The thunder of hoofs on the sandy path... Elco looked up from his work in the field and saw the rider hurry towards the village. A shield was strapped to his back and he was holding a shiny spear in his right hand. His long, white pony tail waving on his head, his face grim and dark. The man rode up the mount, past the stockade. It was Wubbo, of the hundred south of them, Wubbo the fast, Wubbo the messenger.
Elco shook his head and looked at the other youths. Was this what he thought it was? One of the older boys nodded and pointed at his shoulder as if he to was carrying a shield.
" With whom?", Elco asked, but the older boy just shrugged.
Thoughts rushed through his head. This was time for honour, for showing them that he was a man rather than a boy. The time had come, at last. He felt his own heartbeat, his swift breath. Was it fear or excitement? This time he wouldn't stay home with the women and children. This time he would be amongst them, next to his father and his brothers...
Nothing happened and Elco began to calm down. Perhaps the chieftain of the southern hundred only needed advice, or weapons. Perhaps there were rogues along the road.
But then a horn was sounded and the men dropped their tools. They ran towards the mount, towards the village.

The chieftain was standing at the centre of the square and Wubbo next to him. He was wearing his iron armor and leather helmet and like Wubbo he had taken up his shield and spear.
More and more men gathered around them and from the doorways women were watching the scene. People muttered and laughed nervously. Most of them already guessed what was ahead, but everyone was eager for news. Then the chieftain rose his hand.
" I demand silence", he said and the murmur died away.
" Wubbo brought me news", he continued," The Romans have betrayed us. They have violated the treaty."
Again people muttered and whispered, and the chieftain's expression grew angry.
" Quiet! Let us hear what Wubbo told me."
And thereupon the tall and handsome messenger stepped forward.
" As you all know, we had a treaty with the Romans. We would pay them tribute and they would leave us alone. And as you all know, this tribute consisted of a quotum of hides. The Romans never caused us any trouble and we had  little reason to complain. But it seems that they have chosen conflict over trade. This morning soldiers arrived in our village and they demanded the tribute, but they added that every hide was to be the size of that of an aurochs!"
Some of the men grinned, while others frowned.
" As if we keep aurochses as cattle!", a man shouted and he laughed," Roman idiots."
Wubbo waited quietly, until everyone was quiet again.
" Yes, it would be funny, if they weren't serious. They insisted that the hides would be aurochses' or equivalent in size and when we explained that this was impossible, the soldiers seized our women and children. 'As hostages', they said, but everyone knows that that's a Roman euphenism for 'slaves'."
He paused, took a deep breath and continued.
" And then it was their turn to be seized. Some were crucified, others hung and the women tore their corpses to pieces. Unfortunately, their centurion got away. Our best warriors went after him, but we're certain that if news reaches Rome, they'll sent an army and make war on us. Therefore our chief demands your help to deal with him forever."
The chief nodded and grasped Wubbo's houlder.
" And I told him that we would fight for our freedom as well as his. The Roman centurion has fled to Flevum. So take up your weapons and assemble at the main gate."

And so it was done. Elco had taken an axe and he was walking next to Falco as they marched towards the Roman fortress. This would be his first battle and his brother had promissed to look after him.
" If we win, I'll make you a spear and a shield", he promissed," But for now, just stay alive."

They reached the fortress, but the Romans had hidden themselves behind its walls. Appearently they weren't willing to fight. It was no use storming Flevum without the right equipment, so the Frisians had to wait until a ram was made.
Some boys shot stones over the high walls, but this was a gesture of anger and defiance rather than that it did any damage to the enemy.
They waited and waited and Elco thought he had never imagined war to be so boring. The Romans were sitting in their camp, the Frisians were sitting in the field, and for a long time nothing happened.
Falco talked about his Hiske, and how he was going to ask her father for her hand. If all went well, they would marry next summer.
" Would you like to be an uncle?", he asked Elco.
Uncle... That sounded grown up. If his brother would have a baby, he would truly be a man. Uncle Elco... He would teach his nephews how to make slings and how to shoot apples out of a tree.
" Do you think Hiske 'd be a good wife for me?"
Elco nodded.
" She's pretty."
They laughed and Elco almost forgot they were besieging a fortress filled with slavers.

