They entered the sanctuary before nightfall, anxious to be there before the blood-red disc of Lady Moon rose into the winter sky. Few noticed that their ranks had been infiltrated by a group of hooded figures. One was walking with bent knees to disguise his height. Another wore the robes of a high priest of the Duideth under his long cloak.
Tom led his party to the shelter of a large standing stone and waited for the night's proceedings to begin. Thunder stood on one side and Aaroen on the other. They crouched down and watched as the priests left the sacred grove and walked in procession towards the awaiting crowd.
They were led by their Grand Master, Grimwald, who strode in front dressed in a white robe and carrying a staff. The crowd parted to let him pass. Tom noticed that the men stood on one side and the women on the other. In Gorm there was no such segregation. The sexes mixed and festivals were noisy affairs with lots of booze and laughter.
The procession entered the circle of stones and Grimwald advanced to the centre. Cymbals clashed and he held up the staff with the golden disk, grasping it in his outstretched arm as a wizard might hold a wand. The crowd fell silent.
Tom didn't like the way the priest had captured their attention. And he didn't like the way he was watching the moon as it passed between the stones. The Grand Master looked far more like an astronomer than the bungling idiot Aaroen had described.
Some might regard the staff with the golden disc was an instrument of divine power. To Tom it looked more like an astronomical instrument. Grimwald was moving it from side to side as if taking measurements.
It wasn't difficult to see why the Duideth were held in such awe. The circle of standing stones was like a vast outdoor theatre. Grimwald no longer looked small. The Grand Master stood, in his flowing robes, silhouetted against the moonlit sky.
'Blessed Lord. Send us a sign.'
He cried out it the native language.
'Let your ascendancy begin.'
He raised his staff and the crowd watched as the moon passed over the big dolmen at the top of the hill. Tom guessed that the crucial moment had arrived. If the priests had got it right the eclipse would start and no one would doubt the supremacy of the Duideth.
Aaroen appeared as confident as ever. The former priest held a parchment scroll and stood erect, beside the stone, as if preparing to take part in a learned debate. Minutes passed and nothing happened. Tom began to relax. There was no sign of an eclipse. He guessed his hunch had been right. Eclipses are damn difficult to predict. The chance of getting it right with a ring of stones is exceedingly low.