Read Online Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff - Free Book Online Page B

see, if you would have it so,’ and
she turned back the folds of deerskin, so that the man-child lay naked in its nest, save for the bead of coral that every babe wears around its neck to keep off the Evil Eye. ‘There is your
pink pig.’
    Cador grinned at it. ‘Small and useless,’ he said, studying to keep the pride from his voice. ‘When he comes of an age to bear his shield,
that
is the time when it may
be worth while to have a son.’
    And for me, at his words, there was suddenly a shadow over the sky, and the hounds were on my track again.
    Cabal, who should have been a bitch for his interest in all young things, thrust forward his muzzle to snuff at the babe, and I stooped quickly to catch his collar and pull him back. He would
not have dreamed of harming the thing, but it was in my mind that the mother might be frightened. And as I stooped, Maximus’s seal in my sword hilt sprang from its faulty setting, and fell
into the nest of deerskin beside the babe and rolled against his far neck, to lie there an instant holding the fires of the sunset in a small fierce flame of imperial purple.
    Esylt stooped and caught it up next instant and gave it back to me, and everybody spoke at once, the women exclaiming over the lucky chance that it had not fallen somewhere among the heather,
Cador peering into the empty socket of my pommel; while my men and his crowded around to see. And I laughed, and made a jest of the thing, and tossed the gem in the hollow of my hand. It was all
over in the time that it takes a gust of wind to sweep up over the shoulder of Yr Widdfa and die into the grass. But an old woman under the May tree whispered something to her neighbor, and they
looked from the child to me and back again, as I turned to follow Cador into the hall. And I caught the gist that was not meant for my ear. ‘It is a sign! A sign! Constantine is an
emperor’s name ... ’
    That was the first time I ever saw Constantine Map Cador face to face. The last was only a few days ago – I am not sure how many, it is hard to keep count of time – when I named him
as my successor before the whole war host. That was on the eve of the battle. The Lord God knows how he will bear the leadership, but he is the last of the line of Maximus, and at least he is a
warrior. The choice had to fall on him ...
    ‘You had best take that down to Urian my swordsmith,’ Cador said. ‘Blades are the business of his heart, but he can make shift to bed a jewel as surely as any goldsmith of
Venta Belgarum.’
    And so I went down to the lower Dun, following the directions that he gave me, and found Urian the Smith to reset the great seal for me.
    I was still standing propped in the forge doorway, watching the little bullock-shouldered smith – for I would not let the seal out of my sight until it was once more securely in its place
– when a step sounded behind me, and I turned to find Fulvius, who had gone down to the coast with a couple of Cador’s men to see about our passages, coming from the direction of the
stables.
    ‘Well?’ I said. ‘What fortune?’
    He grinned, the grin that even when we were boys had always made me think of the little jaunty rough-haired dogs that one puts down rat holes, and wiped the dust and sweat of his ride into
streaks across his forehead with the back of one hand. ‘Well enough. I found a ship sailing for Burdigala in two days’ time, and contrived to strike a bargain with the master.
She’ll be coming back with a cargo of wine, but she’s going out in ballast with only a few raw bullhides for cargo, and he was glad enough to hear of some passengers to make the trip
more profitable.’
    ‘How much?’ I demanded.
    ‘An arm ring to every four heads – that’s if we don’t mind the likelihood of drowning.’
    ‘All things must have a first time,’ I said. ‘Does she leak like a sieve?’
    ‘She looks sound enough, but nigh as wide as she’s long. Na, I’d say on second thoughts we