Clash of Iron Read online

  Dug’s shield was reduced to an iron hub, fringed with splinters of smashed wood. It still worked for slamming into Dumnonian faces. His hammer swung and smashed bone. A sword clanged into his helmet. He lashed out with his hammer and another Dumnonian fell. A face screamed and a backhanded hammerblow silenced it.

  A small voice scrambled up from deep in his mind and timidly suggested that he was tiring, that he couldn’t possibly keep this up. Soon he’d make a mistake or meet someone stronger, better or luckier than he was. He’d done his bit, for now at least, and it was time to take a breather.

  Dug snarled at the little voice to bugger off. He was busy.

  about the author

  Angus Watson is an author and journalist living in London. He’s written hundreds of features for many newspapers including The Times, Financial Times and the Telegraph, and the latter even sent him to look for Bigfoot. As a fan of both historical fiction and epic fantasy, Angus came up with the idea of writing a fantasy set in the Iron Age when exploring British hillforts for the Telegraph, and developed the story while walking Britain’s ancient paths for further articles. You can find him on Twitter at @GusWatson or find his website at www.guswatson.com.

  Find out more about Angus Watson and other Orbit authors by registering for the free monthly newsletter at www.orbitbooks.net.

  BY ANGUS WATSON

  Age of Iron trilogy

  Age of Iron

  Clash of Iron

  Reign of Iron

  COPYRIGHT

  Published by Orbit

  ISBN: 9781405528535

  All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 by Angus Watson

  Excerpt from A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish

  Copyright © 2013 by David Dalglish

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  Orbit

  Little, Brown Book Group

  100 Victoria Embankment

  London, EC4Y 0DY

  www.littlebrown.co.uk

  www.hachette.co.uk

  Contents

  About the Author

  By Angus Watson

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Part One: Britain – 61BC

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Part Two: Rome and Britain

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Part Three: Britain, Gaul and Eroo

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Part Four: Gaul and Britain

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Historical Note

  Acknowledgements

  Look out for REIGN OF IRON

  For Tim

  Part One

  Britain

  61BC

  Chapter 1

  Queen Lowa Flynn of Maidun knew she’d have to fight the moment she saw King Samalur the Tough of Dumnonia. She’d been fairly sure that violence would be required when she’d heard that he called himself “the Tough”. Appearance and name aside, the fact that he’d marched an army five times the size of hers into her territory hardly heralded a friendly hello.

  The boy king looked down at her from the low wall of the abandoned hillfort that he’d appropriated for Dumnonia’s temporary headquarters. He was perched on the edge of the ornately carved wooded throne. He did not look tough, or, indeed, like a king. He looked like a spoilt child who’d spent a lot of other people’s time and effort trying to look majestic. Fanning up and out behind his throne was a ludicrous, scallop-shaped wooden adornment the height of two tall men, laboriously etched and painted with hunting scenes. Lowa thought what a huge and pointless hassle it must have been for some hapless peasants to haul the thing all the way from Dumnonia.

  The king’s skinny legs dangled from the massive throne, clad in the finest tartan trousers. His boots, hanging a good foot above the platform, were tipped with polished ox horn. His bony, nobble-elbowed arms sprouted from a shiny brown otter-skin waistcoat. He wasn’t much older than Spring, yet, below a bulbously arched nose and deep-set eyes, his smile shone with the unshakeable self-satisfaction that men didn’t usually achieve until much later in life (and women rarely managed; some women that Lowa knew tried the look, but it was usually unconvincing).

  Around his perched throne stood granite-faced guards adorned with the boar necklaces of Warriors, and next to them young, pretty female and male attendants. The former looked at Lowa with mild interest, the latter bathed their ruler with sycophantic smiles while regarding Lowa with the same disdainful rolling-eyed glowers that they might have giv
en an elderly flasher.

  Lowa sighed. Three days a queen, already she hated it.

  She’d come to meet Samalur on horseback, bringing only Carden Nancarrow and Atlas Agrippa with her, intending to show how relaxed she felt about a gigantic army invading her territory. Having seen Samalur and his gang, she now knew that she’d made a mistake. She looked cheap in their snobbish eyes and that had weakened her negotiating position. Looking up to the boy king on the hillfort wall, she was below him physically as well, which didn’t help. Perhaps she should have brought some sort of platform? Found a taller horse? She hadn’t expected to be skilled at diplomacy, and she’d been right. Things were not going well.

