I have kept this secret for decades. Due to my oath to both the Emperor and the great general Belisarius, I have kept my mouth shut, keeping the horrors of those events locked in my head. The veil of secrecy must be kept, we were all told, in order to prevent fear and panic from spreading through the empire. However, now that we are about to face those same horrors again, I now put into words the nightmares that have haunted me all these years. In case we fall, in case we all die, at least the terror few know would be written down for others to learn about in the future.
It occurred after Belisarius’ great victory outside the gates of Dara. The field before the city walls was filled with the bodies of the dead, as our army stood on the ground of their success. After days of hard fighting, and an intense battle fought that very day, Belisarius decided that the men needed rest more than anything else. Due to that, the task of burying the fallen was forgotten for the day and thrown to tomorrow. This thus left the Roman and Persian deceased exposed, where opportunistic men from the army, and from the city, scavenged them for any valuable belongings.
By sunset, most of the bodies had been stripped clean of any items of value, as men sat by their fires to eat and tell their comrades the various exploits they did that day. However, a few determined scavengers decided to remain out in the field, taking advantage of the last rays of light.
I was with the great general at the time, as we rode our horses back to camp after a day of exploring the battlefield. Belisarius often had the habit of exploring the fields his army fought on, riding along the places where the fighting had been thickest, as his mind recounted the fight that had occurred. I liked to believe that he did this both to honor the men who had fallen and to study how the battle went, trying to find the things he did right and the things he did wrong. He, and us among his staff, spent most of the afternoon joining him in this task. By the time we had finished, the sun was already going down, as the world around us began to darken.
As we rode back to camp, with Belisarius at the lead, we encountered some of the scavengers who were still checking the dead. The general paid no mind to them and only gave each a passing glance before moving on. He was a soldier and he knew that this was the trade of those in the lower ranks, a way for them to attain extra wealth to supplement their pay.
However, there was one figure that caught the attention of both the general and those among his staff. Moving from one body to another, he looked like any other scavenger on the field. But, as we got closer we began to notice that he wasn’t stripping the bodies of any valuables. Instead, this strange man was kneeling atop each body and was tracing a dagger on the forehead of the deceased.
For a moment we stared at this man with curiosity. He was no soldier, that I was sure of. He wore the simple clothing of an average citizen and so I assumed that he was one of the inhabitants of the nearby city. But what was he doing here if he was not scavenging?
Observing him, it seemed like the scratches he was making on the foreheads of the dead was part of some kind of ritual. But what kind of ritual? This was clearly no Christian act and this did not seem like any Persian rite that I knew of. So what could this strange man be doing?
For a moment, I was tempted to call out to the man. But as we got closer to him, General Bouzes suddenly surged forward and yelled at the man. Although I could not see his face in the dimming light, I could feel his anger as he spoke at the top of his voice.
“How dare you desecrate the bodies of these fallen men! Have you no respect?” He screamed, as he galloped his horse forward.
This immediately caught the attention of the man, who glanced at Blaze, before dashing off to his horse that was waiting nearby. Urging it forward, the man rode away towards the darkness.
Bouzes, who was now joined by his attendant, Andreas, were prepared to give chase, but before they could Belisarius bellowed an order for them to stop.
“Don’t bother and waste your energy.” He told them. “His mount is faster than any horse I’ve seen before. I doubt that you will catch up to him.”
“But, sir!” Bouzes protested, although he made no attempt to continue the chase. “He was disrespecting our fallen soldiers.”
“I am angered at it as much as you are, general, but what is done is done. Let us just make sure that our sentries tonight keep an extra eye out for him in case he comes back.” Belisarius said. This seemed enough to calm down Bouzes, although the general a frustrated growl as he rode back towards the rest of us.
Moving my mount near the group of corpses that the strange man marked, I noticed that he not only scratched his blade on the Roman dead, but also the Persian dead. Trying my best to study the markings in the fading light, I saw that he wasn’t just making random scratches. There was uniformity in the markings, as if it was some sort of script. What kind of script it was, I was not sure, as I did not recognize any of the patterns. At the time, I speculated that it was either some ancient Persian script.
However, I did not allow my mind to dwell on the subject for far too long, as our group soon continued its way back to camp. Hours later, any thought of the strange man and the markings were completely forgotten, as I and the other officers in Belisarius’ staff stuffed celebrated that day’s victory against the Persians with food and wine.
