Chapter Nine
Meg
I stood at the washbasin and peered through a crack in the shutter, trying to get some sense of what it was like outside. Then someone knocked on the bedroom door.
"Come in," I said, and turned.
The door opened to reveal a short, lean woman, significantly older than I, her brown hair streaked with gray.
"You're ready to get up, then," she said in Welsh. As two different people-Llywelyn included-had prevented me from doing so earlier, I could hardly be blamed for staying in bed. She came into the room, her arms full of clothes. "My name is Angharad. The Prince asked that I help you while you're here."
Pleased that I'd understood all of her words, I nodded and then looked ruefully down at what I'd worn to bed. "I couldn't get out of these clothes last night so I'm a little worse for wear."
"It was a difficult day yesterday," Angharad said. "I'm sorry that I wasn't here to assist you when you arrived."
"Thank you for coming to help me now," I said. "I didn't expect it."
"Well, you should, a fine lady like you," Angharad said. "My husband is one of the Prince's men-at-arms but no longer rides with him," she said. "He serves as caretaker for the manor and I run the household."
"I don't know that I am such a fine lady. I'm sure you are very busy without having to worry about me."
"Never mind," Angharad said, waving her hand. "It's a pleasure to get out of the kitchen."
She tsk'ed over me, looking me up and down, and then noticed Anna. I'd allowed her to wander off with a maid earlier, but she'd come back, checking in with me as she always did, as if we shared an invisible cord that reeled her in every once in a while.
"What a beautiful child!" Angharad said. She came closer as Anna, who was standing on the bed and holding onto my arm, peered around me. "What is your name?"
"Anna dw i," Anna said.
I gaped at my daughter.
"She speaks very well," Angharad said, obviously pleased. "I'd heard that she didn't have any Welsh; that you spoke only the French language, but it's not true. She's very small to be speaking at all."
"Anna has just spoken her first words in Welsh." I said.
"Well, good for her," Angharad said.
"I speak only a little Welsh," I added, "though I understand more than I speak, provided you talk slowly."
"I will do my best," Angharad said, speaking much more slowly-over-exaggerating now, which wasn't really what I wanted either.
We muddled through, however and the rest of the morning was taken up with dressing and caring for Anna, eating breakfast, and a little exploration of the grounds. It had turned colder in the night and I didn't want to spend too much time out of doors without something more substantial for warmth. Like a parka.
The manor house was a two-story affair, surrounded by a wooden palisade. Goronwy said that it wouldn't stand up to a concerted assault, but would protect us for the time it took to organize a defense and give us walls for archers to hide behind. I didn't enter the long, low building that was the stables; Goronwy asked us to avoid it as he was keeping a prisoner, Dai, inside, though he'd allowed Humphrey de Bohun, as a nobleman, out. Anna and I were standing on the steps to the manor, in fact, when Llywelyn and Humphrey walked down them to meet Hywel, who led Dai and a horse across the courtyard, ready for release. At Llywelyn's nod, Hywel stepped behind Dai and severed his bonds with his belt knife.
"You understand the importance of your charge?" Humphrey said.
"I'm a free man of Wales and no servant of yours," Dai said, in Welsh, the sneer evident in his voice and on his face. "I ride with Lord Owain of Powys, not with English bastards."
Humphrey stepped towards him, his face flushed, but before he could get farther, Hywel had the man up against the stone wall of the manor, moving so fast it had barely registered that he'd moved at all.
"Do you know who this is?" He tipped his head to Llywelyn. His voice was low and urgent, but carried no anger, just a dark intent that any fool should recognize.
"The Usur-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Hywel cut him off with a shake, choking the words out of him. He tightened his grip on Dai's tunic and knocked his head against the stones. Dai coughed and sputtered-and when he quieted, Hywel spoke again, his teeth gritted, every ounce of power in his large frame directed at overpowering the man.
"He is the Prince of Wales, and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn's liege lord," Hywel said. "You do understand what that means?"
Dai didn't answer, trying to get his breath through the constriction around his throat.
Hywel didn't seem to expect a response and answered for him. "It means that you obey him or so help me God I will hunt you down and personally see that your head is removed from your body. Is that clear?"
The man coughed again and nodded. Hywel released him and stepped back. Dai slumped to his knees, his hands around his neck, pulling at his collar to help him breathe.
"Apologize," Hywel said. He kicked Dai in the thigh. Dai straightened, using the wall for support and looking a little green, he levered himself to his feet.