The sun was sinking in the west when they heard the shouts.
" Romans! A bloody lot of them! The sneeks have sent reinforcements. Some legion from Noviomagus, thousands and thousands of them!"
" Noviomagus?", Elco asked.
" Their capital. That's where they keep their best troops", Falco explained and he seemed nervous.
Soon the signal for retreat was blown.
" To the forest!"

They entered the woodland. This wasn't just a forest like all others, this was the sacred wood of Baduhenna. The Romans would be fools if they would follow them here, into the home of a war goddess.
Elco could hear her whisper as they walked between her trunks. Above them the branches reached for eachother and the leafs shielded them from the rays of setting sun. They were surrounded by huge trees and endless shadows and wherever they went, Elco could hear that whisper, a soft, woman's voice which urged them to be courageous and to drench the earth with the blood of her enemies. The trees would grow tall by drinking the blood of invaders.
High above them he could hear the cries of crows and ravens, the messengers of Wothan, who saw everything, knew everything and reported everything.

" They are following us!", someone shouted and soon the rumour was confirmed by others. The Romans had entered the wood of Baduhenna, they desacrated the holy forest.
The chieftains barked orders and warriors took up their positions. Elco and Falco hid themselfs in the bushes under a huge tree and Elco clenched his fist around the axe. This time it would be for real. Now he had to prove he was a man.
They waited, and waited, but he could hear the steps of the Roman soldiers. They seemed to move like a monster with hundreds of legs, orderly and coordinated, as if they were driven forward by one mind. Then he could see their bloodred tunics and the shining of their iron helmets. Row after row of iron clad men and over their head, a golden eagle.
It was a magnificent, frightening sight. These warriors were completely different from them. Elco knew them as tax collectors, but only now he realized what a formidable army they made. He remembered how he once struck an iron bucket with his axe. It was hardly damaged. How could he ever hurt one of these Romans?

The chief shouted an order.
" Attack!"
Javelins rained down upon the soldiers and to Elco's surprise, some of them fell down. But then a horn was blown and the soldiers raised their shields over their heads until they looked like a big iron box with spears sticking out on every side. They seemed like a hedgehog with hundred feet.
Yet warriors ran at them and started banging and stabbing the invulnerable beast until its shell was broken.
" Come on!", Falco cried and he too ran at the magnificent beast.
Elco felt how his veins were swollen. His head felt hot and it was as if his heart was torn open. He ran after Falco until he reached the hedgehog.
His axe banged upon the shields, but they didn't even seem to move. Next to him a man fell, his chest pierced by a spear.Warm blood flowed over Elco's feet. Furiously he banged the shield and his eyes met those of a Roman. It was a merciless, empty gaze, the gaze of death itself. The Roman stabbed at him with his short sword and Elco felt how it cut through his side, but it didn't hurt. Instead it infuriated him. He struck the Roman with his axe and severed his neck. The man's mouth opened and blood gushed over his lips. Then he fell down. But his place was taken by another one, a young man with frightened eyes, hardly Falco's age. He too stabbed at Elco, and Elco's axe crushed the man's shoulder. He fell down and Elco raised the axe to chop him down like a tree. But then he saw the frightened eyes again. The man shouted something in Latin and held his good arm up as if he wanted to protect himself from the axe.
Elco swallowed and felt the tears ran down his cheeks. Suddenly the hedgehog's limbs turned into men. Men just like Wubbo and Falco, men with wives and children. Men with nephews whom they taught how to shoot apples out of trees.

Agony burned in the back of his head and he fell down upon the Roman he had just vanquished. Then everything around him turned black.

As he woke up, the clamour and cries were gone. He was lying in the soft grass and golden rays pierced the green roof high above him. He couldn't hear the goddess' whispers anymore, but he knew this was her grove. The trees had grown taller by the Romans' blood. They had fed the ravens.
He tried to get up, but as soon as he moved, every limb seemed to hurt. Then he heard Wubbo's soft voice.
" Quiet, boy. You've fought well."
" Where's Falco?"
" We don't know."
" Did we win?"
" Yes. We're free."

But somehow Elco saw the faces of the two Romans. The frightened eyes, the blood gushing over the other man's lips. Latin sounds echoed through his head. The frightened voice resounded in his head.

Elco knew he would never again be free.