Fide mihi, et reddam fidem.
Trust in me, and I will return the same.

It was raining. It was cold. James's head hurt, and although that wasn't related to the first two circumstances, it didn't make it any less painful. The roan pony shifted under him and blew out a noisy, whuffling snort. He watched as the warm breath condensed in the chilly air.

He glanced over at the Roman, hunched over on his own chestnut mare. The surgeon was wearing his helmet, something he rarely did, to try and keep his head at least a little dry. The shorn horsehair crest was dyed a vibrant red, and combined with the Roman's height and woolen cloak, his appearance was that of a gawky, red-crowned bird with a gray back.

The surgeon felt James's eyes on him and looked around.

"What?" His voice was low and held an unmistakably grumpy tone.

The slave shook his head slightly, and the two men continued to watch as the workmen slipped and stumbled in the icy mud, trying to get the medical tent up. No one seemed to know how long they'd be here. Word from the ranks was they were waiting for another cohort of the Legion II Augustus to join them, but no official confirmation had been forthcoming. James knew the surgeon hadn't bothered asking the centurion Longinus -- the man was only interested in the nature of a place, not why he was there.

James shivered a little, wrapped in his own cloak. The centurion had found them this morning, before it had started to rain. The short, red-haired officer had warned the surgeon to be prepared for anything -- this far north, there were brigands in the woods, beyond the usual reach of Roman justice and Roman law. Brigands who had never accepted the invaders. They were out there, watching. Waiting.

The rain fell harder, dripping in rivulets down the men's backs and the flanks of the horses.

James hated Britannia.

It had taken them two months to get here, winding upward from Hispania, through the mountains, and across Gaul. It was a virtual retracing of the path the cohort had taken coming south, the surgeon told James. They'd been detached from the Legion in Britannia, delegated to escort a group of rich merchants and politicians back to their estates in Hispania. Of course, a large portion of confiscated British treasures had gone with them. It was the way of the world, and James wondered sometimes at the chain of coincidence and happenstance that had led to his change of ownership. He never thought about it very long -- that too was the way of the world.

He knew the Roman had been studying him all this time -- more than once James had looked around to find the surgeon's glance quickly sliding away. The Roman had been talking to him more, too; questions about his medical training, observations on James's technique for examining patients, and lately, an odd little habit of beginning quotes and seeing if James could finish them.

The first time it had happened, the slave had been truly startled. He'd been concentrating on getting a dose of white willow bark reduced to exactly the right consistency, when the Roman's voice had suddenly boomed in his right ear --

"Diaulus, recently a physician,
Has set up now as a mortician."

James had jumped. He knew the humorous little epigram; it was by Martial, and he automatically supplied the last line:

"No change, though, in the clients' condition."

He looked around at the surgeon, who simply nodded and turned away to his own tasks. James sighed softly and regarded the powdered willow bark. It needed more pounding.

Since then the Roman had taken every opportunity to test James (for that was what the slave perceived it to be), coming up with quotes from the philosophers, poetry and plays James hadn't read in years. He found his mind beginning to sharpen again, throwing off the stifling blanket of slave-thought.

Still, as surprising as the quotes had been, the surgeon's next step caught him completely off-guard.

It was early evening -- Longinus had been hunting that day and brought down a deer. The centurion had shared it out amongst his friends, so dinner was venison stew, bread, and a sour local wine. It was after James had cleared away the bowls that the Roman had turned to him.

"Let's play a game," he said. "Do you know Latrunculi?"

James had simply stood for a moment, trying to process the question. "Of ... course, my lord." I used to play it with my older brother. I beat him every time.

The surgeon was already taking a box from the nearby desk and opening it. Reaching in, he lifted out the Latrunculi board and laid it on the table, then upended the box and dumped out the small black and white polished pebbles that were the game pieces.

"Set them up," he said, and the game began.

James played conservatively, not taking chances, passing up opportunities. The first match was a draw, both men feeling each other out; the next two the surgeon won by small enough margins that he wouldn't be suspicious.

Except he was suspicious, and the slave knew it. The Roman's eyes narrowed as he moved to replace the small pieces on the board.

"James." He leaned forward, and the slave flinched back just a little, instinctively. The surgeon saw it and stopped, laying his hands, palms down, on the table. "Stop letting me win," he said.

James swallowed. "My lord?"

