The Saint's Day Deaths
by Albert Noyer

October, A.D. 406, on the Rhine River, near the Roman city of Mogontium (fictionalized Mainz, Germany). Three barbarian tribes, one of them Vandals, gather on the eastern shore as unseasonal cold hints that the river will soon freeze over. Treverius Asterius and his wife Blandina, along with the governor and citizens, fear that the Rhine will become a foot path to invasion.
     Inside Mogontium, a worker setting a Christian cross on a former temple to Jupiter is felled by lightning, and superstitious citizens consider this to be the god's revenge for desecrating his home. Pagan factions in the city, led Cyril of Constantinople, seek to exploit the terror and restore ancient forms of worship. Cyril plots with Vertiscus, pretorium curator, to recruit Mogontium's mercenary garrison for help in forming a rebel province, New Gothia. Vandal chieftain Gaisios is enlisted as a conspirator.
     The weather grows colder. A series of deaths seem accidental, yet Treverius discerns a sinister pattern: the victims die on their patron saint's day, in the gruesome manner in which their namesakes are martyred. On December 31, the Vandals breach the Rhine and force entry into Mogontium. Thrown back, Gaisios remains in the area. With the countryside under siege, the deaths continue, and Trevius and Blandina search tax rolls, identifying people with target names. By April, citizens are panicking, when Flavius Stilicho, commander of the Roman Army, arrives to inspect defenses. He leaves after an assassination attempt in a theatre, in which Petranius, the director is injured.

     Vertsicus is encouraged by the mayhem, which triggers near-riots and makes citizen acceptance of New Gothia imminent. After Petranius survives being crucified on his stage, a deaf-mute actor is surprised threatening the wife of Treverius's friend, David ben Zadok. Treverius takes steps to protect Blandina, whose saint's feast is August 1, unaware that Vertiscus plans to wrest control of Mogontium on that day. During the games of the festival, the garrison will take the governor hostage, massacre his unarmed guards, then force the city council to accept New Gothia.
     On August 1, Treverius rises early to practice javelin throws, with David, for the games, then learns Blandina has been lured to the theatre. Rushing there, the men confront a scene of unimaginable horror that forms the climax to this gripping mystery.

Mogontium Map

June 2000
Paperback ISBN 0887392520 344 pages (Used prices vary)
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The Critics Write
"Noyer's knowledge of the Fifth century will amaze -- but this is a mystery for all time. Vandals, politics, religious fanatics and pagans all collide as the Roman Empire skids to its death. . ."
                         MARY LYNN, author of THE TAVERA LEGACY and ten other novels

"A fascinating study that conveys so well the microcosm in the macrocosmic fall of the Roman Empire. The very strong characterizations of T. Asterius. . .counterpoints the lack of leadership in the Empire at large. I have a strong sense of impending doom met with great effort and optimism. . . I could only hope that such sympathetic characters will survive the eventual fall."
                                             DAVID MASSEY, PhD Retired educator, Devon, England

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