‘So those things are in that box?’ Nubia asked.
Jonathan nodded.
‘But if those good things are in the box, then why is it dangerous?’ asked Flavia.
‘Because it’s so holy. So pure.’
Lupus waved his hand to attract their attention. He pretended to touch the ark and then mimicked a man dying. He clutched his throat and crossed his eyes and fell choking back onto the bed.
They all laughed nervously.
‘That’s right,’ said Jonathan. ‘Once, long ago, our enemies captured the ark and they all got boils and tumours and died of the plague until they sent the ark back to Israel.’
‘Ugh!’ Flavia’s smile faded. ‘It’s good you didn’t touch it, Nubia. Boils are sores on your skin and tumours are lumps inside you.’
Nubia shuddered.
‘Later,’ continued Jonathan, ‘King David started to take the ark back to Jerusalem on a cart. But they didn’t do it properly and a man called Uzzah reached out and touched it and died!’
‘That must be why Berenice forbade anyone to come in here,’ said Flavia.
‘But wouldn’t the Berenice be afraid to come in?’ Nubia asked.
Lupus and Rizpah nodded.
‘No,’ said Jonathan. ‘Because any Jew who had it in his house was blessed in every way.’
‘So it’s all right to have it,’ said Flavia, ‘just not to touch it.’
Jonathan nodded.
‘If touching it is bad,’ said Flavia after a moment, ‘I wonder what opening the box would do?’
Lupus clutched his throat and they all nodded grimly.
‘“When a Prometheus opens a Pandora’s box, Rome will be devastated”,’ quoted Flavia, and then mused, ‘but the plague is already killing thousands and this ark is shut. Do you think it’s been opened and closed and that’s what caused the plague?’
‘Maybe we have to open it to stop plague,’ said Nubia softly.
They all looked at the golden box and then at one another.
‘Any volunteers?’ said Jonathan.
They all shook their heads and suddenly Nubia cried:
‘Hark! Voices are coming!’
‘This isn’t a very good hiding place,’ Jonathan whispered to Flavia. The five friends were crouching behind the far side of the bed.
‘I know. But it’s the only place in the room,’ she hissed back.
They heard the sound of a large key being inserted in its hole, pushing the bolt up, pulling it back. Jonathan heard a man’s voice from the doorway.
‘Purify the room with incense, wipe down the walls and floors,’ he said. ‘Clean the bedding and dust everything. But don’t touch the curtain. Or the box. Do you understand?’
‘I understand,’ came a soft female voice. Probably a slave-girl, thought Jonathan.
‘Hurry and get the cleaning things now,’ said the man’s voice again. It was a husky, well-educated voice, and although it was maddeningly familiar, Jonathan couldn’t match it to a face. ‘I want everything to be perfect for Berenice when she returns.’
Berenice! Jonathan turned to look at Flavia wide-eyed, but she gazed back blankly.
Then he realised that the man and the slave-girl had been speaking in Hebrew.
‘What were they saying?’ Flavia asked Jonathan.
After Mystery-voice and the slave-girl had left, the five friends had managed to slip out of Berenice’s room. Now they were hiding in an alcove off the corridor behind a large marble statue of a Trojan and his sons being devoured by sea serpents.
‘Who was the man at the door?’ said Flavia. ‘His voice sounded familiar . . .’
Lupus wrote a name on his wax tablet and showed it to them:
AGATHUS.
‘That’s right,’ said Rizpah. ‘He is Titus’s chief steward.’
‘Of course!’ said Jonathan. ‘I should have recognised his voice.’
‘What did he say?’ asked Flavia.
‘He told the slave-girl to tidy the room. I think she’ll be back in a minute. He also told her not to touch the box.’
‘Then it must be the ark,’ breathed Flavia. ‘It must be Pandora’s box. What now?’
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE ARK wrote Lupus on his wax tablet.
Flavia nodded. ‘And we need to find out more about Berenice! I think she’s a better suspect than the doctors. What is it, Jonathan? What are you whispering to Rizpah?’
‘Nothing,’ said Jonathan. ‘Er . . . why don’t I ask my mother if she knows anything?’
