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  WHITE RAVEN’S

  LOVER

  Nhys Glover

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. With the exception of historical events and people used as background for the story, the names, characters and incidents portrayed

  in this work come wholly from the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental

  Cover Images © Canstockphoto.com/Nejron & Konradbak

  Published by Belisama Press 2014

  © Nhys Glover 2014

  This book is copyright. All rights reserved.

  Apart for any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any

  process without the written permission of the author.

  PROLOGUE

  Late Winter 68 CE, Trigantes Territory BRITANNIA

  In the early hours of the freezing morning, she came into the world, exhausted and in pain. The midwife handed her to her weakened mother with reluctant hands.

  The peasant woman, little more than a child herself, looked down at her quiet infant. Beneath the bloody slime she glimpsed her new daughter, pale as death. For a moment, the mother was frightened. Was the child stillborn to be so white? Then the infant lifted her face and stared up at her mother with eyes the colour of milky silver, and the girl’s heart beat anew.

  After struggling so hard to be born, this tiny infant had won the battle against the odds. She had survived.

  ‘I’ll take ‘er away, quick like,’ the midwife offered hastily. ‘Tell yer man the child was born dead.’

  ‘Why?’ The mother’s mind was cloudy with exhaustion.

  ‘She’s touched. That’s Badb’s child. I saw a white raven when I waz comin’ ‘ere. Now this white thing near kills yer comin’ into the world.’ The disgust in her voice was tinged with fear. ‘Nothin’ good’ll come o’ this, mark my words. Nothin’ good. Better ta end the wee mite’s life now, afore she brings down disaster on us all.’

  ‘No. If she’s from Badb, then she’s a gift o’ the Goddess. I’ll call ‘er Brennwen – White Raven.’

  ‘The raven’s a messenger fer Badb, but ‘er messages are always ill-omens,’ argued the midwife anxiously, attempting to draw the child from the mother’s protective arms.

  ‘No! Yer’ll not have ‘er. Brennwen’s mine. Badb gave ‘er to me!’ Hysterical now, the mother clung to her child until the baby, crushed against her chest, whimpered softly.

  ‘Be it on yer own ‘ead, yer stupid child. Yer fate’s now tied to ‘ers. Be it on yer own ‘ead!’ The midwife stepped back, spun on her worn heels and stormed from the hovel.

  In the shadowed light from the fire, the mother looked down into the silvery eyes of her baby. ‘Not Badb. ‘Tis not Badb who gave yer t’ me. It was Arianrod, who was there at yer conception as the full moon rose on Beltane. I know it. It’s life yer celebrate, not death.’

  The quiet child stared up at her mother for a moment more. Then her pale lips lifted into a sweet smile.

  Summer 72 CE, Brigantes Territory BRITANNIA

  Brennwen woke from her nightmare screaming. Her mother was instantly at her side.

  Mam always slept nearby these days, ready to quieten her. If the dreams came. Before Pap woke up. He beat her if her screams woke him up. She didn’t understand why. But even the beatings were better than the dreams. They were bad, very bad.

  This dream was filled with fire. She felt it on her skin, breathed the smoke into her lungs, and heard the screams of burning people running from the blaze. In all her four summers of life she had never had a dream as bad is this one.

  ‘Mam, the chief’s ‘ouse is burnin’,’ she sobbed, as Mam pressed her close to her chest to muffle Brennwen’s words.

  ‘Shh now, luv, don’t speak o’ it. Don’t speak o’ it.’ Her mam’s anxious whispers told her what she already knew. But how could she not speak of it? People would burn if they weren’t warned. People might go to the Summer Lands if she didn’t tell them.

  ‘But Mam…’ she tried to say, but her mother held her too close, almost suffocating her into saying no more.

  ‘It won’t ‘elp to tell ‘em. It’ll only hurt yer an’ me. Yer ‘ave to ‘ush, Brennwen, yer ‘ave to quiet as a mouse, ‘member? Keep quiet as a mouse.’

