by V. M. Sang
Most of the town turned out to help with the building of Huw and Dera’s house. Ailbert and Huw went into the forest with some of the other men to look for suitable branches. Finding a sufficient number was quite a difficult job; the branches had to be tall enough to be buried in the ground and yet leave enough above the ground to serve as the walls of the building. Then, they cut another seven or so longer branches, and finally a long sapling to make the king post of the house—the central pole to hold up the roof.
In order to drag the stakes to the settlement, they took a couple of horses into the woods and harnessed them to the logs. Ailbert helped with the horses, enjoying himself immensely. This was what he had wanted to do all the time he worked with Titus in the stables in Londinium. He whistled as he led the animals from the forest to the town.
When they got the stakes back to the town, the blacksmith heated the ends to prevent rot, they buried the blackened ends of the smaller poles in a circle, adding seven taller ones in a smaller circle inside this one. The men joined all the posts together with long pieces of wood along the tops.
The sun began to set and everyone who had been helping retired to their own homes for the night. Huw, Dera and their family, along with Awena and Ailbert spent another night with Adair and Brianne.
“We won’t trouble you much longer,” Dera told Brianne that evening. “The house is coming along well. Just a few more days and it will be ready for us.”
“Don't you worry, Dera,” Brianne replied, smiling cheerfully, “but I know how you must long to get into a home of your own. Staying with someone else is not ideal.”
The two women laughed. In the short time Huw and his family had been in Pen Coed, Dera and Brianne had become firm friends.
The next day it was time to begin weaving the hazel branches around the outer stakes. Several of the women turned out to do this and, with so many hands, they quickly finished the job.
Dera stood back in the light of the setting sun and smiled as she saw her home rising from the ground. Soon they would be living there and be full members of Pen Coed. Her only worry was how Gwen and Maeve were faring.
One morning, Awena went with the smaller children into the fields where the cattle grazed, carrying leather buckets. They had been given the job of bringing as much dung back to the settlement as they could find.
Awena wrinkled her nose up at this job. “Do I have to? It’s disgusting.”
“Awena, we want to be accepted in this village,” Dera said, with her hands on her hips.. “In order for that to happen, we must do as they do. I know this is different from what you knew before, but you aren’t in Londinium anymore and we need a house, so we must build one ourselves.”
Grumbling under her breath, Awena joined the others on the way to the fields. Once there, she paused by a dry stone wall as the others climbed over it and made their way between the cattle and horses, collecting dung as they did so.
Awena regarded the animals. They were so big. What if one of them decided they didn’t like her and attacked? After all, they knew these people; she, however, was a stranger.
A little girl stopped and looked back. “Come on, Awena. There’s lots of dung here!”
Awena swallowed and climbed the wall. A cow lifted her head as the girl passed, looked at her, then resumed grazing. Awena, eyes fixed on the cow, began to gather dung with the others.
When the dung gatherers returned, they tipped the buckets into a pit along with clay. She saw Ailbert carrying straw and water, and he too added it to the pit with clay. Then, to make the daub, some of the men entered the pit and began to tramp on it in order to mix it together.
Ailbert and Awena watched with fascination. The people in Pen Coed knew the pair had grown up in Londinium and did not know how to build a house, and they helped and explained to the young people as the house grew.
Awena watched people bring buckets of the daub to the house.
“It’s time to finish the walls.”
Awena jumped. She had not heard Dera coming up behind her. “Come on girl, and help.”
She followed Dera to the wattle walls, wondering how they were going to apply the thick substance. Dera plunged her hands into a bucket and brought out a sizeable quantity of daub, which she plastered onto the walls, pushing it well into the wattle.
Turning to Awena, she beckoned with dirty hands. “Come and help. Don’t just stand there looking.”
Awena wrinkled her nose, but ambled towards where Dera and several other women worked. “Won’t it smell?”
“Not when it’s dry. Now, take handfuls and push them well into the wattle, between the hazel branches. We need a lot of daub. It needs to be about as thick as your thumb is long to ensure it’s weatherproof.
Slowly, and with a twisted face, Awena picked up two handfuls of daub and pressed it into the wall. After a while, she found the smell didn’t bother heranymore; in fact, she found it quite satisfying work.
Ailbert watched as men climbed up and attached wooden crosspieces to the long poles of what would be the roof. After a few minutes, several more men appeared, carrying a long snake of reeds tied together. This snake they placed around the bottom of the roof, on the top of the now finished walls.
As he watched the procedure, it became clear why they needed this ‘snake’. The men pinned bundles of straw to the snake before fastening them to the crosspieces on the roof structure. Gradually, as the men climbed up to affix more bundles, the roof took shape.
One young man named Gareth, a friend of Rhodri, asked Ailbert if he would like to help. Ailbert looked at the roof with the men crawling over it. In Rome, people did not build their own homes but had specialists to build them. He decided, though, that since he was to be a Briton from now on, he had better learn these tasks.
He climbed slowly onto the roof. The others were used to doing this, but his palms sweated, threatening to make him slip. What if he fell? What if his weight caused the roof to collapse?
