Dragon of the Island

by Mary Gillgannon

  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.

  Chapter 29

  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 cowa
rd, 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.”

  The people were talking again, but Aurora saw Sewan and some of the other women nod their heads as if confirming her story. It seemed that they would give her a chance.

  Elwyn called for silence and then spoke again: “Perhaps it does not matter why the message was sent. The important thing is that Maelgwn is very likely no more than a few days away now. We must begin to prepare for war, and we must be quick about it. Maelgwn has left me in charge, and I will direct the preparations. I would like the oldest male of each family to report to me now, and we will begin to make plans.”

  The crowd began to disperse at Elwyn’s words, as women ran to tell others and the men grouped uneasily

  around Elwyn. Aurora stood nearby, uncertain what she should do. She started at a touch on her arm.

  “Gwenaseth!”

  “Aurora, you were wonderful,” Gwenaseth said with a fond smile. “You acted just like a queen.”

  Aurora smiled back uneasily. “Then you are not angry? You do not believe Esylt?”

  “Of course not.” Gwenaseth lowered her pale eyelashes in thought a moment, and then looked up at Aurora again.

  “I know that Elwyn is infatuated with you, but he loves me. Even if he could have you, he would not be happy. I know that / can make him happy.”

  “Oh, Gwenaseth.” Aurora reached out to touch Gwenaseth’s freckled cheek gently, and there were tears in her eyes. “How did you ever come to be so wise?”

  Gwenaseth laughed. “Now you sound just like my father!”

  Aurora and Elwyn met later in the tower room.

  “I wanted to report to you, my lady,” Elwyn said formally as he entered.

  Aurora nodded.

  “I think we are ready—or as near ready as we can be. Now there is nothing else to do, but wait for Maelgwn to get here.”

  “And if he doesn’t come?”

  Elwyn shifted on his feet restlessly. “I have sent couriers to Abelgirth, Maelgrith and our other allies. I’m sure they will send men as soon as they can, but the timing is critical. Their men are scattered in the fields for harvest and in fishing boats along the coast—it may be a week before they can assemble an army and get them here.”

  “How long before Gwyrtheyrn and my father arrive?”

  Elwyn shrugged. “If they left shortly after the messenger arrived here... they could be here by tomorrow. But I don’t think they will,” Elwyn added hastily. “I think they are confident that Maelgwn is still a long ways away, and they have plenty of time. I don’t think they have left Viroconium yet.”

  “Have you sent out scouts to find out for sure what Gwyrtheyrn is doing?”

  “Aye, they went out this morning.”

  “Good,” Aurora said softly. “You have done well, Elwyn. Maelgwn would be proud of you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Aurora stood up, and began to pace. “Now that I am sure everything is taken care of here, I can leave without worrying.”

  “Leave!” Elwyn gaped at Aurora in surprise. “Where are you going?”

  “I’ve made up my mind—I’m going to see my father.”

  “But why? It’s too late. He has already joined forces with Gwyrtheyrn.”

  “No, it’s not too late—I don’t believe that!” Aurora stopped her pacing and stood quietly before Elwyn. “This alliance with Gwyrtheyrn—it does not seem like something my father would do at all. I’m sure he was tricked into it... or else forced.”

  “But why does that matter?” Elwyn asked impatiently. “It’s too late now. He has chosen the side he will fight on.”

  Aurora looked at Elwyn, her blue eyes bright with anguish. “If I could talk to him, Elwyn, I know I could make him see his mistake. I might even be able to convince him to fight with us instead of against us!”

  Elwyn shook his head. “It’s too dangerous, Aurora. I can’t let you go and risk your life. Maelgwn would never forgive me.”

  “How can you stop me?” Aurora asked defiantly. “Will you lock me in this room as Maelgwn did?”

  “Oh, Aurora,” Elwyn pleaded. “Please don’t do this. I’m sworn to protect you.”

  Aurora’s eyes flashed. “And I am absolving you of that oath! I will go... I must go.”

  “Then I will go with you,” Elwyn said suddenly. “Even if Maelgwn does not get back in time, Abelgirth will be here by tomorrow, and he can direct what army we will have. I will stay with you and protect you. That is the least I can do.”

  “No, Elwyn!” Aurora cried, aghast. “What will everyone say? Already the people whisper that you are too loyal to me. I suspect that Gwenaseth is the only one who is sure you have not bedded me already! If you go with me, Esylt will make sure that Maelgwn thinks the worst.”

  “I don’t care,” Elwyn said stubbornly. “I can’t let you undertake such a journey unprotected. If you insist you have to go, then I insist I must go with you.”

  Aurora sighed. “I’m going to get ready to leave now. Have Gwenaseth come to me. If she agrees to let you go, then I will take you.”

  “Well, the fortress still stands,” Balyn said as Maelgwn’s army reached the overlook above Caer Eryri and saw the stone towers gleaming in the waning sunlight.

  “What do you mean by that?” Evrawc asked irritably. “We haven’t been gone that long.”

  “Perhaps now that we are nearly home, it’s time to discuss what we do mean.” Maelgwn’s voice was low and controlled, but his face was grim with tension.

  “Is something going on?” asked Evrawc angrily. “Everyone is talking in riddles!”

  Maelgwn pulled his stallion to a halt. Balyn and his other office
rs stopped, too. Maelgwn motioned the rest of the army to keep riding toward home, and then he dismounted and gestured to his men to do the same.

  “Perhaps it is best if we settle this here, before we are within Caer Eryri’s walls,” Maelgwn said ominously.

  “Settle what?” Evrawc asked with a glowering frown.

  “I say we should get him safely within the fortress before we confront him,” Balyn argued. The big man’s usual sardonic smile was gone and his face looked deadly serious.

  Maelgwn shook his head at Balyn. “A man has a right to face his accusers, and once we’re home, there will be no way to talk of this without the whole fortress knowing that something is wrong.”

  “What is going on?” Evrawc asked in aggravation. “You have all been behaving very strangely since that messenger came. What was in that message anyway? I can’t believe we left Manau Gotodin so abruptly without good reason.”

  “Aye, there was a good reason,” Balyn said, his eyes never leaving Evrawc’s face. “Aurora sent word that she had heard a rumor that her father had joined forces with Gwyrtheyrn and was planning to invade Gwynedd.”

  “A rumor? Is that what this is all about?” Evrawc looked at Maelgwn doubtfully. “I can see why we had to return Caer Eryri, but that still doesn’t explain why you are all acting so strangely.”

  “The rumor, Evrawc,” Maelgwn said softly. “The rumor came from your wife.”

  “Wydian?” Evrawc looked thoroughly startled. “I can’t imagine why she should talk about such things. Normally she has no interest in men’s affairs.”

  Evrawc looked around at the dozen eyes watching him and laughed a short, mirthless laugh. “I see—you think that my wife might have learned of this ‘rumor’ from me.” His mouth twisted into a cockeyed smile. “Let me assure you, if I told ,my wife that the sky was blue, she would be sure to tell the world that it was yellow. No rumor that my wife is spreading could come from me. We speak seldom enough, and when we do, she only contradicts me, not repeats me!”

  Maelgwn sighed. “I believe you.” He turned to face the other men. “We all know that Evrawc and his wife are not... shall we say, on good terms. Truly there is no reason to think that anything she says might come from him.”