Kate was curious, and she realized she was expected to reply. "You knew my mother?" she said.
"Briefly, though intimately," he chuckled.
"Why, my lord, have you kidnapped me and had me brought here?" Kate demanded to know. "My husband will be most vexed. He is not a wealthy man and cannot be expected to pay you too exorbitant a ransom."
Rhys ap Daffydd laughed. "You have your father's overweening pride and your mother's spirit," he replied. "I want no ransom from your husband, lady. It is your father I have occasion to deal with, and as he will not listen to reason, I thought perhaps if I had custody of his daughter he might be more amenable to… ah, negotiation."
"You have a quarrel with Prince Llywelyn, and so you have kidnapped me?" Kate was both astounded and outraged. "You are a coward, my lord, if you cannot deal with ap Gruffydd without threatening a woman of his family! I will not help you."
"You do not understand, Rhonwyn uerch Llywelyn," Rhys said. "Your father has gained his title from the English, but nonetheless we have honored that title because it meant that Wales was left in peace by the English. Now your sire refuses to do fealty to King Edward, thus breaking his bond with England. Edward Long-shanks is not an easy man and will not bear this insult. When he comes into Wales to punish your father, we will all suffer for our prince's misbehavior. I have friends in England who have requested that I reason with your father, for all our sakes. Since he has refused to grant me an audience, I must gain his attention in the only way I can, by bringing you here to Aberforth. Your father will not allow you to be harmed."
Kate remembered what Rhonwyn had said the few rare times she had spoken of her father. It was very unlikely that ap Gruffydd would come to his daughter's aid if it did not serve some good purpose for him. Kate could see that Rhys ap Daffydd was no true patriot. What he did he was doing for his own gain. She suspected he meant to attempt an assassination of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd when he came to rescue his daughter. She saw her own country's hand in such a plot. It was absolutely disgraceful and dishonorable. "Well, my lord, you can but try to reason with my tad," she told him, "but he never really cared greatly for me as I was not a son."
"What happened to the lad?" Rhys demanded.
"What lad?" she countered.
"Your little brother" was the reply.
"Glynn? Oh, he died when he was twelve of the pox," Kate said easily. She knew that if she said Glynn was a religious in the abbey at Shrewsbury, Glynn might very well find himself in danger, too.
"So," Rhys crowed triumphantly, "you are Llywelyn ap Gruffydd's only living heir. He will come for you, female or not."
"If you say so, my lord," Kate told him. "Now, I am hungry and I am chilled to the bone, as is my servant. Have me shown to my chamber and have hot food brought to me. I should not want to tell my tad that you were a poor host, Rhys ap Daffydd."
The lord of Aberforth laughed heartily. "They say you were raised roughly in the Welshry, lady, but you speak as if you were truly a princess born."
"I am," Kate replied loftily. Then she followed a servant who led her to her chamber. When the door had closed behind them, she breathed a deep sigh of relief and said in her own English tongue, "It is obvious that none of these people have ever seen Rhonwyn, Mab. And I fooled them! I actually convinced them I was she."
"I couldn't understand a word you spoke, lady, but your manner was fearless and proud. What will happen to us now?"
"Our captor is Rhys ap Dafydd, and he is in league with some of our countrymen. I think he means to use the prince's daughter to lure ap Gruffydd here. Then, I believe, he will assassinate him if he can. This is to be done to curry favor with King Edward."
"And afterward?" Mab ventured.
"I don't know," Kate answered her servant honestly. "I don't think they will kill us. We are just the bait in the trap. And the prince's daughter is supposed to be wed to an English lord, and the marriage was part of a treaty between our two lands. I suspect they will return us back to England when they have accomplished their nefarious purposes."
"How do you know he means to kill the prince?" Mab asked.
"I do not, for certain," Kate replied, "but instinct tells me he lies, Mab."
"But when the prince comes and sees you are not his child," Mab fretted, "what will they do?"
"By then it will be too late," Kate said.
"Oh, mistress, I am so afraid!" Mab said.
Kate put comforting arms about her servant. "I know," she said, "and I am, too, but we cannot let these men see we are afraid. Edward and Rafe are already on our trail, I know it! They will find us and rescue us before long, Mab."
