Eagle of the Empire

by Martin Ferguson

  ‘And I ended up following you anyway.’ I laugh.

  ‘Yeah. Funny how things happen sometimes. So, are you interested then?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ It’s my turn to ask.

  ‘This work,’ he replies. ‘My leg is in bad shape and I won’t be up and running for some time. Somebody has to fill in for me and if what you and Dave have told me of your activities over the past few days is true, then I can’t imagine anyone better suited for it. Call it a seventeenth birthday present if you want.’

  ‘Why on earth would the museum want me?’ I ask. ‘I mean don’t get me wrong, traveling around the world, finding relics, defeating the bad guys, sounds perfect to me, but I failed the trials. I stole their equipment, got Dave captured and tortured, and Emma hospitalised. Oh, and let’s not forget that I was almost arrested for breaking and entering.’

  ‘You can always retake the trials and Dave will hold no grudges for what he endured, only against those who captured him,’ Matt reassures me. ‘Besides, that wasn’t your fault.’

  ‘I have no background or qualifications in history or archaeology and I am supposed to be studying in college. Besides, I’m not exactly the ideal employee, especially for a government agency that has ties with MI-5.’

  ‘True, but that’s why I think you’ll be perfect for this kind of work,’ Matt says, smiling. ‘On gut instinct alone, without any support or aid, you found the tomb of the Ninth Legion, and navigated your way into the Vatican. Historians go their entire lives without seeing what you have. You have more than proved your worth, Adam.

  ‘I’ll think about it,’ I say, but we both know that my answer will be yes. All of this sounds perfect for me. Together, with my brother, hunting down relics and ancient artefacts, and if it’s anything like the past few days, it’ll certainly not be boring.

  ‘I have to warn you though, people like Makov and his thugs, they are everywhere in this life,’ he explains. ‘You have entered a world of thieves and scoundrels, liars and cheats.’

  ‘I’ll fit right in,’ I add.

  ‘Probably,’ he admits with a smirk. ‘Seriously though, you’ve crossed paths with some dangerous people and cost them dearly. They will not forget that. Bishop and Leon have been imprisoned, but Makov is still out there and he will be gunning for us.’

  Let him come, I tell myself. I will be ready next time.

  ‘I just want you to know what you’ll be getting yourself into,’ he says, but my mind is already made up. ‘The world saw you, us. They saw the Eagle risen and its power. The governments will try to cover it up, use the media to call it a typical bolt of lightning, a freak event of nature, but people have started to wonder. Myth is becoming reality after being kept secret for so long.’

  ‘You really think the world saw me?’ I joke.

  ‘Abbey said several videos and images have been leaked online,’ Matt replies. ‘One is sure to have your ugly mug on it!’

  We both laugh, drawing looks of annoyance from the other passengers. Em and Dave don’t even stir.

  ‘I see you’re wearing Dad’s jacket,’ he notices, tapping me on the arm of the biker jacket.

  ‘Yeah, sorry. I know I probably shouldn’t…’

  ‘No, it suits you,’ he says, cutting off my protests. ‘He would want you to wear it. You still ride his bike?’

  ‘Not at the moment.’ It’s not exactly a lie, but the truth and the wreckage of our father’s motorcycle can wait until we return home. A beeping sounds from my pocket, a red light shining on the headset. I put the glasses on, Abbey’s voice instantly speaking to me.

  ‘Thirty minutes until you land at Heathrow,’ she says, tone filled with annoyance.

  ‘Are you still angry with me for taking off the glasses in the Vatican?’ I ask. ‘If it’s about alerting the police then you should know that it saved the lives of two of the security guards. If you hadn’t summoned medical aid then both would’ve died.’

  ‘Continuing into the Vatican alone and without our support was reckless and foolish,’ she berates me. ‘You could’ve been arrested, or worse, killed.’

  ‘But it was the right thing to do,’ I say, my voice trying to calm her. She reminds me of my mother with her ranting.

  ‘You cut me off,’ she protests. ‘The authorities were onto you and you went in on your own without back-up.’

  ‘I knew you two would get on well,’ Matt says, closing his eyes and leaning back in his seat, earpiece and mic in place to join the conversation. He smiles and laughs as Abbey continues her tirade.

  ‘Okay, okay,’ I say, trying to calm her. ‘I’m sorry and it’ll never happen again.’

  ‘Promise?’

  ‘I promise,’ I swear to her, struggling not to laugh.

  ‘I can tell you’re chuckling,’ she says.

  ‘I am not,’ I say, unable to stifle the laughter anymore. ‘Okay, I’m sorry again.’

  ‘I’ll let you off, but only because it’s your birthday,’ she says. ‘Did Matt offer you a place on the team?

