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Warrior
In the year 208
The hills on the moors were bathed in mist. The nearest were shades of deep rust, each farther set lightening till only light reddish gray distinguished land from sky. Far north of both Hadrian's and Antoine's walls built to keep the Scots and Picts from raiding the lands the Romans controlled, very far north, a place no Roman should be caught alone. The walls worked to little avail though, raids south of the walls were common.
Maximillius, a legionnaire in the Roman army, was wandering the countryside trying to find his way home. Not dressed for the climate, numerous perforations in his sandals allowed the stagnant water to cover his feet. All he had to keep off the cold wind that blew down from the hills was a thin cloak of red wool. Maximillius' commander had decided it was not worth the effort to try to subjugate these people and ordered they return south. Even now though they retreated, men were dying in raids the people of this land carried out with grim effectiveness.
*****
He had been out for two nights and still had no idea where he was. Maximillius found himself having to fight his way through a thick stand of brush and broke into a small clearing occupied by a good-sized hut. Smoke poured out a hole in the top giving the hope of inviting heat. He was too cold to worry who lived there even though there were a number of heads and skulls decorating poles in the clearing. Maximillius quickly went through the skin-covered opening to find a fire burning brightly. On a raised pallet next to the fire sat a woman with a newborn baby still covered in blood in her arms, she saw him and pulled the baby closer to her chest. She was undoubtedly a Pict with her cheekbones tattooed with graceful swirls. She was small, only about 5 feet tall, wrapped in a thick robe of fur.
Hanging in the corner was a shield of bronze that stood as tall as Maximillius. It was decorated with raised geometric figures in silver, the surface dented and cut from being in battle. "What kind of man leaves his wife and newborn child unguarded?" he asked.
"There was a threat of you, the Romans, attacking yesterday as I went into labor. My husband sent me here to my sister's house so I would not get caught as I delivered. He waits for me in the village." The woman answered clearly trying to let him know she would be missed if he did anything to her.
"Where am I?"
"My people call it Bad A'cheo, the place of the mist." Then she straightened and the fear left her face.
Maximillius was not sure why the woman started to become more confident until he felt the draft from the skin being moved. Before he could even turn around, there was the sharp point of a sword at the base of his neck. Maximillius's hand went for his sword only then remembering watching it sink out of sight when he had fallen in what had looked like solid ground.
"I think you will find I am well guarded though," she added with a grin as a good sized fish landed on the table. Maximillius turned slowly to face her protector; the iron sword at his neck was now threatening his throat. It was covered with graceful designs of raised bronze attached to the upper blade. In the crevices the design created, he could see the dried blood that clung stubbornly to the weapon. He raised his eyes from the sword to the one who held it and was surprised to find he was staring eye to eye with a woman who stood at his own height. Her face was tattooed with the same swirls. She was also muscular for she held the sword with the ease of any soldier.
"Would you kill an unarmed man wanting nothing more than to warm by your fire for a while?" He asked finally.
"Yes." The tall one growled pulling her arm back.
The one on the ground put up a hand. "Tancorix, for my sake do not kill him. My child will see enough of death and blood shed in his life. He doesn't need to see it on the day he is brought into this world."
Maximillius saw the conflict going on in the eyes of the one called Tancorix.
She pulled the sword from his throat. "Verica, I will spare his life because you have asked. But if he is lying, he will be the first to die." She finally answered before ducking back outside.
"Why would she want to kill me so bad?" As soon as it was out of his mouth he knew he should have never asked the question.
There was a long silence. "Your Roman brothers killed her husband Lutrin. They call her Tancorix the Avenger now; she has killed close to seventy-five Romans since he was killed a year ago. At least that is what the men say. She does not speak of it and she does not count."
"Scots kill Romans and Romans kill Scots. It has happened that way since the Roman Empire took over some 150 years ago. Why is she so vengeful of this man's death?"
Verica was wrapping the baby and soon stood. "Lutrin was killed as he slept. For a warrior to die asleep is murder, those that killed him have no honor. To my sister, your clothing marks your death. Take that warning to heart. Under any other circumstances you would have died. You should leave now while you have the chance to walk away with your life." Then her face brightened as if she wasn't just discussing his death. "My husband waits for me. I need to go."
"She makes one believe the saying that all one of your men needs is his wife by his side to withstand an entire company of invaders," Maximillius muttered as she reached the door.
That stopped her cold, but the smile was pure pride. "Even our brothers cannot best her, Lutrin was the only man to ever beat her out right, and none ever came to a draw with her before. The two of them together were unstoppable. She needs no one to withstand an entire company. She has enough hate for that inside her already. I hope you tell the truth because if you have lied, you and any who follow will die." Verica walked out of the hut, not even having to stoop to leave.
Maximillius sat by the fire warming himself. He and others like him were killing men that were defending their homes and families. The Picts were not paid, for them it was a way of life necessary to live. They were being invaded and fighting the same as the Romans would if they were invaded. It didn't make them barbarians. Heads on a pole or dragged through the streets of Rome, no real difference made one more barbarous than the other.
Tancorix came back into the hut with a boy of maybe five years old at her side. The boy was huge.
"Are you not gone yet?" She asked annoyed.