"Stop letting me win," the Roman repeated. "Longinus beats me at Latrunculi, and while he may be my friend, he's a dunderhead at games." He caught and held James's gaze. "I want to get better at this game, and I can't do that unless you play honestly." Picking up one of the small black discs from his side of the board, the surgeon nodded. "Let's play again," he said.

James sat for a moment before moving one of his own white chips forward. It was dangerous, but if this was what the Roman wanted, then he had no choice.

The slave won that match, and the match after that, but by the time the board was finally put away, the surgeon had won two games on his own and was smiling.

"That's better," he said, and looked at James appraisingly. "To bed now, I think."

The older man fell asleep quickly that night, and was already snoring slightly as the slave doused the lamps and wrapped himself in his own blankets. On the verge of sleep himself, James thought again what a different sort of Roman this man seemed to be.

A few nights later, the Roman surprised him again.

"Here," the surgeon said. "Let's try a new game." He used his staff to point in the general direction of his cot. "There's a wooden chest under there. Fetch it."

James crossed to the bed, and dropping into a crouch, felt around underneath. His outstretched fingers touched wood, then a rough handle, and he pulled the box out into the torchlight.

He brought it to the table, and set it down. It was an ordinary wooden chest, one that looked to have seen a lot of travel. The Roman fished a small key from his tunic, unlocked the box, and lifted out a small cloth-wrapped bundle tied with a leather thong. Motioning for James to sit again, the surgeon laid the bundle on the table and undid the tie. He spread apart the cloth folds to reveal the contents.

Nestled in the cloth were small rectangular pieces of vellum. They appeared to be ... cards. The slave glanced up, surprised. While he had heard of games played with such things, the places those games were played were far beyond the reaches of Empire. Had the Roman been as far East as the boundless steppes of Asia? The surgeon's smile gave nothing away, and James looked more closely at the cards. They had been stiffened with a thin coat of varnish to make them both sturdy and pliable, and had little pictures drawn on them. The Roman grinned.

"Behold my less than expert artisanship," he said, fanning the cards out on the table.

James stared. The surgeon was far too modest; the artwork was quite good. The lines were clean and strong, and some of the cards had been decorated with tiny dabs of painted color. Studying the small pieces of vellum, he soon began to detect a pattern.

The faces of most of the cards were divided horizontally; the bottom half bearing a number from II to X, the top half a tiny illustration. Some of the cards had crossed swords, others a spade like the ones the Roman infantrymen carried. And still others --

"It's something of my own devising," the Roman said. "It's played with 52 cards -- the players draw five each, and with the way the cards are numbered and categorized, there are many ways to win." He smiled, and there was both shyness and a proud delight in it. "I've been testing it out on the blacksmith, the cook's assistant, and the laundry boy. It seems to be a good game, but --"

The surgeon fell silent, and James tensed. "I'd like to know what you think," he finished softly.

James continued to study the outspread cards as he tried to gather his thoughts. It was making sense now -- the watching, the subtle probing, the testing of James's education. James had watched and listened to the soldiers in the Cohort -- the men were taught the simplest rudiments of reading, writing, and basic arithmetic. The engineers were more well-educated, as was the centurion Longinus, but they were all military men, first and foremost. James could not imagine anyone else in the camp besides the surgeon reading Martial, much less Ovid, Sappho, Euripides ...

The Roman may find satisfaction in his life as an Army surgeon, James thought, but his is an exceptional intellect, always inquiring, bursting with curiosity ... and he has no one to talk to. Until now.

Keeping his voice light and his tone casual, James reached forward and pulled out five of the cards -- a II, III, IV, V, and VI, all with a matching triangle pattern at the top. "Then, my lord, in the system you've designed, this would be a winning draw?"

The surgeon looked at the cards, then at James. Something seemed to spark in his blue eyes, and he nodded.

"A straight run of corners," he said, indicating the triangle design. Leaning forward, he began pulling out different cards, explaining his self-invented rules, the patterns and possible draws, and how certain cards outranked the others. "And there can be betting!" the Roman exclaimed, gathering the black and white chips still left on the table from the previous match of Latrunculi.

The card game went on far into the night. James picked up the rules quickly. With all the possible permutations, the game was both fascinating and challenging. It had been frightening at first to bet against the Roman, but the surgeon had encouraged him. After a while they had simply been two men playing a game, the torchlight flickering on the tent walls and the only sound that of soft conversation.

