Were they going to argue now, and in such a place? She knew he wanted what was best for their people but so did she. The question was who was right?
“You’re right but we need to fade away into a spot where we will be safe for the night. We need food and shelter. Dark’s falling and they won’t risk an attack at night, not when they don’t know if you can hit them with your …whatever it is again.”
He was right. She leaned against him and sighed heavily. “Dagmar, you’re right.”
His laughter rumbled up in his chest. “Say that louder so the men can hear you. None will believe you agreed with me, much less said I was correct.”
She slapped his broad chest and laughed. “You’re impossible! Help me gather weapons and we’ll see if any of them have any kind of provisions with them. I don’t really want to make a fire, that would just bring them to us.”
“We have dried meat, some of the hunters are carrying a large amount of it. We can gather a few things as we go. But we do need to go. The others would have gone through the hills to the left. The hunters know that way, and they know the dangers there. Plus there’s a small spot where they can take shelter from the cold tonight.
“We’ll head the opposite way and do our best to confuse the soldiers so they don’t know which way to go.”
Fear turned her bowels to water. “What if they choose the way the others went?”
His smile got wider. Her eyes widened too. “You want them to choose that way! That’s our people out there!”
She wasn’t thinking rationally and she knew it. But she couldn’t think past what he was suggesting. He grabbed her and said, “Yes, and we will be right behind the soldiers Aila.”
She blinked. Her whole body shook. “How can we be sure we will be able to keep them from finding them before we can attack?”
“We attack early.”
“She peered through the trees to the wide open spaces beyond. “There’s no shelter for us out there. If we fight them before they get to the trees on the other side we have no cover and the bows can’t do as good a job as they did today. We didn’t lose a single bow until they came to ground.”
“It’s a chance we have to take.”
“But they’ll know there are others.”
Dagmar said, “Aila, they’ll know anyway. That many people moving quickly…they can’t cover their tracks. We have to hit them hard, decimate their numbers even further. We have to use the land against them. There’s a deep bog that way. Our people know to avoid it and to tread lightly there, but they don’t. We could use it to kill many of them before they even realize what is happening. Then we can charge them and hide on the other side and hit them again. The others are moving already and they won’t stay late tonight, if they stop at all. They’re ahead of the army, and that’s what we needed to have happen.
“Now we have to get them, and ourselves, a chance to live too.”
She sighed. “You’re right. And I don’t like it.”
He chuckled, “I know you don’t. Now let’s get moving while those bastards are still trying to figure out what happened to them here.”
They finished gathering weapons and the few provisions the soldiers carried. It felt wrong to just leave them there, along with the bodies of their own dead and Dagmar frowned. “You’re right. We might be their enemy but they met an honorable death as did ours. And we need to keep them out of here for at least the night. In fact, we need them to go to the east.”
“You’re thinking of burning the woods,” she accused.
He said, “I am burning the woods. Our dead deserve that, and …”
She put a finger to his lips. “I agree.”
They set the fire carefully, using the lowest brush and piling it high around the trees. It hurt Aila to the soul to watch that lovely copse burn but she kne wit was only right. Their dead, and even the Roman’s dead, deserved an honorable send-off and this was the best they could do.
The fire blazed and roared. Dagmar said, “At least we’ll be able to cook tonight without fear since we know they can’t get through that.”
Aila said, “Send our strongest runner ahead Dagmar, and do it now. We need to let our people know we’re alive and what this fire is, and we need to make sure they’re moving quickly but taking time to rest.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’ll send Browyn.”
She nodded wearily. Browyn appeared and listened intently, her sharp little face was already creased with weariness and Aila felt a moment’s misgiving. Browyn said, “I can make it there if I have fuel for the run.”
“Take extra dried meat. Tell them they may cook tonight as long as there are no soldiers coming in from the other side. Have someone go look in every direction, at least five miles. That’s the distance the smoke will carry. Hopefully as large as this one is they’ll assume that is what they smell in the morning.”
Browyn trotted off. Dagmar turned to Aila and said, “Let’s move.”
They headed off to the west. Her feet trudged and her shoulders slumped. She hadn’t realized how much strength she had used up fighting and using her power but it hit her then. She asked, “Do you think she’ll make it?”
Dagmar nodded, “She was in the trees the entire battle. I saw her arrows take at least four. She’s tired from the worry I’m sure but physically she’s still fresh. Fresher than anyone else, anyway. We have to risk it, you know that or you wouldn’t have ordered it.”
“I know.” She rubbed her neck and added, “I think we need to make the hills and go slightly beyond, over to the little streams. They shouldn’t be able to see us if we hide in the underbrush and we could use some berries and leaves to disguise ourselves further. In fact if we did that we could probably sneak up on them easier as well.”
“That’s a great idea.” They walked faster, all of them pushing themselves to the limit. The fire blazed behind them, keeping the Romans back and lighting up the rapidly falling night. Dagmar’s body heat drifted into her skin and she leaned into him as the rain began, a gentle fine mist that would keep the fire from overtaking them but not douse it.
