The Wolf Queen by Marie McCurdy

Author:Marie McCurdy [McCurdy, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lisa Tourtelot

The horde was easy to spot in their dark furs and heavy wools against the white blanket of knee-high snow. Horses loaded with covered parcels, some pulling carts, made blocky lumps interspersed between the bodies. They were still far enough away to give us time to settle into our loose formations. We didn’t fight like the Romans, with their neat lines and in-step marching. For the Germani, battle was an opportunity to achieve personal glory and acquire wealth we might not otherwise ever gain. Weapons, armor, jewels, anything a warrior carried into battle was subject to plunder should the warrior fall. Dying bravely in battle was also, according to our priestesses, a pathway to glory in the afterlife. Cowards were left on the mortal plane to linger as unhappy spirits, slowly deteriorating into madness before decaying altogether.

Instead of tight rectangles and squares, our people stretched out into a thin line mingled with horses, each warrior jockeying for a place in the front. Only cowards willingly accepted a place behind another warrior. Once Reimar, who’d been elected our war chief for the day, gave the signal to attack, it would become a melee, every warrior for themselves with little thought to strategy.

I spared a moment to worry over taking a sword or spear to the back by one of our own warriors, such was the general confusion to follow. We had painted our faces a deep blue, some in patterns or stripes, others a solid mass of color, to ease the confusion, and hoped the raiders had chosen another color or no color at all.

I shivered and my breath puffed out in little clouds. In a short while, my cloak would be too hot to wear. Sweat from anticipation for the fight to come dampened my palms. With any luck, it would be a short one, with minimal casualties.

Those of us with horses mounted once the raiders were within shouting distance. My animal stamped its foot and snorted, knowing what was to come.

One thousand or so warriors assembled before us was an impressive sight to see. Not as impressive as our larger number and certainly not as impressive as the Roman legions when they marched, but impressive nonetheless.

Many of these people faced starvation. Others merely wanted a chance to raid, thirsting for violence and the satisfaction of seizing another man’s property like predators. The Mattiaci wanted their revenge.

Their leader stepped forward, a tall man with a long, scraggly beard and braids he should have taken down, cleaned, and re-braided weeks ago.

“Look,” he shouted, turning to his people for effect, “they come to take what’s ours by right.”

Shouts of outrage met his words, insults slung our way. Nothing too creative, of course, mostly descriptions of how we sucked Varus’ cock to gain favor.

“We don’t want to take anything from you,” Reimar replied. We’d rehearsed these words at length last night and on the way here. “We’re here to—”

The man silenced him with an outraged roar. “We don’t care what you want, do we?”

The raiders cheered their approval and shook their weapons over their heads.

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