Chapter 14

In the morning I lay and watched the two women rise and then they started preparing for breakfast. Even though I was weak, I really felt famished; I got out of bed only to have my legs give under me.

"What do you think you are doing?" Teresa asked. "You have been ill with pneumonia. Do you think you can just jump out of bed as though nothing had happened?"

"I really didn't realise how weak I was," I managed to reply to her chide.

"Just sit at the table and I will bring your food to you," she went on. Now she was mothering me. Before my illness she avoided me like the plague.

As I sat at the table my attention was drawn to my Calendar Stick which had been kept during my illness as seen by the fresh notches cut into it. "Who has been recording the days, I see my Calendar stick has been marked?"

"It was Fredogid, she has been marking, as she calls it the nights," was the reply.

I counted the notches and discovered the next shimmering was due tomorrow. "Teresa, you will be able to return to your own time tomorrow morning. After breakfast can you get Bill to come over and see me?"

"It's true what you said, I can go back?" She said so excitedly. Without waiting any longer she turned and dashed out of the house. I saw her from the window rushing over to Bill. Who was standing outside the old cabin talking to Fredogid.

After a minute they both rushed over to the house and burst into the room. "Is it true what she said, there is means to return tomorrow?" Bill enquired, but not with the enthusiasm of Teresa.

"Don't you want to go back?" I said to him.

"Charlie this has put me in a real predicament, I would love to go back but I have nothing there. Here I have two lovely women that I really love and they love me. Honestly I've never been happier, no tax, no worries at all. No Charlie, I'm staying, I know I can go back and that is enough for me. Anyway Wiferth and I are in the middle of something, so I won't be going back," he said turning and leaving the house.

He was the one person I thought would only be too happy to want to go back.

Turning to Sister Teresa; "So Teresa it looks like you will be going back on your own. The shimmering happens just around six in the morning, so you will have to be up and ready to step through by that time. I hope they have fixed your car by now?" I said with a laugh.

For the remainder of that day she washed and ironed her habit and was in a state of nervous tension all day and just couldn't sit still.

Early the next morning with the help of Fredogid we watched as Sister Teresa pass through the shimmering, dressed in her nun's habit. In a way I was sorry to see her go, I wasn't sure whether she enjoyed her stay for she never said very much.

The weather nowadays was bitter with a north-easterly wind blowing, maybe because I wasn't up to my full strength, but I was feeling the cold now. Also I will have to start cooking for myself again now that Teresa had left.

There was a frantic gathering of the essentials for the coming cold weather which will last a good six months. Everyone had been busy and stacks of cut wood was stacked close to each house, as well as the sauna's, for now this was the preferred method of bathing followed by a cold shower for everyone in the village.

I was curious to what Bill and Wiferth had been working on. So seeing them together at Bill's house I slowly walked over and to my surprise I saw that they were working on a chariot, to be drawn by two horses side by side.

"I am just giving Wiferth an idea of what the English Celts used against the Romans. Of all the European tribes the British Celts were the only ones to use war chariots, not efficiently granted, but they were far sturdier than any of the Asia- Minor chariots," Bill said seeing me looking.

"I thought the chariots were drawn by four horses Bill?" I replied.

"They were eventually, but we are only experimenting just now," he quickly replied. I left them to it and returned to my home, for I really had no idea about chariots and horses, only what I had been taught at school.

I had been out and set some snares to catch rabbits, which seemed to be plentiful and within half an hour I had caught two lovely sized ones. The shock came that evening for Fredogid wouldn't eat the meat.

"The rabbit is never eaten, for they carry the spirits of the dead." Fredogid said to me.

"I thought you cremated your dead?" I asked.

"The spirits of the dead who are buried," she quickly returned.

"Oh, I thought everyone was cremated," I went on.

"Oh no, many tribes bury there dead with all their possessions. To us the rabbits are the carriers of their spirits."

"Well Fredogid, I'm sorry, but that won't stop me eating rabbits."

According to my calendar it was Christmas eve and it was then that I was told that this was Mothers' eve and the start of a new year. All this time I had gained little information from the Druidess. Since a Druid had arrived a few days earlier and whom I was told was Fredogid's husband, we three had sat all day long discussing so many subjects. The one we were discussing tonight was the ancient lunar calendar.

