The scout seemed to hesitate. “Mind you, my lord, I am only the messenger,” he said. “I am told that the Lord of Co… I mean, the Lord of Brython would rather marry his daughter to a pig than an English knight.”
Christopher didn’t rise to the insult. He’d long learned to choose his battles wisely, because when he fought, he fought to win. He wasn’t going to acknowledge the insult dealt to him by men who were on the losing end of a castle siege.
“For decades, Gwenwynwyn ap Owain’s descendants had possession of this castle,” he said. “Since ap Owain was loyal to John and even Henry when he was younger, we left Brython Castle in peace. There was even a contingent of English soldiers here, and they have been for years. My scouts kept abreast of the castle’s activities, but it was never one of concern.”
The scout shook his head. “It was not, my lord.”
“As long as it did not harbor rebels, it was of no concern to me.”
“Indeed, my lord.”
Christopher eyed the scout, who had been with him for many years. “In fact,” he said, “you have been watching it from time to time, Glynn. Much of the information I received has come from you.”
Glynn ap Gower nodded shortly. “It has, my lord,” he said. “I received my information from my own family as well as from people in the nearby village, or those who had passed through, or…”
Christopher held up a hand to silence him. “I am not questioning the accuracy,” he said. “The entire reason we’ve come here is because the castle was lost to Gwenwynwyn’s enemy, Llewelyn. Henry wants it back.”
“I understand, my lord.”
“One question that has not been answered for me iswhereGwenwynwyn’s descendants are,” Christopher said. “And by that I mean those who lost the castle to Llewelyn. The man has at least two sons that we know of. Why have we not seen them?”
Glynn shook his head. “No one can seem to answer that question, my lord,” he said, rather wearily. “The castle was lost to Llewelyn over a month ago, but no one seems to know what became of the man’s son.”
“He possibly has a second son, I’m told.”
Glynn lifted his eyebrows. “The Wraith?” he said. “No one that I know of has ever seen him. I do not know if he truly exists.”
That was true. Rumors of how many children Gwenwynwyn had were circulating still, even after many years. No one really knew. But they did know he had at least one for certain. In any case, Christopher simply shook his head.
“Regardless, we do know that Llewelyn himself is not in command of the castle,” he said. “Are we certain that his men are?”
Glynn shrugged. “As certain as we can be of anything right now, my lord,” he said. “I made your offer to the commander of Brython, and he would only say that his daughter would marry a pig first.”
“As we do not even know who the offer was made to.”
“Nay, we do not, my lord,” Glynn said. “But one thing is for certain.”
“What is that?”
“Whoever holds the castle is well placed in Llewelyn’s court,” Glynn said knowingly. “For a castle of this importance, one badly coveted by the Welsh and English alike, it is someone of wealth or ranking or both. Your marriage offer has not been made to a peasant.”
He was right. Christopher sighed heavily, pondering the situation as he grasped a wooden cup of watered wine and drank.
“This is a damn puzzling business,” he muttered. “Clearly, someone holds that castle, someone who has been able to hold me off for almost a month.Me.I would hazard to say that no one holds out against me, but that would sound arrogant.”
Glynn’s lips twitched with a smile. “It is the truth, my lord,” he said. “The man holding Brython against you must be clever, indeed.”
That didn’t make Christopher feel any better, and he scratched his head in a wearied gesture. His hair, blond and full in his youth, had mostly gone to gray. It was still thick, and he still kept it cut in the same fashion he’d always worn, but that silver hair was dirty from having been kept buried under a helm since the siege began. It was dirt fed by exhaustion that covered Christopher from head to toe. The siege was getting old, and hewanted to go home, but they didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. He couldn’t even get a straight answer on who, exactly, was in command of Brython’s defenses or his offer of marriage. In truth, he’d only offered because Henry had demanded it, but Henry didn’t know warfare like Christopher did. Marriage offers weren’t exactly appropriate in the heat of battle, and he’d been loath to do it, but there were too many of Henry’s soldiers and knights within his ranks for him not to have obeyed a command from the king.
He’d been forced into it.
Still… something had to be done to end this siege, or he’d grow old and die here. Perhaps if a marriage offer didn’t work, something else would. Anything to end this mess. He was just about to comment on that when a soldier abruptly appeared in the open tent flap.
“My lord,” the soldier said breathlessly. “Curtis and his men have managed to bridge the gap between the scaffold and the top of the wall. We have breached the castle!”
That had everyone in the tent, including Christopher, running out and heading toward the eastern wall.
A chaotic day was only going to grow worse.
