Chapter XIII
Dreamscape
Callinicus had gone from the palace as per his orders, but had gone straight to the archives rather than his private chambers, he was once more wading through the many scrolls and papers on his desk and just he was losing patience an attendant burst through the door to inform him of the attack by the Stegions; he had immediately rushed from the library. His relief at finding the Emperor unharmed had been curtailed by the fact that he was no closer to finding the answer to their current dilemma.
Days later when he returned to the palace, he found Arzealous still at the Emperor's side. The Emperors mood had not softened since the attempt on his life; the task of finding a resolution to their current dilemma had been utmost in his thoughts; ‘what was so important that it directly threatened the security of the Empire’. He had repeated time and again. Callinicus had of course been working on this since his return from the realm of the Rageon; it was just that with the attack by the Stegions, the Emperor felt that things had gotten to a head. And it was with that thought that they were told in no uncertain terms to find some answers.
The two departed and made their way to the archives beneath the Church of the Holy Wisdom, they had managed to negotiate their way round the Patriarch by promising to inform him of anything there that might indicate where the bones of St. Stephen were hidden, and if possible they would look to find where any other holy relics might reside. A monk directed them to a chamber and a dust ridden shelf.
From the time of Heraclius, they went through more scrolls and books, it was not until evening drew close that they found something of interest, it was a manuscript on the Battle of Nineveh in 627, after that encounter many holy relics had been retrieved, including the true cross as well as many other items that were held in Jerusalem from the time of when it was lost to the Persians. Of particular interest was what was written after the war:
‘Here are the words of Heraclius Emperor of the Romans in the Year of our Lord 627 and the plunder of Dastagird; we had opposed the Persians and defeated them on the plains near to the Karamlays Creek; from there we laid waste to the Palace of Khosrau where we took from there many Holy Relics and Byzantine and ancient Roman standards that had been pillaged over many years of war. There was deep in that palace one relic from antiquity that was of such magnificence and beauty that none dared touch it lest it place them under a spell and they become bewitched. My own Priest looked upon the crafted writing that surrounded this strange yet glorious object, and said that it was of angelic script, we thought it then the Arc of the Covenant. But the Priest felt that it was far older and in stature of less magnitude. To its sides were fitted two staffs, they seemed to have a power of their own; one contained a gem that seemed to emanate energy, it is called the staff of light, the other was black as night and gilded, at its head was a blood red stone, it was inscribed as the staff of Darkness; and on the top of the casket was a disc shaped artefact with strange words carved into it, Seal of Calam, this mysterious object could easily be released from the hole and taken from its possession, and once this was removed the main relic remained locked; but I am sure if this tabernacle were opened it would then reveal its secrets. How it came to be there none could tell. It certainly was neither of Persian origin; nor Greek for that matter. It dated from an age before Babylon when the oldest of peoples of that land were young and beings of fire walked abroad.’
“Well at last we have something more to go on,” said Arzealous.
“Do you recognise what they are talking of?” asked Callinicus.
“Yes, beings of fire must mean the Djinn, also I believe it to be a Blessed Codex and by all accounts it sounds to me as though it’s one of high import, and that staff of yours must be part of it, but I have never heard of the Seal of Calam before, so read on; see if there’s anything else.”
“Well further down there is something; it tells of the capture of one of the Zoroastrian priests. This is really strange he has warned them not to take it; he calls it a device of pure evil. It is the scourge of man, it was the reason why the Persian Empire remained as powerful as it was, for so long, and he says that it should be destroyed.”
‘There is among us one of their high priests who speaks ill of the device, saying it was hidden there by the Ifrit, one of them came in the guise of a mighty Sorcerous, to keep the evil one from using it, there is a great conflict in the cosmos and the Serpent, that Dragon also known as Azi Dhahaka desires this as it is a source of great power; it is called a Codex and whoever has it in their possession and knows it; cannot be defeated. It was made for war, it is of war; it knows all that is war.”
As Callinicus read these last words there was a heavy silence in the room. They both seemed to be holding their breath, a shallow breeze flickered the torch light, and the papers rustled as if they had been awoken by what had been uttered. Arzealous's expression was one of deep concern; he leant forward over the table and then fell back in his chair placing his head in his hands as he did so. Callinicus’s stomach tightened.
