A Dishonorable Knight (14 page)

By the time Gareth reached the bottom
of his mug, his head was pleasantly fuzzy and his father was just finishing his
description of the last quarter’s Rent Day.

“How did you and Mother meet?” Gareth
had no idea where the question had come from. The last sip of mead, he
suspected.

Morgan stopped speaking abruptly,
glancing at his son in surprise. “Where on God’s earth did that question come
from?”

Gareth felt his neck warm. He
affected a nonchalant shrug. “Just curious. I don’t think I ever heard you
say.”

Morgan took a deep pull of his mead
and stared off into the distance, a wry grin on his face. “We knew each other
since we were young. She lived just the other side of yon hill,” he said with a
jerk of his chin to the north.

Gareth nodded his head. Of course they’d
known each other for years. Probably grew up loving each other and knowing what
their future held.

“Hated me on first sight, she did.”

“What?” Gareth asked.

Morgan smiled and refilled both their
mugs. “Oh yes. Found me insufferable, I don’t doubt. I was very full of myself,
especially as I became a young man. I was convinced I was the best thing to
happen to Eyri Keep and the lucky ladies of Wales. She, of course, would have
nothing to do with such a conceited ass. At first, it didn’t bother me for there
were so many other accommodating lasses about, you know?”

Gareth smiled and shook his head in
mock reproach.

“But after a while, it irked me that
she didn’t think I was as wonderful as I thought I was. I decided to change her
mind.”

“Won her over, did you?”

“Tcha! No. She hated me even worse
then. Told me she wouldn’t have aught to do with me was I the last man in
Wales. Two years her abuse went on. Why, she even went and betrothed herself to
another man!”

“Truly?” Gareth was amazed. He’d
never heard the story and was a little ashamed that it never occurred to him to
ask.

“As true as I’m sitting here. Of
course by that time, I was head over heels for her. And it wasn’t just because
she wouldn’t have me. She was a fine young woman. Beautiful, of course, but
smart as a whip, too. She could manage people sweet as you please. She had the
skills of a healer from her grandmother, and the cunning of a general. Why this
one time—ah, but that’s a story for another time.”

Gareth was about to protest that he
wanted to hear it, but curiosity at how his father turned his mother from enemy
to ally was all consuming.

“So how did you sway her?”

“Humbled myself. Took a sack of grain
and half a dozen sheep over the hill to her house. Told her they were an early
wedding present. She thanked me but I could see suspicion in her eyes. So then
I told her how I’d been a right stupid ass for most of my life and that she was
no doubt smart to marry another man, but that I’d loved her for nigh on two
years and suspected I would for another two hundred. I didn’t expect her to do
anything about it. Well, perhaps I did, but I pretended I was noble, at least.
I finished by telling her I wished only for her complete happiness in life and
that if she ever had need of me, she only need send word and I would cross a
continent to aid her.”

Gareth whistled low between his
teeth. “And then what happened?”

Morgan’s smile turned wily and he
drained his mug of mead before answering. “I heard the next week that she had
ended her betrothal. When I ran into her a few months later at the Michaelmas
feast, we talked as if we’d been best friends from the cradle. We were wed by
St. Catherine’s Day.”

Gareth frowned. “So a sack of grain
and some livestock changed her mind?”

Morgan slapped him on the back of his
head. “A son of mine should be better able to hold his liquor.
No, a few gifts did not buy your mother’s affection
,
ye fool
. But hatred and passion are both strong emotions,
you see.
Two sides of the same coin, if you will.
In
fact, sometimes they can be confused for one another. And if that’s the case,
it may only take one person to flip that coin, even just the once, for the
passion to take over.”

Gareth shook his head when his father
made to refill his mug. He wanted what wits he had left to mull over his
father’s words.

Morgan, evidently unaffected by the
potent wine, eyed his son closely. “So, be there a lass whose hatred need be
flipped to passion?”

