CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Black Mountains, Wales 1086
It was the sound of the children shouting that alerted Rhiannon to some new excitement. She left off tying the bundles of herbs she was going to hang up to dry and went out of the little croft. Shielding her eyes with her hand against the low morning sunshine she could see a gaggle of boys and girls a short way below the settlement. She saw that there was an adult at the centre of the throng. A man, moving slowly, as if in pain, each step up the mountain an effort. It was then that she recognised him.
‘Brynach!’ She whispered, and then, louder, filled with joy, ‘Brynach!’ She ran to meet him, joining other villagers who were now doing the same. By the time she reached him Owain and Tudor were either side, supporting him. She had to hide her shock at the sight of him close up. While she might have expected him to limp because of the arrow he had taken to his leg, she was not prepared for this frail, broken, shadow of the man she remembered. There were greetings and questions being fired at him from so many people she couldsee he was near exhaustion and close to being overwhelmed.
‘Take him up to the barn,’ she told Tudor. ‘Glyn, hurry and fetch Mamgi. Tell her someone has need of hotcawland birch sap wine. Tell her Brynach is home,’ she added, smiling at her father’s loyal soldier.
It was only after he had had time to eat and drink and she and Mamgi had treated his old wounds that the other villagers were permitted to enter the barn. She had them gather, with Brynach seated on sheepskins at the centre, so that everyone could hear his story, and it would only need to be told once. She had been appalled at the obvious signs of torture written on his body, and worried that he was in even more delicate health than she had first thought. Still, he was anxious to tell what had happened to him, and to explain how it was that he came to be returned to them at all.
‘I could have died of my wound, the arrow having struck a grievous blow, but my captors had other plans for me,’ he explained. ‘First, they sought to extract from me the whereabouts of our village hideout. They saw that you still lived, my Lady. De Chapelle is a vengeful man.’
One of the older children could not help asking, ‘How did they torture you, Brynach? Did they use the rack? Did they use hot irons?’
‘Hush!’ Mamgi reached over and slapped the child’s hand, giving him a withering stare to go with it.
Brynach smiled weakly. ’The child only asks what all of you are thinking. No, boy, there was no wrack to test me. Instead they beat me, half drowned me, and half crippled me.’
‘But still you did not talk?’ Bronwen asked.
‘I did not. And they could see that I would not. That I would die first.’
It was Owain who spoke then, leaning against the doorjamb, his face stern. ‘And yet, here you are. And yet, they let you go. How is that so, if you did not give them what they wanted? How came you here otherwise?’
There were murmurs from the assembled company. Brynach looked stricken, as if his heart might break.
Rhiannon put a hand on his shoulder.
‘Do not fear judgement, Brynach. Merely tell us what befell you. You are among friends now. You have nothing to fear here,’ she added, shooting a reproachful look in Owain’s direction.
He took another gulp of the sweet, strong wine and shifted on the rugs to sit up more.
‘They were not content for me to die. The Baron is a man prepared to wait to get what he wants, if he wants it badly enough. They kept me all winter in the bowelsof the Great House, feeding me scarce enough to hold me in this world. The cold and damp, the dark, the bitterness of that place and the poor food did their work over months. By the time they dragged me from that tomb I was…. I am, as you see.’ Here he paused, and all present sombrely took in the painful state of their friend. ‘When they led me out I was sure it was to execute me, that the Norman scoundrel had tired of keeping me prisoner. But no, still they would have from me what they wanted. And this time, as I am now, I knew I would not be able to withstand the trials they would set me. They tied me in a cart and with a dozen men brought me to Cwmdu.’
Tudor was surprised. ‘They are at the village still?’
‘They are.’
‘To what end?’ He asked. ‘If they got from you what they needed to know, why did they let you come here alone? Why have they not attacked our settlement?’
‘I struck a deal with the Baron. I had him release me, had him allow me to return, if I first told him how he might find his way here.’
‘What’s that?!’ Owain and several of the other men in the barn began to shout. ‘You gave us away! You betrayed us!’
Rhiannon understood that they were afraid, but she could not let them berate Brynach for what he had done. She raised her hand and appealed for quiet.
‘Who among you could have endured what Brynach has withstood? Are you so blessed with strength and health that you could do better? Search your hearts, for I believe you all know the answer and will find it there.’ She turned to Brynach. ‘You did what you were able. You gave of your best. No-one could ask for more.’
‘It is true,’ he said, ‘I told them where our settlement sits on the mountain, but I did not tell them the safe route to our home. I drew in the dirt and told them of the high track that will indeed bring them here, but only along the narrow path that follows the escarpment.’
Tudor stepped closer. ‘What were the terms of your deal beyond your return? There must have been more.’
‘I convinced de Chapelle that to slaughter old women and children would not show him in a favourable light. He has resisted doing so at Talgar. He should not stoop to such measures for the sake of revenge against one woman.’
Tudor let out a low laugh. ‘I imagine he did not take kindly to being challenged so.’
‘But Brynach is right,’ Rhiannon pointed out.