The discussion didn't get very far for outside came the sound of horns. Within minutes everyone was outside, for horns were the sound that instilled the worst fears to the people, for the horn was the sound of raiders. I was told there was even a season when to expect raiders and that was not it, in the spring, yes, but not normally in winter. Now if the sound of the horns were invaders, then someone forgot to tell them they were out of season.

Taking my shotgun I went outside and joined all the other villagers who had come out of their houses at the sound of the horns. The sound of the horns weren't as bad as the sight of Trim, one of the men who had arrived with Wiferth with a throwing spear piercing his body. The tip showing at the front and the shaft protruding out his back. The spear had been thrown over the wall for the angle of the shaft showed it had been falling to earth, but had it been thrown over the wall? My eye caught the movement of a figure standing on the thick branches of an oak tree close to the wall. Without hesitation I lifted the shotgun and fired. I doubt if I would have killed him at this distance, but he would be carrying a load of lead. Not only that, he must have injured himself when he fell off the tree.

There was no point in playing around with shotguns I needed my rifle and quick. I threw the shotgun to Bill who was standing a short distance away with his two wives close by his side.

"Looks like we have a fight on our hands, I have been expecting these raiders to make another appearance, but not at this time of the year. I can see we will be having a memorable Christmas this year," I said as I walked to my house. I couldn't run without getting out of breath, but I had to recover fast if we were to survive.

"I'll get everyone armed with something, then I'll get up on the wall and see who they are," he shouted as we parted on our own tasks.

How I cursed feeling so weak, but every day I was getting back to my normal self. Now this has to happen, I've been through one raid and we managed to survive, but will we survive this attack. We have weapons, but not as many as we did the first time we were raided.

I picked up 100 rounds of mixed ammunition for my rifle and made for the eastern wall where the attack had come from. I saw Bill and Wiferth walking the wall and searching with their eyes for the invaders. I climbed up the ladder very cautiously in case there was anyone ready to cast another spear, but there was no-one in sight as I scanned the area once had reached the walkway on the wall.

Why cast one spear and announce your presence with horns, only to vanish into the night. With the snow on the ground it was easy to see movement, also now it wasn't ever totally dark, the snow reflecting every piece of light. So where had they gone?

By this time Bill and Wilferth had reached where I was.

"Where have the bastards gone?" Queried Bill.

"This is strange tactics, I have never seen a raiding party act this way. It is not the way of the Celts in the west," Wilferth stated.

"Who do you think they are then?" I asked.

"I would make a guess and say they are raiders from the north, they sometimes raid this far south," continued Wilferth.

"But why in the winter?"

"This is so strange, for a raiding party to attack at this time of year."

"We'll have to post guards at all times," Bill cut in.

"We must have a meeting of the villagers and see how we are going to tackle this problem, tomorrow will do, we will take watch tonight. I think two on at a time, one person changing every hour, so the longest we need stay out in the cold is two hours," I suggested.

This was what we did, but no further instance of attack or appearance happened until after light. According to my watch it was 9am, when a lone figure appeared almost on the same spot the leader of the first raiding party stood. As it so happened it was Bill and myself who were on watch. The sound of the horns made the rest of the villagers assemble at the south gate, inside but far enough back to be out of spear threat.

"I am Breca, the brother of the man whom you had his men slay, as well as many of my clan members. This I promise you, we will butcher everyone of you, including the women and children in revenge for their deaths. We have come well prepared for a long siege. Even the druids you have within your village will not be spared, for we do not listen to their ramblings."

After this speech he turned and walked away into the forest. I felt like shooting him on the spot, but with him being alone it was the same as standing under a flag of truce.

Everything seemed peaceful until late afternoon when we heard a crash and where the water-pump windmill stood there was empty space. One of the Celts who had been near the North gate came running towards us.

"The raiders have pulled down the tower and smashing it with rocks," he gasped.

By the time I got out of the North gate and to the site they had gone and the windmill was a total wreck. Now we were without a water supply, for this was our main source of water. At least there wasn't many trees around the stream where the raiders could hide for it was from here we would have to carry the water.

As I was at this side of the village a shout came from inside but at the south end and I could see smoke rising. God, what has happened now I thought as I dashed back into the village, to see across the open space one of the houses ablaze?