Much later James would wonder if it had been that night that the first small seed of trust had been sown between them, in a new game marked by bluff and deception.

It had been a long day, and an unfortunate one from a medical viewpoint. The surgeon and the slave had lost two patients -- a cavalry officer, kicked in the head by his own horse, and a three-year-old boy, the son of one of the camp followers. The child had stepped on something rusty; a bit of sharp flake from a cookpot, or even a horseshoe nail, and had developed the lockjaw fever. There was nothing anyone could do, and James had looked on as the Roman had gently covered the dead child's face with a blanket.

Here in the foothills the ground was still soft enough to dig, and the soldier and the boy were buried that same day. The Roman ordered James to take the cavalry officer's name to Longinus, to be entered into the Cohort's records. The boy, James knew, would be forgotten to Rome, if indeed the mother had even reported the birth. It was a doubtful proposition -- children were as common as puppies in the small population that trailed after every Army group everywhere; legally, they were invisible to the eyes of the Empire.

No more was said. There was nothing more to say.

The surgeon was uncharacteristically quiet the rest of the afternoon. By evening he was leaning heavily on his staff, and once dinner was over James knew the Roman needed something for the pain.

"White willow bark or the milk of the poppy, my lord?" he asked softly. The surgeon looked up, surprised. He'd been staring out the tent flaps, watching as the Army unit settled down and readied itself for the night.

"Just a tea of bark tonight, I think," he replied, and James nodded, moving to prepare the willow tea.

The Roman was tired, and it was soon after the surgeon had finished his tea that James was tucking him into bed, pulling the fur coverlets up about the surgeon's shoulders. The older man sighed, and James, thinking the Roman would sleep now, stepped quietly away.

"James."

The slave stopped.

"Read to me for a while," the surgeon said.

James blinked. "My lord?" he asked uncertainly. The Roman's eyes were closed.

"Do you know Martial's Epithet?"

James turned his head carefully away. He knew the verse well -- a sad remembrance for another dead child. His own father had recited it, after saying Kaddish for James's baby sister Phoebe, dead at two of an unknown fever. James's mother had been inconsolable for weeks afterward, and he briefly wondered if there was another weeping mother out beyond the soldiers' campfires tonight.

Here in premature gloom Erotion rests whose sixth winter now will last forever.

The surgeon's voice was soft and steady, and James closed his eyes briefly. The Roman had stopped, and after a moment James picked up the rest of the poem.

Whoever tends this small field after me,
pay each year homage to her slender ghost:
then you will prosper here and never weep, except this stone bring her to memory.

Torchlight played against the tent walls, the pitch crackling and spitting. The Roman was staring at the ceiling. "There should have been something," he murmured. "There are answers. We just have to find them." He shook his head and lay quietly for a time, the slave watching him.

"Read to me," he said again, and James nodded.

"What do you wish to hear, my lord?" he asked.

The surgeon shook his head. "You pick something," he said.

James thought for a moment, then moved towards the case of stacked scrolls. He had to look through several before he found what he wanted, but at last he seated himself next to the Roman's cot, and unrolling the scroll, cleared his throat and began to read.

Migratory birds -- cranes, geese, or long-necked swans -
Are gathering in a meadow in Asia
Where the river Caystrius branches out in streams.
For a while they fly in random patterns
For the pure joy of using their wings,
But then with a single cry they start to land,
One line of birds settling in front of another
Until the whole meadow is a carpet of sound.

After a while the surgeon turned his head and looked quizzically at James. The slave stopped reading, and raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"The Second Book of the Iliad. Are you both healer and play-actor?" the Roman asked. At James's puzzled look, he continued. "Your voice -- it is well-suited to reading."

James shifted on the low stool. To tell or not? Might as well, he thought. I have a feeling this Roman will find out anyway.

"In my youth," he said quietly, "I wanted to be a traveling play-actor." He smiled wryly at the memory. "It seemed a fine life, a way to see the world outside my own Judean town." The surgeon was watching him, a keen interest in his eyes. James hesitated.

"And?" the surgeon prompted.

James rested the scroll in his lap and lifted in hands in the universal gesture of helplessness. The iron cuff on his left wrist seemed to absorb the darkness in the tent.

"My father," he said. "He wanted me to continue the family tradition of healing. My older brother was already studying for the rabbinate, and my younger brother had no head for learning, so that left me." With a sinking feeling, James suddeny realized there hadn't been a single "my lord" in his entire explanation.

