With that, he left Westley watching over Elle and wondering if the lady was really all that trouble. He didn’t want to admit that he was worried about being left alone with her, but he reckoned that he was more than a match for her if she suddenly woke up and got out of hand. An Englishman was always worth more than a Welsh prisoner.
Wasn’t he?
Westley hoped that theory wouldn’t be put to the test before Curtis returned.
CHAPTER SIX
“What you heardwas wrong, my lord,” Gruffydd said as he stuffed his face with bread. “Llywelyn has never been in possession of Brython.”
Seated in his cushioned traveling chair next to the brazier that was giving off a good deal of heat, Christopher watched the starving man eat.
“We’ve spent a month here trying to gain control,” he said seriously. “We were summoned by English soldiers who had been welcomed here by your father, many years ago. It was a contingent that King John had stationed here, with Gwenwynwyn, and when Henry became king, he kept them here. That was the bargain your father had agreed to—as long as your father kept English soldiers here, the English left Brython alone. It was Welsh held, but as long as you did not cause any trouble…”
Gruffydd was nodding even as Christopher was speaking. “I know, my lord,” he said. “And I was happy to keep them here because it was what my father had agreed to. Let me assure you that I am not your enemy.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Gruffydd swallowed the bite in his mouth. “I assume you have already spoken to my sister,” he said. “Has she told you anything?”
“She told me a little,” Christopher said. “But I want to hear about this situation from you. This castle belongs to you, does it not? As your father’s heir?”
Gruffydd sighed faintly. “Aye,” he said. “I am his heir. But my sister… She does not think like I do.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that she is convinced I am the enemy,” Gruffydd said. “She thinks that because I honor my father’s word to the English king that it makes me a traitor. I believe as my father believed—that if there is any hope of retaining control of Powys against Llywelyn, that we must ally with the English. Llywelyn is very powerful, my lord. He wants Powys. I refuse to pay homage to him when it is my right to make decisions for my people as my father did.”
Christopher had a cup of wine in one hand, swirling it over the heat of the brazier to warm it. “But your sister does not agree,” he said. “How did you end up in the vault?”
Gruffydd tore off more bread from the meal that had been brought to him. “It is not her fault,” he said sadly. “Elle has been raised by rebels. My father taught me everything he knew, but Elle was left to fend for herself. My father simply had no interest in her. She went to live with my grandmother for a time, but when the old woman died, Elle returned to us, but she spent all of her time with the men. Men who talk. Men who were willing to teach her of Wales and of the struggles against each other and against the English. She listened well.”
Christopher was listening with increasing concern. “Is that the only education she has ever had?” he asked. “From the mouths of ignorant men?”
Gruffydd smiled weakly. “Our grandmother insisted she be educated by the priests at St. Nicholas, near her home,” he said. “Do not misunderstand me, my lord. Elle has a brilliant mind. She can read and write and do sums in her head. She can recite enormous passages of the Bible from memory. She speaks three languages, so she is quite learned. She will always be two steps ahead of you, in anything you do. Even though she was educated by priests and raised by soldiers loyal to her father, it does not mean she is ignorant. Not in the least. It was she who led the siege against you, my lord. She held the castle until it could be held no more.”
Christopher was both puzzled and intrigued by the eldest child of Gwenwynwyn. “But why does she rebel?” he said. “Why did she send the English soldiers from Brython?”
Gruffydd took a bite of the bread in his hand before answering. “Because she is convinced that Wales, or at least part of it, can be united under Llywelyn,” he said. “This is not something she decided last month, or even last year. This is something our grandmother taught her, a woman who is part of Llewelyn’s family. My grandfather married her at the demand of his father, who had hoped for an alliance with the princes of Gwynedd. But instead of an alliance, it only seemed to make the princes of Gwynedd more hostile. They did not want an alliance with Powys—theywantedPowys.”
Christopher was starting to understand. “So your sister went to live with a grandmother, who filled her head with poison,” he said. “And given that your father paid her little attention, she clung to the only person who showed her any affection—your grandmother.”
“Exactly, my lord.”
It was certainly turning into quite a tale. Christopher sipped at his warmed wine, mulling over the warrior woman who had tried to take out his eldest son. The same woman he wantedforsaid son. Now, he was finding out more about her and was not entirely happy about it.
“How did she manage to get you into the vault?” he asked.
Gruffydd’s eyebrows lifted. “There is a village to the west of Brython,” he said. “It is a rather large village, and my sister is well known and well liked there. I do not know what pushed her into deciding that the English troops should be removed from Brython at this time, nor do I know what caused her to act, but someone did. She purchased a sleeping potion from the apothecary in Rhayader, put it in my wine, and when I fell unconscious, she had me taken to the vault. She purged the English soldiers from the castle, declared that it was now a Welsh holding for the people of Powys—and it was until you came along and took it back.”
“And that’s all she did to you?”
“That was all she did.”
Christopher scratched his head. “But you said something earlier when you saw her,” he said. “You told me to burn her at the stake because she only wanted our death.”
Gruffydd grunted. “I was angry,” he said with regret. “I did not mean it.”
“Then she does not want to see us all dead?”
