Dragon of the Island (37 page)

Wydian’s eyes narrowed, and she swept
Gwenaseth’s small frame with a cold, withering glance. “I’ve heard
that Constantine plans to seek revenge anyway. When he joins forces
with Gwyrtheyrn and invades Gwynedd, we will all suffer because of
Maelgwn’s weakness. He should have crushed Constantine while he had
the chance!”

The room was silent as the women looked at
each other uneasily. This had gone beyond gossip or mere cattiness
toward the queen. They were talking of things in the men’s
domain—the problems of alliances, warfare and treachery. None of
them really understood it, nor did they want to.

Sewan rose from her seat by the fire. “I
must go and call the boys for supper. I have had enough of sewing
for today.”

One by one, the women followed after Sewan.
At last there was no one left in the hall except Gwenaseth and
Aurora.

“They’re not all like her,” Gwenaseth said
softly, coming to stand beside the queen. “The women have begun to
respect you, and I know many of them were very concerned when you
were so ill. It is only Wydian who is so hateful. Now you know why
Evrawc always looks so sour-faced and miserable,” she added with an
uncomfortable laugh.

Aurora looked up; her eyes were distant and
troubled. “Where did Wydian get her information regarding my
father’s plans? Why would she think Constantine was going to betray
Maelgwn?”

“She must have overheard something,”
Gwenaseth answered with a shrug. “She might even have started the
rumor herself just to make trouble for you.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Aurora answered.
“Wydian isn’t clever enough to think of something like that. She
must have heard one of the soldiers talking—but who? Evrawc does
not seem like the kind of man who would share his doubts about an
ally with his wife. There is something wrong here, Gwenaseth, and
it scares me. I think I should speak to Elwyn.”

“All right,” Gwenaseth said quietly. “I’ll
find him for you. Maybe you
should
talk to him. Revenge and
betrayal...” She shuddered. “These are things for men to worry
about.”

Elwyn met Aurora in the tower room. “My
lady,” he said simply. “I’m at your service.”

“Sit down,” Aurora remained standing, pacing
slightly. Elwyn thought she had never looked more beautiful, more
queenly.

“I have something to tell you that may be
nothing more than idle gossip, or it may mean grave danger for all
of us.”

“Aye, my lady,” Elwyn answered, sitting up
stiffly.

“Have you heard that my father has joined
forces with Gwyrtheyrn and plans to betray Maelgwn?”

“Who told you that?”

“Wydian—she told not just me, but the whole
hall of women.”

“Wydian? How would she know Constantine’s
plans?”

“How indeed?” asked Aurora in agitation. “It
makes no sense. Wydian is no different than most of the other
women; she normally pays little mind to politics and war—unless it
is to make sure she gets her share of the booty and plunder. She
could not come up with this by herself. She had to have overheard
it.”

“It is possible that Evrawc said something
to her? He was always convinced that Maelgwn was too soft on your
father. Perhaps in a mood of frustration, he accused Constantine of
disloyalty.”

“Perhaps,” Aurora said slowly. “But I don’t
think so. Evrawc might have criticized Maelgwn to the other men,
but not to his wife. Did you know that she no longer allows him to
share her bed? Aye, she told a whole group of women that. I don’t
think that Evrawc would trust a woman who brags so openly of her
rejection of him.”

Elwyn spoke a trifle impatiently. “What does
it matter,

anyway? It’s probably just a rumor. I can’t
imagine that your father would do something so foolish.”

“But what if it isn’t just a rumor? What if
it’s true!”

Elwyn looked at Aurora in surprise. “You
really think your father would betray his agreement with
Maelgwn?”

“I don’t know. If he were thinking
clearly... no. But I have learned these past few weeks that
jealousy and anger can make people do very foolish things.”

“What shall we do?” Elwyn asked Aurora in a
worried voice.

“We must get a message to Maelgwn. What I
heard may be no more than gossip, but it is important that Maelgwn
know about it.”

“A message? But how?”

“Is there no man here at Caer Eryri you can
trust to send a message to Maelgwn?”

“Well, there is Owen... or I could go
myself.”

Aurora shook her head firmly. “No, if you
went, it would be too obvious. This must be done secretly. No one
can know of the message except you and me and the messenger.”

“But who will write it?” Elwyn asked
anxiously.