  She nodded her head and slowly the suffocating grip loosened and she could gasp in fresh air again. The tears fell afresh but they were soundless. Being as quiet as a mouse meant never making a sound, no matter how much pain or terror she felt.

  Finally, she dropped back into sleep as the smell of smoke seeped under the door flap. By the time her pap awakened to the screams from the other side of the village, Brennwen was so deeply asleep nothing could wake her. Her dreams this time were filled with regret.

  She could have saved them. If she’d been able to warn the villagers in time, she could have saved them. Instead, she saved herself and her mother from another beating and more of the fearful looks from their neighbours. Those people called her names and said she was a curse.

  A curse from Badb, the crone – the aged face of the three-faced goddess. She knew about the goddess, the Lady Blodeuwedd was the maiden; Arianrod was the mother; and Badb was the crone. Mam told her she was a gift from the mother not the crone. But everyone else told her different.

  A curse, she was a curse.

  Because her dreams were always true and foretold terrible things. And nobody wanted to know about terrible things, even if knowing them might help avoid the terrible thing.

  Brennwen didn’t understand.

  Summer 81 CE, Bibulus Estate, Cantiaci Territory BRITANNIA

  The Estate was a hive of activity. The harvest was approaching and soon every hand would be needed to bring it in. But before that happened, Gaius Annius Bibulus would marry his Calidia and move to her father’s estate to take over its management from the ailing old man.

  Gaius felt an unsettling edginess that had nothing to do with this new direction in his life and everything to do with the sweet young patrician he was soon to marry.

  Vali, the Norse giant liberti who had married his sister Anniana – no, Lara now – approached the lean-to where Gaius lounged.

  ‘Hail, Gaius, shirking work again?’ Vali said with a grin, knowing full well he was just taking a well-earned break from the day’s physical labour.

  It was odd. When he went into the army he expected his body to be honed to its muscular best. Instead, he’d lost weight and developed an annoying habit of slouching because of the piles of paperwork he was required to do. However, now after only four months out of the army, the hard physical labour required of him on the estate had done what the army never could – turned him into a man. Now he stood tall and straight, when he wasn’t lounging against the wall of a lean-to, and his muscles rippled beneath the coarse fabric of his tunic.

  ‘As much as you, barbarian,’ he threw back good-naturedly. It had taken a while for he and this man to overcome their differences and become friends. But now that they had, Gaius knew a level of camaraderie always denied him in his old life. Back then, it was all about who he knew and what gains he could garner from those contacts. It was about being seen with the right people – not friends, never friends – but powerful patricians, or men with the potential for power.

  Now he had close friendships, all from the bottom strata of society, ex-slaves, pirates, and gladiators. People he respected more than any he’d known from his own class. People who respected him, too. And because of it, he was happier than he could ever remember being.

  And with a loving wife at his side, his happiness would be complete.

  But the niggling edge kept
working on him. How was he going to have a successful marriage if he knew nothing about women? Oh, he had taken many, over the course of his twenty-five years, but they’d been prostitutes that required nothing from him but his money. Calidia was different. Not only was she an innocent, but she required something from him he had no idea how to give. Not that she would know what she was missing, but he had seen the glow in his sister’s cheeks after a night with Vali, and he wanted to put that kind of glow in Calidia’s cheeks.

  If anyone knew how to please a woman it was Vali. Hadn’t he been trained as a bed slave? The man must know a hundred ways to please a woman, just as those prostitutes had known how to please him.

  ‘What troubles you?’ Vali asked, coming to lean on the post that held up the lean-to.

  Gaius shook his head and glanced away, worried that his thoughts might be written in his eyes.

  ‘Come on, out with it. I’m starting to be able to read you like a scroll. What ails you? Are you having second thoughts about this marriage? Lara hasn’t pushed you into it, has she? I know she can be very insistent when she thinks something is good for you.’

  ‘No. I’m happy to marry Calidia. I’m just… No, don’t worry about it. I’ll work it out.’

