47

Marcus Quintus was waiting in the salon, a cup of wine in his hand, staring out of the doorway at the fountain that was once again working in the atrium. As Elen walked in he swung round to face her. ‘Who gave you permission to demolish the remains of the temple?' He was seething with anger. He hurled the cup over his shoulder as he confronted her, splashing wine across the floor. ‘That place is sacred to the god.'

Elen straightened her shoulders. She was alone. Peblig had followed the horses round to the cavalry stables, talking enthusiastically to Rhys as he went.

‘No one but an initiate can enter that place and I hear you have taken in an army of peasant pagans to pull the place apart and fire it. How dare you!' The commander's face was red with fury. ‘How dare you!' he repeated. ‘You, a woman!'

Elen managed to collect herself. ‘How dare you!' she echoed his words. ‘You come into my house uninvited, and you question my actions? Yes, I am a woman.' She managed to keep her voice level. ‘And I am a Christian woman. There is no place for Mithras in my world. Nor in any world. The worship of Mithras is forbidden. Christianity is the religion of the emperor; it is the religion of the empire. The temple was ruined. There has been no worship there for years. The worship of Mithras is long forgotten.'

He was too angry to speak for several seconds. ‘You dare to call on the name of the emperor! You, whose husband was a traitor, whose lands and title and very existence have been annihilated by the senate.' His face twisted into a sneer. ‘If you think the worship of Mithras is forgotten, you are much mistaken. You are alone here, you and your puny son.' To her horror she saw his hand go to his belt. He drew his sword, slowly and deliberately and held it out, waving it in her face.

‘Put that away.' Somehow she kept her voice steady. ‘You are dismissed.'

There was a moment of silence. She saw his knuckles tighten on the sword hilt and then as their eyes locked his face changed slowly into a rictus of agony. The sword fell from his hand and he pitched forward onto the flagstone floor. There was a dagger protruding from between his shoulder blades.

Fighting to draw breath, Elen turned. Rhys was standing behind them, his face a mask of anger. He had hurled the dagger from the doorway several feet away. ‘Did he hurt you?' His voice was harsh.

‘No,' Elen whispered. She was trembling with shock. ‘You saved my life.'

‘Your son sent me to tell you his favourite mare had foaled while you were both out at the Mithraeum. A son for Emrys.' Rhys gave a small moan which could have been amusement. ‘He didn't want to leave her when he found her in the stable. He wanted you to go to him.'

Elen nodded. ‘Of course. I will go at once. Will you send for someone to clear away this... mess.' She managed to stay upright as she walked towards the door, clutching her shawl around her shoulders. Behind her, Rhys bent over the dead man and withdrew his dagger. He wiped it on the man's tunic to remove the blood, and then again on his own sleeve. ‘Thank you, Rhys,' she said as she left the chamber.

He nodded. ‘The saints were with us, lady,' he murmured.

She crossed herself. ‘They were indeed.'

The next morning the entire garrison was drawn up onthe parade ground. Elen faced them, her shoulders squared. Thesecond in command stood beside her, his face impassive. There was no point in pretending anyone was ignorant of what had happened. Elen stepped forward and took a deep breath. ‘Ihave sent for King Cunedda to explain the behaviour of -Marcus -Quintus and, until he comes, Junius Secundus, beside me here'– she turned towards him, emphasising his position close to her and therefore supporting her– ‘will take command of the garrison. It is to be understood that no one here, no one at all'– she surveyed the silent parade ground– ‘is to continue in the worship of Mithras. Anyone who feels unable to obey my order should leave this place now.' She stared round, as though surveying every face drawn up in the ranks before her.No one moved. ‘In future the men of this command will follow the orders of your emperor and worship as Christians wherever they are based. A church will be built on the site of the Mithraic temple to cleanse the site of the blood of its sacrifices and the water of the holy spring will be sanctified and dedicated to the care of Our Blessed Lady.'

The ensuing silence was broken only by the gentle moan of the wind outside the walls and the cry of gulls in the distance over the water of the strait.

The man standing next to her was the first to break the spell. He stepped forward and called the men to attention before dismissing them. As they marched away, Elen stood without moving, staring out towards the mountains. She was aware of Owain and Peblig slowly moving towards her to stand one on either side of her as the new commander saluted and marched away.

‘Mama.' Peblig felt for her hand. ‘That was well said. In any event, they will be gone in a matter of days. I suspect there are very few initiates amongst the senior officers, and none of them spoke out. Even if one or two disappear, most will stand firm with you. They are proud of you.'

