Free The Warrior and the Druidess by Cornelia Amiri Page B

day, eat all meals with the same woman and to have to wait while she healed someone or performed a ritual to the gods—the services of a tribe druid would be more important than being with her husband.
    There would be no marriage. He was not ready.
    Passion rose in him like a hot fire as he thought of sleeping with her every night. His heart felt warm and buoyant with pride for Tanwen, if  not for her druid skills, they wouldn’t have this victory in their grasp. She was their druid now. The tribe needed her, and so did he.
    And it would be useful to have a wife favored by the gods. As the tribe’s druidess, she would be the one to conduct the bull dream and see his visage during the ritual. She would choose him as the new chief. When she told him Boudica chose him to be her husband, he knew it meant he would be the next chief. She’d already blessed him with that news and this battle. He had itched for the chance to kill Romans since the 9 th Hispania moved to the Tay. Men among that legion had raped and murdered several women from local tribes. Knowing these women, and imagining the changes the attacks had brought on them, caused hot rage to rise in him. If anything ever happened to Tanwen—if a Roman ever touched her …
    That was why each Pict longed to stab a sword into the cold, hard hearts of the brutes of the 9 th Hispania. Finally, now, the Romans would pay. And it was Tanwen who made this possible.
    His heart throbbed as he recalled the warmth of her skin and the feel of her soft flesh in his arms, but his mind ached with a torrent of thoughts, tugging him this way and that. Women looked at him with heat in their eyes and many sought him out for love making because they burned for him. He should marry a woman like that. Tanwen came to him because her ancestor told her to. A man should have a woman devoted to him alone, as a druid she would serve and dote on the entire tribe. It was unwise to marry her, but he wanted to. When he lay with her he knew her body burned for him. She desired him as much as he wanted her, and it wasn’t because her ancestor commanded it. When Brude held her in his arms, he knew her mind focused on him alone. Tanwen showed more devotion to him and his tribe than any woman he’d ever known.  He could no longer deny that he’d fallen in love with Tanwen. He had to have her, in marriage and all.
    Soon the forest was covered in darkness. Brude stood at his father’s side as he ordered his best spearmen to key positions to halt any fleeing legionnaires. Once the men were in place, Calach and Brude chose the strongest warriors to advance and kill the guards.
    “The sentries should be in deep slumber.” Brude gazed into the eyes of his chosen men. “Yet, keep sword and shield ready, for their gods may have empowered them to resist Tanwen’s spell.”
    They flew through the woods to their task and Brude, Calach, and the other men waited in silence. The chosen warriors let out caws like ravens as they each slew a sentry. Brude's heart raced. This was the moment he had been waiting for. He would kill many Romans this eve. Brude unsheathed his long sword and brandished the naked blade. He pushed his muscled legs into a hard run. He rushed into the fort with Calach at his side and the confederated army of northern tribes at his back.
    With their mouths open wide, the naked Picts let out blood-hurdling war cries, which reverberated in the air. With no further warning, Brude’s men filtered through the dense growth of trees, poured out of the woods and attacked the fort.
     

 

Chapter Six
     
    Amber flames rose against the ebony sky, gaining strength by feeding on the wooden gate of the Roman fort. Sweating from the heat of the fire, with the smell of smoke and burning wood assailing him, Brude stormed the fort, blaring the Caledonii war cry. The Pict warriors brandished barbed spears and sharp swords in their muscular hands. Free of the restraints of clothing, their long legs, tattooed