They headed into the hills, climbing past the strewn rocks and the high grass. They trudged through a narrow pass and then down again. Several of those behind them carefully cleared their tracks so that the next stage of their attack could be completed.
It was full dark when they stopped but the sky was bright from the fire. They rested in small groups, eating a few hares that Dagmar had caught as they fled from the fire. They weren’t enough, the group got a few bare scraps of the meat each but Aila and some of the others had also dug roots as they went and that, coupled with the dry hard bread the soldiers had carried, was enough to make them content and their exhaustion ensured that they slept no matter how nervous.
Dagmar and Aila took the first watch amid protests from their people. They sent their tired group of to bed and stood, keeping a close watch for shadows around the edges of the fire, not a bright blot in the distance.
The wind had picked up and she shivered. His arm came around her and he said, “I am proud of you. You are a ruler and I’m sorry it took me so long to see that. It was my pride, I suppose, that couldn’t let me see you for the ruler you could be, in the beginning, and I know I was cruel to you then, and after too.”
She said, “I was the same. All I could see was your faults because I was so intent on ruling I was sure nobody else could rule as well as I could.”
“I think we do rather well together.” His chin rested on the top of her head and she smiled softly. “I think perhaps it was always meant for the two of us to rule together. We both have our strengths and weaknesses, and together we complete each other and shore up the things each lack.”
“We do. Perhaps that’s the best part of what we have. It strengthens us.”
The sky grew darker. Aila said, “I wish I could see what they were doing.”
Dagmar said, “I bet they wish the same.”
She said, “I’m sure. T
hey’re used to taking lands, you can see it in their faces.”
He nodded. “I know. But they won’t take ours, not without a fight. We won’t give up until we’re dead, and gone and we’ll die knowing we made it possible for ours to be safe and strong enough to fight them when the time comes.”
“It’s not a bad legacy.”
Her words held a catch. His arm draped over her shoulder and his fingers brushed against the top of her breasts. “No, it isn’t. Good rulers make history far less often then bad ones, have you ever noticed that?”
“I think it might be time to change that.”
Her face turned back to his. Their eyes met and passion flared up. Heat flushed all along her body, leaving her wet and aching. “What do you think that they will say about us?”
“That we fought each other, and then we fought the Romans. That we loved and lived as fiercely as we loved. What else could they say about us?”
Her heart ached. The smoke blew up into the air, bringing the scent of fresh sap and the remainder of the smell of the men who’d burned into glory in the flames. “Aye, indeed what else could they say?”
They sat silently until the others woke and took their places at the rocky point. Hand-in-hand they strolled to the place they had chosen to sleep, a small flat area filled with heavy moss and crushed flowers. It was cool and Dagmar cuddled her close, his fingers sliding along her hips under her own tunic.
Pleasure erupted along her skin. Their lips met in a long and lingering kiss. There was a bittersweet feeling to it as he lifted her leg and pulled it over his hip. Side by side and facing each other he thrust deep into her heated flesh, bringing the full weight and thickness of his member into her body while her fingers clutched his shoulders and their mouths met again and fused together. Overhead a single falling star blazed across the ebony canopy of the sky, and she wondered if that were an omen, and if so if it meant that this was the last night they had to together. That they would fall come morning.
His hips worked harder and his fingers slid lower until they found the throbbing ridge of her clit. He massaged it, taking her to the brink of an orgasm before sending her over it, her body going rigid and relaxing as his heavy and hot flesh met and parted hers.
Her fingers clutched at his strong shoulders and everything else faded away before the ultimate pleasure he gave her. Her body moved slowly against his, grinding and thrusting as he came too, his hot seed splashing into her depths and splattering her oiled inner walls.
They lay there, not speaking for a long time. Neither could sleep, and Aila wondered if he, like she, was afraid that if she slept she would miss the last few precious hours and minutes of their lives together. The steady beat of his heart banged against her breast and he stayed within her even though he had gone flaccid.
The rosy streaked fingers of a new dawn eventually showed in the lightening sky. Dagmar kissed her again, sweetly. She sighed and closed her eyes. Who would have imagined that this was how they’d end up, united not just as lovers and rules but as two people who truly loved and respected each other?
The callousness of their youth was gone. They were older and wiser, and they had learned so much with and from each other.
Breslin spoke from a respectful distance. “We should get ready.”
His voice was gruff and low. The lovers separated and Dagmar stood, pulling his tunic down before helping her to her feet. He asked, “Is there any sign?”
Breslin nodded grimly. “They’ve begun gathering themselves and are trying to make their way past the burning. It won’t be long before they decide their only way past it is to the east, they’ll be moving by the time dawn leaves the sky.”
Ragnic spoke as well. “I saw many injuries in their ranks. Some not severe, and a few that were. They killed them. The wounded that could not go on I mean. They are walking through the ranks killing all who can’t go forward.”
