Hope of Earth (47 page)

Soon enough the long ride became dull, as they passed field after field, and forest after forest, and village after village. Lin managed to snooze on the horse. She was glad when they paused for a luncheon from their saddlebags, and glad when they came to an inn for the night. Ittai and Jes got a good room, posing as a Roman traveler and his lackey. Bry and Lin had to sleep in the stable with the horses, of course, but there was a point to that: to be sure that neither their goods nor the horses themselves were stolen. They did get a good supper inside, at least. Bry covered for Lin when she went out back for a natural function; she was garbed as a boy, and didn’t want anyone seeing her where it counted. He had a good deal of sympathy, she knew, because of the time he had had to masquerade as a girl.

In three days they came to the Iceni capital. Now Jes had to resume female aspect, so as to be introduced to the procurator with her husband. Bry and Lin took the horses to the stable reserved for the Romans, and saw to their well-being. There were many other horses already there; a surprising number of Romans had come in. Then they returned to attend the centurion.

“The formal meeting is tomorrow,” Ittai said, glancing at them. “Perhaps you boys have other business in the interim.”

Oh, yes: they had to warn the queen that there was real mischief afoot, in the off chance she didn’t already know it. They went back out into the town.

The queen’s residence was clear enough; it was the grandest structure in the settlement. But it was well guarded, and the guards were not about to let two stray boys in. However, they were prepared. Lin changed into female garb, with gloves on her hands to cover her fingers, and they approached in humble fashion.

The gate guard frowned. “What do you want, child?”

Lin smiled. She was young, but knew she was very pretty in the face. “My brother and I have a gift for the younger princess,” she said. “May we see her?”

“No.” The guard turned away.

“Thank you,” Lin said sweetly, and slipped by him. Bry followed.

“Hey!” The guard turned, but the two were already well inside the compound. He surely realized that it could be difficult to catch two children, and he didn’t care to make a scene for nothing. What could they do? There were other guards inside; let them stop the intruders, who were probably harmless anyway.

In this manner they passed a second guard. But the third would have none of it. Lin smiled again, most winsomely, she hoped. It was fun practicing her womanly wiles, which she hoped would be truly effective when she matured. “We have this fine necklace for the princess. Please, sir, let us give it to her; then we will be on our way, we promise.”

“No! Begone before I cudgel you.”

But another figure appeared, and the guard hesitated. It was a richly garbed young woman not far beyound Lin’s own age. Lin could not help admiring her dress and hair. This was clearly a person of note, despite her youth. “What is it?” she inquired.

“Oh, Princess!” Lin exclaimed, making what she hoped was not too great an assumption. “I have a gift for you!” She held up the necklace.

“Why thank you,” the princess said, accepting it. “I am Wildflower, daughter of Queen Boudica. Who are you?”

“Lin, servant to Centurion Ittai.”

The princess glanced sharply at her. “A Roman?”

“And I bring a message,” Lin said quickly. “I hear things, because they don’t notice servants. The Romans are planning mischief. You and the queen must flee.”

The princess laughed. “They wouldn’t dare.”

Lin shook her head. “Please, Princess Wildflower! I heard my master say that the procurator was a greedy and pig-headed man who wants to make an example. Please get clear of him while you can.”

“I don’t care how greedy and piggish he is,” the princess said with a toss of her locks. “All Romans are that way. Mother simply will not allow any foolishness. The Romans are here by our sufferance, and if they get difficult, we’ll throw them out. Mother will establish that at the meeting tomorrow. She will be very firm.”

“But—”

Wildflower smiled patronizingly. “I’m sure you mean well, and I thank you for the nice necklace; I’ll wear it tomorrow. But you haven’t seen Mother in action. No one tells her no.”

Lin saw that it was hopeless. “Please, at least tell her,” she said. “So she will be prepared, just in case. I hope you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.” The princess turned away and disappeared into a hall.

“Well, we tried,” Bry said consolingly.

“We tried,” Lin echoed.

They walked on out, and the guards ignored them.

The next day the big meeting was held in the public square. The Romans were there first, and Lin was in attendance on Centurion Ittai, who looked appropriately splendid. He also looked grim, because the procurator had indeed not listened to reason. An added signal of mischief was the fact that Jes was back in male garb, and armed. They were just spectators, but they just might have to fight their way out.

Lin looked around. There were many Roman troops present, armed and armored, with their long spears held vertical and their massive shields reaching from the ground to then-waists. One of the things about the Romans, Lin knew, was that they were well equipped and disciplined.

The royal kinsmen of the Iceni walked down the street. They were men of middling age in good cloth robes. They took their places around the square, forming a kind of central enclosure.

It was only a short distance from the royal mansion, but Queen Boudica arrived in style. She rode a fancy wagon drawn by two spirited horses, with her two daughters flanking her. One was Wildflower, fair and smiling, and Lin saw with pleasure that she was wearing the necklace. The other girl was about a year older, dark-haired and sullen. Both were pretty and richly garbed, wearing diadems.

The queen was another matter. She was huge of frame, with a glowering aspect. A great mass of dark red hair fell to her knees, seeming to curl around her body like a separately living thing. She wore a great necklace of twisted gold, and a many-colored tunic under a thick mantle fastened by a brooch. She glared around at the assembled Romans, as if to destroy them with her mere gaze, but they were impassive.

