The Good Knight (A Gareth and Gwen Medieval Mystery)

the darkness. What was going on inside his head, Gareth didn’t know for sure, but could guess that it was only his iron will that had stopped him from disgracing his brother further, or worse, running him through. Cadwaladr, on the other hand, once Owain had left, popped to his feet like a youth, even as four of Owain’s guards grasped him around the shoulders and turned him in the direction Owain had gone.
    “You heard him,” Cadwaladr said to the trio as he passed them. “Go rescue Gwen.”
    Christ!

Chapter Thirty-Five

    “ W hy don’t you just send Cadwaladr back to the Danes,” Hywel said. “This is his doing, isn’t it? All of it?”
    Owain Gwynedd and Hywel stood together twenty feet away on the perimeter of the camp, illumined by the light of a flaming torch jammed into the ground. The light wavered in the wind that blew from the west and allowed their voices to carry to Gareth who halted in mid-stride at the corner of the last tent. He glanced around, but no one else was in evidence. He shrunk back into the shadows so as not to interrupt them.
    “Make him find the money to pay the Danes or face the consequences,” Hywel continued. “He’ll bankrupt himself, but make him do it. If you don’t, he’ll blame you for his lack of fortune and lands. He’ll never take responsibility for his actions if you do this for him.”
    King Owain sighed. “He is a prince of Wales, son. You should know, if one day you are to aid your brother in his rule of Wales, that I can’t allow the Danes to make free with him. He hasn’t the wherewithal to face them. He’s run from them now. When they discover how he deceived them, they’ll lay waste to half of Gwynedd before they go home. I preserve him because by doing so, I preserve my people.”
    Silence . And then Hywel asked the question that burned Gareth up inside. “Will you give him back his lands in Ceredigion?”
    “And if I did, would you still do my bidding?” Owain Gwynedd said.
    “Always,” Hywel said.
    “That is why I will not,” King Owain said. “Ceredigion is yours.”
    Hywel had been gazing out to sea, avoiding his father’s eyes, but now looked into Owain Gwynedd’s face. “Mine?”
    “You’ve earned it,” Owain said. “It’s time you took your proper place as a prince of Wales.”
    For once, King Owain had cut through Hywel’s façade of cynical unconcern. “Thank you, Father,” Hywel said. “You won’t be sorry for your trust in me.”
    “I know it,” King Owain said. “Now get me that girl. I won’t have Ottar use her as a bargaining chip. Besides, my bard will never forgive me if you don’t.”
    “Yes, sir!” Hywel said.
    King Owain turned towards the center of the camp just as Rhun came trotting across the sand to his brother. Gareth decided it was safe to join them.
    “Dawn is coming,” Rhun said.
    “What are we to do?” Gareth came to a halt in front of Hywel, whose eyes were brighter than he’d ever seen them. “We don’t know where Gwen is being kept, or even if she’s being kept at all. Perhaps she’s still free, as she was when she was in Cadwaladr’s charge.”
    “We’ll soon find out,” Hywel said. “If we’re to move, we have to do it soon. The moment King Ottar discovers Cadwaladr’s absence, he is going to be one very angry Dane.”
    “The three of us need to rescue Gwen,” Rhun said. “Just us. Right now.”
    Hywel studied his brother. “You are too valuable to lose.”
    “That is why it must be we three,” Rhun said. “Even if he captures us, King Ottar will not harm us; he’s not harmed Gwen, at least as far as we know. He knows that the only way he’s getting out of here alive, at worst, or with his money, at best, is if he cooperates. Killing the son of Owain Gwynedd would ensure a massacre of his men and enduring enmity between Aber and Dublin. He won’t want that.”
    “Prince Rhun is right, my lord,” Gareth said. “Even if King Ottar is angry now, he hasn’t killed Gwen. That would be wasteful and the Danes are a most practical people.”
    “Then we’ll go as you said, brother, before the sun rises, and while they’re still in disarray from Cadwaladr’s defection,” Hywel said. “If we wait any longer, it will be too late.”
    “They may be more alert than usual,” Gareth said.
    “We’ll surprise them,” Hywel said. “They’ll be focused on Cadwaladr, not on Gwen.”
    Rhun snapped his fingers at one of the sentries as the three men passed him,