Genre. Gothic Mystery/Horror.
Setting. Britain and the Middle-East 1939/45.

Early summer 1936. The story is seen through the eyes of a young archaeologist (Tony Maltravers). A team excavating the giant earthworks of Maiden Castle in Dorset, uncover a large wattle casing. Thin wands of a supple wood have been woven into a basket like structure, then coated with pitch. Once dried, the words SATOR, AREPO, TENET, OPERA, ROTAS were etched into the surface. Each five-letter group placed one above the other in a block, so that the words are the same back to front, up or down. Carefully lifting it out of the way, they find the skeleton of a *warrior. His shield, war club and "Scramasaxe" close at hand. Closer examination of the remains, reveals that the man was hacked to pieces either at, or shortly after death. Almost as though his killers lived in fear of him. Buried in the same grave are the skeletal remains of a child of about two or three and a gold talisman.

Now the grave is open, something evil takes over, and it becomes obvious that this is one burial site that should have remained untouched. Several years later, two archaeologists (one being Maltravers) piece together a theory. They believe the power released at Maiden Castle, is linked to other ancient sites across Europe and the Middle-East, and that this energy has been drawn to the most evil force existing in the world at the time.

With the Second World War underway, that evil is Nazi Germany. Believing the power will feed and generate more horror; they are given authority by the British government to pursue their theory. It is a trail that leads them across the Middle-East, to the ancient ruins of Hagar Qim and the Tarxien temple on Malta. To the ruined site of Carthage on the North African coast and finally Babylon.

Strange that after all these years, I should stand here on Maiden Castle and wonder about the eerie events that happened so long ago. Now in the latter years of my life, time has mellowed much of what occurred and the British governments official secrets act successfully covered whatever else remained. As I look out across the rolling hills of Dorset, and turn slowly back toward the site of that accursed temple. I feel a cold shudder as a soft breeze moves through the tall grass, even on a day when the sun sends its warming rays to earth, and the air hangs still and heavy, damp with the humidity of an oppressive August day. Everything seems peaceful and tranquil now, as the only sounds I hear are the wind and the cry of a curlew as it climbs high into the clear blue sky. Yet somehow it's call is like the voice of a lost soul bound for hell.

It was early March of 1936. Just a few years prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, when I joined my first dig. I was a young man in those days, fresh out of Oxford with a degree in archaeology, yet lacking in the knowledge of how to actually apply the science. Oh yes of course I was filled with idea's that would revolutionize my chosen profession and a burning ambition to leave my mark upon this earth. In truth I was lucky to be accepted as a very junior member of a dig underway at Maiden Castle in Dorset. I clearly recall arriving at Dorchester south railway station, late one summer's afternoon. Of standing at the station exit, waiting for a taxi to take me to my rooms at the Antelope Inn, and my impression the following morning, when I saw the giant earthworks for the first time. In my case I was completely overwhelmed by it's magnificence and size, as it sits atop the saddle-backed hill. From an aerial view its three defensive systems are clearly visible, resembling the surface of a pond after someone has dropped a pebble. The ripples emanating out in an elongated oval, are the outer defences of the earthworks, each one a deep ravine with a surrounding ridge. During Maiden Castles prime, these ridges would have been surmounted with a wooden stockade, while the ravines would have been stocked with wild and ferocious beasts, making any attack by an enemy slow and extremely dangerous.

Located 2 miles south west of the county town of Dorchester, it runs almost due east to west for a length of some 1,000 metres and rises high over the large valley that it dominates. I recall that the following morning as we drove toward it, the words of Thomas Hardy came to mind. He had described it perfectly when he said.

"At ones every step forward it rises higher against the south sky, with an obtrusive personality that compels the senses to regard it and consider. The eyes may bend in either direction, but never without the consciousness of it's heavy, high shouldered presence at its point of vantage. The profile of the whole stupendous ruin, as seen at a distance of a mile eastwards, is clearly cut as that of a marble inlay. It is varied with protuberances, which from hereabouts have the animal aspects of warts, wens, knuckles and hips. It may indeed be likened to an enormous many limbed organism of some antediluvian time. Lying lifeless and covered with a thick green cloth which hides its substance, while revealing its contour." End quote.

The archaeological excavation had already been underway since the early spring of 1939. So that by the time I arrived, a series of probing trenches, roughly two to three metres wide had already been dug across the flat plain, from east to west. Their depth determined by how each individual site progressed, while the primary trenches followed the Neolithic bank barrow that runs lengthways across the plateau. As you can imagine, I was excited to be a member of the team about to complete the first scientific study of this well preserved earth fortification. I should point out, that archaeological digs were nothing new to the town of Dorchester. In fact any town in Britain bearing the word Chester in its name, has a strong affinity to the Roman occupation. So that here, over the course of time the ground has revealed incredible pieces from that period of British history. Coins and graves have been dug up frequently, along with the well preserved foundations of villas and other important buildings. Yet Maiden Castle represented something that predated even that period. It was a fortification that had served as a bastion against invading armies from well before 3,000 BC. Until eventually in 43 or 44 AD the legions of Vespasian finally brought it to it's knees.

*From the official guidebook of Maiden Castle:- Under the eastern end of the barrow, was found an astonishing burial site (now preserved in the Dorchester Museum). It was that of a man about thirty years of age, whose body had been hacked to pieces at, or immediately after death. The skull had been slashed more than once and the long bones were covered with cuts indicating thorough dismemberment prior to the collection and internment of the mutilated remains. While still under discussion, the combined mutilation and formal burial may imply a macabre ritual factor. (The Whitcombe Warrior)

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