Roxanne, Queen of Noricum

XV

He read the letter and became disturbed by it. The same moment he ordered a chariot to bring him to the king of Frisia. At arrival he was received and he read the letter.

"Your Majesty, the Romans are terrified of the emigration of our people into their cities. The Canenefati are trying to blackmail us into forcing those Frisians back to Frisia. Many of them are born in the South and are used to the Roman customs. They would never mingle well with our native Frisian norms and principles. If we accept this deal, we will be complying with a criminal conspiracy against the Roman state, which would lead to conflicts and a possible military campaign against us. If we reject this deal, we will be blamed and accused for sending spies to overthrow Roman rule."

"Did you answer them?"

"No. I left my office immediately after reading the sealed document. The letter arrived yesterday evening and I received it this morning. It was a priority delivery, so the delivery took shorter than 2 days."

"Go into Marmamanis and send out officials to investigate how many Roman migrant are here in this city. If you find anyone with Roman citizenship, take them captive. Then send 10 messengers to Lugdunum, to Prince Ingus. Make clear that we will exchange 1.200.000 Roman coins for those Roman citizens. And also send 600 reckless warriors into Germania inferior.. to show them that we mean business. The conditions will be this: the Frisians will be deported by ships across the Nabalia river within 2 months from now... and only when we receive at least 10.000 Frisians and the money will we release the Roman citizens. The transaction will take place below the principality Bavakila. Report every development in this case unto me."

The governor left immediately. It was still morning. He did as was commanded. Three days later an officer reported "lord, there are three Roman citizens that lodge at an Inn near the city gate."

"Who are they and why are they here?"

"There are two young women, below 20, unmarried, and a black man, possibly a Jew who is dressed as a scholar."

"Anything else that might benefit our cause?"

"One of the young woman is wearing a crown of gold and expensive jewellery. She's claiming to be a queen of some Celtic tribe from a Kingdom named Noricum. The spies didn't knew if it was serious or just a joke."

"A Queen? Keep watching them and report their every move unto me!"