Vengeance of a Slave

by V. M. Sang

  Gareth looked around. “Now, how are we going to fight the Romans? Perhaps we could send a message around the other settlements, asking people to join us. Then, when we’ve gathered enough men, we could fight a battle that we could win.”

  “We’d need thousands, Gareth,” Rees stated from the back of the group. “How are we going to get so many?”

  “When people hear about our proposed rebellion, then they’ll come, I’m sure.”

  “No, not enough, Gareth. We can’t fight the Romans. Have you seen their organisation? That’s the reason we’ve never won against them. This meeting is a waste of time. The Romans are here to stay and we’ll have to get used to it.”

  “Don’t be so defeatist, Rees,” piped up someone else. “There must be some way we can fight them.”

  As Ailbert had been listening to this, he had been thinking all the time. He then spoke with an idea that had been going round his head. “You’re all good hunters and are successful in killing your prey. Why is that?”

  Silence fell as the young men looked at him and wondered what this had to do with attacking the Romans.

  “We all know how to be stealthy and to hide. We only shoot when the animals are confident and not easily spooked.”

  Rees said, “This is all nonsense. Hunting has nothing to do with raising a rebellion against the Romans. I’m out of here.”

  “Wait, Rees!” Ailbert’s voice was firm and confident. “Hear what I have to say before you go.”

  Rees settled down with a humph and grumbling no one else could understand.

  “You’re all successful hunters because you know your prey. You know where they’ll be and when. Then you hide so you can’t be seen, and shoot from cover. The animals don’t know what’s happened. This can be used against the Romans.” Ailbert looked to the back of the group and his eyes found those of Rees. “I agree, Rees. We can’t fight them out in the open and so I propose we hunt them instead.”

  Ailbert was surprised when a round of cheering erupted.

  Gareth spoke. “Ailbert has some excellent ideas. I suggest we make him our leader in this. I couldn’t have come up with a plan like that.”

  They greeted this suggestion with another round of cheers; in this way, Ailbert found himself the battle leader of a group of young hotheads who wanted to fight Roman soldiers.

  15

  Ailbert dismissed the young men at that point, telling them he would need to consider a more detailed strategy. As well as that, he would need to think how he could discover the movements of the Romans so that their ‘army’ could lie in wait for them. This would not be an easy task and he wandered back to his home deep in thought.

  He liked the idea of attacking the Romans. He had no real thoughts that they could win, or even make them think that staying here was not worthwhile, but he liked the idea of disrupting them and killing some of them. His hatred truly ran deep.

  Ailbert entered his home as darkness started to fall. The siblings ate the meal Awena had prepared and then Ailbert said he felt tired and retired to bed. In reality, he wanted to continue thinking about plans to attack the Romans.

  He rose the next morning and went out to feed the livestock. He still enjoyed working with them. One of the dogs ran up to him and he bent to pat it, then proceeded to where the horses and cattle lived for the winter.

  On reaching the enclosure, Ailbert picked up a bucket and went to get water for them. On the way, he met Rhodri, who picked up another bucket and accompanied him.

  “Your sister … well, what I mean is … she’s beautiful. I like her a lot.”

  Ailbert stopped and looked at his friend. “What is it? What are you trying to say?”

  “This is difficult,” Rhodri began with a faltering smile. Then he released the words all at once. “I’d like to handfast her. Do you think she’d have me? Should I ask your uncle? Will he approve?”

  Ailbert laughed. “Well now, there are a lot of questions there. First, I’d make sure she wants to handfast you before asking anyone else. Second, I can’t say what she thinks of you. She’s said nothing, but you know she was promised before we came here, don't you?”

  “I’ll have to talk to her then.” Rhodri walked towards the animals with his bucket of water.

  “You do that, then go and see Huw, and see what he says,” Ailbert said to the retreating figure. “I don’t suppose he’ll object.”