By the time our celebrations finished, it was late into the night. Heading back to the tent I shared with another officer in the staff, I quietly made my way through the camp, passing by smoldering fires as the majority of the army slept. Only those out in sentry duty were awake during that time.
Approaching my tent, I was about to enter it when I heard a sudden shout come out from the distance. This immediately alerted me, as I gazed towards the direction of the noise. It came from somewhere near the porta praetoria, which overlooked a portion of the battlefield earlier that day. This meant that one of the sentries at that gate must be shouting an alert. He must have detected someone approaching the camp. But who? Was it the Persians? Had they come back to mount a risky night attack on us? If so, then they must have snuck past our outer cavalry patrols if they had gotten that close to us.
Listening carefully towards the direction of the initial scream, I soon heard more screaming, most likely from the sentrist on the ramparts in that portion of the camo. At that moment there was no doubt in my mind that an attack was indeed occurring.
All of a sudden I felt awake, as excitement surged through my body. Although I was no officer that held any command in this army, I knew that I still had a duty during situations like this. Thus, I turned away from my tent and immediately sprinted towards Belisarius’ quarters, as I needed to inform him about what I heard. Although, knowing the general, his sharp ears must have heard the noise also and he was already getting ready to move towards the scene.
Managing to reach the tent of the magister militum per oreintem, I saw that Belisarius was indeed out and ready to move. He was just about to make his way towards the porta praetoria, assess the situation, and take command of the soldiers there. I thus joined him, and the few members of his staff that were also there, and we quickly mounted any available horses we could find, before hastily riding towards the point of interest.
By that time the noise had increased, as the sound of shouting and the bellowing of orders could be heard from the direction we were heading towards. Mixed among those sounds was another one that I cannot easily describe. It sounded something similar to a growl, but one that felt unnatural. It felt strange hearing that, as it brought a terrible chill down my spine each time I heard it. For a moment I wondered what could have made such a sound. If we were indeed being attacked by the Persians, could it possibly be them who was making the noise? Did they bring an excotic beast that would make such terrible noise in order to break our morale? If so, then such a tactic seemed effective, especially during times like this, when the darkness of the night prevented one from seeing the source of the growling, thus making one wonder what creature could make such a foul sound.
As we got closer to the porta praetoria, we knew that something terrible was occuring. Numerous groups of men were trickling away from that direction, as their silhouettes ran past us. The general, as well as us from his staff, tried our best to get answers from them, while also attempting to rally them. But they seemed too terrified to reply or follow orders. It was a complete route!
One soldier, who I tried to block, stared at me, his body shaking in complete overwhelming fear. In the dim moonlit night, I managed to get a glance of the man’s face and saw the utter fear that he reflected. Never before had I seen a soldier so frightened. Not even during the battle against the Persians had these men shown such dread as to the one they showed that night.
As I demanded answers from him, he simply shook his head and told me to get away from the dead while I can or else they will tear me apart like the others. With that said, he then stepped aside and bolted away. His response confused me, but I paid little thought to his words, as I saw Belisarius give up on the enterprise of interrogating and regrouping the men, and instead continued the journey towards the main point of the commotion.
Passing more retreating soldiers, I internally despaired, as I realized that we were on the edge of defeat. Our men were retreating and our camp was left defenseless against, what we thought was, a Persian attack. After a great victory earlier that day, the Persians now come to steal the glory from us.
Continuing our way towards the direction the men were running away from, I was suddenly distracted by the sudden silence that befell us. One by one, the loud growling noise began to dissipate, leaving us with nothing but the silence of the night. This made me feel uneasy, as I found myself nervously scanning our surroundings. The sudden silence felt as if some predator was drawing its prey towards its killing zone.
Eventually we reached the porta praetoria, where no soldiers remained. For a moment we felt like we were the only ones there. But we were cautious. The men had ran away from here, so it must mean the Persians were somewhere around this area. Peering through the darkness, we found it too hard to see anything but the silhouettes of distant objects. There were no fires lit here and so only the faint light of the moon provided us with illuminated.
Sitting atop my mount, I felt uneasy as we stayed there. There was no sign of the enemy, and we did not like it. However, Belisarius urged us to stay in order to get a clearer understanding of the situation. He wanted to see where the Persians were and why the gate had been left abandoned when there didn’t seem to be any sign of enemy presence there.