"Do you know the way to the Roman territory? I was separated from my garrison three days ago and I have no idea how to get back?"
She looked at him with hatred and contempt. "Of course I know the way to your forsaken lands. I even know where your garrison is. I attacked their camp three days ago."
It was the same skirmish that had separated Maximillius from his regiment and had caused him to become lost in this land. "Did you kill any?"
A snort of sarcastic laughter escaped her lips, a laugh that never reached her eyes. "Why would we attack if we did not intend to kill men? In total twenty are dead, five of them by my own hand. They say one was the man in charge. Whose heads do you think are outside?"
"How long would it take to reach them or the wall?"
"A day for your regiment, three days to reach the wall."
"Would you be willing to show me where my regiment is?" Tancorix raised her eyes slowly carefully weighing not only his words, but hers as well.
"If you wish to live, you would not have me show you where your regiment is; you would have me show you to the wall. Your regiment is not a safe place to be right now unless you wish to watch us slaughter your friends." Tancorix answered truthfully.
"Would you show me to the wall then?"
"I am still just a barbarian, woman or no. Should I trust you not to kill me as I sleep? Verica is gone. She will never know if I kill you now." Never had Maximillius seen such hatred in a person's eyes.
"I told you earlier I am unarmed, my sword was lost in a pool in the middle of nowhere when I fell in. I give you my word I will try nothing toward you or your son." The thought of seeing his own head outside on a pole gave him a surge of just wanting to live.
Tancorix looked at him for a long while. When she spoke, he hardly believed she had agreed to help him. "We will leave in the morning. My sister has bought your life for the time being."
*****
They left just as the sun was about to rise. Maximillius had never seen a woman move that so fast before. The fog was burned away and as they crested a hill, Maximillius could see the very sea. A small island looked as if thrown from land by a giant. Judging by where the land lay he was more lost than he had thought. Far to the north from where he should have been. She set a pace even he had difficulty keeping up with all while carrying her son. In the same conditions he had frozen and starved, she knew every rock that blocked the wind. She knew where every pool of fresh water was located and how to trap small animals just the right size to feed them. She knew where the high ground was to keep out of the muck and water in the first place.
It was the second night they had been traveling when he finally got up the courage to ask about her husband. She sat for a long time before she turned to him.
"He was the bravest man I know. He always took care of his men and me and our boy once I had him. He never ran from any responsibility. He was loyal and never raised a hand against me. He never ordered me to stay away from a battle, always most confident when I was by his side. I never saw a man love a boy as much or a woman. He told me even if I never had a child, he would never take another wife. That is not normal if you do not know about our ways. I miss him like my heart will never heal."
"How did he die?"
"He went across the wall, the lower one it was, to trade. Last year was a poor year for rain, unlike this year, little grew. They were sleeping and Verica's husband woke to find a Roman soldier standing over Lutrin, his sword red with blood. They killed him, but that does little to make the ache in my heart go away. The child I carried when they told me of his death died, never to see her father or mother. A soul now that now does not know where she belongs." She just sat there when she was through not making a sound as she watched her boy sleep. Maximillius made her say no more and got ready to sleep.
*****
Maximillius woke in the middle of the night. Across the fire Tancorix lay asleep with her son Laibhann in her arms to keep him warm. Under a fur blanket, only their heads could be seen. Maximillius saw the sword next to her as she slept. Tancorix would never trust him, while she slept least of all. He lay down to go back to sleep and watched her for a while. He couldn't get rid of the feeling she would suddenly rise up and take his head. Had she been born Roman, she would most likely have lived in a fine house and be sleeping on a nice bed. She was a Scot though, this is where she belonged. She would die rather than be captured and led through the streets of Rome, a prize for the Emperor.
*****
At sunset the third day, they came to the top of a hill. The wall spread out in front of them. It divided the landmass into two parts, the Roman and the land of the barbarians. Tancorix stood staring down at the wall for a long time, at the wall her husband crossed and died behind. She turned to Maximillius.
"If we should meet in battle some day I will treat you no different from the rest of your people. You are still one of those that invaded my land and killed my husband. You should know that before you leave, should we meet again." Maximillius walked off toward the wall without a word; there was nothing to say. He lived only by Verica's plea for her child.
He made it to the top of the wall and looked back at the hazy sunset. He watched the outline of a mother and her child disappearing back to where they belonged and ready to take his head when she saw him.
*****
A week later he met up with what was left of his garrison, some fifty men out of close to six hundred.
"Maximillius, where did you end up when we were separated?" The highest officer left asked. He was being commanded by a man only a rank higher than he was.
"You would not believe me if I told you," he replied and then went silent as he thought. "Octavius, I am taking my leave of the service. I no longer have the heart for it."
"I suppose it's an ordinary request for a man who has already served his twenty years. You earned your bounty and land several years ago. I never thought I would hear you quit though."
"I know, but killing does not seem like a way to make a living for myself any longer. I just cannot anymore."
"I will do as you ask. You can be out in a week. Tell me though what made you change your mind in such a short period of time?"
"I met a warrior who made me realize what is important in life." Perhaps it wasn't too late for him to have a child of his own.
*****