Arthur spoke another few words, so low Myrddin didn’t catch them due to the hubbub in the room, and then turned to face front again. He sat, slouched a bit in his chair, an elbow on the armrest and a finger to his lips, and studied Myrddin. “There is something different about you today.”
Myrddin straightened his shoulders. “Is there?”
“How many years have you served me?”
“Since I became a man.” In Wales, legally, that was at the age of fourteen, although Myrddin was sixteen when he’d come to Garth Celyn and marked his transition from boy to man by that event.
“Perhaps it’s time you found yourself a wife,” he said. “Or I did.”
Myrddin blinked. Nothing could have been further from his mind than that. Wives brought complications that were of no interest to him, both because of the commitment involved and the logistics.
“A wife, my lord?” Myrddin said. “I have no means to support a wife.”
“You should,” Arthur said. “In the new year, I will see to it that you are rewarded for your long service.”
Myrddin’s mouth fell open, just managing not to choke on his astonishment. “Thank you my lord.”
Arthur smiled and waved his hand, dismissing him.
Myrddin bowed, still stuttering his thanks, but King Arthur’s attention was again directed elsewhere.
Geraint grinned at Myrddin and raised his cup in a salute. Myrddin shook his head, simultaneously bemused and appalled. Ever since the dreams had started to come more often, he’d felt himself haunted. He’d kept himself aloof and behind walls no woman could penetrate. He’d long since tallied the cost of letting anyone get inside them and found it too high.
But now here he stood, among friends he would trust with his life, in the hall of a king for whom he’d willingly die—and had died in his dreams more times than he could count—surrounded by people he knew so well he could recite their conversations for them. Whether he liked it or not, the walls were down. He was going to save them all or die in the attempt.
With nothing left to say, Myrddin turned away, heading towards a vacant spot at one of the long tables next to where Ifan sat. Ifan moved over to give Myrddin room and handed him a trencher for his food.
“What was that about?” Ifan said.
Myrddin poured a cup of wine, studied it, and slaked his thirst, while reminding himself not to drink too much. He wasn’t interested in drinking himself into a stupor. Perhaps if he paid closer attention to his dreams, and dreamed more often, he could identify the necessary details that might give him an edge in saving Arthur. “The king plans to find me a wife. Or, rather, he told me that he would choose one for me if I don’t do the deed myself.”
Ifan had been taking a drink as Myrddin spoke, and now he choked and laughed at the same time, spraying wine across the table. Coughing, he used the tail of his cloak to dab at his mustache. “A wife?”
“That’s what he said.”
Shaking his head, Ifan set to his food once more, laughing between bites. “Myrddin with a wife.”
Myrddin shook his head too and laughed into his cup. Unless he could find a way for Arthur to live into the new year, the entire discussion was moot. It was comical to even think about.
A wife. Instead, how about a life that lasts beyond the next thirty-six days?
Chapter Five
6 November 537 AD
Nell stood on the rampart above the gatehouse to watch Myrddin, Lord Geraint, and all but a handful of the men-at-arms from the garrison ride away from Garth Celyn in the pre-dawn hush. Myrddin rode among the leaders, just to the left of Gareth, younger brother to Gawain and a commander in his own right. It was a promotion of a sort, apparently, which hadn’t gone unremarked among those left behind.
Anything that distinguished one man from another—any time a man found favor in the sight of King Arthur—invited comment. The soldiers rode without torches, relying on the moon, which at present was playing hide and seek with the clouds, to guide them.
Damn all men for their love of battle! Even as Nell thought the words, she knew they weren’t fair. This war had been forced on King Arthur by his brother, Cai, who’d attacked one of Modred’s strongholds without consulting Arthur. Modred had used the ill-advised assault as an excuse to restart the war. The son of one of Arthur’s many sisters, Modred had set his sights on Wales from the moment he realized that he was the eldest nephew and that Arthur wouldn’t produce a son of his own.
