Page 30 of The Quest for Excalibur
Arthur regarded him in silence for seconds that stretched out. I did the same, searching for any sign of guilt. Nothing. I resisted the temptation to glance back at Merlin for his opinion. That would have to wait.
Arthur’s strong hands, resting on the arms of his throne, twitched. He tapped his fingers, a sure sign he was annoyed.
Ruan’s anxious eyes fixed on them. He wrung his hands, and fresh tears ran down his dirty, bruised cheeks.
“Well,” Arthur said, when the silence had reduced Ruan to a quivering jelly of terror. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Ruan’s mouth opened and closed a few times, he drew a breath as though about to speak, then his eyes slid sideways toward Cei’s towering presence, and he shut his mouth again instead.
Merlin stepped forward out of the shadows, bent and whispered in Arthur’s ear, his eyes fixed on Ruan as he did so. The poor man looked ready to wet himself with fear.
Arthur nodded, and Merlin stepped back.
You could have heard the proverbial pin drop. I waited.
Leaning a little forward in his throne, Arthur spoke. “How long has the girl, Hafren, been working with you?”
Ruan’s eyes shot wide open. He clearly hadn’t been expecting that question. Maybe he and Heledd had been ignorant of her involvement with Morgana. A crumb of sympathy rose in me. Only a crumb, though.
The little man’s mouth opened, shut again, then opened. A trail of drool ran down his chin. “She come to us this spring… Milord King.” Gone was the voice for reciting poetry and songs. Instead, he sounded small and scared and abject. A mouse of a man, wringing his hands before us.
“How long?”
Ruan gulped. “’Bout two month back, when we were spending the snow time in Viroconium.”
My breath hissed out between my teeth. He’d condemned Hafren with that one sentence.
Arthur’s eyes narrowed. “Why did you take her on?”
Ruan, distrust emanating from every pore, let his gaze slide sideways toward where Merlin stood, half hidden in the shadows. He licked his lips, a little more confident now he probably thought he could see where the questioning was going. “Our normal girl, she got attacked one night and chucked off the walls.”
His voice rose in confidence. “She broke her leg an’ her arm, Milord, lucky to be alive she were. She couldn’t dance like that, now could she?”
His eyes looked an appeal. “We had to find another, an’ quick, what with the season startin’. Hafren was in the inn when our girl got tooken. She came forward and offered her services. We watched her dance and knowed as she’d be a good draw.” He paused. “Prettier than the other, too.”
Arthur glanced at me. I gave him the smallest of nods. How convenient that their original girl had been so badly damaged she could no longer dance. I gritted my teeth.
Arthur looked back at Ruan. “And what made you decide to come here, to Din Cadan? We’re a long way from Viroconium, and the weather’s been bad for traveling.” His words rang out clear and ominous in the silence of the hall. Cei’s hand slid toward his belt, where his dagger hung, as though he feared Ruan might foolishly decide it a good idea to attack the king.
Ruan licked his lips, his hands never still. “She-she said as that she’d heard we could earn a good livin’ here in your Hall… Milord. She said as it was a good place to come to, for traveling rhymers like us. For a dancer like her…” His voice trailed off, and he wiped the back of his hand across his snotty nose, sniffing loudly.
“And Heledd?” Arthur asked. “Tell me about her. She’s been with you how long?”
Ruan wrung his hands some more. “Twenty years, Milord. She’s my wife, she is.”
So, if Ruan were innocent, Heledd most likely had nothing to do with Hafren’s plan either. With the plan Morgana had asked her to carry out. In fact, it didn’t seem likely either of these people had any idea what Hafren had intended. How had Morgana persuaded her to act? Perhaps by suggesting Hafren could take my vacated place. Hafren looked the sort of girl who might think that possible.
Arthur waved a dismissive hand. “You may go.” He got to his feet. “Take your wife and your wagon and leave Din Cadan, and never come back. And my advice to you is never to return to Viroconium, either. Now, leave.”
Ruan ran. Clearly, he couldn’t wait to get out of our fortress. The doors banged shut behind him.
Cei called out to Drustans. “Better go and give him back his wife. But don’t let that hussy of theirs out. She stays put.” The door banged again behind Drustans as he left.
Merlin stepped forward out of the shadows. “Viroconium. The plot thickens.”
It did indeed.
“How handy that their own dancing girl was incapacitated,” Arthur said, repeating my own thoughts. “It seems you both were right. Morgana did have a hand in this.”
