Page 71 of Boudicca

Rhan explained while she sifted through the liquid, pulling out more and more bones. Some of them were small, only the size of a child’s little finger, and some were considerably longer, but they all had an odd, delicate look. “This is Andraste’s latest gift. Ah, yes, this is done as well.” Rhan lifted the wooden spoon from the bubbly liquid, and within it was the skull of a large bird. The beak was longand wickedly hooked. She placed it carefully on a flat rock, where its empty eye sockets stared sightlessly at me. Rhan smoothed her hair back from her sweaty face. “It is a golden eagle.”

I blinked in surprise. “Truly?”

“Truly. I came upon it just there, beside Andraste’s shrine.” She jerked her chin at the wooden image of the goddess who watched over us. “It was dead and ravens were picking at it. As I approached they flew away, leaving the remains.”

“That is an excellent omen,” I said.

“It is. I poured the last of its sluggish blood as an offering and fed the rest of its entrails to the watching ravens. I burned the feathers and now I clean and dry the bones. I will use them to create our standard to carry into battle against the Romans.” Rhan stared up at Andraste as she spoke.

I remembered the golden eagle sigil the centuria had brought into Tasceni that awful day. “You will use the bones of their sacred bird to create it?”

She scoffed. “I will use the bones of their sacred bird todecorateit, and that sigil will be a beacon from our battlefield in Arbred to Annwn. Then the Romans will behold the wrath of our vengeful goddesses as they follow that beacon and answer our call.”

“Andraste and Brigantia.”

“Yes.” She turned to me. “I will not return to the lodge until I have created this sigil.”

I nodded. “I understand. Will you be here?”

“I will.”

“May I have Wulffaed bring you food and drink?”

“Only drink. I must fast until this is finished.” She cocked her head and studied me. “What has happened?”

I blew out a long breath. “Nothing that should take you from this.”

“You take me away from nothing. I can easily speak with you while I pull the rest of the bones from the cauldron. What is it, my friend?” Rhan went back to working the spoon through the boiling water to extract bone after bone.

“Enfys and Ceri want to go into battle with me.”

Rhan didn’t even glance up as she nodded. “I am not surprised.”

“Neither was Maldwyn. Apparently their mother is the only one surprised. Enfys said she would see the centuria destroyed.”

Rhan nodded. “And she should.”

“Enfys is a child who has no comprehension of what she’s asking. She will see men hacked in half, spitted by spears and arrows, beheaded, disemboweled, and burned alive.” I closed my eyes for a moment and drew in a deep breath. “It will fill her nightmares.”

Rhan straightened so she could meet my gaze. “Enfys already has nightmares. Witnessing the defeat of the centuria will free her from them.”

As Rhan turned back to her cauldron I considered her words. I knew my daughters had dreams that terrified them. I’d comforted them often in the darkest part of the night. “I will not allow them to go into battle with me.”

“You should not. They are not old enough. Yet. But when the battle is over and the centuria dead—thenyour daughters should join you.”

I turned her words over in my mind and felt the weighty truth of them. “That is what I shall do.”

“Good. Speak to Andraste about your fears. She will help you conquer them. The goddess knows your strength, your heart, your worth. She did not name you her Victory lightly,” said Rhan.

I went to Andraste, stared up into her fierce, loving face, and did as my seer advised.

***

The morning of the fifth day dawned bright and cold and clear. Maldwyn brought Tân, her slick red coat painted boldly in Iceni blue symbols, to the lodge. He held a tall black gelding for himself, painted with symbols in white framed perfectly by his tar-colored coat. Ennis and Finley would pull no chariot nor be ridden until we entered Camulodunum. One of the many stable hands had brought two matched white mares, long legged and fleet, for my daughters.They, too, had been painted in blue with Ogham and crescent moons. Beside him Cadoc and Abertha were mounted, holding their painted, prancing horses in place as I stepped out of the wide double doors of the lodge. Enfys and Ceri were beside me. Their wolves’ eyes were luminous in the morning light. My daughters would ride at the front of the army with me until we descended on the city, when Briallen would guard them in the caravan with Wulffaed and her daughters and granddaughters. Rhan stood only a step behind me, looking lean from her days of fasting at Andraste’s shrine. A bay gelding, covered in white Ogham that matched the symbols tattooed on Rhan’s body, waited for her.

As I appeared, Briallen called my guard to attention and they struck their shields with their spears as they faced front, a line of blue-clad warriors eager to play their part in destiny. All around me there were the flashes of weapons catching the morning sun as my people lifted their spears and swords and bows and a great cry ofvictoryechoed through Tasceni.

I stepped into Maldwyn’s linked hands and he boosted me onto Tân, who tossed her head and snorted. I motioned for Enfys and Ceri to flank me. My lead warriors came next, followed by Rhan and my guard. We moved down the main road of Tasceni as the people cheered. At the stables the Tasceni cavalry spread out in waves of equine power. Each rider wore a bronze helmet decorated with horsehair dyed as white as their hair. My chin lifted with pride at their wild beauty. As one they saluted me and shouted “Victory.” Then they, too, fell into step.