* * * * *
A quarter of an hour later, Edwin was staring at the rock-choked mouth of the cave, where Hywel’s men dug vainly in search of Oswald. His face was sombre.
Hywel approached.
‘Definitely no sign of the woses,’ he said abruptly. ‘But my men can’t shift those boulders.
Edwin turned to face him.
‘From what the others say,’ he replied, ‘they were under the wizard’s control. When Bork attacked him, he must have lost control, and so they gave up the chase.’
The Dane swaggered over.
‘I saved the day?’ he asked.
‘In a manner of speaking,’ replied Edwin. ‘The dragon is dead too, and the goblins and the wizard, and King Caradawg must be buried under there. But so is Oswald.’
They stood in awkward silence. Then they heard a shout from the others, and turned to see a battered, bruised figure clutching a sword, staggering out through a gap between two boulders.
‘It’s Oswald!’ Alfrun said joyfully. They rushed over to greet him.
‘The falling rocks stunned me,’ he explained once Alfrun had cleaned his wounds. ‘I awoke in darkness that stank of sulphur. From my recollections, I managed to find the exit in the darkness, but it was jammed with fallen boulders like much of the cavern. Soon, however, I heard noises from behind the rock-fall, so I began trying to dig my way out.’
‘We met half way,’ laughed Llewellyn. ‘I moved one rock, and there he was, squinting up at me.’
‘We thought you were dead,’ Alfrun said, moving to hug him. Oswald returned the embrace, and smiled at all his companions.
‘It takes more than a rock-fall to finish me,’ he said. ‘Even the Red Dragon couldn’t kill me.’ He looked thoughtful. ‘I wonder what became of the White Dragon.’
‘What will you do now that your quest is over?’ asked King Hywel. ‘I would offer you my hospitality, but this is still an unsettled land. No one seems to know what happened to Caradawg, and it’s possible he is still around to lay claim to the kingdom. We may be in danger the moment we leave this hill.’
Oswald turned his gaze to the east.
‘There’s a little unfinished business I have to complete in Mercia,’ he said quietly. ‘After that - Edwin, Bork and I managed to acquire enough money in the Forest of Arden to set ourselves up in another kingdom. Across the Fens lies the kingdom of East Anglia. King Ethelbert is a good man, from what I’ve heard, and he does not yet bow to King Offa. I’ve a mind to join his court.’ He turned to his ill-assorted companions. ‘Who will join me?’
Edwin looked at the others, then turned to Oswald again.
‘We are all homeless wanderers and outlaws,’ he said. ‘I think I speak for all of us when I say that it will make a pleasant change to find a land where we may be welcome at last.’
‘We’ll go with you,’ added Alfrun. She put her arm around Edwin’s waist, and gave him a look that, in another girl, would have almost been sly.
Bork nodded, and roared with laughter. He slapped Cadwallader across the back.
‘What do you say, priest?’ the Dane barked. Cadwallader frowned at him, then sighed.
‘They’ll lynch me if I return to Pengwern,’ he replied. ‘And my ancestors would turn in their graves should they hear that I’d taken up with the men of Gwynedd.’ He smiled apologetically at Hywel, then turned back to Oswald.
‘I’ll come with you,’ he replied.