Christopher C. Doyle - The Secret of the Druids (Mahabharata Quest #3)

westland ltd

The Secret of the Druids

Christopher C. Doyle is a bestselling author who transports the reader into a fascinating world where ancient secrets buried in legends blend with science and history to create a gripping story.

His debut novel, The Mahabharata Secret, featured among the top 10 books of 2013 and was nominated for the Raymond Crossword Book Award 2014. His second novel, The Alexander Secret: Book 1 of The Mahabharata Quest Series is still among the top bestsellers in the country.

An alumnus of St Stephens College, Delhi and IIM Calcutta, Christopher had a successful career in the corporate sector before embarking on an entrepreneurial journey. He now helps companies to achieve exponential growth and is one of Indias leading CEO coaches.

Christopher lives in New Delhi with his wife, daughter and his dog and enjoys writing, reading, swimming and tennis as well as travelling and meeting people. He is also a musician and lives his passion for music through his band called Mid Life Crisis which plays classic rock.

Christopher can be contacted at:

Website: www.christophercdoyle.com

Email: contact@christophercdoyle.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorchristophercdoyle

Also by Christopher C. Doyle

The Mahabharata Secret

The Alexander Secret: Book 1 of The Mahabharata Quest Series

The Secret of

the Druids

Christopher C. Doyle

westland ltd

61, II Floor, Silverline Building, Alapakkam Main Road, Maduravoyal, Chennai 600095

93, I Floor, Sham Lal Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110002

First published by westland ltd 2016

First ebook edition: 2016

Text copyright Christopher C. Doyle 2016

Illustration copyright Priyankar Gupta

Christopher C. Doyle asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing by the publisher.

ISBN: 978-93-86036-32-2

Typeset by Ram Das Lal

DISCLAIMER

This book is a work of fiction and all characters in the book are fictional. Any resemblance to real-life characters, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

While you, ye Druids, when the war was done,

To mysteries strange and hateful rites returned:

To you alone tis given the heavenly gods

To know or not to know; secluded groves

Your dwelling place, and forests far remote.

If what ye sing be true, the shades of men

Seek not the dismal homes of Erebus

Or deaths pale kingdoms; but the breath of life

Still rules these bodies in another age

Life on this hand and that, and death between.

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, Pharsalia , I, 450-8

For

My readers,

For your support, love and appreciation

Authors Note

Have you read A Secret Revealed the mini sequel to The Alexander Secret , and the prequel to this book?

If you havent, then allow me to explain. In October 2015, realising that The Secret of the Druids would be released only in 2016, I decided to give my readers a surprise gift: a free ebook that could be accessed on my website. This ebook was published in six parts; one part every month starting October 2015.

This ebook was titled A Secret Revealed , and it continued the story from where The Alexander Secret ended. Many readers were anxiously waiting to know who the mysterious caller was, who had fixed up to meet Vijay at Starbucks in Cyber Hub, Gurgaon. I thought my readers deserved to know and so I wrote this ebook, which answers some questions that were left unanswered in The Alexander Secret .

Subsequently, a significant number of readers wrote to me expressing their interest in a physical copy of A Secret Revealed . Since giving away free hard copies of the book was not feasible, I chose a different route. In keeping with the worldwide tradition of authors releasing novellas on World Book Day, I decided I would be the first Indian author to adopt this tradition. On March 3, 2016, therefore, A Secret Revealed was published as a paperback, at a reasonable cost.

A word about The Quest Club, in case you havent registered as a member yet. Membership is free and gives you access to A Secret Revealed in electronic form, free of charge. It will also give you access to Quest Club eventswhere readers interact with me both online and offlinethat will be held all over India. There will be more free ebooks over the coming years, in addition to quizzes, puzzles, contests and exclusive previews of my future books for members of the club. Finally, you can join me, as I research my books, and gain free access to images, videos and my research notes. You could even learn more about characters, locations and events in my books. An exciting journey filled with adventure and mystery beckons all Quest Club members. You can register for free at: www.christophercdoyle.com/the-quest-club and start reading A Secret Revealed right away for free.

I have included, in this book, the background that is narrated in A Secret Revealed, so in case you have not read the mini-sequel, you will still get to know the broad story and the events leading up to the action that unfolds in The Secret of the Druids .

But if you can, please do read A Secret Revealed either online, free of charge, or in paperback if you prefer a physical bookbefore you start reading The Secret of the Druids . There are clues in there that will make the reading of this book more enjoyable, as thousands of readers have already discovered.

Happy Reading!

Christopher C. Doyle

Prologue

48 B.C.

Alexandria, Egypt

Julius Caesar listened to the centurion, his face grim. The news was not good. His escape route was cut off. While the ship bearing his precious cargo had escaped the siege, the Egyptians had effectively ensured that he could not send for help from his legions in Asia Minor.

He was trapped.

An ordinary man would have cursed his fortune. He would have railed at his miscalculation in bringing two under-strength legions, of 3200 infantry and 800 cavalry, into Egypt in the middle of a civil war. He would have denounced the gods for their fickleness in watching over him, allowing the Egyptians to outmanoeuvre him.

But Caesar was no ordinary man.

And the siege served his plan, even if it was wholly fortuitous. He had reason to thank the gods.

He waited patiently until the centurion had finished. The man was clearly worried. Not scared. That would be most unlike a Roman. But worried, yes. The odds were stacked against them. What was Caesar going to do?

When the centurion had finished, Caesar waited, allowing a few moments of silence to accentuate what he was about to say.

The Egyptians have not mobilised all the ships, he began. Fifty ships, which were commanded by Gneus, returned to the harbour and are now out there. He gestured towards the window, towards the Egyptian fleet moored there.

Twenty-two ships from the Egyptian fleet, as you say, have come into the harbour to reinforce them. They will ensure that they control all seventy-two ships in the harbour. He paused for effect.

Heres what you are going to do, Caesar continued. He swiftly outlined the strategy. The Roman legionnaires were to take up strategic positions, waiting for an opportune moment to set fire to the ships and the docks.