The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff

On the night of his escape, he sees Hengest hosting Vortigern and his son Vortimer, and Hengest's daughter Rowena publicly ingratiates herself with Vortigern. In Hengest's settlement, he meets Flavia, who has a son and is married to her captor, to Aquila's betrayed horror (7). In spring of the third year, Bruni dies (5), and Thormod is one of the Ullasfjord settlers who answer Hengest's call to settle the island of Tanatus, granted to him by Vortigern after the Auxiliaries' departure he takes Aquila with him, who still hopes to find Flavia and kill the traitor (6). He spends almost three years as a thrall in Ullasfjord, a poor settlement in Juteland, where he hears that his father was betrayed to Vortigern and Hengest by his messenger (4). He decides that his loyalty is to Britain and deserts, lighting the Rutupiae beacon one last time before the fortress is abandoned (2).Ī few nights after his return, Aquila's home is raided by Saxons who kill Flavian and the rest of the household, abduct Flavia, and leave Aquila for dead, but he is found by another band of raiders and taken as a thrall by Thormod as a gift for his grandfather Bruni (3).

Aquila is suddenly recalled to the Saxon Shore fortress of Rutupiae, where the Auxiliaries have been summoned to withdraw permanently to Gaul. 2.2 Chronological inconsistencies with Sword at SunsetĪquila, an eighteen-year-old officer of Auxiliary cavalry, comes home on leave to find his father Flavian and sister Flavia involved in a Romano-British conspiracy to invite the Roman general Aetius to come to the aid of Ambrosius, son of the assassinated High King Constantine, against his uncle king Vortigern the Red Fox and his Saxon mercenary settlers led by Hengest (1).

The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff