Iceni

Chapter 9-1

Chapter 9

Waxing MoonWith both arms held up as if in praise of the sky, blood dripping down her left side from the centurion’s head, and a manic grin stretching her cheeks, Boudicca was the first to see the stirring from within the Temple of Claudius. Her speech and actions had created the desired effect and pushed the Romani who cowered there past hope and into a last forlorn action.

They came out like newborn rats. Blinded by the sudden exposure to light and stumbling forward upon weak, unnourished legs. Their faces wore dark circles under their eyes and furrowed brows, their skin tinged with a grey pallor. They swung swords before them, optimistically hoping to find blood for their blades. They appeared in ones and twos, limping forward to engage in combat.

Boudicca let them come. They were no threat. They moved too slowly. She guessed they wouldn’t even have the strength to cross the open precinct. Just waiting like this, refusing to grant them the last chance to die bravely in conflict, allowing them to collapse exhausted in front of their victors’ impassiveness, was torture sweet.

Despite herself, she had to admire their bravery and resolve. They seemed so few to have defied the Celtoi for so long. There was strength in their purpose now and Boudicca saluted, not the Romani, but the dedication of the eternal warrior she saw portrayed before her. There was no chance of escape or victory here, this was a last request to die with pride. She gave the order for the slaughter to begin.

Silently now, without war cries or shouts, the executions began and the Romani died without sound. As soon as the first fell, more revealed themselves. Even women and children hurled themselves down the Temple steps, summoning courage from some unknown source for a last charge, hoping they might be killed quickly and cleanly. The Romani had deduced that no captives were being taken for ransom or slavery and knew there was no hope of safety anywhere within the east of Britannia now. Weakened by lack of water and food, there was nowhere to run to even if they had been able. No resistance was offered; they simply ran against spearheads and sword edges with a pretence at some form of attack. They offered themselves up as willing sacrifices to a mightier force, acknowledging in their choice of death the real power in the land.

For Boudicca, there could have been no greater compliment.

Together, she and Lovernios watched the destruction of the Temple of the Claudius god. Celtoi scrambled over the walls, some still under construction, and dislodged blocks and stone where they could. White chunks of plaster were worked free of their fittings to be sent crashing to the ground. Decorative mouldings were smashed and disintegrated on impact. This was the Trinovantes’ moment. One tribe at least had their hearts’ desire.

‘Will the Trinovantes still fight, do you think, now they’ve destroyed what they came for?’

‘We’ll have to make sure they’re grateful to us and will remain loyal. With the eloquence of so many Bards lent to your cause, the persuasion should not be too difficult, madam.’

‘And where do we go next?’

‘Where did the hare run?’

Boudicca shook her head. ‘It wasn’t clear. None of it was really decipherable, only about the destruction of the legion. I think there’s a lot more lazy blood to be shed yet.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I don’t think there’ll be any major confrontations with the Romani for a while. I think the horde will rest and destroy anything remotely Romani in the area. We can’t go anywhere until Grania returns anyway. What do you think the rest of the Romani will do now?’

‘It’ll take a couple of days for the news of this latest destruction to reach Suetonius Paulinus at Insula Mona, although he’s probably already started to march back. He is, no doubt, somewhere on Watling Street by now. Then I expect he’ll be extremely surprised by the damage you’ve done to his legion nine: you probably destroyed the best part of a quarter of the total troops available to him in the whole of Britannia. That will have stung him severely. Then he’ll try and delay meeting you in battle for as long as possible. His forces are strung out around the country. He’ll collect troops from those forts and barracks he passes on his way to meet us in battle, but he’ll have to send for some of the more outlying forces and wait for them to join him. He won’t engage us in combat until he’s at his fullest strength.’

‘So, it’s in our interest to host now, as soon as possible, and meet him along Watling Street?’

‘I’m not sure, madam. He’ll be expecting similar tactics, for that’s what he’d probably do himself, but he also thinks we’re an unruly mob led only by a woman. I’ve already told you how the Romani opinion of women is prejudiced by their opinion of their own matrons. That should go some way towards explaining why I suspect he might be hoping this horde will become unmanageable now you’ve had two complete victories.’

Boudicca rolled her eyes in exasperation as she imagined the stereotyped view that the Romani had of her; she spat in disgust.

Lovernios was talking as he thought his plan through; Boudicca could see him become excited as his ideas fitted into place. ‘Anyway, if that is the case, then he’ll hold back and offer no resistance until your army approaches his legions for the final battle to decide the outcome of the Romani occupation of our land. Now it makes sense to destroy as much as he allows us during that respite. Let it appear that your army is indeed out of control. We can systematically destroy everything remotely Romani in Britannia, clear whole tracts of land at our relative leisure. If we’re unpredictable enough, we could even wash over some of those outlying troops he intends to call to arms. Then we can turn upon and obliterate all the legions quite easily, since they’ll be gathered in one place awaiting our swords and the death we deal.’

Boudicca nodded her approval as she started to see what Lovernios was describing.

