Shadows Be'er Sheva To Negev Book I

By Nickolas J. Spradlin

This series tells the story of two families reaching for high station in First Century Judea. In their quest for power and influence, they are bitterly opposed by the most determined resistance fighters, who seek the ouster of the Roman Empire from Judaea. One family, the Nildarpas, are Romans. The family’s youngest male member, Tuscan, is charged by the Roman emperor with the task of gathering information to keep the Empire ahead of its enemies in Judea and the surrounding regions. The esteemed title granted to him is that of Chief Information Gatherer (CIG), and with this title he will oversee the newly established Information Gathering Department (IGD) that is headquartered in Jerusalem. The second family, a group of mercenaries known as the Shadows, become as brothers to each other and eventually into a special operations unit for the Roman Information Gathering Department. What the Shadows don’t know is that their services to the CIG have begun at as the start of Judea’s Messianic Age, where Messiah after Messiah deifies himself, each believing he can end Rome’s occupation and usher in the theocratic rule of old. This story focuses on a new clandestine agency placed in Judea to help keep Rome one step ahead those they occupy during the expansion of their empire. Such a task leaves the CIG and the Shadows immeasurably challenged by the various religious factions of Judea and other mysterious and violent elements of resistance from its surrounding regions. Shadows is a novel about the proud and arrogant Roman Empire and the citizens of the territory they have conquered and who seek to vanquish them from their land. It is told from the perspective of the Romans and their Shadow Warriors as well as those who seek the end of Roman rule where it does not belong.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nickolas J. Spradlin
• Release date: Mar 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311976741

Nickolas J. Spradlin

Nickolas J. Spradlin is an American writer, who divides his living time between Florida, Texas and New York while dedicating himself to reading, writing and researching. He is the author of the historical Roman fantasy SHADOWS Beer-Sheva to Negev.Mr. Spradlin is an attorney by training. He was born in Englewood, Colorado and grew up in Arizona and Kansas. After graduating from Manhattan Christian College with a degree in Religious studies he completed his Juris Doctorate at Michigan State University.His travels include Spain, Morocco, Portugal, UK, Italy, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Haiti, Mexico and Canada.His fascination with history begin with his humanitarian travels to Haiti and Mexico. While helping build a School, hospital and homes abroad he became intrigued with the culture, religions and politics of other countries and especially their history.While in Law School he traveled to Europe to learn European Union Law. While living in Spain he spent as much time studying the countries rich history he did law. When his studies were over and before he took the Florida, Texas and New York bar he traveled to Portugal the UK and then to Morocco.The common them of Roman influence was everywhere. Eventually a burning interest in Roman history combined with that of the religious history of ancient Judea caused the idea for the first book in the Shadow Series.The Shadow series includes everything he has an interest in. Religious history, military history, historical fiction, clandestine activities, philosophy, poetry, and yes...romance.His fascination with military history, weapons, armor, martial arts and leadership stem greatly from his grandfather's influence. He was a soldier in Edson's raiders who fight in most brutal combat in US history in Guadalcanal. His religious fever comes from his mother and father who are people of faith. His interest in philosophy and psychology come from his brother who is a brilliant thinker and practicing psychologist specializing in the difficult field of DBT. His love for poetry and romance come from the heart. All these interests are reflected in his novels creating a rich environment and well developed characters.More biographical information is found on his website WWW.PrimeEmergence.com

Book preview

Shadows: Be’er Sheva To Negev

Judea, 6 BC

Ferocious winds beat against the Negev Desert, causing dust and dirt to appear as if exploding from the ground. An unearthly movement of erosion swiftly follows, leaving only a faint trace of settled terrain beneath the thick swirling particles. A flag’s threads strain to stay attached to its pole as it flutters in the wind while being raced across the desert in a horse drawn wagon. The beaten and wounded Wagoner lashes the leather reins on six powerful horses, as if to ignite lightning from their legs, with hope that the beasts’ rare and superior breeding will whisk him and his crushed comrades from harm’s way.

