Castaways in Time (The After Cilmeri Series)

by Sarah Woodbury

  “It’s always like this before a fight.” Nicholas de Carew appeared at her left shoulder in the place Bevyn had vacated. Lili glanced up at him, taking in his patrician profile outlined against the glimmerings of stars in the night sky, and then she shifted her eyes to the front again, straining to make out the shapes of Valence’s men. The shadows bobbed and weaved in places, coalescing into individual men here and there as they came on. She still couldn’t hear their marching feet or make out their exact numbers.

  “You’ve participated in many battles,” she said, not as a question.

  “I’ve fought some beside your husband.” Carew paused as if he was thinking to add to his statement and then turned to look at her fully. “Tell me, my queen, have I offended the king?”

  Lili’s eyes widened. “No … no … why would you think that?”

  “I used to be much in his confidence, but these days he turns more to Clare or this new Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Callum.”

  This wasn’t the first time one of the Norman lords had come to her rather than Dafydd for an explanation of his actions. For some reason, they found her more approachable. She wouldn’t have thought this was the best time for it, but that Carew would speak to her about his concerns in this moment was an indication of how troubled he was. So she did her best. “My lord Carew, if you fear that you have lost my husband’s favor, I assure you that you are in all ways incorrect.”

  “I pray that you are right. Please tell me, in what way have I misunderstood?”

  “Has he not put the whole of southwest Wales into your keeping?” she said. “With that and your new lands in Cornwall and Somerset, your estates have doubled in size compared to what they were before you threw in your lot with us. He has given you this authority and power because he does trust you.”

  Carew nodded. “And yet, he no longer calls me to court. I care for his estates and mine, I pay my taxes, and yet I had heard nothing from him, barring the announcement of the birth of his son, for the past three months until this week. And then when I do come to London, he isn’t here to greet me.”

  Lili bit her lip, searching for the words that would convince Carew how completely he’d misunderstood the situation. “Dafydd has a saying. Perhaps you’ve heard it before, and it certainly applies to you in this case: keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

  Carew’s face was shadowed. He stood totally still, making his emotions difficult to read, but she forged ahead anyway. “If Bohun sails with my husband to Ireland, it isn’t because Dafydd trusts him or his counsel more than yours. It’s because he doesn’t. Dafydd can leave a large portion of his lands in your very capable hands and never worry that you will betray him or undercut his rule. He has left you alone because you do very well on your own.” She canted her head. “I can tell you that just the other day he said to me that he misses your companionship, but he wasn’t calling you to court because he didn’t want you to think he didn’t trust you to manage his and your affairs without his direction.”

  Carew took in a breath and let it out. “You comfort me. I have lived so long among those whose mouths speak nothing but falsehoods that I sometimes become confused by a king who tells me the truth. You have eased my mind and yet—” He paused and looked at her carefully. “I am concerned as to why he asked me to come to Windsor on the heels of his own departure.”

  “Why would you be concerned about that?” she said.

  “I came here in a temper, angry because I believed him to be mocking me by requesting my attendance on you instead of him. I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t speak to me in person.”

  “He would never mock you,” Lili said. “Never. Don’t you know him well enough by now not to think it?”

  “Your courtesy has shamed me.” Carew gazed out over the battlement, and Lili realized that he was fully exposed to the enemy across the river. She didn’t feel she could tug on Carew’s cloak to get him to drop down, and perhaps by now it didn’t matter. The oncoming soldiers would expect at least one sentry on the wall. They didn’t have to know how many additional men awaited them.

  “I will beg his forgiveness next I see him. I should have known that for the king to ask for my presence at Windsor while he was absent meant no more or less than it appeared on the surface and was an indication of trust—”

  “Of extreme trust,” Lili interjected.

  “He requested that I watch over you.” Carew shook his head. “With Lord Math and Lord Ieuan at Windsor, why would he choose me? Why place you in my keeping?”

  “They had many duties already, so he relieved them of the most important one by giving it to you.”

  Carew nodded but didn’t speak, and it seemed to Lili that even an old soldier like Carew could find himself undone by a gesture from her husband.

