Reckless

Chapter 12 Part 2

48 A.D.

Character POV: Roxanne

The stream is crystal clear, showing all of the grey little pebbles at the bottom of it. I finish beating my dirty dress against the rock, wringing the water out of it, when my sister stands up, wringing her dress out over my head. The icy coldness of the water makes me jump to my feet and gasp in shock, whirling on her where she stands behind me.

Her blue eyes bore into me as she smiles from ear to ear, the sun dancing off of her long red hair and making it look the color of leaves in autumn. "Sorry, did I get any water on you?" she teases, winking at me as her face breaks out into even more of a grin.

I shove her playfully as I laugh despite myself, "Yes, actually, you did. You know you did, Boudicca." But even as irritated as it made me, I cannot stay mad at my sister. She has always been a carefree spirit, wild and untamable. We just stand there and laugh for a few moments, the only other sounds to be heard being the gentle bubbling of the stream and the warble of some songbirds.

She wipes a tear from her cheek that escaped because she was laughing so hard, wiping it off on her multicolored tunic. "Ah, as fun as that war, we should be heading back to the others. We do not want to be caught out here after dark. And, from the smell of things, we will be having some good venison tonight for dinner if we hurry up and get there before the others have snagged it all."

I bump into her shoulder before I bend down and collect my clean clothing, muttering to her, "No one will dare to take your portion, not when you are to wed the king of the Iceni. Prasutagas will be sure to save you a nice portion, of that I am certain." I scrape the clothing together into a bundle and stand up, nodding in the direction of the sloping dirt path for Boudicca to take the lead.

"You are absolutely correct," she replies, shooting me a fierce grin. "I was trying to put it kindly. If you do not hurry up, you will be the one eating only fruits and vegetables while I have a nice cut of venison. So, hurry up," she taunts before she picks up her pace and races up the small embankment and towards the settlement, making me almost trip on my way up as I race to keep pace with her.

Stray fronds of bushes catch on my dress as I race after Boudicca, and I hurriedly bat them away before they can make any tears in my clothes, not wanting to slow down but wanting to catch her and win this race. My competitive streak is showing, I am conscious of that, but I do not really care.

I can see the grassy roofs of the earthen houses at the edge of the tree line, the smell of roasted meat stronger here than it was by the stream. But just when I am focused on the circular earthen structure of home, my mouth already watering at the imagined taste of the venison that I smell, my foot catches on a root protruding from the ground. My ankle turns with a sharp stab of pain, and I gasp as I tilt forward, the dark mud getting closer and closer to my face as I seem to fall in slow motion, my clean clothes flying from my hands and into the nearby bushes. Just when I am about to fall to the ground, flat on my face, I feel someone grab me from under my arm and haul me up just before I make contact with the ground. My arm wrenches at the grasp, but not bad enough that anything has broken.

The hands on my arm gently release their hold and I turn towards the person who saved me from falling, the words sliding out of my mouth, "I apologize, I am very clumsy. I should have been paying attention to my surroundings. . ." The words die on my lips as I see who saved me. Standing before me is a woman with olive skin, startling violet eyes, and thick wavy brown hair that lightens up with shots of gold woven into it when the sun is shining on her, like it is right now. She smiles at me broadly, a friendly gesture that makes my mind go blank. Eventually, I come back to myself enough to say, "Thank you."