  ‘If you don’t tell me what’s troubling you, I’ll tell Lara. You know you won’t be able to keep a secret from her.’ Vali chuckled. It was an empty threat. Vali would never do such a thing to him. But the thought was enough to make him realise that if Vali could pick up that he had a problem, his sister wouldn’t be far behind.

  ‘I haven’t the first idea how to please a woman,’ he blurted out, pushing himself away from the wall and turning fully to face the blonde man who stood a head taller than him.

  ‘Oh, yes. I can see how that might worry you. You aren’t a vir – ’

  ‘No, of course not. But whores don’t require pleasure, just a speedy release and money.’

  ‘And a speedy release is the last thing a loving wife needs. I see your problem.’

  ‘You were taught to please women. What… What should I do?’

  Vali’s handsome face became bleak for several long moments. Gaius immediately regretted bringing the subject up. One of Vali’s past owners had been Gaius and Lara’s mother, and she had treated him badly. There must have been others who did the same.

  ‘Take your time,’ Vali began slowly, as if every word was painful to extract. ‘A woman’s arousal is slower than a man’s. She needs to be stroked and caressed and told she’s beautiful. She’ll be afraid of the unknown and the pain of the first time, but you can calm her fears with your voice and your hands.’

  Gaius studied his brother-in-law’s face. Now he was reliving his first experiences with Lara, he could tell. It felt uncomfortable to imagine his sister being calmed like that by this man. He should stop this talk now. Invading his sister’s privacy was the last thing he wanted.

  But he needed to know…

  ‘Do I keep my arousal hidden?’ he asked tentatively.

  ‘Yes, if you can. Do you know the pleasure spots on a woman’s body?’

  ‘No. I know nothing.’ His disgust with himself was hard to disguise.

  ‘Most men don’t. You aren’t alone. That you want to learn is a good sign. I suppose I could teach you what you need to know. But theory is not the same as practise. You might consider seeing a whore in Londinium to practise.’

  ‘No. I have no desire for such women now that I’ve found Calidia. Theory will suffice until I can practise on her. She won’t know if I don’t get it right the first time. Or second.’

  Vali grinned at him. ‘No, she won’t. She’ll be happy if you’re gentle and slow. The rest will come with time.’ He grunted. ‘I never thought to be setting myself up as a teacher, a doctores of bed-play. If I do this, you must never tell Lara.’

  ‘I was going to say the same thing to you. She’s my sister; she doesn’t need to know I have intimate details of her sex life. In fact, can you teach me based on your experiences with other women rather than Lara?’

  Vali scowled and glanced away. ‘I don’t like to think of those… women. But if it offends your sense of propriety, I will use other examples. The trouble is, the women I was bought to entertain preferred sex to be rough and nasty. Calidia won’t.’

  ‘Maybe this was a bad idea.’

  ‘No, I want to help you. You’ve been a good friend and have accepted me as Lara’s husband when most of your class would have tried to run me through with a sword. I owe you the lessons I’ve learned. How long until the wedding?’

  ‘Six days.’

  ‘Then I imagine we better start this evening. We’ll take a walk together after evening meal. I’ll have formulated some strategies for you by then.’

  ‘This sounds like a military campaign.’

  ‘In a way, it is. Love and war. They have a great deal in common.’

  Summer 82 CE, Lentulus Estate, Cantiaci Territory BRITANNIA

  Gaius heard the high-pitched wail of a child and sighed with relief. Calidia’s labour had been long and nerve racking. Lack of sleep and worry had drained him of all energy. Yet, in this moment, as he heard the plaintive cry of his first born, he was roused to vitality once more.

  ‘The child has come at last,’ his father said with a hearty pat on his back. Gaius turned to look at the beaming old man sitting beside him, outside the birthing room. Pater had arrived in Britannia from Rome only weeks before Gaius’ wedding, and had been close by ever since. They’d developed a deeper bond in the last year than they’d ever known while he was growing up. It felt good. It felt right.

