The Boudicca Parchments (24 page)

So far, an artefact trafficker, two policemen and two thugs-for-rent had been killed. There had been two attempts on Daniel’s life, one on Sarit’s and one on Ted’s – as well as a kidnap attempt on Daniel’s sister or nieces. They had established that a missing parchment, stolen from the dig site, was an ancient Jewish marriage certificate between a man who
might
have been a famous Jewish revolutionary leader or military commander who fought against the Romans in Judea and woman who was almost certainly the daughter of a Celtic queen. And now they had a map with some writing in the Hebrew alphabet but an unknown language that even a scholar of Daniel’s high repute was unable to recognize, much less translate.

“Can you tell what language
group
it belongs to?” asked Ted.

Daniel stared at the writing, well and truly mystified.

“Well if you ask me, it looks like Welsh!”

“Welsh?”

After all their discussions about the druids and the Roman massacres at Mona, this was an interesting turn of events.

“From what little of it there is.”

“Can you trans
literate
for me?”

“Why? Do you speak Welsh?”

“I do as a matter of fact.”

“Okay, well I’ll have a go, but remember what I said about it being hard to place the vowels and the double pronunciations of some of the letters.”

“If there are several variations give me both.”

Daniel came up with several transliterations, using various permutations of vowels and alternative letter pronunciations. Ted wrote it down on a serviette, using columns for the different pronunciations and vowels. Then he started writing individual permutations.

“Anything?” asked Daniel after a while.

“Nothing,” said Ted. “At least nothing in Welsh.”

“What about Breton or Cornish?”

“Also not. But I think it could be an older language that may be the forerunner of one of those. You see languages like Welsh, Breton and Cornish – even in their old forms – only go back to the ninth century. But I suspect that this is
proto
-Brythonic – the ancient language of the Britons in the Roman times or even earlier. But of course we know very little of that language, apart from a few place names and nouns found on coins. But we know some of it. Or rather we know that if we find samples of it, we can be sure that
some
of the words would have been carried over into one or more of those other languages. So for instance, I recognize the third person feminine pronoun here.”

“She?”

“She. And in fact I can come up with
a
translation. I just don’t know if it’s the right one.”

“What is it?”

“Well it could be read as something like… ‘she shall be aroused.’”

Daniel smiled.

“Kind of near the knuckle for the ancient world. Was is it? Some kind of classical porn.”

“I suppose it could be,” said Ted with a smile.

Sarit scowled.

“Perhaps you two can stop acting like schoolboys and come up with something useful.”

“Well actually I was just thinking about something… or perhaps
remembering
would be a better word.”

The other two fell silent and looked at Ted, awaiting some form of elaboration.

“Well, there was a case a few years ago, in which a document was found in Rome when they were doing some archaeological excavations at a place called the Domus Aurea and if I remember rightly… I wish I had a phone with internet connectivity.”

“I’ve got one,” said Sarit, taking it out. “What are we looking for?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I don’t really remember the details, just that it was a document in an unknown script. They thought it was Hebrew or Aramaic, based on the alphabet in which it was transcribed. But it turned out not to be. They said it was an unknown language and they couldn’t decipher it. So I was just wondering if it could be something like this might be… the Hebrew alphabet, but the old Brythonic language. The ancient Britons didn’t have an alphabet of their own don’t forget, and the educated ones spoke and wrote in Latin. But maybe some of them learned the Hebrew alphabet and used it to write their native language.”

“I’m doing a search,” said Sarit. “What shall I look for?”

“Like I said, I wish I could remember the details.”

“Try typing in ‘Hebrew’ ‘manuscript’ and… what was that place called?”

“The Domus Aurea.”

“ ‘Domus aurea’ as search terms. See what you come up with.”

“It might be a long list,” said Sarit.

“Well let’s give it a try,” Daniel replied.

Sarit started thumbing and fingering away at her smart phone.

“In the meantime,” asked Daniel, “what exactly is this… Domus Aurea?”

