Early Morning by Brienna Boydstun

It was early morning when it happened. The sun was barely over the hills, weaving dark shadows through my village. A village that would no longer be standing in just three more hours.

My repeated coughing is what woke me. My chest felt heavy and my eyes stung and watered when I opened them. No matter how hard I rubbed them, the inside of my house still looked fuzzy. My six-year-old mind was slow to realize that what I thought was the goo of sleepiness in my eyes was really smoke from my burning house.

I grabbed my sister who still slept beside me, shaking her as my mind filled with panic. Morna’s fourteen, I thought. She’ll know what to do.

Morna rolled over with a groan and opened her eyes to my panicked, tear-stained face. “Fire!” I choked out. Her sleep and smoke filled head didn’t take as long as mine to realize what was going on. She grabbed two blankets from our bed and quickly wrapped one around each of us as she screamed for Ma and Da to get up. The smoke was getting thicker and I still didn’t see my parents.

I could tell Morna was scared and didn’t want to leave me. She gripped my small hand in hers as she pulled me across the room to where Ma and Da slept. As Morna pulled back the privacy curtain I was just able to glimpse my parent’s peacefully still forms before a loud crash behind us drew my attention. The floor was now glowing with parts of our thatched ceiling.

Morna scooped me up and ran for the door as I struggled in her arms screaming to my still silent parents to wake up. Morna’s hold tightened around me and I felt the wind rush past us as my sister ran. I stretched my arms out towards my burning home as if I could will my parents to me. Morna ducked into the shadows behind a pile of wood stacked next to another house and put me down. I tried to run back, but she grabbed my arms, holding me down.

“Birte, listen, I know you want Ma and Da right now, but you need to be quiet,” she plead as she crouched over me.

“I want Ma-”

“I know, but you need to be quiet, we can’t let them hear us!” She scolded, cutting me off. I finally took in my sister’s face, realizing how panicked it was as she looked around frantically.

My brain shifted from the image of Ma and Da lying in bed to what was going on around me. Now that I wasn’t shrieking anymore, other sounds could reach my ears. I heard people screaming and praying; I heard the clashing of swords hitting shields; I heard the sound of horses running on the ground and the clanking of armor. The Romans were here.

My heart raced for a different reason now. My breathing started coming out in short, fast bursts and my body felt numb as I began to shake with fear. I knew if the Romans caught us we would be kept as slaves or, more likely, killed.

“Birte, look at me,” Morna commanded. “I give you my word, I won’t let anything happen to you, but I need you to calm yourself.”

I looked at my sister; even disheveled and covered in soot she was beautiful. Though she was the envy of every girl in the village, Morna never let it affect her kind, honest nature. Looking into those deep blue eyes that matched mine, my breathing steadied and I found myself trusting that everything would be okay. Morna always took care of me and I knew if she promised nothing bad would happen, nothing would.

“Birte, we need to move,” Morna said softly, her voice shaking a little.

I shook my head vigorously back and forth. I didn’t want to move from our spot and risk someone seeing us.

“Birte, if we don’t move soon the soldiers will find us.”

My breathing began to pick up again as I looked around for any Romans that might be sneaking up on us. I peaked around the log stack and I saw my friends and neighbors running around in confusion, screaming. The sun glinted off the silver armor the Roman soldiers wore as they strolled through the village, cutting my people down one at a time. The blood from their bodies soaked into the earth, turning it as red as the clothes the Roman’s wore underneath their armor. It was as if they did this on purpose to show anyone who passed that the land was theirs now.

Some of the soldiers carried torches, setting fire to houses. The fire and sun reflected off these men’s armor to make it look golden and fiery; they looked like they might belong to the army of the sun god, Lugh, and, for a moment, I sent up a prayer asking forgiveness for whatever we might have done to anger him.

“Calm yourself, Birte. Remember, I am not going to let anyone hurt you.” Morna said once again, calling me back to myself. She waited for my breathing to even out and continued. “We need to get to the Sacred Grove, there are plenty of hiding places where no one will find us.”

I knew she was right, but I couldn’t help feeling terrified. I could see the grove of oak trees that bordered the west side of our village; the grove looked really far away and we would have to run through an open field to get there.

“Now listen to me very carefully Birte,” Morna said as she took my face in her hands. “I want you to hold my hand while we run, but if I let go for any reason I don’t want you to stop. Don’t look back, don’t think about me, you just keep running and find the best hiding place you can. Do you understand?”

I could see tears welling up in my sister’s eyes now. Why would she let go? I thought. I don’t want Morna to let go, I want her to stay with me.

“Birte, you have to give me your word you will keep running and not look back. That you will find a hiding place and stay there until the soldiers leave. Birte, promise me!” She begged.

