Jack Whyte - The Eagles' Brood

I swallowed hard. "What about the baby?"

She looked me straight in the eyes and shook her head. "It was still inside her, if that's what you are asking. They died together, intact."

"Was she.. .Did he find her in the water?"

She nodded her head, her face drawn with concern. "Yes, yes he did. He told me at the time, but I had forgotten. The poor child was dead. Where he had found her made no difference to me. How did you know? Did Daffyd tell you?"

I shook my head, mute, recalling with horror how a human corpse could look after days of submersion in water. My dear aunt could have no idea of such atrocities. My next question was difficult, my voice almost defying me to make it utter the words. I had to draw a deep breath and hold it before asking, "Was Uther in Camulod then?"

She nodded. "Yes, he was. As a matter of fact, he had arrived on the morning of the day Cassandra left-" She bit off her words and looked at me in dismay. "Caius! Why did you ask me that?"

"Because I want to know, Auntie. When did he leave?"

Her eyes widening in horror, she shook her head in denial of what I was implying. "I...I...Caius, you can't be—"

"When did he leave, Auntie?"

"Within a few days. You know Uther. He comes and he goes, always riding somewhere."

"He was gone, then, before Daffyd came?"

"Yes, days before! But I can't allow you to think what you are thinking, Caius. It is unjust, infamous! You suspected Uther before, but you know it was Remus the priest who committed that crime."

"Remus is dead, Auntie, long since...and far from here, long before this crime was committed."

"No, Caius!" The anguish in her voice was as keen- edged as my own.

"No," I whispered, aware of how much I was hurting her. "Perhaps not. But I have to know, Auntie. I have to know!" Inside my heart, however, I did know. I spoke purely to soothe this woman I loved more than any other now alive. I drew another deep breath and changed the subject.

"Auntie, did anyone ever tell you about my brother Ambrose?"

Her expression changed to one of wonderment and she nodded. "Yes. Lucanus told me about him, although he knew few details. He said you were like twins. I would have sent for him, but I did not know where to look, or what to say to him." She shook her head in slow, tacit acknowledgement of how little any of us know of others. "Twins...Of course, that could not be. He must be older than you, sired before Picus met Enid. Theirs was a hurried courtship, and I cannot believe your father capable of infidelity so soon after his marriage to your mother."

Realizing only then that she knew nothing of the truth of what had happened, I told her the entire story as I had heard it originally from my father, and as I had reconstructed the later events for myself. She listened in silence and when I was finished she was smiling again, her concern over me and her grandson Uther forgotten for the moment.

"I must meet this Ambrose, and soon. I thought I only had one great-nephew."

I stood up. "You will, Auntie. I am sending Donuil tomorrow to bring him here. I must leave Camulod immediately, and I don't know when I will return."

She stared at me for the space of several heartbeats, her eyes wide with renewed alarm.

"You are leaving Camulod? But why, Cay, to what end? Where will you go?"

I shook my head, unwilling to lie to her but driven to prevaricate for her peace of mind. "I don't know, Auntie. Wherever my path leads me. But I must go. I cannot remain here. I need...time...Time to be alone with myself and to untwist my mind. I have lost years. I knew that yesterday, but today I see the import of what I have lost."

She gazed at me without speaking as I continued. "My new-found brother Ambrose—if he will come, and I believe he will—should be here in my place. Camulod is as much his home as it is mine. I know you'll teach him all he has to know. And he's a warrior. Vortigern the King holds him in high regard and his own men of Lindum are proud to soldier with him. He is strong and bold, and the reports I have heard of him hold him to be just and fair-minded, clever and responsible. He will replace me more than adequately, I am sure, and Camulod has need of him, stranger though he may be at first. Titus and Flavius are too old to govern by themselves now, but aided by you and Lucanus, they can train Ambrose to take his rightful place here and await my return."

My aunt accepted all I said, but still did everything in her power to dissuade me from leaving, and to influence my thinking in the matter of her grandson. We talked for a long time, but I was adamant. My path lay clearly before me. I took my leave of her at last and went in search of Lucanus.

It was raining heavily enough to have doused the torches on the walls as I made my way across the pitch blackness of the parade ground to Lucanus's quarters, but I found him where I had expected to, not yet abed, writing in his sick bay surrounded by lit tapers. I paused before entering, struggling with myself and with my rage against Uther. Lucanus, I was determined, should have not the slightest hint of my renewed suspicions. This interview was crucial to my plans, central to my ability to walk away from Camulod and my responsibilities. Luke would fight me, I knew, if he suspected me of harbouring new doubts about my cousin. I reviewed the course I wished this conversation to take, then stepped into the sick bay.

Lucanus glanced up as I entered and nodded briefly. He held up a hand to indicate that he would be with me in a moment and waved me to a chair as I shrugged out of my rain-damp cloak, and I sat waiting in the shadows until he had finished writing. Finally he put down his pen and turned to me. "Well," he began. "I haven't seen you all day and did not expect to see you so late tonight. What's on your mind?"

I plunged straight in. "How did you get back to Camulod after we left you on the road with the northern king.. .what was his name?"

He made a face of surprise then rueful dismissal. "Derek. Derek of Ravenglass. We returned quickly and directly, but not without trickery. As I've told you before, your friend Derek was a mixed benison. He escorted us to the meeting place, but then abandoned us in the middle of Lot's army, which was short of wagons for transporting their supplies. He had to meet his two hundred men. I was glad, yet strangely sad, to part from him. I found him offensive, but his men protected us. After he left, I thought we would lose the wagons."

"He was supposed to escort you through and past Lot's army. That's what the gold was for."

Lucanus shrugged. "I know, but he changed the terms-" He broke off, his features sharpening as he gazed keenly into the shadows, trying to see my face. "Who told you about the gold? You and I have not discussed that."

I nodded, acknowledging his acuity. "No one told me. I remembered."

He was on his feet instantly, moving towards me, all of his physician's instincts on full alert. For a while we sparred verbally, he trying to question me on every aspect of my recovery, and I to avoid being diverted from my purpose. I gave up eventually, realizing that I would make no progress until he was at least partially satisfied with my recovery and the cause of it. I told him of recovering my memory while kneeling by Cassandra's grave, a minor lie, but one that was necessary to avoid approaching the matter of Uther's guilt. He threw a thousand questions at me, and I attempted to answer all of them until I reached the point where I could take no more.

"Enough, Luke," I told him finally. "I am fully recovered and that's that. And not only do I recall everything that happened before I was struck down, but I recall everything that has happened since. There are no holes in my mind now, so leave off with your infernal, snooping, physician's questions."