Chapter Seven. T here was not a word more said between them

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T here was not a word more said between them. Byconsent they turned and made their way back in haste to the horses,and led them away inland by the woodland track, until they were farenough from the shore to mount and ride. If Heledd, after her nightin the hermitage, had seen the coming of this foraging boat withits formidable complement of warriors, small wonder she had madehaste to remove herself from their vicinity. And small doubt butshe would withdraw inland as quickly and as far as she could, andonce at a sufficient distance she would make for the shelter of atown. That, at least, was what any girl in her right senses woulddo. Here she was midway between Bangor and Carnarvon. Which waywould she take?

“One ship alone,” said Mark at last, where the pathwidened and made it possible for two to ride abreast. “Isthat good sense? Might they not be opposed, evencaptured?”

“So they might at this moment,” Cadfael agreed,“but there’s no one here to attempt it. They came bynight past Carnarvon, be sure, and by night they’ll slip outagain. This will be one of the smallest and the fastest in theirfleet; with more than twenty armed rowers aboard there’snothing we have could keep them in sight. You saw the building ofher, she can be rowed either way, and turn in a flash. The onlyrisk they take is while the most of the company are ashore,foraging, and that they’ll do by rushes, fast ashore and fastafloat again.”

“But why send one small ship out alone? As I have heardtell,” said Mark, “they raid in force, and take slavesas well as plunder. That they cannot do by risking a singlevessel.”

“This time,” said Cadfael, considering,“it’s no such matter. If Cadwaladr has brought themover, then he’s promised them a fat fee for their services.They’re here to persuade Owain he would be wise to restorehis brother to his lands, and they expect to get well paid fordoing it, and if it can be done cheaply by the threat of theirpresence, without the loss of a man in battle, that’s whatthey’ll prefer, and Cadwaladr will have no objection,provided the result is the same. Say he gets his way and returns tohis lands, he has still to live beside his brother for the future,why make relations between them blacker than they need be? No,there’ll be no random burning and killing, and no call totake bondmen, not unless the bargain turns sour.”

“Then why this foray by a single ship so far along thestrait?” Mark demanded reasonably.

“The Danes have to feed their force, and it’s nottheir way to carry their own provisions when they’re headingfor a land they can just as well live off at no cost. They know theWelsh well enough by now to know we live light and travel light,and can shift our families and our stock into the mountains at afew hours’ notice. Yonder little ship has wasted no time inmaking inland from Abermenai as soon as it touched shore, to reachsuch hamlets as were late in hearing the news, or slow in roundingup their cattle. They’ll be off back to their fellows tonightwith a load of good carcases amidships, and whatever store of flourand grain they’ve been able to lay their hands on. Andsomewhere along these woods and fields they’re about thatvery business this moment.”

“And if they meet with a solitary girl?” Markchallenged. “Would they refrain from doing unnecessaryoffence even then?”

“I would not speak for any man, Dane or Welsh or Norman,in such a case,” Cadfael admitted. “If she were aprincess of Gwynedd, why, she’d be worth far more intact andwell treated than violated or misused. And if Heledd was not bornroyal, yet she has a tongue of her own, and can very well make itplain that she is under Owain’s protection, and they’llbe answerable to him if they do her offence. But evenso…”

They had reached a place where the woodland track divided, onebranch bearing still inland but inclining to the west, the otherbearing more directly east.

“We are nearer Carnarvon than Bangor,” Cadfaelreckoned, halting where the roads divided. “But would sheknow it? What now, Mark? East or west?”

“We had best separate,” Mark said, frowning over soblind a decision. “She cannot be very far. She would have tokeep in cover. If the ship must return this night, she might find aplace to hide safely until they are gone. Do you take one way, andI the other.”

