‘The free tribes of the Britons. The Romans have tried to crush our spirit and take our lands, but they have failed here in the north. For the first time they have failed and the tide has turned so that we will sweep them from the whole island and go back to the old ways.

‘Rome is finished, its gods fading away. Thirty years ago the Temple of Jupiter on Rome’s Capitol burned. Within nine times three years it will be struck again by the fire of the gods, and this time it will burn into ashes and nothing will be left. That time is fast approaching. Thirty years ago the seers in Gaul prophesied the end of Rome. They were premature, and had not read the signs properly for they no longer had the true knowledge. I have that knowledge. I saw the groves on Mona before they fell, and I was taught secrets no longer known to anyone. The fire will come and the end will come if only we listen to the gods and obey them.’

Ferox pushed his mail shirt down comfortably over his hips. ‘You sound like that fool in there.’

‘He is a child – a gifted child certainly, but no more than that. He seeks only to kill. I too would sweep Rome away, but we must build something better. Will you help me?’

It was hard to remember the hunched beggar muttering to himself. This man looked hale in body and sharp in his mind. He also seemed genuinely eager to persuade.

‘I am sworn man to the emperor and to Rome.’

‘Which emperor? No one had heard of Trajan until a few years ago.’ The voice was reasonable, the knowledge obvious. This was a man who spoke of the Capitoline Hill in Rome and of emperors and understood what he was saying. Ferox knew without having to be told that this was the great druid, although he could not guess how the man came to understand such things.

‘Civil war is coming again, and this time the empire will not survive. They will turn on each other like rats and rush down the road to their utter ruin. Leave them, boy. Leave the people who disdain you and leave you to rot and drown your sorrows in drink. What have they ever done to earn your faith?’

Acco knew too much, and at that moment if he had brought up her name and promised to lead Ferox to her, he might just have gone with the man.

‘I am sworn. If you truly knew my grandfather you would not expect me to break an oath.’