“Have you forgotten? I can write as well as
read. I will write the message—I’m sure there is a scrap of
parchment somewhere in Maelgwn’s office.”

“Why must everything be so secret?” Elwyn
grumbled. Then recognition dawned on his face. “You suspect that
someone at Caer Eryri is a spy—you think your father has been
tricked into fighting Maelgwn!”

Aurora nodded. “I don’t like to think it’s
true, but Maelgwn must know of the possibility.”

Elwyn sighed. “Well, you are queen, Aurora.
Just tell me what to do.”

Maelgwn was in his tent, drowsing to the
monotonous sound of the rain, when the message came.

“Maelgwn,” Balyn called softly.

“Uhhh,” Maelgwn groaned. “What is it?”

“It’s a message, Maelgwn... a message from
Aurora.”

Maelgwn sat up suddenly. “A message? Who
brought it?”

“Owen—he’s been on the road four straight
days.”

“Well, damn it, light the lamp. Let us have
a look at it.”

Maelgwn unrolled the parchment with shaking
fingers. The note was, indeed, signed by his wife. He stared for a
moment at the scrawling script, fascinated by his wife’s messy, but
very feminine handwriting.

“What does she say,” Balyn asked
impatiently.

Maelgwn shook his head. “My Latin is too
poor. I can make out certain words: “treachery... war...
Constantine... but I’m not sure what she means.”

“Who can we get to read it?”

“Rhys, of course. I doubt that there is
another man for miles who can read Latin.”

Rhys concentrated. His forehead was wrinkled
with effort.

“So,” Maelgwn said after a moment. “Can you
make any sense of it?”

“Aye, I can make sense of it, and yet it
does not make

sense.”

“Read it to me then,” Maelgwn ordered.
“Perhaps it is meaningful only to me.”

Rhys began to read in a halting, rather
expressionless voice. When he was done, he paused and looked at
Maelgwn questioningly. “What is she saying—that her father is going
to war against Gwynedd and she is trying to warn you?”

“She is not so sure as that,” Balyn argued.
“She said it’s a rumor, something overheard among the women. But
why does she write at all, why send a messenger so far if she is
not sure?”

“She speaks of ‘grave danger,’ “ Maelgwn
said softly. “She is right. If Constantine were to march against us
now, even without Gwyrtheyrn, he could move swiftly into the
highlands and take Caer Eryri.”

“Should we go back? What will we tell
Cunedda?”

“I only promised Cunedda that I would stay a
few days longer anyway. It will be easy enough to make excuses to
get away. It is the other problem that concerns me now.”

“What other problem?” Balyn asked.

Maelgwn’s face looked cold and murderous in
the firelight. “It would seem that there is a spy at Caer Eryri.
Perhaps there is even a spy here, with us now.”

“Wydian!” Balyn said suddenly. “Why would
Evrawc’s wife be talking about Constantine’s plans?” He looked at
the other two men in horror. “You don’t think that... Evrawc? After
all these years?”

“I don’t know,” Maelgwn said wearily. “I can
scarce believe it either. But we can’t take chances. No one else
must know the real reason we are going back. No one!”

After the other men left his tent, Maelgwn
lay down again, trying to sleep. He had been wrong, he thought
suddenly—and Abelgirth had been right—you
could
trust a
woman. Aurora had sent him a message to warn him. She might have
saved his kingdom... even his life. Even more amazing, she had
chosen to be loyal to him over her father. What better proof could
he have that she loved him?

But there was a dark side, too. If Aurora
was right, that meant someone else at Caer Eryri had betrayed him.
Esylt would never do anything to help Constantine, that was
certain, so despite what Aurora might think, it was not his sister
who plotted against him. But was it truly any better if it was one
of his men? He had trusted Evrawc for years, long since he had
stopped trusting Esylt. No, Maelgwn thought bitterly. It could not
be Evrawc. There must be some other explanation.

It had been two days since Aurora had sent
the message to Maelgwn—two days of agonized waiting and keeping
secrets with Elwyn. At night, Aurora could scarcely sleep. She
worried incessantly over whether she had done the right thing. If
Maelgwn came back to find that her fears were just women’s
gossip—Aurora shivered with dread—would he ever trust her
again?

But by the third day, it seemed that she had
made the right decision. A rider from Viroconium came with news of
a large army outside the town.

