Page 17 of Warrior Queen

Page List

Font Size:

I dithered. No help was coming from Morgawse. I didn’t want to give in to Medraut’s ill-mannered demands, and I didn’t want to upset my son. Llacheu looked at me for help.

Inspiration came. “Seren’s too tired to be ridden again today. You can have a ride tomorrow, Medraut.” I turned to Llacheu. “Give me Amhar, and you can take her saddle off. She needs a roll after so much hard work.” I winked at him.

Medraut stamped his foot again. “That’s not fair. I don’t care if she’s tired. Iwanta ride.” He kicked the nearest fence post. “I want itnow.”

I lifted Amhar out of the saddle and set him on the ground. “No, Medraut. She’s tired.”

Over Medraut’s head, Llacheu met my gaze, his eyes full of adult understanding. He’d had the brunt of Medraut’s bad behavior before. With quick fingers he undid the girth and slipped Seren’s saddle off, then freed her from her halter. With a shake of her head, she trotted off to her favorite dusty rolling spot.

Wham. Medraut pushed Amhar over. My son sat down hard in the dirt and burst into tears. “Stupid baby,” Medraut spat.

Furious, but trying hard not to show it, I scooped poor Amhar up in my arms and held him tight. “That wasn’t a nice thing to do, Medraut,” I said, fighting to keep my voice level, when what he needed was a good smack on the bottom. “And for that you shan’t ride Seren tomorrow after all. She’s Amhar’s pony, and you’ve behaved badly today. Bad behavior never wins rewards.”

Medraut’s angry face crumpled, and he burst into floods of tears. Now we had two howling children. Llacheu unfastened Saeth’s halter and set her free as well. She cantered off down the paddock to join Seren, probably relieved to get away from the racket.

Morgawse hurriedly shoved Archfedd back into Maia’s more than willing arms and bent down to her blubbering son. “Medraut, what is it? Are you all right?”

He couldn’t get the words out he was sobbing so hard. She gathered him up in her arms and turned to me, her voice accusing. “What happened?”

Irritation coursed through me. The little brat was about to get away with it– again. “He was behaving badly, so I said he couldn’t have a ride on Seren tomorrow. He’ll have to wait.” Why did I feel so defensive?

Her eyes flashed. “Isn’t that a bit mean? He’s only a child. And Amhar needs to learn to share.”

“He pushed Amhar over,” Llacheu put in, turning from closing the slip rails into the paddock.

Morgawse bristled like a mother hen. “I’m sure it was by accident. He’d never do anything like that on purpose.”

Deluded woman.

Llacheu bristled back. He wasn’t about to let this drop. I held up my hand, and he closed his mouth, his brows meeting in a scowl worthy of his father.

I stepped in. “He was behaving badly, Morgawse, and that’s all there is to it. I don’t want to reward him for his behavior. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry. But I won’t be spoken to like that by a child.”

Morgawse’s lips came together in a thin line. “Yes, well, look how you’ve upset him. I’m taking him back to my house.” She shot an angry glare at Llacheu. “I’ll leave you with my brother’s bastard then, shall I?”

We watched her go, striding up the slope with the hefty Medraut still wrapped in her arms. He’d stopped crying and was regarding us with angry eyes over his mother’s shoulder.

“I don’t like him,” Llacheu said. “I know he’s only a little boy, but he’s horrible. He’s never nice to Amhar, but Amhar doesn’t even notice most of the time.”

As Amhar, too, had stopped crying, I set him on the ground again.

Maia stepped up closer with Archfedd. “I doesn’t like ’im much neither. That boy, he’s got a black heart.”

I peeped at Archfedd’s sleeping face. “That’s a bit melodramatic. His mother’s right– he’s just a child. Albeit a very spoilt one.”

Maia made a harrumphing sound indicating her disagreement. She’d been my maid since I’d first arrived at Din Cadan nearly four years ago, and she and I were more like friends than mistress and servant. She knew she could speak her mind.

“Maia’s right,” Llacheu said. “He may be little, but I don’t trust him, and I don’t think he’ll grow up to be a trustworthy warrior. I wouldn’t want him under my command. He’s not a follower. And he doesn’t have the skills to be a popular leader, either.”

A shiver ran down my spine. What if they were right? What if even now Medraut was morphing into the sort of person who would rise in rebellion against his uncle one day? Could you see the man a child would become at that age? And how far away did that battle lie? The last four years had sped past. In no time at all these little boys would be warriors like Cei’s son Rhiwallon.

He was thirteen now and training with the youngest warriors, instead of the boys. From being Llacheu’s best friend, and spending time with him on boyish pranks, he’d turned into a young man overnight, one who’d rather drink a flagon of ale with his new friends and talk about girls than play-fight or climb trees with Llacheu.

*

Summer had takenArthur, Cei, and Merlin away from the fortress to patrol the Dumnonian borders and the coast, and just when I felt I needed support more than usual, I had no one. I lay alone in bed that night thinking about the little scene that had unfolded with Medraut, and wishing I could talk to someone about it. But the only one who might understand was miles away with Arthur.

I finally fell asleep, only to be woken some time in the middle of the night by Maia bringing Archfedd to me to be fed. The baby slept in a cot in Maia’s room so she could get her back to sleep for me after her feeds and leave me to get my rest.