Chapter One

The watch bell tolled twice as Martin went through the postern gate, and it was a full minute later before he heard the rushed footsteps behind him as Sean caught him up.

"The Thane will be having your guts for gaiters if he finds out." Martin said, having to shout to make himself heard above the rushing of the wind as they left the relative shelter of Milecastle and headed out onto the wall. "I hope she was worth it."

"Every minute and some more besides," the younger man said with a smile and a lascivious rub of his groin. "I'm surprised that I'm even able to walk."

Martin often wondered how Sean managed it. At nearly twenty Martin was two years older, but so far his only conquests had been on the training fields for battle. Whereas Sean already seemed to have worked his way through all the available women in the village - and some of the not so available ones.

"Besides," Sean continued, "The old man will be tucked up in his bed with the Good Book by now - it is only lost sinners like you and I who would be out and about on such a night. And I have no intention of telling anyone else how the Fisherman's wife spends her nights. Not even your father."

He waved a hand expansively and, as if on cue, the wind raised itself up a notch and the rain splattered more heavily against their faces.

"You wouldn't go telling the old man on me. Would you?" Sean said, and the ever present smile was on his face. "After all, telling tales is a sin."

"My only sin was to stop you getting yourself killed by Edward Shoreman" Martin replied. "If I hadn't come into that byre when I did he would have found you and his wife instead of me."

"Aye, there's truth in that I suppose," said Sean. "But at least I didn't try to burn down the barn to hide the evidence."

Martin's ears burned. It was two weeks ago now. He'd only gone into the barn to check on a pregnant heifer. The surprise he'd got when he found Sean and the fisherman's wife together had made him drop the torch he was carrying, and the resultant flames had almost reached the barn roof before he and Sean managed to subdue them. They'd been found by the watch, smoke blackened and charred, standing in the ruins of the fire and laughing at the top of their voices.

It was probably the laughing that had caused the Thane to award them penal watch duty - the Keeper of Milecastle was not keen on any personal enjoyment getting in the way of duty.

"Seems you got all of the shame and none of the pleasure. But never mind," said Sean, wrinkling his nose to emphasise the point. "She smells of herring anyway."

That brought laughter from them both before they took another long look round, assessing the weather.

"Are we heading out onto the tops, or shall we just wait here and say later that all is quiet?" Sean said. "No one else will be out on a night like this - we may as well take it easy."

But after the escapade in the barn Martin was loath to risk the Thane's wrath again. Besides, although Sean believed them less than worthwhile, Martin took his watch duties seriously.

"You wait here if you want to," he said to the younger man. "I'll just have a quick tour and check in with the next watch up the line."

Sean laughed again.

"You can't think I'd let you out there on your own do you - there might be some farmer's daughter needing rescuing. Come on then. What are we waiting for?"

The first hundred yards were uphill into the wind and a small river of muddy water ran down the well-trodden path. They had to be careful to avoid soaking their boots - they both knew from long experience how long it would take to dry out afterwards. They walked on in silence, climbing higher along the ridge above Milecastle, both of them needing all their breath to force a passage against the elements.

The wind had been howling for three days now, a storm from the east that whistled across the high tops and dumped sudden squalls of sleeting rain in the valleys. The sheep had all been brought in off the hills and the only living things abroad in the night were the watch guards and the occasional rook caw-cawing overhead as it struggled to make headway.

The path got much steeper here, the ground beneath their feet slippery with mud and wet grass. The rain reached a new level of intensity, small biting flurries battering against the men's cheeks and plastering their already wet clothing against their damp bodies. The blackness was complete, and only the fact that they knew this path well kept them from straying.

Martin looked out over the wall and wondered, as he did every day, if the watch was fulfilling any useful purpose and realising, again as he did every day, that it didn't matter if nothing ever came out of the North. The only thing that mattered was that the people of his small community knew that the watch were keeping them safe. He turned and looked back down the valley to his home.

