'What is her name?' Oranus asked the driver.
'Whose name?' replied the man.
'The old woman we just saw.'
'I saw no woman, sir.'
The wagon lurched as it left the only paved area of road in Accia and headed up the rutted slope to the house of Barus. Leaving the wagon and the driver at the side gate Oranus led the stretcher-bearers through the house, stepping over the pools of dried blood on the floor, and climbing the stairs. The captain paused at the bedroom door, preparing himself for the sight of the dead Rigante. Then he pushed open the door and stepped inside. He stopped suddenly, and a stretcher-bearer walked into him, mumbling an apology.
Bane was sitting up in bed, his face pale, but his eyes open. Oranus glanced at the stitched wounds, and the bruises around them. It was not possible the man could be alive. He stood for a moment, uncertain, then drew in a deep breath and ordered the stretcher bearers to wait downstairs. Then he walked to the bedside, drew up a chair and sat down.
'You should be dead,' he said. 'Your lung was pierced.'
'Your surgeon did well, then,' said Bane, his voice weak. There was dried blood on his chin and neck.
'It wasn't my surgeon. An old Cenii witch woman tended you.'
'Then she was very skilled. What happened to the man I was fighting? Did you catch him? He killed Appius and… his daughter.'
Oranus saw the pain in the man's eyes.
'I saw him,' said Oranus. 'He was a Knight of Stone. He carried orders to execute the general and his family. There was nothing I could do. He left last night on a ship for Goriasa.'
Bane closed his eyes and said nothing for a moment. 'I'll find him,' he said.
'Best you don't, young man. Look what happened the first time.' Oranus removed his helm. On a nearby table was a pitcher of water and three goblets. He filled one. 'Drink this,' he said. 'You've lost a lot of blood.'
Bane opened his eyes and reached out for the goblet. He winced as the stitches pulled. Then he drank deeply. The effort seemed to exhaust him and he sank back to the pillow.
'You need to regain your strength,' said Oranus. 'I'll hire a nurse to tend you, and have some food delivered.'
'Why would you do this?'
'In honour of the general,' replied Oranus instantly. 'And because you fought so hard to save him.'
'Who is Voltan?' Bane asked.
Oranus sighed. 'He is a former gladiator. He killed forty men in the arena, and won a hundred other duels which did not result in death. Who told you his name?'
'I dreamt it,' whispered Bane. He fell silent, and Oranus saw that he was sleeping.
Oranus quietly left the bedside, walked downstairs, paid the stretcher-bearers, and ordered one of them to go to the field hospital and have the surgeon Ralis and a nurse sent to the house. The second man he handed a silver piece and told him to run to the market and buy bread, cheese, milk and fruit. Then he walked out into the garden and stood beneath the awning, staring at the mass of blood on the ground. Bane had been stabbed three times by a master swordsman. One terrible strike had pierced his lung. Of that there was no doubt. The wound in his back should have speared a kidney. And yet Bane was alive, his wounds healing.
Oranus had heard of the skills of the Keltoi witch women, but had dismissed some of the wilder stories as fantasies. Now he knew differently.
Returning to the house he walked through to the kitchen. Milk was curdling in a jug, but in the larder there were several eggs. He was about to light the cookfire when he heard people moving around in the hallway. There were four women, all carrying mops and buckets. Oranus remembered ordering the house cleaned and wandered out to them. They were all Cenii women, and they stood staring silently at the blood on the walls, floor and rugs.
They curtsied as he entered. There is more blood on the upstairs landing,' he said, 'and in the far bedroom.'
The women stood together, gazing nervously around. 'What is wrong?' asked Oranus. 'It is only blood. It will not harm you.'
'Is the Old Woman still here, sir?' one of them asked.
'No, she has gone.'
'Is she coming back?'
'I don't know. Who is she?'
The women remained silent, exchanging glances. The oldest of them, a woman of around fifty, stepped forward. 'The soldiers said a crow was with her. It sat on the wall when she walked into the garden. Is this true, sir?'
'Aye, there was a crow. Death always brings them.' The women began speaking in Keltoi, a tongue Oranus had never been able to fully master. 'What is the matter with you?' snapped the officer. 'She was a Cenii witch woman, and she saved the young man. Nothing more than that.'
'Yes, sir,' said the older woman. 'We'll work now.'
Oranus left them to it and returned to the garden, where he sat awaiting Ralis and the nurse. After a little while he heard a wagon draw up. A young army doctor and a slender, dark-haired young woman entered the gate.
Oranus stood. 'Where is Ralis?' he asked.
'He had urgent matters to attend,' said the young man, saluting. 'He has remained at his home today. Where is the dying man?'
'He's not dying,' said Oranus. 'A witch woman healed him.'
The young man laughed scornfully. 'Then his wounds could not have been as severe as was thought.'
'I saw him,' said Oranus, an edge of anger in his voice. 'He was choking on his blood.' He pointed to the bloodsoaked paving. 'That is where he lay.'
'Yes, sir,' replied the doctor, but Oranus could see the man retained his scepticism.
'He is upstairs. Examine his wounds.' Turning to the nurse he told her to prepare some food for the injured man.
'You wish me to stay with him, sir?' she asked stiffly. Her pretty face held a look of cold disdain.
'Yes I do.'
'He is a tribesman, is he not?'
'He is.'
'I am a citizen of Stone, and should not be required to tend savages. I will stay with him today, but I expect a Cenii woman to be recruited from tomorrow.'
Oranus knew the young woman. She had been expelled from Stone for illegal prostitution and extortion. Since arriving in Accia, however, she had been a model citizen, attending Temple and working voluntarily in the field hospital. 'It will be as you say,' he told her. 'I am grateful for your assistance. He is a brave young man, who fought to save two citizens of Stone.'
'Two traitors,' she pointed out.
'Yes, but he didn't know that. There are some eggs in the kitchen, and some bread. I would be grateful if you could prepare a breakfast for me also.'
'Of course, Captain,' she said, and walked away.
The young doctor returned some minutes later. 'As you say, Captain, he is not dying, though he has lost a great deal of blood.' The man chuckled suddenly. 'I heard the cleaning women talking. They believe a Seidh goddess healed him. The Morrigu, they called her. That's obviously the answer, then.' He laughed again. 'I must be getting back.'
'Thank you for your time, Doctor.'
'See that he drinks plenty of water, and eats red meat. He should start regaining his strength in a week or so.'
'I shall.'
The young man returned to the waiting wagon and Oranus walked back into the house and through to the kitchen. The nurse, Axa, had scrambled some eggs. She served them onto two wooden plates, handed one to
