VII
Sanguinis Oblatio
‘Blood Offerings’
They gathered at the village the following day, people with carts and baskets, emerging from the cracks and crevices of the moor and its tors to come join Einion and march on his ancestral fortress.
Lucius and Dagon watched them come and bow to Einion, a man most had barely remembered except through here-say and rumour.
“This feels strange, doesn’t it?” Dagon said to Lucius.
“How so?” Lucius said, reaching up to feel the handle of his sword at his back.
“We’re used to riding to battle, headlong into the enemy, or waiting for him to jump out. But now,” Dagon shook his head, “we seem to be going in like thieves and assassins.”
“For our friends,” Lucius said.
“Yes. I think this is the first time I’ve not fought a battle for Rome,” Dagon said. “