The fort of Milecastle butted up hard against the old Roman fortifications. It had originally been no more than a square keep. But after the battles against the Bruce it had been rebuilt in the Norman manner and, over the years, had grown extensions and enhancements and turrets until it now sprawled over twenty acres or more. Only the north facing wall surviving unscathed and unchanged.

To the south of the castle there was a wide area of open farmland, pastures and crop fields laboriously dug and maintained from the continually wet soil by generations of farmers. They bred them hardy enough around here, and with the requisite lack of imagination to survive in the constant shadow of menace.

But all that was only to be seen in the daylight. Now there was only more darkness. Barely visible, tiny lights flickered in some of the high windows of the castle and Martin knew that Sean had been wrong about the old man being abed. The Thane would be sitting in one of those windows, his gaze always fixed to the North, waiting for an enemy who had never come.

Suddenly Sean pulled Martin into the lee of the wall.

"Lets wait this out - it can't get much worse."

Martin wasn't so sure, but was grateful for the rest even though the wall did little to shield them from the cutting wind.

"And at least we got a first." Sean said as he checked along the top of the wall to ensure that the chain of bulbs was secure. "You're the first son of a Thane ever to get penal guard duty at night ."

Martin groaned.

"There is no need to remind me. It is something my father is never going to let me forget."

And as he said it he knew it was true. It was going to be many months before the Thane trusted him again, either as a leader or as his father. Martin had disappointed him on both counts.

The memory of the tongue-lashing he had received was too fresh, too raw. It was time to get Sean off the subject.

"But the guard is not the hardship it once was. They have not breached the wall for nigh on a hundred years. Not since the Old Protector sent them back to their mountains and executed the Blood King. I have heard that there are few left, even in the high places, and that people have gone ashore from the Islands and are rebuilding the towns."

"Aye. That story has been around the castle walls a few times," Sean said. "But I put as much faith in that as I do in the one about the Boy King from France coming back to reclaim the bloodline. Watch the walls, keep the bulbs fresh, and the other side can rot and fester till they have to feast on themselves - that's what I say."

"At least you and the Thane agree on something then." Martin said, getting a grunt in reply from Sean.

This was leading to an old conversation between them. Sean wanted to be doing something else, somewhere else, anywhere that wasn't this small community ringed by wall, fort and duty. Once he'd got as far as Carlisle before the officers of the watch had found him and whipped him into submission, for a couple of months anyway.

Martin's life was bound up in his duty, to his father, to the watch and to the town that he knew would one day be under his Thaneship. That's the way it had been for over four hundred years, the mantle passing from father to son, the reason lost somewhere in time.

Many times, as boys and men, they had stood on this wall together, Sean wondering what was out there in the wilderness beyond, Martin worrying that someday they might find out.

Sean saw Martin look out over the wall.

"I doubt if they're coming tonight. Let's just get the round done. This wind is likely to shrivel my manhood so much that the fisherwife is likely to mistake me for her husband."

Sean laughed, but Martin could only manage a smile. Something was abroad in the night, he could feel it, and it laid a damper on his spirits.

They moved away from the wall and back to the path. Martin noticed with some dismay that the wall was beginning to crumble in places. He knew for certain that his father would have to know, just as he also knew for certain that he would be back out here with a work team in the morning.

Ten minutes later they reached the top of the ridge. Up here the wind howled even harder and the rain battered heavily against their heads. Martin noticed with dismay that the watch they were supposed to meet, here halfway between their stations, was nowhere to be seen.

"At least someone has more sense than ourselves," Sean said. But Martin knew it as just another thing to add to the list to report to the Thane. And if he knew his father, then these missing watchmen would regret missing their duty - they would be lucky to escape with only a flogging.

They waited on the top for ten minutes, but it was obvious that there would be no one to make the allotted appointment. After checking that the bulbs were still in place they turned back, happy to finally have the wind behind them.

