Iceni

Chapter 4-2

Some of the Druids mumbled at the skills he was attributing to Maeve. One or two looked almost in awe. Lovernios held up his hand to gesture for silence.

‘We’ll be able to work out between us when the waters are due to be still from our observations of the moon’s phases, and when a red sunset is likely to clothe the Glamour in a tide of blood. We can work cloaked in invisibility upon the shores. Maeve might be exhausted by the Working, but she won’t be in any danger.’ Lovernios chuckled in delight at his ideas. ‘We will, of course, need some of the Trinovantes to “spot” this dreadful sight and bring the Romani to the lapping shores to share in the terror. Do you think you’ll be able to do that, Addedomarus? Feel free to include as much hysteria as you deem fitting.’

All around Lovernios, heads nodded. His creativity had set many of the others to imagining what could be produced, how terrified and demoralised the Romani could be made to be.

‘It will, of course, need to be followed up very quickly with the sort of total destruction which has so far only been hinted at by our omens. These prophecies must only be seen as preliminaries. Our attack must be perfectly executed and a total surprise. All Celtoi who host upon Camulodunum must be gathered here within days. The descent of the horde must come at the peak of their paranoia, or else our efforts will be wasted. It’s essential,’ Lovernios stared directly at Addedomarus, ‘That we are kept thoroughly informed of what’s happening in the Colonia.’

‘Of course. Each Trinovantes who comes to join you here will bear news, every refugee will find some small way in which to add to the fear of the Romani before they leave their home. Have no doubt, this has been a long while in the waiting.’

‘Then we open the old routes,’ Lovernios announced to the other Druids as if he had been finally convinced he was right to continue with his scheming. ‘When they’re open, Addedomarus, you will return to your peoples and instruct them in our plans, then direct them here in their dribs and drabs. They will be welcome.’ His look told Boudicca not to argue.

Lovernios stood and gestured the Druids to follow him. He led them a little way from the barrow entrance, then they seemed to take up established positions and gestured together, pulling sickles from their robes with which they made cutting motions in the air. They danced an old, old dance, moving in and out of each other’s paths, curving around, seeming to reach the central position and at the last moment sweeping back. They stepped familiar steps, each footfall marking its traditional place. Their robes moved with them so they appeared as strutting ravens, or folded together to look like one vast magpie.

As the ancient dance slowed to a halt, Boudicca noticed a quite tangible change in the feel of the forest. It was as if nature’s chaos had become slightly more ordered. Then the Druids dispersed, as mysteriously as they’d arrived, each walking away into the dense trees, disappearing one by one, the forest swinging over to seal their passing.

Lovernios returned to join Boudicca and Addedomarus at the fire. ‘Now we’ve opened the routes to Sucellus’ forge. Any who’d join us will be able to come directly to us as easily as reaching out to any tree. Addedomarus, I’ll direct you back to your peoples so you can start to effect those things we’d planned.’ Addedomarus nodded. ‘You’ve only a few days before we host. Send anyone, anything even, that is not indispensable directly here. Come and Find me at the forge if you need additional help, and keep us informed. I know it’s been difficult for you to talk in a tongue foreign to yourself and I appreciate that you were making the concession so that the Iceni could understand you better, but at our next meeting it should be in more formal circumstances and I’ll be pleased to act as the translator your rank deserves.’

They clasped hands, exchanging a few words of farewell in Addedomarus’s own language. Then Lovernios pointed out a path leading between two oaks and the Trinovantes’ King set out for it, his form dispersing in turn leaving Lovernios and Boudicca alone.

‘Do you realise, madam, that you’re the only person who doesn’t pay me the respect due to my position?’

‘That begs two questions then, doesn’t it? What exactly is your rank and why do you put up with me?’

Lovernios chuckled again. He put his hands on his hips and gave her an admiring look. ‘I find your attitude so refreshing, I wouldn’t want to risk losing it by telling you.’ Then he cupped her face in his hands and gently kissed her. ‘I take it that’s allowed now no one else is around?’ She smiled softly. ‘Did you actually see the bear when you were last here?’

‘Yes, but it didn’t do any...’ She shut her eyes. He knew.

‘I knew something had happened when you went to get Grania because of the way Maeve slipped off. I also knew that both you and Grania were in too much of a state to worry about where you were going, and with the strength of both of your Gifted birthrights blundering around Artio’s forest it was almost inevitable that some sort of Finding was going to take place without either of you realising it. What you see here is a layer deeper than Sucellus’ forge. Fortunately both you and Grania have similar levels of ability and you ended up in the same place. Your ‘skill’ at Finding is somewhat notorious even as far as Insula Mona, so I doubt if you’d have been able to get back without being rescued.’ He dodged out of the way of her punch. ‘There was something of the Divine glowing in your faces when you returned, and a certain placidity in your spirit, so I assumed you’d met Artio Herself.’