‘And loyal, as long as they are here.' Owain moved forward. ‘You have nothing to fear here now.' He grinned. ‘And my baby brother will have his church.'

‘It's not my church!' Peblig contradicted him fondly, with a punch to his brother's shoulder.

‘It will be. One day when you become a bishop.'

‘I'm not going to be a bishop!' The affectionate scuffling between the brothers went unnoticed by their mother. Her eyes were fixed on the distant peaks.

Turning, Cadi followed Elen's gaze, towards the south. They were standing in the centre of the excavations of the Roman fort, surrounded by the carefully curated remains of centuries of Roman walls. She and Charles had found rooms at a small hotel only a short distance away from the site the night before, and met up with Meryn again over breakfast. She could feel Meryn's eyes on her as she dragged herself back into the present. She had been staring at the jagged outline of the mountain ranges of Eryri.

‘Do you recognise it?' he asked softly.

She shook her head.

‘But you sense her here now?'

She gave a wry smile. ‘As always, you can read me like a book. The mountains are the same of course. And the blue of the sea. Even the cry of the gulls.'

‘You're treading uncharted waters here,' he put in thoughtfully. Charles had wandered away from them and was staring round with interest. ‘No one knows what happened to Elen after she left the presence of the emperor; you are perhaps the only person alive who has even the remotest clue to what happened later.'

Cadi shivered. ‘She stood up to the commander of the garrison. He would have killed her.'

‘An initiate of Mithras, I think you told me.'

She nodded.

‘A bloodthirsty cult, if I remember rightly.'

‘For the bulls, at least.' She shuddered. ‘It seems she was still here at Segontium with her two youngest sons. Her two daughters had gone to their husbands and Anwn was off somewhere, presumably a cadet in the army. Owain wanted to train for the army as well and Peblig wanted to go into the church. I got theimpression it was his idea to pull down the Mithraeum and put a church there instead.'

‘And it appears he did. The church is close by.' Meryn nodded over his shoulder. ‘I went there yesterday before you arrived. I looked it up online. It's reputed to be one of, if not the oldest in Wales. Its origins are supposed to be fifth century. Unfortunately it was locked, but we can try again this morning.'

Sadly the museum on the Segontium site was closed, as was the church when they walked down the road towards it. Frustrated, they stood in the churchyard looking round. Meryn had done his homework the night before. ‘The Mithraeum was just over there somewhere. They discovered it when they were building those houses.' He waved towards an estate of -houses built immediately below the ruins of the fort. ‘They did an -emergency excavation, though the site had already been badly damaged by then, and they found traces of the fire. They -discovered a tremendous amount about it all, according to the -article I read last night, and they found an altar from the Mithraeum somewhere over here, under the church.'

‘So Peblig kept his word to build a Christian church over its ruins.'

‘Or at least as near as makes no difference.' Meryn turned round slowly. ‘It is after all, called St Peblig's.'

They walked slowly back up the road, which seemed to have cut the site of the fort in half. At the top of the hill they stopped. The view from there, down towards the brilliant blue of the Menai Strait was commanding. It was easy to see what a good position the fort must have had before the later town was built.

‘I love the old pine trees round the ruins,' Charles -commented at last, ‘but I have to say, I could have done with some labelling of the various areas. It's all very well to put these places online, but it's hard to see one's phone when the sun's out. I was expecting it to be more like Caerleon.' He sighed.

Cadi hadn't forgotten her idea that they should try to find the Holy Grail. They pored over the Ordnance Survey map during lunch, sitting outside a pub beside the swing bridge over the River Seiont, tracing the lines of the Roman roads out of the fort. They were looking for narrow valleys and springs. Then Meryn produced his pendulum. He glanced at Charles. ‘Shall I go first?' Pushing aside their coffee cups, he put his finger over the spot where the fort was marked on the map.

Cadi sat back, staring into the distance across the water as the laughing cry of a gull rang out. They could hear the sound of rigging banging against the masts of the yachts moored against the quay. A couple of young women on a motorbike roared up the road near them and parked, removing their helmets and shaking out their hair as they squinted up at the high walls and towers of the castle.

Charles and Meryn were staring at the map. ‘This way, I think,' Meryn murmured. ‘Then they would have turned off the road here and ridden up the cwm, following the brook. My guess is there is some kind of a track.'

‘You're right. It's a bridleway.' Charles stabbed at the map.

Cadi followed the line of his pointing finger. ‘Ffynnon Fair,' she whispered. ‘St Mary's well.'

It took twenty minutes to find the end of the bridleway. Charles parked his car in a gateway and they set off up the steep track.

