Belis listens eagerly as they explain the layout of the city, the earthworks built by the occupying forces, the new temple to the last emperor built on ground sacred to Adraste.
Boudica arranges her forces around the city. She calls for theRomans to come out and fight her. Word comes that there are less than two hundred soldiers left in the city. The queen grinds her teeth. There is little glory in that, but the messenger continues. The soldiers are the personal guard of the Procurator.
A howl goes through the ranks; the Procurator is hated above all others. He has been the personal ruin of many of them, his soldiers are the ones who came to Icenorum and tore Belis’s world apart. She stares at the city. She can taste metallic battle lust in her mouth, sees the same madness reflected in her mother’s eyes. Even little Cati grips her knives and gleams with anticipation. They are going to drive these wolves back into the sea.
The queen calls for the charge and suddenly they are flying towards the city, blades flashing at their chariot wheels. Belis barely has time to take a breath and then there is nothing but blood and fire and death.
Chapter 14
We fled. The misting ash was too thick to see through so I had no frame for where we were going, only that I had to follow Belis. The ground was soft underfoot, thick with ash and tangled with dead grass. I kept stumbling as I ran, unable to keep my feet beneath me. Twice I fell and Rhiannon helped me back up. I returned the favour when she tripped and went face first into the dirt. Only Belis seemed steady, loping ahead of us, untiring and wary.
Behind I could hear yowling, the snap of serrated teeth against bone from whatever had followed us from the rift. There was a wet panting that grew closer whenever I staggered, pushing fresh strength into my legs. Worse still was the opaque air around us, veiling its threats, so that every step forward seemed to hang on the edge of a knife.
The chittering mouths that chased us closed in and I found new speed in my feet, dragging Rhiannon beside me. Belis dropped a little so that she was running behind us, flashing glances back into the haze.
I tripped for a third time and landed on my hands, sinking my fingers into something soft and sticky. I ripped them free, holding my palms up to my face. They were dripping in a gelatinous black blood, clots of viscera lodging under my fingernails. I looked down at the ribcage of some rotting beast, riddled with fat whitemaggots. A shriek tore from my throat before I could stop it. I held my hands out in front of me and threw myself back, trying to distance myself from the gore. Belis dropped down beside me, pushing a hand over my mouth. I managed to hush myself and for a moment there was silence. Then a great pining wail started up to the left of us, like the scream of a rabbit in a trap. The ground trembled and only the entrails on my hands stopped me from clapping them over my ears, trying to block out the terrible sound.
Belis dragged me backwards and grabbed my hands, shoving them into the dust to wipe off the worst of the blood. I calmed down enough to let her do it, and in a moment she was pulling me back up.
“Run,” she hissed in my ear, “go right!”
I stumbled forward, away from the howling. Belis yanked her spear from where she had stabbed it in the ground and followed me. Whatever I had disturbed was still ululating, groaning as it joined the chase. It sounded big; even the layers of ash and silt couldn’t muffle the sound of enormous feet.
“This isn’t working,” Belis whispered to Rhiannon, running alongside us. “We can’t run forever, we need to hunker down and hope they won’t find us.”
Rhiannon nodded, too short of breath to speak.
“I’ll make a commotion and head forward then double back and see if I can lose them. You and Mallt run a hundred paces on and then find somewhere to hide. If I get free I’ll come back for you.”
“Belis, that’s not—” I broke off, wheezing from the effort of running. I wanted to tell her that it was a terrible idea, that she shouldn’t go off on her own, but Rhiannon nodded and veered to the north. Belis sped up and I hesitated, unsure if I could catch her up. It felt wrong to leave her, but she’d already vanished into the fog and Rhiannon needed a living mortal to protect her. I turned right and began counting paces. The keening and then chittering noises faded a little as I padded into the gloom. Ahead of me Rhiannon paused and looked back at me. I came to a halt beside her.
She pointed ahead of us. Something loomed, dark and angular against the grey mist. I squinted and made out the shape of an uprooted tree, earth still clinging to the great morass of roots. I trotted forward, carefully peering around the trunk to check for inhabitants. It seemed to be abandoned. I jerked my head towards Rhiannon and she followed me over. We climbed down into the hollow the roots had left, keeping them as a shield between us and the way we had come.
I wiped sweat from my forehead and dabbed at my throat. I hadn’t noticed before, but the air here was warm and moist, forcing long humid tendrils down my throat with every breath.
Rhiannon’s hair was plastered to her scalp, dark with sweat. I realised I was panting and forced myself to slow my breathing, to inhale deep and hold the air inside for a moment. My heart steadied and I regained enough control to fumble the waterskin from my pack and take a sip. I swirled the water around in my mouth, washing away the taste of ash. I offered the bottle to Rhiannon and she took a small draught before handing it back.
The mist around us had gone quiet. I could no longer hear the sound of whatever had been chasing us, nor feel the thudding of heavy feet echoing through the earth. Was that a bad sign? Had Belis been caught or had she managed to lose them? I imagined her surrounded, whirling her spear in a desperate attempt to break free. I thought of the rabbit scream, the grinding of teeth, my mind filling in the horrors that would be attacking her. I gripped the hilt of my knife and climbed back to my knees, determining that I had to go out and find her.
Rhiannon caught my eye. She was sitting still, her hand on the pack she had brought, full of whatever she thought would be useful for the spells. I remembered what Arawn had said, that this was our only chance. Belis had trusted me to keep Rhiannon safe so that she could save all of us. I couldn’t let her down by stumbling around in the grey clouds of ash, getting myself killed and leaving Rhiannon undefended.
I sat back down. Rhiannon didn’t say anything but I saw her shoulders sag a little. I felt a curl of shame in my stomach andshuffled back to sit next to her. We sat in silence, listening to the breeze whisper through the mists, ears straining for any approach. I kept my hand on my sword, ready to draw. I could taste the sickness in the air, feel beads of perspiration dripping down my back. I wriggled a little, trying to get more comfortable. My hands were still sticky with traces of blood and I looked for something to wipe them on. There was nothing so I settled for digging my hands through the ash and scraping the worst of it off with the blade of my sword.
Rhiannon’s lips were moving, her eyes shut tight. I realised she was counting under her breath. I wondered if she had given up on Belis and was waiting for enough time to pass so that we could move again. I tried to shut that thought out but it rattled around my skull. I tried to summon happy thoughts – running with the hounds over the moors, feasting with the Wild Hunt. Dancing with Belis at Calan Gaeaf. The first time Belis had smiled at me. Her eyes meeting mine as she made me inhale slow and steady when I couldn’t catch my breath. Belis sitting by the campfire, the flames lighting her hair so it glowed.
The mist permeated the images so that Belis shrank in on herself, becoming a grinning skeleton with wisps of red hair. I slammed my eyes open and stared into the grey.
We huddled in the grave of the tree for what felt like half the day. Every moment I was terrified that Rhiannon would insist we start moving, leaving Belis behind. Every crack and whistle seemed to herald new monsters. Something snuffled around behind us for a while, rooting in the dirt. I gripped my sword so hard that the muscles in my arms spasmed and I almost dropped it. When the thing finally left, Rhiannon let out a long sigh.
“I think we should go now,” she murmured, “before we’re discovered.”
“I’m not leaving without Belis,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Mallt…”
“She’ll be here, I’m sure of it!” I folded my arms, determined to show I would not be moved.
Rhiannon rolled her eyes at me.