The Wagoner’s three wounded friends, for whom he has developed a brotherly devotion, hold to their lives. Two of them lay in pools of their own blood, babbling aloud in states of delusion. And as they flee for their lives, the third, with barely a hint of strength left within, attempts to rid the wagon of its vast cargo of coins by unloading them to the desert floor. The Wagoner understands this is not a time to bow his head in gentle sadness for wounded friends; no, instead he holds to the inescapable duty of adept leadership and continues to lash the horses onward.

While the wagon thunders through the desert in the midst of the chaos, the Wagoner takes a moment to examine his comrades. His eyes scan the wagon’s floor to ascertain their condition, and he finds two of them quickly weakening, their bodies falling further into delirium, eerily bellowing out similar descriptions of their hallucinations. Their wounds are tightly bound and their babbling voices still have strength as they bounce about with the ebb and flow of the wagon’s movements. Thus, the Wagoner believes all is not lost and turns his attention back to the path of freedom with a single-minded focus to accelerate escape from their adversaries.

Eventually, the Wagoner’s last standing comrade can no longer aid in their escape by lessening the wagon’s haul, for he finally kneels in submission to the weight of the sacks on his back, leaving him frozen in this fixed position.

The Wagoner believes the pouring wraths of the gods now rain upon them, but he ignores these divine threats and strains his focus like an eagle on a hunt. Feeling the very veins of his eyes throb as they continue to distinguish where the rugged ground rests, it appears as if the land shifts with the purpose of bringing his efforts to ruin.

The relentless winds whip up dirt and dust that dash his eyes and face while the wagon continues its charge thru the chaotic, swirling storm, the likes of which he has never seen. Visibility becomes negligible, and the burning friction of wind and dirt forces his eyes shut; unable to reopen them, he begins to sense the feel of the terrain and guides the wagon blindly, as if he were clairvoyant.

Finally, like his companions, his damaged body discharges its will to continue, and the entirety of his strength slowly begins to surrender to his wounds. Then, within moments of physically fading, delusions fight to take place where reality stood. His eyes fail him and will not open, but he is resolved to disobey the gods’ plans for them this day and continues to challenge their wisdom as he yells like a wild man while lashing the reins. What follows is an unexpected force that tugs at the wagon’s reins, causing the vessel to jolt off course. He believes the gods betray them with this very action, hoping they run headlong into the earth. This strange influence on the reins continues to pull the wagon astray, causing the left wheels to lose contact with the ground; and devoid of reflexes to re-stabilize their position, he simply pulls the reins in as tight as he can to slow the charging horses and ease the inevitable spilling of he and his comrades. The horses heed his command, and when the wagon continues onto its side, their bodies plunge into the sand, accompanied by the cascading cargo of coins.

Now sprawled on the ground, the Wagoner begins crawling on the shifting dirt then attempts standing but helplessly remains on hands and knees when stinging pains from suddenly meeting the earth percolate throughout his body. The swirling sands battering his exposed flesh compound the agony emanating from him. When this pain, along with the emotional duress becomes too much, he finally cries out in anguish to the heavens. After relaying this objection to the divine, the Wagoner pulls his daggers from their sheaths when he hears thumping hooves from the enemy horses descending upon them. He then attempts to crawl closer to the turned vessel for cover and finds the head of a decapitated man pegged to the rear wagon hitch. Weak and unable to manipulate the daggers properly and finding delirium returning to retake his mind, he begins to accept this chase is over. The Wagoner’s eyes grow dim as the powerful windstorm continues to thrash about him and diminish his vision while his enemies close in; all that he and his fellow Shadow Operatives gained, in the name of the Roman Empire, is now lost.