‘Good idea. Nubia and I will do research in the library of the Temple of Apollo. That man Josephus probably knows a lot about Berenice and the ark. Lupus, you and Rizpah are small enough to hide in the tunnels. Can you stay here and snoop around and tell us if you get any more information? Find out why the slave-girl is cleaning the room now? Maybe Berenice is planning to come back . . .’
‘But didn’t you—’ Rizpah frowned at Jonathan.
‘Shhh!’ said Jonathan. ‘Do I hear someone coming? No. I guess not. No,’ he said again, giving Rizpah a hard look.
Lupus wrote on his wax tablet and showed it to Flavia.
WHERE WILL YOU BE, he wrote, IF WE FIND
OUT ANYTHING?
‘Let’s meet in the Latin colonnade of the Temple of Apollo,’ she whispered. ‘It’s about the fourth hour now, so make it noon – in two hours. If any of us finds any information and can’t be there at that time, just leave a message on a wax tablet. We’ll have to use a simple code . . . I know! Greek letters instead of Latin. Use beta for V and eta for H. And write backwards. It’s simple enough to decipher but it will look like nonsense to anyone who might casually glance at it. Do you all understand?’
They nodded.
‘Shhh!’ whispered Rizpah. ‘Here comes Abigail to clean Berenice’s room.’
They all held their breath and crouched down behind the statue’s base. They heard the slosh of water in a bucket and the almost soundless pad of the slave-girl’s feet passing along the corridor. The sound of the key lifting the bolt and the door to Berenice’s room opening and then closing.
‘Now!’ hissed Flavia. ‘Let’s go!’
‘Shalom, Titus Flavius Josephus,’ said Flavia politely. ‘Peace be with you.’
The bearded man glanced up from his scrolls and sheets of papyrus and his face relaxed as he saw the girls standing before him.
‘Flavia Gemina, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘Have a seat.’
‘Thank you. And this is my friend Nubia.’
‘Shalom, Nubia. How may I help you girls?’ he asked as they pulled back chairs and sat across from him. ‘Do you need help translating your Aeschylus?’
‘No,’ said Flavia. ‘But can you tell us about the ark of the covenant?’
‘The ark?’ His heavy eyebrows lifted in surprise.
‘Yes. What happened to it after the Temple was destroyed? Did Titus bring it back to Rome?’
‘Not at all,’ he said. ‘After Titus destroyed the temple he sent some men to find the ark. We found the great menorah – the lampstand – and many other holy implements. But of the ark we found no trace.’
‘Why wasn’t the ark in the Temple?’ Flavia Gemina asked Flavius Josephus.
‘There are several theories,’ he replied, stroking his beard. ‘Some believe it was taken away by the Queen of Sheba in Solomon’s time. Others think that when the King of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem it was hidden in a maze of secret tunnels beneath the First Temple, and that it lies there still.’
‘Like a labyrinth!’ breathed Flavia. ‘But with a holy treasure instead of a minotaur.’
‘What is First Temple?’ Nubia asked Josephus.
‘We Jews call the temple built by Solomon the First Temple. It was destroyed on the ninth of Av and our people sent into exile, to Babylon.’
‘Babylon! That’s where Jonathan’s father comes from.’
‘Yes,’ said Josephus. ‘The Jews who went to Babylon prospered. A thriving community exi
sts there to this day. But not all of our people remained there. Some returned to Jerusalem seventy years after Solomon’s temple was destroyed. Seven and seventy are the numbers of completion,’ he explained. ‘The returning exiles built another temple on the site of the first, which they called the Second Temple. And now I will tell you something amazing: the Second Temple was destroyed by Titus on the ninth of Av, the exact same day of the year that the First Temple was destroyed!’
Flavia felt a delicious shiver down her backbone. ‘But the First Temple was destroyed a long time before the Second Temple?’
‘Of course,’ said Josephus. Then he glanced round to make sure they weren’t overheard and leaned forward across the marble table top. ‘Many Jews believe the year we are in now will be an evil one, too.’
‘Why?’ whispered Flavia.
‘Because Solomon’s temple – the First Temple – was destroyed exactly 666 years ago. That number has significance for us, too.’
