As dusk began to fall and the sea began to grow still, torches and fires were lit about the fortress, along the paths leading to the hall where garlands were hung and the sweet smell of roasting meats wafted out into the evening air.
After cleaning up in the small house where they had slept, Lucius, Adara and the children emerged to make their way to the hall.
Lucius and Phoebus wore their gladii beneath their cloaks, but Adara and Calliope went without for the time being. Their clothes were simple wool, for all that they used to possess had burned in the fires of their home long ago. As they walked together toward lord Einion’s hall, they looked more like a family of Britons than Romans, and that endeared them all the more to the people they encountered at every step.
Lucius was reliev
