Breaking the Rules (23 page)

Amusement tinged with admiration glinted in his eyes. “You are a devilish difficult woman, Ursula Elcester.”

“I was also your wife in the past, sir, and no doubt wielded a very large Celtic rolling pin.”

He caught her hands and bent forward to brush his lips to hers. “Would that I could remember our, er, more intimate moments,” he whispered.

“Would that I could too,” she confessed candidly.

“You do realize, don’t you, that if I am right about this being a reenactment, it would be in our personal interest—yours and mine—to make absolutely certain Taynton fails?”

“What do you mean?”

“Because if history repeats itself, not only will Theo marry Eleanor Rhodes, but you and I will marry too, which is something I want more than anything.”

She stared at him.

Conan paused, suddenly uncertain. “Don’t you want that too? I thought, imagined—”

“Yes, of
course
it’s what I want too!” she cried as a maelstrom of confusion and joy began to pound through her, but then her smile faded. “But now, in this present year, my father and Lord Carmartin want me to marry Theo.”

Conan put a finger to her lips. “What do you imagine their feelings will be once the truth comes out? His lordship will learn his long-lost Eleanor has not only returned, but that she and Theo are in love. I can’t imagine he will be all that displeased. Oh, he may grumble for a while, but he’ll come around. And will your father think I’m not suitable? Why, I have more than Carmartin, believe me, and can easily rescue Elcester. And I have no desire to take it from him. He will be free to look after the village as he always has done. I’m rather certain he won’t mind if you become Lady Merrydown. The only loser of sorts will be Lord Carmartin, but I’m sure he’ll soon find another estate to covet.”

Ursula could barely collect herself. “I-I can’t believe we are actually discussing marriage. We’ve only just met.”

He laughed. “My beloved Ursula, we have known each other for one and a half millennia!”

At that moment footsteps approached as Mr. Elcester and Theo left the dining room to join them, so Conan seized Ursula urgently by the arms. “If we can outwit Taynton and bring this business to a satisfactory conclusion all around, do you
promise
to marry me?”

“Yes. Oh, yes, I will.”

Their lips clung together again, but when Mr. Elcester and Theo entered a moment or so later after shaking hands upon the details of the contract no one really desired, except the absent Lord Carmartin, there could not have been anything more proper than the distance between the two star-crossed lovers in the drawing room.

It was nearly midnight, when the last day of April, May Eve, would commence. Then there would be twenty-four hours left until the witching hour, when all would be won, or lost forever. As Conan and Theo took their leave of Ursula and her father, Theo was still ashamed of his earlier conduct, especially as he had come to like Ursula during the course of the evening. It wasn’t at all difficult to be agreeable toward her now, and part of him wished he had never set eyes upon his Eleanor, because but for that he knew he’d now be entering this arranged match with a much lighter heart.

As it was, he could not put Eleanor from his mind. An irrational love consumed him. He was meant to be with her and only her. The very air around him had begun to sing with magic from the moment he dreamed of her that first night in London, and as he and Conan stepped out of Elcester Manor into the mild night air, he felt as if she were near him now. Maybe if he turned suddenly— But, no, when he did so, there were only the moon shadows of the house and grounds.

He said nothing as the carriage drove up the slope, past the lodge, and then along the road that the top of the slope above the village. So centered upon his thoughts was he that at first he hardly noticed when Conan lowered the window glass and leaned out to command Gardner to halt on the grass near Hatty Pedlar’s Tump.

As the vehicle jolted to a standstill on the uneven surface, Theo roused himself in surprise. “Why have we stopped?”

“Because I have a great deal to tell you, and I expect you to listen without interrupting.”

Theo looked blankly at him. “All right, although I cannot imagine what is so important that it has to be said now instead of waiting until we’re back at Carmartin Park.”

“But it must be now, my friend. Now listen, and listen very well.” Conan explained everything, leaving out not a single point, even the news that he and Ursula were in love. Theo gaped more and more as the tale unfolded, and when Conan finished, he stared at him without a word.

Conan looked quizzically at him. “Have you nothing to say?”

“I-I don’t know, I can’t think what  ... ” Theo took an enormous breath. “All this has been going on, and you haven’t said a word until now?”