The wagon halted, and servants hastened to assist the queen and her daughters down. Boudica marched to the throne set up in the center of the square and took her place, while the daughters stood on either side. “Well?” she demanded. Her voice was harsh.

The procurator stepped forward. “Are you prepared to repay the loan Rome gave to your people, and turn over the reins of government to Rome, according to the treaty?”

“By no means,” the queen said imperiously. “My husband King Prasutagus left the kingdom to Emperor Nero and my two daughters. Until they are of age to reign, I act in my daughters’ stead, and my word is law among the Iceni. You will have no money, and no reins of power. Now that that is settled, begone; your presence annoys me.”

“This is not the correct answer,” Catus responded. “If you will not turn over the money and the reins voluntarily, I shall take them regardless. Now I ask you again, are you ready to do your duty by Rome?”

Boudica stood. “I have no duty by Rome. I spit on Rome!” And she spat at the procurator. The gob missed, but the Roman flinched. “Now get away from here before I have my minions flog you for your impertinence.”

“Oops,” Jes murmured, next to Lin.

“It is you who are impertinent,” Catus said. “And now you will feel the consequence of your arrogance.” He turned and lifted one hand in an evident signal.

Suddenly more Roman troops appeared, pouring out of the surrounding houses. They charged into the square, shoving the kinsmen aside. In a moment they took hold of Boudica herself, and her daughters.

“What is this?” the queen shouted. “You can’t touch the royal persons! I’ll have you sacrificed to the gods!”

“Strip her and flog her,” Catus said coldly.

“What!” the queen screamed piercingly. “I’ll see you flayed for this!”

The kinsmen tried to come to her rescue, but the Roman soldiers lifted their spears threateningly. It was clear that the Roman force was overwhelming.

Lin watched with horror as the men systematically stripped Boudica of her clothing and threw it aside. Both daughters screamed and tried to help her, but this only attracted attention to them, and now they too were stripped. Then the men tied the queen’s wrists together with rope and hauled them up over her head under a temporary wooden frame so that she was hoisted almost off her feet. One soldier brought out a whip and laid it across her back and bottom.

Boudica screamed, more in outrage than in pain. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!”

“Ten lashes,” Catus said, and turned away.

Lin was too appalled to watch further. But when she looked to the side, she saw what was happening to the two daughters. They were both naked and struggling, the elder with nascent breasts, the younger without—and both were being raped by the soldiers.

“No!” Lin cried in absolute horror. She started to run toward them, but Jes turned and caught her in both arms, lifting her off her feet. “Don’t get yourself raped too!” she hissed.

In a moment Lin realized that it was true. She would only get herself similarly stripped and brutalized. She had to stand and tolerate this atrocity.

Soon it was done. The Romans marched off, taking several of the kinsmen with them, to be sold into slavery. Boudica and her daughters were left behind, dumped on the pile of their clothing, all three of them suffering similarly. “After this, you will behave,” Catus said smugly as he departed.

“I must go to them,” Lin said.

“No,” Jes said. “You want no association with this. We must leave this area swiftly.”

“For sure,” Ittai agreed. “There will be Hades to pay.”

They made their way back home with all due haste. Because they traveled swiftly and mostly incognito, the ominous stirring of the folk of the region did not touch them. But a dark tide was rising.

That tide continued through the winter. There was news of Queen Boudica and her daughters visiting the various tribes of Britain and enlisting their participation in the coming rebellion. The Romans might not recognize her as queen of the Iceni, but other tribes clearly did. There were meetings with the Coritani, Cornovii, Durotriges, Catuvellauni, Brigantes, Dubunni, and others, and of course the Iceni and Trinovantes, where Lin’s family lived. There was no rebellion, yet, but everyone knew it was coming. Everyone except the Romans.

“I don’t want to know!” Ittai protested. “I am a Roman officer; my loyalty is to Rome, however shabbily her minions may behave. If war comes, I must serve with Rome.”

“Then why don’t you go warn Rome?” Jes asked in the presence of the other family members.

“Because the idiots wouldn’t heed me before, and won’t next time.”

“So there’s nothing you can do anyway. So what’s the harm in knowing?”

Ittai stared at her. “Are you thinking like a man or a woman?” he demanded.

Everyone laughed. But then Jes got serious. “I’m thinking like a settler who doesn’t want to see her lands ravaged by either side. How can we avoid being regarded as an enemy by someone?”

Ned nodded. “We need representatives in both camps. I think we are protected from the Romans, but not necessarily from the Celts.”

“So maybe we should attend the secret meeting they are having next week in—”

Ittai stood. “I have business elsewhere,” he said gruffly. He was serious about not wanting to know.

Jes shrugged. “Of course, dear. I will join you.” She got up and followed him out. But at the door she paused, speaking over her shoulder. “Just give me time to get my clothes off.”

They all laughed again. The centurion was preserving his official ignorance of anything un-Roman, and his wife was supporting him in that, as she, too, was now legally Roman. She had let the others know that the two would not be returning for a reasonable time. As long as it took to make leisurely love.

“She really likes being a woman,” Flo remarked appreciatively. They all knew how little chance Jes had seemed to have of such a relationship. Now she was reveling in it.