Gillian Bradshaw - Island of Ghosts

… contacts. It’s the same here as it was in Gaul: the Christians and the druids exchange the names of people who are sympathetic or bribable, or hiding places which the authorities know nothing about-though, of course, the druids are very much more powerful here, in their homeland, and the Christians are very weak. The lady is known to be eager to protect the priesthood of the old gods, and is thought to be devoted to one of the most extreme sects. My friend said that there’s been a lot of tension just in the past year, with the druids pushing the limits of official blindness, and he found it very easy to believe that an extreme sect has been growing in influence. I was very alarmed. I realized that I’d been a fool not to speak to you about it before, and I asked Banadaspos to let me know when you got back. Only you didn’t come back.

“I was very frightened. I asked around at the stables and I found out that the lady Aurelia had had herself driven out of Corstopitum, to visit a shrine of the god Silvanus. I rode out to the shrine myself, and I learned that when she’d arrived there, she turned her slave and her driver out of the chariot and drove on alone. There were troops searching the road for you by then, so there was nothing I could do but ride back and pray. I thank God that you are still alive! That’s not the end, though. Yesterday morning, when I was here in the stables looking after the horse you lent me, Cunedda came in looking for me. He gave me this message: ‘Your master refused to listen to us. It’s true that he still lives, but he will not live long. Before this season is ended he will die, and die not by any human hand but by the power of the sacred ones. You will see it and believe.’ ”

So. A threat. I had heard many of them in my time, and it didn’t trouble me unduly. “A curse or an assassination?” I asked.

He hesitated, then shook his head. “A curse, my lord, at least at first. They are famous for working magic, sir, famous. They claim superhuman powers. They’re certainly used to killing people secretly. Before the Romans came they practiced human sacrifice, mostly on willing victims. The official druids in Gaul now say that human sacrifice is hateful to the gods, and even some of the other British druids say that if the victim’s unwilling, the sacrifice is useless. But there have been bodies found, strangled and dumped in the sacred wells, or hung from the sacred groves, and it’s been clear that they weren’t willing. People are afraid of the druids. If they don’t talk about them much, that’s the reason.”

I was silent for a little while. “This sorcery,” I said at last. “Is it powerful?”

“The druids claim it is, my lord. For my own part,” he said defiantly, “I know that no power on earth or under it can stand against my God.”

“Who is not mine. Still, I trust Marha, the holy one, is not his inferior. And from what you say, the druids have been cursing the Romans for centuries, and the power of Rome has only grown greater. But I will be on my guard. What did this priest mean by ‘before this season is ended’? Before the end of the winter, or before this matter is settled?”

“I imagine it means before the end of the month, sir,” he said unhappily. “ This season would naturally mean the season we’re in now, midwinter. The midwinter solstice is holy to the druids. It’s only ten days from now.”

“So, I do not have long to wait? That is good.”

He obviously thought I wasn’t taking it seriously enough. “Be careful what you eat, sir!” he exclaimed urgently. “The druids study drugs and poisons as well as magic.”

The memory of the lost hours shifted again in my mind, chilling me, but again subsided. “Thank you,” I said then, looking him in the eyes. “Thank you very much. You have given more loyalty than I have deserved of you.”

“No, my lord. I have given what my duty demanded, but given it later than I should. If I had warned you earlier…”

“Could this Cunedda inform on you?”

He went still-then nodded miserably. “If he knew I’d informed on him, he would,” he added. “If he didn’t know, I’d probably be all right. My lord, what happened on the road from Condercum?”

I shook my head. “I do not remember. I remember setting out with Arshak, and nothing afterward until my wakening in Pervica’s house-but I am certain I met the lady Aurelia on the road. She is, I think, the head of this conspiracy.”

He blinked at that. He had obviously put her down as this Cunedda’s disciple, a rich and arrogant young noblewoman playing for excitement’s sake with an old and dangerous faith. “You don’t think that Cunedda…?” he began-but trailed off helplessly, as though realizing that Aurelia Bodica was nobody’s disciple.

“She wishes to be a queen,” I said, trying to set all my assembled pieces in order. “Her family is royal, and was long hostile to the Romans. She resents the marriage that was arranged for her and admires her ancestress, the queen of the Iceni for whom she was named. She has great influence with her husband, and has been able to appoint her kinsmen and friends to positions of power-Comittus at least owes his place to her, and there must be others. Comittus will tell you, too, when he sings her praises, that she has influence in the civil administration of the North, which is also in her husband’s hands. She has had the power to create an instrument of war against the Romans, and I do not believe she would create that instrument and set it in the hands of another. She is a proud woman, and hates to be crossed in any way.”

He was shocked silent. We weren’t facing just one or two people near the legate and a handful of druids, but a substantial conspiracy, an unknown large number of people in the army and in places of power throughout the province.

“Have you heard any rumors about what her husband thinks of this?” I asked. It was the crucial question.

Eukairios nodded wearily. “He’s heard the rumors, but doesn’t believe them. He’s not British, of course: he’s an Italian from Mediolanum. Her family is royal, descended from the rulers of two kingdoms: they could have had the citizenship generations ago, but they refused to have anything to do with the Romans until very recently. They say that the legate was proud of himself for winning them over.”

“And recent events have not made him suspicious?”

“My lord, there are hundreds of British tribesmen in the Sixth Legion and thousands in the auxiliaries. Dozens of them might have been able to send that message: anyone with druidical training would have been interested in your people’s method of divination, and you don’t keep it a secret. Why should the legate believe it was his wife?”

“She has been after us,” I answered, sharply.

“And he’s grateful to her, my lord, for helping him with such an irritable and indomitable people. He believes that without her help, he would have had far more trouble with Lord Arshak’s people in Eburacum.”

“She’s won over Arshak and tried Siyavak.”

“My lord, I thought as much. But the legions are not united either. There are factions even inside the Sixth at Eburacum, and I suppose that the legate thought she was winning them to his faction. My lord, Facilis would know more about this. He’s a good man; I’m sure he would help.”

Facilis was a shrewd man. He had guessed enough to let him suspect the lady, even without knowing about these druids, or hearing the hints she made to me and my brother princes. I was not surprised that he’d tackled Eukairios on the subject as well. But there were reasons why I could not accept any help from that quarter.

“So,” I said, ignoring the suggestion, summing up. “Our enemies may be anywhere. We have no evidence that we could bring to a Roman court. Even if I remembered what the lady said on the road, I could only pledge my word against hers and Arshak’s, and my word will not be enough. I am not trusted. Her own servants are unlikely to testify against her. This Cunedda is protected by her, and unlikely to be caught unless you inform on him, which you cannot do. As for you, she would say that you are my slave and will speak as I order you.”