Jack Whyte - The Eagles' Brood

I had far less trouble deciding on the composition of our squadrons than I had on the matter of whether or not Cassandra should accompany us to Verulamium. I wanted passionately to take her with me, but the current composition of our party—all men and all soldiers—had presented unforeseen complications to that, and I had not yet made up my mind on the day when, at her own insistence, I led my aunt slowly down die path into our hidden valley, holding her aged but still strong hand all the way, lest she slip and fall.

As on most occasions, Cassandra surprised me by running to meet me, her face a portrait of delight. She stopped short, however, when she saw my companion, blushing in confusion and embarrassment. Aunt Luceiia, on the other hand, was well prepared for this encounter. She had evidently given much thought to how she would behave in order to put Cassandra at her ease, and she went straight ahead and embraced the girl, motioning me to come and join them and share the embrace.

Later, while Cassandra was cooking, my aunt said to me, "So, Nephew, you have impressed me, in spite of myself. I had suspected that this young woman might be more than simply special, in the sense that young lovers use the word, but she is utterly delightful, far ahead of what I had anticipated. And as for your stated opinion on her breeding, you are completely wrong. This child is no peasant, nor were her people. We may never know her true background, but there is a nobility in the girl. She is far too good for you, libertine that you are. You still intend to take her with you to Verulamium?"

Luxuriating in her approval of my love, I was surprised by her question. "Of course, Auntie. I wouldn't dream of going without her." My decision was that swift and that simple.

"Hmm. And when will you leave?"

"Late in July—early August at the latest. But you know that."

"Yes, Nephew, I do."

"Then why did you ask?"

She looked me straight in the eye and shook her head in wonderment. "I asked because I cannot believe the obtuseness of men."

"Obtuseness?" My face must have been a picture of bewilderment. "What did I say? How am I being obtuse?"

She shook her head again, but her voice was gentler when she said, "Your obtuseness, Nephew, lies in your failure to see that by August, your Cassandra will be within two months of having your child."

I was thunderstruck! I gaped and spluttered and floundered, cursing my own blind stupidity. Of course she was pregnant! How could I not have seen it before this? And through all of these revelations, Cassandra worked away at preparing our meal, unaware of the consternation behind her back, until I calmed myself eventually and swung her around to kiss her gently, placing my hand on her belly. Then she knew I knew, and her eyes filled with tears of happiness.

Of course, from that point on, there was no question of her accompanying me to Verulamium. There would have been no question of my going either, had Aunt Luceiia not immediately set about convincing me that it was my duty to go. Cassandra would be safe, she promised me, while I was gone. She herself would persuade Cassandra to return with us to Camulod, to marry me legally and to await the birth of our child. By the time I returned from my Verulamium pilgrimage, my wife and child would both be awaiting me, healthy and happy. I believed her, and I returned to Camulod alone.

XXX

Aunt Luceiia remained alone in our valley with Cassandra for a full week. When I returned at the end of that time, I did so in a light, two-wheeled gig that could easily accommodate all three of us plus our baggage and all Cassandra's belongings on the return journey. Quite simply, it had never even occurred to me that my aunt's campaign to win Cassandra back to Camulod might be unsuccessful, since the love and respect they had demonstrated for each other from the outset was total and absolute, and their ability to communicate with each other without words seemed to me little short of magical.

Our entry into Camulod, later that same day, caused a mighty stir. The young woman who sat so calmly erect by my side, between my aunt and me, bore not the remotest resemblance to the half-starved waif who had returned, riding behind Uther, from that distant patrol, and no one recognized her. Nevertheless, the sight of her, the beauty and the strangeness of her, gave rise to an instant seething of speculation and gossip, which neither my aunt nor I relieved in any way. I, for one, had much more on my mind than idle rumours and conjecture.

I had been bracing myself for trouble for two full weeks, ever since I accepted that Cassandra would really be returning to Camulod. Suddenly uncomfortable with my cousin's continuing absence from die fort—a condition that had, until then, been pleasing to me in my ambivalent frame of mind— I had begun willing Uther to return immediately, preparing myself for the inevitable confrontation between him and Cassandra. I was determined to bring them face to face without warning, knowing that only then, in his complete

surprise, could I read Uther's guilt or innocence with conviction. As it turned out, however, that resolution was to remain unattainable. Uther was nowhere near Camulod when I brought Cassandra back. To the best of our knowledge, he had not left his Pendragon lands since returning there after his father's death. There had been no news of him since his departure, nor had anyone had any indication when he might return to Camulod. He might, for all we knew, already be campaigning against Lot, far to the southwest in Cornwall.

Irrespective, however, of my readiness to test Uther's response to the sight of Cassandra, I was totally unprepared for Donuil's reaction.

We had been back in my aunt's house for several hours, and I had shared Cassandra's conducted tour of the establishment, enjoying her pleasure and wonder at the richness of the house and its appointments, seeing it myself through her eyes as though for the first time. She had finally retired, ushered by a gaggle of my aunt's serving women, to bathe and change her clothes, and I was banished from their company. I sent a trooper to find Donuil and tell him I was back and to bring me any work that had to be done.

An hour later, I was hard at work, whispering the words to myself as I fretted over the appalling syntax of a report written by one of our Councillors and dealing with the variety and distribution of the crops being grown throughout the Colony's holdings. It was a dreadful and depressing task, and I was schooling myself to be patient, resisting a growing urge to call the writer of this mess into my presence and excoriate him, when an ungodly clatter made me leap like a faun. Donuil had been perched across from me on a high stool, polishing my parade breastplate. Now he was on his feet, stiff as a board, his face waxen, wide eyes staring at some point behind my head, and my best armour rolling noisily on the floor at his feet. I turned to follow his stricken gaze, and saw Cassandra standing by the open doorway behind me, peering backward over her shoulder at something in the hallway behind her. As I looked, too startled yet to speak, she turned back towards me and her eyes fell on Donuil. Her whole face altered instantly into an expression of astounded disbelief, and then splintered into an instant, joyful smile of recognition.

Donuil continued to stand there as though petrified for several more long moments, and then he lurched toward her, walking stiff-legged, his mouth hanging open, a look of awe mixed with fear on his face. When he reached her, he stopped short of touching her and fell heavily to both knees, reaching out his hands to her. Radiant, she gave him both her hands, and he stooped his head to kiss them, but she was already pulling him to his feet, clasping her arms tightly around his neck and kissing him wildly on the face, the eyes and the forehead.