The Brothers of Gwynedd

  "Keep your tongue within your teeth," I said, "and drink your own poison. I am not now in the mood to listen to frogs croaking."

  "Oh, you take me wrongly," he protested, still grinning. "Who is more concerned for my prince's consolation and my friend's than I? If I cannot rejoice in the advancement of one close to me as a brother, I am a poor-spirited creature." And he made a smooth, round gesture with his bridle-hand, to let what light remained gleam for a moment on the silver ring by which I had first known him for my blood-kin. "And what better promotion than to your old intimacy? A pity about the lady, but at least, if she could not give him a son, he has got a daughter. If indeed it was he who got her!" said Godred, and giggled, a bloodcurdling sound. "After so many years of celibacy, I tell you, Samson, there were some of us had doubts of him, more ways than one! And she so loving and anxious to oblige him with an heir. Do you know of any who may have lent her a little help in the business? But there, they say you were the one closer in her secrets than any other."

  I heard him through a roaring in my ears, and saw him through a red blistering darkness, and went lunging towards him half-blind, through icy coldness. When my eyes cleared, he was away in a long traverse up the steep hillside, his malignant laughter drifting back to me like the clatter of small, cracked bells, and I was thighdeep in the river with my dagger out, the deepest stony gully of the bed before me, and the sudden cold of mountain water gnawing my bones to the marrow, even in the summer night.

  I watched him go, no help for it, he was away to his fellows, and among them no doubt circumspect and clean-mouthed. But if I could have got my hands on him then, I should have killed him.

  I said no word to any other, then or ever, of what lay only between Godred and me, and to tell truth, I was half ashamed of having let him get under my guard, even with so gross and unexpected a profanation, for whatever weapon he clutched at, I was his mark and no other. If he spat his slime upon names dearer to me than my own, it was not because he believed one word of what he alleged, or had any malevolent intent against them, but only because he knew all too well where my armour was penetrable. And after we mustered at Bala the next day, and moved south at speed, I put him out of my mind and out of my hatred, for he was safely left behind in the Middle Country, and for many weeks I was to see no more of him.

  It was the prince's intent to make rapid contact with his most effective allies rather than harry the marcher lands as we went, for once we were securely based in Ystrad Tywi, and knew what forces we had to contend with in the three royal bases ringing that region, then we could expand our action to strike outwards as chance offered. So we wasted no time in crossing eastward to the central march to probe Mortimer's defences on the upper Severn, or Lestrange's at Builth, but from Bala swept southwest through Merioneth, and crossed the Dovey to join hands with Griffith and Cynan ap Meredith in Llanbadarn.

  Those two princes had had their hands full, until the battle of Llandeilo, in resisting constant English attacks, meant to re-establish the foreign settlers who had been ousted from the region, and by the detailed account they gave us of the large scale of this settlement it seemed clear that the king had intended to turn the castle of Llanbadarn into such another centre of royalist power as Carmarthen in the south. But since Llandeilo the attacks had ceased, and the remaining English troops been withdrawn into the castles, where they were safe, and there was hardly a skirmish to be hoped for on their side of the Teifi.

  The same situation we found as we moved through the western lands. Everywhere the English were shut up within their castles, and came out only very cautiously and briefly to try how hot their reception still might be. But everywhere Llewelyn gave grim warning that this would not long continue, and meant nothing more than a temporary lull, which we would do well to use by strengthening our own resources of men and supplies, for it was only a matter of time before Edward's reserves came into play. The date fixed for the massing of the feudal host was still a month away, the second day of August, and once that was reached the king would have immensely greater numbers at his disposal for the statutory period of service, and would certainly retain most of them at his wages afterwards, besides what he might recruit at pay from the marches and from France. We were quick to muster and quick to move, and they were methodical, cumbersome and slow, but like a heavyarmoured horseman on a barded horse, once in motion they were desperately hard to halt or withstand. So the prince warned, and was hard upon all complacence.

  From Llanbadarn, seeing they were alert and well-found there, we turned inland, still moving south, and crossed the watershed to reach Llandovery, where Rhys Wyndod, eldest of the prince's three nephews, was again installed since he had recovered it from Giffard. Rhys, like his uncles, had suffered the delays and humiliations of English law over this same Llandovery, to which Giffard laid claim through his wife, and that case, like the prince's, had dragged on through plea after plea for three years, and died at the outbreak of war, when the king handed over to Giffard the custody of the castle and the commote, though he did not hold it long. Rhys had fought as doughtily for Welsh law as had Llewelyn himself, and with the same lack of success. For him, at least, arms had proved more effective than words.

  He was a man then thirty-three years old, fair and tall like his father before him, and a good fighter when he was roused, though in the previous war, hard-pressed and ill-prepared, he had surrendered to the English, while his younger brothers fled to the north and continued to fight for their uncle. This time, as Rhys himself bluntly said, he had not only seen sufficient cause to steel him to fight to the end, there being nothing to gain by compromise if the English were determined to put an end to Welsh law, but also he had burned his boats to settle the matter, and was committed for life and liberty and all. Of Edward's clemency to Welsh chiefs who had once resisted him he entertained no hope whatever.

