Days of Air and Darkness - Katharine Kerr [15]
“And how can I ever repay you for this? I never dreamt they’d dare harm my womenfolk, the bastards!”
“They, Your Grace?” Rhodry said. “Who?”
“Someone’s been trying to murder me. It’s just that I never would have thought in a thousand years that Beryn would take his vengeance out on my sister.”
Ylaena covered her face with both hands and wept, while Cadlew patted her shoulder.
“Dwaen,” he growled, “I want blood for this.”
“So do I. Lots of it.”
“They weren’t going to kill me.” Ylaena struggled with her voice to steady it. “I heard them yelling. ‘Don’t harm the ladies,’ they said. They were just going to take us somewhere.”
“And what would they have done then?” Cadlew snarled. “When you ride to war, Dwaen, me and my war-band will ride with you.”
“If it comes to war. I intend to let the gwerbret settle this by law if ever I can.”
Cadlew muttered some inaudible frustration.
In the great hall, every man in the warband and every servant in the dun stood round, straining to hear. Dwaen yelled at them all to get out, then asked Cadlew to escort Ylaena up to the women’s hall. He himself took Jill and Rhodry to the table of honor and insisted on pouring them mead with his own hands.
“My lord?” Rhodry said. “I was just up in Ebonlyn, and someone tried to hire me to murder a noble-born man. I’m beginning to wonder if the man was you.”
“Mayhap it was. Let me tell you my tale.”
While Dwaen told him of the previous attempt on his life and Beryn’s probable motive, Rhodry grew more and more baffled.
“By the pink asses of the gods, Your Grace, why doesn’t he just challenge you to an honor duel? You could have the matter settled before the gwerbret even heard of it.”
“I’ve spent many an hour wondering the same thing. Rats in my bed? It sounds like old tales of witchcraft and suchlike. I can’t believe Lord Beryn would stoop so low.”
Lallyc, the captain of the tieryn’s warband, trotted over and knelt at his lord’s side.
“Your Grace? None of the men recognize those two dead’uns, and here we spent plenty of time with Beryn’s men before the murder.”
“Well, I never thought Beryn would send men from his own warband.” Dwaen gave him a black-humored grin. “He might as well hire a herald to proclaim his intent as do that. But I can’t think of another man in the world who’d want me dead. Unless, Captain, I’m just being vain?”
“Not in the least, my lord,” Lallyc said with a firm nod. “I’ve never known you to harm anyone. Why, you wouldn’t even cheat in a horse race. Besides, if anyone else felt injured, they’d know they could come sit by our gates and starve in safety. I can’t see you breaking the holy laws by driving them away.”
“True enough. Well, looks like I’ve got a hire for you, silver daggers.”
When Cadlew returned, the two lords worked out what struck Rhodry as a sensible plan. If Dwaen rode to the gwerbret in Ebonlyn, he would be vulnerable out on the road, because his rank only allowed him to bring an honor guard of fifteen men into the gwerbret’s presence, fewer than Beryn kept in his warband. If Cadlew accompanied him, however, the young lord could bring ten men of his own, and since it seemed clear that Beryn had no intention of murdering Cadlew if he could help it, having him along would doubtless be the best protection Dwaen could have. They could also bring the two silver daggers in addition to the honor guard, because Jill and Rhodry qualified as witnesses.
“I’ll take Laryn, too,” Dwaen said. “But I don’t want to risk bringing Ylaena in to give evidence.”
“Your Grace?” Rhodry put in. “But will she be safe here as long as there’s a traitor in the dun?”
“She won’t, and that’s true enough. Ah, by the hells! To think that I got into this stinking mess out of regard for the laws and naught more!”
As she considered Dwaen’s peculiar story, Jill grew more and more sure that the traitor had to be a servant, not a rider, because members of the warband had no business being anywhere near the tieryn’s chambers. A servant seen near his bedroom, however, would be taken for granted. All afternoon,