Eventually we found some sign of fighting in the form of bodies on the ground, just by the entrance of the gate. As we got closer, we noticed that these fallen men were completely torn apart, with some limbs ripped off from them. For a moment we stared in shock and horror, wondering how these men met such a terrible fate. Suddenly remembering the soldier I encountered earlier, I stared at the body with horrified eyes. Was this what he meant in his words?
Based on the armor the bodies had on them, we knew that these men were Roman. Did that mean that Persians did that to them? But how? Upon giving a quick close examination of their bodies, it was not like a blade was the cause of decapitation. Instead, it looked as if their limbs were pulled out of their bodies. We thus wondered if there was a human who had such strength to do such a thing.
Scouting out there area a little more, we found more bodies in similar states, while other bodies had the stomachs torn open and insides pulled out. It was a terrible sight. This looked like no battle we had seen before, as the fallen here had been subjected to a gruesome fate.
As some of us worried about the gruesome state of the bodies, others worried that there were bodies but no signs of the attackers. With dead Roman soldiers laying all over, and with no sign of the enemy nearby, it either meant the attackers had already passed by here or that they were hidden and waiting in ambush. Given the circumstances, we believed it was the latter.
Not liking the situation, many of the officers once more urged Belisarius to turn back now and rejoin the rest of the army further back in the camp. We were too exposed out there and could possibly be surrounded and captured by the Persians.
Belisarius seemed to have been unnerved by the terrible sight of the fallen here and agreed with the suggestion.
“The six of us alone are not enough to hold and secure this gate.” He said. “Let’s head back now and get reinforcements to better secure the gate and ramparts.”
However, as he was about to lead us away from the gate, a lone growl came from our surroundings.
Alerted by this, the officers around me quickly drew their swords and prepared themselves for an attack. It was at that moment where I realized how vulnerable I was compared to the others. In my haste to join the general, I had left behind my sword and armor, which I discarded at my tent before attending the celebrations earlier that night. Because of that I was left without a weapon or protection.
Feeling exposed, yet not backing away before my peers, I held my ground with them as we searched for the source of the sound.
Eventually, our eyes were drawn towards a nearby tent, which had collapsed, presumably from the recent fighting. Keeping our eyes fixed on it, we watched as a long figure emerged from it and began moving towards us. Slowly it moved, until it got close enough for us to recognize the Roman armor he was wearing.
Suddenly, relief filled us, as we realized the man was one of our own. Looking at him as he continued to make his way towards us, we called out and hailed the lone soldier. But he remained silent. Instead, he continued to silently walk towards us.
Glaring at him, I couldn’t help but notice how strange his movement was. For some reason, it looked as if he was swaying too much, while his legs and arms moved in a manner that looked very stiff.
He continued to move rigidly, as I noticed his pace began to quicken. Eventually, he was moving in a sprint, but in a manner that looked strange and unnatural. Getting closer and closer towards us, I noticed that he was heading directly for me.
Realizing this, I tried to move my mount away from him, but he suddenly made a rush towards me, closing the distance before I could move out of his path. The next thing I knew he was slamming himself upon my horse, as his hands grabbed the poor animal’s neck and, with a strength far greater than a normal man was capable of, squeezed it tightly until his hands broke flesh, muscle, and bone. In one swift movement, he managed to decapitate my mount, which immediately fell, dropping me with it.
Dazed and confused at what just happened, I looked up to see that my attacker was right above me. Looking up at him, I felt my body freeze in fear, as I noticed that this was no man. My eyes studied this creature before me and I realized that although he had the form and shape of a man, his dark empty eyes told me that he was more of a creature of evil.
As my eyes stared at him, I noticed that his arms were covered with scars, while his neck had a puncture wound on it, as if he were stabbed by a spear there. He looked as if he were a dead man who suddenly came to life. At that moment I realized what the soldier from earlier meant in his warning.
However, out of all his features, there was one that attracted my attention the most. On his forehead, I noticed that there were scratches. I managed to glance at it long enough to see that it was similar to the one script that the strange man had been engraving on the foreheads of the dead. For a moment, I wondered if he somehow managed to bring back the dead to life because of these markings. But I had no time to dwell too long on that, as my attacker was about to bring me to the same faith as my mount.
