Page 15 of Boudicca

The Romans will pay for this. I cursed them. Andraste heard. The goddess and I will make certain the curse comes true.

Gently, I placed my mother’s body on a pile of clean rushes just outside the great lodge. Briallen had already taken armfuls of the rushes into the lodge to replace the blood-soaked ones. Lastly, Briallen placed Dafina beside her mistress, where she had been for more years than I had lived.

Then we reentered the lodge. I could feel my strength waning. If I moved too quickly, my vision narrowed and spots of light obscured my sight. I spoke hastily to Briallen, knowing that I must get the next part done quickly, before I could no longer force my body to do anything. “I’ll draw and heat the water for the bath and add healing herbs. We need to get the girls warm, bathe the remnants of those beasts off them, and then dress and pack their wounds. You need your wounds tended as well.”

Stiffly and carefully, I moved to right the cooking tripod over thefire and then hooked onto it the cauldron my servants used to heat bathwater. Behind elaborately embroidered tapestries that decorated the lodge’s curved walls were shadowy recesses that held pots, buckets, and dishware of all sizes. I grabbed two of the largest wooden pails and turned to shuffle to the rear door of the lodge, just outside of which was the deep, cold well my attendants used to draw water for their royal family—and almost ran into Briallen.

The warrior swayed precariously and looked as if she might fall over at any moment, but her voice was firm. “I’ll be takin’ one of those buckets. We can fill it faster if we work together. And you must be tended, too, my queen.”

I opened my mouth to tell Briallen not to be ridiculous—that she was barely standing—and then I saw the iron in the warrior’s gaze and recognized the anger there that was almost as deep as was her need to do something,anything.

I nodded shortly. “Get clean linens from Mother’s sewing chest. There should be a covered wooden pot beside the baskets of yarrow and goldenrod. We’ll need the herbs to add to the girls’ bathwater, and the salve in the pot is numbing and healing.”

Briallen nodded. “Aye. Arianell is a great healer.”

“She is. She was.” I corrected myself, blinking hard to keep the tears that welled from falling. “Get enough herbs to steep in the cauldron, as well as in the bathwater. There is a pitcher of water and a basin on the table near my bed. Fill it with the herbed water from the cauldron. You can clean the girls’ wounds with that while I draw from the well and fill the bath.”

Briallen nodded and began gathering the items. I did not think. I moved. I went to and from the well until the cauldron was filled, and then repeated the filling as I poured the hot water into the huge copper tub Prasutagus had given me fifteen years before as a betrothal gift. I stoked the fire and hung a fresh cauldron of water. Then I went to my mother’s medicinal chest and carefully chose herbs that induced sleep, placed generous portions in two wooden mugs, and poured boiling water over the mixture to steep for tea before I joined Briallen with my daughters.

Briallen had cleaned Enfys’s face and was carefully wiping the blood from the girl’s body. Ceri had curled into a tight fetal position with her back pressed against her sister.

“Ceri will not allow me to touch her,” Briallen said softly.

I nodded, wetted a strip of linen in the already pinkening water, and sat close to Ceri. “Little dove, will you let me clean you?” The child whimpered and burrowed her face into the goose-down-filled mattress. I stroked her matted hair gently. “Ceri, look at me.”

Ceri’s body trembled and her voice sounded even younger than her ten years. “If I open my eyes I will know it is not a dream.”

Her sister’s words made Enfys sob, and Briallen wiped away her tears, speaking softly to her, as if she were a wild hare that had been wounded and needed to be soothed so that it would not attempt to run away and further injure itself.

I thought my heart would break but forced my voice to be steady.

“Yes, little dove, my little love, I know. I wish we were dreaming, but I will not lie to you as if you are still a baby. You must be strong. We all must be—you, Enfys, and me. For Nain. For our people.”

Ceri’s eyes fluttered open. She whispered three words. “Nain is dead.”

It was not a question, but I answered. “She is. Death is the only thing that could keep her from our side right now.”

“She died because of me.” Tears leaked slowly down Ceri’s smooth cheeks.

“No, little dove. She did not. She died because Romans attacked us.”

“C-could you not have s-stopped them? You are a queen,” Ceri sobbed.

I felt my daughter’s words like a gut punch. “I tried, little dove. I—” My words broke off and I bit a bloody hole in my cheek to keep from screaming or sobbing or both.

Briallen spoke solemnly into the silence. “Your mother our queen was brave and fierce. Her words saved us all.”

Ceri turned her head to stare at the warrior, but it was Enfys who asked, “Did Mama truly save us?”

“Aye, she did. She cursed the Romans. ’Twas the power of Herself’s curse that affrighted the soldiers so bad that they crawled off me. One of them had raised his spear to strike me with a killing blow at the moment our queen said, ‘Through my blood and with my goddess-blessed breath, I have cursed you unto death!’It seemed to turn the soldier to stone. He stood there—spear raised—as if entranced and stared at Herself. While he and the rest of the Romans gaped at the sight of our mighty queen, I fled so that I could live to serve her.” Briallen’s gaze met mine. “Had she not cursed them, the Romans would have burned the village and made sure we burned with it.” Briallen bowed her head deeply, respectfully.

I tried to speak, but my daughter was quicker.

Ceri sat, grimacing painfully. “Wash me now, Mama. I will be brave like you.”

Silently, the warrior and I wiped the blood and dirt and fluids from my children, and then we carried them to the steaming tub. We added several more buckets from the well to make the water bearable before gently placing the girls within. Enfys and Ceri were so small that they both fit in the tub together. The children gasped and cried out as their wounds met the water, but they bore it like the daughters of a queen. As Briallen washed the girls, I gave each of them a mug of tea, adding dollops of golden honey. My pride in them was so fierce it lifted my spirit.

“Drink, my little loves.”