Page 91 of Boudicca

I was jolted by shock, though I steeled myself not to show it. “Paulinus and the legions?”

“No, my queen. Paulinus had only a centuria of cavalry with him.”

“By all the gods, how did he get there ahead of us?” Cadoc said as he paced.

“Paulinus and the centuria took a galley from the Menai Strait to Deva and then galloped hard southeast to Londinium. The rest of the Fourteenth and Twentieth are far behind. My queen, they have burned the sacred oaks on Ynys Môn and slaughtered the Druids.” His voice shook as he spoke.

“Yes, I know. Our seer felt their deaths.”

The scout took a skin of mead that Briallen handed him. I nodded for him to drink and he gulped the honeyed mixture, spilling it down his beard, but when he spoke again his voice was steadier.

“Our Druids did not die easily. They fought for days. The bansheesfilled the Romans with such fear that Paulinus had to turn on his own men, killing hundreds of them before they decided they feared him more than our warrior women.”

“So Paulinus and a centuria of cavalry guard the city. How many more soldiers are there within Londinium?” asked Cadoc.

“Paulinus did not stay,” said the scout.

“Explain,” I said.

“My queen, I heard it all from a merchant who was fleeing the city with many others. Paulinus thundered into Londinium to the cheers of the people, only to announce that a centuria was not enough to stop the army of barbarians closing on them.” He grinned as he spoke the wordbarbarians. “The people begged him to stay and he turned from them. Those who were able to move swiftly were allowed to follow the cavalry north, as they plan to meet the legions returning from the isle—though the word that spread from the Romans through the crowd was that the Fourteenth and Twentieth had yet to leave Ynys Môn as they had to heal and regroup before traveling through the territory of Tribe Ordovices.”

“Paulinus has been to Londinium and is already gone?” I could hardly believe it. I couldn’t imagine abandoning my people to an invading army. What a miserable coward Paulinus must be.

“Yes, my queen.”

“And he left no soldiers there to defend the city?” I asked.

“None. Some Romans remain, mostly the greediest of merchants.”

“How can you be so sure of this?” Abertha asked.

The scout didn’t hesitate. “The merchant is a Cantiaci potter. He couldn’t follow the centuria because the carts carrying his goods were too slow and Paulinus made it clear that only those who could travel swiftly would have his protection.” The scout smiled. “The merchant was quite angry at being abandoned and happy to tell me everything he knew, which was quite a lot.”

“Briallen, get our scout a fresh horse and food and drink.” I met the warrior’s gaze. “What is your name?”

“Aiken, my queen.” He bowed low.

“Aiken, you have done well. You have my gratitude.”

Aiken flushed, smiled, and bowed again before he followed Briallen toward the rear of the army to the caravans.

“Romans have no honor,” said Maldwyn.

Abertha snorted. “And they callusbarbarians.”

***

Flanked by Cadoc and Abertha and followed closely by Addedomaros and his cavalry, we pounded across the wooden bridge and entered Londinium. I felt strangely nostalgic. I’d crossed this bridge with Prasutagus and Iceni trade caravans more times than I could count. I always looked forward to our Londinium trips. Goods from afar came by ship. Precious spices, reams of cloud-soft cloth, and an unending host of exotic items could be found in the crowded streets and stores of the city. It is where Prasutagus purchased my copper tub and commissioned one of the last brooches he gifted me with. Where Camulodunum had been filled with foreign buildings and soldiers, Londinium was a familiar stranger, turned ghostlike in its abandonment. The streets were empty except for a modest contingent of Roman soldiers, who attempted to flee as soon as they caught sight of our army. We ran them down and I ordered their heads severed and thrown into the Thames in sacrifice to Andraste.

The city was so deserted that I was able to grant our armies ample time to loot the warehouses before we set fire to them. Londinium exploded into flame like tinder. We didn’t even need to light the bridge. It caught easily and blazed along with the newly emptied warehouses that stretched along the river.

Our warriors were forced to retreat far from Londinium as the flames spread to the holding buildings and stores outside the city proper. Had the land not been so low and marshy, we would have had to flee from a raging wildfire. Instead we marched farther than I’d expected into the cold darkness of the sparse woodland well northwest of Londinium, which put us even closer to Verulamium.

Our wounded were few, our casualties even fewer. Again Rhan refused to enter the forest with us, saying she would wait as close tothe burning city as was safe, guide the Roman shades to their underworld, and join us before we broke camp to march to Verulamium at dawn.

I did not see Andraste as I rode through camp in my chariot beside Maldwyn that night. Her absence had me feeling restless. Wulffaed had just begun setting up a crude camp, little more than a tent skin angled against one of her caravans, and when Maldwyn halted before it he and I shared a knowing look. We hadn’t made love since the night outside Camulodunum, and desire was clear in his gaze. Welcoming him to my bed would soothe my restlessness, but I needed more privacy than an open-sided lean-to. I wasn’t modest, nor was I ashamed that Maldwyn and I were lovers. It was simply that I preferred to keep my passion a private thing.

“If you ask me to, I will return to you after I care for Ennis and Finley,” Maldwyn said softly.