* * * * *
"You rutting bastard!"
I stopped short. My hand was out, ready to push open the door onto the battlements, Anna on my left hip.
After my conversation with Llywelyn the night before, I wanted to see the countryside, to feel what he felt. Too often these last weeks, my focus had been on keeping Anna happy or how sore my back and rear were, not on the land through which I was riding. It was always beautiful, but so densely packed with trees on every side that you couldn't see more than the road in front of you and occasionally a hill rising up ahead or behind.
Instead of going through it, I backed away from the door, uncertain if I should listen in case it was important, or leave because it was merely two men fighting over a woman.
"If our lord discovers your failure, he'll have both of our heads!"
"Then don't tell him," the second man said.
"You were supposed to have finished this already." It was the first man again.
"Well I haven't!"
"Young Humphrey ..." the first man began, but his partner cut him off.
"Humphrey de Bohun is a bloody traitor! He turned his back on me. He had the nerve to say that though I'd been loyal through many battles, it was only because of that loyalty that he would pretend he hadn't heard my plea. He'll have none of this. I'm lucky he didn't turn me in to Prince Llywelyn."
Now I knew who the second man was at least: Humphrey's companion, John de Lacey, the man sent by Humphrey's grandfather. Then heavy footsteps sounded on the other side of the door, pounding along the battlements. Hywel's voice penetrated the stairwell. "You there!"
"Yes sir!" It was the first voice.
"What good is a guard who stands in one place? You know how close to England we are here!"
"Yes, sir," the man said.
I'd starting backing down the stairs at Hywel's speech, but now turned and fled. My breath came in short gasps as I followed the curve of the tower. I was out of sight of the door in a few steps. If one of the men opened it, however, they would know by the pounding of my feet that they'd been overheard.
With a rush, Anna and I burst out of the stairwell and onto the second floor landing-and ran full-on into Llywelyn.
"What is it?" he said, his hands grasping my forearms to stop my headlong rush.
"I've just heard ..." I gasped, trying to catch my breath. "There were men talking on the battlements ..."
"In here," he said, and pushed me into the room he was using for his office.
"Rutting bastard!" Anna said, her voice cheery. "Rutting bastard!"
"I gather you've been listening where you shouldn't, too, young lady," Llywelyn said, rubbing Anna under her chin. He turned to me. "Now tell me."
"I wanted to walk on the battlements, just to see the countryside," I said. "Before I could push through the door at the top of the stairs, I overheard angry voices. Two men, one of whom sounded like Humphrey's man-at-arms, arguing about something-a plot against you, I think."
Llywelyn's face darkened. "I misjudged him, then."
"No, you didn't," I said, hastening to redirect his thoughts. "They were angry because Humphrey refused to help them."
"Ah." Llywelyn stood in front of me, his hands on his hips, thinking. "Did you hear any of what they were planning?"
"No. I'm sorry. I ran because I was afraid John would come through the door and see me."
"Understandable."
"Hywel interrupted them, anyway. He saw them; he would know who the men were. Maybe he observed something else that would help."
"You have a tendency to end up right in the thick of things, don't you?" he said. "The solar would be safer."
"But not nearly as interesting," I said. "I don't want to bore you."
Llywelyn's mouth twitched. "No, we wouldn't want that, would we?" And then. "Let's find Hywel and see what he says."
I was pleased he was letting me come-he certainly didn't have to-so I passed Anna to Maud, her new nanny, who was darning stockings in the next room. She was a widow a few years older than I, whose two children and husband had died in a sickness two years before. The thought brought me to my knees, but she hadn't given up as she might have-as I can imagine I would have if I'd lost Anna-and was loving and fiercely protective of Anna, who in turn adored her.
Llywelyn and I mounted the stairs I'd just run down. This time we went through the door at the top. It was a gorgeous, spring day, with a scattering of white clouds in the blue sky. Flowers bloomed, particularly the early bulbs, and Llywelyn said that the farmers were already planting crops in the lands along the coast and the warmer, richer lands in southern Wales.
The guard who paced the four corners of the tower stiffened in salute as Llywelyn walked by him. I couldn't tell by looking at him if he was the same one who'd talked to John, so I trailed after Llywelyn. Hywel spied us from his post on the top of the gatehouse tower, thirty yards on, and met us half-way down the walkway.
The castle was roughly rectangular in shape, with the round gatehouse tower protruding from the southern wall and the square keep taking up another corner. Llywelyn had explained that the round tower was built first, purely as a defensive measure, before the keep was built for comfort.
"My lord," Hywel said, with a quick bow.
"Just now you encountered John de Lacey and another man arguing, did you not?" Llywelyn said. "Meg overheard them."
"Did she?" Hywel said, looking past Llywelyn to me. "I didn't see you, madam."
"I was behind the door."
"They were arguing about a plot they'd conceived," Llywelyn continued. "We were hoping you knew more than she."
"No," Hywel said shortly. "I sent my man, one Huw ap Cadoc, to his quarters. I was not pleased with his lapse in attention as it was."
"We'll need him now if we are to confront Lacey," Llywelyn said.
"Yes, my lord. I'll bring him to the hall." Hywel strode away, back towards the gatehouse tower, and Llywelyn and I backtracked to the stairs and the great hall.
We'd only just entered, however, when Hywel appeared through the great double doors to the keep.
"He's gone," Hywel said, without preamble, "along with John de Lacy."
Llywelyn swung around to stare at him. "You're sure?"
"I spoke to Humphrey who is with the squires in the bailey. Nobody saw them leave, but as the postern gate lies behind the stables ..." his voice trailed off at the expression on Llywelyn's face.
"I know, dammit!" Llywelyn said. "I built the place." He strode to the entrance doors and stared out them.
"Should I order men to follow?" Hywel came up beside Llywelyn.
"Yes," Llywelyn said. "They're probably long gone-making for Huntingdon no doubt-but let's make sure of it."
"Yes, my lord," Hywel said. "And your plans? Have they changed?"
"No. We leave for Brecon tomorrow. Bohun will come for Humphrey and hopefully we will be rid of the lot of them."
I placed a hand on Llywelyn's arm. "Next time I'll listen longer."
"You certainly will not!" Llywelyn said. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him in a tight squeeze. I put my arms around his waist and hugged him back.
"Women make good spies," I said. "Nobody ever suspects us."
"Not my woman," Llywelyn growled. It was exactly what I would have expected him to say. "It's bad enough to have plots and subterfuge every time I turn around without worrying about you too."
"Yes, my lord,"-and smiled to hear myself say it.