Blasius' envoy

12

Joas took Cedric, one of the Maritime soldiers, and they dug into the garden of the villa. They discovered some coffins. Some of the Cimbrians came when they heard about coffins. The coffins,  8 in total, were placed in the living room. Cedric commanded everyone to keep their distance for their own health.  Cedric opened one of the coffins. It was the corpse of a man. On the inside of the coffin there was a death certificate. The death certificate said ''Aomiladimu Saphirus Africanus, Slave of Erasmus the elder, 39 years 5 months and 13 days old''. They opened all the 8 coffins. They were all slaves, except one. One of them was the wife of Aeröl, who is called Erasmos. They noticed that each of the corpses were covered with salt, this dried the corpses which hindered the decay process. Also the cold of the ground maintained them in almost their intact form. Each of the corpses had wounds that were potential caused by a large knife or sword. From this they knew the people were murdered. 

''Cedric! Report this in documents. These bodies supposed to be buried in Spain, together with their master and husband. We will ship them to Spain as soon as we figured out what happened here''

''Sir, I'm not certain if it's needed for us to mingle in this case. This property is cursed! Everyone can notice that by now. I think we are meddling with things that we could better leave alone!''

''These people belonged to a Roman and as far as I'm concerned we are on Roman ground''

Cedric decided not to strife with Joas, because he know him to be a hothead when things don't go his way. Cedric had spiritual discernment. He has witnessed cursed buildings and cursed families before. He, himself, comes from a cursed family. For this reason he fled from his relatives and he broke all contact with them. He took a new name and a new identity. Some of his own relatives tried to murder him out of envy. This happened when he was 11 years old. Since then he knew that he was in dangerous company. He worked as a cleaner in many temples in Southern Gaul for years, before he was admitted to the Navy. In the Navy he was ambitious and because of that he was rewarded with a post in CImbria. Cedric left the room to write his report. At that moment Frogertha entered the room.

''Cedric... we need to get out of here!''

''What's going on?''

''You know very well what's going on! There are malevolent entities attached to this place. In the night I can feel an incubus sleeping with me. Past nights I even saw one entity walking around in the town, through the window. And now, this Svenka woman, she has some bad energy with her too. I can feel it from far!''

''Where do you want to go?''

''Anywhere than here''

''Fleeing to the mountain villages isn't safe, you know! Also, the weather is cold this season so we should not make any conclusions without thinking about the potential consequences!''

''I'm thinking about the potential consequences Cedric! You are not the only one that experienced harm during childhood! I recognise harm too! And this place is dark!''

''All right, all right!''

''We should go to that uninhabited village that you spoke off''

''Are you out of your mind?''

''Well, yes I am out of my mind! At least I'm thinking. You are blindly following orders!''

''That's what a soldier supposed to do!''

''You are not in Rome nor in the Empire at this moment. You are in a foreign land, involved in a horrible civil war, and you're staying on land that has been bewitched...''

''And?''

''When in Rome you do as the Romans do.. but when in Norway..''

''I get what you're saying!''

''After finishing your report, leave with me. We can ride to Berigos and take a ship from there to Gaul. Or we can remain in Berigos''

''And do what?''

''At least we are free from all this mess''

''Look, I will request Joas to send me back to Cimbria. If he permits, I will leave and you'll leave with me. For now, I want you to leave so I can finish my report''

She left.

After she left, Joas entered in.

''What was that about?''

''That slave girl is trying to seduce me...''

''I see...''

''Well, I send her away! I will be finished with the report within two hours''

''Don't rush with it! I've been thinking about what you said. We are not in a Roman province now. This case is not our responsibility. We are not permitted by Emperor Claudius to act on our own when we are on foreign ground. I have gone way to far as a maritime soldier myself. So, look, finish the report within two days. Afterwards you can return to Cimbria if you want. The fleet captain himself is not certain whether joining the Cimbrian young men was a good idea. Some of the men want to go back to the Cimbrian camp. Three of them have returned. You can leave if you want to''

''Thank you Sir! My report will be finished by the evening!''

That night he placed the report on the desk of Joas. Afterwards, he woke up Frogertha and left with her by horse. The other maid servant saw them leaving, so she followed them by horse too - but on a distance. They traveled towards the remote village that was still abandoned. Cedric knew that there was still grain, raisins and fresh water over there.