  From him we learned how those royal forces remaining in Ystrad Tywi were disposed.

  "They are on the defensive now," he said, "and hardly stirring out, for they have enough supplies for the men they carry, and they are surely waiting for reinforcements, and expecting them soon. So far as we can determine, they have about seventy paid lances left, and have split them between Cardigan and Dynevor. Since Llandeilo we've seen nothing of the earl of Gloucester, but we heard that his own tenants in the march, all the Welsh among them, are up in revolt, and so are Hereford's, so he may well have been withdrawn and told to go and set his own house in order. The whisper is he's lost his command, but we've heard nothing of a successor yet. They're hanging on by their teeth and waiting. As soon as the feudal levies come in, they'll get the men they want. I doubt if the king will even wait for the day of his muster, but send them their orders in advance to report here in Carmarthen instead of Rhuddlan."

  "Then we'd better be about giving him even more reason to spread them over the whole country," said Llewelyn briskly, "and prevent him from getting the numbers he needs to break Gwynedd."

  And so we did, all through July and into August. We left the castle of Dryslwyn alone, with the traitor Rhys ap Meredith and his half-English garrison within it, for it was strong, and would have needed siege engines to break into it. But we left him little else. We kept a close watch on Dynevor and Carmarthen, on the alert for any sallies they might make to replenish supplies, and when they did venture out we did our best to lure them further from their bases by exposing some pitifully small party of our own, but they had their orders, and were seldom to be drawn. Very rarely did we get to grips with them, and then but briefly, for they stayed very close to home.

  During this month of July we lived most of the time wild. We had Llandovery as a convenient rallying-point for the exchange of news and plans, and from there covered not only the vale of Towey, but also began to move out and rattle the teeth of Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and constable of England, at Brecon and the countryside round it, and to harass Lestrange at Builth, for there the Welsh of the region were always heartily glad to
rise against their English masters. We kept in touch also with Griffith and Cynan ap Meredith, and sent a flying company to their aid whenever they required it. But for the most part we had little fighting. They dared not move from their castles, and we knew them too strongly positioned there to try storming them.

  It was not long before we got word who was to replace Gloucester as commander in the south. Early in July Edward appointed his uncle, William of Valence, earl of Pembroke, the eldest of King Henry's Poitevin half-brothers, who had come over, years ago, to make their fortunes by marriages with English heiresses. I saw him once at Oxford, a lean, black-bearded, imperious person, hot-tempered and proud, bitter in his opposition to Earl Simon's Provisions, and unscrupulous in the means by which he fought them. But give him his due, he was not a bad soldier. With his own household guard Valence had sufficient troops to be able to move between Carmarthen and Cardigan, and once he took out a large force, some hundreds on foot besides lances to raid along the Cardigan coast against Griffith ap Meredith's lands, and tried to reach Llanbadarn, apparently with the hope of reoccupying the shell of the castle, but we closed in from the hills to eastward, and hunted them back towards Cardigan. He got them back in good disciplined order, or his losses would have been greater.

  From the north David duly sent us word by courier when there was anything to report.

  "The king has brought his army and headquarters to Rhuddlan," he wrote late in July, "and has got his first ships in the estuary, twenty-eight of them began their fifteen days of duty service on the tenth of this month. Twelve more have joined them since, and two great galleys from the Cinque Ports, besides some coastal boats got locally. We have kept close watch on the dock at Rhuddlan, and seen boats taking off men and arms to the ships off-shore, and returning empty. I believe Edward is putting aboard large numbers of archers and crossbowmen to be used at sea, if needed, but certainly in some planned landing. No move as yet to show what his plans are. Nothing will happen until after his August muster. He is busy now making his supply lines safe. There's little more to tell, except that I have withdrawn from Hawarden, as I was bound to do once they moved from Chester. I left them the shell. Hope is still rebuilding, and the wells still unserviceable. When my position is threatened, you shall hear of it."

  With the beginning of August, and the mustering of the feudal host, things changed with our warfare in the south. English reinforcements began to arrive in great numbers, our scouts brought us word of detachments of men being fed in through Carmarthen, to which the English had easy access from the southern marcher lordships, and distributed also to Dynevor and Cardigan, so many of them that it seemed clear Edward had ordered all the tenants-in-chief of some large region of his realm to do their feudal service under Valence, instead of joining the royal army at Rhuddlan.

  "It is a tribute," said Llewelyn, "after its fashion. David's load will be lighter at least by these."

  It was what we had expected and intended, but it meant that we were now facing great odds, and had to base our movements, after the old Welsh fashion, on the high hills which we knew better than did the enemy, and on the speed of our sudden raids into the valleys, and as sudden withdrawals. If they came out in strength, and used that strength intelligently, we had nothing to match it, and could not and should not meet them in pitched battle or attempt to prevent them from occupying land. But what we could do was take back what they had occupied, as soon as they reduced the forces that held it, as they must in order to use them elsewhere. And as long as we were able to continue this system of reclamation and cession, and keep our own numbers intact, we could and did prevent them from moving away a single company to add to the main army in the north. And so we contrived all through August.

