Jack Whyte - The Skystone

"Well?" Luceiia asked. It was the first word either of us had spoken in a long time. "What do you think?"

I scuffed my foot on the concrete floor. No grit. No ashes. I looked again at the brazier closest to me, and at the tongs and hammers that flanked it.

"Everything looks new. "

Luceiia's eyebrow went up and she laughed. "Everything in here is new, Publius. This is your personal place, Publius Varrus's smithy, planned by Caius and furnished and equipped by both of us in what seemed the vain hope that you might someday come here. We both agreed that we would hate you to be bored or purposeless under our roof. " I had already guessed as much. I turned towards her, positioning myself so that I could see her face clearly in the late-afternoon light.

"You really expected me to come? Why?"

She gave me the full benefit of her dazzling, dizzying smile. "Why not?

You are the closest friend my brother has. And he has hoped for a long time, ever since you left the army, that you would come to the west to share his dream with him some day. We both did, even though I did not know you. We hoped at least that if you did come, even to visit, this smithy would encourage you either to stay or to return often. " She held up her hand as I made to speak and I waited for her to finish what she had to say. Her expression became serious. "Publius, " she said, "I know you have made a life for yourself and built an enterprise in Camulodunum. "

"Colchester. " I grinned.

She returned my grin. "If you must. Colchester. But Caius will be home soon and he will no longer be a soldier. His whole life will be different, and he has been planning it for years. It would make him very happy if he were to find you waiting here to greet him. God knows there's room enough here for all of us, but Caius has a special place for you in his plans, which you already know something of. Before too many days have passed, you will know more of them. "

I perched myself, smiling, on the edge of the brazier nearest me; she saw the look in my eyes and hurried on.

"In any event, whether you choose to stay or no, you will be going up into the hills to look for skystones. Am I not correct?" I nodded. "Well, then, " she continued, with an eagerness in her voice that surprised and touched me, "if you find any such stones, you will probably want to start smelting them immediately. And now you can. Here. " She looked around her, and suddenly she resembled a very young girl far more than a beautiful, ripe woman. "You may find that not everything you need is here. If we've overlooked anything important, we can acquire it easily in Aquae Sulis. "

I sighed and smiled again, shaking my head, and then moved to where a pile of rust-covered ingots had been stacked in a corner. Beside the stack was a large, lidded bin. I raised the lid and looked inside. The bin was full of charcoal. I tested a piece between my finger and thumb. It was high-quality charcoal. I looked at her again.

"Where did you and Caius find all this?"

She looked perplexed. "I had the smith from Quintus Varo's villa buy everything he could think of that you might need. Why? Has he done badly?"

I laughed in disbelief. "No, Luceiia, he has done superlatively well. This place is better designed and better equipped than my own smithy at home. I am just amazed, that's all. Amazed and grateful. This is a gesture worthy of an emperor — and an empress. "

"No, Publius. " Her smile and her head shake were deprecatory. "But worthy of a friend, I hope. I am glad you like it. "

"Like it? I love it. "

I bent and picked up a heavy iron ingot. "And if there is anything lacking, which I doubt, I have everything here that I would need to make it myself."

I dropped the ingot with a loud clank.

"Good," she said. "Excellent. Now we should return to the house. We have guests to prepare for. "

"Guests? Who's coming?"

"Friends and neighbours, all anxious to meet the redoubtable Varrus. " She took my arm and led me out into the daylight again, into the lane that ran along the outer walls at the back of the villa. Away to our right, to the north-east, a line of hills loomed in the evening sky, their flanks shadowed by gathering dusk, their upper slopes still catching the rays of the sinking sun. I nodded towards them.

"Are those your dragon hills, the Mendips?"

"Aye. That's where your skystones are. "

I stared at their darkening shapes, feeling excitement stirring in my gut, and my feet stopped moving of their own accord.

"I know you have said so, but do you really know someone who can take me there, to the exact place?"

Her hand still lay on my arm, which I held bent to support it, and now she squeezed the muscle of my forearm comfortingly, although the pressure almost stopped my heartbeat.

"It is all arranged. Meric, one of the local Druids, knows where to take you and what to show you. You will meet him tonight. "

"You invite Druids to dinner?"

She laughed. "Of course! They are people, just like us. They even eat the same food, so it is quite simple to entertain them, except that, most of the time, they entertain me. You will enjoy the Druids, Publius Varrus, I promise you. "

We started to walk along the lane, and the liquid song of a thrush suddenly reminded me of the confrontation I had had on the road with Nesca's assassins. Luceiia must have been watching me closely, for she noticed my abrupt change of mood and asked me what was wrong.

"Nothing, " I answered. "The bird's song reminded me of some trouble I had on the road, that's all. It's nothing for you to be concerned about. "

"It is if it concerns you. " Her voice was low and serious, and I turned to be able to see the expression on her face. And seeing it I decided, on an impulse, to confide in her.

"Well, " I admitted, "I will confess to a slight concern. It has to do with my reason for coming here. "

She frowned. "That sounds ominous. Tell me truly — what was your reason for coming? You have not mentioned one. Not that it would make any difference, " she hurried on. "I am only glad you came, but I sense a trouble in you now that has not been there since we met. " I thought for a few seconds, then I asked her, "Do you know a man called Quinctilius Nesca?"

She glanced towards me, taking her eyes from the road ahead of her. When she answered me her tone was quiet and non-committal.

"Yes, but not well. I have met him once or twice. Why do you ask?"

"What kind of a man is he?"

She threw back her head, hard enough to toss her long, dark hair, and this time her tone was definitive. "He is completely odious. Fat and repulsive and disgusting. A banker. A money-lender. But that's not what you mean, is it?" She pursed her lips delicately, and we walked on in silence for a few paces before she said, "Quinctilius Nesca is not a man whose company Caius would tolerate for long, nor would he ever seek him out. Where do you know him from?"

"I don't. " I took a deep breath, wondering as I did so that I should be so open with this woman who, twenty-four hours ago, had been an unmet stranger. Then I began at the beginning and told her the whole story of Caesarius Claudius Seneca and our confrontation, together with its aftermath on the road from Colchester. She listened without interruption, and by the time I had finished we were back at the main entrance to the family quarters. She led me directly in to her cubiculum and nodded me to a seat, where I waited while she poured us both a cup of wine. I drank in silence while she mulled over what I had told her. Finally she spoke.

"All of this has happened since Caius left the country?"

"Yes. All within the past few months. "

"And you only ever saw this Seneca that one time?"

"That particular specimen of Seneca, yes. Once was enough. "