BooksBarbecue
Back Emperor
Chapters (76)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. I
  4. II
  5. III
  6. I - INVADER AD 43-70
  7. I
  8. II
  9. III
  10. IV
  11. V
  12. VI
  13. VII
  14. VIII
  15. IX
  16. X
  17. XI
  18. XII
  19. XIII
  20. XIV
  21. XV
  22. XVI
  23. XVII
  24. XVIII
  25. XIX
  26. XX
  27. XXI
  28. XXII
  29. XXIII
  30. XXIV
  31. XXV
  32. XXVI
  33. II - BUILDER AD 122-138
  34. I
  35. II
  36. III
  37. IV
  38. V
  39. VI
  40. VII
  41. VIII
  42. IX
  43. X
  44. XI
  45. XII
  46. XIII
  47. XIV
  48. XV
  49. XVI
  50. XVII
  51. XVIII
  52. XIX
  53. XX
  54. XXI
  55. III - EMPEROR AD 314—337
  56. I
  57. II
  58. III
  59. IV
  60. V
  61. VI
  62. VII
  63. VIII
  64. IX
  65. X
  66. XI
  67. XII
  68. XIII
  69. XIV
  70. XV
  71. EPILOGUE
  72. I
  73. II
  74. III
  75. IV
  76. Afterword

‘Yes. Well, whoever sent back the Prophecy had a purpose. The question is, what could that purpose be? Christian symbols were written into that acrostic, the A and the O. Could it really be that the sender was trying to deflect Constantine’s adoption of Christianity?’

Thalius said, ‘It is what I believed at the time, I think - though others made their own interpretations of the Prophecy, and its lost promises of “freedom”. Perhaps the Weaver wanted what I always wanted - strange thought! Certainly Constantine has remade the Church, and the results have been just as I feared. The bishops have taken to chastising those who won’t follow the official line. The persecuted turned persecutor! Oh, I believe that thanks to Constantine the Church will live for ever. It is just that it is not my Church.’

Audax grunted. ‘So if the intention of the author of the Prophecy was to “save” the Church, he or she failed.’

‘Really? Perhaps you just don’t want to believe, Audax, that all of the future hung on your choices in those few terrible heartbeats when you held that knife - but it did, you know. And consider this.’ He shivered, an inchoate dread stealing over him. ‘If history has been changed around us, Audax, if we are now living in the wrong history - how would we know?’

Audax had no answer.

‘Will you tell your son about the Prophecy?’

‘No.’

‘You must,’ Thalius said firmly. ‘Ours is a remarkable family with a remarkable story. You would be depriving him of his past, his identity otherwise. Here,’ he said impulsively, and he handed Audax the scroll of Claudius’s memoir. ‘You take this. Keep it for when he’s older. Claudius was bound up with the Prophecy too, and perhaps it will help little Tarcho fill in the blanks in the story. If he’s as clever as you say, he may end up understanding far more of this strange business than I, than any of us, ever did. I never even saw the Prophecy itself,’ he recalled wistfully, ‘not even the few lines which might have described the great upheaval of our own lives ...’

Audax hesitated, then took the book. ‘Very well, Thalius. I’ll make sure he understands it is from you.’ He looked around a cloudy sky, seeking the angle of the sun. ‘Thalius, I must go. My duties - I have people to see here on behalf of the imperial heirs.’

‘I understand,’ Thalius said.

Audax stepped away, returning to the crowded street. ‘I hope I’ll see you again before I leave.’

‘You know where I am - I never go far these days!’

But Audax was already lost in the crowd. Thalius, alone, empty-handed, felt his bruised belly twinge again. Moving cautiously he turned away and headed for home.

EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE

AD 418

I

Isolde hated the idea of travelling to Britain with her father.