Modred’s Mercian allies, on the other hand, had never forgiven Arthur for defeating them at Mt. Badon on his way to controlling all but the most southern regions of Wales. For thirty-seven years, they’d carried that grudge. By now, even the most die-hard apologists didn’t doubt that Arthur’s choices were few: to fight, to die, or to give up his patrimony entirely.
Nell braved the wind until the hoof beats faded, and in the end was the last silent watcher left on the battlement. The men had long since disappeared into the mist when she turned away. It was strange to be so alone, with no responsibilities, no young novice to reassure or put to work depending on the hour, no religious office to keep. Even odder was the preponderance of men around her. Few women with whom she might associate lived in the castle—and should she even try, with hardly more than a month to live?
At the entrance to the hall, King Arthur himself greeted her and gestured that she should sit with him while he ate his meal. He’d watched his men ride away and, contrary to her expectations, didn’t retire to his office rather than allow his people the opportunity to observe how he handled the next few painful hours as they waited to hear the results of the battle.
Arthur took a sip from his goblet and put it down. “Anxious?” he said, once she’d seated herself on his left.
“Yes,” she said, opting for the truth. She felt confident that Myrddin himself, if he was to fight for the king in a month’s time, would live through this battle. The king had few enough men, however, that the loss of even one was a tragedy.
“Myrddin is one of my best men,” Arthur said. “There is less need to worry for him than for most. He was a stripling when he came to me and I took him on despite the reservations of some of my counselors. I have not regretted it.”
“He isn’t as young as he once was,” Nell said.
“Nor are any of us.” King Arthur laughed. “But there will be little enough fighting today, by my reckoning.”
“How’s that, my lord?” Nell said.
“The Saxons don’t know the Strait like we do,” Arthur said. “We take its temperamental nature for granted, but Wulfere has been here only a few months. He’s arrogant. His bridge won’t hold.”
“I admit it’s an odd construction,” Nell said. The Saxons had hammered boards over the top of their bridge of boats to make a makeshift road from Anglesey to the Eryri shore. Even at low tide, the bridge wouldn’t provide an easy crossing.
“It isn’t so much the bridge as the tides,” King Arthur said. “Slack water occurs four times a day: an hour before high or low tide. Geraint has a boy severing the ropes and pins that hold the bridge together. Either the Saxons will discover the damage, it will delay them past the optimum time to cross, and they’ll have to wait six hours for the next slack water—or they won’t, and the bridge will break and dump them into the Strait.”
“And you think that Wulfere plans to cross this morning?”
“Yes. That’s what the girl said.”
Nell had been shredding the remains of a biscuit that a servant had set in front of her, but now she glanced at the king. “Girl?”
The king gazed at her over his goblet and then set it down. “Wulfere’s new doxy wasted no time in finding a way to reach one of my men. The Saxon camp is full of followers and hangers on. I have at least a half-dozen men and boys among them who confirm her information.”
Nell’s heart was in her throat, and she could barely speak around the lump. “Do you know her name?”
King Arthur’s forehead wrinkled
in thought, and then he turned in his seat. Bedwyr was just entering the hall from the corridor beyond, and Arthur called to him. “Do you know the name of the new girl in Wulfere’s bed?”
Nell clamped her teeth together, trying to keep them from chattering at the casual way he asked the question. The girl meant nothing to him other than a source of information.
“Bronwen, I think.” Bedwyr didn’t even break stride as he headed towards the front of the hall.
“That’s it.” Arthur snapped his fingers. “Bronwen.”
Nell placed her palms together and her fingers to her lips, but instead of prayer, she was trying to force back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. All she could think of was the sweet-faced, sharp-tongued girl Bronwen had been in the convent. Now she was Wulfere’s whore, but she had enough courage behind that pretty face, despite everything she’d endured, to defy him and spy for Arthur. “That poor child.”
“Bronwen is a common enough name,” Arthur said. “You don’t know that she was one of your sisters.”
“Perhaps,” Nell said, pretending for Arthur that she wasn’t certain, although inside she was certain that she knew the truth.
“And what about you?” Arthur said. “You’re welcome to stay at Garth Celyn as long as you choose. Your knowledge of herbs and healing is a most welcome addition to the castle, but surely you would prefer a different haven? Perhaps the convent in Gwytherin?”
