“They say it was many years after Caesar took Britannia that a Roman legion finally made its way to Lute.”

He pulled pints while he talked, which I found impressive.

“They had infrastructure to lay down all along the way, you see—long, straight roads and villas and spas, temples to their gods, and the odd Boudicca to fight. When they got here, they must have expected the Lutes to put up a similar fight, but to their great shock, there was a welcoming party waiting for them. Not a weapon in sight!

“Can you imagine that? These war-weary men, ready for bloodshed yet again, offered food and shelter and music and rest. What a massive relief that must’ve been. In those months that followed, I’m sure they turned their minds to the work of civilizing the Celts, but eh, maybe not. I like to think they were just enjoying a nice, long holiday.

“Then came the Day.”

No one so much as breathed when he said that. I remember how the room went still, like all the air had been sucked out of it.

“Now, back then—two thousand years ago, it was—the Druid priests oversaw the sacrifices of the Day, and it was a huge honor to give up your life. People asked for it. It was a reward. In other places in the Celtic world, I’ve heard tell, it was kings who laid down their lives, and so it was here. Seven people, one for each year of blessings, ready to go. They’d have been feasted the night before, been given herbs to calm them down on the morning, and then would come the procession, up the island to the stone.

“Now I’m thinking of those poor Romans.” Ian laughed here, pushing off from the bar. “They must have loved the party and been right confused the next day to see everybody heading up for the oak grove. They’d seen it before, in Gaul, in Germania, and they knew their orders. Human sacrifice was barbaric, it was un-Roman, it was simply not on. So, a bit sleepy from the feasting, bit worse for wear perhaps, they scrambled into their armor and weaponry and set off right quick to put a stop to it.

“They barred the way to the grove, they say. Made a little phalanx with their shields and swords, and nobody really knows how it kicked off, but kick off it did.”

Nobody knows any of this, I remember thinking, hiding it with a smile.