“We cannot afford to lose touch,” Cadfael warnedseriously. “If we part here it must be only for some hours,and here we must meet again. We are not free to do altogether as wechoose. Go towards Carnarvon, and if you find her, see her safelythere. But if not, make your way back here by dusk, and so will I.And if I find her by this lefthand way, I’ll get her intoshelter wherever I may, if it means turning back to Bangor. And atBangor I’ll wait for you, if you fail of meeting me here bysunset. And if I fail you, follow and find me there.” Amakeshift affair, but the best they could do, with so limited atime, and an inescapable duty waiting. She had left the cell by theshore only that morning, she would have had to observe caution andkeep within the woodland ways, where a horse must go slowly. No,she could not be far. And at this distance from the strait, surelyshe would keep to a used path, and not wind a laborious way deep incover. They might yet find and bring her here by nightfall, orconduct her into safety somewhere, rendezvous here free of her, andbe off thankfully back to England.

Mark looked at the light and the slight decline of the sun fromthe zenith. “We have four hours or more,” he said, andturned his horse westward briskly, and was off.

Cadfael’s track turned east on a leveltraverse for perhaps half a mile, occasionally emerging fromwoodland into open pasture, and affording glimpses of the straitthrough the scattered trees below. Then it turned inland and beganto climb, though the gradient here was not great, for this belt ofland on the mainland side partook to some extent of the richfertility of the island before it reared aloft into the mountains.He went softly, listening, and halting now and again to listen moreintently, but there was no sign of life but for the birds, verybusy about their spring occupations and undisturbed by the turmoilamong men. The cattle and sheep had been driven up higher into thehills, into guarded folds; the raiders would find only the fewstragglers here, and perhaps would venture no further along thestrait. The news must be ahead of them now wherever they touched,they would have made their most profitable captures already. IfHeledd had turned this way, she might be safe enough from anyfurther danger.

He had crossed an open meadow and entered a higher belt ofwoodland, bushy and dappled with sunbeams on his left hand,deepening into forest on his right, when a grass snake, like asmall flash of silver-green lightning, shot across the path almostunder his horse’s hooves to vanish in deeper grass on theother side, and the beast shied for an instant, and let out a mutedbellow of alarm. Somewhere off to the right, among the trees, andat no great distance, another horse replied, raising an excitedwhinny of recognition. Cadfael halted to listen intently, hopingfor another call to allow him to take a more precise reading of thedirection, but the sound was not repeated. Probably whoever was inrefuge there, well aside from the path, had rushed to soothe andcajole his beast into silence. A horse’s neighing could carryall too far along this rising hillside.

Cadfael dismounted, and led his beast in among the trees, takinga winding line towards where he thought the other voyager must be,and halting at every turn to listen again, and presently, when hewas already deep among thick growth, he caught the sudden rustlingof shaken boughs ahead, quickly stilled. His own movements, howevercautious, had certainly been heard. Someone there in closeconcealment was waiting for him in ambush.

“Heledd!” said Cadfael clearly.

Silence seemed to become even more silent.

“Heledd? Here am I, Brother Cadfael. You can be easy, hereare no Dublin Danes. Come forth and show yourself.”

And forth she came, thrusting through the bushes to meet him,Heledd indeed, with a naked dagger ready in her hand, though forthe moment she might well have forgotten that she held it. Her gownwas creased and soiled a little with the debris of bushes, onecheek was lightly smeared with green from bedding down in moss andgrasses, and the mane of her hair was loose round her shoulders,here in shadow quite black, a midnight cloud. But her clear ovalface was fiercely composed, just easing from its roused readinessto do battle, and her eyes, enormous in shade, were purple-black.Behind her among the trees he heard her horse shift and stamp,uneasy here in these unknown solitudes.

“It is you,” she said, and let the handthat held the knife slip down to her side with a great, gusty sigh.“How did you find me? And where is Deacon Mark? I thought youwould be off home before now.”

“So we would,” agreed Cadfael, highly relieved tofind her in such positive possession of herself, “but for yourunning off into the night. Mark is a mile or more from us on theroad to Carnarvon, looking for you. We parted where the roadsforked. It was guesswork which way you would take. We came seekingyou at Nonna’s cell. The priest told us he’d directedyou there.”

