The Talisman Trilogy: The Emperor's Nine Lives "He fiddled while Rome burned..." Nancy and Fred were off to the Kennedy airport en route to an excavation site in Rome, Italy. Nancy, an archaeologist, was in search of not fame, not fortune, but rather the excitement of discovering artifacts that had long since called the ground "home". Fred, a news journalist, was a long-time friend of Nancy's. He frequently traveled along side her to exchange conversation, as well as write amazing archaeology articles for the Travel section of the New York Times. Both of them felt especially excited about this adventure in particular. However, they had no idea what was in store for them... Location: An excavation site in Rome, Italy �I am very dissatisfied with this excavation. We�ve been searching for days and nothing but useless pottery fragments have turned up. The only amount of perseverance that I have left is the fact that you still need a story to write about this adventure for the New York Times,� said Nancy. �Well, yes, but besides that, I�m glad that I came to help you with the investigating. It�s an incredible experience; I get to play an archaeologist and a new journalist for a day,� smiled Fred. �Neither of you have a chance at finding something even remotely interesting. I�ve been digging for years and have found many prized objects that have been sold for millions at auctions. You could say I�m an archaeologist by day, but a billionaire by night. But I have a good feeling about this pursuit in particular. Ah� Yes� Something about the Roman culture really sparks my interest, and after this exploration I�ll make headline news�again,� Hugo grinned. �Oh, Hugo, we all know you have the arrogance of a king, but yet the personality of a fruit,� Nancy said, rolling her eyes. She felt tired after these many long, dreary hours of searching for the unknown, but hopefully her patience would pay off in the long-run. She didn�t feel like having another word war with Hugo at a time like this; it was time to get back to business. Nancy continued her repeated work, scraping, digging, and brushing the ground, hoping that she would find something with even the slightest interest. She continued this repeated procedure for about 3 hours, until she found something. �Hey, look! I think I found something!� she said ecstatically. Hugo and Fred rushed to her side, hunched over to see what all of the fuss was about and to help her with her excavating. As they kept brushing and scraping, as well as digging around the corners, they found a latched door. Carefully, they tried to jimmy the lock so that they could enter. Once they were finished, they opened the door. They found some stone stairs proceeding downwards through what looked like a dark, musky labyrinth. They grabbed their flashlights and tools, carefully walking down the stairs. As they walked deeper and deeper into the maze of corridors, it was getting hard to breathe, so they had to act fast by getting whatever it is that was down there, and scramming to the exit. They turned the corner, only to find that they were in a burial chamber. Gazing across the room, their eyes spied a rectangular-shaped sarcophagus. They slowly opened it, though it was nearly empty. The only thing that was in there was a talisman. Nancy slowly reached out and grabbed the talisman. She studied it, noticing that it was a bit heavy for someone to wear around their neck, weighing about five pounds. It was made of silver and shaped like a circle. On it was inscribed the words, �Augustus Caesar Nero� along with an engraving of a fiddle. Fred eyed the talisman, not knowing what it was for. �That talisman is rightfully mine; it belongs to me. Give me the talisman at once!� Hugo shouted. �How can this talisman be yours? How is that possible,� Nancy replied. �Just look,� Hugo said. He pulled up his pant leg and on his ankle was the same engraving of a fiddle. �It�s my family crest. So, give me the talisman so that I can do what I came here to do,� replied Hugo. �Don�t give him the talisman! You don�t know what could happen,� said Fred nervously. �Fine, take it,� Nancy said. Ignoring Fred, she threw the talisman at him, and right as he grabbed it and strung it around his neck, a stream of fire illuminated his figure. �You fool! You should have listened to Fred when you had the chance to. Thank you for finding this for me; my family has been searching for it ever since our ancestor, Nero, lost it. I�m off to do what Nero started, but didn�t finish,� said Hugo, as he ran out of the burial chamber. �Well, that was unexpected�now what do we do?� asked Fred. �Well, we have to learn more about this Nero guy; maybe it will help us find out how to capture Hugo,� said Nancy. Nancy and Fred stopped by the American Academy, a famous library in Rome that focuses on Classical studies. Their eyes scanned the rows and rows of books as they searched for �Nero�. �Here it is,� Fred said as he reached out to grab the book. He went to the front desk to check out the book. As he flipped through the pages, he realized that Nero was a horrid, morbid emperor; the Hussein or Hitler of the ancient world. �Wait a minute� This photograph depicting a statue of him looks exactly like Hugo; same biological features and everything, except for the clothes, of course,� Nancy said. �I once wrote an article for the Times on deciphering codes. From what I recall from my research, Hugo, deciphered, turns into Nero! Pure coincidence or not?