"The Thane is truly sorely vexed with you?" Sean asked, and this time it was Martin's turn to grunt in reply.

"Aye," he said. "But I believe that it's more disappointment than anger. It will pass. But I will be out here on many nights like this before it does."

"Then I will be here with you. After all, it was my pleasure that brought your pain. We will take our punishment together."

He punched Martin on the shoulder.

"Brothers?" he asked.

"Always," Martin replied, and returned the punch.

Together they headed back towards home, hearth and warmth. Martin could just make out the watchlight on the postern gate about a hundred yards ahead of them when Sean pulled at his arm and pointed out over the wall and into the darkness beyond.

"Look." There was a tremor in his voice, a tone that Martin had never heard there before, a tremor that spoke of fear. "There's someone on the road."

At first Martin could see nothing but more rain and more blackness. It was impossible. Nothing had moved on that road in his lifetime, and for someone, or something, to be doing so now, in darkness, was almost inconceivable. He suspected a prank, remembering their conversation less than a quarter hour before.

Then he saw the light, a faintest glimmer of spluttering red and orange that bobbed and weaved as it followed the path of the old road that led to the long-closed watchgate of Milecastle.

Martin saw that it would be only a matter of minutes before whoever was out there reached the gate. He broke into a run and heard Sean following behind him.

David Brown was on guard at the gate, a youngster of barely fifteen summers.

"You saw it?" he asked. "Should we call out the watch?"

That had been Martin's first reaction, but it looked like there was only one light and, after the debacle in the byre, he was loath to incur the Thane's displeasure again so soon.

"Let's leave it until we know more," he replied. "We won't have to wait long. You stay out of sight," he said to the young man. "And at the first sign of trouble, then you can ring the bell as much as you want."

The lad didn't look too displeased at the prospect and when Martin and Sean turned towards the gate he was already holding tight on the bellrope, his eyes wide and staring.

For the first time that night Martin felt the lack of his old musket and missed the heavy weight of his sword - two more casualties of the episode in the barn.

"Well, what do we do now?" Sean asked and Martin saw that the fear had left him as quick as it had come. Now there was only nervous anticipation.

He didn't have time to answer as a voice came from behind the gate.

"Sanctuary. Sanctuary. A Christian man and his family request sanctuary."

Whatever Martin had expected from beyond the wall it certainly hadn't been a Christian. He climbed the stairs beside the heavy oak gate and looked down onto the road below.

The voice's owner was a heavy built, heavily bearded man of about fifty. He was standing beside a small, stocky horse on which there was another, smaller, person whose features were completely wrapped up against the weather.

The bearded man raised a small brass oil lamp above his head and looked up at the figures on the wall.

"Sanctuary," the voice cried again. "In the name of Jesus Christ, sanctuary."

"He's one of us" Sean whispered. "The Others would never be able to use the name of our Lord."

Martin wanted to agree, but he had to be sure - the Thane would expect no less.

"The watch has orders not to allow anyone to pass by night," he shouted. "Come back in the morning and we will welcome you gladly. It is many years since we had news from beyond the wall."

The heavy set man moved away from the pony and approached the wall until he was standing beneath Martin. He was dressed in the Highland style that Martin had heard of, but never seen - a heavy plaid over the top of a knee length kilt, their colours indistinguishable in the gloom. He was older than he had first appeared, and a recent scar ran in a livid line from just below his left eye to the point of his jaw. Now that Martin could see him more clearly the extra gray in his hair and at his temples was more noticeable, but his eyes were blue and fierce and when he opened his mouth his teeth, although somewhat decayed, looked normal.

"If it's news you are wanting I have plenty of that, and your elders are going to want to know about it tonight, not tomorrow. But have pity - my daughter is sick and needs heat and warmth if she is to survive this night."

Martin was beginning to waver, but Sean's next action settled the issue. The younger man lifted a bulb from the wall in front of him and tossed it to the man below.

