by Tanya Allan
“But to fight, we have no skills!”
“That is why I’m here. But first, I need something to wear.”
Chapter Two
“Again!” I bellowed, and this time the result was spectacular.
I was training the girls to ride the stocky, but fast little ponies. We were riding a skirmish line, wheeling and charging into an imaginary supply line. Then, as the imaginary enemy cavalry made contact and attempted to engage us, we formed a circle, with the horses in the centre and used small but effective bows to keep the enemy at a distance so we could escape to attack another day. The concept of using cavalry wasn’t new, but as yet, it wasn’t employed by the British tribes against the Romans. The Romans had auxiliary cavalry units, recruited from all over the empire, but the mainstay of their military might was a formidable infantry, trained to a level of excellence that would explain their massive empire. This heavily forested countryside was not good terrain for cavalry. It favoured not the columns of disciplined infantry, but the small guerrilla groups that could use the trees as cover.
The legionary was equipped with a throwing pilum[ii] or javelin designed to penetrate shield and armour of advancing enemies and a short sword to stab into the intestines of the enemy. They weren’t trained to slash or swipe at their foes, but to get in close, using the shield wall and driving hard against the enemy, stabbing through the small gaps at anything that might cause grievous injury and disable the enemy.
Even so, a lightly equipped and rapidly deployed mounted unit should cause severe damage to the Romans. I was under no illusions, as the Romans displayed enormous capacity to evolve and adapt their strategies to face all manner of foe.
The thirty men who’d been left behind as defenders initially laughed at my attempts to train the women. However, the laughter turned to silent appreciation, followed by active participation.
I started as any Marine would, with basic drill. The ability to obey commands without question was part of the Romans’ secret of success; that along with discipline and successful tactics practiced so often to become second nature. Such was its success that even the modern military used similar methods over two thousand years later.
I knew I could never defeat the Romans, but we could make them sit up and take notice.
They’d made me some basic pants and a tunic, strapping a wide leather belt around my trim waist. I was also given some soft hide boots with harder leather soles that fitted me beautifully. Tying my hair back in a tight bun with a pair of wooden spikes to retain it was the most effective way of getting it out of my way.
I made all the women wear similar clothes, all of green or brown colour. Hard leather tunics that were crude but reasonably light breastplates were the only armour we had. As my intention was to make a light and fast corps, we had neither the time for heavy armour, nor the ability to make it.
There were about sixteen hundred people left in the settlement, mainly women, old people and children. I chose eight hundred women to start with, whittling it down to a mere five hundred in the end.
My first test was a simple run. I had them all run approximately two miles, taking only those who ran it in about fourteen minutes. Then I made them run one mile carrying twenty pounds of rocks in a bag strapped to their backs.
That gave me five hundred and six women and girls, aged between fifteen and twenty-five. I was amazed to find girls as young as fourteen as mothers, and as old as twenty-eight as grandmothers. Forty was generally accepted as old, with life expectancy in the late twenties for the most part.
I drilled them for five days, harking back (or forward) to my days as a drill sergeant. Then I split them into five groups of a hundred, so making five companies. Then into smaller groups of thirty-three, as platoons within those companies. Then again, split down to eleven girls in each section.
I made one girl a leader of each section, deciding to promote the best to command each platoon and finally each company
I placed the bigger girls in the Heavy Company, equipped with long and sharply pointed lances. The faster and fitter girls I placed in Recon Company, with only long knives as defensive weapons and the bow as offensive weapons. The best at riding became the Assault Company, with short stabbing lances and short swords as backup. The slower riders I put in the Support Company, who carried heavy spears, so when dismounted, they formed a defensive barrier, behind which the Archers Company could make the most of their skills.
Now the men came to my help, with each Company finding a skilled man in their particular skill to teach them. I took an overview, passing among them, helping, guiding, correcting and shouting encouragement.
Many called me ‘Goddess’, failing to meet my eyes and often wanting to genuflect whenever I passed close. I became angry and would shout at them
“I am as mortal as you! You must call me Layla, and treat me as your commander, not a goddess.”
Old habits die hard, but after the first two weeks, I believed I’d got through to them. Few called me Layla, preferring to call me, ‘My Lady’, ‘Lady Commander’ or ‘Commander Layla’. Each was a compromise I accepted.
On the day their men-folk were being defeated, I brought them together, and we started training in earnest. I had six basic drills and tactics, none of which involved face-to-face contact with the might of Rome. On an equal footing, the Roman would win each time. The trick was to tip the balance into our favour.
Harry and parry, attack and escape, that’s all I wanted them to do. Sneak up during the hours of darkness, inflict some damage and disappear before they could react.
The girls were wildly enthusiastic, full of guts and determination. I had held certain prehistoric views pertaining to women in the military. I revised and reversed those opinions based on my experience with these girls. They were simply wonderful, willing to learn and willing to die, if necessary. They’d have made superb Marines!
