New Found Land by John Christopher Page A

had been Romanized, and Rome itself was still powerful. So if the Norwegians and Swedes moved south, and called on the Romanized Danes to join them . . . It makes sense.”
    Lundiga said: “I do not understand your words.”
    In Latin, Brad said: “It doesn’t matter. What happened—after your people’s army was defeated?”
    â€œRoman soldiers entered our land, pursuing those who had fled. They not only killed men, but tortured and murdered women and children. They burned towns and villages, the people along with the houses.”
    â€œVery Roman,” Brad commented. “They did the same after Boudicca’s revolt. They were always more cruel towards those who had been Romanized. In their eyes it was a special kind of treachery to revolt against Roman rule.”
    â€œIn one town,” Lundiga said, “hearing what the Romans had done in other places, the people took their longships and set sail. There were stories of a land called Thule that lay far off in the great ocean, beyond Britain. They did not know if the stories were true, but chose the perils of the sea rather than the merciless ferocity of the Romans. Four longships sailed, and three were lost. The fourth found safe landing here.
    â€œFor many generations my people prospered on this island, and were happy. In the last hundred years it has been harder. We have less of everything: ships, huts, food. And children. The present is dark, the future darker still.”
    Simon said: “But your people seem cheerful enough. And they talk of good times to come. They say Odin is going to help them, after the winter feast.”
    She began to cry again.
    In a strange, wary voice, Brad said: “Just what is this stuff about Odin, and the winter feast, and the eagles?”
    â€œWe have a legend, passed down from the early days. It spoke of hard times to come, very hard, andsaid they would not pass until Romans came to the island.”
    â€œWell,” Simon said, “that’s all right, isn’t it? Here we are.”
    She stared miserably at them. “The legend said the Romans would come—to be a sacrifice to Odin at the winter feast. After that, Odin will bring good times again.”
    Simon could not believe what he was hearing. He said: “But the flying eagles . . .”
    â€œI remember now,” Brad said. “It’s something that’s been at the back of my mind, but I didn’t make the connection. A very old form of Scandinavian ritual killing. The eagles don’t fly: they simply spread their wings. What that means, precisely, is that someone cuts the victims’ chests open, and slowly bends the ribs outwards till they look like wings. It was called the bloody eagle.”
    He looked at Lundiga.
    â€œAnd we are to be the eagles?”

4
    B OS SWORE, AND WENT ON swearing for a long time.
    Curtius was incredulous. He demanded: “Are you certain of this?”
    â€œSure enough,” Brad said.
    â€œBut what reason would the girl have for telling you? By doing so, she betrays her people.”
    Bos said impatiently: “There is no problem there. Have you not seen young Simonus here making eyes at her? The Sabine women preferred the Roman husbands who had snatched them to the fathers who had nurtured them. And I think what she said is true.They laughed when I asked about the eagles, and there was something about that laugh I now remember. When I was a child and the Romans took my village, my mother pleaded for my father’s life. The centurion laughed like that, before he ran him through.”
    Curtius’s swarthy face had been darkening as Bos spoke. He said: “Did I call them children? They are treacherous curs. Let us go at once and kill them.”
    â€œFour of us,” Simon said, “against roughly a hundred? I don’t like the odds.”
    â€œFor all their horned helmets and axes,” Curtius said contemptuously,