To Love Again - Bertrice Small [22]
“Come away, my child! We must get away from the villa! We are in mortal danger! Help me! Hurry!” Brenna told her.
“The family?” Cailin repeated, already knowing in her heart the answer her grandmother would give.
“Dead. All of them. Come now, and help me. We are not safe here, Cailin. You must believe me, my precious one,” Brenna said, sobbing.
“Why can’t we wait for the slaves to return? We must inform the authorities,” Cailin said desperately.
Brenna looked into her granddaughter’s face. “I have no time to explain this to you now. You must trust me if you wish to live a long life. Come now, and help me. I am weak from loss of blood, and we have a ways to go before we are safe.”
Cailin felt frightened. “Where are we going, Grandmother?”
“There is only one place we can go, my child. To the Dobunni. To your grandfather, Berikos. Only he can keep us safe from this evil.” Grasping her granddaughter’s arm, Brenna began to walk. “ ‘Tis but a few miles, although you did not know that, did you? Your whole life you have lived but a few miles from Berikos, and you did not know it.” Then Brenna fell silent, realizing that she needed her strength if she was to get them to their destination alive. Berikos must know what had happened. Then, if the gods willed it, she would die. But Berikos must know.
“I do not know the way,” Cailin whimpered. “Can you show me the way, Grandmother?”
The old woman nodded, but said nothing more.
They left the beaten path, and Brenna led her granddaughter up one hill and then down another. They made their way through a small, dense wood with only the light of the bright moon to show them the way. The night was silent, for the creatures belonging to it had long ceased their songs. Here and there a bird would trill nervously, certain that the bright white light signaled the dawn. Occasionally they would rest, but Brenna dared not stop for long. She did not fear pursuit, but rather she feared her own mortality. They crossed a large grassy meadow where deer were grazing in the early light, and then entered a second wood. Above them the sky was visibly lightening. They had been traveling for some time now, and Cailin had the feeling that they were moving up.
“How much farther is it, Grandmother?” Cailin asked after they had been walking for several hours, mostly uphill. She was weary from the unaccustomed exercise. She could only imagine how the older woman must feel. It had been a long time since Brenna had walked such a distance, and certainly never in such a precarious state of health.
“Not far, my child. Your grandfather’s village is on the other side of this wood.”
The forest began to thin out, and the sky was bright with color as they exited from the trees. Before them rose a small hill, and atop it was the Dobunni village. Suddenly a young man appeared before them. He had obviously been on watch, and was surprised to see someone out so early. Then his face lit with slow recognition.
“Brenna! Is it really you?”
“It is I, Corio,” Brenna answered him, and her knees buckled beneath her.
“Help me, sir!” Cailin cried, attempting to keep her grandmother in an upright position, but it was futile.
Corio, after his initial amazement at seeing Brenna, jumped forward and caught the fainting woman up in his arms. “Follow me,” he told Cailin, and without so much as a backward glance at her, he ran up the hill.
Cailin hurried behind him, her face creased with concern. Her curiosity was strong, however, and she noted that the hill was ringed with three stone walls. Behind the third wall, they entered into the village. Corio made directly for the largest house, and Cailin followed him through its entrance into a big hall. A woman, fully six feet tall and dressed in a deep blue tunic, came forward. She glanced briefly at Cailin, gave a start of recognition, then looked at the burden Corio carried.
“It is Brenna, Grandmother, and she is injured,” Corio said.