For an hour they all rested, although Marcius, as so many times before, remained absorbed in the study of his plans. Indeed, he was so dedicated to his work that at one point he broke off his examination of the plans to climb up a ladder and mount a high scaffolding, examining the wall to ensure that it was being built firm and solid. The overseer closed his eyes, weary with the heat and the labors, while the workmen barely had the strength to talk.
It was not until the sun was sinking in the west that Marcius allowed the workmen to cease their labors. He wished them all a good evening and, accompanied by his servants, made his way home.
There was little for the overseer to report on Marcius's activities, but he repaired to the tavern at the sign of the cloverleaf, to meet there with Marvuz.
Marcius, childless and widowed, for his wife had died years ago, loved his two servants as though they were his own sons. They were Christians, as he was, and he knew that they would not betray him.
The night before, Marcius had made a promise to Thaddeus and Josar before leaving the palace of Abgar: When he had determined where to hide the shroud of Jesus, he would send them word. Josar would devise a plan to deliver the shroud to Marcius without arousing Maanu's suspicions, since they knew, as Abgar had warned them, that Maanu would send spies to watch them. They also decided that Marcius would tell Izaz alone where the shroud was hidden, and this meant that the moment Izaz received the information, it was imperative that he go to Senin and flee the city. Thaddeus had made arrangements for him to journey to Sidon, where there was a small but prosperous community of Christians. Timaeus, the spiritual leader of the community, had been sent there by Peter to preach. Izaz would find refuge with Timaeus, who would safeguard the secret of the shroud's location.
Despite Abgar's plea that they save their lives, Thaddeus and Josar had made the decision to remain in Edessa. They would share the fate of their Christian brothers and sisters. Neither of them wished to leave the shroud behind, though they would never know where Marcius had hidden it.
They met in the temple that evening with many other Christians of the city. They prayed together for Abgar, asking God's mercy for their king.
That morning, Josar had carefully rolled up the grave cloth and hidden it in the bottom of a basket, as Marcius had counseled him. Before the sun had risen to its zenith, Josar went to the market, the basket Over his arm, and wandered among the merchants' stalls, conversing with the tradesmen. At the hour they had agreed upon, he spied one of Marcius's servants buying fruit from an old man; Josar went up to the youth, who was carrying a basket like Josar's, and greeted him warmly. Then, stealthily and with great care, they exchanged baskets. No one noticed the exchange, and Maanu's spies saw nothing suspicious in the fact that Josar was greeting one of his fellow Christians.
Nor was the overseer suspicious when Marcius, high on a scaffolding, picked up an apple from the fruit basket he had carried with him and bit into it distractedly from time to time as he went along the wall, testing the wall's firmness, tapping to find dangerous hollow spaces among the fired bricks. Marcius had always enjoyed masonry and even today liked to lay bricks- what did it matter to the overseer if he spent his strength in the noonday sun when all about him were drowsy with the heat and the buzzing of the flies?
Marcius refreshed himself with the cool water that one of his servants had brought to his bedchamber. Resting from the heat of the day, the royal architect removed his dusty tunic and put on a clean one. He sensed that the days of his life were numbered. The moment Abgar died, Maanu would attempt to learn where the shroud was hidden so that he might destroy it. He would torture anyone he believed might know where it was hidden, and Marcius was among the friends of the king whom Maanu would suspect of sharing the secret. That was why he had come to a decision, about which he would tell Thaddeus and Josar that very night-a decision he would carry out the instant he learned Izaz was safe.
Accompanied by his two young servants, he made his way to the temple, where he knew his comrades would be praying. When he arrived, he took a place at a little distance from the others, where the community of the faithful would not see him. Though they were all Christians and loyal to one another, Maanu's money was plentiful, and it might persuade one of them to betray him.
Izaz glimpsed the architect standing in the shadows. Taking advantage of the moment when Thaddeus and Josar asked him to help distribute the bread and wine among the worshippers, he approached Marcius, who gave him a small, tightly rolled scroll of parchment, which Izaz tucked into the folds of his tunic. Then he signaled to a huge man who appeared to be awaiting a sign and slipped quietly out of the temple. Outside, followed by the enormous man, Izaz hurried toward the place of the caravans.
Senin's caravan had been readied for its departure from Edessa. Harran, the man charged by Senin with leading the caravan to Sidon, was waiting impatiently. He showed Izaz and the colossus, who was called Obodas, the place reserved for them and gave the order to depart.
Izaz did not unroll the parchment until the sun was well up in the sky the following morning. He read the two lines whereon the architect had written in clear characters the hiding place of the Holy Shroud. He then tore the parchment into tiny pieces and slowly scattered the pieces across the desert as they marched on.
Obodas watched over him attentively, keeping his eye ever alert to their surroundings. He had orders from Senin to protect the young man's life with his own if need be.
Three nights later, Harran and Obodas thought they were far enough from Edessa to take a brief respite from their journey and send a messenger to the house of Senin. It would take him three days to arrive, and by then Izaz would be safe.
Abgar was dying. The queen sent for Thaddeus and Josar, to tell them that within hours, perhaps minutes, the king's life would be at its end. He no longer recognized even her.
It had been ten days since Abgar called his friends into that same room to speak to them; they had conversed together until the blackest darkness of the night. Now the king was nearly lifeless; he did not open his eyes, and only a faint haze on the mirror held beneath his nose indicated that he was still alive.
Maanu, impatiently awaiting the king's death, had not set foot outside the palace. The queen would not allow him to enter the royal chambers, but that was of no importance. He would learn of his father's death, because he had promised a young slave girl her freedom if she told him everything that took place in Abgar's chamber.
The queen knew she was being spied upon, so when Josar and Thaddeus arrived she sent all the servants out of the chamber, and the friends conversed in whispers. She smiled with relief when she learned that the shroud was safe. She promised to inform them immediately when Abgar died; she would send the scribe Ticius, who was a Christian and a loyal servant. The three old friends made their farewells with emotion, for they knew that they would never see one another again in this life, and the queen asked Thaddeus and Josar to pray that God might give her strength to face the death that her son surely intended for her.
Josar, his eyes filled with tears, could not bear to say good-bye to the queen. She was no longer the beautiful woman of many years ago, but her eyes were bright with intelligence and energy, and her regal bearing remained unbowed. Conscious of the devotion the old scribe Josar bore her, she squeezed his hand and embraced him, so that he might feel that she knew how much he had loved her and to show that she loved him as the most loyal of her friends.