“Then you’ve seen the ship,” said Heledd, andhoisted her shoulders in resignation at the unavoidable. “Ishould have been well aloft into the hills by now to look for mymother’s cousins up among the sheep-huts, the ones I hoped tofind still in their lowland homestead, if my horse had not fallen alittle lame. I thought best to get into cover and rest him untilnightfall. And now we are two,” she said, and her smileflashed in shadow with recovering confidence, “three if wecan find your little deacon. And now which way should we make? Comewith me over the hills, and you can find a safe way back to theDee. For I am not going back to my father,” she warned, witha formidable flash of her dark eyes. “He’s rid of me,as he wanted. I mean him no ill, but I have not escaped them allonly to go back and be married off to some man I have never seen,nor to dwindle away in a nunnery. You may tell him, or leave wordwith someone else to let him know, that I am safe with mymother’s kinsmen, and he can be content.”

“You are going into the first safe shelter we canfind,” said Cadfael firmly, moved to a degree of indignationhe could not have felt if he had found her distressed and in fear.“Afterwards, once this trouble is over, you may have yourlife and do what you will with it.” It seemed to him, even ashe said it, that she was capable of doing with it somethingoriginal and even admirable, and if it had to be in theworld’s despite, that would not stop her. “Can yourbeast go?”

“I can lead him, and we shall see.”

Cadfael took thought for a moment. They were midway betweenBangor and Carnarvon here, but once returned to the westward trackby which Mark had set out, the road was more direct to Carnarvon,and by taking it they would eventually rejoin Mark. Whether he hadgone on into the town, or turned back to return to the crossroadsmeeting place by dusk, along that pathway they would meet him. Andin a city filled with Owain’s fighting men there would be nodanger. A force hired to threaten would not be so mad as to provokethe entire armies of Gwynedd. A little looting, perhaps, pleasantsport carrying off a few stray cattle and a few stray villagers,but they were not such fools as to bring out Owain’s totalstrength against them in anger.

“Bring him out to the path,” said Cadfael.“You may ride mine, and I’ll walk yours.”

There was nothing in the glittering look she gave him toreassure him that she would do as he said, and nothing to disquiethim with doubts. She hesitated only an instant, in which thesilence of the windless afternoon seemed phenomenally intense, thenshe turned and parted the branches behind her, and vanished,shattering the silence with the rustling and thrashing of herpassage through deep cover. In a few moments he heard the horsewhinny softly, and then the stirring of the bushes as girl andhorse turned to thread a more open course back to him. And then,astonishingly high, wild and outraged, he heard her scream.

The instinctive leap forward he made to go to her never gainedhim so much as a couple of paces. From either side the bushesthrashed, and hands reached to clutch him by cowl and habit, pinhis arms and bring him up erect but helpless, straining against agrip he could not break, but which, curiously, made no move to dohim any harm beyond holding him prisoner. Suddenly the tiny openglade was boiling with large, bare-armed, fair-haired, leather-girtmen, and out of the thicket facing him erupted an even larger man,a young giant, head and shoulders above Cadfael’s sturdymiddle height, laughing so loudly that the hitherto silent woodsrang and re-echoed with his mirth, and clutching in his arms araging Heledd, kicking and struggling with all her might, butmaking small impression. The one hand she had free had alreadyscored its nails down her captor’s cheek, and was tugging andtearing in his long flaxen hair, until he turned and stooped hishead and took her wrist in his teeth and held it. Large, even,white teeth that had shone as he laughed, and now barely dentedHeledd’s smooth skin. It was astonishment, neither fear norpain, that caused her suddenly to lie still in his arms, crookedfingers gradually unfolding in bewilderment. But when he releasedher to laugh again, she recovered her rage, and struck out at himfuriously, pounding her fist vainly against his broad breast.