  “I have no quarrel with you, Samalur,” she tried. “Quite the opposite. It will benefit both our tribes to unite against the Romans.”

  “The Romans?” His voice was high and haughty. “Do you know where the nearest Roman is? In Iberia. Should we unite to fight all the fish in the sea – because they’re a lot closer!” Samalur giggled like the teenager he was, looking left to right at his court, who laughed along fawningly. His Warrior bodyguards smiled like men and women who’d been told to smile but weren’t happy about it.

  One of them wasn’t laughing or smiling. Chief advisor Bruxon, the only one of Samalur’s retinue who’d been introduced to them, was looking grimly at the grassy ground. He was about Dug’s age with black-stained woollen clothes, a clean-shaven face and dye-blackened hair tied back in a short ponytail. He looked almost comically severe. Perhaps because he disliked his conceited ruler? Perhaps he might be useful in winning round or even unseating the young king?

  “And don’t think Bruxon’s going to help you because he looks like someone’s tricked him into drinking piss!” Samalur sniggered. He’d seen her looking at Bruxon and read her thoughts. Lowa was reluctantly impressed. “He always looks like that. But he’s loyal to me. It was Bruxon’s plan for me to kill my dad and become king in the first place! He tried to make me think it was my idea, but I’m cleverer than that, aren’t I, Bruxon?” The advisor nodded resignedly. “So I’m also too clever to believe any of the crap that the druids spout about Roman invasions. They only do it to make themselves look important. That’s why I don’t keep druids near me. I killed all my father’s. And do you know what’s really funny? They bang on about seeing the future, but not one of them saw me coming!”

  Laughter rang out from Samalur’s throng.

  “You don’t need druids,” the boy continued, “you can talk to the gods without them. I do. But I am part god, so that probably makes it easier … I’d recommend you kill all your druids, but you won’t have time, since I’m going to kill you and take your territory. Tell you what; after I’ve wiped you and your army off the battlefield, I’ll kill all your druids for you.”

  Lowa clenched her fists. “I would have agreed about druids not long ago, Samalur, but I’ve learnt differently. I know at least one druid who can see an invincible force of Romans coming to conquer us all with the same certainty that we might see rain coming across a lake and know that we’re about to get wet. I’ve seen her do things that make me believe her.”

  “No, sorry, won’t work, I don’t believe her or you.”

  “Samalur, if our armies clash, thousands will die. Whoever wins, both armies will be weakened and we’ll be more open to invasion. Not just from the Romans, but from the Murkans and anyone else who puts their mind to it.”

  “So surrender. I’ve given you my terms.” Samalur smirked.

  Even if the terms had been overly reasonable, Lowa could never have surrendered to the cocky little shit.

  “You may outnumber us, Samalur, but our skill and experience is greater. We will rip the belly from your army like wolves savaging an aurochs.”

  “Take the belly. There’ll be plenty left. We’ll still win.”

  “Even if you do, a multitude will be killed. Your people will be weakened for generations.”

  “What are armies for if not to fight? I’ve got a huge army and I want to use it and nobody can stop me. Least of all you. You’re not my mother. You can’t be, I killed her.”

  Lowa put a hand on her bow.

  “Lowa,” said Atlas quietly, “we don’t have—”

  She held up a silencing hand. “All right, Samalur, I’ll fight your army and I’ll kill you myself. Wait here, we’ll be back after nightfall.”

  As Lowa turned her horse, the laughter of Dumnonia’s upper echelons made her skin prickle. She kicked her iron heels into the animal’s flanks and galloped away.

  “Lowa,” Atlas shouted over the drumming hooves, “We need to go back. There are too many of them. We have to come to terms. It is not too late—”

  “It is too late. Call a council the moment we return. We have a battle to plan.”

  Chapter 2

  “I can’t,” she said, shaking her head then looking up.

  Lowa looked seriously angry. Spring couldn’t remember anyone ever looking so angry with her, apart from perhaps her father, King Zadar. It wasn’t like Lowa at all. Being in charge changed people, it seemed, and not for the better.

