The Warrior's Princess

  They climbed as fast as they could, pulling themselves up to a loft area filled with boxes and barrels, and quietly made their way into the far corner where they settled down behind some sacks of flour.

  Commios leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. ‘That woman deserves to be fried in pig’s lard.’ He was still out of breath.

  ‘And we’ve lost all our things,’ Drusilla wailed, ‘everything!’

  ‘Have you still got our money?’ Eigon said to Commios sharply.

  He nodded. ‘The purse is on my belt. We’ll have to get out of here once it’s dark as you say, then somehow get out of the town at dawn when they open the gates.’

  ‘They’ll be watching those like hawks,’ Eigon put in. ‘Once they know we have escaped from the house.’

  ‘Will they look here?’ Drusilla’s voice shook.

  ‘I doubt it.’ Eigon reached across and pressed her hand. ‘Don’t worry. God is with us. He has kept us one step ahead so far.’ She sighed, closing her eyes against the dusty darkness around them. ‘We’ll travel faster without our bundles. Jesus travelled with only a staff and a purse, did he not?’

  ‘Then we will need a stout staff each!’ Commios commented dryly. ‘We haven’t even got that much!’

  ‘We’ll cut them tomorrow when we get out into the forest!’ Eigon said. There was a trace of amusement in her voice.

  A sound below them made them all tense. Someone had walked into the kitchen. There was a rattle of pots and pans and the sound of water being poured from a jug into a basin. Someone was pottering round, tidying up. For a while the noises continued then they heard the squeak of the outside door being closed. Two bolts were shot into place, someone – a man – cleared his throat, then his footsteps pattered away into the distance. Silence ensued. Commios put his finger to his lips. No one made a sound. Outside it was growing dark.

  Eigon leaned across towards Commios. ‘Why not stay here till dawn?’ she whispered. Her lips touched his hair. ‘It’s safer than going outside where we don’t know our way round.’

  He turned towards her. Her face was so close to his. He nodded imperceptibly. ‘Good idea.’ He mouthed the words, nodding.

  On his other side Drusilla leaned towards him. ‘What?’

  He explained, quietly repeating the plan to her. She leaned closer and he felt her hand on his arm. She edged closer still, snuggling against him. He resisted the urge to move away but silently in the darkness he reached out with his other hand towards Eigon. His questing fingers found the edge of her skirt and he touched it lightly, taking comfort from the feel of something which was a part of her.

  They were awoken by the sound of someone drawing back the bolts in the door downstairs. A glimmer of light strayed up the steep stairs and with it a breath of fresh air from the open door. Commios swore under his breath. He had intended that they be out of here long before this. To their horror they heard someone climbing the steps and a figure appeared silhouetted against the square hatchway. The figure moved confidently across the floor and opened one of the flour sacks. He scooped several measures of flour into a wooden bucket, knotted the neck of the sack and turned away without seeing them to feel his way back downstairs again.

  Commios breathed a sigh of relief. He crawled forward to the edge of the steps and peered down. The man was kneading barley flour and oatmeal into a soft dough with some milk. He watched as the man added more milk from his jug, forming it into small cakes, setting them onto one side, concentrating as he worked. Nearby he had set a griddle to heat over the stove. Whistling softly he began to place the cakes onto the hot griddle. They sniffed hungrily as the appetising smell filled the air. From somewhere in the distance they heard the sound of a bell being rung. The man swore. He glanced at his scones, obviously decided they wouldn’t burn if he was quick and left the kitchen.

  In seconds the three of them had descended the stairs. Commios scooped three steaming hot scones from the griddle with a knife as they passed. He winked at the two women as, when he found they were too hot to carry, he wrapped them in a dishcloth and followed them out of the door. In seconds they were out in the street and had turned down a second alley, on their way towards the town gates.

  It was harder to get out of the town. As they approached the town walls they could see an armed guard searching the wagons which were queuing to leave on the road which led northwards towards Londinium. Commios drew back into the shadows. They had eaten their scones with great enjoyment. ‘Now what do we do?’

  ‘We don’t look like wealthy Roman travellers any more,’ Drusilla put in piteously. She had even lost her precious ivory comb, left behind in the bedroom at the guesthouse.