Lovernios continued. ‘Then there’ll be no Romani in Britannia and we’ll be free of their stifling yoke. It won’t be the only occasion on which they’ve been cast from our shores. Our historians tell us they’ve tried to subdue Britannia once before. That was way back, in the age of our ancestors, when Cassivellaunus of the Catuvellauni was hounding the Iceni, or so our historians advise us. Even if the legions dare to return for a third attempt they’ll have to start their conquest afresh. There’ll be nothing Romani left in Britannia once we’ve finished. We’ll annihilate them and ensure they know Celtoi to be the most formidable enemy they’ve ever faced. We’ll teach them their Empire should never have been considered invincible.’

Boudicca liked his suggestion. ‘It seems very right, Lovernios mine, I’d like the opportunity to ruin and maim myself. There’s an increasing need I have to rend sinew from sinew; the feeling rose in strength as the moon waned to new and I must answer this wanting. More people join us by the moment, our numbers grow considerably by the day, and yesterday I even heard the lilting mountain accents of the Silures and the Demetae. Soon we might well become the uncontrollable chaotic mob the Romani chief assumes.’

‘Not with Andraste and the Druids to Bind you.’

‘Despite the immense debt I owe you for arranging these things, and the gratitude I have for your invaluable aid, still my warrior’s awareness screams that our size means stealth and order are being lost to us. I’d judge, if our forces were to start moving towards Londinium now, the wagons wouldn’t start to trundle after until our forerunners had reached Caesaromagus. Our horde would stretch thick along the roads. We move far slower than the Romani soldiers and we’re too many now to hide as we move.’

‘So, do you think we should attack Londinium next? It makes sense, madam. It’s not quite the model Romani Colonia of Camulodunum, more a sprawling network of timber buildings, but it’s important for Romani trade and will still be a severe blow to their new province if it falls.’

‘I didn’t say that.’

‘Yes, you did. You said that if we were to horde upon Londinium our force would stretch from Camulodunum to Caesaromagus.’

‘I was just using it as an example, I didn’t intend for it to be interpreted as an order. I could just have easily illustrated our situation by saying we would cover an area from Camulodunum to Combretovium, but that’s in the opposite direction and I presumed we would be advancing into Romani territory, not retreating back into our own.’

‘But the point is, madam, you didn’t say that. You said Londinium.’

‘Don’t read so much into my slips, Lovernios mine, else I’ll have to watch all the words between us and our affection will lose its spontaneity. I doubt very much if it was an interjection from the Goddess — see, I’m not even in trance.’

‘It’s not necessary for you to be in trance, you know that. You just need to be receptive. Andraste will come through when you’re relaxed, and you were then, busy calculating numbers and distances and remembering the nearest settlements. Quite distracted. At least give me the benefit of the doubt by testing the idea when the next trance falls upon you.’

‘I can’t see the point. I want to stay here for a while. Consolidate things. It’ll all wait. I want to rest.’

‘What’s made you so listless, madam? This mood’s come over you since your return.’

Boudicca lowered her voice. She wasn’t ashamed of what she had to tell him, just discreet. ‘It’s my menses. They’re late again, chopping and changing with the phases of the moon so I feel my womb is being tugged around with the forces. It’s been well over a full lunar cycle since my last bleeding and I feel pulled between the two strongest tides of the moon, distended and weakened as if both vie for my spirit. Even today’s exercise hasn’t brought them on and I feel trapped in this state of anticipation, continually on edge as if something important is going to happen. At first I thought I was with child, but I can’t be because we first loved well after the middle of my cycle.’

She sighed, dismissing her worries. ‘I usually feel lethargic around this point, especially if my bleeding is late.’ She continued, guessing some sort of apology was due, ‘It’s not detrimental to you, it’s just the way I am.’

‘New moons are for fresh starts, whilst full is for consolidating those beginnings made at new. And you’re more sensitive now, too. Perhaps that’s why the Goddess’ guidance has seeped through.’

Boudicca looked at him in disbelief that he was still persevering with his argument. She felt a wave of anger gather, bottled within, with herself as a cork.

‘Anyway, madam. Catus Decianus is at Londinium.’

The wave broke, bearing Boudicca before it at its very crest. ‘Catus?’ Just a hoarse whisper.

Lovernios nodded, watching her intently. Boudicca couldn’t help but betray her emotions. Despite all the training and experiences she had undergone, still her feelings ran too high. ‘Catus Decianus. The toad. I would kill him slowly.’

‘So, madam, you’ll try to Sense whether it is indeed Londinium we should horde upon next?’

‘Is it truly possible? Is Catus really within my grasp? I didn’t think, I’d ever...’

She smiled a slow predator’s smile. ‘In just two quarters it’ll be Eostar and full moon. There’ll be rites, of course? And celebrations. This Colonia should be nothing but dust and ashes by then, even if everyone here shatters just one sun-baked brick. Before we leave, Camulodunum will be as if it’d never existed. Then we’ll gather up our people and cleanse the land, sweeping further west and destroying everything Romani that carelessly wanders into our path.’

She looked Lovernios in the eyes with a new determination. ‘I’ll do your Sensing for you, even now as the summer is nearly upon us and the days wax to equality with the night, I feel the Goddess’ hands upon me. But She exhorts me at this moment not to walk in Trance with Her, but to join in the razing of this edifice and to mingle with Her people. Later, perhaps, I’ll feel more want to repose in Her presence, but not now. Anyway, I have to stay and await Grania’s return before we move on.’