‘What?’ said Flavia.
‘It is the number of the Beast.’
Jonathan climbed the stairs which led to the upper level of the Imperial Palace. He was trying to remember the route they taken the previous evening. Agathus had led them along a corridor with a blue-grey marble floor, through a courtyard with a triple fountain, up some stairs, down a corridor with yellow columns, and finally down the corridor with the red porphyry columns.
His heart was pounding and he knew it was not just because he had been climbing stairs. Berenice was on her way, just as he had planned. Soon she would see for herself that Titus and his mother were not lovers. Then his mother would finally be safe. And maybe, when Titus came face to face with Berenice, he would fall in love with her again.
Jonathan stopped to drink at the fountain with three marble dolphins. The sun had appeared from behind a cloud. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, enjoying its gentle warmth on his face as his heartbeat returned to normal. The clink of armour made him open his eyes and he saw three figures appear at the foot of a stairway on the other side of the courtyard.
‘Father!’ he cried. ‘What are you doing here?’
Mordecai stopped and turned and the two guards on either side of him stopped, too.
Jonathan ran forward. ‘What’s happened? Why are you here?’ His heart was racing again. ‘Have they arrested you?’
‘No, no.’ His father gave him a tired smile. ‘The Emperor’s daughter Julia. She came down with the fever this morning. He asked me to treat her.’
‘Will she be all right?’ asked Jonathan.
Mordecai nodded. ‘I think so.’
‘So you’ve been here all morning?’ said Jonathan. ‘Here on the Palatine Hill?’
‘Yes,’ said Mordecai. ‘Does that surprise you?’
‘No,’ said Jonathan hastily. ‘I’m not surprised. I’m glad. Are you going to stay here today – in the palace, I mean?’
‘No.’ Mordecai nodded at the guards. ‘They’re escorting me back to the Tiber Island.’ He patted Jonathan’s shoulder. ‘Don’t wait for me this afternoon. I may not be back for dinner.’
Jonathan listened to their footsteps recede down the marble stairs and he gazed thoughtfully out into the bright courtyard.
‘I’m not surprised,’ he said to himself. ‘It’s the most natural thing in the world that Titus would want the best doctor in Rome to treat someone he cares for. Why didn’t I think of that before?’
‘The Beast?’ Nubia whispered to Josephus. ‘What is the Beast?’
She suddenly noticed tiny drops of sweat on Josephus’s forehead, although it was quite cold in the library.
‘The Beast?’ said Josephus with a frown. ‘Were we talking about the Beast?’
‘Yes,’ said Flavia. ‘You were telling us that the ark might have been hidden before the destruction of the First Temple 666 years ago. The number of the Beast? But what is the Beast?’
‘Some say Nero, who set the fire. The Hebrew letters of his name add up to 666. Others say Titus, a second Nero. And of the rock badger you may not eat.’
Nubia and Flavia glanced at one another.
‘The beast is rock badger?’ asked Nubia.
Josephus leaned forward. ‘A puppy followed me home once,’ he confided in a loud whisper, ‘when I was a boy. But my parents would not let me keep him. They said he was an unclean creature.’
‘That is very sad,’ said Nubia, aware that the imperial scribes at nearby tables were looking at them.
And Flavia added, ‘We’re sorry your parents wouldn’t let you keep the puppy. But what about the ark?’
Josephus frowned, shook his head and rose unsteadily to his feet. ‘The ark is golden and the Beast is not a puppy.’ He looked down at Nubia with fevered eyes. ‘I touched it! Do you understand?’
She nodded up at him, although she had no idea what he meant, or why he was talking to her and not to Flavia. The silence told her that everyone in the library had stopped reading in order to listen.
‘And now I am unclean,’ Josephus cried. ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He began swatting the air around his face. ‘Flies! I can’t stand the buzzing. It’s the flies. No! It’s the . . . rock badger!’
And with those words, he fell to the floor, unconscious.
In the apothecary’s storeroom on Snake Island, Smintheus looked at Jonathan and arched one eyebrow. ‘You want a potion to make it look as if you have the fever?’