“What? No! Why would you even ask
that?”

“Twenty-five years you’ve been my son
and this is the first time you think to ask how your mother and I fell in love.
Surely something has prompted such a question.”

“No!” Gareth repeated defensively.
“I—that is, I’ve thought about it before, but I haven’t been home in a
few years and before that…”

“Mmmmm,” Morgan said, and promptly
buried his nose in his mug. “Well, if you convince yourself of that long
enough, you may find yourself years down the road wondering if you passed a
grand passion by for fear that it was just hostility.” With that, Gareth’s
father stood and walked a perfectly straight line to the stairs.

Gareth rested his wobbly head in his
hands and told himself that his situation was nothing like his father’s had
been. He and Elena were from two different worlds; had completely different
wants out of life. Why she—Gareth paused in mid-thought. An image of
Elena, gazing at the mountains earlier today, a look of utter contentment on
her face as she described how being in Wales made her feel filled his vision.
He shook his head, reminding himself for the hundredth time of all the insults
she had cast at him, the way she had care for only her own comfort, the plans
she had for advancing herself at court.

A young serving woman walked by and
smiled at him coyly. No, Gareth decided. There was a simple explanation for his
malaise. And he was going to remedy the problem tonight. Setting down his mug
of ale, he followed the swishing skirts of the serving woman.

As Elena entered the bailey from the
dim hall she squinted. This could have been the bailey of Middleham just a
month ago. People were milling about, loading supplies onto packhorses and
bidding farewell to family members. The only difference was that she had not
cared that she was leaving Middleham and she found she was dreadfully sorry to
be leaving Eyri Keep. She had felt more at home and at ease here than any other
place she could remember. Spotting Enid, she started to walk towards her until
Cynan grabbed his wife and kissed her passionately in front of everyone. Elena
turned away, embarrassed to witness such an intimate scene--a scene that was
being looked on with understanding and amused glances from everyone else. Enid
had announced the night before that she was with child.

"Your horse is over here with
us, my lady," Bryant said as he touched her elbow. Turning, Elena saw him
staring at Cynan and Enid. When he realized she had caught him staring, he
flushed. She was just about to turn in the direction he had indicated when Enid
called her name.

"Here, I've packed you a few
little goodies to make your travel and stay at Dinas Mawddwy more
comfortable."

"Thank you, Enid. That's very
kind of you." Elena could not remember ever saying that to another woman
before.

"Are we ready to go?"
Gareth asked.

"We were just waiting for you,
you slugabed," said Cynan.

"I'll have you know I was up
before the dawn this morning taking care of all the things you didn't finish
yesterday," Gareth exclaimed with mock indignation.

Enid pulled Elena close and whispered
in her ear, "They always tease each other the worst right before a
journey. Like little boys, they are."

Elena smiled but her eyes never left
Gareth. She had not seen him since the night of Rhys and Bronwen's arrival and
she refused to believe that she had missed him, told herself she was simply
curious as to where he had kept himself through meals, games of charades,
dancing, and picnics Elena had enjoyed with the others.

Gareth turned to help Elena mount her
horse when a blond woman dressed in servant's garb threw herself into his arms.

"You didn't say goodbye when you
left me this morning," the woman said huskily.

Gareth looked extremely
uncomfortable. "Yes, well, goodbye Senena," he said as he patted her
back, trying to avoid Elena's stare.

"Here's something to remember me
by on your travels." Grabbing his jaw, Senena tilted Gareth's head and
kissed him soundly.

Amazed by the woman's audacity, Elena
turned to look at Cynan and Bryant's reactions. Cynan was laughing with Enid in
between kisses of his own. Bryant took one look at Elena, blushed, and began
intently studying the toe of his boot as it scuffed at the dirt of the bailey.
Gareth struggled out of Senena's goodbye kiss as Rhys strode up and bowed low
to Elena.