"How?" Mab now sobbed, totally unnerved. "How will they get into this fortress, and how will they get us out? It is hopeless, my lady. It is hopeless!" She began to weep.
"Nay, 'tis not hopeless," Kate reassured her, although she was not certain at all that Mab wasn't right. "Mab, think! What is the worst that can happen to us? We will be killed. But if our mortal bodies die, do we not live on in the spirit? To be with our blessed Mother would not be such a terrible fate, Mab."
"But I haven't ever lived, lady!" Mab hiccuped. "I am still a virgin. You at least know the joy of marriage and children."
"And so will you, Mab," Kate said firmly. The door to their chamber opened, and she continued, "Look! Here is a nice hot supper for us. Things will seem much brighter after you have eaten."
"If it ain't poisoned," Mab said darkly.
"I don't think they brought us all the way from Haven just for the pleasure of poisoning us," Kate remarked. Then she turned to the servant who had brought the meal. "Tell your master I will require a hot bath tonight. I was nursing an infant when I was taken, and my bodice is soaked through with my milk. I shall also require a clean chemise and a gown. Are there women of rank here?"
"Lord Rhys's leman," the servant answered.
"Then my requirements can be satisfied certainly," Kate said.
"Yes, lady," the servant replied, and hurried out.
"You would wear the clothes of that bandit's whore?" Mab demanded.
"Aye," Kate admitted. "They are surely cleaner than what I am now wearing. Both my chemise and gown are sticking to my breasts. The smell on my clothing is not particularly pleasant. Oh, I hope Edward was wise enough to get wee Henry a wet nurse, Mab."
"If he wasn't, the other women will see to it," Mab, her courage now restored, comforted her mistress. Her eye went to the tray of food as she realized that she was very hungry. "Let us eat, lady. You sit, and I shall serve you." She began to ladle rabbit stew onto the trencher of bread. "How long do you think it will take Lord Edward to find us, my lady?"
"He is probably on his way now," Kate said, spooning the hot stew into her mouth. "Ummm, this is good. At least the cook is competent here, Mab. We shall not be starved. Aye, Edward is more than likely very near us, and my brother with him. Listen! Do you hear rain? Well, at least we were spared riding in a downpour."
Outside, the rain fell heavily, and at the convent where Kate's captors had stopped that first night, Rhonwyn was in earnest conversation with the mother superior, having introduced herself as the niece of the Abbess Gwynllian of Mercy Abbey. The convent's porteress was with them, waiting to be given permission to speak.
"We do not have many guests, being in such a distant locale," the mother superior said, "but several nights ago four men and two women sheltered with us. Sister Margaret can tell you more." She nodded to the porteress, giving her permission to add what she could.
"Did they tell you who they were?" Rhonwyn asked.
"The one who appeared to be their leader said the lady was his sister and the other her servant. He was taking them to his brother's castle, but he did not give his name or that of his brother. The two women were quiet except the next morning when they were leaving. The lady asked me to pray for her sister-in-law, Katherine. She gave me a coin, which is more than the man did."
"Do you remember what she looked like?" Rhonw
yn gently probed the elderly nun's memory.
"Young and pretty," Sister Margaret replied. "She had beautiful light blue eyes, and although she wore a head covering, I could see a bit of her hair. It was a nice nut brown. She was well spoken, although her Welsh sounded a bit strange to my ear, as if it were not her native tongue. Her servant was ordinary and appeared frightened."
"Did the lady perhaps favor this gentleman with me?" Rhonwyn asked. She drew Rafe forward.
"She did!" Sister Margaret cried. "Indeed she did. Why, my lord, you could be sister and brother."
"We are," Rafe replied. "My sister Katherine was being kidnapped, good sister. Are you certain you cannot recall hearing a place or a name? We must find her!"
"I am sorry, my lord," Sister Margaret said, but then she brightened. "I can tell you that when they departed the following morning they went north. Straight due north."
"What is in that direction?" he asked her, but she shrugged.
"There is only one place to the north," the mother superior told them. "It is a two days' ride, and there is nothing in between. Aberforth Castle would be the next inhabited place. There is nothing before it, and nothing in any other direction at all, my lord."