Ted smiled, again in his element.

“The Domus Aurea was a huge prestige project of Nero.”

“He of the great fire of Rome.”

“Precisely Daniel. Although the Domus Aurea was built
after
the great fire. In fact there was one theory that Nero actually started the fire in order to clear land for construction of the Domus Aurea. Anyway, the point is the Domus was a huge mansion – or villa as they called it. It was plated in gold leaf – hence the name. But it was more a place of entertainment than residence. It had 300 rooms, but nothing resembling sleeping quarters has yet been found, although admittedly it hasn’t been fully excavated.”

“Even now?”

“You have to understand that the complex extends across the Palatine, Esqualine and Caelian hills. After Nero’s death it was regarded as such an embarrassment that it was covered over with earth and built over.”

“Built over?”

“Yes. The Baths of Titus, the Baths of Trajan, the Temple of Venus and Rome and most important, the Coloseum – or the Flavian Amphitheatre as it was originally called – were all built on the site of the Domus Area and its grounds. And obviously they can’t dig up under all those buildings – at least not without threatening their structural integrity.”

“So it’s possible that there
may
be sleeping quarters there, somewhere on the site?”

“Oh yes. It may hold all manner of unknown treasures in the unexcavated parts. But you also have to understand the sheer size of the place. Even the lowest estimates put the size of the complex at one hundred acres. But some think it may have been three times that. It had a huge bronze statue of Nero, frescoes, mosaics not only on floors but also on parts of the ceiling – which was something of an innovation at the time – an artificial lake and a huge rotating dining hall.”

“Did you say
rotating
?” asked Daniel.

“Yes.”

“But how did it rotate?”

“Some complex mechanism. Archaeologists discovered what they think was the mechanism in 2009. But they still aren’t sure exactly how it worked. Anyway the Domus Aurea was originally discovered during the renaissance. Artists like Raphael and Michelangelo, visited the subterranean site and carved or scratched their names on frescoes – as did the Marquis de Sade and Casanova somewhat later.”

“Is it open to tourists today,” asked Daniel. “The accessible parts I mean?”

“No it was closed in 2005 for safety reasons, because rain and ground subsidence threatened a partial collapse.”

“Couldn’t they strengthen it with maintenance work?”

“They tried… and they even reopened it in 2007. But then they had to close it again for further safety work in 2008. It’s still closed to the public today, although there is still some archaeological work as well the ongoing maintenance. That’s how they discovered the rotation mechanism as well as the manuscript. Interestingly, although they found a banqueting hall, they still haven’t discovered anything that could have served as a kitchen.”

There was movement next to them, as a middle-aged man with a moustache and short beard was led to the table next to them. He sat down and started perusing the menu.

“Got it!” said Sarit.

“The kitchen?” asked Daniel.

“An article about finding the manuscript.”

“And?”

“It says exactly what you said Ted. They found a waterlogged Jewish-style parchment in the part of the ruins that housed the rotation mechanism for the great banqueting hall. Ah, this is interesting. It was restored with the help of a manuscript restoration team from the Hebrew University.”

Ted pressed for information.

“Anything about the contents?”

“Yes. It says that although the lettering system was Hebraic, the underlying language was unknown but did not appear to be Semitic, Greek, Latin, Etruscan or anything indigenous to the region.”

“Do they show any pictures of the manuscript?” asked Daniel.

“No.”

“Where is the manuscript is now?” asked Ted.

Sarit flicked her finger against the screen several times, in order to scroll down

“It’s now in… the Vatican library.”

“The main library?” asked Ted.

Sarit squinted at the screen.

“Er… no. It’s in the secret archives.”

“Is that a problem?” asked Daniel. “I thought the secret archives are open to accredited scholars.”

“They are,” said Ted. “But you need an introductory letter from an accredited institution. Now I could get one from Cambridge, but it’ll take a few days and we don’t know if they’re on to me – either the police or the people who tried to kill us.”