  Rhodri stopped as he poured water into the trough. The cattle jostled for position, nearly knocking the young man over. “Do you think she’s got over the other one? The one she was promised to before you came here?”

  “I really couldn't say.” Ailbert added his bucket of water to the trough. “She isn’t moping like she was at first, so that’s a good sign. She doesn’t talk about him either, but whether that’s because she’s over him, or because she finds it too painful, who knows?”

  The pair went about their daily tasks and spoke no more about it.

  That evening, Awena greeted Ailbert as he came into the house. “Rhodri has asked me if I’d like to handfast him. I’ll need your permission, of course, as my nearest older male relative. What do you think of him?”

  “Awena, I like him very much. He’s become a good friend to me since we arrived here.” He paused and looked at her. “But do you want to handfast him? It’s not enough to say you like him. You’ll be spending the rest of your life in his company.”

  He looked into his sister's eyes as though seeking the answer to a question. Awena stared back. “You’re wondering if I’ve got over Madoc, aren’t you?”

  Ailbert said nothing, but turned his eyes away from hers.

  “You are. Well, for your information, I’ve not thought about him for months. He was just a child in comparison to Rhodri.”

  Ailbert smiled at that thought. Awena was still a child herself, in his eyes, although of an age to be handfasted. She always would be he suspected. He had looked after her for as long as he could remember. Even before they were taken as slaves his mother used to ask him to mind her while she tended to the baby.

  His face fell as he thought about his real family. What was his little brother called? He could not remember. He then wondered if his mother had remarried and had more children. She had not been old when the Romans took him and Awena as slaves, although at the time he had thought of her as such. He sank down onto a log by the fire-pit.

  Awena strolled over to him and sat down on the log as well. She put a hand over his. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want me to handfast Rhodri?'

  Ailbert shook his head. “It’s not that, Awena. I was thinking about our parents and wondering how our mother has managed all these years.”

  “I expect she got married again. She’ll have more children now to replace us. She’s probably stopped thinking all about us.” She stood up and smiled, forgetting about the mother she could not remember. “Anyway, what about me and Rhodri? Will you give your permission?”

  Ailbert smiled, realising she could not remember anything of their life before slavery. She had been such a little girl. Her attitude now was not because she did not care, but because she could not care. How could she care about something she could not remember?

  Ailbert stood and hugged his little sister. “You have my permission, Avvy.” He used the nickname he had given her when they were both small and she was called Avelina. Then he released her and said, “You realise though, that everyone here thinks Huw is your uncle. As such, it’ll be him that Rhodri goes to for permission.”

  Awena's hand went to her mouth and her eyes widened. “Oh, do you think he’ll refuse?”

  “I think he'll not know what to do. He’s not actually your uncle. I’m your only blood relative here, but no one knows that.” He paused for a few minutes and then slapped his fist into his hand. “Got it! I’ll tell Huw I approve of the match and he can tell Rhodri. That way, I’ll be giving permission, but everyone will think it was Huw.”

  Awena flung her arms round her brother, extoll
ing his cleverness in thinking of a way round the problem.

  The conspirators met to discuss plans. Some of the more hot-headed of the lot wanted to rush out and ambush Roman soldiers immediately, but Ailbert forbade them.

  “We need to make sure we can succeed before we attack any Romans,” he stated. “They're well-disciplined and unless we work together and disappear quickly, they’ll catch us. Then it’ll all be over. Not only for us, but probably for the rest of the town too. The Romans don’t take kindly to people who attack them.” Ailbert’s eyes peered into the distance as he remembered long ago and how the Romans took revenge on his village.

  The conspirators met in a clearing in the forest because Ailbert decided that meeting in the centre of the village would not be a good idea. He walked around the little group, talking all the time.

  “As you all know, I’ve been travelling to Eberacum with Huw on a regular basis. While I was there, I often saw the patrols leaving the city. What I need to know is how often they go out, where they go, and if the patrol routes are regular or random.”

