Page 20 of Boudicca

My lead warriors and seer had been right. I’d had reason to worry about the rain-soaked practice field. Before that day I’d

been confident that I’d found my battle balance, but just watching the other chariot teams careening through mud told me today

would not be the same as those before.

The horse master took position in the cart. I’d already filled the basket with spears, and as I had the days before, I hefted

one and the bronze-covered shield my lead warriors had decided would best protect me as I climbed up beside Maldwyn.

“Take some deep breaths.” He spoke low so that the warriors closest to us could not overhear. “It is good to be nervous. You

will be nervous every time you go into battle,” said Maldwyn. “To feel otherwise would be foolish.”

“So this is good practice.”

“Yes. Remember, your body has found its rhythm. Your balance is good. Your arm is strong and true.”

I wiped my sweaty spear hand on my leathers. I was going to give Maldwyn the order to charge when I realized that Cadoc and

Abertha were two of the warriors in the chariots opposing me. “Cadoc? Abertha?” I whispered incredulously.

Maldwyn smiled up at me from where he knelt, reins in his gloved hands. “They honor you, Queen Boudicca.”

“A little less honoring would be good,” I muttered.

Maldwyn laughed. “Let us teach them a lesson about the strong, sure arm of their queen.”

I had just opened my mouth to reply when I heard a loud kraa-kraa kraa-kraa and looked up to see an enormous raven soar over our chariot. It circled the field three times as the Iceni watched it and called out welcome to blessed Andraste before it landed in Grandmother Oak.

Confidence filled me and I lifted my spear. “Forward!” I told Maldwyn, and shrieked the Iceni battle cry as the chariot surged

onto the field.

Hitting a moving warrior was much more difficult than hitting a straw target. I’d spent the past ten days becoming more and

more accurate spearing straw targets, so muscle memory said I should be able to at least hit the shield of one of the warriors

thundering past me.

On the first run I received a valuable lesson in the art of evading spears from moving chariots. Not that I evaded every spear—Cadoc

in particular bellowed a laugh when his spear thumped my shield so hard that I was almost knocked from the cart.

There was mud everywhere. It flew up from our horses’ hooves and sprayed us from the wheels of the opposing chariots. My shield

kept me from being blinded by it, but it stung my face and arms, mixed with my sweat, and caked my hair.

We reached the opposite side of the field and Osberth, the boy who had been restocking my spears since the first day, rushed

out to fill the basket and hand me another weapon. Maldwyn guided the team around and we hastily wiped muck from our faces.

The stallions pranced in place, their hooves squishing in the soggy field as they waited impatiently for Maldwyn to command

them forward.

I readied myself and caught sight of my daughters just off the edge of the field. They held short wooden swords and were sparring

with Briallen. Both were focused only on the leader of my Queen’s Guard as she demonstrated parries and thrusts. Though the

field was crowded as men and women of the Iceni drilled, my girls had eyes only for Briallen. Ceri was so small that her sword

appeared huge. Enfys’s face was the color of pale milk, but her eyes watched only Briallen and her sister, whom she fought

beside.

Ashlynn and Ravenna stood not far from the girls. They held Sunne and Mona. The pups’ gazes never left my daughters. When the wolves are grown they will fight beside Enfys and Ceri. The thought filled my mind and I knew it as the gift it was from Andraste.

I will be Victory for them. My gaze swept the field, taking in the hundreds, thousands, of Iceni who crowded in and around it. For all of them.

I shrieked our war cry again and the chariot shot forward. This run my spear glanced off Abertha’s shield and a cheer went

up from the warriors who had paused their own drills to watch. I almost struck the shield of the next warrior in line, too,

but our chariot hit a patch of particularly slick mud and standing water and slid to the side, causing me to overthrow.

This time when Cadoc’s spear thumped my shield I did not lose my balance and saw the old warrior’s eyes widen before he nodded

his approval.

“Again!” I shouted.

On and on we drilled. I was used to the effort. Every evening my body was less stiff and sore. Every morning I moved with

more grace and strength; I needed both that day.

As we rearmed before the sixth run, Maldwyn said, “Cadoc is leaning away from you and dropping his shield after he throws

his spear. Anticipate that lean. Instead of hurling your spear at him this time, change your grip and strike him with it as

we pass.”