The surgeon didn't seem to have noticed. Instead he rolled his head back against his rough pillow and nodded as if to himself. His right hand was rubbing at his ruined thigh, and James wondered if he needed more tea.

"We've both followed our father's wishes, then," he said. His voice was low and thoughtful. "And look where it's gotten us." He was silent for a moment, then waved a hand in James's general direction. "Read," he commanded, and James took up the scroll again, reading (a little more softly this time), until the surgeon had fallen asleep.

The Pyrenees had towered above them like giants rising from the plain, and as the cohort slowly trundled their way north the Roman surgeon had noticed James eyeing the massive heights.

"Never seen mountains before?" he asked, idly flicking at his chestnut mare's ear with a long grass stalk. The horse's ear twitched, and he hid his smile as the slave straightened a little in his own saddle.

"I've seen mountains, my lord," James replied.

There was a short silence.

"Just not ones with white caps," he finally admitted, and at this the Roman turned to look at him.

"That's called snow."

The slave's face grew pink. "I know that, my lord," he said softly. "I've just never seen it."

The surgeon turned away. "You'll see enough of it here to last you a lifetime," he said, his voice gruff. "We're taking the high pass through the mountains." He kicked his horse lightly in the ribs and rode ahead, leaving James staring after.

As it happened, James's first close-up encounter with snow was an unexpectedly playful one, coming from an even more unexpected source.

They were a short distance away from the Army group. The surgeon, spotting what he believed to be unusual markings on the nearby rock formations, had pulled them both aside to investigate.

The markings turned out to be small imprints, shadowy representations of fern leaves, shells, and what appeared to be fish in the stone. At first James thought some talented artist had been here and gone away, and he touched one of the rocks gently as if afraid the paint would still be wet. The surgeon saw him and shook his head.

"I've seen markings like this before. In other places, colder than this." He looked thoughtfully at the rocks, his breath puffing out little clouds in the frigid air. "Leaves. Ferns. Sea creatures. All of them where none should exist." The Roman's own hand reached out and traced the outline of some tiny fish, captured eternally swimming in an ocean of stone. "It is a puzzle," he said softly.

James barely heard him. He had turned away, pressing close to the roan pony, trying to absorb some of the animal warmth. It was therefore a complete surprise when the ball of packed snow hit him with unerring accuracy squarely in the back of the neck, just above the collar of his heavy woollen cloak. The slave yelped and twisted around, his eyes wide and startled. The surgeon, just behind him, looked innocent but there was a glint in those blue orbs that betrayed him.

James gritted his teeth and rubbed the back of his neck, but succeeded only in spreading the cold wetness further. With a sigh, he hitched his cloak further up and gathered it more tightly around him.

"You don't like the snow?" the Roman asked.

The slave thought of many responses, none of which he could safely say. "No, my lord," he said at last.

The surgeon smiled with a genuine humor the slave saw only rarely. "An unsurprising sentiment," he replied. "This is not your mother clime." His expression became thoughtful again. "Luckily, snow is good for more than just throwing at unsuspecting slaves." He turned and hobbled towards his own chestnut mare. "Fetch me a cup!"

James quickly retrieved an enameled clay cup from his saddlebag and watched curiously as the Roman took a small leather-wrapped bundle from his own.

"Snow," the surgeon ordered, and the slave set the cup on a table-like rock as he took up a handful of snow. It burned his palms with the cold and dripped through his fingers.

The Roman held out the cup and James dumped the snow inside. The surgeon unrolled the leather packing to reveal a glass flask, its deep blue tint reflecting the color of his own eyes. He uncorked the small flask and poured a healthy slug of a clear liquid into the cup, where it mixed with the snow and formed a slush.

Re-corking the flask and stowing it some cloak pocket James hadn't even known was there, the Roman picked up the cup and took a small swallow. He smiled, pleased with the result, and offered the cup to the slave.

James hesitated. This was highly unusual -- a Roman offering any food or drink to a slave, from his own hand -- but if there was one thing James was learning rapidly, this was no ordinary Roman. He took the cup.

The mix of liquid and icy snow slid easily down his throat. The taste was like nothing he'd ever experienced -- cold and alcohol-hot at the same time, the spirits diluted from the ice but still potent. Very potent. He choked a little, and the surgeon took the cup from him.

"Good?" he asked, and James nodded. The Roman looked oddly pleased. "Distilled wine, from apples," he said. "Locally made. A fine drink." He took another drink and handed the cup back to the slave.

