Page 88 of Boudicca

“Their shades were like small boys searching for their mothers. So, in life they subjugated their women, but in death they cried for women to save them. It was sad,” she said.

“And you showed them compassion,” I said as I poured clean water from the bucketful Phaedra had left.

“Yes. Are you sorry I did?”

I thought about my answer and decided that it was different that night than it would have been before the fulfillment of my curse. “No. They paid for invading our lands with death. Vengeance was served.”

“I’m glad to hear you say so. It means you’ve healed,” she said.

“Hmm, I suppose it does. Briallen put it well. Fulfilling the curse lifted a weight from me. I am lighter knowing that those men cannot violate anyone else. And now I will move on.”

Rhan ate the last of her bread and cheese and stood. I wrapped her in the blanket and she stepped from the tub. As she sat beside the table and attacked the remaining food with enthusiasm, I dried her hair, thinking how it was like the finest of embroidery threads and white as moonlight.

“Did you note my brother was not with my father at the pyre?” she asked suddenly.

“I did. I wonder how many of Tribe Trinovantes noted it as well.”

She sighed and took a deep drink of mead. “Many of them. Adminius really has not grown up. Imagine his shock when Father dies and the tribe rejects him.”

I stopped drying her hair and sat on the bed. “Have you seen it? Will they reject him?”

“I haven’t seen it, but as I spoke those words to you I felt the truth of them. Adminius will never be chief of the Trinovantes.”

“That is a good thing for the tribe,” I said.

“I agree. But...” Her words faded as she stared into the flame of one of the candles that sat in a bronze holder on the table. She shivered.

“What is it?”

Rhan spoke softly as she continued to stare into the flame. “I feel a great darkness when I think of the next Trinovantes chief.”

“Do you mean the next chief will be wrong for the tribe?”

“No,” she answered quickly, then paused, her unblinking stare trapped in the flickering flame. “The next chief will be chosen by the tribe, but that choice is made because of a great darkness.” Rhan’s breath released in a gasp and she blinked several times.

“Are you back with me?” I touched her shoulder.

“I am. My brother is a problem that will resolve itself in a way that will be good for the tribe and bad for him. That is all I can see now, but I feel that there is more to it—something dark, something wrong.” Rhan drank deeply again and speared a hunk of meat.

“Should we do something?” I asked.

“What? Work to take away more of the consequences he has earned but my father has shielded him from? No.” Her voice was emotionless, and I understood why. Adminius had been a difficult, contemptuous child who had grown to be a sullen, self-indulgent man. I thought about my daughters and how much they loved and supported each other, and wished that Rhan had known that kind of love and support from her sibling.

Rhan’s shoulders had bowed with weariness, so I changed the subject as I took one of my nightdresses from my chest and helped her into it. I was a head taller than her, and it made me smile to see the soft cloth swallow her and make her look like a girl again.

“Come.” I patted the spot beside me on the bed. With a deep sigh, she lay back. “I’ve been thinking about where we should winter.”

Her eyelids had been fluttering closed, but at this they opened and she propped herself up on her elbow facing me. “I assume we aren’t returning to Tasceni.”

“I wish we could, but I do not believe the Roman legions will simply pack their ships and leave Britain to us. We won’t be safe in Tasceni. I’m afraid we won’t even be safe in Thetford.” Thetford was the Iceni’s winter stronghold deep in the heart of the forest west of Tasceni. It was well defended by a wide ditch filled with water and cavalry stakes. Behind the ditch was a tall wall made of thick logs and topped with lookout platforms. There was only one gate into the settlement, and that was easily barricaded. Within were wells aplenty and our winter food stores. Our cattle, goats, and pigs not with the army had been driven there. When the snows came it was difficult to navigate the forest surrounding it, but the Romans did know about Thetford and I would not underestimate their siege ability, even in winter. “There is another answer. I believe I should consider something unusual.”

Rhan smiled. “Something unusual. That sounds like you.”

I returned her grin. “Is that a compliment or sarcasm?”

“Can it not be both?” At my raised brow she giggled, and I ceased to be worried about any darkness clinging to her spirit. Like me, Rhan would not let the dead overwhelm her life.

I relaxed back onto the bed and stretched out facing Rhan. “I have a feeling this winter is going to be long and cold.”