Page 84 of The Road to Avalon
On my arrivalat Din Cadan, Coventina and I embraced in tears, once she got me inside her house. “What are you wearing?” she asked, staring at my homespun. “Where have you been? Cei told me nothing.”
I quickly told her everything that had happened, and how Gildas and I had hidden the two girls where Medraut wouldn’t be able to find them.
“My Reaghan? She’s well? Medraut threatenedmeto make her stay there?” Her voice rose in anger, and her hand went to the dagger on her belt. “I’ll kill the little bastard.”
I hushed her. “Not so loud. He’ll have men spying on us. And trying to kill him will only get you hurt, or worse, killed, and what help would that be to Reaghan? She’s going to need her mother. No, we have to make a plan. Tell me what’s happened here, and how Medraut managed to wheedle his way into this position of power.”
We sat side-by-side on the edge of her bed, close enough that we could converse in a whisper. “A good many weeks ago, now,” she confided, clasping my hands in hers, “a message came from Armorica, from the king there. I’d never heard of him, but his name is Budic. He’s been having trouble with the Yellow Hair raiders the way we used to. Most likely they’ve been going there because they couldn’t raid us after the Treaty of Badon.” She squeezed my hands. “Budic heard how Arthur had dealt with them here, and being a cousin, begged him to come and help.”
“But why did Arthur agree to go so far away?” I whispered back. “Armorica isn’t part of Britain. He has no obligation to help them. And why did he leave that snake Medraut in charge like this?” If I’d been here instead of in hiding, could I have persuaded my husband to have taken Medraut with him and so averted this power grab?
Coventina shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t see the message. Cei said it was eloquent and praised Arthur as the mightiest of kings and pointed out their kinship. You know men. A bit of flattery gets you a long way with them. Maybe he went because of what Budic said about him? And because Budic reminded them of their blood tie.”
Very possibly. Any man as powerful and successful as Arthur might at some point begin to believe the hype about himself. And Ihadtold him he would be the most famous king ever, in a moment of rash weakness. With hindsight, perhaps not my best move.
“Well, for whatever reason, he’s gone,” I hissed. “Bloody idiot.”
She nodded. “Didn’t take long for Medraut to start imposing himself. Turns out he’d already won over a lot of the younger warriors– ones who would’ve followed Llacheu, if not Amhar. Ones who, if Llacheuhadbeen here, would’ve remained loyal to Arthur and not given Medraut a second glance.”
She shivered. “But young men like to follow other young men, and Arthur took all the older warriors– his friends– with him to Armorica. Left all the young ones behind. Bad move. They resented that– they wanted to see action. I’ve heard them talking in the Hall. They want action and enemies to fight, and plunder to grow rich on. Medraut’s promising them that.”
Her grip on my hands tightened so much it hurt. “Young warriors like that haven’t got no sense. It’s been more’n seven years now since Badon. The young men followin’ Medraut haven’t seen proper fightin’. All they’ve done is practice, practice, practice. They’re ripe’n’ready for a battle, all of them. And they don’t care who with.”
Oh my God. Worse than I could ever have imagined. Why had it never occurred to me that a big problem of prolonged peace would be a whole host of testosterone-fueled young men trained for war but with nothing to do but practice? Obvious, now I thought about it. This whole fortress must be a hotbed of male hormones all straining to get out. All these young warriors left in this melting pot were fomenting violence like a load of witches around a cauldron.
That brought Morgana to mind. Like me, she’d probably not even considered this. It would have saved her a lot of trouble if she had. Medraut and his cronies could have reached this point all by themselves with no help from her. Inevitable. And terrifying.
“He’s stolen the Sword of Destiny,” I said. “He thinks it gives him the right to declare himself High King.”
“But Arthur has Excalibur,” she whispered back. “He has the sword of Macsen Wledig.”
I shook my head. “Arthur used that sword to execute our son. I don’t know if his having it means anything now. He used it for something it wasn’t meant for. It was Medraut who killed Llacheu. He told me so. Not in so many words, but he might as well have admitted it outright. Reaghan and Archfedd had already helped me work it out, though. Morgawse is a fool who doesn’t know her own son. I knew mine, and that he hadn’t done it. Medraut’s utterly ruthless.”
She put her arms around me and drew me close, the warmth of her body like a balm. “We’ll think of something. I promise. We have to.”
*
Din Cadan’s hilltopfortress no longer felt like home. Instead, it had become a prison. Despite his threats to take me to his bed, Medraut wisely refrained from even trying to do so, and having taken the royal chamber for himself, let me stay in Coventina’s house beside the Hall. Maybe he felt that having seized the Sword of Destiny, he didn’t really need me. No man likes to think it’s because of a woman he’s successful. Or maybe he was afraid I’d kill him while he slept. He was right. I would have.
The days dragged past all too slowly. In the fields below the fortress the farmers were laboring to bring in the last of the harvest while the weather held. No help from the warriors this year. If I’d suggested it, Medraut would have laughed in my face. I did my best to keep out of his way, in case he remembered his suggestion of taking me to his bed.
I barely saw him. Most of the time I spent with Coventina in her house, the two of us talking in low voices as we pretended to work at our spinning and sewing. Who knew what spies might be lurking on the other side of a wall?
I glimpsed Llawfrodedd from afar, but made no attempt to contact him. If he had something to impart, he’d find a way to get word to me, I was sure. Once or twice our gazes met across the fortress, but he quickly looked away. Wisely so.
Of course, he wasn’t the only one amongst the warriors who didn’t support Medraut, but if any of them had spoken out, they’d have suffered. One night as we lay tucked in her bed, Coventina told me something that had happened before I returned.
“D’you remember young Drem, Llacheu’s best friend?” She had her mouth close to my ear and her voice rose scarcely above a breath.
“Yes.”
“Him that had to get married on a sword point when his girl’s father found out she were increasing.”
I smiled, even though in the darkness Coventina couldn’t have seen. “I remember that very well. They’ve got five children now, haven’t they?”
“Just her now,” my friend whispered. “Drem spoke out against Medraut not long after Arthur left. Said he were behaving like he were the king. That’s all. Spoke a few words agin him and not even to his face, and Medraut took offense. Real bad. Didn’t help none that he knew Drem had been Llacheu’s friend.”
I caught my breath. “What happened?”
