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

I loitered outside our house for a while, waiting to see how Tallack behaved when he left Kitto’s hut. It wasn’t long before the Chief called out to the men, bringing them all to his side. He stood in the doorway as brazen as you like and made the announcement.

“Men, the mighty Kitto lays in the arms of Cernonnus. May he carry him into the Summerlands to sit with my father and all our brave ancestors.” There was not a hint of emotion to betray him. He was so different to the boy I used to know, so cold and calculating. “Tonight, we will give him an honourable send off, along with the rest of the fallen. Gather the wood and build us a pyre of which we can be proud.” There were no cheers nor foot stamping, just a group of grieving warriors with their heads bowed in reverence.

Ren pulled on his leggings and joined me on the dusty path outside. “What did I miss?”

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from my heartless nephew. “Tallack killed Kitto.” Neither of us spoke as we absorbed the ramifications. This was another family secret that would have to be taken to our graves.

The pair of us stood watching the group of Head Hunters rally to their Chief’s orders, darting about camp to collect their blades and axes for the long day of wood cutting and stacking ahead of them. They were without a clan leader once again, but this time happy to comply with the young Chief’s wishes. Kitto’s insidious influence was gone. Tallack held sway over two warrior clans. He just needed to bring the Alchemists and the few followers of the Priest Sect to heel.

After a while, Ren finished dressing and went to help with the pyre building. I should have offered to wash and bind the dead ready for the pyre, but I couldn’t face such a grim task. Since I was under no obligation, and Tallack did not give me a specific order, I slipped away to the beach and spent the afternoon in the dunes and salt marshes. There were a few useful plants to harvest, but mostly I just sat in what shade I could find to come to terms with all that had occurred.

There was a certain comfort to be had watching the men toil. Hunkered down in a cool hollow of the dunes, I sat still as they passed by carrying the split logs and brushwood to the pyre at the end of the beach. Our tribe was not as large as many, and our menfolk were diminishing fast. If we were to keep hold of our lands, Tallack would need to begin training the womenfolk with axe and spear as well as archery. That would mean a new supply of forged bronze weapons, something we could not achieve without tin. Everything depended on us retaking control of the mines, and for the life of me, I had no idea how to bring that about.

I had hoped that my afternoon in hiding would oust the fog inside my head. My aim was to return to camp with a fresh outlook and renewed vigour, but my spirits were lower than ever before. I met up with Ren at the side of the river, hoping that he would have an answer to our problems. He nodded and handed me a soaked cloth, then presented his bare back for me to scrub. “Where have you been? I was about to fetch Kewri to help me search for you.” He tried to sound light-hearted but I heard the worry in his voice.

Scrubbing the dirt and sand from his back, I drifted into a daze.

He faced me, taking the cloth from my hand. “What is it? What’s wrong?” His brow wrinkled; his stare was intense.

“I can’t see a way out of this. I sat in the dunes just thinking, hoping for a solution, but drew a blank.”

Ren smiled, dipping the rag in the water and wringing out the excess. “We’ll find a way. We always do. Even if we just wait them out, they’ll eventually run out of food, then we’ve got them.”

I frowned at him. “By that time, Kenver’s men will have shot all our watchmen through with arrows. They’ll be no one left!”

“Ah, you’re just tired and grieving. It’ll all seem better in the morning.”

I left him to finish washing, slightly annoyed by his condescension. It wasn’t like him to dismiss my opinions so lightly. Had I lost his respect as well as that of my nephew’s? Being the only woman in camp was certainly not ideal. How did Senara cope with them on her own among such bawdy men? The more I thought about her, the more I worried that she too might be suspended from a tree with her skin shredded and bits lopped off her poor body. That was another one of Ren’s ideas, neither asked for nor sanctioned by our leader.

When I got back to our hut, Kewri was helping to butcher the horse carcasses ready for drying. Blood pooled beneath the benches attracting flies in their thousands. A quick glance up the gorge was enough to tell me that the crows had found the bodies of our men. They made such a racket, flapping and bickering over the tenderest portions of flesh. How the mothers of the fallen would quail if they knew we’d left them in the ravine to be scavenged while they rotted in the heat.

When it came time to light the pyre, Tallack ordered a few of the Sea Warriors and Kewri to stay behind in camp to watch over the cooking pots and protect the boundaries while we all filed down to the beach. Tallack was prepared this time, having a full speech memorised in praise of the men’s bravery. He paid particular tribute to Treeve, as was expected, and to Kitto for his courage in surviving the rope trick for so long after the event. His