Arzealous looked up thoughtfully, “The Codex for war, after all this time, it’s here. Which means that is not the Seal of Calam; it's the Seal of Calamities. Strange I thought the Codex was kept safe by the Djinn or that's what we were informed of, but then if you did lose such a powerful weapon you certainly wouldn't want to promote the fact, and the word Ifrit does mean Djinn in Terran terms, and they would never have willingly given it up, unless something made them choose such a desperate measure, maybe there was dissention in the ranks, a schism amongst the Djinn, now that is a fearful thought, made more so by the fact that we fought against them on Turtle Island. No wonder the Rageon and the Wraith are here. It also explains the alliance with Charon. It is a Codex that will give the bearer a powerful source of energy, enough in fact to destroy an entire universe if that was their desire, or to bring one into being. It’s a shame they did not heed the Priests warning and destroy it while they could. At least we have part of it in our possession, you obviously have the Staff of Light, so we need to find the rest of it, is there anything more.”
“From what I can learn from the text they realised it had a great potential for destruction so they split it into several parts and hid it throughout the empire and further afield. As you say we have the staff of light here; Germanicus and Adamous must have found the Sacred Seal though we don’t know if they realise the significance of it, and from what I can make out from this account, the Staff of Darkness was given up and was placed under the protection of the Watcher.”
“The Watcher in this time is the Merovingian, so he has part of the Codex also, I wonder if he is aware of what is in his possession, okay so where’s its main body?”
“Umm, you’re not going to like this.”
“I already don’t like this, where is it?”
“It’s in an area that is lawless, but still within Byzantine territory as far as I can tell.”
“Thank goodness for small mercies, could have been far worse, it might have been in foreign or occupied lands, so where is it?” repeated Arzealous.
"Close enough to get to, far enough that we might have one or two problems on the way."
"And?" said Arzealous.
“It’s buried deep within a Monastery near Thessaloniki, on Mount Athos. I think, if we are to get to it, there’s only one thing we can do; you will have to contact Adamous through a vision quest. And tell them to get to it using the Sacred Seal if as we suspect it is part of the codex, then it should naturally be drawn to the right location.”
“If I contact Adamous there is a possibility that our enemy will intercept the connection, it’s very risky. Also if Charon believes the Angelos to be here he would expect such an action to be taken, and so would the Wraith for that matter, and as for Garm, he would be on his guard and sense it straight away.”
“Risk or no it has to be done and unfortunately our options are rather limited; perhaps there is something I can do to make sure that no one interfe
res with the connection when it's made: I'll set up a barrier to prevent them from learning anything.”
“It would certainly make life easier if you were there,” said Arzealous.
“Yes, I'll work as a guide and a guard; while you are speaking with Gabriel I’ll be watchful and make sure nothing unpleasant occurs.”
“Very well then; we need the appropriate environment; I doubt there are many sweat lodges in the Byzantine Empire.”
“No, but there are plenty of steam baths; closed rooms where they heat up stones and pour fresh water over them; also they use frankincense, the resin is plentiful and is harvested from trees that have a powerful source of energy. This mixed with a touch of Mandrake internally digested should ease us on our way.”
Arzealous rubbed his hands tightly, “Okay we’ll have Priscus, Valerius and Bacchus stand guard at the doors to make sure we are not disturbed, then we’ll contact Adamous.”
“Good; the sooner we start the better.”
Arzealous and Callinicus stood up to leave when a breathless attendant hurried in, “Sir, it’s the Patriarch, he wishes to see you at once.”
“That’s fine, please see to it that Priscus, Valerius and Bacchus meet us outside the church once our meeting has ended, and ask Valerius to get some Mandrake root and Frankincense on the way, and a sack of that awful diluted army wine,” replied Arzealous.
Without another word they made their way up the stair leading into the heart of Church of the Holy Wisdom, and passed on into the chambers of the Patriarch. He was leaning forward as they entered his apartments, he clearly had been going through some scrolls and books of his own; a cleric was standing at his side.
“Gentlemen please be seated. Leave us and make sure we’re not disturbed.”