  ‘He did,’ I reply.

  ‘Welcome to the team then,’ she says.

  ‘I haven’t accepted yet!’

  ‘You will,’ she says.

  ‘And Charles is okay with all this?’

  ‘He will be – eventually,’ Abbey says before putting on her stiff British accent to imitate her boss. ‘Welcome to Echo Team, Mr Hunter.’

  I can’t contain my smile. I began all this a kid in college, uncertain of what I wanted to do with my life. Now, I have a path and a purpose set out before me. Even if it’s just until Matt recovers, I will savour every moment. Though the past week has been terrifying, exhausting, draining, and often painful, sitting on this plane alongside my brother and with an exciting future ahead of me, I can honestly say I would not change any of it at all.

  ‘Does our mother know about any of this?’ I ask, keen to know more about his ‘real’ life.

  ‘She does now,’ Matt says uncomfortably.

  ‘And Kat?’

  ‘Some of it,’ he replies with a grin. ‘I try to leave out the being captured and beaten side of things though.’

  I’m tempted to tell him that Kat has a secret of her own – but I resist. It’s her secret to tell. My mind flicks to what lies in secure storage within the cargo hold of the plane.

  ‘What is the Eagle? I ask Matt quietly.

  ‘The standard of a Roman legion,’ he states, though seeing my gaze he knows more is expected. ‘To say anymore opens up a whole can of worms that I really don’t want to go into now.’

  ‘Wrath of the gods as the Romans and Makov believed?’ I suggest with wonder. ‘A power unknown by this world, able to cast down light and fire and summon ghosts? I mean that was what we saw, wasn’t it? Ghosts, spirits of the dead?’

  ‘Stop now before you make my headache worse.’ He laughs.

  ‘What will happen to it when we get back?’ I ask.

  ‘We will carry out a few tests on it,’ Abbey explains. ‘Then it will go into the containment facility. It’s too dangerous an object to be let loose upon the world.’

  ‘Exactly what I think the centurion feared,’ I say.

  ‘It’s my job, our job, to find these relics but if they are as powerful and hazardous as the Eagle, it’s our duty to protect the world from them,’ Matt says.

  ‘The Hunter brothers, saving the world,’ I say. ‘Who would’ve thought it?’

  ‘I still can’t get my head around how you were able to wield the Eagle yet the centurion forced Makov to release it,’ Matt says.

  ‘Perhaps it can only be controlled by the righteous,’ Abbey suggests. ‘The legatus, with his dying breath, saving his men. Adam, beaten and bruised, saving his brother and friend. Perhaps the centurion recognised that.’

  ‘Adam is a lot of things,’ Matt says. ‘Crafty and reckless yes, but righteous? I don’t know.’

  ‘He cares for his family,’ Abbey adds as if I am not listening in. ‘Maybe that was all that was n
eeded.’

  My phone beeps with an incoming message, and I try to ignore it, sure that it will be our mother for the millionth time.

  ‘Aren’t you going to get that?’ Abbey asks. ‘It’s your girlfriend!’

  ‘Abbey!’ I say a little too loudly. I drop my voice. ‘Are you still intercepting my messages?’

  ‘Standard procedure, Adam. Standard procedure.’

  I ignore her invitation for a row. I’m going to have to get used to this – a downside of being part of a team. I glance down at my phone and read the message.

  That was you in those photos, wasn’t it? Duncan is sure of it. Everybody is talking about it at college. So, Mr Celebrity, your offer to go to the end of the year ball with me still open?

  Sarra Starr. x

  I’m vaguely aware of Matt and Abbey having a conversation – and joking around at my expense.

  ‘She just asked him out!’ Abbey says.

  ‘Good on you,’ Matt cheers, punching me on the arm. ‘You’re more like me than I thought!

  ‘Can you two just butt out?’

  I read the message again. I know I should be pleased, overjoyed, a date with the most popular girl at college, but I’m not. All I can think of is sitting in that hospital, with Em’s hand in mine, our eyes meeting and my lips on her soft brow as she slept. Em has barely spoken to me since. I’ve caught her gaze a few times, but she looks annoyed and angry at me more than anything, warning me away. Looking up towards her seat, seeing her sleeping again, I can’t help but wish the message was from her.

  I sigh heavily, returning to matters at hand. Rummaging through my rucksack, I produce Matt’s journal.

  ‘I wondered if I’d see that old thing again,’ Matt says with surprise, taking the notebook eagerly. ‘Some of the things in here should not be seen by anyone outside the museum. You have no idea what secrets are encrypted.’

