The Fall of Britannia by K M Ashman

Author:K M Ashman
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: celts, roman battles, roman empire, celtic britain, gladiators, druids, boudica, roman, rome, adventure, historical, battle, roman conquest, roman army, roman history, legions
Published: 2013-08-15T04:56:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Willow sat on the edge of the bed, wiping her eyes between sentences as she explained what she knew about Gwenno’s fate.

‘All the poems and stories you have been learning,’ she said, ‘they are all messages to the Gods. Usually they are chanted at the gatherings of the Druids, but sometimes they are taken in person by the chosen ones.’

‘How, Willow?’ asked Gwenno earnestly, ‘how can someone speak to the Gods when they live in the otherworld?’

‘It is possible, Miss,’ she said, ‘but only those who have remained pure can enter the gates of Afallon.’

Gwenno wracked her brain. Although women in the clan had little to do with spiritual matters, she had overheard the name Afallon mentioned occasionally back in the Blaidd, when the warriors were drunk around the fires.

‘But isn’t Afallon just a small island of the coast to the west?’

‘All I know, Miss, is that all the messengers are taken there by the Druids after they have gone through the Henge. There lies their new kingdom, the lands that are your birth right as the chosen one. You will take your rightful place alongside those who have travelled before.’

‘But that cannot be,’ said Gwenno. ‘The island is too small, much smaller than even this one. How can so many people be given lands? There will not be enough to go around.’

‘You must be wrong, Miss; many have travelled the path before you.’

Gwenno’s mind was racing. None of this added up and the more she heard, the more worried she became.

‘This Henge, you told me about,’ she said, ‘tell me again what happens there.’

‘Well, Miss; there is a great ceremony where the Druids pay tribute to the chosen one. You will wear the cape and travel through the stone gateway before you are taken to Afallon.’

‘And you have seen this?’

‘Like I said before, Miss, my cousin...’

‘What exactly did your cousin say, Willow?’ she asked, interrupting the girl. ‘Think back, and try to remember everything he said.’

‘Just what I said, Miss,’ stuttered Willow, ‘about the Druids, and the cape and the stone gate, that’s all I know, really.’

‘I see,’ said Gwenno standing up and pacing back and fore. ‘About this Henge, do you know where it is?’

‘No, miss.’

‘You have not taken any other acolytes there before?’

‘No, Miss, you will be my first.’

‘Did your cousin describe where this place is?’

‘No, Miss, though he said the ceremony looks over the water toward Afallon.’

‘It must be on the west coast.’ She said before taking Willow’s hands in hers. ‘Willow, we have to go there.’

‘But we can’t,’ said Willow, ‘they will capture us and we will be punished.’

‘They won’t know,’ said Gwenno. ‘We can sneak away tonight and be long gone before we are missed.’

‘The guards will see us,’ said Willow.

‘There are no guards,’ said Gwenno. ‘They have been removed.’

‘The Druids know you saw the ceremony, Miss, and have instructed that you are guarded once more.’

Gwenno ran to the door and peered through the gaps between the planks. Sure enough, an armed guard stood across the clearing watching Gwenno’s hut.

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