  And then she added, “It isn’t so much me that he charged you with, is it, Lord Carew? He charged you with the protection of our son.”

  She didn’t know why Dafydd hadn’t made sure he was here when Carew arrived, but then, why would he bother? He knew that he could rely on Carew, and that was the end of the matter. It was too bad he hadn’t explained all that to Carew, however.

  She put a hand on his arm. “Have you ever had any reason to mistrust Dafydd’s instincts?”

  Carew cleared his throat. “Never.”

  “Then don’t question them now,” Lili said. “You are here because he wanted you here, and for my part, there is no knight among all of Dafydd’s men whom it suits me more to have by my side tonight.”

  Carew bowed. “No matter what Valence brings against us, I will be your shield.”

  “I am grateful,” Lili said.

  As Lili spoke those words, the sound of marching feet finally came to her. She braced herself, eyes searching for Valence’s banner, but then a shout from across the Thames split the silence. “We’re friends! Let us through!”

  Lili peered into the darkness beyond the river. Bevyn shouted, “Who goes there?”

  “Rhodri ap Gruffydd! Uncle to the King! Hurry! Valence’s men are right behind us!”

  “It has to be a trap,” Lili said.

  Bevyn signaled that the torches on the bridge be lit. Once done, they revealed upwards of fifty men. They’d arrived at the far end of the bridge and at their head was a small man who’d removed his helmet, exposing his pure white hair. Bevyn stepped to the front of the men who guarded the city gate, a broad door with iron fittings and hinges. He looked up at Lili, who leaned through the crenel to speak to him. “I know of this Rhodri,” she said, “though I’ve never met him.”

  “I have,” Bevyn said. “I don’t trust him.”

  “You trust no one,” Lili said.

  “I will speak to him.” Bevyn lifted his chin. “Let Lord Rhodri through!”

  The soldiers on the bridge gave way. Some of Bevyn’s men formed a circle around him, hemming him in, and he met Bevyn at the near end of the bridge, right underneath Lili and Carew.

  “I am Rhodri ap Gruffydd. I have brought fifty men to aid Windsor.” He trained his eyes on the battlement, observing the people watching him through the crenels. “I believe I can be of service in this matter.”

  Lili had never met him, but this uncle Rhodri was one of the four brothers born to Dafydd’s grandfather, Gruffydd. Owain, the eldest of Gruffydd’s sons, had died in 1282 before Dafydd had come to Wales. Llywelyn, the second son, was Dafydd’s father, and Dafydd, the youngest and most wayward of the brothers, had died a few years ago after allying himself with King Edward against Llywelyn. Rhodri, the third son, had never involved himself in the struggles for Welsh independence. He’d been a very small boy when his mother had taken him to England in the 1240s when Gruffydd had been imprisoned in the Tower of London. Rhodri had never returned to Wales.

  In 1272, Llywelyn had paid Rhodri a large sum of money to relinquish his inheritance in Wales, an amount which by all accounts Rhodri had gladly taken. Dafydd had always meant to meet this uncle, and had even invited him to
his coronation last December. Rhodri hadn’t come, and Dafydd had, in a way, respected him for it. When Rhodri said that he didn’t want to involve himself in politics, he’d meant it, even if it meant not taking advantage of his blood relationship to the new king of England and, effectively, forgoing the new king’s favor.

  That he would come out of the woodwork now, however, and bring fighting men with him, defied all expectation.

  Bevyn bowed. “You understand our reluctance to admit you to Windsor.”

  “Y Ddraig Goch ddyry gychwyn.”

  Lili laughed in surprise at Rhodri’s words, spoken loudly in fluent Welsh: ‘The Red Dragon will show the way’. The phrase had been cropping up here and there over the past few years in reference to Dafydd himself. Lili wouldn’t have expected Rhodri to even know Welsh, much less declare his loyalty so starkly.

  “If you will admit me, I will leave my men to fight alongside yours. I will be your hostage.”

  Bevyn glanced up at Carew, who nodded his agreement, though with narrowed eyes as he observed the former Welsh prince.

