'Rome!' Dora pushed her chair back from the table. 'How can they possibly protect us out here? Ailm, you're a fool. A selfish, narrow-minded, short-sighted fool-'
'How dare you, you who-'
'Enough.' Beth stood up. 'Ailm, I'm sorry but Dora's right. Rome would willingly send its legions to our aid, but for how long? They can't stand around these woods for ever, and the Druids are like cats outside a mouse hole. They'll wait weeks, months, years if necessary, but far more likely they'll pounce before the Governor has even had time to read our petition.'
'The first Rome would see of our plight would be the smoke from the razing of the College,' Fearn added bitterly.
'We'd be dead within the week,' Luisa said.
'Only the lucky ones,' said Dora.
'And since you protect the Death point on the pentagram,' Beth said, 'you must see why your vote is crucial on this issue.'
'Once again.' A hard light glinted in Ailm's eye. 'You are not pinning the future of this Order on me.'
As she marched through the door to leave it swinging on its hinges, the others shielded their eyes from the sudden rush of sunlight. Disorientated, perhaps, by the scents from the infusion, a butterfly flew into the hall, the undersides of its wings reflecting metallic in the flickering candlelight. Had the butterfly been Rumour, and had it flown in at the start of the meeting, it would still have been unable to carry off a tale. It would still have been no wiser about what had taken place between the Hundred-Handed.
Because from start to finish, the entire exchange had been conducted in silence.
Not one spoken word had passed between the priestesses.
Four
Snuggled in a broad bend of the River Carent amid a backdrop of soft rolling hills, Santonum was the obvious choice for the province's capital. Spanning the crossroads of the major north-south and east-west arteries, the river here was deep enough, and wide enough, to allow single-masted, shallow-draught ships to sail the thirty-odd miles to the coast without trouble. Dense forests supported a creditable boatbuilding industry, hill quarries yielded limestone for construction and the game in the woods was enough to satisfy even the most ardent huntsman's demands.
It was a town Claudia had hoped and prayed never to return to.
'Great Jupiter on Olympus, what's that?'
She indicated an animal that looked like a donkey, brayed like a donkey, was hitched to a cart like a donkey, only this beast was enormous, black and shaggier than the average yak.
'It's a donkey, madam.'
'No, no, Junius, I know a donkey when I see one and you aren't making an ass of me with this.'
'I would never dishonour you with sarcasm,' her bodyguard replied solemnly, but then again, when was he anything else? 'It is a local breed, much prized hereabouts for its strength and-'
'Please don't say beauty.'
Its ears were the length of a fully grown fox. You could use those teeth to mark graves.
'I was about to say hair.' Junius prodded the padded seat of the gig as it bounced over the solid stone bridge that led to Santonum. 'It makes for warm and comfortable stuffing.'
'I thought you Gauls opted for the austere life?'
'That's Spartans, madam, and besides, would a nation who embraced austerity choose to wear red and yellow check pantaloons?'
With anyone else Claudia would have thought he was cracking a joke. Bless him, Junius couldn't crack his own funny bone.
'I don't trust that Gabali,' he added under his breath.
'Although one can't help noticing that you waited until he'd dismounted before making that observation,' she quipped, except teasing Junius was like kicking a kitten. No matter how tempting, in the end you just couldn't bring yourself to do it. 'Don't worry about the Spaniard,' she told him. 'You invest your energies in doing what you're paid to do, namely guarding my body, and I'll handle the trust side of things.'
'That's the problem,' he said. 'How can I protect you, when men aren't allowed anywhere near the College? Worse, you forbade the rest of your bodyguard from leaving Rome-'
'We've been through the reasons why I didn't bring a large entourage with me.'
None of which were valid, of course, but it wasn't for Junius to know that Gabali had insisted Claudia travelled lightly. Less risk of your coming to the Scorpion's attention if you slip in quietly, he'd said, and on balance that seemed a damn good incentive.
'The fact remains that you're exposed and vulnerable, madam, and I don't like it.'
He didn't like it!
'There are rumours,' he said, geeing up the mule with a flick of the whip. 'At every inn we stopped at in Aquitania, the kitchens have been full of rumblings about how the young men of the tribes are growing restless under the peace.'
'That's what kitchens are designed for, Junius. Gossip.'
'This goes a lot deeper than that,' he said. 'Old tales are being dredged up. Past glories, in which a united Gaul sacked Rome then went on to destroy much of Greece.'
'Including Delphi, if my memory serves me correctly.'
'It does,' he said, with a tight-lipped nod. 'And the feeling among the young warriors is that there's no reason why history should not repeat itself. Under the right leader, they're convinced Gaul will rise again and be more powerful than ever before.'
' And this hero wouldn't happen to have a nickname, would he?'
Do not underestimate this man, Merchant Seferius. The Scorpion, he is dangerous. As cunning as he is ruthless, no one betrays him and lives.
She pulled her veil low over her face as the gig passed under the soaring stone archway and forced herself not to even glance towards the wharf where the Scorpion had his warehouse.
'His tribe sentenced him to be shunned because they believed his behaviour was unpatriotic and therefore detrimental to the welfare of the people,' Junius said. 'But instead of making him humble and contrite, his zeal found favour and support among the disenchanted, and if I may be so bold, madam, this is not a good time to be a Roman.'
'How?'
From beneath the veil, Claudia surveyed the stacks of sawn timbers piled up on the dockside, the constant flurry of activity between rope-makers, sail-makers and blacksmiths, the sacks and barrels stacked alongside great blocks of limestone awaiting embarkation as porters, clerks and chandlers cupped their hands to their mouths and yelled to make themselves heard above the hammers from the boatyards and the beating out of lead.
'How can they possibly be disenchanted in this thriving economy?'
One, moreover, that was set to grow further.
'Pride,' he said simply. 'Their fathers were warriors, who have scars to prove it. The sons have nothing to testify to their courage.'
Didn't pride in not leaving widows to raise their children alone count? she thought. What about pride in having a good trade at their fingertips? Of being instrumental in creating a healthier, safer, more prosperous environment?
'You're both a slave and a Gaul, Junius, how do you feel?'
Colour flooded his neck right up to the roots of his thick sandy mop. 'I apologize if I ever have given you cause to question my loyalty,' he said stiffly.
'You haven't, not for a moment, and that's why I ask.'
Because that was odd in itself. Shadows couldn't glue themselves tighter than this boy to his mistress. Every time he accompanied her, his eyes were twin beams of piercing blue vigilance and his hand hovered constantly over his dagger. Had it not been Junius, she'd have thought the lad was besotted, but what twenty-three-year-old with those strapping good looks wastes his life mooning over a woman who's not only five years his senior, but his owner to boot? All the same, it was strange that he hadn't bought his own freedom, even though he'd earned the chance several times over, and stranger still that Claudia had never seen him flirting with girls, much less asking one out. Yet household gossip insisted his inclinations didn't veer towards his own sex and, as she observed him from the corner of her eye, corded muscles bulging out of his Roman-style tunic, she decided it was just as well every Gaul wasn't like her young bodyguard or the race would be facing extinction.