Behind him came a grinning boy about fifteen years old, leadingHeledd’s horse, which went a little tenderly on one foreleg.At sight of a second such prize tethered and shifting uneasily inthe fringe of the trees, the boy let out a whoop of pleasure.Indeed, the entire mood of the marauding company seemedgood-humoured and ebullient rather than menacing. There were not somany of them as at first they had seemed, by reason of their sizeand their exuberantly animal presence. Two, barrel-chested andmoustached, with hair in straw-coloured braids down either cheek,held Cadfael pinioned by the arms. A third had taken theroan’s bridle, and was fondling the long blazed brow andcreamy mane. But somewhere out on the open ride there were others,Cadfael heard them moving and talking as they waited. The marvelwas that men so massive could move so softly to close round theirquarry. The horses, calling to each other, had alerted thereturning foragers, and led them to this unexpected gain. Amonastic, a girl, by her mount and dress a girl of quality, and twogood horses.

The young giant was surveying his gains very practically overHeledd’s unavailing struggles, and Cadfael noted that thoughhe was casually rough with his captive, he was not brutal. And itseemed that Heledd had realized as much, and gradually abandonedher resistance, knowing it vain, and surprised into quietness bythe fact that there was no retaliation.

“ Saeson? demanded the giant, eyeing Cadfael withcuriosity. He already knew that Heledd was Welsh enough, she hadbeen reviling him in the language until she ran out of breath.

“Welsh!” said Cadfael. “Like the lady. She isdaughter to a canon of Saint Asaph, and under the protection ofOwain Gwynedd.”

“He keeps wildcats?” said the young man, and laughedagain, and set her down on her feet in one lithe movement, but kepta fast hold on the girdle of her gown, twisted in his large fist totighten and secure it. “And he’ll want this one backwithout a hair missing? But the lady slipped her leash, seemingly,or what’s she doing here with no bodyguard but a monk of theBenedictines?” He spoke a loose mixture of Erse, Danish andWelsh, very well able to make himself understood in these parts.Not all the centuries of fitful contact between Dublin and Waleshad been by way of invasion and rapine, a good many marriages hadbeen made between the princedoms, and a fair measure of honestcommerce been profitable to both parties. Probably this youth had ameasure of Norman French in his tongue, no less. Even Latin, forvery likely Irish monks had had him in school. He was plainly ayoung man of consequence. Also, happily, of a very open andcheerful humour, by no means inclined to waste what might turn outa valuable asset. “Bring the man,” said the youngfellow, returning briskly to business, “and keep him fast.Owain has a respect for the black habit, even if the Celtic classuits him best. If it comes to bargaining, holiness fetches a goodprice. I’ll see to the girl.”

They sprang to obey him, as light of heart, it seemed, as theirleader, and all in high content with their foraging. When theyemerged with their captives into the open ride, the two horses ledalong behind them, it was easy to see what reason they had forbeing in high feather. There were four more of them waiting there,all afoot, and burdened with two long poles loaded down withslaughtered carcases and slung sacks, the plunder of scatteredfolds, stray corners of grazing, and even the forest itself, forthere was venison among the booty. A fifth man had improvised awooden yoke for his shoulders, to carry two balanced wineskins.This must be one of at least two shore parties, Cadfael judged, forthe little ship carried twelve pairs of oars aside from other crew.It was guesswork how many the Danish force would muster in full,but they would not go short for a day or so.

He went where he was propelled, not entirely out of the sensiblerealization that he was no match at all for one of the brawnywarriors who held him, let alone two, not even because, though hemight break away himself, he could do nothing to take Heledd withhim. Wherever they were bound, useful hostages, he might still beable to afford her some protection and companionship. He hadalready given up any idea that she was likely to come to any greatharm. He had done no more than confirm something already understoodwhen he urged that she was valuable; and this was not total war,but a commercial expedition, to achieve the highest profit at theleast expenditure.

There was some redistribution of the booty they had amassed,Heledd’s lame horse being called into service to carry a partof the load. They were notably brisk and neat in their movements,balancing the weight and halting short of overburdening a valuablebeast. Among themselves they fell back into their own Norse tongue,though the likelihood was that all these young, vigorous warriorshad been born in the kingdom of Dublin, and their fathers beforethem, and had a broad understanding of the Celtic languages thatsurrounded their enclave, and dealt freely with them in war andpeace. At the end of this day of raiding they had an eye to thesun, and but for this foray after the alarm the horses had sounded,they were losing no time.

