The Wrath of Boudicca by K. M. Ashman

Author:K. M. Ashman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo Digital Publishing Ltd
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

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Prydain made his way back toward the centre of the village, looking all the while for Heulwen. Though he couldn’t find her, he wasn’t unduly worried and after dropping the meat sacks off at the stables, made his way to find the street of bakers. During his time at the slaughterhouse, the village had become busier and children were playing in the central clearing while their families laid out their wares on sack cloth around the edges or offered their skills to whoever passed them by. Tailors stood behind hand barrows, hoping that a brand-new tunic would be preferable to the second-hand rags offered by many of the desperate people around the square. Farmers brought turnips and field greens from their farms as well as live sheep and baskets of eggs, while brewers lifted buckets of stale smelling ale onto trestles confident their particular commodity would sell quite well.

Covered carts parked against walls, each offering the more private services that could be found in busy markets such as these. Soothsayers, Shamen and magicians offered the older people hope, while the younger men hung around the whores’ wagons, summoning the courage to venture into the welcoming silks of their perfumed boudoirs.

Children taunted the many loose dogs around the square, their joint cacophony being exaggerated by the scolding of the adults and Prydain knew this scene could be anywhere in the Khymru if it hadn’t been for one differentiating fact, the presence of a dozen or so Roman Auxiliaries wandering in pairs through the crowd.

Prydain walked amongst the busier part of the crowd, hoping to blend in unnoticed as he crossed the square. Within moments he was in the relative safety of a side street as he made his way toward the welcoming smell of warm bread. This time there was more urgency in his manner and he wasted no time in buying a sack of biscuits from the nearest dealer before making his way back toward the stable. A disturbance had broken out in the square and a crowd gathered around two men arguing over an unpaid debt, obviously hoping it would break into a fight. Prydain took the opportunity to make his way toward the stable, keeping to the side of the square as much as possible but had gone no more than twenty paces when a voice called out, stopping him dead in his tracks.

‘You there,’ said the voice. ‘Hold still.’

Prydain looked around and his heart sank as he saw a large man with a scarred face standing next to the slaughter man he had done business with less than an hour earlier.

‘That’s him,’ said Calder to the armed man. ‘He has more gold on him than you or I will ever see. I tell you, there’s something strange going on there.’

Prydain looked around quickly, hoping for a quick escape but the thug stepped toward him.

‘Don’t even think about it, stranger,’ he said. ‘Just back up against the wall and show me the purse.’

‘My purse is my own,’ said Prydain, ‘and no business of anyone but me.

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