“I promise,” I whispered, not able to speak the words any louder. Morna’s tears began to fall as she kissed me on the cheek and held me tightly to her for a moment.

“Ready?” She asked as she took my hand. Unable to speak, I nodded and then we were running through the field, faster than I had ever run before. My sister ran in front, pulling me as we ran, urging me to run quicker. We closed the distance in less time than I thought possible. When we were almost to the trees I risked a look back towards the village, no one was following us! Morna was right; everything was going to be alright.

I ran straight into Morna at the same time she let loose a piercing scream. When I caught my balance I looked up to see a Roman soldier towering over my sister as she struggled to get out of his arms.

“Where do you think you are going Celtic whore?” The soldier asked laughing, showing his grimy yellow teeth. “I have some friends I know will want to meet you.”

I tugged as hard as I could on my sister’s arm, trying to free her. No matter how hard I pulled I couldn’t gain any ground.

“And what’s this?” Yellow Teeth asked, looking at me now. “Your friend here looks a little young, but I’m sure we can find a use for her too.”

I didn’t understand what Yellow Teeth meant but it made Morna freeze. As he reached for me Morna released my hand and swung her leg between Yellow Teeth’s legs.

“Run!” Morna screamed. I saw Yellow Teeth crumple to the ground, his hold still firm on Morna’s arm. No description existed for the mix of fear, panic and anguish I saw in my sister’s eyes at that moment. “RUN!”

My body felt torn in two. Morna looked so scared and I didn’t want to leave her, but my other half urged me to listen to Morna’s words and run for safety. Yellow Teeth was starting to get up again and the promise I made to my sister ran through my head and my legs carried the rest of my body through the forest. Each passing tree and bush was a lurking Roman soldier; their branches, which scratched my face and caught on my clothes, my mind saw as soldier’s hands trying to catch me in their grasp. My sister’s voice continued to echo through my head, commanding me to run, but my body could no longer obey. I collapsed to the ground, my lungs not big enough to take in all the air I needed.

I curled into a ball and wrapped the thin blanket I still carried around me, trying to warm my shaking body. I knew I had not run far, even now I could smell the smoke and hear the fighting from my village. I knew I should run again or look for a hiding spot, but I couldn’t make my body move. My muscles were stiff, my feet were bloody from the undergrowth of the forest and my body was exhausted.

I continued to sit in my spot, rocking back and forth, until I heard shouts coming from behind me.

“I found some more blood!” A male voice yelled. “She must have gone this way!”

The Romans were following my trail. My heartbeat picked up again and my fatigue left me. I looked around for a hiding spot but all I could see were tall oak trees. I had apparently picked the one spot in the grove without much undergrowth or any rock formations where I could hide; there weren’t even enough fallen leaves to pile on myself. I knew I couldn’t run; the soldiers would hear me. I heard Morna scream at me in my head to stop panicking and breathe. A raven squawked above me, drawing my attention and giving me an idea: I would climb.

I tied the blanket around me and started up the nearest tree. I wasn’t the best climber and with my feet wounded and my mind distracted with fear I was even worse. I finally reached a limb that would be above the soldier’s heads and hung onto the tree trunk, trying not to move or make noise.

I could see the soldiers now; there were three of them, circling my little clearing, looking for clues to my whereabouts. The tallest looked like a rooster. He wore a helmet with a red crest and directed the other two around; I assumed he was in charge. The medium one reminded me of a bear: hairy, burly and lumbering, while the third seemed like a rat: small, lanky and sharp featured.
“Come out, come out, little girl,” Rooster called.

“There are no more signs farther ahead, she has to be around here,” Rat told Rooster.

“Then keep looking. Remember our orders: no one lives,” Rooster told the other two quietly. “We need to teach these Celts they cannot rise up against the greatest empire in the world and win.”

“You do not need to hide little one,” Rat called out in a cooing voice that sent shivers through my body.

“We want to help you find your way back to your village,” Bear chipped in. “Your friend is worried about you. Don’ t you want to see your friend again?”

Don’t listen to them, I told myself. They are lying. Still, an image of Morna’s anguished eyes flickered through my mind and I had to fight hard not to cry. I was already breathing in shallow gulps because I didn’t want to the soldiers to hear me but now my nose was starting to clog up from the and I was starting to feel a little dizzy from lack of air. My hands and legs ached from holding onto the cold tree and I prayed the soldiers would leave soon.

“Come out now little one, I’m tired of this game,” Rooster commanded. “Come out and we can go back to your village where you can find some food and get warm. Wouldn’t you like that?”

My fingers began to slip and they didn’t want to move anymore so I wrapped my arms around the tree, hugging it with all my strength.

