AC III Chapter 8 Pilate

Jerusalem swells with pilgrims for Passover as the Star Bearers enter the Temple and witness the ancient sacrifice of the lambs. Amid the blood, incense and prayers of thousands, memories of Bethlehem return—and with them an unsettling sense that the journey begun beneath the Star thirty years before is not yet finished.

At the home of Joseph of Arimathea, they meet Joseph and Nicodemus and receive the news they have longed to hear: Adam and Sophia are alive and have been travelling with Jesus of Nazareth. But their joy is tempered by warning. Jesus may be coming to Jerusalem, where powerful men increasingly regard him as a threat.

Then Rome enters the city. Pontius Pilate arrives with soldiers and standards to keep watch over the restless Passover crowds. Nicodemus recounts an earlier confrontation with the prefect, when thousands of Jews defied Pilate by kneeling before Roman swords and offering their lives rather than violate their faith. Pilate backed down—but he learned from the encounter.

Now the Star Bearers, Jesus, the Temple authorities and the Roman prefect are all being drawn toward Jerusalem. As Balthazar senses, the pieces are gathering—and something momentous is approaching.