Page 93 of Boudicca

The smile slid from his face. “If I have the power to take something, then it is mineandmy gods’. That is a lesson you Brittani are slow to learn, but you will learn it here. Tonight. I will teach you.”

I looked down my nose at him as my rage boiled and overflowed. “You are not the first blustering Roman to attempt to teach me a lessonand fail.”

Paulinus dropped his helmet and ran toward me. I threw aside my cloak and turned, intending to sprint back along the bank of the creek. I had no doubt that I was faster than the Roman general. I was faster than Iceni warriors who were younger and fitter than him. I also did not believe he would be allowed entrance to Annwn, but as we reached the willows, my legs tangled in the long skirt of my nightdress and I fell. Paulinus’s hand snaked through the arched boughs and snagged my ankle, pulling me from Annwn and back into the dark, cold forest with him.

I did not panic. I wasn’t a weak, hysterical Roman woman. I was an Iceni warrior. I went limp and his grip on my ankle loosened as his other hand went up under his skirted leather uniform to open the laces to his breeches.

My mind was clear and calm. I had plenty of time to watch this mighty general and to consider his needless brutality.Why is the Roman answer to everything rape? They are worse than animals.

“That’s right. Just lay there. This won’t take long—unless you’d like it to.”

My hand fisted around a fallen branch, and with one movement I jerked my ankle from his grip, sprang to my feet, and swung the branch at him like a club.

Paulinus got his hand up in time to block the blow with his forearm, but he grunted in pain. I wanted to sprint back into Annwn, but he was too close and my skirts hindered my movements. So I circled him, holding the branch as a weapon and wishing it were a sword.

“Good.” His smile was cruel. “I like it rough.”

He lunged at me. I neatly sidestepped and cracked him on the back of his head with the branch. He staggered and shook his head, all amusement gone from his eyes.

“Fucking barbarian bitch!”

I didn’t wait. I attacked. Using the branch, I drove him back and then circled around him so that as I continued to strike, Paulinus was being forced toward the entrance to Annwn.

He stopped hurling insults and pulled the pugio from its sheath around his waist. I could see by the expression in his eyes that he expected me to run at the sight of the knife. He was wrong. I had drilled over and over with Cadoc, a warrior twice the size of Paulinus who moved with the speed of a charging boar. I feinted in one direction and he lunged at me with the knife. I clubbed it easily from his hand, whirled past him, and hit him in the shoulder. He stumbled back, only steps from Annwn.

“Who are you?” As he asked the question his eyes went from my Ogham-marked face, to my hair, to the way I held the branch as I bounced on the balls of my feet, looking for my next strike. “I know you. I saw you in Camulodunum.”

My stomach tightened with dread. I had to get around him. I had to flee to Annwn. If the Romans captured me our war was over. Addedomaros wasn’t well enough liked by my Iceni—nor was Adminius. My tribe wouldn’t follow either man. They would take what they’d plundered from Londinium and melt into the forest. I continued to drive him backward toward Annwn and my escape.

Suddenly Paulinus’s eyes widened in recognition. “But I saw you before that day in the city—with your husband. You are Boudicca!”

“QueenBoudicca,” I said, correcting him. “You talk too much.”

I struck with all the speed and strength I had, clubbing him in his gut. His breath left him in a loudoofand he dropped to his knees. He gasped, drew air, and shouted, “Guards! To me! Guards!”

The pounding feet of the Roman guard running to answer their general’s call drew closer and closer as I balled my skirt in my hand, sprinted around him, and raced through the willow arch.

All had changed in Annwn. There was no difference in the light on the other side of what had been a doorway between the mortal and immortal realms. Frantically I cast my gaze around and caught a glimmer of the pearlescent light. It radiated up from the billowing mist of the waterfall. I ran to the edge of the bank, trying to see where the entrance to the Otherworld had gone.

“After her!” Paulinus roared behind me. “Do not let her escape! I want her alive.”

I looked over my shoulder. Paulinus had struggled to his feet, his hand pressed against his middle as Roman soldiers ran past him, spreading out in a line to cut off my escape.

“Andraste, help me!”

I am here. Leap. I shall catch you.

I gazed down at the mist. Fear knifed through me. “Jump? I cannot!”

Do you not trust me, my Victory?

I did trust Andraste. I had to. I spread my arms wide like wings, drew a deep breath, and screamed the Iceni war cry as I leaped from the top of the waterfall. The mist swallowed me and it seemed as if time was suspended.

Well done, Boudicca. Remember this. It is not the last leap of faith you will make to save yourself—to save my victory. The next time I ask it of you, do not hesitate.

I opened my mouth to shout my gratitude and adoration, to assure Andraste that I would not hesitate, but I’d begun falling again, and the air that rushed past me took my words and my breath. The mist partedand I saw the rocks and churning water below me, and I prepared to fight for my life against both.

From beside me a raven shrieked, first one, then another and another and yet another. A great wind rushed up from the white water. It caught my spread arms and my nightdress, and I was lifted up and up until I soared with the cold current. Ravens surrounded me. I could smell the strawlike scent of their feathers and feel the brush of their wings against my body, and then I hit the ground and knew no more.