"Read, Ticius," he ordered.
Slowly, and with trembling voice, the scribe read Abgar's last instructions. Maanu, flushed with rage, swallowed hard.
Abgar had instructed that a Christian religious rite be celebrated over him, and that his entire court pray for his soul. At this ritual, Maanu was to be present and accompanied by the queen. For three days and three nights his body was to lie in that first temple that he had ordered Josar to build. After three days, a procession led by Maanu and the queen was to accompany his body to the royal mausoleum.
Ticius cleared his throat and looked first at the queen and then at Maanu. From the folds of his sleeve he produced a second scroll.
"If I may, my lord, I shall also read what Abgar has asked that you do as king."
A murmur of surprise ran through the chamber. Maanu gritted his teeth, certain that his father, even in death, had laid a trap for him.
The scribe began to read:
I, Abgar, king of Edessa, order my son, Maanu, now become king, to respect the Christian citizens of this city and to allow them to continue their worship of the Lord Jesus. I hold him responsible, likewise, for the safety of his mother, the queen, whose life is dear to me. The queen may choose her place of residence. She shall be treated with the respect and deference due her rank and shall want for nothing.
You, my son, shall be the guarantor of all these things I order. Should you not carry out my final orders, God shall punish you, and you shall not find peace in life or in the death thereafter.
All eyes fell upon the new king. Maanu shook with impotent rage, and it was Marvuz who took charge of the situation.
"We shall bid farewell to Abgar as he has desired. Now let each of us return to our duties."
Slowly, all those who had been in the royal chambers began to file out into the corridor. The queen, pale and quiet, awaited her son's decision on her fate.
Maanu waited until the chamber was empty, and then he addressed his mother: "You will not leave this room until I call for you. You will speak to no one inside or outside the palace. Two servants will remain with you. We will bury my father as he has requested. And you, Marvuz, shall see that my orders are followed."
Maanu strode quickly from the chamber. The head of the royal guard turned to the queen.
"My lady, it will be best that you obey the orders of the king."
"I shall, Marvuz."
The queen's eyes met his with such intensity that the head of the guard lowered his eyes in shame; then, bowing quickly, he left her alone.
The instructions Maanu then imparted to Marvuz were clear: He would bury Abgar as the old king had desired, and an instant after the royal mausoleum was sealed, the royal guard would arrest the leaders of the Christians, the hated Josar and Thaddeus. They would destroy all the temples in which the Christians met to pray. Maanu had also personally charged Marvuz with finding and bringing to the palace the sacred shroud of Jesus.
The queen was not allowed to leave her chamber until the third day after the death of Abgar. The king's body lay until that time on a richly ornamented bier placed in the center of the first temple that Abgar had ordered built in honor of Jesus.
The royal guard watched over the body of the man who had been their king, and the citizens of Edessa filed by to pay homage to the man who for so many decades had secured peace and prosperity for their city.
"My lady, are you ready?"
Marvuz had come for the queen; he was to accompany her to the temple. There, with Maanu, she would lead the procession to the mausoleum where Abgar would rest for all eternity.
The queen had put on her finest tunic and richest veil, and she had adorned herself with the best of her jewels. She looked majestic despite the lines of age and the signs of suffering on her face. By the time they reached the small Christian temple, it was filled with people. The entire court and the principal elders of Edessa were there. The queen looked about for Marcius, and for Josar and Thaddeus, whom Maanu had summoned, but did not see them. She felt uneasy. Where were her friends?
Maanu, wearing Abgar's crown, was in obvious high temper at the open defiance of his orders and his guard's inability to secure the shroud of Jesus, which was no longer in the place where for so many years it had been kept.
A young disciple of Thaddeus began the ceremony of farewell with a prayer. As the funeral procession was about to depart for the mausoleum, Marvuz was able to approach King Maanu.
"My lord, we have searched the houses of the leaders of the Christians, but we have not found the shroud. Nor is there any sign of Thaddeus andjosar."
Then the head of the royal guard fell silent. There, before him, pushing their way through the crowd, came Thaddeus and Josar, pale as death. The queen opened her arms and, fighting back tears, took each of them by the hand. Josar looked at her tenderly but spoke not a word. Thaddeus, too, was silent.
Maanu gave the order for the procession to begin. He would settle accounts with the Christians later.
A silent multitude accompanied the body to the mausoleum. There, before the entrance could be sealed, the queen requested a few moments to pray.
When the tomb was finally sealed with its stone door, Maanu made a gesture to Marvuz, and Marvuz signaled the guard, who rushed forward to arrest Josar and Thaddeus, in the full sight of all those present. A murmur of terror ran through the multitude as the people realized that Maanu would not obey the will of Abgar, that he was determined to persecute the Christians.
Some tried to flee, whispering that they would leave Edessa that very night.
But there was no time even to try. At that instant the royal guard was destroying their houses, and many believers were slain on the spot.
Horror was on the face of the queen as Marvuz dragged her away, back to the palace. She saw Thaddeus andjosar seized. Neither man offered any resistance or uttered the slightest sound.
Edessa trembled with fear and anguish. All about the city, men and women howled in pain and desolation. The smell of fire rose to the top of the hill on which the palace stood, while Maanu, in the throne room, drank wine and observed with smug satisfaction the terror on the faces of his courtiers.
Maanu had ordered the queen to remain standing. Nearby, Josar and Thaddeus, their hands tied behind their backs and their tunics tattered by the lashes dealt them by the royal guard, still had not spoken a word.
"Ten lashes more! I will have them beg me to end their torment."
The guards furiously lashed the old men, but to the wonderment of the court and the wrath of the king, they uttered not a sound.
The queen cried out when Thaddeus fainted, while tears flowed down the face of Josar, whose back was covered in flayed skin and blood. Then he, too, sank senseless to the floor.
"Enough! Stop this!" she demanded.
"How dare you give orders!" Maanu shouted.
"You are a coward-torturing two old men is not worthy of a king!"