Jack Whyte - The Eagles' Brood

"Surgeon's questions." He was grinning at me and I grinned back.

"As you wish. Surgeon's...but I have some questions of my own that require answers." I stopped, remembering. "You mentioned trickery a while ago. You said you came here directly but not without trickery. What did you mean?"

He grinned. "Deceit. I remembered the towns we passed on the way to Verulamium and our fear of plague. So I put it about that the men in our wagons were sick of some pestilence, not wounded. Derek's people had gone by then, so there were none who knew anything different, and suddenly our wagons were undesirable. We cut straight through Lot's army and moved ahead of them and safely back to Camulod."

"I see. Inventive of you. And where was I when you arrived?"

"Abed and dying. In your aunt's house. You had been there for several days. You were barely alive. As soon as I saw you, and the state of your head, I knew what had to be done, although I thought I might have come too late."

"So you drilled a hole in my head."

"I did, and let some of the air out." He smiled again. "It was only a small hole, but I was amazed by the blood that came out of it. I have to tell you again, however, that I am still deeply concerned by the recurrence of that haematoma. I'll be watching you closely from now on, since I can't trust you to report your pain."

"You can. I've promised you. I owe you my life now twice over, obviously."

Lucanus shrugged, his smile still in place. "No more than you owe it to Donuil or Uther. Between us, in our different ways, we've managed to salvage you. How will you reward us, I wonder?"

The irony of his question made my heart leap in my breast as a voice in my head said clearly: Painfully, my friend.

To escape my sudden confusion, I stood up and moved forward into the light, pausing by his desk to run my fingertips across the papyrus on which he had been writing. "Tell me what happened to the army we encountered north of Aquae Sulis that time. They were poised to take Glevum, then Aquae, then Camulod. Obviously they didn't, but why not? I must have heard at the time, but I was not myself and since then I've forgotten, until now."

He smiled and grunted. "They killed their own threat, with no trouble to us. It was a small army, no more than four thousand men, it seems. They struck Aquae Sulis, but found nothing there worth having, so they demolished what little remained of the temple of Sulis Minerva, then marched north against Glevum. Lot, as usual, was not among them, and the 'general' he had sent to marshal them was killed in a squabble in Aquae, leaving them leaderless. Anyway, Glevum brought them less than Aquae had, and so they struck west, into Cambria, seeking the gold-mines at Dolocauthi. We heard no more of them."

"I see. It seems God was on our side then. We were in poor condition to repel their attack, had it come." Lucanus nodded in agreement, looking up at where I stood above him. I perched on the edge of his table. "I intend to send Donuil tomorrow at first light to carry a message to my brother Ambrose in Lindum, or in the kingdom of Vortigern if that's where he is now. I am convinced he should come here. God knows, we have need of him. I would also like you to welcome him for me when he arrives and make him feel this is his home. May I rely on you for that?"

"Of course, you know that." A tiny frown of curiosity ticked between his brows. "Where will you be?"

I shrugged. "Away. I'm leaving for a while. As I've already told the Lady Luceiia, I need to spend some time alone. There are too many memories here right now, and they are all too fresh, too new... too sudden."

"Aye, I can understand that." His voice was pitched low and filled with sympathy. "Where will you go? Do you have any idea?"

Loathing myself for the direct lie to my best friend, but fortified by that same, icy calm that had been in me all evening, I forced my face to remain expressionless. "No," I answered, shaking my head to emphasize the unimportance of that. "Perhaps south, perhaps east. I'll follow my nose. But it's important that Ambrose be made welcome here, and that he involve himself to some extent in the destiny of this place. His grandfather and his father built it, so it is his legacy. And he has martial skills that we can and must use in any way we may. I've no fears of his not prospering here, and loving it, and Uther will like him." Then, with the barest pause, as though the thought had just occurred to me, I went on. "Where was Uther headed, by the way? Do we know?"

"God knows!" Lucanus yawned and stretched. "To the best of my knowledge, or anyone else's for that matter, he marched south and presumably to the west of us. It's been months now, as you know, since we saw hide or hair of any Cornish forces in this region, and your belligerent cousin spoke only the day before he left of carrying the war to its last stage and burning out the nest of rats Lot calls a fortress."

"Aye. What did he call the place?"

"Nothing, as I recall. I doubt it even has a name. Most people refer to it simply as Lot's Nest."

"Lot's Nest, rats' nest, there's no difference, but it might take a deal of burning. How many men went with Uther?"

"Enough. Two full thousand, half horse, half foot. But you're right. It could prove difficult to burn, and Lot might not even be there."

"How so?" A note in his voice had struck my ear strangely. He returned my gaze evenly, allowing a short silence to stretch between us. "What do you mean?" I pressed the point.

Lucanus continued to stare at me for several more moments, then he shrugged his shoulders. "Simply what I said. When Uther came home at the start of the winter, when it grew too cold and treacherous for campaigning, you may recall he cursed Lot and his wealth very effectively, Do you remember?" At that moment I was able to identify the reason behind the peculiar look in his eyes. The physician was still looking for gaps in my memory. I nodded, as casually as I could, and he went on, apparently satisfied. "Well then, you'll recall that Uther's concern—and he was convinced, for whatever reasons, that he was right to be concerned—was that Lot would use the winter rest period this year to reinforce and strengthen his armies. He has the wealth to do it, if we are to believe what we have heard about his pirates, and the winter months when the snows blocked the hill passes gave him the time."

I nodded again, remembering, and he continued, "Lot has that kind of wealth, and the mercenaries out there in Hibernia, and even in Gaul, know of it. By this time, for all we know, the entire peninsula down there could be jammed with new levies, primed for battle. With water on three sides, it's easily supplied by sea with stores or men. Uther marched south—that's all we know. He took the great road. He could have left it at any point and struck inland, to east or west, depending on what his outriders found before them." He yawned and stretched hugely before concluding, "You know that as well as I do, if you would but think about it."

I nodded. "I agree. He could be anywhere. I won't keep you longer from your work or from your bed, my friend. I only wanted to say goodbye, since I intend to leave with the dawn, and to ask for your support in this matter of my brother Ambrose."

He smiled. "You know you didn't have to ask that, Cay, but I'm glad you told me of your intentions. But don't leave yet. I am not tired, and I've finished what I was doing. I have some excellent wine here."

"Can't, Lucanus. I still have to find Donuil and instruct him on what I wish him to do. It is imperative that he leave in the morning. And besides, you yawn like a man deprived of sleep for days."

"Nonsense! And why the urgency? Let Donuil rest. He'll be deep asleep by now. Tell him in the morning."