A rider approached the settlement some four days after the battle. The man was exhausted and wounded with a nasty sword slash across his shoulder. He came to tell of the defeat and to instruct the women to flee to the hills. Instead, he found a military force in training, ready and willing to mobilise against the foe.
I was in the keep, delegating roles to my newly appointed commanders. I’d adapted semaphore with arm movements as basic instructions. No one could read or write, so messages had to be simply visible instructions like ‘regroup’, ‘attack’, ‘retreat’, ‘move left’, ‘move right’, ‘feint to the right’, ‘to me’, ‘V’ formation’, ‘skirmish line’ and others. I also used a drum to beat out the same orders in simple codes, for I anticipated many situations where line of sight command would be difficult to achieve.
I was dressed in black leggings tucked into my boots and a russet red tunic with leather armour over the top. I had a Roman short sword on a scabbard attached to a belt that I’d slung over my shoulder, and so it hung on my left hand side. It had been taken as a trophy by one of the men in the settlement, and he had presented it to me.
My hair had been woven into tresses and tied back neatly behind my head, around which I placed a silver circlet. I felt marvellous, so even the gloomy atmosphere of the gloomy main room in the keep didn’t dampen my feelings. I remembered Michael’s comment about feeling invincible. The oil burning lamps attached to the walls gave off a dull yellow glow, and some light came through the hole in the centre of the roof, created to allow the smoke from the fire out. There was no fire blazing at this time.
The man came into the keep, being held up by two of my girls.
“It’s Cabacula, he’s the chieftain’s younger son,” said Iona, my newly-appointed second in command.
“Send for his mother,” I said to one of the girls by the door.
“Yes, my lady,” she said, trotting away
Cabacula stared at the girls, all strapping on their leather armour and sharpening their blades.
“What’s happened to you all?” he asked, as his mother came in, wailing and wring
ing her hands. Such was the awe in which the people held me that even his mother waited for me to finish talking to her son.
“How far away are the Romans?” I asked.
He turned and looked at me. “Two, maybe three days march. They seem in no great haste as they are licking their wounds after the battle.”
“There are how many of them, fifteen hundred?”
“How did you know?” he asked. “Who are you, anyway?”
“She is the Commander, she knew of your defeat days ago,” said Iona, falling silent under my gaze.
“Many of the men are now captives, so we shall set them free. Tonight we feed and sleep, for tomorrow we march,” I announced. Then I turned to Cabacula, “You will go with your mother, let her treat your wounds, then when you are better, you will help us find the Romans.”
His mother started to help him from the hall, but he stopped, turning back to face me.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
I smiled. “Ask your mother, she knows.”
I was not convinced that the girls were battle ready, but they were enthusiastic and willing. The Romans weren’t expecting us and that was to our advantage.
I was still awake long after midnight, standing on the rampart of the keep looking south, towards where the Romans were. I heard a small sound behind me.
“Iona?” I asked, without turning round. She was the only one brave enough to approach me and talk to me.
“Commander, you must rest.”
I smiled, turning to face her. She was a strikingly attractive young woman of around twenty-two years. Her husband, Bractus, was a nephew of the chieftain. He was with the warriors, so she didn’t know whether he was alive or not. She originated from another tribe from the coast to the north, no doubt related to the Norse peoples, if her high cheekbones and fair hair were anything to go by.
“So must you, Iona.”
“I’m fine. I just want to get on and fight.”
“How about your husband; are you worried about him?”
“Not especially, he’s either dead or not. Life will never be the same now, will it?”
“Why not?”
“If he’s dead, I may as well leave, for there won’t be enough men to go around. If he’s not, he’ll want a new wife.”
“Why?”
She walked over to the rampart and leaned against it, sighing. Then she told me her story.
Although not as tall as I was, she was stocky and powerful. She still considered herself above the people she lived amongst, but she had been exchanged as part of a mutual peace pact between the tribes. Bractus treated her well, but as she had yet to provide him with children, he was beginning to look elsewhere to plant his seed.
“His problem is he likes boys better than me,” she told me.
“Does anyone else know?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Probably, there are a few who don’t really care what hole to use, but they still want sons. As much as he might like them, boys can’t give him a son!”
We stared across the still night landscape. Occasionally, some animal or bird cried out, either to attract a mate or signifying the termination of its life.
“After we beat them, will you go back to the forest?” she asked.
“We won’t beat them. There are too many of them and they are too powerful. But we can free the men, so they may live to fight another day.”
“Why are we doing this, if we can’t beat them, that is?”
“I have a quest, so it means we have to do this first.”
She frowned in the darkness. “I don’t understand. I thought you took human form to help us?”
“No, you assumed I was the goddess, I never said I was a deity. I am human, like you. I just come from a different place and I have to do this first if I am to succeed in my quest.”
“You’re not a Goddess?”
“Do you think I am?”
