Boudica and the Lost Roman by Mike Ripley

Author:Mike Ripley [Ripley, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

XXVII: OLUSSA

Ihave sent a despatch to Lupus at Camulodunum in order to keep Horas quiet. Since he witnessed the arrival of this Tasciovanus, accompanied by what looks like a war party of ‘Trinnies’ as Rogerus calls them, the old slave has been agitated beyond reason and anxious to inform his master of the fact that they are here and openly carrying weapons, though I am unsure as to whether the general edict to disarm applied to them as it did the Iceni.

They are without doubt a fearsome bunch, but they have brought gifts for the funeral as well as a cartload of amphorae of the finest Greek wine which, in all likelihood, has gone missing from a merchant’s store in Camulodunum. Within the Iceni encampment, which is growing daily, they behave themselves for the most part though they talk loudly in our presence about the tyranny of Roman taxes and Roman masters and Roman religion. The three things appear to be linked, their Roman masters insisting on higher taxes to pay for the new temple to the divine Claudius. They mutter darkly that ‘things will change’ and that there have been ‘omens’ and that they ‘are ready’. I am sure they would regard a dog sniffing its own backside as an omen if the mood took them, but I promised Horas I would write to Lupus to keep him informed of the situation.

At least it keeps him quiet and it has the distinct advantage of getting rid of Ulpius, who has done nothing but skulk around the camp since we arrived. He is convinced we will be murdered in our beds and Alcides does not help matters by pointing out that the Iceni would prefer us to be standing when they behead us. Ulpius jumped at the chance to take my letter back to the colonia and I fear his poor horse is in danger of being ridden into the ground.

Boudica’s personal guard, the giant Tarex, escorted him through the woods to the trackway we arrived on, which the Iceni refer to as The Pathway. All the tribes know this and use it for trade and, no doubt in less civilised times, for war. The Catuvellauni delegation under the chief Verica have followed it for several days from their tribal home around the second city of Verulamium, so this Pathway must stretch for well over a hundred miles to the south and west, where it is said to cut Route LXVI, the road the legions built from Londinium to the north-west frontier. Knowledge of such a trade route may well be of use in the future.

My ability to write and the Iceni’s inability to read is a source of wonderment and amusement in the village. Almost all the children have attempted to copy my actions when writing with a stylus on wax, which I do not mind, though I am reluctant to let them see me making good copies on bark in ink, which I do in the privacy of my tent each night.

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