  He reached the back of his men, as he had now come to think of them. They all turned to face him. He smiled. Every one of them accepted him as leader. Even Rees. Ailbert had felt reluctant to accept the position at first, but now he found he enjoyed having a group of young men hanging on his every word and expecting him to set plans in motion.

  “If they’re regular, that’ll be easy, but it’ll be difficult if they aren’t. That I’ll try to discover when I go to Eberacum. The rest of you need to practice your shooting skills, as well as stealth.”

  “We'll need to go out to the forest to do this,” Gareth pointed out. “We don’t want people wondering what we’re doing.”

  “You’re right. It’s best kept secret. The fewer people who know, the better. In fact, we should keep it entirely to ourselves.”

  Rhodri fixed his gaze on Ailbert. “Even our wives and promised ones?”

  “Especially them. They’ll worry, and worried women can be unpredictable.”

  Rees spoke. “How are we to practice then? We’ll need to get away from the women, and the older men too. Tell me that?” Rees folded his arms and stared Ailbert in the eye.

  Ailbert breathed deeply. He had thought Rees had come to accept his leadership, yet he still argued and tried to find problems with everything Ailbert suggested. “We'll organise a hunt. Just for us, of course. We can then put the skills we’ll need to practice.”

  Rees huffed loudly, but settled down. Ailbert looked at him closely. This young man could make trouble, he thought. Gaining his trust and confidence would not be an easy task.

  The rest of them decided they would go on a hunt in two days.

  The young men met at sunset in the usual clearing at a time when the deer, in particular, came down to the pools and streams to drink. All arrived early, bows at the ready, with knives for skinning and preparing the carcass of any kills they might make.

  Ailbert looked round his little group. There were ten of them, including himself. He decided to split them into two smaller groups for the hunt, as too many people might alert the game.

  “Now, there are two places where the deer drink,” he reminded them. “I, and my group, will go to the stream. The rest of you go to the pool near the big rocks, where our stream meets another.”

  He stooped to pick up his bow. “Don't forget we’re practising being silent and disappearing quietly afterwards. Stay downwind or the animals will scent you. Hide up trees or behind rocks, or anywhere else you won’t be seen. Good hunting!”

  The two groups left the clearing to go to their separate destinations. Ailbert and his group arrived at the drinking area in half an hour. He set his men where he thought the deer would not see or scent them; then they settled down to wait.

  It seemed an interminable time as he waited up the tree where he was perched. He felt his foot going numb, but dare not move. He told everyone they had to remain completely still and silent and, therefore, he could not move himself.

  The deer arrived. The little herd of does and last year’s fawns approached the stream. They scented the air and flicked their ears, listening, on the alert for predators. Wolves abounded in the forest and they knew this would be a good time for them to find young deer.

  After looking around and scenting the air once more, nostrils quivering, the does approached the water. Ailbert decided to shoot. Earlier, he had thought this was the best way to initiate the attack, as calling out would warn the animals of their presence, and in the event of pursuing the ultimate goal of attacking Romans soldiers, it would warn them to be prepared.

  His arrow flew true, shortly followed by four others. Three of the others missed, but as luck would have it, Ailbert’s and one other hit the same doe. She threw her head up and leaped for the other side of the stream, followed by the rest of the animals. She did not get far before she stumbled and fell to the ground.

  The men remained where they were until Ailbert climbed down from the tree and noiselessly made his way over to the dead animal. They then followed, maintaining their silence.

  Ailbert smiled at his men. “Well done. That was an excellent trial. We’ll need to practise more though. What we’ll need to do after our attack on the Romans is to escape, not to go down towards them as we do in a hunt. They won’t be running like those deer, but actively hunting us.”

  He patted each of the four on the back, then began to skin the deer.

  “I wonder how the others went on,” Rees said. “We were lucky here. Were they so lucky?”

