Brother Cadfael 18: The Summer of the Danes

ask wherever we touch on the way back." There was always the chance, too, that Canon Meirion had already found his daughter, closer to the royal seat at Aber.
    "I can have prayers said for her safety," said the bishop briskly, "but I have sheep of my own to fold, and cannot, however willingly I would, go searching after one stray. At least, Brothers, rest this night over, before you take to the roads again, and may you ride safely and get good word of the young woman you seek."
    Bishop Meurig might be preoccupied with guarding his extended household, but he did not let that interfere with his hospitality. His table was well-supplied, his meat and mead ample and well-prepared, and he did not let his guests depart next morning without rising at dawn to see them off. It was a limpid, moist morning, after some fitful showers in the night, and the sun came up glistening and radiant, gilding the shallows to eastward.
    "Go with God!" said the bishop, solid and square in the gateway of his precinct, as though he would hold it single-handed against all comers. His complimentary letters were already bestowed in Mark's saddle-roll, together with a small flask of gilded glass filled with the cordial he made from his own honey, and Cadfael carried before him a basket with a day's supply of food for six men rather than two. "Come safely back to your bishop, on whom be God's blessing, and to your convent, Brother Cadfael, where his grace surely prevails. I trust some day we may meet again."
    Of the peril now threatening he certainly went in no awe. When they looked back from the street he was bustling purposefully across the open court, head foremost and lowered, like a small, determined bull not yet belligerent but certainly not to be trifled with.
    They had emerged from the edges of the town on to the highroad, when Mark reined in, and sat his horse mute and thoughtful, looking first back along the road towards Aber, and then westward towards the invisible sinuous curves of the narrow strait that separated Anglesey from Arfon. Cadfael drew in beside him, and waited, knowing what was on his friend's mind.
    "Could she have passed beyond this point? Ought we not to go on westward? She left Aber hours before us. How long, I wonder, before she got word of the coming of the Danes?"
    "If she rode through the night," said Cadfael, "she was not likely to hear of it until morning, there would be no one abroad to warn her. By morning she could be well to the west, and if she intended by her flight to evade her marriage, she would not come near Bangor, for there she was to meet her husband. Yes, you are right, she might by this be well to westward, and into danger. Nor am I sure she would turn back even if she knew of it."
    "Then what are we waiting for?" demanded Mark simply, and turned his horse towards the west.
    At the church of Saint Deiniol, several miles south-west from Bangor and perhaps two miles from the strait, they got word of her at last. She must have kept to the old, direct road, the same Owain and his host would take, but hours ahead of them. The only puzzle was why it had taken her so long to reach that point, for when they enquired of the priest there was no hesitation, but yes, she had lighted down here to ask directions only late the previous evening, about Vespers.
    "A young woman on a light roan, and all alone. She asked her way to the cell of Nonna. Due west from here it lies, in the trees near the water. I offered her shelter for the night, but she said she would go to the holy woman."
    "She would find the cell deserted," said Cadfael. "Bishop Meurig feared for the anchoress, and sent to bring her into Bangor. From which direction did the girl ride in?"
    "Down out of the forests, from the south. I did not know," said the priest, distressed, "that she would find the place empty. I wonder, poor child, what she would do? There would still be time enough for her to find refuge in Bangor."
    "That I doubt she would do," said Cadfael. "If she came to the cell only so late, she might well bide the night over there, rather than risk moving by darkness." He looked at Mark, in no doubt already what that young man would be thinking. On this journey Mark had the governance, not for the world would Cadfael have robbed him of it by word or act.
    "We will go and look for her at the hermitage," said Mark firmly, "and if she is not there, we will separate and try whatever tracks seem most likely to offer her refuge. In these lowland