Page 60 of Boudicca

“We know the Romans who attacked Tasceni were from Camulodunum. We know they returned to the city and from there made forays into Trinovantes land, taking captives and looting villages. Forgive me for saying this, but they would have boasted of what they did to Tasceni, to your daughters, and most especially to you.” He paused as he shook his head and his mouth twisted in disgust. “So if the soldiers see a tall, flame-haired barbarian woman wearing the torque that announces to all that she is a queen,they will take notice.”

“Yes, Shield, I agree.” I took off the torque and returned it to thesatchel it had rested in before. My neck felt strange without its weight and warmth, but I knew Cadoc was right. It was not wise to be recognized in Camulodunum.

“I told you she would be reasonable,” Maldwyn said as Cadoc and I returned to the rested horses.

“I am always reasonable,” I said as I put my foot in Maldwyn’s entwined hands so that he could boost me astride Tân.

Cadoc snorted and I smiled at him as I guided Tân back to the road.

“Well, almost always,” I said.

Behind me my shield chuckled and we urged our horses onto the road.

***

The sun traced its path down the sky and the thick forest began to be interspersed with farmland. We met many more travelers as they headed to and from the city with their trade goods and tax payments. It was easy to tell which was which. The farmers whose carts were filled with payment to the Romans were somber. They kept their eyes on the road and did not greet us. Traders were gregarious. Some even offered us their wares, saying they would save us the trip to the city if we bought from them. If they offered us pelts, we said that we traded for wool and hemp cloth and so on, pleasantly declining all offers and riding on, though we always paused long enough to listen in as the little groups of travelers chatted together. Thus we began to learn how the farmers and traders felt about their foreign governor.

“They chafe under Rome’s yoke of taxation. Farmers are being forced to give up food and goods their families need to survive the winter, but they know if they don’t they will be met with the kind of violence our tribe has known,” said Cadoc darkly after we’d passed a cart loaded with baskets of produce driven by a sour-faced man and his bitterly complaining wife.

“That is good for us,” I said.

“Aye,” agreed my shield.

As we got closer to Camulodunum, the farm huts changed from our wooden roundhouses to cold stone things built in squatty squares and topped by tiles.

“Have they all become Romans?” I asked Cadoc.

“No, my queen. These”—he gestured at the latest stone building we cantered past—“areRomans. Soldiers who have behaved valiantly in battle or who have retired are often gifted farmland by the Roman governor. I’ve heard the Trinovantes warriors speak of it often. It is how they were pushed off the land when the Catuvellauni allied with Rome and defeated Addedomaros. Rome gifted the Catuvellauni traitors with land that Tribe Trinovantes had farmed for generations.”

“That is the doing of the Roman governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus,” I said.

“Yes. He leads the legions here as well,” continued Cadoc.

“I am aware. I remember him from the signing of the treaty with Rome. We bring vengeance to Decianus for what he did to us, but Paulinus is our ultimate enemy—he and the legions he leads.”

“Indeed,” agreed Cadoc.

“So the Roman governor gifts his men with lands belonging to Britons,” said Maldwyn. “First taking it away from the Trinovantes and then taking it away from the Catuvellauni warriors, even after they fought beside Romans.”

“Yes,” said Cadoc.

“The Romans will take even from their allies. Were I Catuvellauni, that would make me very angry,” said Maldwyn.

“Perhaps all is not as neat and tidy in the city as the Romans would like us to believe,” I said.

“Perhaps not,” agreed Cadoc.

We slowed with the flow of horses and carts and people that crowded the road as the westernmost gates of the city came into view before us, four rounded specks on the eastern horizon. I thought from this distance they looked like the backs of beetles crouched on a hedgerow.

“The Balkerne Gate,” Cadoc said, keeping his voice low andguiding his horse closer to Tân. “It’s as Addedomaros described and as I remember from when I was here with Prasutagus well over a decade ago. Four arched entryways. Then this was the only gate wide enough for chariots to enter.”

“Guard towers on either side of the gates,” Maldwyn said. I rode between them so close that my legs often brushed theirs.

“Let us turn off before we reach the gates,” I said. “Even from here I can see that the dykes and ditches stretch around either side of the city.”

“They should run the circumference of the city,” said Cadoc. “And meet with the two rivers on the east side.”

We kneed our horses onto a dirt path that fed into the Roman road before we reached the gates and were able to increase our pace to a canter again, covering ground quickly as we traveled around the outside of the city.