I smoothed my crumpled skirts and followed Gwalchmei.
Six men stood in the body of the hall, dripping wetly onto the rushes that covered the flagstones. All wore glittering mail shirts over their tunics, leather braccae on their legs and soggy woolen cloaks. Each carried a helmet tucked under his arm, and at their hips hung swords and daggers. But to my surprise, all were graybeards, their faces lined and wrinkled like last year’s apple found forgotten at the bottom of the barrel. Wet, grizzled hair hung to their shoulders in tangled dreadlocks.
I stepped onto the low platform the high table occupied.
One of them, the oldest of the bunch, his white hair stained yellow by smoke, and with a thin, tired face, stepped forward. He made a low bow. “My Lady Guinevere.”
“Good day to you,” I said, my gaze sweeping over his fellows. I’d visited Ebrauc, King Coel’s capital, two years ago on my way north to the Wall, but so briefly that I didn’t remember seeing any of the faces before me.
The old warrior straightened with difficulty, as though his joints pained him. Probably he suffered from arthritis and had nothing much to treat it with.
He cleared his throat. “My name is Cadman, my Lady, warrior and close adviser to King Coel. I’ve come here to petition the High King for help. We six volunteered to bring our lord’s message to you because of our extreme age. We’re all old and less use in the defense of the kingdom than our sons and grandsons. Our quest is of the most urgent.”
Redness ringed his bloodshot gray eyes, and dark circles shadowed them. It must have taken a lot for Coel, a proud old man, to admit he needed the High King’s help. And nearly as difficult for these ancient warriors to stand before a mere woman and ask for it. I might still be nurturing my twenty-first-century ideals in secret, but I knew exactly how this world worked.
“My lords, you will have been informed, then, that the High King is not here,” I said, conscious of the dignity of this situation. These faithful and weary old warriors deserved my respect, even if they balked at having to address their petition to a woman.
Cadman nodded, hope kindling in his faded eyes. “We have been. When is he expected to return?”
I wished I knew. What to say to them? They’d traveled such a long way to no avail. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you that,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “He’s been gone some time, west into Gwent and Dyfed, where the Irish have been raiding this summer.” The urge to say “Wales” was great, but they’d have had no idea where I was talking about.
“Then we must go after him,” Cadman said, his bony shoulders sagging. “Our need in the north is great. My king charged me not to return unless I brought the High King and his army with me. If we don’t get help, the north will fall, and after that… who knows? We are sore pressed by savage raiders who want only to pillage our city and torch our rich farmlands.”
A brave old man. From the appearance of him and his fellows, the ride down here must have been a torture for their aging joints.
“No,” I said. “You won’t need to do that. You must rest here for the next few days before returning to your king. We’ll see you, and your tired horses, well looked after. I will send my own men to search for my husband and tell him of your need. He will come to Ebrauc if he can.” I paused, pleased with my decision, although not certain Arthur would see their request as more important than protecting South Wales’s kingdoms, which were a lot closer to Din Cadan than Ebrauc, from the Irish.
However, I smiled with fake confidence. “Now, tell me everything so I can put it in my message to him.”
Cadman squared his shoulders and stood up straighter. “Bryneich is in flames, Milady. And Ebrauc may well burn with it.”
His tale echoed many I’d heard before. Since spring, isolated attacks by Saxon ships down the east coast of Britain, south of the Wall, had been on the increase. Coel’s kingdom of Bryneich ran all along that east coast between Linnuis and the Wall, with the old Roman city of Ebrauc as its capital and miles of exposed coastline to protect.
“Of course,” Cadman said, shaking his grizzled head, “the fishing villages were attacked first. The raiders burned the small boats that were the people’s livelihoods, and either killed the fishermen and their families or took them as slaves.”
Coel had sent out warriors to defend the long shoreline, but under sail with a fair wind, or under oars, the enemy’s ships proved quicker than mounted warriors. With all the miles he had to guard, keeping the villages from harm had fast become impossible.
With his army divided north and south of Ebrauc, almost up to the Wall itself, Coel’s central hub had been left poorly defended, perhaps as the invaders intended.
Cadman heaved a deep sigh and hung his head. “A huge force of Saxons landed due east of the city and marched inland. Only the timely return of our armies from the north and south saved a defeat from becoming an annihilation.”
The fact that the Saxons had not followed up their victory by chasing Coel’s army back to Ebrauc implied they had no taste for siege warfare. But Coel’s severely depleted army still had an extensive coastline to defend, as well as the city, and all the inland settlements and farms.
Cadman didn’t say, but his king must have reached the end of his tether. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have decided to ask for help. No king would be keen to look weak by demeaning himself, in his own eyes, and begging for help. They all wanted to maintain a façade of invulnerability.
Cadman’s shoulders sagged as he neared the end of his recital. “Every able-bodied man is needed in Ebrauc and along the coast to man the defenses. It was my idea that we old warriors should be sent south to the High King, leaving the young to fight. Thirty volunteered– we are six of the oldest.” He stared into my eyes, his own anguished. “Without help, the East will fall, Ebrauc will be no more. And if that happens, the rest of the North will soon follow.”
I stood straighter, drawing in a deep breath. “This was a brave thing to do. I honor you for it. Now, Gwalchmei will take you to our guest quarters, and find help for you with your horses. You, and they, need rest and food.” I indicated the mutton roasting on a spit above our hearth fire. “You will be our guests tonight and for as many days as you need. You’ve delivered your message and have no need for haste. It grows late. I will see your message is sent on to my husband first thing in the morning.”
Cadman and his fellows bowed again, relief as well as exhaustion in their bloodshot eyes. Gwalchmei stepped down from the platform where he’d been standing just behind me. “This way, my lords.”
The drenched old men followed him out.
I perched my bottom on the high table, staring down the hall, empty now of all but the cook’s boy, busy making himself small and insignificant beside the fire. The scent of the cooking meat, and the nearness of the time to eat, set my stomach growling, but I had other more pressing things to do. Where on earth was Merlin when I needed him? Surely not still out hawking in this weather? Impossible.
After a few minutes of deep thought, I returned to my chamber. Coventina and Morgawse were still there, playing with the children. They looked up as I sat down at the table, thinking still.
“What was it?” Coventina asked, after a moment. “Did they want what we suspected?”