Days of Air and Darkness - Katharine Kerr [64]
“This time we’ll hunt her down if she tries, Your Grace. But she doubtless knows that she’s safest under Davylla’s wing.”
“Well, I’m going to have plenty to say to Lady Davylla.”
“True enough. If she’ll listen.”
Dwaen started to reply, then broke off at the sound of hooves coming. When Rhodry looked down the road, he saw to the west dust first pluming, then resolving itself into a horse that carried two riders. Jill’s horse! Rhodry recognized Sunrise’s color before he could actually see Jill. With a shout, he raced to meet her as she turned her mount into the meadow. Behind her sat a dirty and bedraggled Lady Sevinna.
“Saved!” Jill crowed out. “Here, Sevvi! The gods are on our side.”
Rhodry reached up and helped Sevinna down. She staggered, so sore from the unaccustomed posture of riding astride that she could barely stand. Jill swung herself down and laughed, dancing a few steps.
“It gladdens my heart to see you, Tieryn Dwaen,” Jill said. “May the lady and I throw ourselves on your protection?”
“My dear Jill, I haven’t ridden all this way just to spurn you. From what do you need protecting?”
“Lady Mallona, mostly, but I’ll wager Lord Elyc’s men are close behind us. They think I kidnapped Sevvi, you see. Your Grace, allow me to present Lady Sevinna, niece to Gwerbret Tudvulc of Lughcarn. Mallona was going to poison her.”
Sevinna caught her filthy skirts and made the tieryn a curtsy, which he returned with a bow.
“You’ll forgive my appearance, my lord. We slept in the woods last night.”
“A lady like you would be beautiful in rags,” Dwaen said. “Which indeed, that dress most resembles.”
Rhodry handed Jill the piece of cheese he’d been eating, while Dwaen offered his flatbread to the Lady Sevinna.
“This is the best we have to offer you at the moment, my lady. But we’ll be going to the shelter of that dun there.” Dwaen jerked his thumb back in the direction in which they’d come. “There’s not much use in pushing on to Belgwerger now.”
The dun turned out to belong to a certain Lord Rhannyr, a childhood friend of Dwaen’s—they had served as pages in the same dun, a situation that made either bitter enemies or lifelong friends of men. Surrounded by thick stone walls, it held only a squat broch and a few outbuildings, but it was shelter nonetheless. Rhannyr himself, sandy-haired and freckled, ran out into the ward to greet them.
“By the gods, Dwaen, it’s been years! To what do I owe this most welcome honor?”
“Trouble,” Dwaen said with a melancholy sigh. “May I bother you to close your gates? We’re being chased, you see.”
Rhannyr took one look at the Lady Sevinna, riding next to the tieryn on one of the extra horses, grinned as if drawing conclusions, and began yelling at his men to bar the gates and set a guard on the walls.
Rhannyr’s great hall occupied only half of the ground floor of the broch. Smoke-stained wickerwork partitions set it off from the kitchen, and through them they could hear the servants talking and swearing at their work. Rhannyr took Dwaen and his immediate party over to the table of honor at the hearth, told his captain to feed the men in the warband, then stuck his head in the kitchen door and yelled to the cook that they had hungry guests.
“Mead and meat soon,” Rhannyr announced, sitting himself down next to Dwaen. “You’ll forgive my lady for not joining us. She’s due to have another baby in a week or two.”
“Another one?” Dwaen said. “Ye gods! That makes four, doesn’t it?”
Rhannyr allowed himself a smug smile, then turned to Lady Sevinna.
“It troubles my heart to see a lady in distress. How may I be of service to you and your tieryn?”
“Well, he’s not my tieryn, my lord,” Sevinna said. “But I happen to be fleeing from a murderess.”
Over the meal, Dwaen and Rhodry took turns telling their fascinated host the story, or as much of it as they knew. Rhodry would rather have heard what Jill had to say, but just as she was about to tell