"It grieves me to be unable to
escort you to your journey's end, my lady. I hope it will not be long ere you
visit Wales again."

Gareth had turned to Elena and was
gesturing impatiently for her to mount her horse. Pointedly ignoring him, Elena
leaned up on tiptoe and
said
"Here is something
for you to remember me by until we do meet again," and kissed him full on
the mouth. When Rhys moved to embrace her further, she quickly turned and
climbed upon her horse unaided, despite the fact that her hands were shaking
and her knees felt wobbly. Never had she been so bold with a man. And in
public, no less! But the greatest emotion she felt was disappointment. Though
brief, Rhys's kiss had left her cold, left her wanting…

"Gareth!" Morgan shouted.
"We will meet you at Aberystwyth in one week's time. Agreed?"

Gareth tore his eyes from Elena's
flushed face and looked across the bailey to where his father was already
mounted. "Agreed. Godspeed!"

"And to you, my son."

"Take care of this English
jewel, Gareth. I would be sore disappointed if she came to harm," Rhys
said.

Gareth bestowed a sour smile on his cousin's
retreating back before mounting his own horse. Bryant quickly followed suit,
but Cynan and Enid were laughing so hard they had to hold each other up.

"Perhaps you had best stay here,
Cynan. You seem to have caught some disease which renders you incapable of
controlling your mirth," Gareth said acidly. Cynan paid no attention to
him but kissed his wife once more and sprang onto his own horse.

Enid approached Elena and wiping
tears of mirth from her face said, "You are a jewel indeed, Elena. Please come
and visit us again. I feel sure you could teach us a trick or two."

Elena forgot her mortification enough
to smile at the Welshwoman. "I would enjoy that," she said, and meant
it.

"Godspeed, my lady."

"Good bye Enid." Nudging
her horse, Elena followed Bryant who sought to keep up with Gareth's galloping
steed.

***

They kept up the grueling pace for
three quarters of an hour until Cynan, his mirth long since dissipated, caught
up to Gareth and yelled, "The horses cannot keep up this pace! We must let
them rest!"

Gareth nodded grimly, angry with
himself for not slowing earlier. They finally stopped near a stream and let the
horses drink.

"Be there any demons chasing us
Bryant and I don't know about?" Cynan asked Gareth who was standing
upstream of the horses staring into the thick forest that surrounded them.

Turning to his friend with an
apologetic smile Gareth said, "I'm just anxious to get this task over and
done with so we can get to Aberystwyth quickly."

"Are you that committed to Henry
Tudor's cause then?"

"You aren't?"

"I'm not speaking of my
conviction. I've known for two years that I would support the Welshman's claim
to the English throne over Richard of York's. You only decided two weeks ago to
join us."

Gareth knew his friend was trying to
help, but the last thing Gareth needed to be reminded of was that he was
breaking his knightly vows less than a year after taking them.

"I'm committed to it. Two weeks
or two years, Henry Tudor is the better man to wear the crown."

Cynan studied his friend and then
looked over his shoulder to where Elena was seated with Bryant on a large rock.
She was plaiting her hair, which the sun had turned to a glittering tumble of
copper and Bryant was shyly watching her from beneath his lashes. Turning back
to Gareth, he lowered his voice. "Perhaps you're not so anxious to give
her up as you would have us think."

Gareth frowned. "What? Who--oh,
her I don't know what you are talking about. I can't wait to get her out of our
hair. She's a self-absorbed, whining--"

Cynan broke in. "Beautiful woman
who--"

"Enough, Cynan. If this is what
being married has done to you, turned you into a gossipy meddling old woman,
then the day will come when I'll fall on my own sword before vowing 'I
will.'"

Since they were children, Cynan had taken
no greater joy than in teasing Gareth. But the true strength of their
friendship rested in the fact that Cynan knew when to quit. Abruptly changing
subjects, he said, "If this good weather holds, we should be able to reach
Dinas Mawddwy in what? Four days?"