  Commios grinned. ‘The perfect disguise. I vote we wait for a likely looking wagon and join the driver. I am sure for a silver stater he would give us a lift onwards. As long as you don’t speak, Drusilla. We are going to have to teach you some Celtic otherwise your impeccable cut-glass Roman accent will betray us.’

  Drusilla flushed scarlet. She shrugged. ‘I will be as quiet as a mouse.’ She gasped suddenly. ‘Is that Titus?’

  Commios swore. ‘I don’t believe it! Is it?’ He glanced at Eigon who had blanched visibly as she shrank back into the shadows. ‘It is. He’s checking everyone who goes through the gate. Look!’

  Titus was sitting on his horse beside the archway through the wall watching every single person that passed. When there were people travelling inside wagons they were being made to climb out and walk beside the mules or the oxen pulling the load. Women who had shawls or veils round their heads were being made to unveil so he could scrutinise their faces.

  Commios drew them quietly back away from the queue which was beginning to form. ‘What about the gate the other end of the town?’

  ‘He obviously expects us to head for Londinium,’ Eigon said softly. ‘But I expect he has the other entrances covered as well.’

  ‘We should separate,’ Drusilla said, brushing the crumbs from her tunic. ‘The three of us separately would excite no notice at all. And Eigon is the only one he would actually recognise, surely.’

  ‘That’s true.’ Commios nodded. He glanced at Eigon. ‘We should all leave on the road south; we can meet once we are safely outside.’

  They went back to the south gate via the market place. There they bought a basket and some fruit for Eigon to carry and a blue and red veil embroidered with red swirls and coils to cover her hair; they bought a new blue and green cloak for Drusilla to replace the one she had left lying on the bed in her bedroom, and a cheap bone comb.

  For Commios there was a serviceable hunting knife and a leather pouch to hang from his shoulder on a strap. In it he put two more loaves of bread and some fruit. ‘For lunch,’ he said with a reassuring smile, ‘when we meet outside the gates.’ For safety they divided up the money from Commios’s purse, then they split up.

  Drusilla went first. She walked slowly behind a group of giggling women who were heading out towards the fields. The guards on the gate did not even glance at them twice. Drusilla slipped out behind them, her eyes downcast and before she knew it she was walking down the road, coughing as a covered cart rattled past, raising the dust.

  She paused at the first milestone as arranged, sitting down to wait in the shadow of an old oak tree, russet in the low autumn sunlight.

  Eigon came next. She had struck up a conversation with a husband and wife who were heading towards the coast, their belongings carried on the back of a sturdy mule. The woman was garrulous and did not stop talking as they approached the guard, barely giving him a glance as she talked on. The soldier waved them past with a lewd comment and they were through. When they reached the milestone Eigon bade them farewell and went to join Drusilla in the shade on the rustling carpet of fallen leaves.

  They waited and waited. There was no sign of Commios.

  Drusilla shaded her eyes, trying to see who was coming down the road. ‘Where is he? He can’t have got lost!’ Eigon could hear the
fear in her companion’s voice.

  Eigon leaned back against the tree trunk. ‘I don’t see why anyone would have stopped him. He had nothing to incriminate him. Even if Titus saw him he wouldn’t know him.’

  They waited a while longer. ‘Should we go back?’ Drusilla was biting her nails. ‘Perhaps this isn’t the right place?’

  ‘Of course it’s the right place. The first milestone on the road. How wrong can one go? I managed to find it!’ Eigon was growing more and more anxious. ‘He’s been caught.’

  ‘He can’t have been.’ Drusilla shook her head. ‘Who would recognise him? Without us he is just another man.’

  Eigon stared at her. ‘Just another man,’ she echoed. She gave a faint smile. ‘A tall, striking, handsome man who would stand out in any crowd. I’m going back.’

  They retraced their steps, pausing when they were in sight of the gates. A constant stream of traffic was still going in and out of the town; there was no sign of Commios. ‘What are we going to do?’ Drusilla asked nervously.

  Eigon shrugged. ‘He might have been delayed for some reason. We don’t want to go rushing back to find that he is on his way. On the other hand if he has been arrested we have to try and do something.’