Cadfael had wondered how their leader would dispose of the onesound horse, and fully expected he would claim the privilege ofriding for himself. Instead, the young man ordered the boy into thesaddle, the lightest weight among them, and swung Heledd up beforehim and into arms even at fifteen years brawny enough to make herstruggles ineffective once her hands were securely bound by her owngirdle. But she had understood by this time that resistance wouldbe both useless and undignified, and suffered herself to be settledagainst the boy’s broad chest without deigning to struggle.By the set of her face she would be waiting for the first chance ofescape, and keeping all her wits and strength in reserve until themoment offered. She had fallen silent, shutting lips and teeth uponanger or fear, and keeping a taut, brooding dignity, but what wasbrewing behind that still face there was no knowing.

“Brother,” said the young man, turning briskly uponCadfael, still pinned between his guards, “if you value thelass, you may walk beside her without a hand on you. But I warnyou, Torsten will be close behind, and he can throw a lance tosplit a sapling at fifty paces, so best keep station.” He wasgrinning as he issued the warning, already assured that Cadfael hadno intention of making off and leaving the girl in captivity.“Forward now, and fast,” he said cheerfully, and setthe pace, and the entire party fell into file down the ride, and sodid Cadfael, close alongside his own roan horse, with a hand at therider’s stirrup-leather. If Heledd needed the fragilereassurance of his presence, she had it; but Cadfael doubted theneed. She had made no move since she was hoisted aloft, except tostir and settle more comfortably on her perch, and the very tensionof her face had softened into a thoughtful stillness. Every timeCadfael raised his eyes to take a fresh look at her he found hermore at ease in this unforeseen situation. And every time, her eyeswere dwelling in speculation upon the fair head that topped all therest, stalking before them with erected crest and long blond locksstirring in the light breeze.

Downhill at a brisk pace, through woodland and pasture, untilthe first silvery glints of water winked at them through the lastbelt of trees. The sun was dipping gently towards the west, gildingthe ripples drawn by the breeze along the surface, when theyemerged upon the shore of the strait, and the crewmen left on guardlaunched a shout of welcome, and brought the dragon-ship inshore totake them aboard.

Brother Mark, returning empty-handed from hisforay westward to keep the rendezvous at the crossroads beforesunset, heard the passing of a company of men, swift and quietthough they were, crossing his track some little way ahead, goingdownhill towards the shore. He halted in cover until they hadpassed, and then followed cautiously in the same direction,intending only to make sure they were safely out of sight andearshot before he pushed on to the meeting place. It so happenedthat the line he followed downhill among the trees inclined towardsthe course of their open ride, and brought him rapidly closer, sothat he drew back and halted again, this time catching glimpses ofthem between the branches of bushes now almost in full summer leaf.A tall youth, flaxen fair, his head floating past like a blownprimrose but high as a three-year spruce, a led horse, loaded, twomen with a pole slung on their shoulders, and animal carcasesswinging to their stride. Then, unmistakably, he saw Heledd and theboy pass by, a pair entwined and afloat six feet from the ground,the horse beneath them only implied by the rhythm of their passing,for the branches swung impenetrable between at that moment, leavingto view only a trudging tonsure beside them, russet brown almostwholly salted with grey. A very small clue to the man who wore it,but all Mark needed to know Brother Cadfael.

So he had found her, and these much less welcome strangers hadfound them both, before they could slip away thankfully into somesafe refuge. And there was nothing Mark could do about it butfollow them, far enough at least to see where they were taken, andhow they were handled, and then make sure that the news was carriedwhere there were those who could take their loss into account, andmake plans for their recovery.