Growling at me and preparing to slam his arms down on me, I was left helpless there, as my fallen hose had left my leg trapped beneath it. Closing my eyes, I prepared for my end to come.
But it did not come. Instead of a crushing blow on me, I felt the rough sensation of something falling on me. Opening my eyes, I saw that the creature’s body had fallen on me, headles.
Looking up, I saw Belisarius, on his mount, hands gripping tightly on his sword.
“Get on.” He urged me, as he gestured to his horse. “There’s more of these creatures coming, we need to reunite with more troops and organize a defense of the camp against them.”
Bewildered, I made the mistake of wasting time and looking around, to see that there were indeed more creatures approaching us. From the ramparts, from inside the nearby tents, and surging in from outside the gate, more creatures, bearing both Roman and Persian armor, moved towards us. At first they walked in that slow and rigid movement they did. However, they would soon burst into their sprints, as they charged towards us.
Encouraged, I did my best to quickly free my foot from under my fallen mount, before getting on the general’s horse. Covering us were the other staff officer’s, who formed a protective circle in order to meet the onslaught.
Some were successful and managed to decapitate the creatures heading for them. But at least two were unlucky. These two merely stabbed their attackers, with one jabbing their sword on a creature’s shoulder, while the other plunged his on the exposed gut of an unarmored creature. Despite these injuries it did not prove enough to stop the creatures, who growled at them and picked them up from their mounts, before ripping them into two. I feel guilty for their deaths, as I believe that it was my sluggishness that led to their deaths.
However, there was no time to grieve during that moment. Wasting no time, Belisarius immediately galloped his horse forward the moment I got on. The rest of the officers followed him, as the creatures gave chase.
Daring to look back, I saw a seemingly endless sea of these creatures, moving towards us. Emerging from the gates and rising from the other side of the ramparts, their silhouettes could be seen rushing after us, as they shoved and trampled one another as they moved. There must have been hundreds of them, if not thousands.
Unable to move my gaze away, I continued to study the horde behind us until I noticed a faint glimmering light atop the rampart. It gave out a red glow and illuminated just enough for me to see that the light was coming from some kind of dagger being held by a strange looking man. Despite the distance, I recognized the figure to be the same man we encountered at the field, scratching the strange script on the foreheads of the dead. It was clear that he had something to do with this, as he made jabbing motions with the dagger towards our direction and the sea of creatures seemed to respond and double their pace in their chase after us.
The next few moments were some of the most dangerous in my life, as we tried to ride away from the creatures, as some of them managed to close up on us. Passing through the camp and heading to the forum in the center, we
Another member of our party was unfortunately taken by these creatures, as one managed to grab onto his horse, making both him and his mount drop. The air was then filled with his pained screams, as the horde ripped him apart.
I believe we too would have met the same faith if it were not for the timely arrival of a dozen elite mounted bucellarii, Belisarius’ own household guard, who came to our rescue. Charging at full gallop, they cut down the closest creatures towards us, before escorting us the rest of the way to the forum. Fortunately, we were able to finally outpace the creatures, as we arrived at the forum before them.
At the center of the camp, various groups of men had already gathered, some armed and armored, others dazed and confused. Organizing these men was General Bouzes, who soon joined us upon seeing our party approach.
“Sir, what’s going on?” He asked. “I got men running away from the ramparts, claiming that the dead have begun to walk again.”
“I think that may be the case, general.” Belisarius replied, as he glanced towards the direction where the horde would be coming from. “Form the men into a shield wall, make sure there are no gaps. The cavalry will be in reserve in the rear to plug any breaks.”
With that Belisarius got to work, as moved along the forum, encouraging and ordering the men. As a mere legal adviser to the general, I had no other duty than to trail him, hoping that there was a way that I could make myself useful.
Eventually, the soldiers at the forum managed to form a decent line, just as the first horde began to pour out from the via praetoria.
Upon seeing the horde, some of the men in the line began to fear for their lives. It was an intimidating sight after all. In the darkness, with only the moon and a few fires lighting the forum, the image of hundreds upon hundreds of bodies moving so unnaturally and charging was frightening and would bring a chill to anyone’s soul. The horror would only be amplified as they got close, as the dark empty eyes, boken looking limbs, and exposed wounds of the creatures would be seen. Before our eyes, dead Roman and Persian soldiers came at us at full speed, ready to take our lives.