  ‘Everywhere we’ve been, we’ve been betrayed,’ Drusilla said miserably. ‘Everyone who has befriended us or sheltered us has sold out once Titus comes along with his money.’

  ‘They owed us nothing, Drusilla. They gave us food and shelter – that was all we asked of them. If he’s been caught it is up to us to try and rescue him.’ Eigon shook her head. ‘But how?’

  ‘What would he do?’

  ‘Go back. Find out what has happened.’ Eigon took a deep breath. ‘All right. On our own we are in a way safer. We are less recognisable. We are just two women. We could be anyone. We are wearing local clothes; we are weather-worn.’ She gave a wry smile. ‘We have baskets.’

  ‘Which we should fill.’

  ‘Thank goodness we have some money. Perhaps we can buy some stuff from a pedlar.’ They had noticed the itinerant sellers wandering amongst the travellers heading in towards the town. Some had sold all their wares before they ever reached the gates. Drusilla bought a bundle of beautifully woven scarves which she could claim to be taking in to sell if she were stopped. Eigon filled her basket with apples from the panniers of a mule being taken in by a farmer’s wife. They headed in together and were both waved in without comment. Inside the town was seething with people brought out into the streets by the sunlight. They wandered around for a bit then separated with the intention of making enquiries. Drusilla heard news first. She chatted up one of the ostlers at the inn next to the guardhouse. He was lounging outside after dumping a bucket of water in front of a thirsty horse, waiting for it to drink, cursing amiably as it dripped water over his feet. He had watched as the big man with red hair had been questioned; he had taken a swing at the guard and been overpowered and dragged away to the fort. He glanced at Drusilla and raised an eyebrow. ‘You a friend of his?’

  She managed a cheeky grin. ‘I wouldn’t have said no if he asked!’ She shrugged eloquently, managing to mangle her Latin with such a broad country drawl he found it hard to understand. ‘I thought he might be a friend of my brother who is on his way over to Gaul. I was going to ask him to take a message. No use to me in the fort though, is he!’ She managed a convincing flounce and strolled back into the crowds.

  Eigon was waiting for her round the corner. She too had news. ‘I went back to the house where we had hoped to stay,’ she whispered. There was a large woollen bag at her feet. ‘Look. Our stuff. I bribed the boy. He said the soldiers came and did a quick search but they didn’t touch our things because she had already stolen them and hidden them in her bedroom. He said she was a tightfisted cheat. I gave him some money to get our belongings out of her room where she had stacked it up to sell, then he said he was off. He wasn’t going back. She’ll think he stole it but he didn’t care. He said the soldiers were searching the whole town. We were lucky to escape.’

  ‘They caught Commios,’ Drusilla said. ‘He’s in the fort.’

  Eigon stared at her, aghast. ‘So what do we do?’ They looked towards the end of the street where the high walls of the fortress rose above the local houses. ‘We can’t do anything on our own,’ Eigon went on miserably. ‘Somehow we have to have help. And that’s not easy. As you say everyone seems ready to cheat and lie!’

  ‘Perhaps that is to our advantage,’ Drusilla said thoughtfully. ‘Thank the Good Lord that we have some money. We can bribe someone to rescue him. Can’t we?’ She gazed at Eigon hopefully.

  Eigon shrugged. ‘But who? And how?’

  Drusilla straightened her shoulders. She was screwing up her courage visibly. ‘It is going to have to be me. Titus knows you. He has no idea what I look like. If I can get in there and wander round a bit perhaps I will get an idea.’

  ‘But you might be taken, too.’ Eigon caught her arm, shaking her head. ‘You can’t take the risk.’

  ‘I have to. What else is there? We can’t go on without him.’ She gazed at Eigon intently. ‘He’ll be in the guardhouse, won’t he? Perhaps I can bribe a guard. Give me your share of the money. How much have we got between us?’

  They picked over the coins; Roman aurei, sestertii and denarii, silver staters, coins from Gaul. ‘They’ll only want the gold,’ Eigon said thoughtfully. ‘Put that on top of the bag so it looks more.’ There was a coin amongst them with the head of Caratacus. Eigon stared at it in shock. It was a stark reminder of the time when her father had been a king in this country.

