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mark his authority, hurried out of the temple to greet me. I knew him from the time of the rebellion when,
despite being a Christian himself, he had fled from the crazed fanatics who had taken over the shrines of
Aquae Sulis. He had been restored to the magistracy after the rebellion, but I guessed his authority was
slight. He carried a scrap of slate on which he had made scores of marks, evidently the numbers of the
levy that was assembled inside the shrine s compound.  Repairs are in hand! Cildydd greeted me
without any other courtesy.  I have men cutting timbers for the walls. Or I did. The flooding is a problem,
indeed it is, but if the rain stops? He let the sentence trail away.
 The flooding? I asked.
 When the river rises, Lord, he explained,  the water backs up through the Roman sewers. It s
already in the lower part of the city. And not just water either, I fear. The smell, you see? He sniffed
delicately.
 The problem, I said,  is that the bridge arches are dammed with debris. It was your task to keep
them clear. It was also your task to preserve the walls. His mouth opened and closed without a word.
He hefted the slate as if to demonstrate his efficiency, then just blinked helplessly.  Not that it matters
now, I went on,  the city can t be defended.
 Can t be defended! Cildydd protested.  Can t be defended! It must be defended! We can t just
abandon the city!
 If the Saxons come, I said brutally,  you ll have no choice.
 But we must defend it, Lord, Cildydd insisted.
 With what? I asked.
 Your men, Lord, he said, gesturing at my spearmen who had taken refuge from the rain under the
temple s high portico.
 At best, I said,  we can garrison a quarter mile of the wall, or what s left of it. So who defends the
rest?
 The levy, of course. Cildydd waved his slate towards the drab collection of men who waited beside
the bath-house. Few had weapons and even fewer possessed any body armour.
 Have you ever seen the Saxons attack? I asked Cildydd.  They send big war-dogs first and they
come behind with axes three feet long and spears on eight-foot shafts. They re drunk, they re maddened
and they ll want nothing but the women and the gold inside your city. How long do you think your levy
will hold?
Cildydd blinked at me.  We can t just give up, he said weakly.
 Does your levy have any real weapons? I asked, indicating the sullen-looking men waiting in the rain.
Two or three of the sixty men had spears, I could see one old Roman sword, and most of the rest had
axes or mattocks, but some men did not even possess those crude weapons, but merely held
fire-hardened stakes that had been sharpened to black points.
 We re searching the city, Lord, Cildydd said.  There must be spears.
 Spears or not, I said brutally,  if you fight here you ll all be dead men.
Cildydd gaped at me.  Then what do we do? he finally asked.
 Go to Glevum, I said.
 But the city! He blanched.  There are merchants, goldsmiths, churches, treasures. His voice tailed
away as he imagined the enormity of the city s fall, but that fall, if the Saxons came, was inevitable.
Aquae Sulis was no garrison city, just a beautiful place that stood in a bowl of hills. Cildydd blinked in the
rain.  Glevum, he said glumly.  And you ll escort us there, Lord?
I shook my head.  I m going to Corinium, I said,  but you go to Glevum. I was half tempted to send
Argante, Guinevere, Ceinwyn and the families with him, but I did not trust Cildydd to protect them.
Better, I decided, to take the women and families north myself, then send them under a small escort from
Corinium to Glevum.
But at least Argante was taken from my hands, for as I was brutally destroying Cildydd s slim hopes
of garrisoning Aquae Sulis a troop of armoured horsemen clattered into the temple precinct. They were
Arthur s men, flying his banner of the bear, and they were led by Balin who was roundly cursing the press
of refugees. He looked relieved when he saw me, then astonished as he recognized Guinevere.  Did you
bring the wrong Princess, Derfel? he asked as he slid off his tired horse.
 Argante s inside the temple, I said, jerking my head towards the great building where Argante had
taken refuge from the rain. She had not spoken to me all day.
 I m to take her to Arthur, Balin said. He was a bluff, bearded man with the tattoo of a bear on his
forehead and a jagged white scar on his left cheek. I asked him for news and he told me what little he
knew and none of it was good.  The bastards are coming down the Thames, he said,  we reckon
they re only three days march from Corinium, and there s no sign of Cuneglas or Oengus yet. It s chaos,
Derfel, that s what it is, chaos. He shuddered suddenly.  What s the stink here?
 The sewers are backing up, I said.
 All over Dumnonia, he said grimly.  I have to hurry, he went on,  Arthur wants his bride in Corinium
the day before yesterday. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]