Dragon of the Island

by Mary Gillgannon

  Aurora continued into the forest, searching for the waterfall that Gwenaseth had mentioned. The overgrown trees let in little light, and Aurora’s eyes struggled to adjust to the dim environment. She felt a tingle of apprehension. The strange sense of bewitchment was back. She had felt it when she first entered the mountains. The oak was sacred to the druids, and here the ancient giant trees seemed to be everywhere. Aurora thought of the blood sacrifices of the druids and shivered. Had human blood been spilled in these dank shrouded groves?

  Aurora’s dread weighed so heavily upon her that she finally decided to turn back. She guided the horse in a circle, trying to return to the pathway she had just taken. The damp leaves left no mark of her passing, and Aurora was not sure of the trail. She rode along, growing more and more frightened by the eerie stillness and the twisting, confusing pathway. For a moment she thought someone was following her, but when she turned back to look, she saw no one.

  Her apprehension must have spooked the horse, for when a small frightened creature hurried in front of them across the darkness of the forest floor, Paithu shied away.

  “It is all right, girl,” Aurora whispered soothingly, patting the mare’s neck.

  But Aurora was not sure. The hair on the back of her neck prickled strangely and her heart was beating fast. She dismounted for a moment to lead the horse over a fallen log that was crusted with ancient lichen and moss, and she heard something more than the rustle of her sandals on damp leaves. She turned back the way she had come and gasped. Esylt stood a few paces away, staring at her.

  For a moment Aurora could not find her voice. Coming face to face with her enemy in this dark, spooky place unnerved her. She wondered how long Esylt had been following her.

  “What are you doing here?” Aurora asked when her nerves had steadied.

  “What are you doing trespassing on the king’s lands?” Esylt retorted. Even in the shadows of the forest, her face shone pale against the dark of her hair and the blue blaze of her eyes.

  Aurora grew angry. “I am the queen!” she answered hotly. “By rights these lands are mine, too.”

  “Queen!” Esylt spat out the word contemptuously, her full mouth twisting in scorn. “You are no more than my brother’s slut. I hope you please him well.”

  “He would not wish to hear you speak so of me.”

  “Ah, and would he wish to know that his wife spends her time in the arms of one of his officers while he is away?”

  Aurora sucked in her breath and answered in a low, frightened voice. “How can you say such a thing? Elwyn is only a friend. He is completely loyal to Maelgwn.”

  “And you... are you completely loyal to Maelgwn?” Esylt asked with a mocking laugh. “No. I daresay if you could find a way out of this marriage, you would take it. My brother is a fool.” Her face brightened with the threat of malice. “Would you like me to tell him what kind of fool he is? Would you like me to tell him exactly how you spend your time when he is away?”

  “There is nothing to tell,” Aurora answered as calmly as she could. “Elwyn and I have shared nothing other than friendship, and Elwyn will tell Maelgwn that himself.”

  “Aye, Elwyn is betrothed to Lady Gwenaseth, whose father rules the rich lands along the coast. It would be awkward for him if everyone at Caer Eryri knew of his lack of loyalty to Maelgwn.”

  “No one would believe it. Gwenaseth herself sent Elwyn after me.”

  “No one?” Esylt looked at Aurora consideringly. “I think there are many at Caer Eryri who would like to believe the worst of you. They might well think both Gwenaseth and Elwyn were protecting you.”

  Aurora tried to shake off her rising panic. Esylt was twisting things so wickedly. She could not understand why this woman hated her so much.

  “What do you want from me? Why are you threatening me?”

  Esylt moved toward her slowly, until Aurora had backed into Paithu and had nowhere to go. Her sister-in-law’s blue eyes glittered like ice, and Aurora found she could not look away.

  “Want from you?” Esylt asked haughtily. “I want nothing from you... except to have you away from Caer Eryri and out of my brother’s life.”

  “I... it’s not up to me,” Aurora answered haltingly. “That is between Maelgwn and my father. The peace between our two lands depends on this marriage.”

  “Peace! Do you think I care about peace? If Maelgwn had any sense he would have burned Viroconium to the ground and killed all of you!”

