Brother Cadfael 09: Dead Man's Ransom

Welsh yourself, so you know. We grew up together from babes, and there are no more brothers, either side...'
    'I do know,' agreed Cadfael, 'and I say again, as Cristina said to you, he is safe enough, man alive and as good as new.'
    'You've seen him? Talked to him? You're sure it's Elis and no other? A well looking man of his company,' explained Eliud apologetically, 'if he found himself prisoner, might award himself a name that would stead him better than his own...'
    Cadfael patiently described his man, and told over the whole tale of the rescue from the flooded brook and Elis's obstinate withdrawal into the Welsh tongue until a Welshman challenged him. Eliud listened, his lips parted and his eyes intent, and was visibly eased into conviction.
    'And was he so uncivil to those ladies who saved him? Oh, now I do know him for Elis, he'd be so shamed to come back to life in such hands, like a babe being thumped into breathing!'
    No mistake, the solemn youth could laugh, and laughter lit up his grave face and made his eyes sparkle. It was no blind love he had for his twin who was no twin, he knew him through and through, scolded, criticised, fought with him, and loved him none the less. The girl Cristina had a hard fight on her hands.
    'And so you got him from the nuns. And had he no hurts at all, once he was wrung dry?'
    'Nothing worse than a gash in his hinder end, got from a sharp rock in the brook while he was drowning. And that's salved and healed. His worst trouble was that you would be mourning him for dead, but my journey here eases him of that anxiety, as it does you of yours. No need to fret about Elis ap Cynan. Even in an English castle he is soon and easily at home.'
    'So he would be,' agreed Eliud in the soft, musing voice of tolerant affection. 'So he always was and always will be. He has the gift. But so free with it, sometimes I fret for him indeed!'
    Always, rather than sometimes, thought Cadfael, after the young man had left him, and the hall was settling down for the night round the turfed and quiet fire. Even now, assured of his friend's safety and well, being, and past question or measure glad of that, even now he goes with locked brows and inward, gazing eyes. He had a troubled vision of those three young creatures bound together in inescapable strife, the two boys linked together from childhood, locked even more securely by the one's gravity and the other's innocent rashness, and the girl betrothed in infancy to half of an inseparable pair. Of the three the prisoner in Shrewsbury seemed to him the happiest by far, since he lived in the day, warming in its sunlight, taking cover from its storms, in every case finding by instinct the pleasant corner and the gratifying entertainment. The other two burned like candles, eating their own substance and giving an angry and vulnerable light.
    He said prayers for all three before he slept, and awoke in the night to the uneasy reflection that somewhere, shadowy as yet, there might be a fourth to be considered and prayed for.
    The next day was clear and bright, with light frost that lost its powdery sparkle as soon as the sun came up; and it was pleasure to have a whole day to spend in his own Welsh countryside with a good conscience and in good company. Owain Gwynedd again rode out eastward upon another patrol with a half, dozen of his young men, and again came back in the evening well content. It seemed that Ranulf of Chester was lying low for the moment, digesting his gains.
    As for Cadfael, since word could hardly be expected to come back from Aberystwyth until the following day, he gladly accepted the prince's invitation to ride with them, and see for himself the state of readiness of the border villages that kept watch on England. They returned to the courtyard of Tudur's maenol in the early dusk, and beyond the flurry and bustle of activity among the grooms and the servants, the hall door hung open, and sharp and dark against the glow of the fire and the torches within stood the small, erect figure of Cristina, looking out for the guests returning, in order to set all forward for the evening meal. She vanished within for a few moments only, and then came forth to watch them dismount, her father at her side.
    It was not the prince Cristina watched. Cadfael passed close by her as he went within, and saw by the falling light of the torches how her face was set, her lips taut and unsmiling, and her eyes fixed insatiably upon Eliud as he alighted and handed