“And I can’t even go
near
University College,” said Daniel.

“Maybe I could get my contacts to forge letters of introduction?” Sarit suggested.

Ted shook his head.

“That wouldn’t work.”

“Would they check them out?” asked Sarit.

“Normally no,” Ted explained. “But normally there would be prior contact, arranging the visit, the date and the time and giving the applicants details and explaining the purpose of the research. Then the presentation of the letter of introduction would be the final formality. In this case we haven’t got any of that. And if we apply now it’ll take a while. And if we use
your
name Daniel, we increase the risk to you.”

“Can’t you go alone?” asked Sarit. There’s no arrest warrant outstanding for
you
.”

“And who’s going to transliterate the Hebrew?”

“
I
could. I read Hebrew. And as far as I know the form of Hebrew text hasn’t changed much in the last two and a half thousand years.”

“Yes but you’re not an accredited scholar.”

“You could say I’m your assistant.”

“They wouldn’t agree,” said Ted. “They’d say ‘your assistant can wait outside or go to a café while you do the research.’ Sorry, but that’s how they operate.”

Daniel sat forward, seized by an idea.

“We might just have something to bargain with.”

“What do you mean?” asked Ted.

“The
ketuba
. They might be interested in that. Evidence of Judeans in Roman Britain within thirty years of the crucifixion?”

“Yes but there’s no evidence that they were early Christians though.”

“No, but one of the witnesses was Aristobulos. And remember the early Christians were essentially messianic Jews. We could hold out the tantalizing prospect that it might have been Aristobulos of Britannia.”

“But it’s just a picture of the
ketuba
. We haven’t got the original parchment. And the first thing they’ll suspect is a forgery.”

“No but that’s the other thing. We
do
have your
map
… and it does have Hebrew lettering that appears to be a non-Semitic, non-Romance, non-Greek language. If we can show them that we have some idea what language their document is in – don’t tell them specifically, but make it clear that you have the ability to translate it if it’s the same as on the map –
then
they might grant us special access.”

Ted thought about this idea.

“You know Daniel, it might just work. The only question is how are we going to get there?”

“I don’t understand,” said Daniel.

“Well if I understood correctly, you were sprung from custody and you’ve been on the run ever since. So presumably, you haven’t got your passport with you. And even if you
did
have, you must be on some airport watch list by now.”

The disappointment was hard to withhold from Daniel’s face.

“You’ve got a point there.”

“Passports are no problem,” said Sarit firmly. “I can get them for both of you.”

The man at the neighbouring table was still looking down at the menu, trying very hard not to react to what he was hearing.

Chapter 55

“Shamir,” said Dovi, answering the phone in his pithy style.

“It’s Uri at SHaBaK.”

“Yes.”

“We have a little problem with our friends in
Shomrei Ha’ir
.”

“Specifically?”

“Well we stepped up surveillance on Shalom Tikva after his son’s antics in London and now it seems that Daniel Klein’s sister Julia has brought her daughters here to get them out of harms way.”

“Out of the frying pan into the fire, as it were.”

“Yes well maybe some one should have warned them.”

There was a hint of criticism in the General Security Services man’s tone.

“My officer is babysitting for Klein. She didn’t have any direct contact with his sister.”

“Well anyway, the SHaBaK officer continued, the point is she’s here now.”

“And what’s the problem?”

“The problem is they know?”

“
Who
know?”

“
Shomrei Ha’ir.
”

“How?”

“We don’t know what happened in England – ‘cause that’s not our department – but it seems Julia, her mother and her daughters were followed from the airport by one of HaTzadik’s loyal men.”

“What he just saw her there and recognized her?”

Dovi was incredulous.

“No, not exactly. It seems that he was waiting for her… waiting and watching.”

“But that means they
knew
she was coming.”

“Exactly. But as I said, it’s not in our remit to keep tabs on them abroad.”

“All right, I get the message,” said Dovi irritably. “But how much do they know?”