Brother Cadfael 18: The Summer of the Danes

added not a word more.
    "And even if we could steal back our horses," he reflected philosophically, "we could not get out of this armed ring with them."
    "And mine is lame," she agreed again, smiling her private smile.
    He had had no opportunity, until now, to ask her how she had come by that horse in the first place, somehow stealing him away out of the prince's stables while the feast was at its height, and before any word was brought from Bangor to alert Owain to the threat from Ireland. He asked her now. "How came it that you ever came into possession of this horse you call yours so briskly?"
    "I found him," said Heledd simply. "Saddled, bridled, tethered among the trees not far from the gatehouse. Better than ever I expected, I took it for a good omen and was thankful I had not to go wandering through the night afoot. But I would have done it. I had no thought of it when I went out to refill the pitcher, but out in the courtyard I thought, why go back? There was nothing left in Llanelwy I could keep, and nothing in Bangor or Anglesey that I wanted. But there must be something for me, somewhere in the world. Why should I not go and find it, if no one else would get it for me? And while I was standing there in shadow by the wall, the guards on the gate were not marking me, and I slipped out behind their backs. I had nothing, I took nothing, I would have walked away so, and never complained. It was my choice. But in the trees I found this horse, saddled and bridled and ready for me, a gift from God that I could not refuse. If I have lost him now," she said very solemnly, "it may be he has brought me where I was meant to be."
    "A stage on your journey, it may be," said Cadfael, concerned, "but surely not the end. For here are you and I, hostages in a very questionable situation, and you I take to be a lass who values her freedom highly. We have yet to get ourselves out of captivity, or wait here for Owain to do it for us." He was revolving in some wonder what she had told him, and harking back to all that had happened in Aber. "So there was this beast, made ready for riding and hidden away outside the enclave. And if heaven meant him for you, there was someone else who intended a very different outcome when he saddled him and led him out into the woods. Now it seems to me that Bledri ap Rhys did indeed mean to escape to his lord with word of all the prince's muster and strength. The means of flight was ready outside the gate for him. And yet he was found naked in his bedchamber, no way prepared for riding. You have set us a riddle. Did he go to his bed to wait until the llys was well asleep? And was killed before the favourable hour? And how did he purpose to leave the maenol, when every gate was guarded?"
    Heledd was studying him intently along her shoulder, brows knitted together, only partially understanding, but hazarding very alert and intelligent guesses at what was still obscure to her. "Do you tell me Bledri ap Rhys is dead? Killed, you said. That same night? The night I left the llys?"
    "You did not know? It was after you were gone, so was the news that came from Bangor. No one has told you since?"
    "I heard of the coming of the Danes, yes, that news was everywhere from the next morning. But I heard nothing of any death, never a word."
    No, it would not be news of crucial importance, like the invasion from Ireland, tref would not spread it to tref and maenol to maenol as Owain's couriers had spread word of the muster to Carnarvon. Heledd was frowning over the belated news, saddened by any man's death, especially one she had known briefly, even made use of, in her own fashion, to plague a father who wronged her affection.
    "I am sorry," she said. "He had such life in him. A waste! Killed, you think, to prevent his going? One more warrior for Cadwaladr, and with knowledge of the prince's plans to make him even more welcome? Then who? Who could have found out, and made such dreadful shift to stop him?"
    "That there's no knowing, nor will I hazard guesses where they serve no purpose. But soon or late, the prince will find him out. The man was in a sense his guest, he will not let the death go unavenged."
    "You foretell another death," said Heledd, with forceful bitterness. "What does that amend?"
    And to that there was no answer that would not raise yet further questions, probing all the obscure corners of right and wrong. They walked on together, to a higher point near the southern rim of the armed camp,