There was incredulity in his voice. Aila understood why. Their own wounded had been dragged and carried from those trees and while some could no longer fight they would still be cared for. Murdering them for being injured was unthinkable.
“Savages,” she muttered.
Breslin said, “Aye, and brutal too. To kill men who’d stood by your side in a fight…It’s wrong. The gods will not take lightly to that either.”
“They don’t worship our gods, “Aila said softly. “We’ve no idea what they worship.”
“It’s too bad we don’t,” Ragnic said, “It’s said that a god can terrify a man into surrendering all.”
Aila nodded. “So, we need to get behind them without them seeing up but the land’s too open for a few miles.”
She chafed at that. Breslin said, “I think we get through the meadows as fast as possible, and now before they move,
then take the ridges. We’ll be above but out of sight, and we could use that as an advantage too. Our bows can take them and the height, like the tree heights, would make it almost impossible for them to hit our bows with arrows of their own. That will leave them crowding together, and harried.”
“The gods,” Dagmar said.
Aila frowned. “What?”
He smiled. “We don’t know what gods they worship but whatever gods they have, they must have some sort of powers. Yesterday, when you made the wind and ice they were afraid but they kept coming. They kept coming because they were more afraid of their leaders than you. In their faces I could see they wanted to stop, that they feared something unnatural like that, but they feared their leaders more still. What if we give them something much more frightening than their leaders to fear?”
Aila asked, “What do you mean?”
His grin got wider. “The rocks. If we stay behind the largest stones we could rain the heavy ones in front of the ridge down on them. The largest stones could crush many there in the spot where the hills form a neck. They’d have to push toward the bog then. If they thought their god was angry and raining down those things it might be enough to make them break and run.”
Ragnic said, “They’d think this land was unholy.”
Dagmar nodded, “Aye. Then all we would have is perhaps a third of their ranks to deal with. We have enough arrows and swords to decide a battle, even if it is not in our favor, but if the soldiers are already frightened and worried that the gods they favor do not favor them we’d probably defeat them.”
Aila said, “That’s a brilliant plan.”
He nodded. “You should we could disguise ourselves with nature. We must, and we must do so quickly. That blue paste we make to color our faces during ceremonies, is there enough here to make it?”
Ragnic said, “But of course.”
Dagmar smiled. “Then let’s do it. Hurry, we have a very little time to prepare. Everyone, eat well of what we have. We need our strength and, gods willing, by tonight we’ll at least be able to hunt down food.”
They all went to work. Aila set to making the thick blue paste out of a few handfuls of crushed berries, a scoop of mineral-laden earth, and water.
They painted their faces and arms, drawing on the symbols and signs of the old ways. They adorned their heads with leaves and covered their bodies with brown earth to further disguise themselves. The swords were hidden in their tunics to keep the enemy from seeing them shining in the sun, and then they were ready.
They headed toward the high ridges, leaving Ragnic with the worst wounded and instructions for him to take them to the high caves in the tall hills far to the west. He hadn’t wanted to stay behind but he would, and so would those too gravely wounded to do more than make it to those caves.
There were caches of food in the caves as they were used for hunting parties and to make camps there, and nearby water. They could survive there if they were careful and lucky, and Aila hoped that they were both as they parted ways.
They climbed the hills, staying low. The Romans had indeed headed east as they’d hoped they would. They were marching two by two between the high ridge and Aila took a l
ong breath at the sheer number of them.
Even after the battle of the day before there were so many!
Dagmar and the others began testing the boulders. They found the ones most likely to tumble and then, in unison, they sent nearly two dozen large and crushing boulders down the ridge toward the soldiers.
There was nowhere for them to go. The hills closed in on either side of the little pass. They were pinned in place by the men behind and before them and the cries were terrible as death rolled toward them and took them.
“Up the hill,” the commander shouted.
“There’s nobody there!” The cry came from a man who was near the end of the line of bloody boulders. “There’s nobody Sir! It must have been a natural thing!”
The ones behind could not easily pass by the crushed and broken bodies nor the boulders. The men had to move them to get the way clear.
Just as they finished the herculean task the Picts rained down another two dozen from the shifting soil at the top of the hill being careful to stay low and hidden as they did so.
More Romans died. None of them dared peek over at to look to see the damage, they put their backs against the stones and listened intently. The Romans had to struggle to remove the boulders again in order to get past them and the sun was climbing higher the entire time.
Dagmar waited until they could hear the sound of the soldiers marching and then he said, “Softly now.”
They moved slowly, hiding behind the rocks and crouching low. Aila’s thighs ached from the exertion and sweat ran down her face, heavily caked with the paste. The sun climbed again and hawks and carrion birds circled overhead then dove toward the Roman dead. Her stomach churned but she stayed silent.
War. It was inevitable. She’d known that, her whole life she had known that and they had seen it before but never like this and she was already sickened and weary of it.
Desired By The Cowboy (Love In Collin's Ranch 2) Page 40