Page 53 of Boudicca

Ceri lifted her chin, suddenly reminding me very much of my mother. “We would like to train with you.”

Surprise had me looking from her to Enfys, who nodded firmly. “Yes, Mama. We must fight, and fight well.”

Enfys was right. All Iceni drilled with practice weapons from the time they were very young. Those who showed talent for the sword or spear, bow or horse and chariot, continued their training and became warriors. My daughters, as the children of a tribal chief, had practiced with wooden swords, were proficient with the bow—even little Ceri—and, of course, they rode well. But they needed more. It wouldn’t have saved them from what the Romans did to them, but perhaps it could in the future. One well-aimed sword or spear thrust, especially from someone Roman soldiers would not consider a threat, could be the difference between survival and death, even on the periphery of a battle.

“Briallen and Abertha, I give you the charge of training my daughters for war,” I said formally.

The two warrior women bowed.

“And Cadoc,” Ceri said quickly.

“Cadoc?” Instead of looking at Ceri, my gaze focused on Enfys.

My eldest child nodded somberly. “Yes, Mama. If we can come even close to besting the shield, we will be safe.”

Before I could respond, Cadoc stood and walked slowly to stand before the girls. Then he knelt on one knee and looked from Ceri to Enfys as he said, “It would be my honor to train the royal daughters.”

“Thank you, Shield.” Enfys sounded decades older than the thirteen namedays she’d known.

“Yes. Thank you, Cadoc.” Ceri attempted to sound likewise older than her years, but she was unable to hide her dimpled, little-girl smile.

I had to swallow several times before I could speak. “Cadoc will also drill with my daughters.” When the old shield stood, I met his gaze and bowed my head to him in gratitude. As he walked past me, fatherlike, he patted my shoulder.

Chapter XX

My lead warriors and seer had been right. I’d had reason to worry about the rain-soaked practice field. Before that day I’d been confident that I’d found my battle balance, but just watching the other chariot teams careening through mud told me today would not be the same as those before.

The horse master took position in the cart. I’d already filled the basket with spears, and as I had the days before, I hefted one and the bronze-covered shield my lead warriors had decided would best protect me as I climbed up beside Maldwyn.

“Take some deep breaths.” He spoke low so that the warriors closest to us could not overhear. “It is good to be nervous. You will be nervous every time you go into battle,” said Maldwyn. “To feel otherwise would be foolish.”

“So this is good practice.”

“Yes. Remember, your body has found its rhythm. Your balance is good. Your arm is strong and true.”

I wiped my sweaty spear hand on my leathers. I was going to give Maldwyn the order to charge when I realized that Cadoc and Abertha were two of the warriors in the chariots opposing me. “Cadoc? Abertha?” I whispered incredulously.

Maldwyn smiled up at me from where he knelt, reins in his gloved hands. “They honor you, Queen Boudicca.”

“A little less honoring would be good,” I muttered.

Maldwyn laughed. “Let us teach them a lesson about the strong, sure arm of their queen.”

I had just opened my mouth to reply when I heard a loudkraa-kraa kraa-kraaand looked up to see an enormous raven soar over our chariot. It circled the field three times as the Iceni watched it andcalled out welcome to blessed Andraste before it landed in Grandmother Oak.

Confidence filled me and I lifted my spear. “Forward!” I told Maldwyn, and shrieked the Iceni battle cry as the chariot surged onto the field.

Hitting a moving warrior was much more difficult than hitting a straw target. I’d spent the past ten days becoming more and more accurate spearing straw targets, so muscle memory said I should be able to at least hit the shield of one of the warriors thundering past me.

On the first run I received a valuable lesson in the art of evading spears from moving chariots. Not that I evaded every spear—Cadoc in particular bellowed a laugh when his spear thumped my shield so hard that I was almost knocked from the cart.

There was mud everywhere. It flew up from our horses’ hooves and sprayed us from the wheels of the opposing chariots. My shield kept me from being blinded by it, but it stung my face and arms, mixed with my sweat, and caked my hair.

We reached the opposite side of the field and Osberth, the boy who had been restocking my spears since the first day, rushed out to fill the basket and hand me another weapon. Maldwyn guided the team around and we hastily wiped muck from our faces. The stallions pranced in place, their hooves squishing in the soggy field as they waited impatiently for Maldwyn to command them forward.

I readied myself and caught sight of my daughters just off the edge of the field. They held short wooden swords and were sparring with Briallen. Both were focused only on the leader of my Queen’s Guard as she demonstrated parries and thrusts. Though the field was crowded as men and women of the Iceni drilled, my girls had eyes only for Briallen. Ceri was so small that her sword appeared huge. Enfys’s face was the color of pale milk, but her eyes watched only Briallen and her sister, whom she fought beside.

Ashlynn and Ravenna stood not far from the girls. They held Sunne and Mona. The pups’ gazes never left my daughters.When the wolves are grown they will fight beside Enfys and Ceri.The thought filled my mind and I knew it as the gift it was from Andraste.