“No, my lord,” Nell said. “Thank you, but I can’t go back to that life.”
“Can’t,” Arthur said. “Or won’t?”
Nell tipped her head in acknowledgement of the king’s distinction. “Won’t.”
“As you wish.” Arthur kept his voice level, but she could tell he was curious as to her reasons. Fortunately, he was too polite to ask.
Just then, Bedwyr reentered the hall, leaving the front door wide. The sun had risen, and the grey dawn filtered through the scattered clouds, revealing an unusually clear day that would give the watchers a fine view of the Menai Strait and Anglesey beyond.
“My king!” Bedwyr strode towards Arthur. “The Saxons are delayed, but there is no doubt they intend to come today!”
Arthur’s eyes lit, and he stood. Nell stood with him.
“Excellent,” King Arthur said.
“Will you go to see it, my lord?” she said.
“No,” Arthur said. “I will not undermine the authority of Geraint and Gareth. My faith in my men is not misplaced.”
That showed remarkable patience. Nell, for her part, couldn’t keep still. Instead of trying to tame her emotions, she curtseyed to Arthur and left the hall for the battlements. Nell told herself she was going outside again so she could see what had become of Llanfaes. It wasn’t necessarily that she was going to spend the day watching for Myrddin.
The sun shone and the wind was calmer than in the pre-dawn hours, so it was warmer than before. Nell paced along the wall-walk, stopping every few feet to look over the rail at the sea sparkling in the sunshine less than a half-mile away. Penrhyn Castle, Gareth’s hereditary estate, lay between Garth Celyn and the bridge of boats, but she could see it in her mind’s eye.
Sweet Mary, mother of God, keep him safe! She sent another prayer to Saint Jude, patron saint of fools and desperate causes. And then she laughed because she didn’t know if she was praying for Myrddin, or for herself.
*
Wulfere’s men did discover the break in the ropes that bound the bridge together. Repairing it delayed them past their intended, early starting time, so it was exactly noon when Wulfere ordered his men to march. It was the perfect opportunity. The Strait was as calm as it ever got.
“Here they come.” Ifan broke the expectant silence that had seeped among the men during the long hours of waiting.
“Nervous, are you?” Myrddin said to his friend as they watched the horsed Saxon knights navigate their engineering marvel.
“They’d better make it quick, is all I can say,” Ifan said. “I’m tired of sitting doing nothing.”
“And your back aches,” Myrddin said.
“Worse this week than ever,” Ifan said. “Must be this rotten weather.”
Although from Myrddin’s perspective, the weather wasn’t that bad for November. It was just that Ifan was nearing forty and so many years of fighting had given him aches and pains no remedy could ease. Myrddin counted himself lucky that, while his eyes were failing him, his body so far hadn’t.
As Myrddin watched, the lead riders cleared the mainland end of the bridge and rode across the sand. Wulfere, one of the foremost knights, was recognizable by his black beard and the matching black plume on his helmet. Nell had shuddered at the mention of his name. Given his composure and presence, Myrddin couldn’t blame her.
Myrddin’s fellow knights and men-at-arms stayed in the trees on the edge of the beach, waiting for the fifty archers on the hill above them to loose their arrows. Geraint held their fire until the cavalry were almost to the woods and the entire company of Saxon foot soldiers marched on the bridge. Then he gave the signal.
“Fire at the horses!” Geraint’s voice carried all the way down to Myrddin’s position.
Arrows flew from bows in a hail of metal and wood, turning the beach into chaos in a matter of a few heartbeats. Six of the Saxon horses went down in the first volley. Saxon knights knew about archers, having encountered them in battle with the Welsh many a time (to their loss), even if they hadn’t employed any of their own in this venture.
Therefore, instead of retreating, they did the smart thing, which was to charge. Holding their shields high to protect their chests, they urged their horses to close the distance to the woods. Perhaps they thought they’d find safety there. If nothing else, their action ensured that the tops of the trees restricted the archers’ angle of fire.
