Page 52 of The Bear's Heart
“Take me withyou.” In the warm darkness of the summer night, I lay naked in bed with Arthur, neither of us able to sleep.
Beside me, his body stiffened. “I’ve already told you. It’s too dangerous. It’s likely a trap, and I can’t afford to spare the men to take care of you.”
I lay silent for a while, regrouping. “You said I bring you luck…which you’ll need tomorrow.”
He grunted. “We’ll need more than luck. We’ll need cunning. We have to outsmart the old fox– play him at his own game.”
He hadn’t said a definitenothis time. I clung to that. “What will you do?”
He tightened his arm around my shoulders, drawing me closer. “I know the ring-fort Cei spoke of as well as he does. I’ve been there many times as a boy. I don’t think anyone’s lived there since before the legions came. Wetlands surround it. There’s but one way in and out. An ancient causeway through the marshes.”
I rested my cheek against his chest, the hairs tickling my nose, breathing in his masculine scent. “Wouldn’t that make it hard to stage an ambush? Surely he couldn’t take in enough men to fight you?”
His lips brushed the top of my head, his breath warm. “They don’t all have to go in. Cei said the arrangement is for us to each bring thirty men, including ourselves. But Cadwy didn’t say he wouldn’t keep his major force outside the marshes. In waiting.”
It was clear why Arthur didn’t want to give up a single one of those thirty fighting men for me.
I tightened my arm across his chest, nestling closer. “But you can keep your own army waiting there too, can’t you?”
He nodded. “I will. And he’ll expect me to. The trick will be to catch him before he carries out any other treachery. Outside the marshes, I can match him man for man almost, but within, we don’t know what he’ll have planned.”
“What about his Saxon foederati? He may have more men than you think.”
He nodded again, and his mouth moved against my hair. “Very true. He has no more qualms than Guorthegirn the Usurper had about paying the Yellow Hairs to do his bidding.”
“And that doesn’t worry you?”
His chest rose as he sighed. “Not much. I’d be lying if I said not at all. But they’re all foot soldiers, and I have cavalry. The odds will still be in our favor if we can avoid all his trickery.”
“It doesn’t look as though he thinks so.”
He grunted again. “He can think what he likes– my men can best his any day. Whatever he throws at us.”
My thoughts shifted to the casualties inflicted on Arthur’s army in Linnuis. They were down in numbers due to the men who’d died and the wounded he’d sent back to Din Cadan. Was he right? Did we really have enough men to defeat Cadwy and his Saxons?
A little shudder shook my body as though someone had walked over my grave. “All the same, I don’t like not being with you. The waiting is worse than the battle, because at least then, at the river Glein, I could see for myself you were still safe. I didn’t have to wait days for news. Those five weeks I spent in Caer Lind Colun were horrendous. I don’t want to go through that again. Ever.”
He didn’t answer. What could he have said? He was probably thinking that whatever I wanted would have no effect on what I received. This was an era where we women waited for our menfolk while they rode off to war. As far as he was concerned, I’d have to shut up and put up with him laying down the law.
For a long time after that, we lay silent, still unable to sleep. At last, he turned on his side, putting his arms around me and holding me as close as he could. He took up the conversation where we’d left off. “I’m sorry. I can’t help it. I’m a king, and I’m Dux Britanniarum. You’re a queen, my queen, and you’re with child. Even if you weren’t with child, I couldn’t take you into danger. We both know Cadwy wants you for himself. Look at how he’s tried to snatch you in the past.”
I said what he wanted to hear. “I know.”
But inside, I was hatching a plan as I clung onto him, his body cool to the touch now night was well on. I found myself wondering how it would feel if he was dead. Cooler than this? Lifeless? Would I find out if he went to Din Bassas to meet the slippery Cadwy? I had no way of knowing if this was something which had already been written and that he would be safe, or if my being here had changed history, and tomorrow he might be riding to his death.
*
The meeting hadbeen set for noon the next day. My sleep was so light that Arthur’s getting out of bed woke me, just before sunrise. I reached to touch his naked back as he bent to draw on his braccae. He tensed, and after a moment, turned around. “Go back to sleep. There’s no need for you to get up. We need to be off early to lay our own ambush.”
I sat up, the covers falling back, and pressed myself into his arms. “How can I sleep knowing you’re riding into danger?”
He held me close, his breath warm on my neck. “I’m not going to die.” His words were hot against my skin. “How can I? I’m going to be the most famous king who ever lived. You said so yourself. And I’ve not done nearly enough to merit that yet. If people from your time know of me, there’s no chance Cadwy will overcome me now. Have confidence in what you know. I have. I’ll be back by nightfall with Morgawse and the baby.” He kissed me on the lips and got to his feet to pull on his undershirt and tunic.
I watched him dress, and when at last he was ready he came to my side of the bed and, sitting down on it, pulled me up into his arms again. “Don’t worry. If this comes to blows, remember I’ll have the advantage. I’ve better warriors than his, for a start.” He kissed me again, harder this time, then got up to leave. I lay back down like a good little wife and pulled the covers up to my chin.
As soon as he’d gone, I rolled off the bed and pulled on my undershirt, braccae, tunic, and boots. With fumbling fingers, I fastened my belt, then, yanking my mail shirt on over my head, hurried in his wake. His men had dumped the stores in one of the barns opening off the stable courtyard. I had to sneak carefully, but as it wasn’t yet fully light, and the men were all busy preparing their horses for the march, I managed to arrive undetected.
The spare armor retrieved from their fallen comrades and the enemy had been piled up in here. I put on a helmet and chose a shield, then added a few good smears of dirt around my chin to look like stubble. A thick sword belt and the smallest sword I could find finished the ensemble, then I went in search of a spare horse. I couldn’t risk taking Alezan as she was too noticeable.