The attendant turned and left, Arzealous and Germanicus sat themselves in front of the desk and patiently waited. The Patriarch finished reading his book and looked up intently; he seemed curiously nervous.
“The Emperor has asked me to think back to the time of Heraclius; to see if there is anything I can remember that would aid our situation at this time; especially he wondered if there was anything else other than that staff, which was brought back from that campaign. You may or may not know that I was once a Stratiotai in the army of Heraclius before becoming a priest. I campaigned in the east and was at the battle of Nineveh. That was a hard fought war against the Persians and much hung in the balance. Victory was never assured and but for the guidance of Heraclius we may not have been victorious. Ever since you mentioned that time I have been searching my memory to see if there is something I can recall that could be of help. This book is an account of those wars. It is my personal journal; and interestingly enough there is mention of a discovery that is thought to of had great value. It was a treasure that could only be wielded by an emissary from God. Obviously I thought nothing of such a pagan idol, until after all these years, and the mention of those days and the importance that such an artefact might have. Though my account of it is brief and dismissive it may still be able to aid you in your search. The age of Heraclius was very turbulent; there was not enough time to savour the victory before a new foe appeared on the horizon.”
“You mean Mohammad and his Muslims,” said Arzealous.
“Yes, did you know that Mohammad wrote to Heraclius regarding the Islamic religion and invited him to be a part of it?”
“I was not aware of that.”
“Then perhaps you are unaware that Heraclius met with a cousin of this Seer from Arabia in Jerusalem. Heraclius’s curiosity had been aroused once he heard tell of a Prophet from the Bedouin tribes, and so he desired very much to meet someone who knew this man, and as fortune would have it, in his presence happened to be a cousin of their prophet. You see at first he was sceptical because of where such a man had come from, but I reminded him of our Gospel wherein it is written, ‘Nazareth, can anything good come from there,’ and I told him how people were disbelieving of Jesus also because of where he came from; and that we should not so easily dismiss such a person. It was decided then that he should meet this man who was so closely kin to the Prophet; and when he did, from his questioning, Heraclius could see that there was something different about Mohammed; something learned. The Emperor felt from that meeting that there should be mutual respect, tolerance, mercy, and charity between the beliefs; that in truth, Christianity, Islam and Judaism for that matter, were really one and the same; all preaching the same Philosophy of compassion first. Each religion spoke with the same voice.”
“Then what happened?” asked Callinicus.
The Patriarch seemed to look into some unknown distance as he placed his journal down, “As with all things greed, envy, every type of deception imaginable that exists in the human heart prevented the true path from being followed; had they come to an accommodation, then years of conflict would have been averted.” He looked up at Arzealous, “do you think God will ever forgive us for the tragedy of these events.”
The room fell quiet.
“Do not blame yourselves for things that are beyond your control; it is a sad testimony of humanities nature and a hard truth to swallow, but people will always see what they want to see and do what they want to do, and act according to their own self-interests, and do so more out of greed, jealousy and fear than for any other reason. You see God will always be there for man, the question is will man ever be there for God. You see God has never, nor will ever, betray man, God doesn't have to, man does that well enough on his own.”
The Patriarch wryly smiled, “Are those meant to be comforting words, if so their harshness bites deeply, perhaps one day we shall be the ambassadors of our own demise.”
Arzealous imperceptibly nodded, “Maybe, but what I mean is that God made a promise to man since the great deluge which was never to forsake him. The problems we have now are a struggle over things that in truth, we should not be warring over. Faiths are not imposed by the will of men on other men, but are accepted freely into the hearts of all peoples. A faith is not a shackle or a cage to imprison the mind with; but a source of power that frees the spirit. Otherwise it is not a faith, but just another insidious idea. Does anyone think that when God created all, that he was shackled by the constraints of hate, of course not; creation is the expression of love and it was not imposed on anyone, but it was freely given to everyone. And that is why such wars as this are a tragedy because in the end they go against the very fabric of Gods will.”
The Patriarch’s eyes glistened, “You speak wisely Arzealous; I think there is more to you than meets the eye. I called you here because I think I may know what you are looking for. You see Heraclius assigned me a task, I was to take something. I was informed it was a Holy Relic but I thought it was something quite different.”
