The sacred fire of the Queen

XVI The Storm

The next day, before the meetings began again, Antonius told Camilla what he had heard of interest the previous evening. It seemed that King Turnus had a strong, personal rivalry with Aeneas. Lavinia, daughter of King Latin, was promised in marriage to Turnus, in accordance with the queen mother. However, to seal the alliance with Aeneas, King Latin had denied this promise. Lavinia, instead, had been offered to the Trojan prince. It would be impossible for the proud king of the Rutulians to swallow this outrage without seeking revenge. These events explained the strong resentment Turnus felt towards Aeneas.

The debate resumed shortly after, but opinions continued to be conflicting, and despite all the efforts of the King in his speech, many of the chiefs were still hesitant. So, to prevent the birth of a political defeat, the king and his lieutenants dismissed the plenum using the excuse of a threatening storm which was fast approaching on the horizon. The next appointment was fixed in the same place the following moon, to give everyone time to think, carefully consulting the elders of his own settlement. Turnus had established this long interval before the next meeting with the intention of individually contacting the most important leaders in each of their settlements, hoping to convince them to fight on his side. He was convinced that these chiefs, with their influence, could pursuade the commoners from their individual settlements to join in the cause.

Meanwhile a strong wind had come up. The dark clouds had shrouded the valley. The tethered horses stamped nervously and swirling dust rose up . In the camp, everyone was in a hurry to take down the tents, or strengthen the leather ties that kept tents on the ground. The approaching storm did not seem a simple rainfall, not at all. Camilla, the she-warriors and Antonius had been ready in a flash and decided to start immediately. Their Castrum was only a few hours' ride and bad weather certainly would not have stopped them. With the excuse of the coming storm, they took leave from king Turnus and Volcente when they were already in the saddle, exchanging with them only a short greeting. Just for a moment before starting to gallop, Camilla looked around in search of Camertem, but the swirl of dust and chaos that reigned at that time in the area prevented any view. Without delay, the Queen pushed her heels into the sides of her horse, which started to gallop back home.

They had just passed the settlement of Fabrateria when they were caught by a very intense storm. The clouds were so low, so dense and so dark that it seemed as though it was night. The rain fell parallel to the ground driven by the wind. The horses were very nervous and frightened by the lightning and thunder that followed one another at an impressive rate. Every moment presented danger to the rider. At that point, Camilla decided to halt the platoon.

The young queen chose to stop at a group of oak trees at the foot of a small hill, which was on the side sheltered from the wind. The wind was whistling around them in a deafening commotion. Immediately after the riders had descended from their nervous horses, they lied down on the ground covering their eyes and ears with the skins and all hell was unleashed. Around them water and leaves were swirling in the air, large branches and small trunks were dangerously flying too. Suddenly, they heard a tremendous roar accompanied by a dazzling light: an oak tree a hundred feet up the small hill had been hit by lightning and, broken, was burning. Camilla and girls, although accustomed to battle, were quite shocked. Antonius concluded this was a bad omen, but was cautious to share this with his daughter.

Shortly after, with the same rapidity with which it had arrived, the storm moved westward, continuing its running towards the sea. It left behind a bleak landscape: scattered branches, broken shrubs and trees uprooted. The path through the woods that led to the bridge was reduced to a sticky slime, but the worst had definitely passed, and the squad, once mounted on horses, recovered slowly their way home.