  Aurora flinched, keenly aware of the hatred, the madness that flowed from Esylt’s eyes to hers. She was deathly afraid of her sister-in-law. She did not want to fight with Esylt, but only get away.

  Esylt seemed to have spent her anger. She gave Aurora one last cold, hostile look and then turned away, disappearing into the forest as quickly as she had come.

  Aurora stood frozen for a moment, sweating and breathing hard. Never had she faced such raw hatred, and it made her almost ill. She tried frantically to sort out her thoughts. What should she do? She wanted to tell Maelgwn of Esylt’s threats, but a shadowy fear held her back. Would he believe her, or would Esylt’s clever insinuations about Elwyn make him too angry to listen?

  Aurora shivered as she mounted Paithu again and began riding anxiously in the direction Esylt had taken. She urged the horse on carelessly, seeking to escape the sinister gloom of the forest as fast as possible.

  Aurora thought back to the idyllic afternoon she had spent with Elwyn. Aye, she had to admit that there was just enough truth in Esylt’s taunts to make it hard to face her husband. Although they had done nothing disloyal, there was something special about her relationship with Elwyn, a closeness that might make Maelgwn jealous. No, she didn’t think she could depend on Maelgwn to believe her over Esylt. She would have to hope Esylt would not carry out her threat. But how could she stand it, to stay at Caer Eryri while Esylt plotted against her? She had to think of a plan before Maelgwn returned from the coast.

  The coast! Maelgwn had forts all up and down the coast, as well as scattered among the hills. As soon as he returned to the fortress, she would ask him if she could live at another of his strongholds. She would speak to him right away, before Esylt had a chance to tell him her lies.

  Chapter 16

  “That finished them!” Maelgwn shouted gleefully.

  Abelgirth let out a yell in response, and then raised his sword threateningly at the retreating soldiers. The Irish raiders had given up the battle and were fleeing toward the sea, scrambling to get back in their boats as fast as they could.

  “Take that, you Irish curs!” Abelgirth shouted. “That will teach you to attack the Cymru.”

  “You know they’ll be back,” Maelgwn said as he walked over to the big chieftain.

  Abelgirth was still holding a cowering Irishman in one hand while he wiped off his sword on his blood-soaked tunic with the other.

  “Aye, I know they’ll be back, but today we gave them a reason to delay a few years.”

  Abelgirth gestured toward the beach littered with Irish dead, and then to the handful of enemy survivors who were being rounded up and put in chains.

  “A good day’s work, I’d say.”

  Maelgwn nodded. The Irish raiders barely had time to set the little fishing village afire before Abelgirth and his men were upon them. When it came to repelling coastal raids, Abelgirth was a superb commander, and Maelgwn was well pleased by what he had seen on this visit to Llanfaglon. The string of forts along the coast of Gwynedd was solid and well-supplied. The defenses were so good, in fact, that the Irish raids had dwindled to almost nothing.

  Abelgirth released his captive to be chained with the rest, and then the two men walked among the dead, looking for armor and weapons that could be salvaged.

  “I believe we’ve seen more action here than you have in your campaign to the east, Maelgwn. I hear you took the town of Viroconium without so much as a sword being drawn.”

  “You heard the truth. We marched in and made an alliance with Cons
tantine. I took one of his daughters as my wife to seal the bargain. It was the easiest victory I’ve ever had.”

  “A wife, eh?” Abelgirth commented with a sly grin. “You are probably anxious to get back to her.”

  Maelgwn smiled and then shrugged. “No need for that. She must get used to me being gone for weeks. I have a country to look after. Anyway, men who hold themselves too close to their womenfolk grow soft and weak.”

  “Ah, but you smile at the mere mention of her. It is clear this woman has more to recommend her than merely the dowry of Viroconium.”

  “Aye, she is a beauty,” Maelgwn said proudly. “Even I did not know what wealth I had stolen until I bedded her.” His face grew more serious. “But she can be difficult. I don’t know if the Romans breed particularly stubborn, willful women, or if it is just that she is spoiled, but Aurora tries my patience regularly.”