Experimental Politics

Six Months Earlier, Rome 7 BC

Many years after Caesar Augustus achieved absolute control over Rome—through tedious planning and incremental power gains—he finds himself in a quandary while attempting to plan for a successor. The project has become an obsession after surviving an attempt on his life and suffering through serious illness. His good friend and capable leader, Agrippa, has passed away, and Caesar’s sickly, adopted sons were obviously not meant to be long in this life. Finally, there was Tiberius, born to Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla, who divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making Tiberius a stepson to Augustus. Out of any sensible options for a successor, Augustus eventually chooses to preen this stepson as the next Caesar. Augustus even goes so far as to begin discussions with Drusilla regarding the adoption of Tiberius as his true son; this would serve to give him a direct line of succession. However, the choice of Tiberius was not the most ideal since he, at this point, seemed a better fit as a thespian on stage for a Greek Drama than a Caesar. Moreover, the political circles of Rome knew well that the drama Tiberius exhibited was due to his constant envy over the favoritism Augustus showed his current adopted sons, at the exclusion of Tiberius. This fact that was common knowledge to the political realm pressed heavy on Caesar’s ego, leaving him wanting to breathe freely in his decision for Tiberius as Caesar.

The weight that rested on Augustus during his time of preparing Tiberius as Rome’s leader only increased. Tiberius continued to want to be the darling of Rome and felt he was not afforded this honor since his mother and Caesar continued to share their affections evenly with their other children. As a display of one believing to be unfairly treated, Tiberius continually threatened self-exile and early retirement to the Greek Island of Rhodes, knowing such threats would only cause his mother and Caesar to work all the harder to prove their love for him and reaffirm his strategic importance to the leadership of Rome.

However, after years of dealing with the continual games of the emotional Tiberius, Caesar decides to hedge his bets for a better future for Rome. The lack of certainty in finding a fit successor results in Augustus experimenting with the idea of handing power back to the Senate. Caesar’s genuine care for the citizens gives him a vision of a Rome as it once was and believes it best to take his experiment further and return the burgeoning Empire to an authentic Republic, with the added element of democracy. Wanting to share the natural fruits of his benevolence and compassion for Rome, he decides elections will be held across the board for all political positions, including every Senate seat, as well as other lower positions of political power.

The incumbents, and challengers alike, understand the importance of getting ahead in this new world of politics to come. And thus, they hire talented lobbyists, with their brilliant minds and shiny, young faces, to warm the citizens to the ideas of the politicians, before the candidates, themselves, make their appearances and square off in debate.

The debates of the lobbyists take place throughout the day and night, transpiring on every corner of the city of Rome, and even in some of its provinces.

One of the most interesting and heated debates is an ongoing one found in the east side of the city of Rome on the Campus of Martius, more specifically, on the steps of the Porticus Octaviae that houses a massive library and preserves the ancient temples of Jupiter and Juno. The Porticus Octaviae, with its face constructed of nine lofty and rotund marble columns, is a structure to behold.

Besides the setting, what makes this particular pairing of lobbyists so interesting is that multiple incumbents, working as a team, have pooled together a great deal of coin in order to protect their high positions. Their collaboration pays for the services of the brilliant mind of the young Orator Tuscan, son of a powerful General and known as one who championed the private rights and liberties of Rome’s citizens. However, his view on private rights are not a heartfelt one driven by love for people, but rather, his idea of private rights is one of it being a mere tool to pacify the populace so as to maintain law and order. In addition to his great political mind and ability to bend peoples’ thoughts to his way of thinking, Tuscan also possesses less desirable qualities, such as lack of trust. His trust issues stem from his parents and grandfather always dictating his life. When Tuscan was young, his family noted he had a great mind for finance—coupled with an unusual skill and tremendous luck—for brokering political compromises and business deals. Thus, he found himself manipulated by his family into his current political position in Rome. Every day, all day, his mind remembers the realities of political and military adventures that exist in some distant post at the edge of Rome’s vast empire, far from his family’s reach of control.