‘Do you recognise it?' Meryn stopped and waited for her. He was panting from the climb.

She stared round and shook her head. Charles took the -folded map from his pocket. ‘It's only about half a mile further. Worth a look?'

The waterfall still poured out of the cave mouth. Cadi stared up at it, speechless. ‘This is it. I recognise it. This is where they picnicked. Where Emrys scared off the pirates. Where that poor boy was murdered.' She ran towards the rocks and began to scramble up towards the ledge where the spring bubbled out of the rock into a natural basin. People had obviously been there before them. They could see coins and pins, some new, some obviously old and corroded, scattered in the water; someone had hung a crystal rosary from a rocky projection near the cave.

Charles looked out across the woods back the way they had come. ‘I can see my car down there, and way in the distance I can see the sea.' He sat down on the grass. ‘I'll stay here. You go in,' he said. She looked at Meryn and he nodded. ‘Go on. We'll wait.'

The cave was damp and very dark. She stood still and -listened. She could hear the two men talking quietly outside and the distant trickle of water. On tiptoe she walked deeper intothedarkness towards the wall where Elen had tucked the little box on the far end of the rocky shelf with the little statue of the Virgin Mary.

There was nothing there.

As they began to make their way back down towards the car she paused and turned back. She habitually wore a plaited silver ring on her little finger. Pulling it off, she murmured a whispered prayer and dropped it in the water.

‘I wonder where the grail went,' she said as Charles led the way back to the car. She sighed. ‘I didn't really expect to find it, but still...'

‘This is obviously recognised as a very special place,' Charles put in.

‘Maybe it was its destiny to disappear,' Meryn added. ‘People have been searching for it almost forever, perhaps it was never more than a memory?'

‘Memory or legend?' Charles groped in his pocket for his car keys.

‘Both presumably.' Cadi shook her head. ‘I'm glad it wasn't there. Imagine if we had found it. They would have put it through all kinds of tests. Tried to find Christ's DNA. It doesn't bear thinking about. I'm glad it's still a mystery.'

‘A mystery wrapped in the mists of time. Still, I can't help wondering who took it.' Charles clicked his key to unlock the car.

‘A mystery that gave rise to a thousand folk tales.' Meryn smiled as he settled into the back seat. ‘And a thousand and one legends. You know of course that the old name for this part of the world was Arfon, as in Caernarfon, as in, perhaps, Avalon.' He reached for his seat belt with a mischievous twinkle. ‘And according to the legends, Arthur found the sword in a stone– perhaps an ancient altar stone that had once been in the -temple of Mithras. And Sir Bedwyr was given Caledfwlch after the battle of Camlann, here in the mountains, and he took it up Yr Wyddfa to the ice-cold lake of Llyn Llydaw and there he threw it into the water, where it was taken into safekeeping by the lady of the lake. And even better, it was across those same ice-cold waters that the mortally wounded king was borne away to disappear into legend.' He fell silent for a while, mulling it over. ‘Wonderful stuff. And in the meantime, if you could drop me off by my car, Charles, please. It's time for me to follow Sarn Elen south to my cottage in the hills.'

Charles and Cadi were nearly home when she felt the phone in her pocket vibrate and she pulled it out. ‘It's Sally!' She listened for a moment. ‘Oh my God! She came back to find Ifan outside her house shouting abuse.'

‘Has she called the police?' Charles glanced across at her. She saw his knuckles whiten on the steering wheel.

‘Yes. They're on their way.'

‘Good. Tell her we're coming. Don't worry. By the time we get there they will have caught him. He's not going to get away this time.'

They saw a police car outside Sally's cottage as they turned into the village. There was no one in it.

Cadi leapt out of their car as Charles drew to a halt. ‘Sally!' She ran up her neighbour's short path and banged on the door.

Sally opened it at once, a delighted Gemma jumping up and down at her heels. ‘Come in! Come in.' She dragged Cadi in, then Charles, and slammed the door behind them. ‘He's gone. I thought he was going to break my door down. I shouted that I'd called the cops and he turned and ran off down the road. I've no idea where he is. The policemen ran after him as soon as they arrived, but I've heard nothing since.'

Cadi sat down abruptly. ‘What a welcome home! I'm so sorry.'

Charles turned back to the door. ‘Perhaps we ought to check Cadi's house. Make sure he hasn't done any damage there.'

‘From the noise he was making, he had something metallic in his hand.' Sally sat down beside Cadi. ‘Thank God I had elbowed the door shut behind me when I brought my stuff in, or he would have walked straight in. The police have told me to keep everything locked and not go out, even in the garden.' She looked near to tears. The bags and cases from her holiday were still standing near the front door with Gemma's dog bed beside them. ‘Don't worry, they checked your house first. He doesn't seem to have managed to get in there.'

