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“Yes!” Em waved at her find, and continued carefully brushing away the dirt surrounding it as the viscount came to crouch beside her and look. “It’s bronze. The green corrosion should clean up. I can’t wait to see what it looks like restored. Oh, this is marvelous.”

“What is it exactly?” asked Emrys.

“A shield boss!” said Em, grinning at him. “And I think it has a Celtic design. Deo, this confirms our burial is an Anglo-Celtic warrior, yes?”

“It would seem likely, Em. We need to try to identify the names if we can. But it is strongly suggestive, I would say,”

Emrys fetched the duke, duchess, and viscountess down to watch Em carefully clearing the shield boss and its surrounds.

“The wooden shield it was attached to has rotted away, but if we’re lucky we might find the metal bar grip if this is from a round shield. The later ones had leather straps and were shaped like kites.” Her brush swept wider and found something else. “Deo!” Her excited cry had him moving closer.

“Deo, I think there is an outer ring from the shield! Look!” She dusted furiously and revealed a concentric ring of metal about four inches wide surrounding the inner boss about eight inches farther out. “Oh, I have to sketch this!” she said, removing the last of the debris from the top of the find. The outer ring was also corroded green and hinted at some sort of pattern embossed into the surface.

Deo returned to his careful removal and dusting and was rewarded a few minutes later by a find that took his breath away.

“Em—”

She looked up from her sketchbook. “What have you found?”

“I think,” he said, dusting carefully, and trying not to let his voice shake, “I’ve found an Anglo-Saxon drinking horn with silver mounts.”

“No!” Em got up and came round to his side to look as he sat back a bit to show her. The conical shape of the horn was clear, and the darkly tarnished mounts hinted that they were silver. “Celtic and Anglo-Saxon finds in the one burial?”

He nodded. “It certainly suggests our fellow could claim descent from both. He must be a Briton or a Saxon with a significant British heritage.”

“But for the British elements to have survived Roman occupation in this area suggests a strong influence of some kind.”

“It does. Or connections to the north or west which were still firmly under British control at that time.” He delicately dusted round the horn, which appeared to be lying on more fragments of disintegrated wood. He looked around at Emrys standing behind him. “Can your wife draw? I think we are going to need more than one artist to capture these finds.”

“She can,” said Emrys. “I’ll fetch her.”

The finds came thick and fast after that, and Deo and Em were unwilling to leave the tomb for luncheon, so the meal came to them. They sat on a blanket by the mound and ate, then the whole team resumed working.

The remains of the body were found beneath the plethora of finds that included weapons and jewelry, glass cups, and even a fragment of cloth, mineralized by being attached to a brooch. Amazingly, a more or less complete skeleton was recovered from beneath the grave goods that had been piled on top of him.

By Deo’s estimation, the presumed male was approximately five foot eight inches tall. The skull was proportional to the body with most of its teeth intact, if a little worn, indicating that the man was probably middle aged. A break in the cranium, consistent with a blade, seemed a likely indication of the cause of death.

Noting this, Em said, “So he is a warrior!”

“Yes, it seems so.” Deo smiled at her excitement.

But the prize find was discovered last, buried beneath the body. They almost missed it.

It was growing dark by the time they removed the last of the bones and placed them carefully in labeled boxes. Em was scraping the bottom of the burial pit for any more fragments of wood or bone when her trowel hit something. She scraped at it and revealed a gleam of gold.

“Deo!” she squealed, using her brush to sweep the dirt away from the object.

Deo turned back from the entrance and, stooping over, he came toward her.

“What—” He stopped, stunned.

Almost speechless with excitement, Em waved at the convex curve of gold revealed by her brush. It took another ten minutes of careful brush work and digging to reveal the item and remove it from its earthen bed. It was a gold goblet, with a flared base and globe shape, like a large marble, between the base and the cup part of the goblet. It was plain and smooth, no decoration. But despite being buried in the earth for hundreds of years, it gleamed like new, which meant it had to be solid gold.

After wrapping it in cloth and transferring it reverently to a box while the others looked on in awe, Deo carried it to the surface. It was almost dark now.

Weary but happy, the excavation party loaded the boxes and baskets onto a cart and wheeled it carefully back to the house, where the items were carried reverentially into the library and laid out on the big trestle tables that had been set up there for the purpose. Deo and Em had days of careful examination and recording ahead of them.

But for tonight, a bath, dinner, and sleep were high on the agenda. Over dinner, the excavation party entertained Kenrick and Bidenden with tales of what had been discovered. Deo let Emrys and Rob do most of the talking. He was done in—and content. They had uncovered and captured a major find. He would get plenty of opportunities to address the Antiquaries Society on the topic and write papers about their comes. With Em’s help. He was determined she should fully share the credit for the discovery. Which would no doubt put several learned gentlemen’s noses out of joint, who thought women weren’t good for anything except having babies.

He glanced at Em and caught her yawning behind her hand. The emotions of the day, coming on top of yesterday’s drama, were no doubt exhausting.

He thought about sweeping her off upstairs to bed, to pick up where they had left off last night. But they were both so tired that further amorous adventures might have to wait. But a man could dream, couldn’t he?