He dismounted and left his horse tethered, the better to moveswiftly and silently among the trees. But the shout that presentlycame echoing up from the ship caused him to discard caution andemerge into the open, hurrying downhill to find a spot from whichhe could see the waters of the strait, and the steersman bringinghis craft close in beneath the grassy bank, at a spot where it waschild’s play to leap aboard over the low rim into therowers’ benches in the waist of the vessel. Mark saw the tideof fierce, fair men flow inboard, coaxing the loaded packhorseafter them, and stowing their booty under the tiny foredeck and inthe well between the benches. In with them went Cadfael, perforce,and yet it seemed to Mark that he went blithely where he waspersuaded. Small chance to avoid, but another man would have been ashade less apt and adroit about it.

The boy on horseback had kept his firm hold of Heledd until theflaxen-haired young giant, having seen his men embarked, reached upand hoisted her in his arms, as lightly as if she had been a child,and leaped down with her between the rowers’ benches, andsetting her down there on her feet, stretched up again to thebridle of Cadfael’s horse, and coaxed him aboard with asoft-spoken cajolery that came up strangely to Mark’s ears.The boy followed, and instantly the steersman pushed off stronglyfrom the bank, the knot of men busy bestowing their plunderdissolved into expert order at the oars, and the lean littledragon-ship surged out into midstream. She was in lunging motionbefore Mark had recovered his wits, sliding like a snakesouthwestward towards Carnarvon and Abermenai, where doubtless hercompanions were now in harbour or moored in the roads outside thedunes. She did not have to turn, even, being double-ended. Herspeed could get her out of trouble in any direction; even if shewas sighted off the town Owain had nothing that could catch her.The rapidity with which she dwindled silently into a thin, darkfleck upon the water left Mark breathless and amazed.

He turned to make his way back to where his horse was tethered,and set out in resolute haste westward towards Carnarvon.

Plumped aboard into the narrow well between thebenches, and there as briskly abandoned, Cadfael took a moment tolean back against the boards of the narrow after-deck and considertheir situation. Relations between captors and captives seemedalready to have found a viable level, at surprisingly little costin time or passion. Resistance was impracticable. Discretionrecommended acceptance to the prisoners, and made it possible fortheir keepers to be about the more immediate business of gettingtheir booty safely back to camp, without any stricter enforcementthan a rapidly moving vessel and a mile or so of water on eitherside provided. No one laid hand on Cadfael once they were embarked.No one paid any further attention to Heledd, braced backdefensively into the stern-post, where the young Dane had hoistedher, with knees drawn up and skirts hugged about her in embracingarms. No one feared that she would leap overboard and strike outfor Anglesey; the Welsh were not known as notable swimmers. No onehad any interest in doing either of them affront or injury; theywere simple assets to be retained intact for future use.

To test it further, Cadfael made his way the length of the wellamidships, between the stowed loot of flesh and provisions, payingcurious attention to the details of the lithe, long craft, and notone oarsman checked in the steady heave and stretch of his stroke,or turned a glance to note the movement at his shoulder. A vesselshaped for speed, lean as a greyhound, perhaps eighteen paces longand no more than three or four wide. Cadfael reckoned ten strakes aside, six feet deep amidships, the single mast lowered aft. Henoted the clenched rivets that held the strakes together.Clincher-built, shallow of draught, light of weight for itsstrength and speed, the two ends identical for instant maneuvering,an ideal craft for beaching close inshore in the dunes ofAbermenai. No use for shipping more bulky freight; they would havebrought cargo hulls for that, slower, more dependent on sail, andshipping only a few rowers to get them out of trouble in a calm.Square-rigged, as all craft still were in these northern waters.The two-masted, lateen-rigged ships of the unforgotten midland seawere still unknown to these Norse seafarers.

He had been too deeply absorbed in these observations to realizethat he himself was being observed just as shrewdly and curiouslyby a pair of brilliant ice-blue eyes, from under thick golden browsquizzically cocked. The young captain of this raiding party hadmissed nothing, and clearly knew how to read this appraisal of hiscraft. He dropped suddenly from the steersman’s side to meetCadfael in the well.

“You know ships?” he demanded, interested andsurprised at so unlikely a preoccupation in a Benedictinebrother.

