Welcome to weekend writing warriors. Many fine authors, and me, contribute short snippets for your delectation. This is the start of a new work, Illegal Aliens. It is something of a cross between a horror story, a science fiction tale, and a romance.
Roland awoke after bringing an attractive young woman home, alone. Something of a surprise, and in some ways a shock. His mobile chirruped into life and the works manager – where he’d been called to examine a mysterious block of Roman concrete – told him the “bloody German bomb, it went.” A knock on the door interrupts their conversation just after Mr Shah explains that one of his workers couldn’t even stand the firecrackers on Guy Fawkes.
One of a somewhat menacing pair of visitors finished last week with “that is irrelevant.” Maybe for them. The visitors found a mysterious note in what looks vaguely like Arabic last week, in a somewhat illegal search.
“It’s a note from my … I don’t know; she was here last night … it’s just I’ve never had a note left for me in Demotic before.”
She asked, “Can you translate it?”
“Am I a specialist in Roman Britain?”
The woman glared at him, “Yes; we know that already; the Romans didn’t use Demotic.”
“I’ve studied it in the last couple of years – to keep my mind off … Janet.”
The man demanded, “What does it say?”
Roland blushed, “It’s sort of personal.”
“Translate it, or we’ll take you in and hold you while someone else does it.”
“Oh … well … here goes,” He cleared his throat and started, “Dearest love, thank you for last night, it was wonderful. It was so good that I’ll have to sleep it off; by all the Gods, even if it risks his revenge, even Zeus wasn’t that good, nor Jason.”
My sincere apologies for abusing semi-colons.
Illegal aliens is up for preorder on Amazon.
You can get a copy of the first four chapters on instafreebie.
You can find my, well our, works here.
Since Roland is a specialist in Roman Britain, and it is memorial day, a bit about Roman Armour.
The Romans didn’t actually use the breastplate and Mohawk-like Greek helmet so beloved in epic movies. The lorica segmentata (segmented armour) was much more practical. It was lighter, easier to make, easier to repair (if you survived) and easier to adjust to a new soldier. The plates are basically flat steel that is bent and strapped together. The overlapping segments provide decent protection, especially with your scutum (shield) and in a disciplined cohort. These reenactors are carrying pila (pilums) which are lances designed to break off once they hit. (Later on they used a shorter lawn-dart like construction – a plumbata – an individual could carry 5-6 of them.) 
Not shown are the gladius (sword) or the pugio (dagger). This reenactor wears chain mail (lorica hamata), which was worn mostly by auxiliaries.
The featured image shows a reconstruction of a Draco – dragon standard – similar to what the legions in Britain would have used. That and a Welsh flag which bears a striking remembrance of it.
Well, that’s kind an embarrassing — or maybe a bragging? — note to have to read aloud.
It would be. There are wheels within wheels in this story. thank you.
Hope he read it with a swagger in his voice!
Either a swagger or a quaver. Thank you.
Receiving a note like that would have made me worry. I suspect our Roland is in the Demotic poop!
His problems are just beginning. thank you.
Oh my, that’s quite the message, isn’t it? Great snippet.
He didn’t even get to the good bits. thank you.
LOL! Just what they were expecting to hear . . . not!
Thank you.
Haha- Oh Roland! Better than Zeus or Jason, huh?
There’s a back story. Let’s just say it’s been a while for Diana. thank you.
Wouldn’t it be funny if it said something else entirely and Roland just made that up on the fly?
I hadn’t thought of that. Mind you, they wouldn’t know. Thank you.
They know quite a lot about him. Is there search even legal? How embarrassing to read that note out loud. I AR’s question (above). That would make things very interesting.
I forgot to sign up, but I still posted my snippet. http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/
Not really legal, but intelligence agencies aren’t quite bound by the law in the same way as law enforcement. It is decidedly interesting that MI6 has gotten so involved so quickly. But more on that later. Thank you.
I was stopped in my tracks by the Welsh flag (Being Welsh, I had to take a moment to salute the Graig Goch -Red Dragon- after which I read your delectable snippet) Wow, was he bragging or complaining? LOL!
It was sort of a surprise to me. I looked up various things about the Romans for this post and one surprise was the Draco standard – the original is from Colchester (I might have the name wrong, but it’s from the south of Wales). The Welsh flag came up when looking for pictures and the similarity is striking – especially since the Welsh are closely related to the people who lived in England before those Saxon invaders. Thank you for reading.