"My lords Llywelyn, Humphrey," the man bowed. "I beg your forgiveness. I am prepared to carry your message if you would be so good as to give it to me."
Llywelyn, who'd been watching the proceedings with an impassive expression, didn't answer. It was Goronwy who spoke.
"Tell Lord Bohun that Prince Llywelyn sends his greetings and wishes to discuss with his lordship his grandson's activities in Wales. You are to assure the Earl that Humphrey is unharmed and being treated as befits his station."
"Yes, my lord," the man said, bowing again. He held his shoulders stiff and limped to his horse. He scrambled onto it while we watched, nobody making a move to assist him.
"See that you complete your charge," Hywel said.
Dai saluted, turned his horse's head, and rode out the gate of the manor.
"See that he takes the road to England," Llywelyn said to three of his men who'd sat in the saddle, waiting for Dai to mount.
They obeyed and Anna and I watched them go, still silent.
Llywelyn put a hand on my shoulder before turning back inside. "You are well?"
"Yes, Llywelyn," I said.
"Good. If you need anything, let me know."
"I will."
What I didn't immediately say was that I didn't feel I'd needed to see that little drama in the courtyard. Anna really hadn't needed to see it. I didn't tell him that what I needed was a shower, which he couldn't help me with, or at a minimum, a good book to read. I was really glad I'd told him I was from the future, though. My heart had been in my mouth the whole time, but it cleared the air between us. He might not believe me-or might not be able to believe me, more to the point-but I wasn't keeping secrets from him or living a lie, and I could live with that.
"And the ransom?" Humphrey said, matching Llywelyn stride for stride as they took the stairs two at a time back up to the manor house. "What are you asking in exchange for me?"
"I'm leaving that up to your grandfather," Llywelyn said. "We will see what he feels you're worth."
Humphrey's face fell. It was a scary thought-to assert a monetary or territorial value on a person, and have that person know what it was. Goronwy stayed behind a moment with Anna and me. Anna had found a stick with which to draw in the dirt.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said.
"Dai was going to say 'Usurper'," I said. "What did he mean by that?"
Goronwy's mouth tightened. "Owain and his father are Prince Dafydd's allies. They believe Prince Llywelyn has denied his brothers their proper place as rulers of Wales. Owain, at least, is Prince Llywelyn's elder brother and feels he should have primacy."
"I did realize that," I said. "But-"
Goronwy didn't let me finish. "It might be better if you stayed inside. It's Boots' job to see to the obedience of the men-whether they are his own men-at-arms or another's."
"I understand," I said, and I guessed I did. To obey one's superior, to place oneself in line in the social strata, was the natural order of things in the thirteenth century. I wasn't too sure about it for myself, however, obedience never having been my strong suit, as my relationship with Trev could attest.
"We'll be here a few days," Goronwy said. "The weather is due to turn colder."
"Thank you, sir," I said.
Goronwy waited, watching me. At first I didn't know what he was waiting for, and then I realized he meant I was to start obeying now.
I picked up Anna and we went inside. But there wasn't anything to do. Within a few hours boredom set in to the point that my back teeth ached with it. My Welsh wasn't as good as Angharad seemed to think, especially in the hall when it was crowded with people and the general noise drowned out individual sounds. During daylight hours, few men stayed there, as they rode on patrol (or hunted to feed us) most of the day and returned, sweaty and hungry as dusk fell. They'd not found any sign of Humphrey's former companions, nor any clue as to what had happened at the village.
"Or what has become of Owain," Goronwy said over dinner. "The man is a well-heeled snake, much like his father."
"No," Llywelyn said, "his father is much more predictable. He wants land and power and fights me for it. Owain appears to do what he does out of spite."
"Or arrogance," said Hywel.
"And leaves others to pay the price," Goronwy said, with a glance at Humphrey. They'd been speaking in Welsh and Humphrey gave no indication that he could understand. Like me, however, he probably understood more than he could speak.
"I will speak to Owain's father of it the next time I see him," Llywelyn said, "but that might not be for some time."
"He can come to Brecon," Goronwy said. "He will hate the time spent away from his lands and view it wasted, but it will do him good to see you exert your authority in a tangible way."
"What Gruffydd needs to do is keep a tighter rein on his rule-and on his heir, if he expects to keep hold of what he has," Llywelyn said.
I was pretty sure that Gruffydd wouldn't be too pleased to hear that either.