“I did once. It’s a long time now since I venturedon water.”

“You know the sea?” the young man pursued, shiningwith pleased curiosity.

“Not this sea. Time was when I knew the middle sea and theeastern shores well enough. I came late to the cloister,” heexplained, beholding the blue eyes dilate and glitter in delightedastonishment, a deeper spark of pleasure and recognition warmingwithin them.

“Brother, you put up your own price,” said the youngDane heartily. “I would keep you to know better. Seafaringmonks are rare beasts, I never came by one before. How do they callyou?”

“My name is Cadfael, a Welsh-born brother of the abbey ofShrewsbury.”

“A name for a name is fair dealing. I am Turcaill, son ofTurcaill, kinsman to Otir, who leads this venture.”

“And you know what’s in dispute here? Between twoWelsh princes? Why put your own breast between their blades?”Cadfael reasoned mildly.

“For pay,” said Turcaill cheerfully. “But evenunpaid I would not stay behind when Otir puts to sea. It grows dullashore. I’m no landsman, to squat on a farm year after year,and be content to watch the crops grow.”

No, that he certainly was not, nor of a temper to turn tocloister and cowl even when the adventures of his youth were over.Splendidly fleshed, glittering with animal energy, this was a manfor marriage and sons, and the raising of yet more generations ofadventurers, restless as the sea itself, and ready to cleave theirway into any man’s quarrel for gain, at the fair cost ofstaking their own lives.

He was away now, with a valedictory clap on Cadfael’sshoulder, steady of stride along the lunging keel, to swing himselfup beside Heledd on the after-deck. The light, beginning to fadeinto twilight now, still showed Cadfael the disdainful set ofHeledd’s lips and the chill arching of her brows as she drewthe hem of her skirt aside from the contamination even of an enemytouch, and turned her head away, refusing him the acknowledgementof a glance.

Turcaill laughed, no way displeased, sat down beside her, andtook out bread from a pouch at his belt. He broke it in his big,smooth young hands, and offered her the half, and she refused it.Unoffended, still laughing, he took her right hand by force, foldedhis offering into the palm, and shut her left hand hard over it.She could not prevent, and would not compromise her mute disdain bya vain struggle. But when he forthwith got up and left her so,without a glance behind, to do as she pleased with his gift, sheneither hurled it into the darkening water of the strait nor bitinto its crust by way of acceptance, but sat as he had left her,cradling it between her palms and gazing after his oblivious flaxenhead with a narrow and calculating stare, the significance of whichCadfael could not read, but which at once intrigued and disquietedhim.

In the onset of night, in a dusk through whichthey slid silently and swiftly in midstream, only faint glimmers ofphosphorescence gilding the dip of the oars, they passed by theshore-lights of Owain’s Carnarvon, and emerged into a broadbasin shut off from the open sea only by twin rolling spits ofsand-dunes, capped with a close growth of bushes and a scatteringof trees. Along the water the shadowy shapes of ships loomed, somewith stepped masts, some lean and low like Turcaill’s littleserpent. Spaced along the shore, the torches of the Danish outpostsburned steadily in a still air, and higher towards the crest glowedthe fires of an established camp.

Turcaill’s rowers leaned to their last long stroke andshipped their oars, as the steersman brought the ship round in asmooth sweep to beach in the shallows. Over the side went theDanes, hoisting their plunder clear, and plashing up from the waterto solid ground, to be met by their fellows on guard at the rim ofthe tide. And over the side went Heledd, plucked up lightly inTurcaill’s arms, and this time making no resistance, since itwould in any case have been unavailing, and she was chieflyconcerned with preserving her dignity at this pass.

As for Cadfael himself, he had small choice but to follow, evenif two of the rowers had not urged him over the side between them,and waded ashore with a firm grip on his shoulders. Whateverchances opened before him, there was no way he could break loosefrom this captivity until he could take Heledd with him. He ploddedphilosophically up the dunes and into the guarded perimeter of thecamp, and went where he was led, well assured that the guardiancircle had closed snugly behind him.

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