Iceni

Chapter 6-2

At least you’ve got the decency to redden slightly, oh lover mine.’

‘Madam, it’s still not what it seems. Yes, there’s a*****e of weaponry, mainly javelins as you saw, and yes, there’re some supplies, maybe enough water for a day, perhaps two. But it wasn’t arranged by the Procurator’s guard. No, madam, it was all arranged by the veterans themselves. They are the real professionals here; it’s them who hold out against you, with perhaps a handful of the legionaries to aid them. A legionary won’t forget twenty years of soldiering in two years of farming; he’ll have lived the life for too long. It takes more than a plough team and a nagging wife and squalling babes to make a man go soft.

‘I suggest, madam, there is little choice but to wait. I know you don’t like it, any more than I or anyone else in your army likes it. But there are some who need the respite even if they might not want it.’ Boudicca frowned and crossed her arms as Lovernios explained further.

‘Firstly, there are the sick and the young who need to rest. The wagons have only just joined us in the Colonia and that can be a most wearying jolt of a journey. Secondly, under cover of night, those Romani who haven’t been discovered yet will attempt to crawl out and flee from you; I think your champions will find good sport in that.’ Boudicca smiled a cat grin at the thought. ‘Thirdly, there are many, many Celtoi warriors who have heard of our plans but who’ve been reticent in throwing their lot in with us until they see how things fare. We’ve a decisive victory to show them now. They know we’ll go on to better and greater things. Any true champion will be too proud to be able to resist such glory. The Dumnonii especially, from far, far in the southwest, should join us now. If you stay here a while they’ll know where to find you.’

Boudicca nodded to herself while she thought it over. Lovernios continued. ‘Then there’s your army. They come for plunder and Romani riches. Let them destroy and devour all that’s available to them here. Then, when we’re ready to march on the next settlement they’ll do so greedily, not hankering back to the treasures they left here. You also need to be aware that, although the bulk of the Romani are at Insula Mona, their Governor will know of this soon, if he doesn’t already, and he’ll send others to defend against you. These he’ll probably order from Lindum, north of here in the lands of the Corieltavi, where a large force is kept, so be prepared for them.

‘When those considerations have been made, madam, you must choose Andraste’s sacrifice, and give your Goddess Her demands for Her own special blood. You’ll know who to choose, they’ll make themselves apparent, and how to kill them.’ Boudicca felt a flutter within herself at Lovernios’ suggestion, as if raven’s wings flapped in her stomach. ‘I suggest a feast tonight, in the Temple precinct, with fire and war songs and the loud boasting of champions. We’ll drink Romani wine, eat their food and openly waste what we don’t want, knowing there is plenty more. We’ll torture them with our enjoyment whilst they hunger, we’ll frighten them with talk of the things we Celtoi do to our enemies and we’ll rejoice in the tears we’ll hear from the Claudius Temple.

‘Finally, you must look for the hare who still courses before you and see where his long legs carry him. You can see him still, if you look in the right way and the right places. Today he led you here, as the most fitting place for you to start this terror. Where will he lead you tomorrow?’

‘That was a nice touch before we left, Lovernios. Very fitting.’

‘He was Artio’s idea. She sent him to me. I found him as I wandered off for my morning toileting, caught loosely in some willow boughs which had formed a natural snare. I’ve never seen anything like it before. He wasn’t even kicking, quite placid, so I sang to him and worked his bindings off, checked him over for injuries and set him down to go free. But he just sat and looked at me quite quizzically, thumping his hind legs at me. Then I saw the bear prints passing quite near and three magpies chattered to me from atop an oak, which set me thinking of a girl — which is how I think of you!’ Boudicca scowled at that and Lovernios chuckled at her expression, ‘And all the connections suddenly clicked and I realised what I had to do with him. You felt yourself how calm he was tucked under your cloak, even with all that shouting and jeering from your Ladies and all the other Chiefs around you. How confidently he ran, in a straight line, in the direction of Camulodunum. How the old pathways opened wide before him, so your army could follow in one mass and emerge from the forests close to the Colonia so we could fight refreshed and with surprise on our side.

‘You must have Seen, as I did, that in the Otherworld the same hare kept running, straight to Camulodunum and then beyond? But where beyond has not yet been decreed. I know only that we’ve released the dams on a river of blood and now we must ride with the flow until it’s run its course and we reach the sea.’

‘Do you need me to be able to see the hare, then?’

‘I can see it, so can several others of the Brothers and Sisters who are Gifted in this way. Maeve, I know, sees it very clearly. But you’re the one who released him; the strongest link is with you. I know you need your Queen’s skills now, with all the responsibilities being piled upon your shoulders, but use your Priestess skills too and your Goddess eyes. Don’t neglect that half of yourself. Use this lull in the storm, this pause in the terror, to find where we should horde next. Our success, our lives, even our land, depends on you using your latent abilities.’

‘You sound just like me when I talk to Grania.’

‘I wish it wasn’t necessary, madam. Now, we’ve been gone long enough. Let’s return to the Temple precinct and set our mighty army to the things we’ve decided are necessary. There’ll be feasting this evening, just as in the old days of raiding, and there are bards aplenty who’ll entertain us through the night. There’ll be fires too; we can use them to Scry upon.’