  Further along the bench sat Vali and Gaius’ father-in-law, Marcus Calidius Lentulus. The men had formed a vigil in this very spot for the whole day and night that the birth had required.

  He let an exultant smile form on his lips. This was the crowning moment of his life. All his childhood dreams of fame and glory as first a soldier and then a senator had been replaced with the more realistic goals of a happy family, comfortable home and prosperous business ventures. He’d found the loving woman he required, thanks to his sister. He’d taken up residence with her in his father-in-law’s large and comfortable villa, and he’d worked hard to build up Lentulus’ business endeavours in the last year. With Vali’s astute advice, he’d managed to improve their holdings significantly.

  And now, on top of all those successes, he had a child. Ideally, it would be a boy to carry on his family name, but if it was a daughter he would love her just the same.

  Life was good!

  The door to the birthing room opened and Eleani, his father’s mistress, came toward him carrying the infant. Her face should have been happy. As the midwife, this was her moment of triumph. Instead, there were tears in her eyes.

  Lara followed Eleani out of the room, her face stark with misery. ‘You have a son, Gaius, but the strain was too much for your wife. Her heart gave out as the child was born.’

  The anguished wail of Lentulus matched that of his grandson. Calidia was the old man’s only child. She was all he had. And now she was gone.

  Gaius registered Lentulus’ pain, and the sadness and shock of the other men around him. But numbness had already claimed him. He couldn’t quite understand what was happening. Here was the child he had awaited so joyfully, the son he had longed for. Eleani was holding the child out to him and its hearty cries spoke for its health and strength. This was supposed to be the happiest moment of his life. The crowning achievement.

  How could it all have gone so wrong?

  He rose from the bench like a sleepwalker, ignoring the child, ignoring all those who grieved around him, and headed for the birthing room. What he hoped to see, he wasn’t sure. Did he need to prove Elaeni wrong? Did he have to see his wife for himself before he could believe her words? Did he just need to be with the sweet young woman who had given him her heart and, in giving him his child, had also given up her life?

  Staggering a little under the weight of his agony, Ga
ius moved silently into the room. Beside the bed, Lara’s friend, Ninia, was wiping the sweat from his wife’s face. There was blood everywhere, but he paid no attention to it. All he saw was the pale, still visage of the woman he had married a year ago. Her dark hair was damp and bedraggled, and her eyes were closed, as if she simply slept. All the pain and terror of the last hours had been wiped away at the moment of her passing.

  A sob rose from somewhere deep inside him. Grief, unlike anything he had ever known, rushed up to overwhelm him. His Calidia was dead! His dreams were dead!

  Nothing mattered anymore.

  He fell to his knees beside the bed and took the limp hand of his wife between his own. He laid his cheek against it, feeling it cooling already. Feeling no pulse at the wrist.

  Feeling nothing.

  ‘Oh, Gaius, I am so sorry,’ Lara said, placing a comforting arm around his shoulder. He could hear the tears in her voice. He hated to hear her so sad, but he could do nothing to comfort her. He had nothing left inside him for anyone.

  Not even himself.

  Early Spring 85 CE, Border of Belgae and Durotriges Territory BRITANNIA

  Brennwen jerked awake silently, shaking all over. Her dream was all too familiar. It had been with her for years. Ever since the night, three years ago, when her child was murdered in her belly as the men took turns with her.

  She knew the reason the dream came to her. The child was hers, born again to some other woman when she lost him. But he still remained with Brennwen in the dream world, connected to her by a silver cord. And through that dream world she knew he faced grave danger.

  ‘Brennwen, are you well, child?’ Braedyn asked from the other side of the small hut, his voice croaky with sleep.

  How he knew she had awakened from a nightmare, she didn’t know. Years ago, she’d learned to keep as quiet as a mouse, even in her dreams. But the old druid hermit always knew and always awoke to talk her through the aftermath of those dreams.