Celtic Fire(101)
“That lie willna work for long.”
“I know it, brother.”
He took a step toward her, then halted. “Can ye not at least give Brennus a chance? The clans need his men.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “I’m ever the whore chasing power. Truly, Owein, I grow weary of it.”
He went to her then, and put his arms around her. “Ye are no whore. Ye are a treasure beyond price. A queen.”
“A queen, locked away? I would sooner be a hag, and free of this place.”
“Our people need ye.”
She threw off his embrace. “Need me? For what? The men follow their war leaders. Madog prays only to Kernunnos—he’s forsaken Briga. Without the goddess to balance the god, our people will stumble and fall.” She turned to him with pleading eyes. “Ye must not kill him, Owein.”
Pain pounded his temple. “The Roman.” The word left a foul taste in his mouth, as if he’d chewed on dung.
“Ye’ve taken the fort. Let him go.”
“How can ye plead for your defiler, Rhiannon?”
“Lucius is no defiler.”
“I saw ye crying after he took ye.”
“ ’Twas not joining with Lucius that made me cry. I went to his bed willingly. I love him.”
His gut heaved. “I canna believe that! He took ye captive. He used ye.”
“He treated me like a queen. I know ye dinna understand. How can ye when I canna understand it myself?” Her voice broke. “I canna bear Lucius’s death, Owein. Free him for my sake. Let him go south to his own people. The clan has no need of his life. Not truly.”
Owein gritted his teeth. “ ’Tis not possible.”
“That is a lie.”
A spike of agony pierced his skull and the vision burst on him, so vivid he could have reached out and touched it. The ancient stones. Blood. His hand on the Druid sword.
His fingers tore at his scalp, nails rending the flesh. When the visions came upon him, he wanted nothing so much as to rip them from his mind.
He gasped for breath until the scene faded. When it did, he felt Rhiannon’s hands cradling his face.
“Owein? Has it passed?”
He steadied himself with one hand on her shoulder while he blinked to clear his tears. “You bid me free the Roman. Even were I to attempt it, I wouldn’t succeed. I See him, Rhiannon. His blood is on the stones. My hand is on the killing sword. ’Twill happen. Kernunnos has willed it.”
Her hands dropped from his face. “When will ye take him to Madog?”
“In the hour before dawn,” he replied.
“Father? Are you alive?”
The flood of relief that Marcus’s trembling whisper brought to Lucius was so keen he was unable to answer for several seconds. His son had not been taken by the enemy. Thank the gods.
Marcus stifled a sob and crept closer. His shaking hand touched Lucius’s chest. “Please be alive.”
“Marcus.” Lucius slitted his eyes and scanned the headquarters yard as best he could from his awkward position. The crowd had cleared at dusk. The dwarf who had posed as a slave in Lucius’s house had taken the body of the Celt who had fought Brennus. The dwarf had departed, but not before he’d set a pair of Gauls as guard. Luckily the brutes had been far more interested in drinking themselves into oblivion than tending their charge. They lay snoring in the dirt.
“Where is Demetrius?” Lucius asked.
“Dead.”
He fought a surge of grief. “Are you sure?”
Marcus didn’t answer. Instead he produced a dagger and sawed at the rope binding Lucius’s left leg. His hand was remarkably steady.
“Where did you get the blade?”
“Stole it from a drunk.”
Lucius’s admiration of his son rose several notches. The boy was more levelheaded than he’d given him credit for. “How did Demetrius die?” he asked softly.
Marcus’s hand stilled, then began sawing again with renewed energy. “The soldiers broke down the door. Candidus and some of the other slaves fought them and were killed. The rest of the Celts joined the traitors.” The boy’s tone was cool, as if he recited a lesson.
Lucius kept silent. He sensed his son was close to breaking. Any sympathy he showed would nudge him over the edge.
Marcus moved to Lucius’s right ankle. “Magister Demetrius and I were above stairs when the traitors entered the courtyard. He bade me get up on the roof. He met the soldiers as they gained the upper passage. They ran him through but never saw me.”
Lucius flexed his legs, testing them with his full weight as Marcus stretched to cut the bonds holding his hands. Tears stung his eyes at the thought of his old teacher and friend protecting Marcus with his life. “How did you get into the headquarters?”