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flared and seemed to shoot brilliant beams of light. “I see it, sir. I noticed it in the desert some days ago.”
    â€œIt is a new star,” Melchior said, his voice taut with an underlying excitement. “It is not a wandering star, of the kind the Greeks call planeta . I don’t think it is a fixed star, at least not one of the ordinary kind, for the whole dome of the sky slowly rotates through the year, turning around the axis of the North Star, but for the ten months since that one appeared, it has been in the very same place, growing steadily brighter. The planets roam, the fixed stars rotate but keep their patterns—but that star alone is faithful to its place in the heavens.”
    Agios didn’t know what to say. He grunted thoughtfully.
    â€œIt is something new,” Melchior said. “It’s an omen.”
    Omens. They crammed the world full, if you listened to all the priests of all the religions. A crow flying overhead was an omen, or an oddly shaped fruit, or the cry of a wolf, or an earthquake or a storm, or drought or flood, wind or calm. Omens everywhere, and most of them evil , Agios thought.
    As though reading his mind, Melchior said, “This one means something good, Agios. Something wonderful. I’ve read about it in the old scrolls and have discussed it with wise men. My friends Caspar and Balthasar have seen it, too. Balthasar is on his way and will be here in the next few days. We must prepare. If the prophecies are true, if this is the sign in the heavens I’ve been looking for, that star will grow steadily brighter. When it is as bright as the full moon, we must leave. That may be in a few days or in a few weeks—there’s no telling. When the time comes, we must begin our search.”
    â€œAnd what do you hope to find, sir?”
    â€œSomeone to whom Balthasar, Caspar, and I must bow,” Melchior said.
    Agios tried to peer through the darkness but he couldn’t quite make out Melchior’s features. “Mithridates?” he asked, naming the man he recalled as ruler of the entire Parthian Empire.
    â€œMithridates died years ago,” Melchior said. “Phraates holds the throne now—but I don’t mean him, either.”
    â€œThen who?” Agios asked.
    Melchior took a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice was low and full of awe: “I mean the hope of the world, the one whose coming is foretold in prophecy. I mean a King of Kings.”
    It was the second time Agios had heard the term. This time it made him shiver.

Chapter 6

    B althasar arrived the following day. He was from the far southern desert country, a swarthy, heavyset man of great vigor. He spoke the common language, Aramaic, with a pronounced accent and a booming voice. As soon as he met the others, the three prepared for the journey. Agios and Krampus stayed out of the way, but after nightfall Melchior invited Agios once again to the observation tower. Krampus remained below, on solid ground.
    Agios followed the three scholar-kings up the stair. When they arrived on the platform, Balthasar cried out in wonder. “This is the clearest I’ve ever seen it,” he said. “It is a glory in the heavens.”
    â€œIs it as bright as the full moon?” Melchior asked.
    Balthasar gazed. “Very nearly, I think. Much brighter than it was only two nights ago.”
    â€œThen we leave tomorrow.”
    â€œI agree,” Balthasar said.
    Caspar asked, “Have we all our gifts?”
    Melchior said, “I have thought long about the question, and as my gift I bring gold, the purest that I could find, as is proper for a gift to a great king.”
    Balthasar murmured in reply, “That is well done. There will be need of gold, whoever his family might be. I bring a cask of myrrh. It’s very costly. In my country people burn it as an offering to the gods. It is said to have a calming effect on a troubled spirit. It is, I think,