  “I should greet him,” Lili said.

  By the time she reached the bottom step, Rhodri’s men had joined Bevyn’s, more than doubling the number defending the gate, and Bevyn had brought Rhodri inside Windsor. Rhodri bowed as Bevyn gestured to Lili. “Our queen, my lord.”

  “You fight, my lady?” Rhodri indicated her bow.

  “We all must do our part,” Lili said.

  Rhodri bowed again. “I will stand with you on the battlement.”

  Lili led him up to the wall-walk, accepting Carew’s offered hand that steadied her at the top. He glowered past her to Rhodri. “Why have you come?”

  Rhodri waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. “I was raised by my mother to hate my brother, Llywelyn, but hate isn’t in my blood for anyone but that bastard, William de Valence.”

  Carew blinked.

  “How is that?” Lili said. Rhodri’s frankness was disarming.

  “My brother, Dafydd, and the late King Edward were brothers in all but name. When Edward’s father brought Valence to England, over time he displaced Dafydd in Edward’s affections. I could have abided that fine, since their circle of trust never included me. But Valence went out of his way to persecute me at every turn.” Rhodri leaned closer, tapping the spectacles that rested on his nose. “I am no fighter. Never have been. I was a great disappointment to my family.”

  Lili could see how that might have been. She’d never met Senana, Llywelyn’s mother, but by all accounts she had been fiery and opinionated. She’d ruled her family like a general, all but Llywelyn, who’d made his own way and refused to come to heel.

  Carew was still looking daggers at Rhodri. “When you didn’t come to the king’s coronation—”

  “That was my failure,” Rhodri said. “The hate in me for Llywelyn is long gone, but the distrust remains. He bought me off, you know.”

  Lili and Carew both nodded.

  “It was in my mind that if I put myself in the king’s hands, I would find myself clapped in irons in the Tower of London.”

  “What changed your mind?” Lili said.

  “We’re not in London, are we?” Rhodri actually laughed. “But that’s not it. The king has ruled with a fair hand since he took the throne, far more than any king in my experience in any land, past or present. I am neither a fool nor blind. It was time we mended this family. He tried, and I scorned his offer of peace. This is mine.” He gestured beyond the battlement to his men.

  “How far behind you were Valence’s men?” Carew said.

  “Not far. A half mile, no more.” Rhodri rubbed his hands together in overt glee at his expectation of Valence’s ultimate defeat.

  And then men’s voices roared into the darkness on the other side of the Thames River. Valence had finally come.

  Chapter Eighteen

  September, 2017

  David

  Seeing Cassie at the door and then Callum come through it with a gun was possibly the best moment of David’s life. That was saying something, since he’d led a mostly charmed existence, and he’d had plenty of great moments. Among them were the day Lili agreed to marry him, the day his son was born, the morning his mother returned to the Middle Ages, and the day his father had told him that he was his father. At those times, however, David hadn’t felt his life to be in danger. Today, from the scarlet fever, to his up-close-and-personal acquaintance with a stretcher, to his apparent abduction by a kindly-eyed American in a run-down apartment on the outskirts of Cardiff, David thought he’d give the day’s events a slight edge.

  David had tried to let Cassie know that he appreciated her rescue of him, but it seemed that his entire body had been covered with lead weights. With the little strength he possessed, he reached over with his right hand and tugged on the lead to the IV.

  “Hey!” Cassie grabbed his wrist before he could pull the needle out of his vein. “It’s okay. I turned it off.”

  “Oh.” David closed his eyes, exhausted by that small effort, but glad to know that whatever poison they’d been giving him wasn’t continuing to drip into his system. Before the ambulance had come and he’d been taken out of MI-5, he’d been feeling sick but functional. Since they’d strapped him to the stretcher and all hell had broken loose, he’d been unable to rise or he would have unhooked himself sooner.

  “You’re going to be okay,” Cassie said.

  “You’re sure of that?” David said.

  She gave him a quick smile. “Now I am.”