Rhodri laughed at him as he crawled to where the next bundle of reeds lay, but the roof held, and Ailbert managed to fix the bundle to the one underneath with no ill effects.
“Make them tight,” Rhodri instructed. “You don’t want it to rain inside the hut. It’s bad enough when it rains outside. And if they’re not tight, then the wind’ll get in … and perhaps snow, too.”
Ailbert did not look at his friend, but kept a tight hold as he fastened another bundle.
Slowly, the roof neared completion. Gareth turned to Ailbert. “Here we don’t pin the bundles so tightly together. We need to leave them a bit looser so the smoke from the fire can escape."
Ailbert sat back on his heels. This was hard work. He had been a house slave and not used to doing manual labour. He puffed loudly.
“Not tired, are you?” Gareth laughed.
Ailbert stretched. “Not at all.” He picked up another bundle of reeds and pinned them to the one below, taking care to leave it a little looser.
Once they had finished building the outer part of the house, they dug a fire-pit in the centre and lined it with stones. When lit, the smoke would seep through the looser bundles of reeds near the top of the roof.
Everyone in the settlement had lent a hand with the building and furnishing of the house, everyone having wanted to do their part to welcome the new family into the town.
When the house had been completed, and the daub had dried, Dera brought her cauldron from the wagon where it had been all this time, and Huw carried in the firedogs. Dera told Awena to get water and when the girl returned, she poured it into the cauldron. Huw lit a fire while Dera and Awena sliced vegetables and smoked beef that Brianne had given them. Then Dera hung the full cauldron over the fire and turned to the rest of her little family with a big grin.
‘We’ve now got our home, thanks to these kind people. I’m sure we’ll be very happy here.’
The children clapped and Huw went over to her and gave her a big hug. All they had left to do was throw blankets over th
e wooden trestles around the walls and sit on the logs around the fire.
Not long after the townsfolk had finished helping with the building of Huw and Dera’s house, Ailbert decided it would be a good idea for him and Awena to have their own, and so the procedure started all over again.
This time, Ailbert could help much more, and he and Awena moved into their own house in what seemed like record time.
“Our own home, Ailbert,” Awena said as they crossed the threshold for the first time. “Who would have thought it only a year ago? I can cook a bit now, too. Dera taught me, but I still need help with some things.”
Ailbert hooked an arm round his little sister. “I’m sure whatever you cook will be excellent,” he told her with a smile.
“And I’ll need a loom, eventually,” Awena advised. “At the moment, I’m not good enough to do much weaving, but I’ll need one so I can weave cloth to make into clothes for you.”
Ailbert laughed and told her he would find out how to make one, but that it might not be very good.
They laughed again at each other’s inadequacies in this new life and promised each other they would learn as fast as they could.
Then Awena banked up the fire and they slept for the first time in their very own home.
14
One morning, Huw got up and said that he should go to Londinium.
“Why?” asked Dera, frowning.
“I’m a trader, dear. I need to trade. I can buy stuff from the people here to take to trade, and I’m sure the folk in Eberacum will be grateful for some of the things I can get in Londinium. Look how anxious the people there were for things like wine and olive oil. If I can get some at a good price, then I’m sure I can sell it in Eberacum for a profit.”
“But what if you’re recognised as Maeve’s brother?”
“No one knew Maeve had a brother. Her work was secret.”
“Who knows what she told them under torture!”
Huw put an arm round his wife. “Look, Dera, I know you’re worried about it, but I’ll be very careful. If you like, I’ll go to Treavon and find out exactly what’s going on as regards our old enterprise. If there seems to be any danger whatsoever, then I’ll come straight back and do no trading at all … well, perhaps a little on the way.”
Dera gave up. She knew it was no use arguing with her husband if he had made up his mind. She turned to the cauldron hanging over the fire and stirred, saying, “Go then, but if you don’t come back all in one piece, then you’ll be in even smaller pieces when I’ve finished with you.”
Huw chuckled and ducked through the door to bargain for goods he thought people in Londinium might want.
Two days later, Huw was ready to leave and he harnessed the oxen to the loaded cart. He felt a little dubious about one of the boxes. It contained three hunting dog pups. He knew hunting dogs from Britannia were in demand by the Romans, but taking three pups in a box down the long road to Londinium was quite an undertaking. He would have to take food for them and ensure they could relieve themselves. Still, he could make a good profit from them, so he decided it was worth any problems it may entail.
Dera watched as the wagon trundled through the gate and onto the road south; then, with one last wave, she shook her head and returned to the house.
“How long will daddy be away?” asked Gwayne.
“I don’t know, really,” replied his mother, smiling at the little boy. “It could be three weeks, or even more. It’s a long way to Londinium.”
“I know that! We came a long way, and it’s farther than that.”
His mother smiled again and said, “Of course you do. Come on, let’s go back to the house now.”
Two weeks passed, then one more. Ailbert became quite competent with the general work in the settlement. He helped with everything he could, but as a house slave in Londinium he had had next to no experience in farming. He decided he must do his best though, and he learned quickly.