James could only nod as the cold, fiery liquid burned its way down to his belly, where it seemed to light a steady, comfortable fire.

Much later they sat in the sheltering tent, stomachs full from goat stew and watching a little snow drift down outside. Torchlight flickered and James could feel his eyes beginning to close. It had been a long day.

"You are a Jew," the Roman's voice, abrupt in the twilight.

The slave looked around, carefully. "Yes, my lord."

The surgeon shifted in his seat, stretching out his right leg. He had not eaten all of his stew, and had put much less water in his wine than the slave. He hurts, James realized. The cold makes his leg ache. I should get him some of the white willow bark.

"You believe in only one god," the Roman said. It was a statement and did not need a reply. James stayed quiet, his mouth dry with sudden fear. This was very dangerous ground. He had noticed early on the surgeon did not have a traditional Penates shrine in his tent for his household gods. They had not spoken of religion since that first day when the Roman had claimed him.

The surgeon tapped the ground with the tip of his staff, still looking out at the falling snow.

"Those creatures in the rocks," he began, and James could not help but blink at the swift turn of subject, "do you think the gods -- or your god -- put them there?"

Silence expanded and filled the tent as James sought desperately for an answer. The Roman watched his face, pinning him with his steady gaze. It is the wine, and the apple distillation before that. He asks unanswerable questions when he drinks.

"I ... don't know, my lord," the slave said at last. It was the truth, and the only honest answer he could give. The surgeon nodded and looked away.

"Neither do I," he said. "I have seen tracks too, outlined as wolf prints dried in the mud, but of animals the scholars have never seen and in regions denied rain for generations. How did they get there?"

The Roman shook his head at his own question. "If the gods exist --" He stopped. James held his breath. "What if there are no answers? What if it is all a test?" He rubbed at his injured thigh, absently kneading at the remaining muscle.

The Roman turned his gaze upon the slave again. "I do not want this life to be just a test." Blue eyes locked into brown. "You are a slave," the surgeon said unexpectedly. It was the same tone in which he'd announced "You are a Jew."

It was another statement of fact, not requiring an answer, but James gave one anyway.

"Yes, my lord," he said, and bowed his head.

"And yet I speak to you as an equal," the Roman murmured. James didn't dare look up. Because you have no one else to talk to, he thought. I know your secret now.

The surgeon looked away, and seemed to give a little nod. He pushed himself slowly out of his chair. "Fetch me some white willow bark. I'm going to bed. You may stay up if you like."

James's second encounter with snow was considerably less benign.

They were higher in the mountains, approaching the pass which would lead them down the other side and into Gaul. The air up here was crisp and cold. It had been snowing steadily for two days and the terrain, hidden by the beautiful white snow, was increasingly treacherous.

Just how treacherous was made clear when James put his left foot down on what seemed to be a perfectly innocent snow hummock, and went crashing down the side of the ravine it had concealed.

The surgeon had wanted fresh goat's blood that morning -- why, the slave still wasn't entirely sure. The Roman had mumbled something about properties and experiments, and had sent James off to bleed a goat. "Just a bit," he'd said, indicating with his thumb and forefinger the amount the slave should draw. "Don't kill it or Longinus will make me replace the damn thing out of my pay." The liquid in question had to be absolutely fresh, and so off James had gone to the small goat herd that accompanied the Army group on its travels.

He had heard the goats before he could see them; their tinkling neck bells carried in the cold air. A strong headache he'd been fighting all morning suddenly worsened, and perhaps he hadn't looked carefully enough before picking his step, or perhaps the ravine had been too well disguised by the snow, but either way the result was the same.

James lay on his back, the wind knocked out of him, looking up into the iron-gray sky. A few crows circled overhead -- eternal camp followers of the avian kind. For a few minutes he was afraid to move. His left knee ached where he'd apparently banged it on a rock on the way down, and his ribs on his right side felt a little strained. His right forearm was trapped under his back, and when he gingerly tried to move it out, his right wrist flared with a bolt of pain that made his stomach turn over and sweat pop from his forehead.

He lay there for a few more minutes, growing progressively colder despite his woollen cloak. It was snowing again, fat wet flakes drifting down like little paper birds. I have to move, he thought, or I may freeze here. Summoning all his strength, he rolled onto his stomach. His wrist objected strenuously to the movement, sending another stabbing pain up his arm. He forced himself to ignore it and slowly, carefully, used his left arm to push himself to his knees. It was from this position that he puked into the pristine snow.