  ‘What is it?’ Drusilla gazed at her. Eigon shook her head. ‘Nothing.’ She dropped the coin back into the bag and gave Drusilla a hug. ‘Good luck. May God go with you.’

  ‘What will you do while I’m in there?’

  Eigon shrugged. ‘Wait for you.’

  Meryn came back indoors, breathless. ‘I saw them both rush up the track towards the wood but I lost them in the dark. At least he had dropped the gun.’

  ‘He’s completely mad!’ Aurelia said. ‘Oh God, Rhodri! I hope he’s careful.’ She was shaking violently. Sitting down she looked at Steph. ‘Where’s Jess?’ Her voice cracked in a breathless sob.

  Steph glanced at Meryn. ‘I don’t know, but at least he hasn’t got her.’

  ‘I called the police,’ Meryn said. ‘They will be here fairly quickly. The mention of a suspected murderer and a firearm usually makes them get their skates on. You wait for them; I’m going to go outside and have a bit of a think.’

  He let himself out into the garden behind the studio and wandered across the dew-wet grass. The violence of the last minutes had shaken him more than he cared to admit. He could feel it reverberating in the air around him, screeching in jagged and red scars on the ether like fingernails on glass. He glanced round into the night. He could hear sheep calling to each other in the distance. They seemed calm; there was nothing out there to worry them at the moment. He turned slowly, listening to the sounds of the night, trying to still himself, to feel who and what was out there. In the far distance an owl called, then a fox. Slowly his breathing returned to normal. He stilled it further, reaching out. Titus. Where was he? He could see faint pictures now in his head; pictures from the past. Titus had abandoned Dan. He had no need of that erratic, panicked energy. It was no use to him now. The ancient anger that motivated him no longer needed a host. He was strong and focused. And nearby.

  Meryn moved further away from the house. He was identifying different centres of memory around him. Up the hill, the child, alone and frightened, his life force leaking away into the ground. A little girl, frightened and angry. He paused. That anger was uncomfortably corrosive on the air. He sensed trouble there. Thoughtfully he moved on, searching for Jess. Nothing. He shook his head, puzzled. He remembered these mountains of old. They held memories as a basin held water, condensed, amplifying, echoing with emotion. Nothing disappeared. Nothing was lost. But here the
re were patches of opacity. Someone was hiding Jess.

  And Eigon. What about Eigon herself? Had she returned to these mountains and if she had what knowledge had she brought with her? He closed his eyes and waited.

  Behind him a door opened in the cottage. Aurelia stepped out into the garden and came to stare over the gate, wondering where he had gone. In the starlight she could see him, a black silhouette against the night. He was standing quite still, upright, facing down towards the ancient site of the battlefield. Meryn had changed since she had last met him. He had grown in experience and gravitas. She smiled ruefully. He had power now and an austerity which was slightly forbidding. Strange to think that once she had thought she could fall in love with him. She doubted now if he could love anyone. He was dedicated to his daemons. But if anyone could find Jess it was him. She resisted the urge to call out to him, knowing he must not be interrupted, turned and went back into the cottage. The door closed behind her, leaving him alone. He had not noticed her. Seconds later headlights appeared in the lane; the first police car swept up to the courtyard and stopped. Four men climbed out.

  Rhodri stopped, so out of breath he couldn’t take another step. He was gasping as he doubled over, trying to collect himself. He had long ago lost sight of Dan and, as he held his breath and listened, he could no longer hear him crashing away through the undergrowth. The woods were silent. He had lost him. He closed his eyes, swearing under his breath. The rage which had overpowered him and given him the energy to come hurtling up the hillside in the dark after him had been so overpowering it had frightened him. He had never felt like that before. He clenched his fists, feeling his heart steadying back to its normal beat and stared round in the dark, straining his ears. Dan couldn’t have vanished; he had to be there somewhere. Rhodri knew these woods like the back of his hand; Dan didn’t. That gave him the advantage. But he had to use his brain. Now his initial fury was controlled he had to think. He had no torch but moon and starlight would be enough to show him the track and the darker silhouette of the tree trunks on either side of him.