  There were among these levies of foot, especially those from the march of Gwent and other baronial lands, large numbers of what they called Welsh friendlies, soldiers who served for pay and took their living as it came. During that month of August we got more than one recruit from their ranks, and gained not merely an archer or a spear-man, but also some useful information about Valence's resources and plans. In the middle of the month a deserter from a raiding party out of Dynevor told us that the king himself had laid down the campaign Valence should undertake. He was to furnish an expedition to conquer all the lands of Meredith's sons in Cardigan, and hand them over to the traitor Rhys of Dryslwyn, who naturally was expected to supply part of the army to carry out the assignment.

  So we were prepared for the expedition when it came, and knew that its first aim was to bring us to battle, on the way to invade the lands of Griffith and Cynan. We were equally determined to avoid such action, and when the force issued from Carmarthen we had scouts trailing them all the way, and kept our main forces to the hills and forests, never far from the enemy but never confronting him. The English moved in a body up the Towey valley as far as Llangadoc, where Rhys's division joined them, and thence Valence crossed over the uplands to the river Ystwyth, and marched his men down that valley to Llanbadarn. We kept pace with him most of the way, but little enough did he see of us, only our traces where an outpost of his camp was found wiped out at dawn and stripped of its arms, or a group of stragglers cut off and killed. We struck often enough to let him know that we were still there, and he dared not allow his precautions to flag, or dispose of any of his men. But we never emerged from cover to stray within reach of his archers, and he was too cautious to come after us into the forests. We had sent on word to Griffith and Cynan, and they were prepared to use the like tactics, avoiding encounters, denying the enemy all possible supplies on the way, and waiting for his passing.

  The shell of Llanbadarn was that and nothing more when Valence came to it. No defenders were there to be fought, the place was derelict, and having no workmen with them, and no prospect of bringing them in sufficient numbers until the whole cantref was pacified, they did not bother to occupy it, but marched by and left it as it was. So this great march ended none too gloriously down the coast, joining hands with Daubeny's garrison at Cardigan, by which time it was into the first days of September, and the forty days of feudal service was over. Most of the horse were certainly taken into pay and remained after that time, but some of the foot soldiers were discharged.

  For that month's work they had gained little, though it is true that Rhys ap Meredith did get hold of a part of the lands belonging to his loyal kinsmen, and the English helped him to retain them. Still, Valence must have been cautious in his report to the king, for a very large and powerful garrison was still maintained at Dynevor. All the chief castles along the march were in similar case, Builth, Radnor, Montgomery, Oswestry, all anxious to secure a strong enough grip on their own region to spare lances and foot-men to send to the king at Rhuddlan, but all compelled to retain their garrisons undiminished. It was what we had set out to do, and for more than two months we had done it. But we knew, every man of us, that we, for our part, had raised by now every man we could raise, and stood only to see our forces dwindle, if some hard-pressed vils and commotes lost heart and lent an ear to the royal offers of grace, while Edward's numbers had not yet reached their maximum, but could be expanded steadily as long as he had or could borrow the money to pay his mercenaries. In the matter of numbers and resources time was not on our side. As regards the weather, it might be in the end, but we dared not reply on it. His hate is such, Cynan had said of Edward, that neither snow nor frost will stop him. Put no trust in winter!

  When we got back to Llandovery, it was the youngest of the prince's nephews, his namesake, who came out to greet us, and kissed his uncle's hand.

  "My brothers are out towards Dynevor," he said, "with a patrol. Giffard is back in

  Ystrad Tywi, so we've heard, and with a strong following. He has the king's leave to take back this castle, and all he can capture of Iscennen. He had not ours! We are planning a warm welcome for him."

  "You may find me some office in that welcome," said the prince. "We've had very little action in this circu
it we've made with Valence."

  "Very gladly we would," said the boy, "but I think there may be graver calls upon you than ours, my lord. There's a courier here for you from David. Yesterday he rode in, but knowing you were on your way back I held him here rather than send out after you. I think, from what he says of movements in the north, you may be needed at home."

  Llewelyn went in with him from the bustle of the courtyard to the dimness of the hall, and there the messenger from Gwynedd came to salute him and present his letter. We knew him, he was a trooper of David's household at Hope, until that fortress was slighted and abandoned to Reginald de Grey. Llewelyn asked him, before he broke the seal: "What goes forward in the Middle Country?"

  "My lord, the Lord David sent me out the same day our outposts down the valley sighted King Edward's army advancing up the Clwyd. I thought he would have moved by the coast towards Conway. So he did in the last war. I think he has grasped that he dare not move further west while the Lord David holds the Middle Country. I think he is moving to break that hold, so that he may not be taken on the flank, and cut off from Chester."