"Who is the lord of the castle?" Rhonwyn asked the nun.
"Rhys ap Daffydd, lady" was the response.
They sheltered the night in the convent guest house, and then the following morning they departed.
"We must go to Cythraul," Rhonwyn said as they turned west. "I want to speak to my father before we beard this Rhys ap Daffydd."
"How far are we?" Rafe asked her, and Dewi answered.
"We should be there by nightfall," he said.
"Do you know this Rhys?" Rhonwyn asked Dewi.
"Only by reputation, lady. He is an ambitious man, they say," Dewi replied, "and never your father's friend."
They rode that bright November day over the green hills of Wales, seeing no one. Finally, as the sun was setting, the ramparts of Cythraul appeared ahead of them.
"I will go ahead to be certain it is safe," Dewi said, and kicked his mount forward while Rhonwyn and Rafe drew their horses aside in a thicket to await Dewi's signal. When it came they rode quickly into the fortress. Looking about her, Rhonwyn wondered that she had been raised in such a rough place.
"Rhonwyn, welcome home!" Morgan ap Owen lifted her from her saddle. "Why have you come?"
"Is my father here yet?" she answered his question with a question. "Oth went for him some days ago."
"He hasn't come, but then neither has Oth. Come into the hall, lass. And who is this fellow who accompanies you?"
"This is my husband, Rafe de Beaulieu," she answered.
"I thought you wed Edward de Beaulieu," Morgan replied.
"I did, but then our marriage was dissolved, and I wed his cousin Rafe. Rafe's sister married Edward. That is why I am here, Morgan ap Owen. Several days ago some Welsh came over the border and kidnapped Lady Katherine, believing she was me. It obviously has something to do with my father. We have to find Kate before she is harmed, and she will be when they learn she isn't me. I needed to meet with ap Gruffydd in a location where we wouldn't be observed so I could learn from him just what is going on, old friend."
"I understand," her old mentor said. "Well, there is nothing for you to do but sit down with us in the hall until he comes."
The evening meal was served, and they sat at table with Morgan ap Owen as bread, venison, and trout were placed before them. At first the men who had raised her were shy of Rhonwyn, but gradually they realized that while her manner had softened and she was a grown woman, she was still their lass. The hall soon became noisy as they told Rafe tales of her childhood, and he joined in their uproarious laughter at her many adventures and misadventures.
"I suppose," said Lug ap Barris, "that you're no longer the fine soldier you once were. After all, you're a mam now."
"Would you like to go hand-to-hand with me, Lug?" she asked him in a deceptively innocent voice.
He saw the look in her eye and chuckled. "Nay, Rhonwyn. 'Tis obvious I am mistaken."
"And who do you think will teach my son how to use the alborium, Lug? Is there anyone in your memory who can shoot as well as I?"
"Nay, Rhonwyn," he replied.
"You taught me well," she said softly, and he flushed with pleasure that she would remember him now that she was a lady.
Brenin, the ancient wolfhound, came and lay by her side. "He is my first dog," she told Rafe as she leaned over to stroke the old animal's head.
"Tell me of the laddie," Gwilym the cook said.
"He has joined the Benedictines in Shrewsbury," Rhonwyn said, "and is at the abbey. You would have been proud of him. When he learned I had disappeared while on crusade, he came to Palestine and sought me out by doing what King Richard's minstrel, Blondell, once did. He went about entertaining with song, singing his first song always in our Welsh tongue, waiting for an answer, and when he finally received it, he helped rescue me." Then she told them of her adventures and the reason for the dissolution of her marriage to Edward.
When she had concluded her tale Morgan op Owen spoke up for them all. "The Englishman was wrong to remarry so hastily."
"He was fearful of dying without heirs," Rhonwyn said, shrugging, "and he could hardly expect I would return to him. It was a miracle, but the other miracle was that I have found real love with Rafe, my friends. I hold no bitterness any longer toward Edward, and I love his wife, Katherine. I must find her, Morgan. She is a gentle woman, and she has two sons at Haven. One is yet new and at the breast."
"We'll help you, Rhonwyn," Morgan said. "You know you can count on the men of Cythraul."
