Elissa gazed into the centaur’s eyes, deep and old. His expression was stern, but it spoke to her. His right hand, huge, was clutching something that hung around his neck on a golden chain. A jolt of power passed between them, and she found herself drawn to the black casket. She fiddled with the dolphin pendant that lay on her breast. It was the only thing she had from her mother.

‘Elissa – what are you doing?’ Silvius was impatient. ‘We’ve got to get on!’

But she felt something different in this meeting. There was a welcome there, in the centaur’s eyes, and yet also a challenge. She gently stroked his flank. He smiled at her, and she entwined her fingers into the curls of his long mane.

Silvius was glowering slightly, tapping his foot. She had taken his moment away, she knew.

‘What’s happening?’ she whispered behind her hand.

‘I’ll tell you later.’ Silvius, she could tell, was barely suppressing his astonishment. ‘We need to get to Aeneas.’ And he was also, she reflected, keeping the news back from her. Well, she would find out soon. In step with the gentle clip-clop of the centaur, she moved on.

Awed by the presence of the wild creature, the citizens mostly kept quiet until they reached the forum where Aeneas and the chiefs conducted the city’s business during the day. Then they broke out into a chatter, like rooks.

Aeneas’s large hut stood at the south-eastern edge, surrounded by buildings, including the new marble temple to Jupiter the Skyfather which, richly painted with reds and golds, glowed in the moonlight.

Elissa was now in front, and she led the centaur quickly up the wooden steps to where Aeneas lived.

The leader of the city of Lavinium was already waiting for them in the atrium, now brightly lit with many smoky torches. Aeneas, his reddish hair greying, was seated on a high carved wooden chair, a wolf skin around his shoulders, the eyes glazed and open, the teeth sharp. He had slain it in the early days of Lavinium, and it had lent him his nickname, the Wolf. It still awed Elissa, though once, when she was small, she had sat on it when he’d left it behind on a bench.

His wife Lavinia was standing behind him. Unlike most of the Latins, her hair was the bright colour of a buttercup, and it still shone. Elissa smiled boldly at Lavinia, who frowned back, slightly in disapproval.

The centaur had to stoop to get into the room. Aeneas stood immediately, and bowed. Lavinia beckoned to Silvius, but he instead went to join his tall brother Iulus, who was lurking to the side, looking on coolly. Elissa remained with the centaur, enjoying his warmth.

‘I am Stargazer, from the centaurs of the hills.’ The centaur spoke in a deep horsey voice that was almost a neigh.