  Ailbert stopped skinning and looked at the other young man. “This was not luck, Rees. This was well planned and executed. Everyone did his part well and followed orders to the letter. The deer had no idea we were there, so we could shoot them easily.” He continued skinning, helped by the others.

  On returning to the town, the townsfolk greeted them with enthusiasm. The venison would help them through the winter months.

  The two groups met on the way back. The second group had failed to catch anything. Later, Rhodri told Ailbert someone had sneezed and spooked the deer.

  Ailbert was not impressed by this and told the culprit so.

  “I'm sorry, Ailbert,” replied the young man ruefully, “but I couldn’t help it.”

  “If you do that during an attack on the Romans, then that’ll be the end of you and everyone with you. Even sneezes need to be controlled.”

  The young man walked away looking guilty, wondering how anyone could control a sneeze.

  “People are asking me why you’re going hunting so much, Ailbert,” Awena mentioned one day. “I can’t answer them. We’ve got enough meat to last all the winter and into the spring. There’s no need for any more.”

  Ailbert looked down at his feet. “We enjoy hunting, that’s all.”

  “But you don’t take the hunting dogs. That seems odd. Surely you can hunt better with the dogs?”

  “We want to do it ourselves. Yes, it’s easier with the dogs, but we get more satisfaction without their help. We can find the animals with our tracking skills instead of the dog’s noses, and we kill them with our own weapons, not the dogs’ teeth.”

  “I don’t know what you’re up to, Ailbert, but I don’t believe a word. Oh, you’re going hunting all right. You bring meat back. But there’s more to it than that. Are you going to tell me?”

  Ailbert walked out of their house without another word. He did not know what to say to his sister. He would have liked to take her into his confidence, but having forbidden the others from telling anyone, he could not tell her. He shook his head and walked over to the horses, where Tân trotted over hoping for a titbit.

  Ailbert stroked the horse's nose. “Sorry, boy, I’ve not brought you anything.”

  Tân eyed him, appearing as if he might berate him for not bringing anything. Ailbert leaned his head against the animal's neck and told him all about what they were doing and how he wished he could tell Awena. The horse nuzzled hi
m.

  A voice sounded from behind Ailbert. “So that’s why you’ve been doing all this hunting. You’re practising to hunt Romans.”

  Ailbert whirled to see Huw, who had been leading his oxen back to the pens after going on a trading mission.

  “Huw, you startled me. I didn’t see you coming.”

  The older man frowned at Ailbert. “Obviously. How many of you are there? Do you want to get yourselves killed?”

  “I'm not saying any more, Huw.”

  “Look, lad, I know you hate the Romans, but this isn’t the way. Come back to the house and we’ll talk about it.”

  Ailbert followed Huw back. Dera was not in, having gone to visit Brianne. The two had become great friends since Dera helped in the birth of Brianne’s baby. Huw’s wife had learned something of medicine before she married Hugh and found her expertise useful. She had become pregnant herself since arriving in Pen Coed, and Brianne had promised to help her when her time came.

  Huw and Ailbert had the house to themselves.

  “Now, tell me about this wild plan of yours. If you want to kill Romans, it’s not fair to drag others in too. You’ll get them killed as well as yourself.”

  Huw sat down and Ailbert sat next to him. “It wasn’t my idea in the first place. I’ve just refined it. The others wanted to build an army and attack the Romans on the open field, in battle.”

  Huw ran his fingers through his hair but remained silent, and Ailbert continued. “I pointed out it was a stupid idea, and they couldn’t possibly fight the Roman army. They just saw glory and the hope of driving them out.”

  “So what did you tell them?”

  “I said we’d need to attack by stealth. Kill a few Romans when they were out on patrol and then melt away.”

  “Hmm. Seems a better idea than open battle. What’s your aim though? A few dead soldiers won’t defeat the Romans.”

  Ailbert raised his head and looked into Huw's eyes, his own blazing. “Vengeance.”