Pagan Siege (Tribes of Britain Book 5) by Sam Taw (10 best novels of all time TXT) 📕

“Then we’ll trade for some. What do we need?”

I closed my eyes. Whether it was exhaustion or exasperation I could not say, but she irritated me beyond reckoning. All around us, children infested with lice were starving and homeless, mothers grieved for their sons and all she could think about was the colour of cloth for her binding ceremony. I lifted my face to the skies and sent a silent message to the Summerlands to bring me deliverance. Perhaps I was once again in the gods favour, for the guards in the northern watchtower sounded the horn and opened the gates.

In they came, whooping and hollering in their usual way, but not with our enemy’s heads strung from their horses. They came with meat; deer, boar, beaver, and many other animals besides. The noise brought out a long line of tribe’s folk to greet them. Kitto led the Head Hunter Clan into the heart of the compound, waving and grinning at the cheering crowds. I knew what they were all thinking. It was written all over their faces. Kitto was their saviour, a strong warrior who not only kept them safe, but provided for them in their time of need.

Tallack’s hold over the tribe was weakening.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Renowden was at the rear of the procession of returning Head Hunters. He was in terrible shape, barely hanging onto the reins of his pony. While the Hunters took their victory laps around the central paths of the island, revelling in the praise, Ren stopped his horse outside my hut and almost fell from its back. I hurried to help him inside away from prying eyes.

“Are you hurt?” I panted, fearing the worst.

He shook his head and coughed for a long time. “Just need to catch my breath. I’ll be fine in a bit.”

We both knew that to be a lie. It was a foolish errand. Tallack never should have sent him. He took some water with a little honey that I’d been saving for a special occasion. These days, special occasions were a rarity. I also knew that the sweetness would perk him up until I could get some good food into his belly. He needed bread, something easy to digest, but there was no flour nor grains to be had anywhere in camp. With Vina out searching for roots and Kewri slicing up some venison, I sat and listened to his story of how he found the Hunters.

After I’d spotted them at the far end of our northern wood, Ren tracked them to the edges of the moors. The heath fire had already passed that area, blackening everything in its path and forcing all the creatures east. It took another half day for him to catch up with them on the borders with the Durotriges land, where they’d set up camp and looked as though they were prepared to stay there for some time.

“I spoke at great length to each of the men, trying to convince them to return. They are loyal to Kitto now that Blydh has gone.” He said, before gulping down the honey water.

I nodded agreement. It was worse than I’d feared.

“Kitto has them all believing that Tallack wanted his brother dead so that he could take full control over the tribe without him. They blame him for the strange behaviour, the attack on Endelyn, the failed trip to the sacred springs, everything.”

The news was difficult to swallow. I knew how close the twins were, but few of the men had the same privileges that I’d enjoyed. In public, my nephews often disagreed, more so towards the end, when Blydh was overcome by the dark spirit from the Underworld. His head injury preyed heavily on my mind every night. I laid awake wondering if there was anything else I could have done to save his life that day but all my ruminations came to nought.

Without my procedures to remove the shattered bone from his brain, he would have certainly died. If only I could return to that moment and warn myself against using the golden sun disc to protect his head from further damage. That was a mistake I had to live with for the rest of my days and one my family would always have to hold against me.

“So, how did you get them to come back?”

“I didn’t really. In the end, it was Kitto’s decision. He suddenly roused everyone from their slumber and ordered them to hunt like their lives depended upon it; said that the tribe’s folk were relying on them. As soon as they had enough butchered and wrapped, we rode like the Morrighan was on our tail all the way home.”

I stared down at the rushes. Kitto was a shrewd man. He had the Hunters obeying his every word. They’d stayed away just long enough for our people to get desperate, then returned in the nick of time to be hailed as heroes. “And they all follow him without question?”

Ren nodded slowly. This was disturbing news indeed. Tallack’s number of loyal Sea Warriors was dwindling fast. With the Alchemists slaughtering the two men alongside Massen at the northern mines, and the losses we’d incurred during the Duro attack and the fated trip into Belgae territory, the Head Hunter Clan was almost double the size of the Sea Warrior Clan. If Tallack couldn’t bring them back under the control of his Chieftaincy, there was a strong possibility that our family would cease to rule over Dumnonii lands. If that should happen, Kitto would have all our heads skewered on posts at the gates before the sun set.

Ren didn’t need to explain what this meant. We both knew the risks involved. When I told him about Tallack’s proposal to Endelyn, he blew out his cheeks and shook his head. “They will not respect a Ruvane from the Priest Sect, not after the incident with the poisoned water last winter.”

“But she