Marauder (Oregon Files 15)

“They wouldn’t be dead over a prank,” Parsons said.

“I think she means that the writings wouldn’t have been enough to convince them,” Juan said.

“Right,” Julia said. “There must be actual ruins somewhere around here that they were excavating that proved Romans really came to Australia.”

“And I think we might have some insight into that now,” Murph said. “The translation is complete. Sending it to Sylvia now.”

“Got it,” she said.

“So how did Romans get all the way to the other side of the world two thousand years ago?” Julia asked.

“This was written by a man named Flavius,” Sylvia said. “He wrote it as a record for his son. I won’t go through it word for word, but it says Flavius was captured by the Parthians and enslaved by them.”

“Who are they?” Parsons asked.

Eric was on his own tablet, which was linked to the Oregon’s computer system.

“Parthia was an empire in Persia, now modern-day Iran. The Romans lost twenty thousand men killed and a whole legion of ten thousand soldiers taken captive. It was the greatest Roman defeat up to that time. The losing commander was Marcus Licinius Crassus.”

“Crassus?” Juan said. “Why do I know that name?”

“He was the general who defeated Spartacus.”

“And crucified him,” Murph added.

“Lovely,” Julia said. “Sounds like a wonderful guy.”

“He was also the richest man in the Roman Empire,” Eric continued. “After the Parthians killed him, they poured molten gold down his throat as a symbol of his greed.”

“So our friend Flavius here was in the Army and got captured with this lost legion,” Juan said. “I seem to remember a story that they were brought to northwest China and settled there.”

“Flavius claims that only half of the captives went with him to a southern port city called Charax,” Sylvia said. “Maybe the other half went to China.”

“Does it say how they escaped the Parthians?”

“Flavius stole ships the Romans were forced to build for the Parthians. They sailed across the unknown ocean, finally settling on an island far from here. It seemed like a paradise until a storm arrived. Then a sickness struck.”

“What kind of sickness?” Julia asked.

“They couldn’t move,” Sylvia said. “He used the word ‘Enervum.’”

“That’s the name Polk and Jin used for the nerve gas,” Juan said.

“The situation matches the story about the fishermen who were found on an island a few years ago,” Julia said. “Does he mention jellyfish?”

“Not by that word,” Sylvia said. “But he does say that there were poisonous sea creatures that washed up. He says the survivors fled on the only ship they had left and eventually landed here.”

“What does this have to do with an antidote?” Parsons asked.

“There’s a love story in here, too,” Sylvia said. “His wife was one of the people who was paralyzed. She was with child at the time, and Flavius wanted to cure her. He was convinced that the answer lay in why only the soldiers were unaffected by the illness.”

“Smart guy,” Julia said. “Most people at the time would have just chalked it up to the will of the gods.”

“He realized that the soldiers were the only ones who drank a bitter liquid as part of their regular rituals. It was infused with the oil of a particular nut found on their island.”

“Did he save his wife?” Eric asked.

“Yes,” Sylvia said. “They had brought a supply of the nuts with them. Flavius made the drink for her, and she eventually could move again in time to give birth to their son. That’s where the story ends.”