Reckless

Chapter 9 Part 2

48 AD

Character POV: Ariadne

The news I just heard from some gossiping woman can't be true. The strange woman who many call a Druid or a striga who came to the village less than a week ago singled out two of the women here as having potential and desired to have them as apprentices. They're both sisters, but the woman who has elected to marry the head of our group decided she would rather be with the man that she loves than perhaps gain immortality and magic. But that means that Aoibhe has chosen to go with this woman, this Livia Drusilla, a woman who shares a name and an uncanny resemblance to the wife of Augustus, the woman rumored to have killed him to ensure her son succeeded him.

I don't like her, and I don't trust her. The Roman Empire has spread throughout the lands as a scourage, razing cities to the ground and salting the earth. They treat the Britains and Celts with distain and like they're lesser. Even though it isn't my fight as a Greek woman whose father emigrated here with the Romans as an artisan for their rich citizens, I've lived here long enough to sympathize with their plight. And I do not think that Aoibhe should be trusting her or should be left alone with that woman, especially not for all time. Aoibhe has never left this village. She hasn't seen what the wide world has to offer, the horrors of the Roman Empire. She doesn't know not to trust Romans who offer you the world while they hide a dagger behind them, ready to stab you the moment that you turn around to steal what is yours and make it their own. They'll rewrite history to make themselves look good and take credit for the achievements of others.

Ducking around an earthen house, I see Aoibhe leave the small one loaned to Drusilla, her blonde hair tied back and braided through with flowers. She has a smile on her face, her blue eyes bright as she considers what the future has to offer her. I smile despite myself at the sight of her so happy, but then I remember why I came here. She just met this Roman bitch, and she has no one going with her to make sure that she isn't taken advantage of.

I step out from behind the hut when Aoibhe has disappeared into her own, wincing at the brightness of the sun. I quickly walk towards the earthen hut, slipping through the doorway and into the dark and somewhat cool interior. In front of me, a woman with long red hair stands wearing the normal white clothing of a Roman woman. She stills, looking over her shoulder, blood red hair piled up and tied back on her head in a severe look. Her black eyes fix on me as she turns around.

Her lips purse as she looks me up and down, her eyes narrowing when she's finished with displeasure. This is off to a great start already. Her voice is low as she says, "You're the Greek woman the villagers talk about. You left the Roman cities to live here with the Iceni, left your father and family behind to move out here because you did not believe in the Roman cause. I've heard the villagers talk about you, about your unbridled passion, sharp tongue, quick wit, and reckless impulsivity. What do you want from me?"

A sharp taste of dislike rises inside of me at her words, at the dismissal in her tone, as if she could shove me into a box so easily and can see my worth through the lens of what other people say about me. Still, I swallow the bile in my throat and smile at her as kindly as I can, causing her to arch a brow at me as I say, "I heard that you were taking Aoibhe with you on your adventures, promising her eternal youth and life, magic beyond her wildest dreams. I also heard that Boudicca turned you down when you offered the same to her. That means that you have another opening, and I'd like to volunteer myself."

She laughs, her smile wicked, and I instantly feel small. She shakes her head, her lip curling in to a snarl and she spits, "Not everyone has magic in their genetics. It runs in families, and you lack it. I don't just take anyone and that's all you are-- someone who will be lost to the sands of time, inconsequential in the great span of things. You were never meant to be remembered, and I won't meddle in what the universe has ordained. Your fate is to die here, unremarkable." I open my mouth to say something, but she stalks towards me, stopping me in my tracks as she leans in to whisper in my ear, "I've seen you trailing after Aoibhe like a lost pet. I've seen the way that you look at her, the secret smiles you direct her way. But you're only thinking about yourself, about what's best for you. You, with your lack of gifts, you will only drag her down." I flinch despite myself at the words, wanting to argue with her but lacking the words to convince a woman like her who has lived through several lifetimes already. She pulls back from me, her eyes like chips of obsidian as she says, "Aoibhe has the potential to be the best witch that I have ever trained. She could either build a better world or raze it to the ground. I need my best girl undistracted and living up to her best potential."

She walks past me, moving around me like water around a boulder, completely unhindered and unbothered. I stand there letting her words sink in and I feel a sharp pain in my chest at her words. Tears burn my eyes and I quickly duck my head to wipe them away with the sleeve of my shirt. Drusilla is probably right about me, that there's nothing inherently special about me, but she acknowledges that there is something special about Aoibhe. And it occurs to me, the more that I think about it, that she never said what she wanted to do with Aoibhe. She could raze the world to the ground or build a better one, but Drusilla never said which was on her agenda. Aoibhe is special, and she needs someone who is not going to take advantage of that.

There has to be another way, a way around Drusilla and her laws. If her and her witches have found a way to immortality, then there has to be a back door. There's always more than one way to do something. Drusilla hasn't been alive since the beginning of time, she has no idea what the universe could allow to happen. Steely resolve builds in me, my rage filling me up as I resolve to find another way, a way around Drusilla. There are other witches who might be willing to help. I vaguely recall an Egyptian one who visited the island of Lesbos where my family is from. From what I remember, Egyptian witches have always been rumored to be some of the most powerful. But when I think about leaving Aoibhe here, leaving her with this woman, I am filled with dread. I make a mental note to go visit that witch when things look too dire, when I have no other options, and when I am sure that Drusilla is just as awful to Aoibhe as she has been to me.