Her Roman Protector by Milinda Jay

Author:Milinda Jay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

On a clear day in midsummer, after two months’ travel over land and sea, the ship’s captain announced that they would make landfall on the southern coast of Britain within a day if the weather cooperated.

The children were ecstatic, as were the adults. Annia would be quite happy to never look at the sea again for the remainder of her days.

She picked up the bronze needle, gold embroidery thread and purple wool band. She threaded the needle and began working on the series of leaves intertwined with birds and flowers. She was almost finished.

The journey by sea had been far more pleasant than Annia had expected. She had plenty of time to work on the band of Maelia’s toga praetexta. She couldn’t wait for her mother to see it. She would never be the artist her mother was, but embroidering helped pass the time.

One sailor pointed out southern Lugdunum, the coast jabbing out into the sea, almost meeting the southern coast of Britain and their port.

Another sailor cautioned Annia, “This part of the sea is known for its unpredictability.”

“How so?” Annia asked.

“On a clear day, a gale can blow up so quickly that you don’t know it’s coming until it’s gone,” he said, climbing back up the mast to check the sails.

Annia noticed the rest of the sailors getting more anxious the closer the ship came to Britain.

“Many a time we’ve gotten this close to land, and a storm has blown in and set us back out to sea for three days or more,” the sailor said.

“Keep your babes close,” he advised. “Be sure they have something that floats.”

“But what?” she asked.

“Inflated bladders of animal skins or hollow, sealed gourds,” he replied. Annia was disturbed by the man’s fear. Should she be worried?

Why hadn’t she thought of making these flotation devices for her children?

But she had to use her reason. She could see the shore from where they were. Even if a storm came upon them now, she could swim to shore.

But what of her baby? Maelia was tied close to her chest in the baby sling. But would she be able to keep her head above the water? Annia felt sweat bead on her forehead.

She thought maybe discussing it with Lucia would help her make a plan and calm her panic.

Lucia stood with a rope tied to her waist. On the other end was Julius. When he wanted to play with Cato and Flavius, the rope was tied around Cato.

Lucia had been afraid he would jump overboard when they first got on the boat and he had pointed to the water and asked if he could swim.

When the dolphins followed the boat, Lucia had to shorten the rope, as they proved too great a temptation to her small sailor. He rebelled, screaming and kicking, and it took Cato and Flavius together to convince him that he needed to stay in the boat with them rather than jumping overboard and swimming with the dolphins.

Right now they sat in the little coracle Marcus brought from Rome and tied to the side of the ship.

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