James knelt, panting like a dog, and after a while used a handful of clean snow to scrub out his mouth. Moving as slowly as before, he got to his feet and stood, swaying. When the nausea passed and the swaying stopped, he started walking.

It was one of the goatherds who saw him first. The boy was sandy-haired, with a sprinkle of freckles across his nose, and he'd stared at in alarm at James's stumbling gait. James had tried to speak to him but the boy had taken off running for the camp, and it was shortly after that that the soldiers had come and thrown him face-down over a horse like a sack of meal.

He vaguely remembered the return trip as being a painfully jarring experience. It hadn't been until the surgeon waved an ammonia-soaked rag under his nose that he was fully aware of his surroundings.

He was lying on a cot in the medical tent, warm blankets piled on top of him. His right wrist was splinted and wrapped from palm to mid-forearm; it ached fiercely but the bolts of pain had subsided. The Roman surgeon sat on a stool next to him, a curious expression on his face.

"Did you get the blood?" he asked.

The slave gaped at him, speechless, and the surgeon relented.

"A joke," he said. "You took quite a fall, but you don't appear to have broken anything major. You may have a tiny fracture in your wrist that I can't detect, but even if you do it will heal with time."

He tapped his staff on the ground a few times. "Yes. Well, you should get some more rest now," and he stood as if to go.

The slave struggled with the blankets, trying to throw them off. "Wait," he said, "the tinctures still need compounding today, and --"

The Roman's hand was on his chest, gently pushing the slave back down. "The tinctures can wait. Rest."

The two men looked at each other, and the slave finally looked down.

"Thank you, my lord," he said, softly.

There was a short silence. When the surgeon spoke, his tone was brusque. "Do you know how many leagues we are from the nearest real town? If you had died I couldn't have gotten another slave for weeks -- I would have had to use one of these clod-hopper farm boys the Army recruits straight out of the countryside as an assistant. Now get some rest."

It was an order, and James obeyed.

James liked Gaul. It was warm.

The late-October fields were mixed green and golden, the vineyards lush with ripe grapes. The sun poured down, caressing the land with its gentle warmth. The only snow was on the mountains behind them, retreating into the middle distance as the Cohort advanced onto the Gaulish plains.

The surgeon noticed James smiling.

"Like this place?" he asked.

James nodded. The Roman made a sound halfway between a laugh and a snort. "Hold onto that feeling," he said. "The Channel crossings from Portus Itius this time of year can be quite an adventure."

The slave glanced curiously at the surgeon. The Roman's face was unreadable, and James looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. After a moment, though, he straightened and patted the neck of the roan pony. He'd crossed the Mare Nostrum from Judea to Hispania, after all -- a longer sea-journey than the one approaching. How bad could it be?

James wanted to die. If this was the way Britannia greeted all her sea visitors, how much worse would the land be?

He clung to the side of the ship, his guts roiling and clenching. The heavy troop transport bucked and pitched in the storm like an unbroken horse fighting to throw off its rider. He'd heaved over the side until there was nothing left to bring up, but still his body insisted on trying. Sheets of rain lashed the deck as sailors and Marines stumbled about, skating and skidding on the wet wood. Bolts of lightning split the night, and the resulting thunderclaps seemed to shake the heavens. Unbidden, a line by Propertius sprang to mind: The waves have no gods.

The surgeon, of course, seemed to be enjoying it all. He stood on the deck, braced hard against his black oak staff. His face was turned up into the rain, and it coursed down his face like wanton tears. The slave watched him closely, and saw when the Roman's eyes changed, widening in surprise. In the next instant, he was being summoned.

"James! Look at this!"

The slave dragged himself away from shipside and staggered to stand next to the surgeon. The older man put out a hand, steadying himself against James's shoulder, and used his staff to point upwards. "Look," he shouted. James looked, squinting up into the driving rain and wind, and felt his breath stop in his throat.

Fire. Blue fire, dancing around the top of the mast and the ends of the spars, trailing off as a flaming torch leaves a sparkling, dying path behind it. The experienced sailors paid it no mind, but some of the younger crew also stood, transfixed at the sight.

"Corpusants," the Roman said. "I've made many crossings, but never seen them till now."

