Borrowed Time

Chapter Six - ...That Way Went

I waited before I followed him out of the crannog. I had never seen Circinn angry before. I had learned from my mother when my father was angry that it was a wise wife who gave her husband a moment to recompose himself before going to be dutiful.

I found him by the time machine, trying to figure out how to start it.

"It's not ready yet." I told him as I approached. "I need to find a way to ignite the twig I am using in place of the match."

He turned his head to look at me. "You could use peat and bacon grease."

"I could, but if I use too much, it will blow up, taking the village with it."

"That would be the grace of our Gods giving our people the easy way out."

Our people, I thought to myself. I should take them all away from here. I wasn't sure if it would be possible.

"All of these people, they will suffer if I remain here. I never should have come to them when I fled Rome. Their blood will be on my hands, but I will not allow yours and our child's to be."

"Tell me what you meant, Circinn, about your mother. I was also under the impression your father was a Roman."

"I never told you he was a born Roman, Meryia. I am ashamed to say he considers himself a Roman. That is clear. Yes, he is Sarmatian born. He was in service to Rome for twenty years in their equites Romani. He has chosen to stay with them long after his service was done. That makes him Roman."

"How old are you? You have never told me that. I know nothing of your life before I met you in the wood, except for your battle victories, and the family that claimed you as their son." I felt anger towards my husband rear its ugly head. He was keeping a lot from me.

"I don't like to talk about my life before I came to my mother's people. It is a part of me that I have tried to forget for so long, to pretend it never existed. To answer your first question, I have lived thirty one summers on this earth, and before you, I thought it was thirty one summers too long."

Circinn sat down on the boulder he had put next to the time machine so he could be with me while I worked on it. He pulled me to his lap.

"If you must know about my life, I will tell you, but I hope you will not think differently of me afterwards."

I assured him my love for him wouldn't change, no matter what he told me, but his words worried me.

"You know of the battle of Mons Graupius from your school and study?"

"Yes, I know it. The Roman scholars wrote a lot about it, even went as far as saying the reason the Caledonian people lost was because they were incompetent driving their chariots. I have learned since being here, they weren't always truthful about the stories they told. I guess it is true, the spoils go to the victor, and their truth is the one that echoes through time."

"That was one story they got right. My mother was one of the healers for our people. My grandfather had thought she was dead, as he had seen the Roman horses trample her. She was taken to Inchtuthil, and as soon as she was well, she was given to Zabandos as a trophy for a battle well fought.

Until I was born, he was good to her. After I was born, he gave her to his friends anytime they wished, and he himself would brutalize her. I remember as a small boy, watching as my mother was raped night after night, and also beaten by Zabandos."

Circinn tried to push back tears as the memories flooded back to him. I hugged him, trying to reassure him.

"My grandfather found out she was alive, and he had moved the family closer to Inchtuthil, so he could see her and I. For a time, the Roman commander allowed it, but soon, he grew tired of seeing the faces of the Caledoni at his gates. He sent his Auxilia out, and many of them were killed. Zabandos had been among the murderers. My grandfather was taken prisoner, and tortured before they killed him

The village had been by the watch towers across the River Tay from Inchtuthil before that time. My uncle, who you know as my adoptive father, moved our people here, and until now the Romans didn't know where we were."

Had I in some way given their location away to the Romans? I don't see how I could have. My arrival seemed to have caused one too many encounters with the Roman demons, and I am not one to believe in coincidences.

"My mother was angry about the murders of her family, as anyone should be. She was also angry that my father had taken me away from her to train as a Sarmatian warrior, and soon to be placed in the service of Rome as he was."

"How old were you when they took you from her?" I asked.

"I was five or six, just a small boy. Zabandos beat her to death as she confronted him about the murders of her family. He threw her body over the rampart, and left her to rot in a ditch. I saw her body as I rode out for training with my equites Romani and the rest of the young Sarmatian boys."

He buried his face into my shoulder, and I could feel his tears through the wool of my tunic. I felt bad that I had helped bring these memories to surface for him. Zabandos was just as guilty as I was by walking back into Circinn's life again.

"You don't have to tell me anymore, Circinn."

"I feel I do. A wife should know her husband, even the bad... When I was twelve, we started conducting raids. Most of the time, we took livestock and burnt crops. One night, they were waiting for us. A battle started with them, but I could not kill them. My decanus ordered me to kill one of the men, and I refused. I told the Caledoni to run.

My decanus yelled at me again, threatening my life. I threw my spear as hard as I could at him, and it went into his heart. He fell off his horse, dead. I had to run, I knew they would kill me, but I could not bring myself to kill one of my mother's people.

I eluded the Romans for a long time, taking them well away from this new village; I arrived here as the snow began to fall after my fourteenth summer."

He studied my face, trying to figure out my reaction of what he had just told me. I smiled at him, before leaning in to kiss him. His story had not changed my feelings about him at all; I had actually gained more respect in his resolve.

"It took them twenty years to find you."

"Twenty years is not long enough for the safety of these people. I have always feared for this day to come. I am the purveyor of their downfall. All these girls and women, they will suffer the same fate as my mother, and it will be my fault."

"We will think of a way to stop that from happening, Circinn. These people are as much mine as they are yours. None of it is your fault, and I won't let you blame yourself for what the Romans caused." I said.

"You dream big, Meryia."

"Another thing I want to know, since you are in the mood for sharing. That day you met me in the forest, what did you say to Aifric and the others that made them laugh?"

Circinn smiled. "I told them that you were going to be my wife. The moment you took my hand and walked with me into my home, this became true."

"So if I hadn't taken your hand and just had followed you, I wouldn't be your wife?"

"I would have tried again later. We had been watching you for a while, seen you arrive, seen you go towards the moor. We saw you come back. We watched you in the wood, longer than I think you realized you were in there for. I knew you were meant for me. Fate brought you here. I believe this to be true, even if you do not."

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