Dawn Wind Read Online Free PDF

come.’ And he thought, too, that the other people round him knew what it was. In a short while the service was over; the people turned to each other, no longer a congregation, but a gathering of friends and foes and neighbours, and suddenly the priest was close beside them with his hand on Priscus’s arm, saying, ‘You came late today, my dears; have you heard the news?’
    Priscus shook his head, his round face anxious at once. ‘What news is that, then, Little Father?’
    ‘None that we were not expecting,’ said the priest, ‘and quite stale by now, I suppose, but none the less dark for that, if it be true. They say that Glevum is in Ceawlin’s hands, and Corinium and Aquae Sulis have gone up in flames. The Barbarians are over all the country round Sabrina Head.’ His brilliant gaze sought out Owain, standing a little behind the other two. ‘That is maybe news that strikes nearer to you than to the rest of us, my son; for the word that runs through the hills at any stranger’s coming among us, tells that you were at the last great battle, by Aquae Sulis.’
    ‘I and the dog here,’ Owain said. ‘It was the first fight for both of us.’
    And Dog, hearing his name, flung up his head and nosed happily at the boy’s arm.
    ‘So.’ The priest’s gaze dropped to the great hound, and lifted again to Owain’s face. ‘Kneel down, my son.’
    Owain knelt, and felt the light touch of the man’s hand on his bowed head; the other was on Dog’s; and Dog, who never showed affection to anyone save his Master, nosed up under it and licked the man’s wrist. ‘O Lord,’ said the rough beautiful voice above him, ‘here are a boy and a dog who have fought Thy fight according to the best that was in them. Therefore let Thy blessing be upon them, and Thy courage bear them up, and spread over them the mercy of Thy wings.’
    The three of them walked home in silence; not one word exchanged between them until they came up between the midden and the cow byre to the house-place door. But on the threshold Priscus checked, and stood a moment looking away down the valley. ‘It would be useless, of course—perfectly useless; I dare say I’d be no better skilled with a weapon than with a plough. I’m not very good at anything save making pots, but I could find it in my heart, just now, to wish that I was young again and had a sword.’
    ‘You were the best potter in all Glevum territory,’ said his wife bracingly. ‘I’ll say it to your face as I’ve said it behind your back, and one skill should be enough for any man. Stop blocking up the doorway now, and let me get at the stew pot if you want any supper tonight.’
    The stew, when it was ready, was a good one, but none of them seemed hungry, and silence had descended on them again. Owain, chewing his way through his bowlful without tasting it, stared into the fire. The weeks that he had spent here in the shelter of Priscilla’s kindness had had a kind of battered peace about them, like the lull in a storm; and the outside world, even his father’s death, had seemed a long way off. But now it had all come rushing back to him again, and the lull was over. He knew that even if he stayed here, the lull would still be over … He wiped the last drops of soup from the bottom of his bowl with a piece of barley crust, chewed and swallowed slowly and deliberately, and set the bowl aside. ‘Tomorrow,’ he said, ‘I must be away. I have stayed too long.’
    Priscilla was collecting the bowls, which presently she would take down to the spring for scouring, and she pushed them together with a clatter. ‘That is foolishness; you can scarcely walk as far as the village yet.’
    ‘I can, you know I can; I—must go.’
    There was a little silence, Priscilla looking at him tight-lipped. Then Priscus gently cleared his throat. ‘I think, my dove, that ill fitting though the moment seems, you had best speak now to the boy of—the matter that we discussed a few days