Making this tasty debate even more delicious is the ingredient of political opposition. Many of the opposition, having taken note of the incumbents’ collective maneuvers, begin to act as one. For the challengers, a team of several plebeians maneuvers behind the scenes, each with a great mind for politics but no coin to back their campaigns. However, a wealthy family, with the best interests of the citizens in mind, not only funds the political team of challengers but also places their capable daughter, Athaba, in charge of lobbying for their ascent to the senate floor. Athaba started in politics by lobbying for legislation that would prevent the capricious and unfair actions of the government and the affluent against the rights of the citizens. Athaba assumes most politicians currently in office—and those backing them—are simply evil; she is ready to prepare the public mind for sweeping government reform so to remove said evil.

The crowd cannot wait for this duel of great minds to resume, and many spectators arrive early to get a glimpse of the lobbyists and witness them as they pour out their passionate devotion for their candidates. First up is Athaba, a fine lobbyist who stands ready to advocate for the group of challenging politicians honored to have her represent them. She has proven herself in the last few days to be an orator with the passion and ability to make any audience believe that the ardent search for truth and wisdom ends with the loquacious tongue of this curvaceous, brilliant-minded, dark-haired, milky-white skinned beauty who stands at an impressive 5 ft. 8 in. tall.

Tuscan sits in the shade and observes as the people continue to gather about for this exciting match. He watches as Athaba strokes her long, glamorous locks, as she always does before engaging a crowd. Tuscan has become accustomed to her fantastic focus during their debates. It appears to him, for the moment, that she then looks inward for strength in this contest of minds. Tuscan knew little about Athaba prior to these debates—except that she was a troublesome student—so he learned of his opponent during the last few days through observation and informants. What he learned in this short period of time leaves him to believe the inner strength she now seeks is one derived from her family and their affections—affections that refresh her recollection of the proud pedigree from where she originates and remind her of the vast wealth from the family estate that has given her every advantage in life. Believing this to be so, Tuscan understands he is up against a brilliant, well-educated, and proud young woman who believes it is time once again to follow in her father’s footsteps and make his house proud.

The crowds are now vast and pile on each other as they await her words with great anticipation and begging ears. She straightens her stature and brings her perfect form in full view of the people, but before commencing her thoughts to words, she turns and glares at Tuscan, who holds the title of Quaestor. Her look of disdain is obvious to him when her smooth face briefly scrunches and her nostrils begin to flare, all while stroking her hair. Every stroke looks as a sign to him that she wants to peel the flesh from his body so to free her of all vexations. When her stroking stops, she shakes her head with a look of disgust. With this look, Tuscan beings to think her very skin must suffer and groan with the thought of his mere presence.

Athaba then turns her focus, from what appeared to be dark thoughts of Tuscan’s demise, to attend to the crowds. She pulls her shoulders back, lifts her chin high, extends her arms straight downwards, and with palms open, exclaims, How long shall these things be! Do not let my opponent tickle this assembly’s ears with words of Rome’s undying love for its citizens. Herein Rome, which started small and has endured many vagaries to become great, must look to act fairly in its treatment of all its citizens; all its citizens, who at one time lived outside the walls of the protection of Rome and now deserve equal protection behind its walls as it expands its empire.

She pauses, gazing out at the crowd then continues, If not, this lack of protection of its citizens will eventually ruin the great city of Rome and its precious status because the lack of protection of those outside the walls of Rome summons dangers from the Empire’s enemies who wish to do her harm.

She again pauses, then after bringing her chin level and intentionally animating her face, Athaba resumes. How can one strike at the powerful Rome, you wonder? By finding its weakness, of course, and the weakness of Rome is its unprotected populace. If the vast amount of Rome’s citizens living just beyond its walls is destroyed, there is no way Rome can maintain its current status as an empire.

She then raises her voice in challenge to the current political system and its leaders while her downward-extended arms now end with fisted hands. "So I again ask you, good citizens of Rome, how long shall these things be? Because, for all of our inquiries of Roman officials, they have yet to relinquish an answer. I call on you, the citizens of Rome, who have watched our benevolent Republic for the many turn into an Empire of greed for the few. I call on you to elevate the plebeians in your very communities to governing posts. I call on you to abstain from accepting the pathetic bribes of the current strangers in office