The police knocked on Sally's door half an hour later. They had found no sign of Ifan anywhere in the vicinity. ‘We've searched the field and we've spoken to Mr Davies over the road there, who I understand is the man's father. He's seen nothing of his son since he came out of hospital. He's very concerned for your safety.'

Cadi raised an eyebrow. ‘I doubt if we're in any more danger than he is. Ifan's never got on well with his father.'

The policeman nodded. ‘So we understand. We've given him the same advice we're giving you; be very, very careful. Keep all your doors locked, and I think it would be best if you all stay together until we've located Mr Davies junior. He can't have gone far.'

‘Isn't that the point?' Charles said drily as he closed the door behind the policemen. ‘He can't have gone far, which means he's still close by. Why in God's name did they let him go in the first place?'

‘It wasn't up to the local police,' Cadi said. ‘When the DI spoke to me she said the decision had been made in London. She seemed very frustrated by it, and I'm not surprised. Think how much extra time and manpower this is going to take now he's disappeared. Do you think Branwen could be persuaded to come and watch over us as she seems to have done with Meryn? Come next door with us, Sally,' she added impulsively. ‘He's right. You shouldn't be alone. Bring Gemma and we'll make a picnic supper.' She glanced uneasily at Charles. ‘I'm sure the police will find him.'

‘Who's Branwen?' Sally asked. ‘I've got food.' She was unpacking a bag of French bread and cheeses and two bottles of wine. ‘I brought you these from France.'

‘This is lovely, Sal. Thank you so much.' Charles and Cadiexchanged glances. ‘Branwen is a colleague of Meryn's,' Cadi said after a slight hesitation. ‘Part of his historical research project.'

‘I almost feel inclined to climb in the car and drive straight back to France.' Sally scooped Gemma into her arms and kissed the top of the dog's head.

Clutching the bags of food they made their way next door. There was no sign that anyone had tried to break in. The house was quiet and safe and Charles brought in their bags before driving the car back to its hidden parking place with Annabel's friend. Coming in, he bolted the door behind him.

‘We're OK here,' he said quietly. ‘As long as we stay -to-gether.'

‘But we're not together,' Cadi interrupted. ‘Meryn is still out there. He will have gone straight home. He doesn't know about this. Supposing Ifan has gone back to his house to finish what he started?' She reached for her phone.

‘He's not picking up,' she said at last. ‘And no voicemail.'

‘Ring the police.' Charles reached for one of Sally's bottles of wine. He rummaged in the drawer for a corkscrew.

Cadi watched. Part of her was wondering how she felt about him seeming to be so at home in her kitchen. Then she relaxed. She was actually quite pleased. ‘He might not have got home yet.' She sat down next to Sally. ‘It's a long drive and we don't know he left Caernarfon at the same time as us. He might have gone back to his B&B.' She took the glass Charles offered her. ‘But you're right. I'll see if I can reach Gwen. She needs to know what's happening.'

As Sally took her glass from Charles her little dog struggled off her lap and ran to the doors that led into the garden. She whined softly and glanced back at Sally.

‘Oh lord!' Sally put down her glass. ‘She probably needs to go out for a pee.'

‘Don't worry. We'll stand guard.' Charles stood up. ‘At least its broad daylight. He can't creep up on us out there without us seeing him.'

‘Keep her on the lead,' Cadi advised. ‘We don't want her rushing off through the hedge.'

Charles and Cadi stood together on the terrace as Sally -wandered onto the lawn, the extending lead in her hand. They watched as the little dog sniffed her way round the flower beds, tail wagging. She looked better, Cadi noted. Happy. Perhaps Meryn's few minutes of super-Druid healing power had done her good before she left for her holiday. She hoped so. A few minutes later as Sally turned back towards the house, the dog raised her head, staring into the far corner behind the apple tree. At her sharp bark of warning, Sally hesitated and looked back over her shoulder.

‘Gemma's seen something. Come back, Sally,' Cadi's whisper was frantic. ‘There's someone there.'

As Sally reached the terrace and dived back through the doors, closely followed by Gemma and Cadi, Charles scanned the garden. He frowned. The branches of the apple tree were swaying in the breeze. The garden seemed empty but was that a patch of deeper shadow on the grass?

He followed the others inside and turned the key in the lock. ‘I know this sounds a bit counter-intuitive but if there was someone out there, it was a woman,' he said.