The man caught it in one hand and, when he saw what it was, let out a laugh.

"What is this - an Englishman's idea of hospitality? Do you want me to plant it or rub it over my body?"

"Neither," Sean said. "You must eat it. It is the first test."

"A test now is it? Ah well, I've been tested before and have yet to be found wanting." He peeled the rough skin from the bulb and raised it to his mouth.

"Do I really need to eat this to prove what I am?"

Martin nodded and the bearded man shrugged, popped the clove into his mouth, chewed and swallowed. He grimaced and Sean suddenly had a dagger in his hand ready to throw.

The Scotsman rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand then laughed, with little humour.

"By God you grow an astringent herb in these parts - I've never tasted stronger - it'll be coming out in my sweat for weeks."

He threw back his head and laughed again, heartily this time.

"Here I am expecting a musket ball for my troubles, and I get two lads feeding me garlic."

He looked up at Martin.

"And now that I've passed your wee test do you think you might open the gate? Or do I have to report to my countrymen that English hospitality is all that they suspect it to be?"

Martin and Sean looked at each other. Sean nodded, and after a second, Martin did the same before turning back to the Scotsman.

"I will let you enter," said Martin. "But you will be taken before the Thane - he will decide what must be done. But I tell you this sir, you will find that English hospitality is well served in the house of the Thane of Milecastle."

"Fine words lad, but it's time for actions. Do you open that muckle gate, or do I stand here until the rain rots it away?"

Martin sent young David ahead to rouse the Thane's household before he went to help Sean pull open the twin doors of the gate. Long unused hinges squealed in protest, and it took a great push from the man on the other side before they finally swung ajar.

The bearded man led the pony through, then helped Martin and Sean swing the doors close and drop the bolts.

When the job was completed he held out a hand that engulfed Martin's when he took it.

"Duncan Campbell at your service young sirs. My sword is yours when you need an ally, my house is yours when you need a bed and let no man call me a liar."

He also shook hands with Sean and Martin was amused to notice that his friend came off worst when he tried to match grips. Duncan Campbell might look like an old man, but he had a strength that matched and then beat the best that Milecastle had to offer.

"We have thought for all these years that there were only the Others beyond the wall," Sean said.

The man's face was serious as he replied.

"Aye. For many years that's almost all there was. Some of us managed - and still do. But for how much longer I wonder?"

He shook his head as if to clear it.

"But that's a story for your Thane and the elders of this fine place. Meanwhile, would you be having a physician? My daughter is in sore need of help."

Predictably Sean was first to respond at any mention of a female, but he had only got as far as moving towards the pony when the militia arrived in the small courtyard in front of the gate - all twenty of them armed to the teeth and spoiling for a fight. It looked like young Brown had done more than just raise the household - it looked like he had declared a full scale invasion.

Martin caught Duncan Campbell's arm as it was heading for his sword.

"No man. You are under my protection. Sanctuary is what you asked for, and I'll make sure you get it. Did you hear that," he said, raising his voice. "This man is under my personal protection."

"We must stake him," a voice said, but it didn't sound like there was the will for the task.

"There'll be no staking. This man asked for sanctuary in the Lord's name, and he passed the test of the bulb. Any harm comes to him from any of you and they'll have to answer to me."

He thought he heard a snort of derision from Sean but he had the attention of the rest of them. He dispatched young Brown to fetch the physician and led his new found responsibilities towards the main hall where he knew he'd have to answer to his father.

"Let me talk to the Thane first," he said to Duncan in a low voice that wouldn't carry to the rest. "He is not a man to take in travellers readily - even those from this side of the wall."

He was vaguely aware that Sean was sticking very close to the wrapped figure on the pony, and wondered if he should have insisted on talking to her before opening the gate. But it was too late for recriminations - his father would be waiting on the high seat.

They had just passed into the central quadrangle when young Brown returned at a run.