“May I remind you of your attitude at the Green Man? You didn’t want to even think about it, let alone talk about it.”

“I know, I know, but all the same  ... ”

“I’m telling you now. You, my friend, are Macsen Wledig, Eleanor Rhodes is Elen of the Ways, and you have to marry her again if we are to thwart our genial innkeeper. Now, if all that Ursula and I have deduced is correct, we may only have the next twenty-four hours in which to act, so you, she, and I are going to that badger set now, tonight, to see if it is where the tesserae came from.”

They both distinctly heard the bell of Elcester church striking midnight, and Conan found he was holding his breath. He didn’t know what he was expecting, just that he felt the distant bell was—a day early—tolling away their chance of vanquishing Cadfan Meriadoc. But nothing happened as the last note diminished into silence—no jagged flash of lightning, no resounding thunderclap, nothing that might indicate the onset of Cadfan’s victory. Conan breathed out with qualified relief, and then gave a sheepish grin. “I half feared Taynton’s sorcery was about to succeed,” he confessed.

“After all that you’ve just said, so did I,” replied Theo. “You
are
sure it’s the next midnight?”

“It’s all guesswork, my friend. How can it be anything else? But Ursula and I feel as certain as we can.”

Theo seemed to be looking at something no one else could see. “Yes,” he murmured, “tomorrow at midnight, for that was when the Black Druid performed my marriage to Elen of the Ways. Beneath the yew.”

Conan was startled. “What on earth made you say that?”

“Mm? I just know that’s when and where we married.” Even Theo’s voice had a dreamy quality, as if he were seeing that older time, not 1817.

“Who on earth is—or was—the Black Druid?”

“The priest then, and the blacksmith now. It was misty when we returned to Eudaf Hen’s castle for the feast.”

“Where was the castle?” Conan asked quickly.

“Why, Carmartin Hill, of course,” Theo replied in a tone that suggested astonishment that such a question needed to be asked.

“You’re sure of that?”

“Absolutely certain. I can remember it quite clearly, rising out of the mist like an island ...”

Conan smiled. “So that’s it,” he murmured.

Theo had not finished. “When the days of feasting were over, Elen and I came here to the summer house, which was named Elcester in her honor, for it was Elen’s fort, and I built her the finest Roman villa in the whole of Britannia.” He seemed to suddenly come back to the present, and pulled himself together with a shudder before giving a self-conscious laugh. “Good God, that was a strange moment. I really felt I was Macsen Wledig again. So it would seem I’m definitely him, eh? Right down to the Spanish blood!”

“Oh, yes, after all you’ve just said I don’t think there can be room for doubt.”

Theo looked at him “Oh, all right, I’ll come to the badger set as well. I’ll do whatever you wish, Conan, although to be truthful, it’s still far too much for me to take in. I know what just happened, but how can I honestly be an ancient Roman emperor?”

“You think Ursula and I have found it any easier to accept our double identities? It’s fantastic and totally unbelievable, and to speak of it at all makes one feel slightly mad, except that none of us are mad because it really
is
happening.”

Theo felt a perverse desire to make light of it, “Oh dear, just as I was beginning to think marrying Ursula wouldn’t be so bad a thing after all.”

“That’s what I happen to think too, and I believe I have the historic right to her.”

Theo nodded, and then looked away. “Conan, what if we don’t trounce Taynton, Cadfan, or whoever he is?”

“At least we will have done our utmost.”

“But you won’t have Ursula, and I won’t have Eleanor, who will remain enchanted. And Ursula’s father will have to sell the manor because he won’t be able to afford not to. Now, you may call me a misery, but it seems to me we ought to weigh things up very carefully indeed before we do anything.”

Conan sat back. “Theo, when it comes to the very bones of it, you are the only one who stands to be worse off than at present. I will rescue Elcester Manor whether or not Taynton emerges the victor, and whether or not I marry Ursula, but I cannot rescue you. That is something you have to face up to on your own. Is Eleanor worth risking Carmartin’s wealth for? If she is, then you have no quandary, but if she isn’t, well, it’s best you admit it now.”

“Of course she’s worth it!” Theo cried heatedly.