  Abelgirth laughed. “Surely that is not Roman blood, but the British strain that makes our women as fierce as their men. Anyway Maelgwn, there is a price for everything worth having. My own Gwenamore—God rest her soul.” Abelgirth crossed himself with his huge hand, for he had recently become a Christian. “She was a beauty indeed, as bright and graceful as the sea foam. But I paid a high price for her loveliness. She was too small a woman to bear children easily, my children at least. I lost her and my only son when she died in childbirth.”

  “I had forgotten, Abelgirth. I am sorry.”

  “It’s no matter now,” Abelgirth said dismissingly. “I have my lovely Gwenaseth, and God willing, she will soon give me a brood of healthy grandchildren. I am glad that Elwyn has finally asked for her hand. The boy does not have overmuch spirit, but he is as loyal as a faithful old hound, and he makes her happy.”

  “It’s good you are pleased with the match your daughter has made,” Maelgwn said. “I have always felt a little guilty that I did not ask her to be my queen.”

  “You!” Abelgirth gave a deep rumbling laugh. “You would swallow up my sweet little Gwen like a cormorant devours a minnow. At any rate, the ties between us did not need strengthening. You had to make a match such as you did—one that expands your lands and power.”

  “If not me, why not another prince? There are many chieftains who would have paid well for the privilege of being your son-in-law.”

  Abelgirth’s broad, ruddy face softened. “I may be a foolish old man, but I could not see my only child bargained off to the man with the most gold. No, I wanted Gwenaseth to be happy, to be with a man who will cherish her for herself and not her dowry.”

  “You can sympathize with Constantine, I guess,” Maelgwn said with a smile. “I am sure I was not the man he would have chosen to marry his dearest daughter.”

  “He could have done much worse. Why, from the way your face changes when you speak of her, it would seem you are falling in love with this Cornovii princess.”

  Maelgwn looked startled. “No,” he protested. “I don’t want to be in love with any woman. It’s only that she pleases me well.”

  Abelgirth frowned, and his face grew unusually somber.

  “I believe it is good for a man to have a trusting, loving relationship with his wife. Myself—I never appreciated Gwenamore until it was too late. I was always out wenching and enjoying myself.” He sighed. “And then one day, she was gone. I can tell you, if I had a chance, I would go back and do things differently.”

  Maelgwn considered his friend’s words. It was not uncommon for a man to look back on his past and be tortured by the decisions he made when young. Abelgirth, for all his formidable bulk and fierce demeanor, was an exceptionally kind-hearted man.

  “I wonder how my kinsman Arthur is doing in his efforts to keep the Saxon sea wolves at bay along the eastern shores?” asked Maelgwn, changing the subject.

  Abelgirth shook his head. “Arthur is a great soldier, but he cannot prevail forever. There are too many Saxons, no matter how many he kills, there will always be more arriving from across the sea.” His deep voice was brooding. “I’m afraid someday they will invade as far as Viroconium, and Constantine—if he survives—will finally appreciate how civilized and generous a conqueror you were.”

  Abelgirth unclasped a wineskin from his horse’s saddle and took a drink.

  “We can only hope to hold them back in the west. The Saxon curs have no use for the highlands, so your settlements will survive. And here, along the coast, we have been fighting invaders for so long we know of nothing else.”

  Maelgwn nodded solemnly at his host’s grim assessment. Arthur was a valiant warrior, but now that the legions of Rome were gone, it was only a matter of time before the riches of Britain were plundered, and the Roman forts and towns sacked and ruined by the blind greed of the Saxons. The important thing was Gwynedd. He was determined that his beautiful wild hills should remain safe. The coastal forts were the key to their safety, but his heart was in the highlands. Even now he ached for the lonely valleys hidden with in the embrace of Yr Wyddfa’s majestic shadow.

  “So, what do we do, now that we have kept the coasts safe for another day?” Maelgwn asked, taking the wineskin that Abelgirth offered.

  “Back to my feasting hall, of course,” Abelgirth answered with a smile. “My cooks are preparing a special meal in your honor. What do you say to roast salmon and eels boiled in wine and butter?”