“Let’s leave her, no one will notice if we leave one little child alive,” Bear grumbled. “She’ll probably freeze to death anyway.”

“Alright, let’s get out of here,” Rooster said. I let out a sigh as I saw them start to walk away and began to relax a little.

“Caw! Caw!” Screamed a raven, drawing the soldier’s attention as it flew straight to my tree.

“Up there, in the tree!” Bear shouted, pointing straight at me.

“Enough games girl, come down now.” Rooster ordered me. “Go get her,” he told Rat when I didn’t move.

As Rat started climbing closer to me his smile grew bigger, his squinty eyes more eager. I wanted to climb higher to get away from him but my muscles were too tight and I couldn’t move them. I screamed as he pulled me from the tree’s trunk and threw me over his shoulder. Once we were down from the tree Rat handed me over to Bear and the soldiers started back towards my village. I fought as much as I could, kicking and trying to wriggle out of Bear’s grip, but his armor protected him and I only seemed to be hurting myself. I looked desperately for somewhere I could hurt my captor and found an unprotected spot on his neck. I bit it as hard as I could, tasting blood in my mouth. He dropped me and I immediately scrambled to my feet and ran.

I didn’t get far. Rooster caught my hair, pulling me back, and hit me across the face. I fell down, curled in a ball with my hands over my face to protect it from further injury. My teeth hurt and my eyes didn’t want to focus quite right.

“If you wanted to walk the rest of the way you should have spoken up,” Rooster said darkly. He grabbed my hair again and continued to walk back to my village, dragging me when my legs couldn’t keep up. I screamed for him to stop but he didn’t seem to hear me. By the time we reached the center of the village where the rest of the soldiers were gathered I was completely covered in bloody mud with scrapes up and down my body. Most of the houses looked like large bonfires now and no one ran around the village fighting and screaming anymore, they just lay lifeless on the ground.

“Caught her did you? Took you long enough,” Yellow Teeth said, stepping out from the crowd and walking over to me. “You caused a lot of trouble running off, and now you’re going to pay for it.”

I screamed to the gods to help me as I saw him draw his sword. All the events of the day passed through my head as he slowly raised his sword above his head. I closed my eyes and took one last deep breath picturing Morna and my parent’s smiling faces.

“Birte!”

I opened my eyes to see Morna twisting out of a soldier’s grip and running over to me. Yellow Teeth lowered his sword down to his side as Morna kneeled by my side and cradled me.

“Morna? Morna I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “I tried to hide, I did, but they found me! I’m sorry.”

“Shh,” she told me, rocking me back and forth. “I know you did, I know. It’s not your fault.”

“Will someone get her out of my way,” Yellow Teeth barked at the rest of the soldiers.

“No!” My sister screamed as Rooster tried to untangle her from me.

“Morna!” I cried, holding her hand as tightly as I could.

“Please, just let her go!” Morna begged Yellow Teeth.

“Why should I do that?”

“Glory,” Morna said. “If you let her go she can tell everyone what you did here. If you don’t, know one will know what happened. And…”

“And?”

“And, I promise I won’t fight,” Morna said, slipping her nightgown down her body. I sat their watching her naked body in shock not knowing what she meant or what she was doing. “What’s one little girl?” she begged, her voice barely above a whisper.

Yellow Teeth looked at her, his eyes filled with hunger as he thought over her words. “One little girl means nothing to me or the empire,” he said finally, looking at me. “She probably won’t make it far anyway. Now listen here girl, run as fast as you can and if you find a village, tell them what happened here. At every village you find tell them how the Romans came and killed everyone you knew and loved and that we will do it to anyone who dares to rise up against us. Now go.”

My body wouldn’t move. I wasn’t completely sure what was going on but I knew they were eventually going to kill my sister. I couldn’t leave her again.

“Birte, do as he says,” Morna ordered.

“They’re going to kill you!” I warned her.

“I know,” she said softly as Yellow Teeth took her arm. “It’s okay. Now keep your promise to me and run.”

“I can’t,” I sobbed.

“You can and you will,” Morna yelled, keeping her eyes on me as Yellow Teeth pulled her away. “If you don’t run now I will never forgive you Birte. Now run!”

Other soldiers started to come towards me and my body took over once again. I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could. Whenever I stopped this time I made sure I was well hidden.

A few days later I made it to a neighboring village and told them what happened. I never saw my sister again, but I know now what happened to her and what she did for me. I promised myself I would repay her for her sacrifice and I spent these last ten years learning how to fight. Sitting here now, as a Druid priest paints blessings and protective wards on my body, I prepare myself mentally for the battle I am about to fight against the Roman animals who took the life of my loved ones and suppressed my people for years.

Today I will repay my sister’s courage and maybe even thank her in person.