“I’m not sure, I don’t think I’ve ever met one,” she said honestly, and I sensed her smile. “I suppose if I were to meet one, she’d look very much like you do.”
“Believe me, I’m not a goddess.”
“If you were, I wouldn’t be surprised. You’re the closest thing to a goddess that I’ve ever met.”
“Thanks, I think,” I replied, laughing.
We were silent for a while, so I could tell she was thinking about what I’d said.
“Will you take me with you?”
“When?”
“When you go.”
“You have a life here, so it wouldn’t be fair to you.”
“This isn’t a life. Please, I won’t tell anyone you’re not a goddess.”
That comment made me laugh. “Thanks, let’s just wait and see what happens.”
“This place you are from, what’s it like?”
“Different. People are the same everywhere, but the tools we use are different. In many ways, your simple lives are better, as we’ve complicated everything.”
“Is it far away?”
I stared into the distance. “Yes, it’s very far away.”
“Have you a man, there?”
I smiled, “No, not there.”
“Where then?”
I thought about my life as Jane, and of Roger. I had loved that man very much. “I had one, but he died.”
“I sometimes wonder why we bother, as they’re more trouble than they’re worth.”
“If you get the right one, then life can be wonderful. Unfortunately, everyone dies,” I said.
She looked out across the hills.
“I hate this place!” she said.
“If you come with me, it won’t be easy.”
She looked at me. “I don’t care. I’ll follow you anywhere.”
“Even to Rome?”
“Yes, further if I have to.”
I nodded. “Then stay close to me, and we’ll talk on this some more.”
She smiled, saying nothing else.
“Go on, go to bed, you’ll need your sleep,” I said.
“What about you?”
“Goddesses don’t need sleep,” I said, smiling. The truth wasn’t that much different. My construct body didn’t need much sleep at all. My mind, on the other hand, needed to slow down occasionally, so as long as I relaxed for a couple of hours, that should suffice.
I actually managed a few hours’ sleep, before rising as dawn broke across the eastern sky. It was a misty day, for which I was quite pleased, as there is nothing worse than making a forced march in very hot weather.
My girls were all up and getting ready to move out by about seven. It was so odd not having a timepiece. Everything was taken by the position of the sun, or not as the case may be. There was an air of eager anticipation, mingled with real apprehension and fear of the unknown.
“Don’t fight your fear, as it gives you wings and an edge of caution,” I reminded them.
Each company was mounted and ready, in two columns. We were leaving the men behind to protect the remnant remaining in the settlement. I mounted my horse, a grey stallion, somewhat larger than the others. I faced my small army, then raised my hand and pointed south. Silently, and as one, they turned and rode out of the gates. Cabacula rode at my side. His wounds had not been that bad, and he felt duty bound to help us find the enemy.
There were a few children who had come to the gates to wave us off, but their solemn little faces caused more than one girl to start to cry.
“Weep, for it makes you human. For to deny your humanity is to become as the animals,” I told them, so many wept openly, proud of their humanity.
We rode all day, stopping every hour to stretch aching muscles and ease the rump. The further we got from the settlement, the closer we came to the enemy and the more quiet and reflective the mood of my troops. Cabacula gazed with amazement at the women who had just been wives and daughters up until he went off to battle. Now they behaved and looked like seasoned warriors, despite their nerves and lack of experience.
&nb
sp; As we carried the minimum of supplies, simply a skin of water each, some hard bread and dried meat; we made excellent time.
“We should camp here, tonight,” Cabacula said, pointing to a flat piece of land by a stream. I could tell that this place had often been used before by raiding parties for just such an encampment.
“How far away are the Romans?”
“Another day’s march, at least.”
“So, if we march through the night and rest tomorrow, we shall be closer to the enemy. They will march on towards us while we rest, so we can attack them tomorrow as they settle down for the night. Can you guess where they will camp tomorrow?”
He thought for a moment. “Aye, there’s a small hillock next to a river. There are some trees on the hillock that afford shelter and wood for the fires.”
“Then we march on until we get there. We shall let them make camp, settle down with full bellies and start sleeping. Then we’ll attack, but for now, we go on!”
Go on we did, slowly and with growing weariness. We reached the spot that Cabacula had mentioned. He was right, it was a soldier’s dream; with fresh water, shelter and a good defensive position. It would also make them lazy and complacent. With the rocky hill and trees, they would be unlikely to put up any temporary fortifications. Ditches and trenches would be difficult to dig due to the rocks and tree roots.
Just to the south of the hill, off the beaten track, we found a glade just inside the forest. The girls gratefully melted into the forest with their mounts, settling down to rest after feeding and watering these faithful beasts.
I found a vantage position overlooking the hillock, now to our north. Cabacula and Iona joined me.
“Now we wait, Iona. After the enemy arrive, we must be alert, for they may yet surprise us. Normally they would send out scouts in front of the advance guard to make sure there are no enemies waiting for them. I want you to post lookouts on the tops of those hills, so we get advance warning of their approach.”
