’t, and if they are following us they won’t be following the others; right,” replied Adamous, “the thing is are you coming with us or going with one of the other groups? This is your big chance to get away from it all.”
Merit smiled and folded her arms, “I think I’ll stay around actually, so that I can tell you, when the time comes, I told you so.”
“That’s great; anyone else wishing to join our group, speak now or be on your way,” one monk raised his hand, Adamous beckoned him over to them. “Right everyone, let’s do this.”
There were some murmurings of disquiet as the parties separated.
Adamous and Germanicus knew that Garm would soon be on their trail, and that their enemy was probably already aware that they were not in Thebes. They led their troop of Stratiotai, the monk and young Merit away from the burnt out town, and headed in the general direction of Constantinople. There only slim hope was that the Merovingian and Charon might think that they had escaped directly to the capital of Byzantium; but if they had with them the means to trace the signal left by the Sacred Seal, which undoubtedly they did have, their enemy would soon find out the truth of where they were, and then the chase would surely be on.
"How long before we can use the Seal again?" asked Adamous.
"Too long," replied Germanicus.
"We had better not get caught then, because without my Amulet we won't have a means to protect ourselves against the likes of Garm, or any other insidious elements that might come our way."
"There's always Roman steel," said Germanicus.
"Hah!" scoffed Merit, "It's always nice to know that the one certainty our future holds is another great opportunity where we all might die...again."