� Fred replied. �This is just a hypothesis, but from what we have just discovered, from both the picture and the deciphering, I have come to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, Hugo is a reincarnation of Nero. Which would explain why Hugo wanted the talisman so much and had the same imprint of a fiddle on his ankle; he�s not related to Nero...he is Nero!� Nancy said wide-eyed. �That makes sense, I guess. So if Hugo is Nero, then that means that we�re all in trouble. If I recall, he said that he wanted to finish what Nero had started. Nancy, Nero tried to burn Rome to the ground! Who knows what he will do next!� Fred said nervously. �We have to hurry; let�s drive around Rome and see if we can find him. Maybe we can find a way to stop him,� replied Nancy. So they set out in their Maserati to explore the ins and outs of Rome, bringing the Nero book with them for future reference. Little did they know, "Nero" was at the Coliseum waiting for them. He held on to the talisman, still on his neck, and aimed it at the dry grass in the center of the Coliseum. In less than a minute, the sun's reflection, beaming off of the talisman, started the grass on fire. The grass, crackling as they expire. After a few minutes, Nero, pleased with his past action, decides to repeat his deed by beaming the sunlight off of the talisman onto the wooden box seats, near the top of the Coliseum. In no time, the flames command portions of the ancient building, replacing old doors and seats with shards of remains. Meanwhile, as Fred was driving, he noticed something. �Do you smell that? It smells like smoke, like something�s burning,� said Fred, as he sniffed around. �I smell it too. Where�s it coming from?� replied Nancy. �Over there by the Coliseum! The Coliseum�s burning down!� Fred frantically yelled. �We have to do something!� cried Nancy. She and Fred raced to a house near the Coliseum. They frantically knocked on the door, until an old lady answered... "You have to help us! The Coliseum's burning down!" Fred screamed. Good thing that Fred knew Italian, since that's the only language that the old lady spoke. "Quello � impossibile," the old lady said. "Osservi verso l'esterno la vostra finestra," Fred replied. The old lady started panicking as she looked out of her window. Sure enough, the coliseum was almost engulfed in flames. "Ask her if she has a garden hose that we can use," Nancy told Fred. "Avete un tubo flessibile del giardino che possiamo utilizzare?" He asked. "S�, esca appena indietro," she replied. So they ran out of the back door in her house and found the hose. They quickly turned it on and raced to the fire. As they arrived, Fred put out the fire as Nancy directed him to the many sources of the fire. Within minutes, they had controlled the fire to small embers. �I have a feeling that Nero did this, and I don�t think he�s going to stop anytime soon,� said Nancy. Out of the corner of her eye, she say Nero hiding in one of the box seats. When he realized that he had been caught, he scampered out of the Coliseum. �There he goes! Let�s get him!� Fred shouted. They chased after Nero for what seemed like an hour. Finally, they caught him by the shirt and held him so he would not move. As they held him tightly, Nancy remembered reading something about the talisman in one of the Nero books at the library. She now remembered that the talisman could only be used when it was strung around someone's neck as a necklace. �Fred, take his talisman off! That�s how he�s getting his powers!� Nancy exclaimed. Without hesitation, Fred grabbed the talisman and tore it off of Nero�s neck. Almost immediately, Hugo, or �Nero�, turned into dust, falling at Fred�s feet. �Well, that takes care of a few problems,� Nancy smiled. Fred, angry at Nero and at the talisman, tried desperately to destroy the talisman by smashing it with a hammer, and other various ways of destruction. However, the talisman, amazingly, did not bend, scratch, or even tarnish. �Let�s send the talisman to the museum; it will be of more use to them than it is to us,� Fred replied. So they drove to the museum, leaving Nero�s remains behind, and returned the talisman. �This is going to make an excellent article. �The Emperor�s Nine Lives� will make headline news!� Fred exulted. They went back to their Maserati and drove back to the excavation site. Little did they know, as they left the museum, the talisman glowed, awaiting its next victim. A life source, proven to be fatal in the wrong hands... Italian Translation: Quello � impossibile - "That is impossible" Osservi verso l'esterno la vostra finestra - "Look out your window" Avete un tubo flessibile del giardino che possiamo utilizzare - "Do you have a garden hose that we can use?" S�, esca appena indietro - "Yes, just go out back"
Copyright © 2007 Mariah Neuhauser |