It was a great feat of strong will that allowed the men there that night to hold. Standing shoulder to shoulder with their fellow soldier, they locked their shields together and met the onslaught that rushed towards them.
Soon the first creatures impacted upon the shield wall, forcing the front ranks to buckle slightly. However, the soldiers fought back and jabbed their spears and swords forward. Despite the strength of the creatures, the line somehow withstood them.
Riding behind the lines, Belisarius shouted encouragement to the men. Following close behind him, I watched the fight unfold, observing that the creatures were able to take a lot of punishment. Even after spears stabbed their arms and chest, they still managed to stay up and continue the fight.
“Aim for their necks!” Belisarius ordered the men, as he too noticed the creature’s resilience to most injuries. “The only way to bring them down is by taking off their heads!”
Many of the soldiers immediately heeded the order and thrusted their weapons towards the creature’s necks. Some got lucky and managed to cut off the heads of the ones in front of them. However, others never got the chance to hit their targets, as the creatures suddenly started to apply more pressure on the line.
As more creatures pushed on the whole line, the weight of the numbers soon began to show. With powerful blows, the creatures used their powerful arms to knock away the shields of some of those in the front ranks. With their shields tossed away, a gap soon formed, leaving the soldier exposed for other creatures to pull them out of the line and be devoured and torn apart by their hands. This occurred in a few portions of the line and if it weren’t for the quick actions of the soldier to quickly cover the gaps, the entire line would have broken.
It was a desperate situation, as the front ranks were slowly being chipped away by the seemingly endless horde. To add to our difficulties, the wave of creatures were now reaching the flanks of the line and were about to trickle through the ends of formation as their numbers began to bear on those vulnerable parts. Eventually, they would be able to outflank us on both sides if they were not stopped.
As a temporary measure, Belisarius ordered units of cataphractarii to support the flanks by charging the creatures on those sides. However, we knew that if the horde was not stopped, we would soon be overrun.
Glancing towards the direction of the horde, I despaired to see that there were still hundreds of them pouring through the via praetoria. I realized that we wouldn’t be able to hold against all of them. The thought of this brough fear in me, as I realized that we may soon be torn apart by these creatures, our limbs ripped from our body one at a time.
However, as my eyes were observing the endless horde before us, I caught the familiar sight of a red glow near the center of the sea of bodies. Remembering what I saw earlier, I realized that this could only be the strange man from earlier, the one who held that dagger. From what I understood, that dagger must have been a means to command these creatures. So it made me think, if we take it away from him, would it end the endless assault on our line?
I quickly proposed this to Belisarius, proposing that we should sally out and kill the man or take away the dagger from him. Glancing towards our thinning line, then back at me, he gave a slow nod.
“Well, it’s better than sitting here until we are overrun.” He eventually said.
With that he gathered his bucellarii, around two hundred of them, and prepared to lead the sally himself. Being the one who proposed the idea, I did not want to sully my name by letting others do it as I watched from safety. Because of this I managed to find a mount, some scaled armor, and a sword, before joining beside the great general.
In order to provide the best chance of success, Belisarius ordered the cataphractarii on the flanks to push forward and hopefully distract the man who commanded these creatures. Meanwhile, the infantry who held the center were ordered to swing open like double doors, with one wing swinging right, and another wing swinging left. By doing this, the infantry would open a corridor for us to charge forward and head directly for the center where the man who controlled these creatures was.
Waiting behind the infantry, I watched as the cataphractarii on the flanks began the first phase of the plan by charging forward. The momentum of their attack managed to push back the creatures there, although their success was met with heavy casualties on their part, as I saw the silhouettes of both men and horse flung to by the powerful strikes of the creatures.
Soon the second phase of the plan began, as the infantry started to move forward. At the center, the two wings of the line parted, as our soldier slowly pushed open a corridor for us. Knowing that the ends of each swinging wing would be vulnerable, Belisarius wasted no time in ordering the bucellarii forward. With his words, we charged on towards the crowd of creatures in the center.
I remember following the general into the fray, as his horse trampled the creature that blocked his path. The momentum of our charge was enough to topple down many of the creatures, as we hacked those that got in the way of our blades. I am no expert swordsman and so I am embarrassed to say that many of my strikes missed the necks of the creatures. But I kept going, as the rest of the party managed to slay the creatures the were swarming around us.
