My father arrived that evening with the men of his bodyguard. After speaking briefly to my mother, he went straight to the council and did not return until far into the night.

I heard my brothers and my father come in, but they said little for fear of waking my sisters, who were snoring softly beside me. My father and mother talked long into the night after the others had fallen asleep, but I could not decipher their whispered words, and soon I too was slumbering.

In the morning, my father and brothers were gone before I was awake, helping the others prepare the fields for the spring planting. My mother would not speak to me of what had been said last night, but I soon found an excuse to escape the dimness of our bothy and venture out into the daylight. Bearing food for my father and brothers in a bundle upon my back, I set out upon the track that led up the hills from our valley to the next one, humming a simple tune in rhythm to my footsteps.

The day was warm in comparison with the chill of yesterday, and perspiration soon rolled down my brow as I struggled up the steep incline. Damp leaves from last year's autumn made the many rocks scattered on the hillside slippery, and often I had to clamber up using my hands as well as my feet, lest I lose my footing and fall.

'Hail and well met, Enid!' A familiar voice crying from above startled me and I nearly tottered headlong off the leaf-strewn stones. I heard someone scrambling down from the heights and a moment later, Telyn stood before me, offering a hand to help me up.

I murmured my thanks as we struggled to reach the top, feeling a quiet knot of pride that he was helping me, even though the way was not so difficult. A pleasant warmth shot through my veins from where his hand gripped mine. Were it not for the exertion of climbing the steep hill, I would have found it difficult to keep a smile off my face.

At the top of the ridge, he let go of my hand and we both paused, panting to catch our breath. I cast my gaze from my beloved home valley to the one with the fields beyond, staring against the sun. Naked forest and grassy moorlands stretched as far as the eye could see, chariot-ways and rivers snaking their meandering way across the landscape to the dim, hazy shadow where hills rose far in the distance and where, some said, was the sea. But Rome had not left even this untamed wilderness untouched; one of their straight roads was partly visible in the rolling sweep of the land, and I fancied that I could see people and horses walking on it.

'Thou shouldst be more careful.' Telyn broke the peaceful silence between us, looking at me with concern.

'Why? I know the way well enough.' While I was flattered that he cared for my well-being, I felt a twinge of annoyance. Did he not believe me old enough to go by myself? Did he indeed see me as still a bairn?

'Aye, that well may be, but there are Redcrests close by. Oft we can hear the din of their town while we work.'

'What was decided at the council last night?' I hoped he would tell me, and I hoped also to shift the subject away from myself.

'They spoke of many things, but we have not yet come to a decision; only that we must watch and wait. Perhaps we will remain unnoticed.'

His tone was less hopeful than his words. Something in the way his eyes darted towards the town—trepidation, almost—made me begin to doubt how safe my world really was.

'Dost thou hope so? That we will remain unnoticed?' My voice was a whisper in my own ears.

Telyn drew his arm across his forehead, wiping away the sweat. He shrugged, but he did not smile. ''Tis not for me to say. Some have mentioned bringing the matter before the whole village ere long... Thy father and brothers will be waiting for thee down below, and 'twill not be kind of me to keep thee from them. Come.'