“With the tip?” I didn’t think I could get past Cadoc’s guard, but if I did, surely I could harm the old shield.

“No, flip your spear and strike him with the blunt end as if you were a girl again practicing with a wooden weapon.”

I grinned. “I will never let him forget it if I do hit him.”

Maldwyn laughed. “It would be a fine thing to witness.”

The last chariot that charged against me held Cadoc. I was so focused on him that my showing against the other five chariots

was weak. And then the old shield was racing toward us. I quickly changed my grip on the spear so that I could strike with

the blunt end of it. As we neared one another Cadoc hurled his spear at me. It glanced off my shield, and then he did exactly

as Maldwyn had said he would—Cadoc dropped his shield and leaned to the side.

With a movement I will forever take pride in, I shifted my stance and smacked the back of the old shield’s shoulder with the blunted wooden end so hard that it made a slapping sound that carried above the pounding of our horses’ hooves. The watching warriors cheered and I grinned.

But my pride was short-lived. As I tried to shift my weight back and regain my balance after the unconventional thrust, the

chariot skidded awkwardly to the side and I was airborne.

Maldwyn had drilled me over and over on how to fall from a chariot, and I tucked my shoulder. Something sharp hit my forehead

as I rolled across the muddy field. I’d lost my shield, but my spear was still in my hand as I came out of the roll sitting

in the middle of a shallow, sticky puddle. My heart pounded in my ears and adrenaline rushed through my body. I could see

Maldwyn struggling to keep the chariot upright as he wheeled the horses around to come back to me, but Cadoc was faster. He

abandoned his chariot, and with a speed that belied his size and age, the shield sprinted to me, face white and grim.

“My queen!” he shouted as he reached me. “Are you—”

Fast as a viper, I struck. Using a move Cadoc himself had taught me, I hooked my leg around the back of his right ankle and

flipped him off his feet so that he crashed into the mud beside me, landing flat on his broad backside.

In absolute silence I got to my feet, wiping a sleeve across my forehead, surprised to see a streak of blood come with the

mud. I stood over Cadoc, looking down my nose at him, before I reached out and offered him my hand. With a booming laugh,

Cadoc took it, stood, and then, with a flourish, he bowed to me.

The Iceni exploded with cheers and shouts of Victory . Grinning, I turned to face the side of the field nearest to me. Standing among my people was a tall man swathed in a red

cloak, flanked by warriors wearing the same Trinovantes red.

Chief Addedomaros strode across the field to me, flanked by his shield, Mailcun, and a young man I recognized as his son,

Adminius. Behind them red-cloaked warriors formed a blood river flowing down the road into Tasceni. Their numbers were so

vast I could not see the end of them.

Addedomaros halted before me and bowed his head slightly. His gaze swept my body and I lifted my chin, proud of the blood that ran down my face and mixed with mud and sweat. I placed the butt of my spear into the mud and returned his gaze. I did not speak first, nor did I look away. I was queen here, and he had come to me.

Addedomaros nodded, and when he spoke his deep voice carried across the newly silent field. “Queen Boudicca, Tribe Trinovantes

has come. We wish to ally ourselves with the Iceni.”

I was compelled to speak one word, and that word rang in the air around me. “Why?”

“The Romans were not sated by their attack on Tasceni. They have been raiding Trinovantes villages that border the sea, stealing

away my people to be their slaves. I understand now that we must war against the Romans because we cannot continue to stand by idly and do nothing while Rome preys upon us.” The chief echoed

the words I’d spoken to him so many days before. “If we do not try, we are already gone. Tribe Trinovantes will not become

Roman!” His people shouted in agreement. Addedomaros raised his hand and they quieted. “Will you accept us? Shall we fight

the invaders at your side, mighty Victory?”

I bared my teeth in a feral grin and lifted my spear. “Yes!”

Behind me Cadoc began the chant. “Bou-dic-ca! Bou-dic-ca!”

Breathing heavily, Maldwyn and Abertha sprinted up. Lifting their spears, they joined the shield’s chant. “Bou-dic-ca! Bou-dic-ca!”

And then the Iceni and the Trinovantes joined them, shouting “Bou-dic-ca! Bou-dic-ca! Bou-dic-ca! Bou-dic-ca!” until the leaves on Grandmother Oak shivered with the sound of my name and Andraste’s raven calling kraa-kraa victoriously into the morning sky.