  “Spring, whatever you did to Dug and me in the arena, you’re going to do it again to both of us and to as many other Maidun Warriors as you can, and we are going to tear this Dumnonian army to pieces.”

  “Lowa, no. I can’t.” Spring looked at the sling in her hands. She’d come into the woods ostensibly to hunt game, but really she wanted be alone. Finding out that she could use magic had thrilled, confused and upset her. Realising after the death of her father that her magic seemed to have left her had not cheered her any. She’d thought that getting away from all the noise of Maidun and walking on her own through the trees might make things clearer. So far it hadn’t. She’d also thought she’d been careful to leave no trail, but Lowa had tracked her.

  “You will try,” said Maidun’s new queen. “This isn’t a game. The Dumnonians outnumber us massively. It is very likely that they will kill us all, Dug included. Do you want that to happen? I don’t know what your power is or where it comes from, but I know what it can do. You have to use it to help us.”

  Spring wanted to burrow into the ground to get away. If she could have used her magic still, she would have created an island miles across the sea where she could have lived with Dug for ever, and perhaps a few other nice people, but certainly nobody who wanted to get involved in battles. “Can’t Drustan help?” she asked.

  “He’s going to do what he can, but he says that compared to you he can’t do anything.”

  “I do want to help, but I can’t. I don’t know what I did to you and Dug to give you strength, I just did it. It was the same the night before when I took Chamanca’s outfit. I knew that I should take it, I knew that by touching it I’d make the leather strong and it would protect you, and I knew that I should put it in your cell. But I don’t know how I knew. And I’m certain that I can’t use my magic against the Dumnonians, totally certain, as certain as I am that I can’t drink all the water in the sea. There’s no point trying, I just can’t.” Spring’s vision blurred with tears.

  “But in the arena—”

  “I know! I’m sorry!”

  Lowa’s lips were a thin white line. For a moment Spring thought she was going to hit her.

  “So, when you put – for want of a better word – the magic into Chamanca’s outfit that stopped the chariot’s blade from chopping me in half, that was the first time you’d used magic?”

  “I don’t know if it was magic, or what it was.”

  “Was that the first time?”

  “Oh no. It’s happened loads before. Like when I met Dug he wanted to kill me, so I had to change his mind, but before that Ulpius wanted to kill me so I had to wake Dug up by going into his dream and getting him. Sometimes I just know things. Like I know the Romans are coming, and just before I met you I knew that Weylin would want a cart and I could rescue you and Dug by getting one. Sometimes I can do things, like when Juniper the d
og jumped at me I stopped her heart, and sometimes I can make other people know things, like when I taught the girls to use the slings and then, like on Mearhold, I can make people fall in and out…” Spring reddened as she remembered that Lowa mustn’t know about that. “…of boats, like I did for a joke once with one of the boys—”

  “Hang on.” Lowa took Spring’s chin gently in her hand and looked into her eyes. “That’s not what you were going to say.” Spring tried to pull away. Lowa’s fingers tightened. She leant forward. Her gaze speared through Spring’s eyes and bored into her brain. “You missed something out, didn’t you?” she said quietly.

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “No.”

  “On Mearhold. You used your magic for something that you’re not telling me.”

  Spring tried to squirm away, but Lowa’s grip was iron. “No, I didn’t!” she insisted. With her lips pressed together by Lowa’s strong fingers she sounded like someone who’d had their tongue split in two by liars’ tongue scissors. “What could I have used it for?” She had used her magic to make Lowa fall out of love with Dug on Mearhold. At the time it had made good sense. She and Dug been happy before Lowa had come along. Meeting Lowa had resulted in Dug being savaged half to death by a horrible animal, not to mention Spring herself being stabbed and kidnapped by the awful Ogre, and who knew what more trouble this blonde archer was going to bring them? So Spring had acted to save Dug, and, if she was honest, because she wanted Dug to herself. However, when Spring had seen how much her actions had upset Dug, and Lowa, too, she’d realised that she’d made a mistake. She’d tried to cancel her spell, or whatever it was, but she didn’t know if she had succeeded, and there was nothing she could do now that she had lost her magic. Besides, even if it came back, she’d learnt her lesson about mucking around with people’s affections and she wasn’t going to do it again. So she could have told Lowa what she’d done, but there was nothing to gain from it and plenty to lose.