He offered his hand once more with a swift smile, as if to banish the gloomy subject of the Redcrests, and I took it gratefully, a warm thrill spreading throughout my being.
The threat of Rome did not seem so dark and fearful with Telyn by my side.

~~~

That evening, the entire village gathered in the council hall, their faces both illuminated and shadowed by the firelight. My father and the other elders were amassed in the center, the warriors around them, and the rest of us fanning out towards the walls and doorway. The wind whistling its way through the open doorway and down the hole in the roof blew the blue peat smoke every which way, stinging my eyes. But I blinked back the tears and listened hard to the heated discussion. It was rare that a matter arose of such importance that all the village must hear it.

'We shall not ride out and plunder the city of the Redcrests,' my father was saying. 'Too much has happened since Boudicca's rebellion, and our strength is no longer what it once was.'

One of the other leaders fingered the ends of his long moustache, the flame-shadows dancing in his eyes. 'Then what dost thou suggest?'

I leaned in closer, nearly resting my hand on Telyn's shoulder, trying to hear over the whispered conversation of the crowd and the crying of someone's bairn.

'Watch and wait,' my father replied. 'Perhaps they will leave us in peace, for surely they must see that we are too small to be a threat.'

Another voice rose, but I could not see the speaker. 'What of escaping north and joining the Picts?'

'And leave behind the lands that have belonged to us for more years than man can count?' It was my brother, Ilar, who argued now. 'Methinks the Picts will be none so welcoming either. They are distrustful of everyone, including their fellow Britons.'

Murmurs followed this statement. For a moment, I wished I was one of the warriors, young enough to defend my home without the ties of family or old age to hold me back, yet old enough to join the council freely. As it was, I had to content myself with whispering in Telyn's ear and straining to hear his soft responses.

'What shall we do?' The gentle voice of Caradoc the harper silenced the tumultuous sea of hushed voices. I hardly recognized him without his beloved harp in his hands.

'What can any of us do?' I asked Telyn, but he only shrugged.

'Watch and wait,' repeated my father. 'If they threaten us, then we will speak of journeying elsewhere to make our home.'

'Shall we not attack them?' It was Ceredig who spoke now, the last druid still alive in our tribe. His hair, white from age, glimmered oddly in the dim light. 'It has always been our custom in times past.'

'Aye, when we had more men and stronger ties with the other tribes of the Iceni. We cannot defeat them alone.' My father's voice sounded drained and weary. 'And we cannot gather strength of arms without being speedily repulsed by the Redcrests. It might have been possible in my father's day, but not now. Nay, we can but watch and wait, praying to the gods that the Redcrests will overlook us and leave us in peace.'

Once outside the Council Hall, under the dim light of the moon and stars, I muttered under my breath, 'Why must we always attack the Redcrests? Since when have they done us any harm?'

Telyn, still close at hand, turned to me, his usually passive face shocked and almost furious. 'Speak not of that which thou dost not know!'

I inched away from him, surprised at the outburst. The chill of the early spring evening bit through my dress and I shivered, but not only because of the cold.

His face softened and he touched my shoulder briefly. 'Forgive me, Enid, I—I did not mean to speak so harshly to thee. 'Tis only that I cannot comprehend thy fascination with the Redcrests.'

''Tis no fascination, only curiosity. I cannot understand why Father hates them so. They seem like gods, the way their armor shines when they march on the road beyond our hills. Truly a people so skilled deserves our admiration, not our fear and hatred.'

Telyn looked at me for several moments. When he answered at last, his eyes were dark and sad. 'Enid, thou knowest well the fate of Boudicca and her daughters. Wouldst thou have us grovel before a people that dishonors and destroys our kind? Wouldst thou have us surrender our freedom and all that is ours to a nation that seeks only to make us their bondservants? What dost thou not understand? Our ways and theirs are different; there can never be peace between us. We will never be free as long as one of those accursed Redcrests walks on Celtic land.'

I swallowed hard, terribly cold without my cloak. What could I say? He was right—he must be right—but that did not stifle my desire to know more about these strange people who were so hated and forbidden.

Telyn's face gentled. 'Oh, Enid, I did not mean to hurt thee. Come, I will walk thee home.' He slipped his arm across my shoulders, his living warmth dispelling the deathly chill that had crept into my bones. I felt safe and cared for, and the evening frigidity and the threat of the Romans no longer seemed so near. If I could have had my wish, he would never have left; but it was not to be so.

All too soon, we were before the door of my family's dwelling place, and while I knew I had best be inside its walls, a part of me longed to stay outside with Telyn.

'Good night,' I murmured softly, my fingers gripping the skirt of my dress and my eyes bent towards the ground.

'Good night, Enid.' There was a hint of laughter in his voice. 'Wilt thou meet me on the hill just this side of the fields on the morrow? I have something I wish to tell thee.'

My head shot up. Trying in vain to calm the sudden racing of my heart, I only smiled, grateful for the darkness that hid my blushing face. 'Aye, I will.'

I watched, no longer sad, as his tall form slipped away in the clear twilight.

Dawn could not come soon enough.