expectant and calm. The gods had given him knowledge and had preserved his mind, despite what he had seen and learned. He must record it accurately.
The first nugget of information was a Latin word. “Agricola,” he wrote. The wizard shrugged. The word was Latin for ‘farmer.’ It would become clear, he knew. Then the words came one by one, staccato, definite, unmistakable. “Agricola, Deva, Tuathal, torc, Iona.” Names, a treasure, a place.
Guinevia’s image appeared in the green glass of a delicate Roman drinking vessel on his table, and as clearly as if she were standing in the room he heard her say: “The son of no father and a king who is false to his god will recover a Druid’s treasure for Britain’s deities. You must seek a farmer’s bull in his floor.”
Myrddin, who legend said was sired on a king’s daughter by a demon, knew. In a burst of intuition sent to him from those long ago rulers, he knew. “I am the son of no father,” he said aloud. “And Arthur is a king who is false to his god. The Druid’s treasure must be a torc, that word was one of the first. Who has a torc important to Britain? Of course!” The Druid slapped his thigh and his scholar’s robe gave off a puff of dust motes. “It must be, it has to be the Torc of Caratacus that Calgacus inherited.”
He recalled what Caratacus’ spectre had told him before: “It is in your mind, and a woman must answer it.” The woman, Myrddin guessed, had to be his protégé and fellow Druid, Guinevia. That would fit. He heard himself explaining matters to Guinevia as he would one day soon. “It starts with the Roman general , Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the soldier most responsible for the Roman conquest of Britain.
“He started his career under the colonia’s governor , Suetonius, and put down Boadicea’s uprising during his first tour of duty in Britain. Then he served elsewhere in the empire, and supported Vespasian during the turmoil after Nero’s suicide. That time was one of civil war, there were four emperors in a single year. During the war one of the rivals murdered Agricola’s wife, so it was easy for the general to move against him, and his forces helped Vespasian assume power. The emperor rewarded him by sending him back to Britain as military governor. The place was in turmoil, but Agricola put down a mutiny in the XXth Legion, headed off a civil war and instilled discipline on both the XXth and the Brigantes tribe up there in the northwest.
“He went away again, to serve in western Gaul, but was promoted to consul and sent back to Britain for a third time. He conquered the north and west, and came close to subduing even the northernmost tribes of Alba, whom he kept checked with a string of forts across that country.
“He built the great castrum at Deva because he also intended to invade and conquer Hibernia but first he had to suppress the Ordovices around here in the western mountains. They were fierce warriors and virtually destroyed the Roman horse squadrons, but Agricola stamped them down, then massacred the Druids on the island of Mona, something Suetonius was doing years before when Boadicea revolted and drew him away.
“The next part of his campaigning is of great interest to us today. Agricola looked north. It was before Hadrian and Antoninus built their walls and Agricola went into a trackless wasteland of heather and gorse so wild that even though he inflicted about 10,000 casualties on the Painted Ones for the loss of just a few hundred Romans, twice as many got away into the wilderness.
“It led Agricola to reinforce the western coast facing Hibernia because he did not want the tribes across that sea joining forces with the elusive Picts, and there was one other fact or, Agricola had allowed a Hibernian high king who had been exiled as a child to join him. This man had raised an army of Celts and wanted to reclaim Hibernia.
“He agreed with Agricola that he would serve as a subject monarch if the Romans
The first nugget of information was a Latin word. “Agricola,” he wrote. The wizard shrugged. The word was Latin for ‘farmer.’ It would become clear, he knew. Then the words came one by one, staccato, definite, unmistakable. “Agricola, Deva, Tuathal, torc, Iona.” Names, a treasure, a place.
Guinevia’s image appeared in the green glass of a delicate Roman drinking vessel on his table, and as clearly as if she were standing in the room he heard her say: “The son of no father and a king who is false to his god will recover a Druid’s treasure for Britain’s deities. You must seek a farmer’s bull in his floor.”
Myrddin, who legend said was sired on a king’s daughter by a demon, knew. In a burst of intuition sent to him from those long ago rulers, he knew. “I am the son of no father,” he said aloud. “And Arthur is a king who is false to his god. The Druid’s treasure must be a torc, that word was one of the first. Who has a torc important to Britain? Of course!” The Druid slapped his thigh and his scholar’s robe gave off a puff of dust motes. “It must be, it has to be the Torc of Caratacus that Calgacus inherited.”
He recalled what Caratacus’ spectre had told him before: “It is in your mind, and a woman must answer it.” The woman, Myrddin guessed, had to be his protégé and fellow Druid, Guinevia. That would fit. He heard himself explaining matters to Guinevia as he would one day soon. “It starts with the Roman general , Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the soldier most responsible for the Roman conquest of Britain.
“He started his career under the colonia’s governor , Suetonius, and put down Boadicea’s uprising during his first tour of duty in Britain. Then he served elsewhere in the empire, and supported Vespasian during the turmoil after Nero’s suicide. That time was one of civil war, there were four emperors in a single year. During the war one of the rivals murdered Agricola’s wife, so it was easy for the general to move against him, and his forces helped Vespasian assume power. The emperor rewarded him by sending him back to Britain as military governor. The place was in turmoil, but Agricola put down a mutiny in the XXth Legion, headed off a civil war and instilled discipline on both the XXth and the Brigantes tribe up there in the northwest.
“He went away again, to serve in western Gaul, but was promoted to consul and sent back to Britain for a third time. He conquered the north and west, and came close to subduing even the northernmost tribes of Alba, whom he kept checked with a string of forts across that country.
“He built the great castrum at Deva because he also intended to invade and conquer Hibernia but first he had to suppress the Ordovices around here in the western mountains. They were fierce warriors and virtually destroyed the Roman horse squadrons, but Agricola stamped them down, then massacred the Druids on the island of Mona, something Suetonius was doing years before when Boadicea revolted and drew him away.
“The next part of his campaigning is of great interest to us today. Agricola looked north. It was before Hadrian and Antoninus built their walls and Agricola went into a trackless wasteland of heather and gorse so wild that even though he inflicted about 10,000 casualties on the Painted Ones for the loss of just a few hundred Romans, twice as many got away into the wilderness.
“It led Agricola to reinforce the western coast facing Hibernia because he did not want the tribes across that sea joining forces with the elusive Picts, and there was one other fact or, Agricola had allowed a Hibernian high king who had been exiled as a child to join him. This man had raised an army of Celts and wanted to reclaim Hibernia.
“He agreed with Agricola that he would serve as a subject monarch if the Romans
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