He helped plough the land for the sowing of spring crops. He enjoyed this task as it meant he could work with the horses. The villagers decided the horses had better be used for something, as they were not going to be used to pull war chariots.
One day, Rhodri, with whom Ailbert had struck up a firm friendship, called to him. “Ailbert, are you very busy?”
Ailbert shook his head.
“Then come here. This cow is about to have her calf. She might want help.”
Ailbert crossed towards where Rhodri stood by one of the animal pens. He felt a fluttering in his stomach. Would he be able to help if the cow needed him?
The cow managed perfectly well. She had calved before and knew what she was doing. Soon, a little creature, still wet from the birth, struggled to its feet and began to suck at its mother’s teats.
He remembered the first time he had seen the birth of an animal—the lamb that had been born when they had stayed in Treafon. He stood watching alongside Rhodri, his eyes aglow at the miracle of new life.
He was brought back to reality, however, as Awena rushed over calling, “Huw’s back! He’s got lots of things to trade in Eberacum!”
Ailbert dragged himself away from the calf and its mother, and ran to his sister.
“Look what he’s brought me.” She held out a brooch made from an orange, translucent material. “He brought Dera a necklace made from it too. It’s called amber and comes from a long way away. They find it in a land near the Mare Balticum. There’s lots of it there, Huw claims. Isn’t it pretty?”
She ran back towards their home. Ailbert apologised to Rhodri and followed his sister to see what Huw had managed to get to trade in Eberacum.
As he left, Rhodri called after him. “Some of us are meeting this evening. Come to the well at sunset.”
Ailbert waved his assent and wondered what it was about. Still, he would go, if only out of curiosity. They were probably planning a big hunt or something.
Once back at the house, he saw Huw’s wagon loaded with goods. The trader had brought back amphorae of olive oil and wine, of course. That he had expected, but he noticed a number of boxes too. Huw opened one of them. It contained more amber jewellery like the brooch that Awena showed him.
“A shipment of this stuff had just arrived when I got to Londinium,” Huw told him. “It wasn’t cheap, but I think I got a reasonable price. Enough to make a profit, anyway. Here’s a box of the raw stuff. I can sell this to a silver or goldsmith, who can make items himself.”
He opened another box containing glassware, then another of fine pottery. His family gasped at all the wonderful goods he had managed to acquire.
“These things are much better than you got when we lived near Londinium,” Dera rubbed her hands together as she looked at his purchases.
“I was concentrating more on the release of our people then, dear. Now I can give all my attention to trading.”
“I worry about you travelling the roads. If you’ve to keep going to Londinium or beyond, I’ll be anxious about you being attacked.”
“The roads are a lot safer now the Romans are here. They patrol them with their soldiers. Bandits don’t try to attack nearly as much as they did.”
Everyone was impressed by the goods Huw brought back. He decided he would go to Eberacum in a couple of days, giving him time to rest and to sort through the goods he had brought back. He told Ailbert he wanted him to go with him to help. The fact that the young man could read and write, as well as having a little experience, would be a great asset in the world of trading.
Ailbert agreed, looking forward to going to the city. He had not ventured far from the settlement except to do a bit of hunting in the surrounding forest, and he wanted to see if Eberacum looked anything like Londinium, which was the only city he could say he had seen. The places they had passed through, and stayed at on the way to Britannia, were vague memories he felt he could not trust.
As the sun began to set, Ailbert made his way to where Rhodri told him the young men were meeting. As he approached, o
ne young man of about eighteen looked at Rhodri and asked gruffly, “What's he doing here? He’s a stranger. We don’t know if we can trust him.”
“Come on, Rees,” Rhodri stated. “He can be trusted. I know he hates the Romans as much as the rest of us.”
Rees turned to Ailbert. “Rhodri says you hate the Romans. Tell us why.”
Ailbert looked at the other young man and chanted his litany of hate. “They crucified my father; they took my family away from me;they took my home from me; they took my friends from me;they took my country from me;they sent Odila to a brothel;they treated me like a pet animal; they sent Avelina to a brothel;they took our names from us; they made a slave of Maeve;they tortured and killed an old woman for helping us;they made us flee from our new village;they took Awena’s chosen man from her.”
Upon hearing this, all nine of the young men gathered round the well stared at Ailbert. This litany could not have been made up on the spur of the moment, so they knew some of it at least must be true.
Gareth, who appeared to be their leader, said, “It seems you have a great deal to hate the Romans for. You can join us if you wish. We’re planning an attack of some kind. It would be great if we could stir a full rebellion, but I don’t think the older men would join us. We need to decide what kind of things we can do to disrupt the Romans as much as possible, and even kill a few. If we cause enough trouble, then maybe they’ll decide it’s not worth staying here and go away.”
“Boudicca nearly succeeded in the south,” put in Ailbert. “Unfortunately, the Romans came back from Mona before everything had settled down.”
“And perhaps Venutius would have had some success if Cartimandua hadn’t been so difficult. If she’d fought the Romans with him and Caractacus, perhaps we wouldn’t be under Roman rule now,” someone said solemnly.