‘You had no intention of going in the cave at all when we first got here, did you? Of course not,’ she accused. ‘No one’s going to be able to achieve that snaking effect with wood smoke and get it to curl out of a cave too. It was all a ruse to get information out of me, wasn’t it?’ She stamped up and down wondering how she could have got to be so stupid. ‘If it wasn’t for the fact I seem to have very little choice in anything I do these days, I wouldn’t trust you at all. Now, since what must be must be, why don’t you make it all a little easier on my heart and start being more honest? Stop playing games. Just ask. What do they say about me on Insula Mona, anyway?’

He stroked her hair. ‘You’re very beautiful when you’re angry. I like your eyes, they’re as constant as the sea on a rough day: merciless and turbulent. But the waves can’t help themselves, they just are.’ He paused. ‘Actually, what they say is a sort of compliment: that you don’t like to lose control and always seem to need to influence whatever direction you take. That’s why you have such difficulty Finding, because it’s the only Sensing to require so much relinquishing. Your qualities are rather more vital for a Priestess who is also a Queen, particularly since there are so many natural Finders scattered around. You can always grab one of them to do your bidding, wouldn’t you agree?’

‘For someone who has to walk both paths and be an expert in each, yes, it is very difficult to let go.’ She agreed with him. ‘It would be ideal, perhaps, if I could relinquish just enough. So I could walk ever nearer the Goddess yet without straying further from the material path.’

‘Well now, that so happens to be why we’re here.’

‘Let me guess. There’s something else you have to tell me?’

Lovernios shuffled his feet like a naughty boy. ‘You still have to contact Andraste. It’s necessary. You’ll understand afterwards. There’s still some rawness in you, some healing to be effected. We, these plans, can’t progress until you and Her are one. I’ve brought you here to this place of contemplation. You wear Her torc, the sign that you’re Bound to Her, ready to relinquish everything for Her. Until now you’ve not really meant that; to go on, to succeed, that must change.

‘I’ll await you here until you’re ready to return. I’ll be here to rescue you if you call out, too. You must go into the tomb,’ he gestured to the cave mouth. ‘The tomb of your ancestors, to meet with Her on equal terms.’ He gestured to her not to interrupt. ‘Artio won’t harm you. Yes, She sleeps within, but She’ll bow to Andraste, at least for now.’

Boudicca didn’t move. ‘What if I refuse? How many more things are you going to spring on me like this? What if I fail?’

‘You can refuse. Then we can go back to being slaves and pets of the Romani, and we’ll lose everything we’ve ever known or ever held precious. Or else we host with an unbalanced, unrealistic and uninformed Queen at our lead. You won’t fail, not if you learn what you must learn. You must feel the pulling within. It fairly shrieks at me, madam, whenever I look in your eyes. There’s a need in your spirit for repose and rounding; without it you’ll never move on from the things you’ve seen and suffered.’

‘What if I don’t want to move on? What if I still want to remember the outrages perpetrated upon my daughters, my people, and the very earth that sustains us? What if I want to continue mourning my husband so I’m not free to love you? Yes, that’s what you want, isn’t it? I’ll be easier to manipulate if I follow you around with puppy eyes.’ She wavered. ‘I don’t want to forget Prasutagus. I still love him. At least he was always honest with me.’

‘If you do as I say, you’ll understand I have never lied to you and have never sought to mislead you. You won’t appreciate what I’m saying until you’re able to see things from my perspective. To do that you must make one last, final, leap of faith, madam, and be alone with Andraste. I wouldn’t try and replace Prasutagus in your heart, Boudicca. I had hoped there might be room for the two of us.’

‘Yet again,’ she caught back a sob that nearly escaped her throat, ‘It doesn’t seem like I have very much choice.’ Then Boudicca swirled around, sending her cloak flying out as she marched into the cave. Lovernios reached out to stroke her arm as she left, but she pulled away from his touch and ducked between the sarsen stones without so much as a backward glance. She hoped very much that he was gazing after her longingly — somehow she managed to resist peeping to check.

Within the long barrow there was just enough room to stand for perhaps three people abreast. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the gloom. She could hear heavy breathing from way back in the pitch-blackness and deduced it came from the bear, sleeping during the day. She must ensure, above all else, that she didn’t disturb it; she didn’t have Grania’s confidence for wrestling.

The visibility was virtually nil, a thin shaft of tentative daylight from the entrance serving only to illuminate the area immediately around the portal. She wondered how both she and Grania had ever managed to stumble into the cave the night before. Even with the night as black as death and the magnification and distortion the fear of dark casts upon things, she found it difficult to accept it was the same place. She ascribed it all to the magic of the place: it was a sacred site, its nature would change with the day and year and the receptivity of the visitor. She wondered again what it was she was meant to do and just what was meant to happen here.