‘That’s right,’ said Jonathan. ‘Do you have anything like that?’
‘No person has ever asked for such a thing before. Let me think.’
Jonathan nodded and glanced over his shoulder, out through the doorway behind him. It was almost noon. He needed to get back to the Palatine soon, before Flavia and the others began to wonder where he was.
‘Eureka!’ said Smintheus suddenly. ‘I have it. The tonic I have in mind does not exactly mimic the appearance of fever and chills, but it will put you into a very deep sleep, a sleep closely resembling death. Will that do?’
‘I suppose that would work.’
‘It is strong medicine. Will you tell me what you want it for?’
Jonathan thought quickly. ‘Father wants to see whether some of the doctors can tell the difference between a real fever and a false one. I volunteered to help him. I’ll be under his care the whole time.’
‘So it is you who will be taking the potion?’
‘Yes,’ Jonathan lied.
‘Very well. I will go and seek.’ He disappeared through the bead curtain to a back room. Presently he reappeared with a small clay jar stopped with a tiny cork.
Smintheus held out the small jar and Jonathan took it. It was heavy for its size and had a simple garland of black glazed flowers painted around its terracotta belly. Smintheus wrote something on a papyrus label.
‘Tell your father these are the main ingredients. He will know what they are. I suggest you put twenty drops into a cup of sweet red wine and drink it all down,’ said Smintheus. ‘Within half an hour you will fall into a deep sleep. You will wake after one day – a day and a half at the most – feeling better than ever. Ask your father to come and consult me if he wants to know more.’
Jonathan took the jar and nodded. ‘There’s no risk of her . . . me taking too much?’
‘No,’ said Smintheus with a smile. ‘Not if you follow the recommended dose. Twenty drops.’
Lupus emerged from the cryptoporticus Rizpah had showed him and brushed off the cobwebs. Then his eyes opened in surprise. Apart from a pair of cooing pigeons, the colonnade of the Latin library was completely deserted. He peered across the courtyard into the Greek library. Also empty.
Lupus shrugged, opened his wax tablet, thought for a moment and wrote:
When he had finished writing the coded message he left the wax tablet on the table and went to try to find his friends.
‘Mother, you look tired.’
‘Do I?’
‘Yes. You definitely look tired.’
‘I suppose
I haven’t been sleeping terribly well these past few months.’
‘Why not? Are you worried about something?’
Susannah gave Jonathan a sad smile. ‘I worry about many things. About how you and your sister are doing. About how I betrayed your father. And most of all, about Titus.’
Jonathan felt an unpleasant twist in his stomach. ‘Why? What about Titus?’
‘I’m afraid he’s slipping into his old ways. I thought I was having some influence. But these fits of rage . . .’
‘He hasn’t hurt you, has he?’
‘No, no. He never strikes me. Sometimes he shouts, but he always apologises afterwards.’
‘Flavia thinks someone might be poisoning him.’
‘I don’t think it’s poison. I think it’s just his nature. His real nature.’ She bit her lip and looked away. ‘Next month,’ she said, ‘Titus intends to open the amphitheatre with a hundred days of games. Thousands of gladiators will fight and die. Not to mention the beast fighters and the poor animals. So many innocent men and animals condemned to death. I’ve realised we are very different in our ways of seeing life.’
‘Mother,’ said Jonathan carefully. ‘If you aren’t helping Titus be a better ruler . . . Would you ever reconsider coming home, coming back to Ostia—’
‘Jonathan. Even if I wanted to, your father could never forgive me for what I did. Never.’
‘But he could, mother. I know he could!’
‘No!’ She turned away and pressed her fingertips against her forehead. ‘Please don’t start again, Jonathan. I’m so tired.’
‘See? You’re tired!’ Jonathan took a deep breath. ‘Mother, listen to me. I have something for you. This little jar has a tonic in it. If you mix twenty drops in some sweet red wine it will help you get some sleep. Promise me you’ll try it.’
‘Very well, my son.’ She turned and laid a cool hand against his cheek and smiled. ‘Perhaps I’ll take it tomorrow evening for the Sabbath, our day of rest.’
The Roman Mysteries Complete Collection Page 90