Gareth commanded the cavalry in this battle and took Geraint’s words as a signal to move. “Charge!”
The Welsh cavalry came out of the woods in a phalanx, fifty feet wide, Myrddin among them. His heart pounded in his ears, drowning all sound but the relentless beat and making him oblivious to anything but the Saxon soldiers in front of him. Christ, I’d forgotten! Directing Cadfarch with his knees because he needed his left arm to hold his shield while his right hand held his sword, Myrddin plowed through the front rank of the opposing force.
His momentum carried him past a knight sporting an ostentatious, red feather on his helmet. When the man swung around to face Myrddin, his horse’s hooves sank into the soft sand and threw him off balance. Myrddin slid the tip of his sword along the man’s blade and, with a flick of his wrist, disarmed him. Myrddin then shifted the other way. Using his left arm, he hit the Saxon soldier full in the face with the flat surface of his shield.
The man fell, no longer a threat, and the noise of battle broke over Myrddin like an unexpected wave, assaulting his senses. He froze for a moment, adjusting to the cacophony. Above him, Geraint’s archers rained their arrows down on the Saxon soldiers on the bridge.
To the east, the Welsh foot soldiers, who’d come out of the trees at the same time as the cavalry, roared, starting their run towards the Saxon lines. Their axes and pikes were raised high and their mouths were open in the universal cry that gives men courage in the face of death. Fewer than half the Saxon foot soldiers had reached the beach. Thus, the Welshmen outnumbered the initial Saxon ranks, and the invaders went down under the onslaught.
Myrddin turned his attention back to the Saxon cavalry and found himself face to face with Wulfere himself. Myrddin clenched his teeth and almost bit off the end of his tongue. This was the one man he’d most wanted to meet—and the one of whom he was also the most afraid.
Wulfere’s black beard covered his face from chin to eyes and was split by an unholy sneer. Blood coated Wulfere’s sword, and he met Myrddin’s blade with enormous force—enough to make Myrddin fear he’d lose his grip on the hilt. They struggled together, neither finding the upper hand but hacking away at eac
h other, all elegance or restraint lost in the desperation of battle.
“Back! Back! Back!” The words came in both Saxon and Welsh as one of Wulfere’s captains tried to reach everyone who fought with him. Wulfere might have been doing well, but that wasn’t true of many of his companions.
“No!” Wulfere’s refusal carried across the whole of the battlefield.
Myrddin took that instant of distraction to launch himself at the Saxon lord and wrestle Wulfere from his horse. Their brief sword play had shown Myrddin what he’d feared—that he would have trouble defeating this man in a straight fight. At one time in his life, he’d relished the fear and power of exchanging blows, but he was no longer interested in trying. Thirty-six wasn’t twenty-four.
The two men fell to the ground, Wulfere beneath Myrddin. While the force of the fall had knocked the breath from Myrddin’s lungs, the jolt had dazed Wulfere even more, and his confusion allowed Myrddin to rise and straddle him. He stared into Wulfere’s eyes. They were fogged and unfocused. The big Saxon moaned, undone by the fall and suddenly human. Myrddin swallowed hard—and with a mighty thrust, forced his sword through Wulfere’s armor and into his heart. Wulfere would never rise again.
Myrddin rose unsteadily to his feet. The killing left an acid taste in Myrddin’s mouth, but he swallowed it down too. Of all the men who’d died by his hand, this was one he wouldn’t regret.
Overall, the battle had been short and brutal. By the time Myrddin looked up, a dozen dead Saxons lay on the sand. The rest had begun the retreat. The Saxon foot soldiers had the numbers to push back at the Welshmen but, at the sight of their horsed superiors passing behind them to the bridge, they turned as one and ran back the way they’d come.
It seemed the entire Saxon army had taken to its heels and was fighting each other to be the first to reach Anglesey. They appeared oblivious to the fact that the Welsh were less dangerous to them now than the water. Following Geraint’s orders, the Welsh let them go. They didn’t want to get stuck on the Saxon bridge, and they didn’t have the manpower to fight them on Anglesey, or King Arthur would have tried it already.
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