Boudicca nodded; Lovernios’ words made sense. Perhaps this unexpected siege could be used to the rebellion’s advantage after all. They stood and made to leave the Romani town house. Whilst Lovernios lowered the Wards he’d set at the door, Boudicca found the tiny shrine to the household gods. It was a bronze figurine of some little god with wings on his head and on his ankles, but what really set it apart was the number of erect and bulbous p*****s sprouting from various parts of its anatomy. She counted six, each portrayed as if having a life of its own like a vine’s tendrils, seeking to inject its invasive seed into a suitably pliant receptacle.

A Celtic artist would have been less blatant, would’ve created a stylised, elegant pattern to hint at the form it invoked. Even now she wasn’t able to appreciate such Romani art as a thing of beauty. A lunar cycle ago too, she reflected, she might have at least laughed at the lustiness portrayed so bawdily in the statuette. Now she felt sickened by it, yet strangely excited, too, if she were truly honest with herself.

‘What is it?’ Lovernios asked.

‘Nothing,’ she replied, not wanting Lovernios to see, afraid the sight might ruin something between them. Some pain, she realised, she had to bear alone or risk driving a wedge between herself and her lover. Then she spat on the greening statue before striding regally out into the streets, pulling Lovernios close behind. A party of looters emerged from the shop opposite and seemed to notice the existence of the town house as if it had been missed before.

‘Has anyone been in there?’ they called, checking with each other whether the property was worth their effort or whether some other party might have been in earlier and taken the choicest items.

‘No,’ Boudicca reassured them. ‘It’s all as it was when the Romani had it and quite intact.’

Some recognised her and bowed. They looked uncertain.

‘You may go in now. We’ve finished what we were doing.’

The looters gathered up their sacks and started to call to others who were still dawdling in other places. ‘Quick, hurry! This place hasn’t been touched yet. It’s got to be one of the last few left — at last we should be able to get some real treasures.’

‘One thing more.’ Boudicca stopped them. Yet again her divine authority seemed to halt them in their tracks, provoking reasonableness where there would usually be none. ‘Anything you don’t take I want destroyed. Totally, completely. Nothing is to be left. You understand?’ A few glum faces nodded, quite confused. ‘I’m aware it’s a strange request but I have my reasons, they’re not for you to ponder. Raze it to the ground when you’ve finished. I want this fire to be hot, I want an inferno, it must give off as much heat as any forge. The flames must be capable of melting metal. Rake through the ashes, ensure there’s nothing left but grey dust. Oh, and don’t touch the shrine to the household gods. Leave Romani superstition for the fire.

‘When you’ve done this you’ll have earned my thanks and you may all present yourselves to me at the feast tonight and take your meat directly from me.’

The looters bowed once more. They were still puzzled, Boudicca knew, but they’d do her bidding no matter how weird it might sound. Meat might be plentiful in Camulodunum tonight, but it was still a vast honour to be granted meat straight from one’s Chief. No Celtoi would let such an opportunity be passed up, so before Lovernios and Boudicca had even started to take steps away from the house, the looters had commenced the work she’d set them to do.

‘What was all that about, madam?’

‘I wouldn’t want to ruin anything by telling you.’

‘That’s usually my excuse.’

‘You’re learning.’

Lovernios laughed quite heartily out loud. ‘Whatever did I do in previous lives to deserve this?’

‘You were very, very good, of course. And you must’ve worked very hard, to benefit others, not yourself.’

‘Let that be a lesson to the just man, then.’

Boudicca looked puzzled.

‘Plato, Boudicca mine, but I wouldn’t want to ruin the beautiful expression on your face by explaining it to you!’

Boudicca scowled. ‘Have it your own way then,’ she retorted and she laughed, despite herself. Why could she never stay angry with her Druidic lover for long? ‘Let’s get this situation into some semblance of order then.’

She strode off, back to the Temple precinct. The wide square had filled in her absence, although no one had ventured within firing range of the besieged Romani. The bodies of the Trinovantes who had taken that risk still lay prone upon the Temple steps. Warriors came and went, some left to do some looting and mindless destruction, others put down their booty sacks and came to stand and glare at the hated symbol which still defied them. Some of the more daring rode their chariots tantalisingly close to the Romani’s range, running out as graceful as dancers along the central poles which swung between the galloping horses, to hurl insults at the Romani.

The smoke had started to build now and those nearest the fires had to partially cover their faces with their cloaks. The crowd was restless. Women warriors, as well as the men, taunted the Romani with obscene gestures and threats of Celtoi revenge. There were many, many dogs which had been brought, too, and they slavered at their leads, eager to be at their enemy and excited by the sound of the war trumpets. Fortunately, there were still games to be played and fun to be had with the besieged Romani, and as yet no one had led an assault upon the Temple. No one seemed in a hurry to rush the Temple — the Romani were too well defended — it would be better to weaken the enemy first. Certainly there wouldn’t be so much glory in that, but then the Celtoi had had to be weakened before the Romani had been able to conquer them, and it seemed fair retaliation. Let the Romani know how it felt to be disadvantaged in a fight. The Temple, too, may have been dedicated to a foreign Claudius god, but it was a holy place and it wasn’t proper to war in sacred space, no matter whose honour it was set aside for.