“Don’t tell us you hid it in Mount Athos.”
The Patriarch gazed stoically ahead as if trying to recall a past he had long hoped to be forgotten, “No, though we were meant to take it to Athos, but you see we opened the crate it was in, and it did not seem, as I have said a Holy Relic, in fact to us it seemed pagan, so we thought that taking such a thing to a Holy Place would be profane.”
Arzealous and Callinicus just stared at each other and then back at the Patriarch things were about to get more complicated.
“Go on,” said Arzealous hesitantly as he leaned forward in his chair.
“We hid it in a place where no one would think of finding it.”
“And that would be where?”
“You see we didn’t think it held any spiritual value, so Mount Athos, well that was surely out of the question, or any holy place for that matter.”
“I feel like I've had this conversation before, you’re telling us where it’s not; now tell us where it is.”
“It was taken to Thrace, and resides in a place, though still in Byzantine control, is under constant threat from the Avars, who are continually pillaging those lands; they may have taken what we are looking for back to their Khaganate.”
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“Still, I don’t wish to rush you, but you haven’t told us where it is.”
“There is an old fortress high up in the mountains of Thrace, only one or two leagues from the ancient city of Perperikon. It may have altered since that time, we took it there. It is a month's journey from the sea.”
“Interesting, but I think we might be able to find a quicker way to get there,” said Arzealous with a glint in his eye.
“I’m sure you will; go in peace,” The Patriarch waved them away and went back to his reading.
The two stood stared a moment at the Patriarch, age and the sadness of the times had finally caught up to him, calmly and quietly they took their leave and strode purposefully from his chambers; they walked out into the cool evening air where Bacchus and Valerius were waiting for them.
“That’s going to give you a headache for sure,” said Valerius handing the Mandrake, wine and Frankincense to Callinicus.
Callinicus gratefully took it, and smelt the Mandrake it was fresh enough for his purposes.
“Where’s Priscus?” asked Arzealous.
“We believe the slovenly oaf is barracked with the rest of his cohort and it may be sometime before we find him, so what’s going on?”
“We my dear Bacchus are going to perform a séance.”
“Isn’t that a bit heretical?”
“Forget heretical isn’t it just plain dangerous or stupid take your pick or pick both?” asked Valerius.
“Dangerous or not, we’re going to attempt it, but we’re not going to be speaking to the dead but to the living.”
“Oh, so that makes everything all right does it. And anyway I thought a séance was where you spoke to the dead….when, why and how do you intend doing it?”
“Why, because I have to get a message to someone, and how, as I’ve said, it will be through the Vision realm. When’s right now; We just need you to stand guard while it’s going on and make sure we’re not disturbed, are you up for it?” asked Arzealous.
“No; but that’s never stopped us before,” said Bacchus.
“Since we’re going to do this I guess we’d better use the Baths of Zeuxippus which are close by, at least we won’t be interrupted by any member of the public.”
They walked along the main thoroughfare to the baths which had been rebuilt, after the Nika revolt of 532 even so there were still tale tell signs of those tempestuous days. Many statues had been broken and defaced and though repairs had been undertaken they could not cover the shame of what had been zealously done. The bath house reminded Arzealous of a mighty domed cathedral, with gardens to the front and sides and as with most buildings of Constantinople it was to a grand scale. There were statues that stood to the might and history of the empire; that guided their approach; night had descended and stars shone down and became glittering jewels that were softly held in fountain waters; a cool breeze embraced Arzealous forcing him to shudder. The others appeared unaffected by it. Callinicus stood at the entrance and peered in, it was the perfect setting for what they intended. An attendant came to the door. He instructed him that they wanted to be taken to the steam baths and then explained their intention. The man at first looked dubious but seeing Arzealous and his companions and how insistent they were, decided to usher them through.
The chamber he took them to was circular in shape, with a high domed ceiling; pillars like tree trunks formed a circle; between them were imposing statues of mythic creatures and previous Emperors dating from antiquity, stone semi-circular benches were splayed out atop a stone mosaic floor which surrounded a small hollow that was at the heart of the room, wherein stones were piled upon a grate beneath which heated pipes ran, two silver candle stands stood to either side. The attendant excused himself and left.