Confusion and terror filled me as we continued to push on, as I saw multiple creatures reaching out to try and pull me off my horse or knock me down from it. However, I kept my mount moving forward, crushing the creatures ahead of me, as I tried to avoid the deadly hands that may grab hold of me. As long as we kept moving forward, their chance of them knocking us down was lower. Because of that we made sure not to be stalled by them as we forced our way through these walls of bodies.
Eventually, the red glow of the dagger could be seen closer towards us, and I looked ahead to see the figure of the man who held it. At that point, he seemed to have now realized our intention, as he made hand movements that ordered the creatures to clear a path for him to retreat and flee. For all the daring this man had to attack a Roman camp, it seemed that he did not have enough heart to stand against a direct attack from a true Roman.
Belisarius was determined to not let him escape and so the general urged his mount forward, eventually pushing through layers of creatures that separated them. I, and the rest of the bucellarii, did our best to follow, but the general’s will to get to the man urged him farther than we could catch up.
Balancing my attention between slashing at the creatures around me and observing the general, I eventually saw him close up on the man and gallop along the same corridor the master of these creatures had created to make his escape easier. Watching with anticipation, I could see the general get closer and closer to the man. But, just as he was about to be within striking range of his sword, the man turned around and, after pointing his dagger at Belisarius, managed to order one of the creatures to charge on the flank of the general.
This sudden charge managed to knock down the general’s horse. Fortunately for the general, one of his bucellarii managed to reach him in time and slay the creature before it could make an attack on him.
We too soon reached the general and formed a defensive circle around him, as the creatures began to surround us. Hacking and stabbing each one that attacked, we felt that our last opportunity to stop the onslaught had failed.
However, one of the bucellarii drew his bow and quickly aimed it towards the fleeing master of the creatures. Letting loose his arrow, it managed to hit true to its mark, implanting itself on the back of the man. Quickly he fell, dropping the dagger he held. The moment it was released, the bright right glow emanating from it suddenly disappeared. At the same time the creatures all fell.
For reasons we still have no explanations to, the dagger gave them life. Without anyone wielding it, the evil powers that allowed the dead to live disappeared, allowing the deceased to be nothing more than lifeless bodies once more.
In this victory there were no celebrations. Once we were sure that all of the creatures were down, we all sat by ourselves, contemplating what horrors we had just witnessed. We were fortunate to have survived.
The next morning Belisarius ordered that all bodies be collected, piled, and burnt. He did not want these bodies to rise again. The general then spoke before the army, urging the men to stay silent about events that happened that night. He then promised to pay them, from his own coffers, and in return they would pledge to never talk about that night’s battle to anyone outside the army. This seemed to be enough to buy their silence for the moment.
During the next few months, word of our battle with the dead reached the ears of the Emperor. Eventually, a representative from the Emperor arrived, carrying a message from him. The Emperor asked all the soldiers of the army to take an oath of silence in regards to the battle, in order to prevent citizens from panicking over such horrors. In return he offered each soldier who fought that night riches far greater than Belisarius could offer. This excited the men, although they did become more somber upon being told that any attempt to break the oath would result in them being hunted down and killed by Imperial officials. If silver was not enough to convince them, the threat of death from imperial executioners surely was.
As far as I know, no one broke the oath. Although, as I write this, I feel like I am already breaking the oath. However, I must put these events down on paper, because it must be known in the event that all of us fall tonight.
After many years, I find myself on campaign with the great general once more. Victorious in Italy, but disgraced by the Empress, he had once more been called upon by the Emperor to deal with creatures of evil.
The dagger, which had been kept locked in Constantinople after the events at Dara, had been stolen. Now it is up to Belisarius and his small force of veterans to recover it.
I personally did not have the heart to fight more creatures beyond our understanding. However, I knew I could not sleep at night knowing that the dagger was not locked and sealed away. Because of that, when Belisarius asked if I would like to join his expedition, I did not hesitate to agree.
So I write this now before we leave the capital. If we fail, then this will be my last work.
***
This written account was found in the Vatican archives. After translating it from Attic Greek, I found the whole account to be extraordinary and almost unbelievable. However, there was something that made me wonder if there was a layer of truth in the author’s words.
Wrapped in cloth and hidden with the papers of the account was a dagger.