Page 79 of Boudicca

Phaedra nodded toward the rear of the tent. “She’s there with Adara. Cadoc and Maldwyn carried her in, then they left to care for the horses.”

I nodded. Of course the old shield and my horse master would besure our swift, brave horses were tended, even before they cared for themselves. I turned back to my girls. “Enfys, Ceri, you have made me very proud today.”

“Did you kill the Roman soldiers who hurt us?” Enfys asked.

“I did,” I said.

“Every one?” Ceri asked.

I nodded. “Every one.”

The girls sighed out a long breath together, then Enfys added, “We still want to see them. We have to be sure.” Ceri nodded in agreement with her sister.

“And you shall, but not tonight.”

“In the morning.”

Enfys did not frame it as a question, but I responded, “Yes. In the morning.” Then I glanced around the tent. “Where is Briallen?”

“There, Mama.” Enfys pointed to the far side of the tent, where I could see Briallen was bent over a stretcher. “With Eadric.”

“He is mortally wounded, Mama,” added Ceri, sounding much older than her ten years.

Sadness washed through me. Eadric was one of my original Queen’s Guard. He had served me since the day I married Prasutagus. I touched my daughters’ cheeks and kissed their foreheads before I moved across the tent to join Briallen while my brilliant, brave girls returned to tending our wounded.

Briallen knelt on the ground beside a stretcher. She held Eadric’s hand in both of hers. I crouched next to her and squeezed her shoulder. From his waist down, Eadric’s body had been flattened. A blood-soaked cloth covered what was left of him.

“My queen.” Briallen’s voice was hoarse.

“I’m glad you are here with him,” I said. “I will wait with you.”

Then I was amazed that Eadric’s eyelids fluttered open. His gaze was bright and lucid and found me immediately.

“My queen!” He struggled to sit and I leaned forward and gently pressed his shoulders to the stretcher.

“Rest, Eadric. You must save your strength,” I said.

He smiled. “I know that I will soon be feasting at Andraste’s table. I go happily, eagerly, as my wife and chief are there before me.”

I swallowed back my tears and returned his smile. “Greet my husband for me and raise a mug to our victory today.”

“We did it? We fulfilled the curse?”

“Yes.”

He seemed to deflate then. Eadric coughed and blood-flecked spittle rained from his lips into his graying beard, yet still he smiled. “It was a good battle.”

“Because of you and the rest of my guard we entered Camulodunum easily. Without you stopping the Romans from closing the gates the battle would have raged for days.” I leaned forward and brushed the sweat-damp hair from his eyes and touched his cheek gently, much as I’d just caressed my daughters, before I kissed his forehead. “Be at peace, mighty Iceni warrior.”

“It has been my greatest honor to serve you, my queen.” He paused to cough again and more blood spewed from his lips. “I—I may sleep now.”

“Aye, well, you should,” said Briallen. “You’ll be needing all your strength for the feast to come. Tell my dunderheid brother I’ve been missing him.”

Eadric’s gaze found Briallen’s. His scarlet lips lifted one last time. “We’ll raise a mug to you, too...”

Then he breathed out a long, rattling breath and died—his lips still lifted in a smile.

I closed Eadric’s eyes and smoothed his hair. “Thank you,” I whispered to him.