James's sickness was forgotten as he and the surgeon stood, united in silent awe, watching the blue lightning burn without visible diminishment.

"If only I could capture such matter -- in a jar or flask ..." the Roman was thinking out loud, and for a moment James was terrified that the surgeon would send him scrambling up the storm-wracked mast on just such a task. Judging from the other man's speculative look, the Roman had been considering exactly that. The surgeon glanced up again, and the slave allowed himself a sigh of relief.

The eerie blue fire continued to flicker, keeping its essential nature a secret. The Roman turned away, and only James heard him say, "So many puzzles -- too many for one life."

Britain was still wet. And gray, and cold, but mostly wet. It had been like this all the way from the coast, and from Londinium to the encampment.

James's head still hurt, but at least the medical tent was finally up. The rain was tapering off and the surgeon, relieved, had taken off his helmet. James would've liked nothing more than to stoke up the firepots and dry off; the Roman, of course, had other ideas. He'd seen what looked like a new variety of thistle off the trail, and there was no time like the present to go back and look for it.

James had briefly attempted to dissuade him. "My lord, the centurion Longinus warned of brigands --"

The Roman had snorted in derision. "Longinus worries too much. There are no brigands within ten leagues of here." And off they had gone.

Both men were still on their hands and knees, noses a fingers-breadth from the ground, when the Roman said, "Well, isn't this an awkward situation?" His voice was dry and toneless, and James looked up from his own attempt at trying to discern the leaf-pattern on the tiny green plant. It was only then that he saw the source of the surgeon's observation, and the sudden fear that washed over him took his breath away.

The five Britons on horseback were watching them, seemingly amused at the sight of the two men on the ground. They were bundled in furs and mismatched pieces of Roman and native armor, and they were heavily armed. James had no idea how they'd managed to get so close, but here they were.

The surgeon sat back on his heels slowly, carefully favoring his right leg, and rested against the trunk of the oak beside him. He laid his staff across his lap, stretched both legs out in the wet grass and patted the ground, motioning James to sit next to him.

The brigands laughed, and one of them said something in a harsh, guttural dialect. James understood none of it, but a glance at the surgeon's narrowed eyes told him he did. The slave looked casually towards their horses, but the chestnut mare and roan pony were too far away.

Knowing their prey was well-snared, the five raiders began to talk amongst themselves.

"Take a good look at them, James," the Roman said, his voice barely above a whisper. "The last proud remnants of Queen Boudica's army that stood against us at Manduessedum." His eyes were fixed on their captors.

"What happened at Manduessedum?" James whispered back.

"We slaughtered them," the Roman replied. "And then we killed their women. And children." His eyes turned towards James. "Even their pack animals. It was a bloody day."

James tried to swallow. "What are they talking about?"

The surgeon squinted a bit, concentrating. "Whether to hold me for ransom or kill me now," he said. He seemed remarkably unconcerned, and James stared at him. "They'll probably offer you your freedom," he continued, "but it will be a lie. They can make more money taking and reselling you to some merchant." The Roman rubbed gently at this thigh. "It remains to be seen if I'm worth the trouble to keep alive."

James felt the cold eyes of the leader on him, and decided to stare back. Trapped, he thought. Might as well die as the free man I was born.

The brigand leader used his unsheathed sword to point at the iron cuff on James's left wrist, and said something. James heard the surgeon give a soft sigh next to him. "Come here, slave," the renegade leader said, in horribly accented Latin. "We won't hurt you."

James stayed where he was, and the brigand frowned.

"I said come here," he snarled, and one of the other men lowered his sharp-bladed lance until the spear point hovered in front of James's chest.

"Go, James," the Roman said softly. "No sense in both of us dying here today."

The slave looked into the surgeon's eyes. There was an unexpected gentleness there, and the older man nodded once.

James rose to his feet, trying to keep his knees from shaking, and walked unsteadily towards the brigand chief until he was standing next to the man's horse. This close, the stink of unwashed bodies filled his nostrils, and he tried not to gag.

The Briton reversed his sword, holding it out so James could take it by the hilt. He looked up in surprise, and the brigand pushed the sword pommel closer. "Take," he said, and motioned towards the surgeon still sitting against the tree. "You are a slave. Kill him. Take your freedom."

James was still staring at the naked blade in front of him. Something hard and sharp pressed at the back of his neck. If I don't take the sword, they'll kill me and then the Roman, he thought. He took the sword.

