Wrath of Rome

IX

Croesus looked older than Athanasius had imagined, and more frail-looking. Hardly the swarthy pirate he had expected, and for a moment, just a moment, he thought he had made a mistake. The three legionnaires more than made up for it, however. One had his javelin to Virtus, another his sword to Athanasius’s back, and a third was relieving a stunned Polycarp of John’s letter.

“This is a private meeting,” Polycarp objected in a manner that in any other circumstance Athanasius would have found laughable.

“Nothing of yours is private, Bishop,” Croesus quipped. “Including your precious church.”

“Surely what this man has told me isn’t true, Croesus?” Polycarp pleaded. “The Lord’s Vineyard is not in league with the Dei. It grows grapes.”

“It grows assassins, you holy fool.” Croesus turned to Athanasius. “And you’ve become quite the new recruit from what I hear. Senator Maximus. Commander Barbatio on Patmos. You could learn from this one, Virtus.”

“Does the Dei want me dead or alive, Croesus?” Athanasius demanded. “Because right now I’m terribly confused.”

“Yes, you are,” said Croesus and looked over John’s letter and made a face at Polycarp. “This Caesar code is unreadable without the key word. What is it?”

“Poseidon,” Athanasius blurted out. “The key word is Poseidon. Ironic, yes? That is your code name in the Dei, is it not?”

Croesus wasn’t amused.

“Let me show you,” Athanasius said, and jumped forward to grab Croesus, spinning him round as a shield to face the point of the legionnaire’s sword that had been at his own back. He then pulled out his dagger and put it to Croesus’s throat. “Back away,” he told the legionnaires. “Back away or Poseidon is dead.”

“You really are a fool in the end, aren’t you?” said Croesus, raising his own hand to his lips to kiss his ring.

“No!” shouted Athanasius, trying to pry it out of Croesus’s mouth. “No poison to save you this time, old man.”

“Kill me, idiots!” shouted Croesus.

To Athanasius’s shock, the three legionnaires moved quickly across the rug to finish the job on Croesus themselves. Then Virtus, thinking quickly, pulled the rug out from under their feet, tripping them on their swords.

Athanasius hurled his dagger into the first legionnaire’s face, striking him in the eye, and he went down. Virtus picked up the javelin that the legionnaire had dropped in his fall, plunged it into another’s back, then broke it off and used the sharp end to stab the last legionnaire in the gut under his breastplate.

Polycarp, who proved cool under pressure, nevertheless looked bewildered as Athanasius tackled Croesus and struggled to keep the old man’s hand out of his mouth, but he was too late. Already the eyes were dimming.

“You’re going to talk, Croesus,” Athanasius growled. “You know you can’t escape. No poison to save you. What does the Dei want?”

“Everything.”

“By putting Rome at war with the Church?”

The old man looked at Athanasius, genuinely shocked. “You really don’t know, do you?” He began to laugh heinously, then coughed up blood.

Polycarp said, “He has a devil inside!”

“We are legion, Bishop,” Croesus hissed. “We will take over the world!”

He then began to choke, and his head fell to the side.

Polycarp was stunned. “You murdered him!”

“He killed himself, Bishop,” Athanasius said and held up Croesus’s dead hand with the ring. “Smell it, it’s poison.”

Polycarp sniffed and turned away, gagging.

Then Virtus turned the body over and ripped away the tunic to reveal the tattoo of the Dei to his bishop, who could only stare at the black Chi symbol.

“I don’t understand. He was a pillar of the church.”

“Yes,” Athanasius said dryly, “and pillars hold things up.”

Athanasius helped Virtus drag the body of Croesus to a corner and began to strip Poseidon of his effects, starting with his ring. It had the Chi-Ro emblem, but no Greek letters nor any jewels, which indicated a mid-level officer in the Dei, but clearly much higher than the lowly Chi ranks.

Polycarp, who looked to be in shock, stared at the corpse of his church’s key financial backer and fell to his knees in prayer, begging the Lord Jesus for forgiveness in associating with this man and his money, and vowing to renounce any hint of materialism the rest of his life as a minister of The Way.

“What are you going to do, Athanasius?” Polycarp asked weakly.

“I’m going to follow the wine to this Lord’s Vineyard in Cappadocia,” Athanasius announced, handing Croesus’s ring to Virtus. “And Virtus here is going to follow Croesus’s shipment to Rome.”

“It won’t work,” Virtus said as he took the ring. “As soon as Croesus fails to disembark in Ostia, the Dei will know he’s dead.”

“Which gives us three weeks from the time you land in Rome and he doesn’t,” Athanasius said. “And another two weeks before express couriers can send news of it back here. Add another five days to reach Cappadocia, and I have almost six weeks.”

“Six weeks to do what, my friend?” Virtus asked.

“To follow the wine.”

Polycarp, who Athanasius realized was more clever than he thought, said, “He is going to the source of Caesar’s wine to poison it.”

“That could work,” Virtus said, slowly nodding. “But for Caesar’s winetasters.”

Athanasius decided not to reveal any details about Galen’s potion, which would delay the effects on any winetaster long enough to ensure the wine made it to Domitian’s lips, down his throat and into his stomach. “Leave that to me. Let’s just say I am going to the source of the Reign of Terror to cut it off.”

“Assassinate Caesar!” Virtus said, sounding as if the very idea was beyond the realm of the possible to mortal men.

“That’s right,” Athanasius said. “With Domitian gone, his designated successor Vespasian the Younger becomes Caesar, and with his reputed faith the empire becomes Christian. We can stop this forever war between Rome and the Church.”

The look on Virtus’s face was really quite extraordinary, as if he himself had been in old John’s cave and seen the rocks split open to reveal a vision. He, too, sank to his knees in prayer. But unlike the horrified Polycarp, he sang praises at this possibility.

“Come, Lord, come!” the former Praetorian cried out to heaven, then turned to Athanasius. “But what if this plan doesn’t work?”

“You’ll meet up with a man in Rome named Stephanus, who will introduce you to other Christians within Domitian’s own circles, including perhaps your former superiors in the Praetorian who are sympathetic. They will ensure that even if I fail on my end that you will succeed on yours.”

His mission clear, Virtus came to life, and Athanasius recognized a true Praetorian.

Polycarp, however, would have none of it. “Say what you will about helping the Church, Athanasius, but you are pursuing your own personal vengeance. This plot is not inspired by the Spirit of God but by the bloodlust of your flesh. You want vengeance. You don’t care about the Church of Jesus.”

“Says the bishop who whores with the Dei,” Athanasius shot back.

Polycarp nodded. “You are right about that, Athanasius. I have been wrong. I confess my pride in my church’s standing before the eyes of Christ in the Revelation. But I see now that even an unadulterated message of faith in our Lord and his shed blood for our sins can become adulterated within the administration of our community of faith. For this I repent, and from now on, thanks to what I have seen here today, I will speak out against the corrupting influence of money in the church. But I cannot in good conscience condone what evil you harbor in your heart, Athanasius.”

“What you’ll do, Polycarp, is act as go-between here in Ephesus to oversee messages between me and Virtus, understand?”

Virtus nodded. Polycarp didn’t look too sure.

Athanasius said, “If you love all the churches of Asia Minor and not just your own, Polycarp, then you’ll help get me to the Dovilin Vineyards and connect me with this super apostle Cerberus in the underground church.”

Slowly Polycarp nodded in surrender. “I will help you, Athanasius, but only to expose the Dei to the churches of Asia Minor who have drunk from its poisoned cup. May your plans for evil turn out for good and the salvation of many. The Lord bless you. The Lord bless us all. For I myself see no blessing in this venture, only bloodshed and death.”