“Elwyn!” Aurora met the young soldier at the
entrance to the great hall and grasped his arm frantically.

“Is it true that my father has made an
alliance with Gwyrtheyrn?”

“Aye.” Elwyn nodded grimly. “I was just
coming to tell you. We can only hope that Maelgwn heeded your
warning, and that he and his men get back before Constantine and
Gwyrtheyrn march into Gwynedd.”

“Oh, Elwyn!” Aurora cried in agony. “How
could my father do something so foolish?”

“I don’t know,” Elwyn answered gently,
putting an arm around the queen to soothe her. “You said yourself
that anger and fear can make men do strange things.”

“Is this not a touching scene?”

Aurora and Elwyn moved away from each other
uneasily at the hissing disgust in Esylt’s voice. She had come up
behind them, and they turned to see her watching them with a
leering smile on her face.

“How kind it is of one of Maelgwn’s captains
to comfort his wife as she receives the news that her father is a
traitor,” Esylt purred.

“Go away, Esylt. Leave us alone!” Elwyn said
angrily.

“Should I leave you alone so that Aurora can
betray Maelgwn just as her father has? You have always pined for
the queen, Elwyn. Now you have your chance. I doubt that Maelgwn
will want to have anything to do with her now that the truce is
broken, so if you don’t mind the king’s leavings, you can at last
have Aurora’s sweet young body all to yourself.”

Aurora looked around in horror. A crowd of
people had gathered, and she saw Gwenaseth standing among them. She
was staring at Aurora and Elwyn in shocked surprise.

Aurora moved close to Esylt, feeling the
blood burning in her veins. She was not afraid of Esylt now, no,
she was too angry to be afraid.

“You witch!” she shouted at Esylt. “You have
used your lies to ruin things for me ever since I came here. I
won’t listen to you anymore. Get out of my sight—I order you to
leave us!”

“Who are you to order me to do anything?”
Esylt said viciously. “You are nothing more than my brother’s
whore, and now that your father has shown himself to be a traitor
as well as a coward, you will no longer even be that! Perhaps we
should send you back to your father now, and save him the trouble
of coming to collect you.”

Esylt took a step toward Aurora, as if she
meant to grab her. There was the hissing sound of a sword being
drawn, and Aurora looked down to see the deadly flash of a blade
between her and Esylt.

“Enough!” said Elwyn in a taut, strained
voice. “I’m sworn to defend Maelgwn’s queen while he is gone, and I
will
defend her, Esylt. If you take another step, you will
find my sword in your lying, evil throat.”

Esylt moved back and laughed mockingly. “It
seems the queen still has her champion. Will you defend the rest of
us, too, Elwyn, when Gwyrtheyrn and Constantine come to burn Caer
Eryri to the ground?”

Esylt walked away with proud, haughty grace,
but everyone else stood in the courtyard as if stunned.

“Is it true, Elwyn?” Sewan asked in a
fearful voice. “Are Gwyrtheyrn and Constantine preparing to march
against us?”

Elwyn nodded. “It’s true. I just received
word from one of our men in Viroconium. Gwyrtheyrn is outside the
town, and he has gathered a large army.”

“The gods save us!” one of the old men
cried. “Maelgwn is ten days away—he will never get here in
time!”

The crowd seemed to panic. Everyone talked
at once in excited, frightened voices, and as if on cue, even the
children began to cry.

Elwyn held up his hand for silence. It took
a moment, but gradually the crowd settled down.

“It may not be as grim as that. The queen
sent a message of warning to Maelgwn several days ago, and with any
luck, his army is marching home right now.”

“The queen... but how... her father...” The
crowd had dissolved into nervous talk again, and Aurora could begin
to guess what was being said. It was time to face her people, once
and for all.

“I... I would like to speak.” Aurora’s soft,
feminine voice could barely be heard above the commotion, but
several people turned to her in curiosity, and eventually there was
silence.

“I’m sure you may well wonder how I knew to
send Maelgwn a message,” Aurora began. “I didn’t find out that my
father and Gwyrtheyrn had joined forces until today, just as you
did. I sent Maelgwn a message because I heard a rumor among the
women.” Aurora looked at Wydian coldly. “I thought it was but a
rumor, but I decided that Maelgwn should know of it. That is why I
sent the message.”