It was heavy and solid in his hands, the leather-wrapped hilt nestling into his palm as if coming home. He turned back towards the surgeon, who watched him approach. Dimly, James could hear the five raiders laughing. He and the Roman stared at each other.

"James," the surgeon said finally. His voice was soft and steady, with no fear behind it. "You have been a good servant, and a better companion. I wish we had met under different circumstances." He tilted his head back, baring his throat. "Make it quick," he said.

James stood, frozen. He could feel last season's knobbly acorns through his sandals, hear the laughter behind him grow in volume. On the breeze, he caught the rank odor of their captors again as kept his eyes fixed on the Roman.

I probably would've been dead by now if the surgeon hadn't claimed me. Beaten to death in a drunken rage by my former master. He took me and my life changed. The Roman had been civilization again after so much time in darkness. He thought of the medical texts, the idle conversations and musings, the slowly growing trust, the beginning ...

A slave, yet you remain true to your medical oath, as if it mattered now.
You can read, can't you?
I told him not to hurt you .
As long as you keep moving, you're alive.
Teach me to count to ten ... in Aramaic.

His head was filled with a buzzing sound that only seemed to get louder with every passing second. Teach me to count to ten ... in Aramaic. Teach me ...

"James." The Roman's rough voice pierced the buzzing. "Do not torture me. Do it."

Even if the surgeon is wrong and these Britons do give me my freedom, what life would I have here? I would be always on the run, and I do not speak their language ... There is no life for me without him.

James blinked, taking a deep breath. "I am sorry, Gregorius," he whispered, the surgeon's name strange on his tongue.

He turned away from the Roman, and in one swift, violent motion, plunged the sword into the soft earth. His legs gave way under him, and he sat down, hard.

He looked up at the brigand chief. "I will not do this thing."

The surgeon was breathing hard behind him. The Briton leader was staring at him. James was wondering exactly what he'd done and feeling very sick. The sword was still stuck in the ground in front of him.

"You are a fool," the brigand chief said at last.

"I'll agree with that," James heard the Roman's soft mumble.

There was a shout in the distance, and the raiders' heads snapped around, and then they were kicking their horses into a gallop, running flat out for the cover of the forest. A squadron of Roman cavalry was riding hard towards the two men.

It was a nice change, James reflected, not to be on the receiving end of the kind of tongue-lashing the surgeon had gotten. Longinus had been furious, and had actually forbidden the Roman to set foot outside the camp for the next week. There had been a lot more shouting than that, but the slave had missed some of it when Longinus lost his breath and was reduced to red-faced spluttering. He'd finally stomped off, still muttering angrily to himself.

As the centurion strode away, the surgeon turned towards James. "Well," he said. "At least one good thing came of this." He reached into a tunic pocket and pulled out a wilted green stalk. It was the thistle they'd gone looking for.

James lay staring up at the tent ceiling. The Roman had been asleep for hours -- James could hear his soft, regular breathing. An owl called from somewhere nearby, and James sat up. Throwing off his blankets, he stood up and made his way to the surgeon's cot.

One of the tent flaps was still partly open, and the light from the full moon streamed in, illuminating the corner where the Roman lay. James looked down at him. The surgeon's face was relaxed in sleep, the ever-present beard stubble providing a natural shadow to the line of his jaw.

I chose slavery today, James thought. Regardless of what you said, I may have had a chance at freedom and I chose ... slavery. His hands clenched at his sides and he brought them, shaking, to his forehead. The iron cuff on his left wrist touched his cheek. It was cold.

"James?" The surgeon was half-awake, murmuring sleepily. "What's wrong?"

The slave quickly dropped his fists, forcing himself to take a deep breath. "Nothing, my lord," he answered softly. "I thought I heard you call out."

"Mmmmm," the Roman mumbled. "Go back to bed." He shifted a little in his cot and looked up at James. He was more awake now. "It was a trying day -- for both of us."

The slave nodded, and turned back towards his rough nest of blankets.

"James," the surgeon said. "Thank you."

James stopped, and faced the surgeon again. "You're welcome ... Gregorius," he whispered, but the Roman had turned on his side and was already sliding into sleep.

James looked at him for a moment longer, then started again for his makeshift bed.

For well or for ill, he thought, our fates seem to be bound together. I wonder what the future will bring.

(Not) The End

Time carries all things; length of days knows how to change name and shape and nature and fortune.
-- Plato