Page 13 of Boudicca

“Your homes will burn. Your women will burn. Your children will burn. You will all—every one of you—suffer more than my daughters and my tribe. You will cry out for mercy and you will be shown none, because, Caius Decianus, through my blood and with my goddess-blessed breath, I have cursed you unto death!”

As I pronounced the last two words of the curse,unto death,every raven took wing from the oak and circled so low over me that Decianus cringed away from them, before they flew into the fog and disappeared.

“I said shut up!” The procurator struck me across the face, knocking me onto the ground.

Through vision blurred by sweat and blood, I watched him turn his back to me and walk hastily to his horse. He gestured wildly at the gaping soldiers.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Move out! We have more of these Brittani to attend to, and this rabble has cost us far too much time. Thankfully, I need not return to this pathetic village until after harvest to collect that which is owed us.” But the soldiers around him were staring at my torn body and made no move to obey his command. Decianus picked up the bloody whip and cracked it over his head, drawing every man’s attention to him. “Shall I inform Paulinus his soldiers disobeyed my order? I said we return now! I need a bath and a drink.”

Silent and subdued, the Romans withdrew. The men who emerged from the hut were laughing. As they observed the somber expressions on the faces of their comrades, they, too, went silent, so that, soundlessly, the Roman centuria disappeared into the fen like wraiths returning to their graves.

Chapter VI

The rage that roiled within me was second only to my need to get to my daughters. I tried to stand. My legs would not hold me. “Enfys! Ceri! Girls!” I called, but the hut remained as silent as the rest of Tasceni. Fear began to replace my rage as I crawled toward the little structure. My back was on fire. My mouth was so dry I couldn’t swallow, but I did not stop. I did not think. I gripped the ground with my hands, digging my broken fingernails into the hard-packed dirt, and dragged myself to the soundless hut.

When I reached it I only paused long enough to put my arms through the ragged sleeves of my tunic, which I rearranged so that from the front, at least, my girls, should they be alive—Oh, Andraste, please let them be alive—would not easily realize the extent of my wounds. I gritted my teeth against the pain and drew several deep breaths. Using the side of the hut, I pulled myself up so that I stood on unsteady legs. I drew another deep breath and then pushed open the rickety door.

My children were naked. Curled together, they lay still and silent in each other’s arms. When my shadow darkened the doorway, Enfys looked up. Her eyes, green as my own, were open and glassy with shock. Enfys’s scream echoed off the interwoven branches that made up the curved walls of the hut. Ceri whimpered and held tighter to her sister, but she did not open her eyes.

“Enfys! Ceri! Oh, my little loves! It is me—your mama!” I staggered to my two girls and dropped to my knees beside them.

“Mama!” Enfys cried my name. “M-mama! Th-they hurt us! They h-hurt us over and over!” Through teeth that chattered, words and sobs flowed from my eldest daughter, thick as the dark blood that coated her thighs.

“I know, sweet girl,” I said soothingly as I brushed back Enfys’s sweat-matted hair. “I am here now. All will be well.” I scooted closer so that I could stroke Ceri’s bruised cheek. “Little dove, can you open your eyes for Mama?”

Ceri only whimpered and trembled as if in the grip of a terrible fever.

I wanted to curl myself around them, hold them close, and will their pain away, and for a moment I was paralyzed with grief.No! I do not have the luxury of grief. Not now. Not yet. They need me.

My gaze searched the hut until I found the wooden trough that captured rainwater. The water was kept fresh for Iceni warriors after they practiced their skills. I made my body stand and staggered to the trough to lift the ladle. I drank quickly, greedily, several ladles full and felt stronger and less dizzy. I filled the ladle yet again and returned to my girls. I helped Enfys drink and then went back to the trough for another ladle full of water.

“Ceri, let me help you drink.”

The little girl whimpered again and did not open her eyes, but I was able to hold the ladle to her lips so that she choked down some water.

“Mama, we tried to fight them. I promise we did!” Enfys cried softly as she spoke.

“Shh, shh, sweet girl. Of course you did. You were so brave. Both of youareso brave.”

“B-but we could not stop them!” Enfys said between sobs as soundless tears leaked from Ceri’s closed eyes and washed down her cheeks.

Then I did put my arms around them. I held them close and stroked their damp hair gently. “Listen to me. Both of you did the bravest, most courageous thing you could ever do—yousurvived.”

Another shadow fell across the doorway. Enfys shrieked again. I ignored the agony in my back, grabbed a wooden practice sword from those piled in the hut, and whirled to face the intruder.

“Och, goddess! What have they done?”

I did not recognize Briallen until she spoke. The warrior’s facewas purple and black. One eye was completely swollen shut and pink-tinged tears leaked down her dirty cheek. The woad-colored short tunic worn by all of the queen’s guard was tattered ribbons. Briallen’s blood had soaked what was left of it, changing the blue to the purple of her bruises. Like the two children, her legs were painted crimson down to her ankles.

“Girls, little loves, it is only Briallen!” I moved to help the warrior get water, but Enfys clutched my tunic and would not loose me. “Drink.” I gestured at the trough. “Then sit here, beside me.”

Briallen took the ladle from me, went to the trough, and drank deeply. Then she returned to the three of us.

“Sit. Rest.”

Briallen shook her head and grimaced at the pain the motion caused. “My queen, we cannot rest here. We must get the girls to the lodge so that their wounds and yours can be cleaned and packed.”

“But you’re wounded, too! You’re bleeding everywhere. You cannot—”