Hattie followed behind the man, not like she had a choice. He gripped her wrist hard and he was almost twisting it. She was pulled along through columns of soldiers in order to get to the tent. Her heart began to beat and her eyes moved to and fro. Did death await her in this tent or something far worse?
The man threw her to the floor and she landed with a thud on the dirt floor. Her left knee landed on a small hard object, most likely a rock which sent pain shooting up her leg. She winced for a moment but quickly schooled her face and emotions. She didn't want the man to show any emotion in front of this man, he could use it to do terrible things to the people she loved.
The man and his army, the Romans, the was going to take away their way of life. Hattie knew it was coming, but it didn't make it any easier. She looked up at the man, but he was tying the flaps of the tent closed. Hattie moved to the edge of the tent. Her mind filled with horrors, she had heard stories of the Roman soldiers. Hattie bit the inside of her lip to keep from screaming out. He lit a candle and the soft glow illuminated the tent.
The man finally turned to her and approached Hattie with a purpose in a few strides he crossed the distance between them. Hattie gulped for air, ready to make a run for it. But running wouldn't help not now, she was in the middle of the vast army. Refuge was further away and she knew it.
Suddenly he spoke in a soft voice and with the dialect of her people. Hattie tilted her head flabbergasted. What was going on?
He knelt down and was eye level with Hattie. "Please do not react and keep your voice low. I do not want anyone to overhear us."
"How do you know our language?" She spoke in barely a whisper. It was a wonder he could hear her at all.
"My mother was a priestess, one day a long time ago she was captured and taken prisoner by Roman troops. My father took her and made her his wife. She was the one that taught me the language and the religion in secret of course."
Hattie just stared at him. She wouldn't believe him except for the secret tongue of their temple. "Okay, lets say I believe you, why bring me here to this tent?"
"To protect you."
"Who said I needed your protection." Hattie felt a bit angry with his assumptions. But he did have an army to back him up while, she .... she didn't. Hattie and her people were unprotected. "What I said earlier is true, we will cause no trouble for you. We knew this was coming, we just didn't know when."
He furrowed his brows, "did you have a dream?"
"No, why would you ask that?"
Hattie could feel his eyes searching her for something that she wasn't aware of. She waited for him to speak and expected him to do so when he turned away from her and put his hand to his chin. But, he didn't speak, he appeared to be deep in contemplation. "Why do you ask me if I dreamt it?"
Her follow-up question seemed to snap him out of his thoughts. "Because I dreamt about you." He leaned in close and put his hands on her shoulders.
Hattie could feel the weight of his palms on her shoulder. He wasn't rough, in fact she could feel something staring within her, the same feelings she got when she went into the reflection pool, when she would have visions. Who exactly is this man? She pondered to herself.
"I dreamt about meeting you. No dream was exactly the same. I figured you were just some figment of my imagination and weren't real. But here you are, you stand in front of me."
Hattie was cautious. to be in one's dreams could be fine and prophetic or could be really bad. Hattie gulped nervous, "what did you see?"
"You."
"Yes, I understand that, but what else did you see?"
He thought for a moment. "You were always the clearest. The dreams happened at different places and what I believe to be different times. There were things in my dreams that I have never seen before."
"Okay, but what did you feel during these dreams and when you awoke."
"That I knew I had to find you and I would have to protect you with my life."
Hattie shook her head, "I'm just me. You're a Roman soldier."
"What I saw was your power and what I felt was peace. I think you are the most powerful witch and will help usher in a peace that we have never known before."
***
Dinah burst through the door panting and wildly out of breath, "Hattie, come quick. We need you."
"Now."
"Yes. Something has happened to the boy."