Conan smiled. “Spoken like a true Roman emperor! Come on, let’s to it!” He reached under his seat for the pistol, checked that it was in readiness, then opened the door and jumped lightly down. He turned quickly to Gardner. “Just wait here. I’m afraid I don’t know how long we’ll be, but you may be assured that I will be generous in my appreciation.”

“It is my duty, Lord Kynan, and I will wait as long as you wish,” the coachman replied solemnly, and raised his hand in a rather odd way, as if giving a salute of some sort.

Conan’s wits sharpened, and he looked intently at the man. “What did you just say?” he asked.

“I said, it is my duty, Sir Conan, and I will wait as long as you wish,” Gardner repeated, this time touching his hat in his usual manner.

Conan knew he hadn’t misheard the first time. He also knew that the coachman had no idea he’d said anything different. It was yet another instance of history coming full circle. No doubt Gardner had been Kynan Meriadoc’s man fifteen hundred years ago as well.

Theo had alighted without hearing the exchange, and Conan told him about it as they walked quickly along the road to the nearest gate, then down through the fields toward the lower park, where Ursula and Conan had agreed she would wait by the door into the rose garden.

She was still wearing her silver evening gown, and breathed out with relief as the two men hurried up to her. “Oh, I’m so glad to see you both! When midnight sounded, I was so afraid  ... ” She didn’t finish.

Conan took her hand and raised the palm to his lips. “I feared the same, but it’s the next midnight, I’m certain.” Out of sight, he crossed his fingers.

She turned hesitantly to Theo, and to her relief he smiled. “Well met, Princess Ursula,” he murmured, and sketched a lavish bow.

“And you, my emperor,” she replied, returning the smile.

“I know everything now, including about you and Kynan Meriadoc here.” Theo nodded toward Conan. “I believe he’s been wooing you behind the imperial back?”

Ursula flushed, and was glad the moonlight hid the fact. “You and I are just not meant to be,” she said after a moment.

Conan was impatient. “The longer we dither here in pleasantries, the more the minutes tick away in Taynton’s favor. Come on, let’s get on with things.” Taking Ursula’s hand again, he led the way along the tiny path toward the woods.

The bluebell glades were ravishingly beautiful, and the scent of the flowers more bewitching than ever as the three made their way toward the badger set. As they walked, Conan acquainted Ursula with Theo’s remarkable recollections from his existence as Macsen Wledig, and Gardner’s peculiar response when they’d left him by the long barrow.

Ursula took it all in with increasing anticipation. So clearly could she now feel the past and present intertwining that it seemed she could pluck it from the air. All the ancient forces were gathering, flowing through her veins and through the very trees around her. The old rhyme came to her again.
In and out of the dusky bluebells. In and out the dusky bluebells
... But Cadfan Meriadoc wasn’t going to be anyone’s master. She would die before she allowed that to happen!

It was fortunate that the moon was so strong, for it allowed them to inspect the old set without too much trouble. Ursula watched as the two men scrambled down into it and began to scrape at the crumbling soil. It wasn’t long before objects began to be revealed, although at first nothing that resembled tesserae. To begin with they found some beads made of Baltic amber, then another coin, although of whose reign it was impossible to tell. Next came a tiny blue glass figurine of a squirrel, followed by a similar ivory horse. Conan knew them immediately, and with a flash of insight that was not unlike Theo’s earlier, he cried, “The game Kynan and I were playing when he tossed the board aside! The blue glass men were mine!”

Renewed eagerness seized them, and they scraped the soil away all the harder. More ivory and blue glass animals came to light, but still no tesserae. Then suddenly a large portion of earth fell away, and there were pieces of mosaic everywhere.

Ursula pressed her hands to her mouth to quell the urge to squeal with delight, for surely they had found the villa Macsen Wledig, Roman emperor and
Dux Britanniarum,
built for his Elen of the Ways!

Finding so many tesserae galvanized Conan and Theo to great effort, although they worked with great care because it had become apparent they had uncovered the outer edge of a beautiful circular mosaic floor. The more earth they brushed away, the more they saw the intricate pattern that had been created fifteen hundred years earlier. There were birds and animals, including white squirrels, horses, and wolfhounds, and a veritable pantheon of Celtic and Roman deities, all woven among what Ursula guessed were the spokes of a huge chariot wheel.