Footsteps in Time (The After Cilmeri Series Book 1)

Footsteps in Time (Chapter Nine)

Anna

Anna took a deep breath and knocked on Gwenllian's door. Before she could knock a second time, Mari, Gwenllian's nanny, whipped the door open. Her color was high. Beyond, Heledd suckled the baby, but it looked like she was squeezing her so tightly it was a wonder that Gwenllian wasn't crying. Anna had walked in on a fight.

Mari sneered at the sight of her, but at the last second she seemed to remember who Anna was and, if possible, got even redder. She curtsied. "Excuse me, my lady. I'm clearly not wanted here!" Mari brushed past Anna into the hall.

Anna turned to watch her go and then looked back at Heledd.

"I'm sorry, my lady," Heledd said. "We've had a difficult day and, I confess, we missed your help with Gwenllian. The only time she didn't cry was when she nursed, and Mari believes I should not nurse her as much as I do. She says it spoils her. She says she won't return until I apologize for disagreeing with her."

Anna wasn't really listening to Heledd. She was thinking about how to get the baby and her nurse out of the castle at midnight, when Anna caught the last of Heledd's words.

"She said she wouldn't return?" Anna didn't think the nanny to a princess of Wales could choose to abdicate her responsibilities like that. "Surely not."

Heledd shrugged. "That's what she said. I say good riddance. I'm tired of her constant arguments and complaining."

"Tired enough to bring the baby on an adventure with me?" Anna said.

"What did you say?" Heledd was probably thinking that Anna had mangled her Welsh again.

Anna closed the door, pulled up a stool up next to Heledd, and sat down. "I need you to listen to me and try to keep an open mind. I wasn't able to take the baby this afternoon because I was riding in the forest. Hywel was with me and we encountered two English soldiers."

Heledd gasped. "What!" To her the English were the equivalent of the bogeyman. Although she was wet-nurse to a princess, she was very inexperienced in the world. Her baby's father hadn't married her, and her baby had died two days before Gwenllian's mother, which is why Heledd had become the baby's wet-nurse.

"Listen!" Anna said. "Hywel and I followed them to their camp and I overheard a conversation between two soldiers. They plan to capture the castle through treachery, and take the princess away to a prison in England."

Heledd held the baby closer, already panicked.

"They can't! I won't let them!"

"I won't let them either, Heledd, but there's only so much we can do. A traitor inside the castle is going to allow them to take the castle without a fight. Hywel and I have a plan to escape with Gwenllian before the English come. We need you to come too. Will you do that?"

Heledd's breaths came in gasps. "Leave Castell y Bere? And go where?"

"To Prince Llywelyn at Dolwyddelan," Anna said. "We need to keep Gwenllian safe and at the same time, warn the prince about the English."

Heledd looked down at the floor, chewing on her lower lip as she thought. Anna held her breath, hoping she'd agree but didn't pressure her. She simply sat and waited.

At last Heledd looked up and nodded. She hunched her shoulders, as if already oppressed by cold and fear. "What do you want me to do?"

* * * * *

Shortly after midnight, Heledd and Anna, with baby Gwenllian in her arms, traversed the back stairway, tiptoed through the kitchens, and walked into the frosty night. The sky was full of stars, but the moon hadn't yet risen. Starlight glinted off patches of snow in the courtyard. Without the prince, his attendants, and soldiers, only a skeleton staff remained at the castle, and most of them were asleep.