Here is the second preview of Ordo Lupus III, the as yet untitled third and final book in the series. I hope you like it. Please comment because your feedback is valuable to me.

Ordo Lupus III

Copyright © 2014 by Lazlo Ferran

All Rights Reserved.

We reached the street above the Street of the Salt Sellers and turned into it. Some way along it, Guillaume pointed to a small outcrop of rocks to the left.

“That courtyard. The entrance should be in there.”

Two Roman guards stood guard outside a heavy iron grill in a courtyard.

“Now what?” Hugo asked.

“I can deal with this easily,” I whispered. “Give me a few moments.”

Directly above the iron grill was a rock-face, perhaps thirty feet high but slightly to the nearside was a ledge only ten feet above the two guards. What was more, I could see an easy way to reach the ledge. Within minutes, I was in place and then leaped down on the nearest guard in dog form. I tore his throat out before he could react. The other guard had a one hand full of figs and the other raised to his mouth, He was too shocked to do anything but drop the figs and reach for his sword. I was upon him well before it left its sheath.

“No! No! No!” was his eloquent protest when my canines penetrated his neck. I transformed back to my usual self, my fangs still immersed in his warm blood. I tasted a sample before dropping him to the ground.

“Later!” I whispered. “It’s been a long time since I tasted the blood of Rome.”

I waved to the others and John’s keen eyes saw that the way was clear. Unfortunately, the guards kept no keys but a big heave with the hilt of a sword hilt broke the chain around the grill.

We’re in!

Every second man drew a torch, made from oil-soaked cloth wrapped around a short staff. They lit them to light our way. From a pouch, Guillaume drew out a tattered piece of parchment and checked his bearings in the flickering torchlight. Ahead of us the tunnel opened up. You could see where large, rectangular blocks of white limestone had been hewn from the cave’s walls, ceiling and floor, leaving an uneven surface like an old pavement.

“This way!” he announced, afterwards muttering, “If nothing has changed!”

He led us south, into a vast chamber perhaps 350 feet wide, and on into a series of low tunnels.

“What are we looking for,” John asked Guillaume. “Can I see the diagram?”

We huddled round as the knight held up the parchment.

I saw three diagrams and some text. From left to right, I saw: a snake wrapped around a staff underneath what looked like a twelve-pointed star around an eye; a crude depiction of six soldiers carrying a body wrapped in a sheet, with a crucifixion cross as background and a diagram showing a tunnel complex. Centrally placed, underneath the three diagrams was the single Hebrew word, ‘ישוע.’

***

So what do you think? Answers on a postcard please.