Days of Air and Darkness - Katharine Kerr [65]
“There they are,” Jill said. “It took them a beastly long time, I must say! Elyc’s men can’t track as well as a blind peasant.”
Wiping his hands on his brigga, Rhannyr got up just as a young rider ran, yelling, into the hall.
“My lord? There’s fifteen men at the gates, and Elyc’s captain’s with them, and by the demons in the Hells, they’re furious.”
When Rhannyr went out, Rhodry and Dwaen followed him up to the catwalk on the wall directly above the gates. Down below, sullen on tired horses, the men in question bunched in ragtag formation. Rhannyr leaned over the rampart and yelled.
“Good eve, Ocsyn. What brings you to me?”
“A matter of kidnapping, my lord,” Ocsyn yelled back. “One of my lord’s guests, a young woman, was stolen away from the dun by a silver dagger. We tracked her to a place down the road where it looks like she met up with another party, and their tracks lead here.”
“So they do, because she’s inside, but she hasn’t been kidnapped. She fled of her own free will.” Rhannyr laid a hand on Dwaen’s shoulder. “This is Tieryn Dwaen of Dun Ebonlyn, and the lady is under his protection.”
“Oh, by the black ass of the Lord of Hell! Well, begging your pardon, my lord, but we’ve been chasing her all over the cursed countryside, and now you tell me the lady’s eloped!”
“Naught of the sort,” Dwaen yelped.
Rhannyr laughed and slapped him on the back. Down below, Ocsyn scratched his head while he thought things through. From the back of the warband, someone yelled at him to tell his grace about the messengers.
“Right enough,” Ocsyn said. “Here, my lords, the equerry sent messengers off to fetch Lord Elyc home, and then he sent another pair to Lughcarn to fetch Gwerbret Tudvulc, too, because this lady is Tudvulc’s niece. I’ll warn you, Tudvulc’s a bad man to face when he’s angry.”
Dwaen groaned, rather loudly.
“You always were the very spirit of gallantry, Dwaen,” Rhannyr said, grinning. He leaned back over the rampart. “Ocsyn, are you and the lads hungry? I’ll send food out to you, but I’d best not offer you the shelter of my dun tonight. Things are complicated enough already.”
“Just so, but we’ll take the food gladly, my lord.”
When Rhodry climbed down, he found Jill waiting.
“There’s naught like a good thick wall to make men polite,” she remarked. “If they’d caught us on the road, we’d have been in for it good and proper.”
“Just so. I’m glad Tudvulc’s on his way. He knows me, and he knows we’ve been tracking poisoners, and so he’ll believe us easier than Elyc will.”
“Let us hope.” Dwaen joined them. “Because if he doesn’t, this is going to leave a stain on Lady Sevinna’s honor.”
“Well, true,” Jill sighed. “But I thought it would be better than having her killed.”
“A thousand times better,” Dwaen said. “Oh well, if worse comes to worst, it’s time I married, anyway.”
When both Jill and Rhodry stared at him, he smiled in a vague sort of way and strolled back to the great hall.
After a good wash, a night in a decent bed, and some real meals, Sevinna felt recovered enough to walk with Jill out in the ward, such as it was. A few cobbled paths led through mud and horse leavings. Servants strolled back and forth with buckets of slops or an armload of firewood; a page trotted past, scratching himself as he attended to some errand or other. Jill and Sevinna found themselves dodging chickens and trying to stay upwind of the pigsty.
“I know it’s sensible to stay here and let Elyc and my uncle come to us,” Sevinna said. “But ych!”
“It’s not Lughcarn, is it?”
“It’s not indeed! On the other hand, I’m not in much of a hurry to have my uncle get here. I do hope he doesn’t beat me.”
“Well, he won’t as long as Rhodry can talk to him first and explain things. Tell me, Sevvi, what do you think of the tieryn?”
“Dwaen? I’ve heard of him, of course, just from cousins and suchlike. They all said he was daft, talking about the gods all the time.”
“I suppose they did, but what do you think of him?”
“I rather like him. He seems a decent sort, and