shows.’
And the man saw what looked out of her eyes, and bade his scribe slave take up the arm-ring and went away, promising to be back for the rest, but in a voice that shook a little.
With the Royal Dun half in ruins, and the Royal Women, so they deemed, robbed of their Royalty, the Romans left Boudicca alone, save for a visit now and then from a passing patrol, as though she were of no more account. That was the Romans’ mistake, made in an ill hour.
For in the dark, beneath the surface of things, by the old secret ways, by the sunken drove-roads and the tunnelled forest tracks and the winding fen waterways, the messengers were going out, even as the Queen had said. And by the same secret ways, the chiefs and war-captains were coming in. They did not come to the Royal Dun, where the Queen abode still among the patched-up ruins of her home, lest any Roman eye should note the coming and going, but to certain forest clearings of the Priest Kind; or to a certain island among the fens, reed-fringed and alder-fringed like many others, but circled at its heart with a ring of nine ancient thorn trees.
And there, the Lady Boudicca would go to meet them. I also, most times. For where the Queen goes, there goes the Queen’s Harper, that he may see and hear the things that must be passed on in song to the tribe as yet unborn.
So we would ride through the neck of the forest, and down to the black skin boats waiting among the reeds. The Queen wrapped in an old wolfskin cloak against the chill of the water-mists, and no spund as we journeyed but the stealthy lap and suckle of the water among the sedges, and somewhere a bittern booming in the night. And then we would come to an island, and go up through the reeds and the alder scrub, past the black horsehide tents pitched outside the thorn circle. There would be a fire burning at the heart of the circle, for at a Council gathering there must be light for a man to see the face of the man he speaks with; a fire of driftwood brought in from the sea coast, that its colour might not stand out too fiercely from the cold blue spirit flames that wander among those reedbeds and waterways. And around the fire, there would be the chieftains waiting; the mist catching the firelight and making a silvery smoke that swirled about their heads. About the Queen’s head, too, when she put back the hood of her cloak; but no firelight seemed able to touch her eyes.
First to come were the chiefs of our own horse-runs, saying, ‘I can bring three hundred men, half with swords, the rest spears.’ – ‘I can bring six score men to the Hosting, and fourteen chariots, each with a fighting man beside the driver.’ – ‘I have four hundred and a handful, young braves, who have taken to the forest to be out of the Red Crests’ path until I call them forth, but for the most part no arms save hunting-spears and slings. . . .’
And then came chiefs from further off; foremost among them, leaders of the Trinovantes hot for Roman blood to wipe out years of bondage. ‘Eighteen years,’ said Vortrix the Bear, acting as spokesman for the rest,‘eighteen years, we have been treated by the Romans as a conquered people. Our Royal Dun – for remember, Lady, that Dun Camulus was ours before the Catuvellauni set up their High Place there – our Royal Dun they have crushed down beneath a Roman city that has stolen even its name; a city with Roman baths and theatres and circuses, and a great temple to their Emperor Claudius. And in the temple, we, the chiefs and nobles of the Trinovantes, and our women with us must take our turns to serve as priests and priestesses to this Emperor God who is not ours, so that our own gods turn their faces from us – because, forsooth, that is the way of the great men and the noble ladies in Rome! And we must pay out of our own dwindling store-kists for the festivals in the temple and the plays in the theatre and the games in the circus, when ever our masters call for them,
And the man saw what looked out of her eyes, and bade his scribe slave take up the arm-ring and went away, promising to be back for the rest, but in a voice that shook a little.
With the Royal Dun half in ruins, and the Royal Women, so they deemed, robbed of their Royalty, the Romans left Boudicca alone, save for a visit now and then from a passing patrol, as though she were of no more account. That was the Romans’ mistake, made in an ill hour.
For in the dark, beneath the surface of things, by the old secret ways, by the sunken drove-roads and the tunnelled forest tracks and the winding fen waterways, the messengers were going out, even as the Queen had said. And by the same secret ways, the chiefs and war-captains were coming in. They did not come to the Royal Dun, where the Queen abode still among the patched-up ruins of her home, lest any Roman eye should note the coming and going, but to certain forest clearings of the Priest Kind; or to a certain island among the fens, reed-fringed and alder-fringed like many others, but circled at its heart with a ring of nine ancient thorn trees.
And there, the Lady Boudicca would go to meet them. I also, most times. For where the Queen goes, there goes the Queen’s Harper, that he may see and hear the things that must be passed on in song to the tribe as yet unborn.
So we would ride through the neck of the forest, and down to the black skin boats waiting among the reeds. The Queen wrapped in an old wolfskin cloak against the chill of the water-mists, and no spund as we journeyed but the stealthy lap and suckle of the water among the sedges, and somewhere a bittern booming in the night. And then we would come to an island, and go up through the reeds and the alder scrub, past the black horsehide tents pitched outside the thorn circle. There would be a fire burning at the heart of the circle, for at a Council gathering there must be light for a man to see the face of the man he speaks with; a fire of driftwood brought in from the sea coast, that its colour might not stand out too fiercely from the cold blue spirit flames that wander among those reedbeds and waterways. And around the fire, there would be the chieftains waiting; the mist catching the firelight and making a silvery smoke that swirled about their heads. About the Queen’s head, too, when she put back the hood of her cloak; but no firelight seemed able to touch her eyes.
First to come were the chiefs of our own horse-runs, saying, ‘I can bring three hundred men, half with swords, the rest spears.’ – ‘I can bring six score men to the Hosting, and fourteen chariots, each with a fighting man beside the driver.’ – ‘I have four hundred and a handful, young braves, who have taken to the forest to be out of the Red Crests’ path until I call them forth, but for the most part no arms save hunting-spears and slings. . . .’
And then came chiefs from further off; foremost among them, leaders of the Trinovantes hot for Roman blood to wipe out years of bondage. ‘Eighteen years,’ said Vortrix the Bear, acting as spokesman for the rest,‘eighteen years, we have been treated by the Romans as a conquered people. Our Royal Dun – for remember, Lady, that Dun Camulus was ours before the Catuvellauni set up their High Place there – our Royal Dun they have crushed down beneath a Roman city that has stolen even its name; a city with Roman baths and theatres and circuses, and a great temple to their Emperor Claudius. And in the temple, we, the chiefs and nobles of the Trinovantes, and our women with us must take our turns to serve as priests and priestesses to this Emperor God who is not ours, so that our own gods turn their faces from us – because, forsooth, that is the way of the great men and the noble ladies in Rome! And we must pay out of our own dwindling store-kists for the festivals in the temple and the plays in the theatre and the games in the circus, when ever our masters call for them,
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