  David closed his eyes, listening to the rumble of the engine and the sudden onslaught of rain on the roof of the car. Both were incredibly comforting, making him feel safe. He also liked that night had fallen. Hiding was easier in the dark. “Where are we going?” he said.

  “While we have a mystery to solve and treachery within MI-5, my first priority is your safety, my lord. I’d love to take you to Chepstow, but I’m worried about getting that far without my colleagues intercepting us. An all-points bulletin must be out by now on this SUV, even if Jones will try to protect us as long as he can,” Callum said. “Do you know if any castles around here have a moat?”

  David coughed a laugh, feeling more upbeat by the minute, just to be in motion and with his friends. “Our world shifting occurs when my life is in danger. I’m not sure that jumping tamely into a moat is going to cut it.”

  “I knew it couldn’t be that easy.” Callum turned his head so his voice would project to Cassie and David from the front seat. “Did your abductors tell you anything about themselves?”

  “No. My sense is that they weren’t MI-5, even though they were working with MI-5 agents,” David said.

  “Whoever they are, they have infiltrated the Security Service to the extent that they not only could evade detection as we did leaving MI-5, but entering it too,” Callum said. “Before we rescued you, Director Cooke claimed not to know where you were. Every ambulance has a tracking device built into it. Even if the men who abducted you turned it off, it can be turned on again remotely. The Security Service couldn’t.”

  “Maybe David’s abductors disabled it,” Cassie said.

  “Then the engine isn’t supposed to start,” Callum said.

  “Maybe it wasn’t a real ambulance,” Cassie said.

  Callum was silent for a moment. “I should have thought of that.”

  David felt he should have thought of that too, if his brain hadn’t been currently made of mush. “What happened to Natasha? Are you saying that she’s one of them?”

  Callum sighed. “I don’t know. We have too many unanswered questions, my lord, not the least of which is why everybody seems to be lying to me, even those people I thought were my friends.”

  “Welcome to my world,” David said.

  “Yes … well … I’m not saying that your life hasn’t been in danger before from all those conniving barons back at home, but what happened today is outside of my experience,” Callum said.

  “Befo
re you came to the Middle Ages, you were in charge of the Office,” Cassie said. “Now you’re on the outside looking in, and it looks different.”

  David thought Callum might take that as an insult, but instead he laughed. “Are you implying that I’m naïve, cariad?”

  Cassie looked startled. “No-no-I didn’t mean that; what I meant to say is that navigating all the politics and the lies and the shenanigans was second nature to you when you worked for MI-5. You saw the political maneuvering in Scotland a few months ago for what it was too. But this … this is different, and maybe what is so confusing is that we are dealing with another organization in addition to MI-5.”

  “Natasha is an agent,” Callum said, “and I don’t understand her at all.”

  “What if that’s because she’s working for this other organization, one with no rules, one which would abduct David and give him drugs to question him—” Cassie broke off, swallowing hard. “You didn’t hear Anders—” She poked David in the shoulder, “—that’s the guy who was helping us back at the apartment. He told me that the man who rented the apartment had a badge.”

  “What kind of badge?” Callum said.

  “He didn’t get a good look,” Cassie said, “but Anderes thought he was ‘one of you’, meaning MI-5.”

  “He could have intended Anders to see his badge and think exactly what he did think. That way, he wouldn’t ask questions or tell the apartment owner,” Callum said.

  “I suppose,” Cassie said.

  “I suggest it because, to my eyes, this is too haphazard to be government sanctioned,” Callum said.

  “But what if Anders is right at least a little?” Cassie said. “What if the guy was working for an American spy agency? There are enough of them these days that it could be any of a dozen. And Jones did say that the Americans wanted in.”

  “In?” David felt like he was walking into the middle of a conversation he’d never had but was expected to keep up with anyway.

  While Callum drove steadily north, ducking around corners and pulling over to the side of the road every few hundred yards to make sure they weren’t being followed, Cassie gave David a quick summary of what she and Callum had been doing and what they’d discovered since they were separated. When she finished, he related what had happened on his end, which felt like very little indeed compared to what they’d been doing.