They slept that night in the hall, cuddling in her old bedspace. Rafe fondled his wife's breasts, but after a purr of pleasure, she warned him off. "We cannot," she told him.
"Why not?" he murmured in her ear, licking softly at it.
"Would you embarrass the men who raised me by letting them hear the sounds of our passion, Rafe?"
In response he took her hand and placed it on his manhood, which was now rock hard. "You will owe me greatly for this enforced abstinence, lady," he told her, and then kissed her mouth sweetly.
"I always meet my debts, my lord," she responded with a smile.
In the late afternoon of the following day Llywelyn ap Gruffydd appeared in the company of Oth. "How is my grandson?" he asked.
"Thriving, and with your chin, my lord," she told him.
The prince turned and looked at Rafe sharply. "Is this the one they married you to after Edward de Beaulieu betrayed you?"
"Aye, and I love him, so there is no harm done," Rhonwyn quickly replied. "Rafe, come and give your hand in friendship to my sire."
Rafe held out his hand to Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. "My lord."
The prince grasped the hand and said, "If she is happy, then I will accept you, Rafe de Beaulieu. You look a better man than Edward."
"I am," Rafe replied without a moment's hesitation.
Ap Gruffydd stared hard at him a moment, and then he burst out laughing. "By the rood, Rhonwyn, here indeed is your match, and I thank God for it, for certainly I have done little enough for you, daughter."
"You are a great man, Tad, and have great things to do," she answered him with a small smile.
"Your mam always said that to me," he said, a cloud briefly flitting over his features.
"I know," Rhonwyn responded.
"Wine, my lord?" Gwilym was at his side with a large goblet.
"Aye," the prince said, taking it and gulping down a swallow. "Come, daughter, and let us sit by the fire while you tell me what it is you desire of me. I will grant it if it is in my power."
They sat, and she explained the unfortunate situation to him as he drank his wine and listened closely. When she had finished, he spoke.
"It will be Rhys ap Daffydd without a doubt who holds the lady Katherine hostage. He is a weasel of a man and a coward to boot. Long ago I caug
ht him in a treacherous plot with the English. Few would have anything to do with him after I exposed him. You were just a wee lass then, Rhonwyn. He always said he would have his revenge upon me for it. Now he seeks to take advantage of my dispute with King Edward."
"I think he means to kill you," Rhonwyn said quietly.
"Aye, that would be his way. Then he would gain more favor with his English masters, and Wales would fall to them. I will not have it! We cannot, of course, storm Aberforth, for he might kill the lady Katherine. Yet we still might make him believe I am coming to the aid of my daughter without endangering her."
"First we must be certain Kate is there," Rhonwyn said. "Let us send Oth into Aberforth as your messenger with a date for your meeting with Rhys. Oth will insist upon seeing the hostage so he may return to you and tell you your daughter is being well cared for at Aberforth. Then Rafe, Dewi, and I shall enter the stronghold disguised as wandering entertainers. Such people are always welcome, and I have had experience enough as I worked my way back from Palestine with Glynn. Once inside Aberforth we shall rescue Kate."
"How?" the prince demanded.
"I shall kill Rhys," Rhonwyn said quietly.
"How?" the prince asked as quietly.
"With my alborium, Tad. I can do it, never fear," Rhonwyn told him. "This man has taken Kate from her family and means you harm. I have no qualms about killing him."
"So, daughter, you would do this for me, would you?" the prince said, rather surprised by her words.
"I was raised here, my lord, and I was taught duty to family and to Wales. I have an English husband whom I love, and I am content to recognize the English king as my overlord. But this business has little to do with England. It is Welsh business, my lord, and it must be concluded by the Welsh. This Rhys ap Daffydd is a man of guile and dishonor. Both he and his vile actions shame our race."
"And you, Englishman, you are content to allow your wife to do this thing?" ap Gruffydd asked Rafe.
"Aye," Rafe said. Then he continued, "My wife is not some delicate flower in need of my protection. She is a strong woman, and frankly at times I have been glad for her protection. If she believes she can do this, then I am content to let her. But know that if she should fail, I will, myself, see to this man's death for the temerity he has shown in taking my sister as his hostage."
A Memory of Love Page 35