"The physician says he does not make calls on travellers at this time of the night, but if they would go to him, he will see them in his rooms," he said, one hand clasped tight to his dagger the whole time.

"Sean?" Martin said in a low voice. "Will you take charge of the girl?"

He saw the eager look in the younger man's eye.

"I'm trusting you with this," Martin said. "Maybe we have made a mistake here, but I don't think so. The Thane however might see things differently."

Sean looked Duncan Campbell in the eye.

"I request your leave to accompany your daughter to the physician," he said. "I pledge to you that I shall keep all harm from her."

"It's too late for that." Campbell muttered, but he took the outstretched hand that Sean offered.

"Look after her. I will look for you after we have seen your Elders, but if they will listen to my story it could be a long night. A long night for all of us."

Martin watched Sean lead the pony and its burden across the inner quadrangle. Suddenly he felt alone, a small boy again until a warm hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Come young sir." Campbell said. "And let us impress on your elders the urgency that my mission here demands."

The officers of the watch crowded around them, jostling and shoving, and Martin had to pull rank as an officer before they let both him and the Scotsman through.

They were stopped at the door to the large hall, which was closed for the first time in Martin's memory.

Young John Barnstable stood in front of it, a sword held in front of him.

"Halt, in the name of the Thane," he said, and there was a distinct tremble in his voice.

"Let me pass Johny," Martin said. But the younger man raised his sword higher.

"Tonight it is Officer Barnstable, sir," he said. "The Protector demands to know who asks for entry." The sword trembled slightly, but the voice was stronger now.

"The Protector is not here," Martin said, feeling the first flare of anger rise inside him. "I bring a Christian seeking sanctuary."

"That remains to be seen" the officer said.

"Aye, maybe," Martin said. "But it is for the Thane to decide, not you. Or your father."

He saw immediately that he had hit a nerve. The boy flinched, and did not protest when Martin stepped past him and pushed open the oak door.

The first thing that Martin noticed in the Great Hall was the heat. The fire in the huge hearth had recently been kindled with new wood added to the embers which had been lying there from the night before. The hall was filling up fast as the news of an arrival spread, and the mood was not good. Martin could see the distrust on faces that he was more used to see laughing, and there was enough weaponry on display to do battle with a small army.

The Thane's features mirrored those of his people, but he didn't speak as Martin approached him. The old man sat in the high chair, a rough cut granite block that was rumoured to be as old as the original fortifications on which the Thaneship was built. A local legend told that Hadrian himself had supervised the building of the wall from this very chair but at this moment Martin thought that no Emperor could have looked more imposing or more stern than the old Thane.

"Father," he began, but was stopped by a raised hand before he could continue.

"Your father is not here. Not this night. It is the Thane who will hear you." The voice was gruff and there was no trace of affection in the old man's eyes as he continued, raising his voice to ensure that the assembly could hear.

"Bring forth your traveller and let us judge his worth."

Campbell stepped forward. There was a murmur in the crowd, and a rattling of swords, but the Scotsman stood straight and tall and stared back at them. He cut an outlandish figure in this place of gray and black. The deep vibrant blue of his kilt and plaid seemed to shine in the candlelight and his hair, long and curly in the manner of old seemed to mock the severity of cut in evidence among the rest of the room. He still carried his sword, a long, ridiculously heavy thing. But Martin well remembered the stories of how the fighting Scots could remove a man's head with one cut, and didn't think anyone in the room would be willing to find out if they were true.

"I am Duncan Campbell, Clan Chief of the Campbells of Glenfinan, and I am in debt to your son for the giving of sanctuary."

His voice echoed around the room. Martin caught several glances being thrown his way, few of them friendly.

The Thane sighed deeply.

"We shall see which debts our watchman is responsible for presently," the old man said. "But first you must prove yourself before God."

"I tested him with the bulb," Martin began. "And he......"

Again he was silenced.

