Page 48 of Boudicca

I lifted the first spear, finding its balance. A glance at the others waiting in the basket that pressed against my right thigh showed me that Maldwyn had been careful to choose spears all of the same size and weight.

“When you are ready, queen of the Iceni,” said Maldwyn.

I stood tall, my shoulders back, drew in a deep breath, and with my exhale I let loose the mighty war cry of the Iceni. Maldwyn cracked the reins and the moon-colored team shot forward. The watching warriors took up the cry and my adrenaline surged.

In a line, one behind another, the chariots pounded toward us. The speed was faster than when I’d sparred with Prasutagus, though I could tell Maldwyn and the teams opposing us were holding back.

My first throw struck the straw target, though it didn’t embed itself. It glanced off the side of the target, much as my practice spear had that past day when I’d bested my husband. I could tell some of the watching warriors remembered that day as they whooped encouragement.

Not used to rearming myself so quickly, I missed the next target completely but steadied myself and struck the third in the chest. The fourth I missed as well, but I hit the fifth and then I got the rhythm of it and hit the sixth, my spear burying itself deeply in the center of the target’s chest.

As Maldwyn pulled the pair up I shouted, “Again!” and the young warrior who had earlier proclaimed the field ready ran to us, bringing me six more spears. We began anew.

I did not hit all six targets in one run until the sun had dipped behind the raven-filled oak. By then, sweat soaked my leathers and lifting my spear arm felt as if I were attempting to heft a limb made of iron, but when I did it—when I struck all of the targets in one single run—the Iceni, my Iceni, raised such a cry that it shook the ravens from the tree and the sky echoed with shouts ofVictory! Victory!

***

For the evening meal, long tables filled the main road of Tasceni from my lodge almost all the way to the practice field. Food came from throughout the village—steaming wooden trays of pork roasted with chestnuts and spices, fried cod, succulent goose, and meat pies. Loaves of freshly baked bread soaked up gravy, and deep bowls of baked apples as well as thick berry pies and honey cakes sweetened the air. Pitchers of spring mead were shared generously as fires were lit all along the village road.

I sat at the center of a raised trestle table that Wulffaed had situated at the bottom of the lodge stairs and ate with the same ravenous gusto as did the rest of the warriors. Rhan was on my right in her place of honor as Iceni seer. I had Maldwyn seated on my left where Cadoc would usually be to show my appreciation for his excellence on the field. Cadoc sat beside him and was engaged in an animated conversation with the horse master about my future training. Abertha was seated beside Rhan.

I knew this couldn’t be how we ate every night, not if our numbers climbed to those that we’d need to bring vengeance to the Romans at Camulodunum, but this night it was a joy to watch my people. The Iceni seemed to shine with determination and courage and joy. I marveled at that joy and realized that neither Prasutagus nor I had understood the depth of the despair our people had fallen into under Rome’s booted foot.

No more. No more would we live in fear, slaves in our own land.

I finished the last bite of a succulent mound of buttery cod and then lifted my mug of mead to drink deeply, making sure I didn’twince at the weariness in my arm muscles or the terrible stiffness from the wounds in my back, which had yet to completely heal.

“It will get better in a few days.” Maldwyn’s voice was low and for my ears alone.

I met his gaze with a chagrined half smile. “Is it that obvious?”

“No.” He chuckled. “But I was there with you for every moment. I know how much strength it took to throw those spears over and over and over. I also know your back must still be raw and sore. Mint salve will help, as will a hot bath, but mostly it will just take time for your body to get used to the training and to heal.”

“I will not falter,” I said.

“Of course you will not, my queen.”

Cadoc bumped his shoulder then and launched them into a discussion about whether or not the shield I carried into battle should be wood crossed with iron, or wood covered with bronze. I was glad to leave them to the minutiae of battle, trusting that they would more than likely have me drill with both to see which would protect me best. I was exhausted and sore but content. I loved listening to the easy way my tribe joked with one another and told stories of the day. Their voices were filled with hope, and that hope was contagious.

“Boudicca?” Rhan pulled me from my thoughts and I turned to her. “The sun has set and the time is right for me to light the central fire and burn the funeral torches. May I do so?”

“Of course, my friend. Of course.”

Rhan made her way to a carefully stacked pile of kindling and wood several paces in front of our main table. Around the top of the triangular mound, the seer had placed the half-burned funeral torches, so that they stuck out from the rest of the wood like thick candles. Using a torch she’d kept from the pile, Rhan went to the closest burning fire and lit it. The conversation had quieted as the Iceni watched their seer. Rhan’s movements were confident and held such grace that in the flickering firelight she seemed to have slid through the veil from Annwn.

She lifted the blazing torch high and spread her other arm out wide so that her ovate robes of green and brown plaid rippledaround her. Rhan circled the woodpile, lighting each of the remaining funeral torches as her musical voice proclaimed,

Fire, I call you to blaze high, blaze true.

And air, I call you to carry the last of the burial smoke from Tasceni

Home to Annwn with you.

The torches lit instantly, catching the dried wood, and with awhoosh,fire licked the darkening sky. Smoke swirled and eddied, and as it lifted into the deep sapphire of the night it seemed that faces formed within it. They looked down upon us like eternal guardians before they floated away into the sky.

Rhan returned to her place by my side, and as the Iceni went back to their talk and stories and feasting, the seer brushed back her blond hair and said, “The signs are clear. Andraste watches. Andraste approves.”

I’d known it, but Rhan’s proclamation had my shoulders relaxing as I exhaled a shaky breath. I opened my mouth to ask Rhan more about the signs she’d witnessed, but Briallen’s voice at my back had me turning.