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“Not far from Llanrwst,” Enid said. “But for now, this camp is home.”

“Are you the only women here?”

“Aye,” she said, and Catrin received the distinct impression that the older lady would like to keep it that way. “With the cooking, the mending, and the cleaning, there’s plenty to keep us busy, but we manage just fine. Even when there’s wounded to tend to.”

Catrin wasn’t sure if she qualified as wounded or if Enid was referring to men who’d been hurt in earlier skirmishes, but she suddenly felt like an encumbrance. “Forgive me for adding to your work.”

“’Tis nothing.” Nerys reappeared carrying a wooden bowl and a thick slab of bread. “’Tis not so busy when the men are away.”

Enid pursed her lips, but Nerys handed Catrin her food with a smile. Catrin wrapped her hands around the bowl gratefully.

“Are the men gone, then?”

“Long since,” Nerys said. “They set off within minutes of Marshal Rhys setting you down on this pallet.”

“I . . . I see.” If she had truly slept for hours, it was already too late to begin her return journey. It was one thing to walk the short distance from Beaumaris Castle to the harbor in the dark; it was quite another to take the long and unfamiliar road through Conwy Valley alone. “Is the man who brought me from Llanrwst at the camp still?”

“Alun?” Nerys shook her head. “He was needed to guide the men over the mountains.”

“Do you know when he will return?”

“We never know how long the men will be gone until they arrive back, but when you are ready to leave, Marshal Rhys has instructed the stableboy, Bleddyn, to escort you as far as Conwy,” Enid said.

Rhys had not known how long her recovery would take, but he had made arrangements for her. His thoughtfulness warmed her even as the prospect of returning to Beaumaris Castle did not.

“I’m sorry that Marshal Rhys had to make provisions for me when he had so many more important things to do.”

Nerys chuckled softly. “Oh, I do not believe that he finds you unimportant at all.”

Catrin’s gaze flew to Nerys’s twinkling eyes, and unaccustomed warmth flooded her cheeks.

“Come, Nerys,” Enid snapped. “We should be about our preparations for the evening meal.” Enid moved purposefully toward the partition.

Nerys started after her, but before she reached the corner, her footsteps faltered, and she stopped. “I am happy that you are come, Catrin. Even if ’tis only for a short time. I gladly assist the Welsh resistance fighters here in the mountains, but I have missed the company of other young women.”

Catrin stared at her. First Margaret and now Nerys. Perhaps the loneliness she’d known in Beaumaris was more common than she’d realized. A castle full of English soldiers was not so very different from a longhouse filled with Welsh warriors. And though Beti and Enid were both cherished companions, their advancing years could not help but influence the relationships they shared with their respective charges.

“I am glad also,” Catrin said, offering her a tentative smile.

Nerys gave her an answering smile, then disappeared behind the partition.

Catrin watched her go and knew she’d answered aright. If she did not appear at the castle by nightfall, Beti would be worried, and when her father learned of her disappearance, his concern would be coupled with displeasure. She wished it were otherwise, but she was not sorry that she had come. Even if the Tudors did not believe or act upon her warning, she had been true to herself, and like Nerys, she had done her part.

Chapter 22

Catrin lay awake on her pallet, listening to the rhythmic beat of the rain against the slate roof. There’d been no abatement in the storm all night, but the faint light coming through the chink beneath the longhouse door hinted at the coming of dawn. On the pallet at her right, Enid stirred.

“Nerys.” The older woman rose slowly, placing her hand on her lower back as she straightened. “’Tis time to see to the fire.”

“Mornings come too soon,” Nerys mumbled.

“Aye,” Enid said, moving stiffly. “As does old age.”

Catrin pulled herself to a sitting position. As much as she had needed the rest yesterday, she did not wish to stay abed any longer, but she would need more than a borrowed linen chemise if she wished to leave this sleeping area.

“Do you think my clothing might be dry?”

“I daresay,” Enid said. “I left them by the fire. I must attend to the injured men, but as soon as Nerys has arisen, she can fetch them for you.”