  ‘I’ve read some of them,’ I reply. ‘The centurion is mentioned in there, your lead…?’

  ‘An old friend of mine, an Italian historian,’ Matt says, guessing my question. ‘He was one of the first to unearth the wall in the Colosseum with the inscriptions. It took a helluva bribe to get him to tell me the few details he had taken notes of, among other things. You found it though, didn’t you? You saw the wall of victorious gladiators.’

  I smile without saying anymore. I see it in his eyes, how he longed to have been there and seen it for himself. I don’t taunt him by speaking about it, nor do I tell him of my other beating at Makov’s hands beneath the Colosseum.

  ‘I knew you’d figure out the encryptions,’ he tells me, then looks back to his journal. ‘You are meant for this life.’

  ‘So,’ Abbey says over the headsets to Matt and me. ‘What do we do next, Hunters?’

  The Relic Hunters

  Return Will In…

  CURSE OF THE SANDS

  Historical Note

  When I began to write the first entry for the Relic Hunters series I knew from the start that it would be focussed on the Romans – or more specifically – the lost Roman Legion. The disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion has been much discussed by historians and has featured in many books, television series and films. I knew that this mystery would be the perfect historical basis for the first book in a mythical treasure hunting series.

  The Roman Ninth Legion – The Legion IX Hispana – was a real legion that is recorded as suffering a severe defeat in 61AD at the hands of Boudicca at the Battle of Camulodunum (Colchester). Emperor Hadrian (commissioner of Hadrian’s Wall) once stated that ‘the Britons could not be kept under Roman control.’ The prevailing theory is that the Ninth Legion met its doom on Britain’s northern frontier, never to be seen or heard from again. The Legion did not return to Rome and no other mentions of the Legion, its soldiers or its Eagle were ever made.

  Between 71 and 79 AD, much of the reign of Emperor Titus Flāvius Caesar Vespasiānus Augustus (Vespasian for short) is a mystery. Though popular in his early years as Emperor, Vespasian receded from the public eye as he survived several conspiracies against him. The Emperor sought to make Rome great again following civil war and ordered the construction of a great many buildings and structures that would stand the test of time (the Colosseum among them). After a short illness, Emperor Vespasian died with his final words being; ‘I think I am becoming a God.’

  Following Vespasian’s death, his son Titus Flāvius Caesar Vespasiānus Augustus (Titus for short) succeeded him as Emperor. Though Titus was well loved by the populace of Rome and was a seasoned soldier in the Legions, he sadly did not participate in the gladiatorial arts (though several other Emperors are recorded as doing so). Titus did oversee the completion of the Colosseum and its inaugural games prior to his death merely two years after his coronation.

  The wall within the Colosseum recording the victorious gladiators is a fabrication of mine, as sadly is the mythical Eagle standard. There have been many rumours of the location and discovery of a Roman Legion’s bronze Eagle in the highlands of Scotland, but no proof has yet been uncovered of what really happened to the Ninth Legion.

  As I said before, I knew that my first book in this series would be based on the Romans. The Roman Empire spanned for over 1500 years, reaching from Northern Britain across Europe to Egypt and the Middle East with over 60 million inhabitants. The Roman Empire was one of the greatest seen by this world, but it is only a small part of history. There is much more for Adam Hunter and the British Museum to discover, many relics to unearth and myths and legends to be brought to life.

  Acknowledgments

  The completion and release of this book could not have been possible without the advice, guidance and assistance of a great many people. First are the family and friends who have helped me, listened to me when I have needed to talk through ideas and given their precious time to read through countless drafts. Of course a massive thank you to the proof-readers and editors too who have done a fantastic job with this book. I thank you all and am sure I will be knocking at your door soon to talk over Book 2.

  A big thank you must go to the staff and volunteers of the British Museum, the Colosseum in Rome and the Vatican Museums. I visited each of these whilst planning out this book and they dealt with all the questions I had for them, no matter how basic or strange. The sites were indeed so inspirational that I made them settings for the very story I was to write.

  This is just the beginning.

  I thank you all.

  Martin Ferguson

  About the Author

  Martin Ferguson

  I live in Norwich, England and am currently working on the young adult adventure and historical series 'Relic Hunters'. Inspired by the myths and legends my parents told me as a boy and with the help of my ever-suffering wife, a teacher and history graduate, 'Eagle of the Empire' was the first entry in the 'Relic Hunters' series.

  When not writing I am training or at least planning my next challenge. Following a serious knee injury, I was told by surgeons never to run or play sports again. Stubborn and reckless, much like the characters in my writing, I have not listened and have completed the Three Peaks Challenge, the Great North Run, the Greater Manchester Marathon and the London Marathon.