The Centurion's Journey

When the initial excitement arising from the Boudica discovery by Grantfield University had died down, work at the site returned to normal. The contents of the hidden chamber had been transferred to the new Visitor Centre and the site team were carrying out the far less glamourous work - taking final measurements and generally tidying up. A void-test on one wall of the chamber revealed the existence of a small hidden area; Anna and Martin Price, having been heavily involved in the original discovery almost twelve months before are asked invited to attend as observers when the wall is breached. Almost two thousand years earlier the headman of a Romano-British settlement on the site of the Grantfield University 'dig' set out on a mission of revenge. Former Centurion Marcus Rustius Dexter believed the man responsible for the death of his parents and several thousand Romans and Celts on the island of Britannia had not died in the aftermath of the violence but was very much alive and living in the Roman province of Gaul. He receives assistance in his mission from Centurion Velius, now senior centurion of the Legio Secunda Augusta but in return is asked to lead a band of twenty veteran legionaries across Britannia to receive their official release from service at the port of Dubris. One of the veterans by the name of Gallio is informally appointed as Optio to Rustius and a firm friendship is cemented following an attack on the small force by a Belgae war band. Thanks to the centurion's leadership the heavily outnumbered Romans triumph but the bloody encounter proves to be the event which sets Rustius off on a convoluted trail to uncover an astounding plot to detach Britannia from the Roman Empire. His initial mission then becomes entwined with the far more urgent need to prevent a conspiracy which if successful would create chaos and suffering throughout Britannia. In December 2015 Martin's order "Now, Dave. Sharp left. That's it, foot down. Don't tickle it, stamp on it" sent the old Land Rover in frantic pursuit of two men desperately attempting to escape with what they had stolen from the Visitor Centre and enabled the mystery of what had been hidden behind the wall of the old chamber to be resolved. As a result, Anna and Martin Price gained detailed insight into not only the outcome of the Centurion's journey but also the character of the man himself.