Daughter of Time (Prequel to The After Cilmeri Series)

Daughter of Time (Chapter Twelve)

Llywelyn

"Holy Mother of God!" The sight of Marged, spinning down the Cadair River behind Humphrey de Bohun nearly had me diving in after her. Thankfully, she'd let go of the horse's reins and allowed the water to take her, rather than struggling against it along with her horse. Instead, one of my men dove into the river after the horse, but Marged was already too far away to reach.

"After them!" Goronwy pointed at men who hadn't yet crossed.

But he needn't have said anything, as half a dozen men-at-arms, including Hywel, already raced away. By the time I'd turned Glewdra in the swift current, Goronwy had spurred his horse into the water. Anna held on to the horse's mane, her eyes wide, but not crying.

"They'll find her," Goronwy said, tipping his chin towards the way the men had gone.

I grunted noncommittal agreement. I could depend on them to find her if she were possible to find. As boys, we'd spent many hours in this river and we both knew the dangers, both from the more northern Cadair, and the Dysynni, which flowed from the south and merged with it a dozen yards downstream.

We skirted the trees that grew close together on the bank and pushed our horses down a track that ran along the fields that lay on our side of the river. We rode as hard as we could, but the trail was a rough one and I didn't want to lose Glewdra to a hole. That would slow us down more than caution now. Then a shout came from up ahead.

"Quickly!" Goronwy and I crashed through the bushes to our left and trotted into a small clearing near the river. Humphrey stood in the middle of it, white-faced and sopping wet but otherwise unharmed. He held a spear-length stick in his right hand and leaned on it like a crutch. His shoulders sagged when he saw me. I reined in sharply.

"Where's Marged?"

"The whoresons took her, my lord! I tried to stop them, but without my sword, I was no match for them."

"Who took her?" Goronwy said.

"Owain, my lord, with ten of his men," Humphrey said. "And your brother, Dafydd."

"What?" I'd been about to charge out of the clearing, but checked Glewdra at his last words. "Did you say that Dafydd was among them?"

"Yes, my lord," Humphrey said. "Lady Marged and I managed to reach the bank just over there. He was waiting to help us out of the water. I accepted his help, assuming he meant well."

"He took Marged?" That he had was obvious, since she wasn't here, but my mind was struggling to keep up with the magnitude of what he was saying.

"I thought he meant to help us, but as soon as Marged came out of the river, he dragged her away from me, mounted them both on his horse, and raced away. I tried to stop them, but without a horse of my own ... it ... I couldn't ..." Humphrey looked down at his toes. I caught the word hopeless.

It wasn't his fault but my anger was making it difficult for me to see reason. I couldn't stand to look at him. Even so, he appeared to be telling the truth. "Where will they go?" I said to Goronwy.

"They can't cross the Dysynni River today. Lady Marged is wet through; she'll need warm clothes soon if they expect her to live."

"Perhaps they'll head north, then, back to the manor?" Hywel said.

"Neither of them know this country well," Goronwy said. "I wonder if they might, perhaps, head to the sea?"

Jesus wept.

"Before you reached us, I sent men in pairs in every direction," Hywel said. "They'll find her."

By now all of my men had arrived at the clearing, including the man leading Humphrey's horse. He recognized it and without a by-your-leave, ran to it, stripping off his shirt as he did so.