  “What are we waiting for!” Maelgwn exclaimed as he mounted his horse.

  * * *

  The slight breeze stirred Aurora’s hair as she sat on her high lookout on the side of the steep hill that guarded Caer Eryri. She had come to this spot almost daily since her encounter with Esylt. It was close enough to the fort to be under the watchful eyes of the guard at the gate, and yet far enough away for her to escape the oppressiveness of life in the fortress.

  There was nowhere in the fortress where she could be comfortable. The tower chamber was hot and stuffy during the day, and everywhere else there was the bustle of people going about their business to remind her of how purposeless her own life was. Unlike at Viroconium, she had no desire to spend time around the stables or the other farm buildings. They were not so clean as the ones at home, and in the enclosed space they gave off unpleasant odors. Anyway, Aurora mused, she was a queen now, and she could not go dragging her skirts through the dirt to chase a stray cat or play with a puppy as she once had.

  In her loneliness and boredom she had wandered to this spot, taking her sewing with her to keep up the pretense of being busy like everyone else. It was a pleasant place. She could see the horses grazing nearby and hear the soft call of the ringdoves that nested in the nooks and crannies of the fortress walls. From behind her came the sounds of mock battle as the soldiers trained in the open space behind the fortress. From her vantage spot she had a stunning view of the whole valley, and she could watch the farmers and villagers below go about their business. On clear days she could even see the small cluster of buildings that made up the priory farther down the valley.

  Aurora did little sewing in her lookout spot. She brooded and made chains of the white starflowers that grew in profusion on the hill. She was preoccupied with worry over her encounter with Esylt. She had not told anyone—even Gwenaseth—of Esylt’s threats. Her plan was to get Maelgwn to take her to live somewhere else in his kingdom, someplace away from Esylt’s treachery.

  But how could she ask her husband without arousing his suspicions, she wondered? She must be very clever and subtle, and convince Maelgwn of her unhappiness with other things at Caer Eryri besides his sister. Aurora both looked forward to and dreaded Maelgwn’s return to Caer Eryri. She had missed him, in truth, but she also feared him. What would happen to her if Esylt told him her lies and he believed her?

  Aurora was seated there, watching the valley, when she saw the black shapes of horses and riders moving near the river—Maelgwn was back. Before the lookout had even announced the king’s arrival, Aurora hurried into the fortress to wash and change her dress. She wanted to meet with Maelgwn alone
as soon as she could, and she intended to look her best.

  Aurora greeted the king at the gate with the others. Maelgwn’s eyes alighted on her with glowing pleasure, and after he dismounted he pulled her to him for an eager and very public kiss. Aurora’s relief at her husband’s warm greeting was marred by Esylt’s presence. Knowing that her wicked sister-in-law was so near seemed to send a chill down her spine.

  A dozen things commanded Maelgwn’s attention, and Aurora didn’t see her husband again until the evening meal. The atmosphere in the great hall that night was cheerful and relaxed, and Aurora could almost forget the cold loneliness that had haunted her while the men were gone. Balyn was joking and playful, and even Evrawc smiled politely at her. Aurora wondered if she was beginning to be accepted, at least by Maelgwn’s men.

  After the meal, Maelgwn made no pretense of lingering, but eagerly led Aurora to their bedchamber. She could not seem to put Esylt’s threats out of her mind, and her unease obviously conveyed itself to Maelgwn. After a few probing kisses, he pulled back and looked at her with a puzzled expression.

  “Aurora, what is wrong?”

  She shrugged, uncertain how to begin.

  “Obviously there is something wrong,” Maelgwn said with a touch of impatience. “You do not even seem glad to see me.”

  “It is not that,” Aurora protested, pressing herself against him.

  “Speak woman,” he said more softly. “Tell me what is troubling you.”

  “Is it true you have many holdings in Gwynedd besides Caer Eryri?”

  Maelgwn nodded.

  “Do you dwell then at Caer Eryri most of the year or do you travel from fort to fort?”

  “Why both. I stay at Caer Eryri as much as I can, but I must visit all my holdings every few months.”