Jack Whyte - The Skystone

Equus had looked up and seen him standing there, and had greeted him, calling him "Gen'ral!" He had picked that up from me. They had exchanged pleasantries for a while, and then Equus had returned to his work, leaving Caius to his own devices. Caius had then walked to the back of the smithy and idly examined the bizarre-looking stones that lay there on the shelf along the wall.

"Funny-looking things, aren't they?" Equus's voice had startled him.

"What are?" he'd asked.

"Them skystones. "

Only then had Caius realized what he was looking at, for I had kept them secret even from him, so keen was my disappointment in their size. Now he examined them more closely. There were seven of them, ranging in size from the smallest, about the size of a new-born baby's head, to the largest, which was the size of a half-grown boy's head. They were all the same kind of stone, a heavy, dull grey-black. And all of them were smooth: not the worn smoothness of a watered pebble, but more of a glassy texture. He had picked up one of the intermediate ones and hefted it, thinking that, if I were correct, this thing had fallen from the sky! His logical Roman mind told him that was impossible. Everything must come from somewhere, so where had it. fallen from?. Caius knew, as every child knows, that in order for something to come down from high in the air, it first has to be put up into the air. But the weight of this thing, he realized as he held it, made the thought of its being hurled upwards from the earth into the sky more than ludicrous. It was impossible. He knew how high and how far the strongest catapult could throw such a stone. He had seen his own armies hurl them, and they never were lost from sight. So how could this thing have fallen from the sky, on fire, as he knew I believed, and struck the earth with such ferocity that it could bury itself and throw up a ring of earth twelve or more feet across?

And yet, as he admitted to me that night, its surface did seem as though it had been melted at some time. And he knew I had dug it up from the middle of one of my "dragon's nests. " At least, he thought he knew that. At this point in his recital, Caius stopped and looked at me, waiting for me to say something. I did not know what he expected, so I shrugged.

"That is correct. I dug it up from a dragon's nest. What are you struggling with, Caius?"

He shook his head in bewilderment. "I don't know, Publius. All my education tells me that what you are asking me to believe is impossible. And yet you stand there facing me with all the confidence of an augurer who has just pulled a rotting heart from a healthy chicken. Until I see metal from these stones, I will never be able to accept your contention that they fell from the sky. And even then, I feel constrained to point out, any credence I give to the matter will be based strongly upon nothing more than my faith in your peculiar style of madness. " He paused for a short space. "But, as I say, your positive results have me mystified. What is it that you want me to look at tomorrow?"

The following forenoon found us high on the hill overlooking the valley of my dragons. There were only three of us — Caius, Equus and me — and Caius, at least, had enjoyed the ride up into the hills.

"So, Publius, this is the valley of the famous dragon's nests. I had forgotten how magnificent it is. " He nodded towards a newly dug hole in the hillside. "I presume that is one of them?"

"Yes. And there's another down there to your left. And one more to your right, across there. Seven of them in all, General. "

"Seven. I can see only four. And each of them has yielded you a skystone?"

"Yes. "

"So what is worrying you? Are there no more?"

"Oh, there's more. I've found ten that I haven't dug for yet. But they are all too small. " I hawked and spat. "The largest of the seven I have came from the largest 'nest' I could find. The nests are really impact rings, thrown up by the force of the stones' landing. The biggest of those is twelve long paces across. "

"Twelve paces?" Caius began to gnaw his lower lip. "Varrus, " he said at last, "I have to be honest. I know I've said this before, and I know you're probably sick of hearing it, but even if your stone did fall from the sky, my mind cannot grasp the prospect of a stone that small falling hard enough to blast an impression that big. "

"No more can mine, General. " I tried hard to keep my voice impassive.

"But the fact remains: it happened. Believe me. It fell. And it created that impact ring. Only God Himself can know where it came from. Perhaps it fell from a star. Perhaps it was a star!"

Caius tutted disapproval. "Stars are light, Publius. These stones of yours are black. "

"They are now, Caius. But they fell as fire. Iron is black when it is cold, but heat it and it takes on a white and blinding brightness. And we are hampered by the fuel we have to heat it with! Given the fires of Heaven, who can tell how bright it might become?"

I knew there was no answer for that. Caius stared at me in perplexity.

"Anyway, " I went on, "that is the biggest I am likely to find here, unless my guess today is correct. The stone my grandfather found was more than twice that size, and by the time he smelted it, he was left with just enough metal for a dagger and the best part of a sword. That's all. " He was quick to see my chagrin. "But if you smelt all seven of them together? Would not that produce enough to fit your needs? And what of the other ten?"

I shrugged. "Perhaps. Who knows? I have no way of knowing how much metal there is in such small stones. There might be none. " Caius looked down into the valley again. "What was it that you wanted me to see?"

"A dragon's nest, Caius, bigger than all the rest combined. A mighty dragon's nest. "

"Where? In the valley?"

"Aye. In plain sight. But you must see it for yourself, with your own eyes. I cannot help you. If I did, I might not be convinced myself that you could truly see it. I looked at it for months, not knowing it was there. You know it is now. Find it for me, Caius. You too, Equus. "

Heeding the plea in my words, they began to scan the valley, and I watched them closely as they looked. I saw them discern each of the rings I had already found and identified with a cairn of stones, but nowhere could either of them see a mighty ring, try as they would. I watched Caius in particular as his gaze ranged the entire valley, from the raw cliff at one end to the lake tucked into the folding hillside at the other. He scanned each hill from top to bottom. Nothing.

Finally he spoke again. "Are you sure what I am looking for is there, Publius?"

"Aye, " I said, with more confidence than I felt. "It is there. What I am not sure of is that it is what I think it is. "

"And I should be able to see it? Now?"

"Correct. "

He tried again, sweeping from north to south, from east to west, again and again, not knowing what he was supposed to see. And then I saw him catch a shape from the corner of his eye, or an impression of a shape. He jerked to look, and it was gone. But it had been there, I knew it had been there, for I had seen the same thing the day be-fore.. l watched him move his eyes off slowly and held my breath, praying he would see it again. Then, from the quickening of his gaze, I knew he had found it again and recognized it for what it was. Now he looked straight at it and saw it clearly. Not a circle, but a segment of a circle— a clear-edged part of one. I watched his startled gaze adjusting to the size of it, and my heart began to beat faster.

"The lake, Varrus, " he whispered at last in a voice full of wonder. "The lake is a dragon's nest! But huge! Enormous!"

I leaped from my horse and dragged him down from his, pinning him to my breast and swinging him around in triumph and shouting at the top of my voice.