Brennus loses his son
The eldest son carries the family. He honours the gods and ancestors. He will inherit all that his father has inherited. He protects the ancestors through his own son who keeps the line living forever into the future. With the son, the family is immortal.
Teach the son the ways of the Anvatenos. Teach him about Brennoc joining the nobility by winning the hand of Morna, the chief’s second daughter, with his farming techniques brought from Gaul. Teach him the bravery of the warrior Cunomorus who led raids against Julius Caesar’s supply routes. Teach him about warfare and when to weld it to maintain strength. Teach him about expansion through treaty and shared wealth. Teach him how to make and keep alliances and who makes great allies.
Teach him there is no future without the son. Without him time runs on leaving our line dead in the past. One day no one will remember the Anvatenos ever existed. If no one remembers they existed then they never did.
Now the son of Brennus is gone. His small body surrounded by flames as it lies on top of his funeral pyre. Smoke rising toward the sky, taking with it his father’s reason for being.
Cador was a promising boy who took great interest in soaking up the world around him. He wanted to understand why his father did everything he did. He wanted to know why axes were worn that way. He wanted to understand why people sought out his father for help. He wanted to understand why some people were helped and others dismissed. He wanted to understand the right way to live.
Brennus failed to keep him alive. A simple accident that shouldn’t have happened. The horse was tired and wanted to stop training with the inexhaustible boy. A fall in the wrong place in the wrong way and the son was gone. Brennus, lost in his pride for his son’s skill, ignored the danger. And for that pride he failed everyone. Without Cador, the Anvatenos is now mortal.