"Speak no more watchman. You have done enough for one night," said a voice from behind him. He didn't have to turn to recognise the speaker. William Barnstable walked forward to take his place at the Thane's side - Chief Constable, also owner of the byre so recently damaged, and the father of the boy who had barred their way to the hall.

The Constable had taken time to change into his uniform, the stark blackness of it in sharp contrast to Campbell's gaudy colours. His jaw was cleanly shaved, his tonsure neatly trimmed and the black leather of his boots was polished to a sheen. He well knew the impression he was giving - to the assembled throng he made Campbell look like a barbarian. When he spoke his voice rang with the practice of a seasoned orator.

"You have allowed a stranger to enter from beyond the wall. For that you will answer to the council."

Martin was about to speak again when a warning look from the Thane stopped him.

"Bring out the Bible, and let the Lord be judge," the Thane said.

They stood in silence as they waited for the book to be fetched, dark shadows flickering around them as the candles and the fire hissed and spluttered in the draughty hall.

The Bible was carried into the hall by John Barnstable, and although he had the strength built by many years of farm work, he struggled to keep hold of the massive book.

"This is the book of our fathers," the Thane said. "A record of our Thaneship and our succour in dark times. Come," he said to Duncan Campbell. "Come and lay your hand on it and show to me that my watchman has not been proved false."

Martin was about to step forward in protest, but was stopped by Duncan's hand on his arm.

"No son. Your father is right. This is necessary, and I would do the same if I were sitting in his place."

He stepped towards the Thane, and a quiet fell on the room. Somewhere someone cocked a pistol, and there was the loud whisper of a sword being drawn from a scabbard.

Duncan Campbell looked the Thane in the eye.

"In the name of the Holy Trinity I swear that I am a man and a man only, and that while I draw breath I will be in debt to your watchman, your son, who showed Christian charity in a dark place where few other men would have given it."

And saying that he placed his right hand on the Bible.

"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," he said, and the Thane echoed the words before stretching out a hand in welcome.

"Well met Campbell of Glenfinan."

William Barnstable stepped between them before they could clasp hands.

"That is not enough" he said. "We know nothing of this barbarian."

The Thane pushed the big man aside.

"We know he is a Christian. And if you cannot smell the bulb on his breath then it is time we had a new Constable. Shame on you William."

He raised his voice that the whole hall might hear.

"He has passed the tests of the bulb and the Book and has proved himself a man, and only a man. We will welcome him as friend and brother."

Another murmur went through the hall, louder this time, and the elder Barnstable shouted above it.

"No. It is a trick. No one has come from the other side for a hundred years. We cannot trust anyone who does so now."

A roar of assent greeted him and, not for the first time that night, Martin wished that he had not forfeited his weapons.

"And what would you have me do?" the Thane said, the sound of his voice instantly quieting the crowd. "Run him through the heart and see if he dies? You know as well as I do that only a man would pass the tests."

"Aye," said Campbell. "And I am a man who knew this test would come, but withstood it anyway, for I am a bearer of grave news that you need to hear, so let us talk and have no more of this nonsense."

"He mocks the tests," someone shouted.

"Barnstable is right," another voice proclaimed. "It's a trick. Kill him. Kill him now and be done with it."

Martin moved to stand beside Campbell.

"Anyone who wishes to harm this man will have to fight me first," he said, and was relieved to hear there was no tremor in his voice despite the sudden chill that seemed to flow in his veins. "I have given him Sanctuary. Would you have me made a liar and an oath-breaker?"

He looked at his father and was surprised to see a smile on the man's face.

"Duncan Campbell - you seem to have convinced my young watchman here, and as for myself, I am content with the results of the test and your fine speech. But have you anything else that might convince my Constable here?"

Duncan answered with a smile of his own.

"I'm afraid that the Constable will take more convincing than I am able to provide. But there is one more thing which the other fine people here might accept."

He drew aside his plaid and there, hanging down on his chest and plain to see by all, was a large, heavy, silver cross. He raised it to his lips and kissed it.