“Right; Bacchus, Valerius you guard the entrance and make sure no one comes in. We shall keep the door locked from the inside and whatever you do, if you hear anything unusual, remain outside and do not interfere.”
“You have no worries about that,” replied Bacchus.
“Good,” said Callinicus as he placed the frankincense to burn. He crushed some of the mandrake and placed it in the sack of wine.
As soon as Bacchus and Valerius had left and the door was firmly locked behind them, he passed the wine to Arzealous to drink and placed water over the stones, there was a sharp hissing sound and steam erupted into the air, heating the room instantly. The smell of frankincense began to also permeate their surroundings. Callinicus took a swig of the wine and began removing his cloak, Arzealous followed suit.
They sat on the bench facing the stones and began to drift off as the Mandrake took hold, they lay back legs splayed out, as their minds began to float. All types of images appeared out of the veil of mist. The flames from the candles seemed far off, distant obscured; Arzealous felt himself falling toward them, at first he descended slowly then it was as though he were descending from a great height and there appeared in front of him the entire empire. The flickering lights of the candles no longer were far away but blazed as if they were comets; Arzealous felt as though he were riding on the back of one of them. He could see the lands of Byzantium become real, vibrant, as he flew across the sky. The stars shone and whirled all around, he bent his mind toward Adamous and the comet wildly changed direction, rose sharply, turned and flew like a hawk ready to strike its prey, as it plummeted toward the ground, in the distance was a small fire that at first seemed nothing more than a spark in a dark void; as he got closer, it grew until it became a burning pyre.
Around the fire was Gabriel he was sitting up staring at the flames;
“Gabriel; Gabriel.”
“Michael; I was not expecting to make contact with you this way.”
“It was necessary though I must be quick Charon may soon realise what we are doing. You need to leave for Thrace at once, your destination will be a place near the ancient city of Perperikon, therein is hidden the Codex of War, which makes what you have in your possession the Seal of Calamities; use it with care.”
Gabriel did not seem surprised by that revelation; at last it all made sense as to why Charon and the Wraith were there. “There is one problem we cannot at this time use the Sacred Seal to speed us on our way and I will not use it until I am sure that those we have helped escape from Thebes are not being pursued by Charon. Also the Franks and the Merovingian are in league with Charon; I think being human has dulled the Watchers senses. They must all be trying to get the Codex, what’s more the Djinn have a part to play in all this.”
“I see, since it is the Codex for War it is no wonder the Djinn are here, from what I've gathered it was one of them in the guise of a Sorcerous that hid it here in the first place, also the Merovingian has the Staff of Darkness, so take care. You know what you must do; get to the main body of the Codex before anyone else, and if necessary destroy it.”
“Do you think it will come to that?”
“It is a consideration we must be prepared for. If as you say the Merovingian has turned against us, then we must prepare for any eventuality keep that in mind, he is a powerful Watcher, so be vigilant.”
Gabriel nodded as he did so a dark mist appeared behind him; and from it came a deep tall shadow and from that shadow could be seen two cold penetrating eyes looking, searching, but they were unseeing of their prey. The Shadow began to take form become solid, but before it became real the connection between Michael and Gabriel was severed, as if some force had snatched Michael away.
The menace faded and withdrew into the dark and was no more.
The two figures sat up in the deep heat of that room.
“Were we discovered?” asked Arzealous sharply.
“I cannot be sure, I sensed a figure there, with much power, and he was as strong as any I had felt before.”
“That could have been the Merovingian unfortunately I've just been informed that he is working with Charon. Does he know what was said?”
“I’m not sure, it depends on how much and how strong th
e image is that remains after you have separated yourself from the vision quest; but we should assume the worst.”
“That’s easy to do, all we’ve had is the worst of things since we arrived, and you should be made aware that Gabriel believes the Djinn to be here which we should have expected anyway since they were the guardians of this particular Codex: I would suggest that the chase is on for one of the most destructive powers in the universe which means it's only a matter of time before Azazel or his acolytes make an appearance.”