Serpent (33 page)

The mist disguised the number of Welsh who had come to Rhydilian in the early morning hours
the following day.

             
Bhrodi had sent Ianto and Yestin out into the crowd gathering at the base of Rhydilian’s gatehouse so he could get a feel for who, and how many, had come to his
cyfarfod
. Before the sun had even risen, there were hordes of men and by the time the sun began to peak over the eastern horizon, there were gangs of Welshmen far down the hill, on the road that led up to the castle.

Ianto and Yestin returned to inform him that men as far as the Holy Isle
on the extreme western end of Anglesey had come, all gathering to hear The Serpent speak, and they estimated there was somewhere between three and five thousand. It was a massive group.

             
They were also a very vocal group. They had been shouting up to the battlements well before sunrise, calling for de Shera, and Bhrodi showed himself just after sunrise. Bron had come with his men also, all one hundred and fourteen of them, and they crowded up by the enormous front gates. When Bhrodi saw them, he had his men admit them into the bailey. He knew Bron supported him unconditionally and should the group become unruly, he didn’t want the man caught in the crossfire.

             
“Yn dod yn agosach a byddwch yn clywed mi!” he called.
Come closer and you shall hear me.
The group began to surge forward, crowding up around the gatehouse and walls as close as they could get. Surrounded by his
teulu
commanders upon the black-stoned battlements, Bhrodi surveyed his vassals with the aura of Caesar surveying all of Rome. There was an air of power about him that was inherent. He continued in Welsh.

             
“You have all heard by now that I have taken a wife,” he bellowed to the crowd below. “You have also heard that my wife is Saesneg. Know now that it is true.”

             
The crowd rumbled angrily and some began shouting insults. “Traitor!” Someone screamed at him. “You have betrayed us!”

             
“I have not betrayed you,” Bhrodi replied steadily. “You know me well and you know I would never betray any of you.”

             
That was true for the most part and the shouts of treachery died down somewhat, but not entirely. There was still dissention.

             
“Why did you not marry Welsh?” another man cried. “You could have strengthened ties with other Houses!”

             
Bhrodi wasn’t going to get into a shouting match with one man in particular; what he had to say was directed at the entire group. “I had my reasons,” he shouted “You must listen to them!”

             
The crowd was unwilling to give entirely. “Tudur and Lon resisted your reasons,” someone else shouted. “You fed them to the beast!”

             
They were getting worked up again, shouting their anger and rejection of Bhrodi’s actions. Bhrodi knew he had to gain control quickly or all would be lost. He needed something from them; he needed for these men, his vassals, to understand his reasons behind everything. It was imperative. He lifted hands to gain their attention.

             
“Tudur and Lon betrayed my friendship, my hospitality, and my trust,” he told them. “Never did they come to me with their concerns. They tried to kill my wife’s family at our wedding and this I would not tolerate. Tudur and Lon were punished for their actions against me and for no other reason!”

             
That gave the crowd something to think about. Betrayal, of course, was the ultimate sin and de Shera had never lied to them before. The man was supremely truthful in all things so they had no reason to believe he was lying about Tudur and Lon. Therefore, the agitation died down somewhat as the Welshmen began to rethink their anger. The grumbling lessened and Bhrodi took advantage of their confusion.

             
“As you love and respect me, then you must also trust me,” he yelled. It took some time for them to die down enough for him to continue. “Edward himself proposed this marriage for the sake of peace and I accepted. But we all know that there is no peace with Edward. My wife is the daughter of the renowned English knight known as The Wolfe. You have all heard of this man. I married his daughter in order to ally myself with him in the face of Edward’s conquest of Wales. When we fight Edward, and we will, it will now be with one of his own knights by my side!”

             
That seemed to throw the group into greater confusion. At least they weren’t hurling insults. They seemed to be looking at each other, one man to another, looking for a consensus that what Bhrodi had done was an acceptable thing. Now, The Serpent’s marriage was starting to make a little more sense but there were many who were still doubtful. It was to those men that Bhrodi’s next word held impact for.

             
“We need this alliance,” he called. “Edward has already established himself in Wales and I have just received word that the English king has captured Castell y Bere and that Dafydd ap Gruffydd has barely escaped him. Dafydd has asked me to send him support, which is what I intend to do. At dawn tomorrow, we will ride for Dolbadarn Castle where Dafydd is and save him from the English king. You will all ride with me, as my trusted brothers, and we shall defeat this man who covets our country. We shall crush him as he has tried to crush us and in this, we shall confirm our loyalty and love for Wales. I will risk my life for such freedom. I am an ap Gaerwen, the seed of Welsh royalty, and my love for this country runs deeper than yours. I will prove it. Will you join me?”

             
Bhrodi had a magnetism that was readily apparent and even though many of his vassals were still unhappy with his marriage to a Saesneg, his impassioned speech about crushing Edward had them rallying to his cause. The tide of favor was slowly turning because these men truly loved Bhrodi. He was their shining star, a man with a legendary reputation that they called one of their own.

Of course they wanted to trust him; rumors of his Saesneg marriage had filled them with outrage and disappointment. But his reasons behind the decision where sound, enough to
sway their opinion for the most part. As the shouts of insult began to turn to shouts of support, Bhrodi caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

             
Penelope had mounted the battlements, now standing at the top of the stairwell that led up from the gatehouse. She was dressed in a long leather and fur tunic, leather breeches, and heavy boots. She was also wrapped up in a heavy woolen cloak, her long hair braided and draped over one shoulder. She was dressed more like a soldier than a fine lady, but it didn’t matter; in the mist of the morning, she looked surreal and ethereal, like an angel emerging from the clouds. When their eyes met, she smiled timidly, and Bhrodi reached out a hand for her.

             
Taking her husband’s hand, Penelope came to stand next to him on the battlements as he spoke to his vassals. She had heard him yelling but, not knowing Welsh, she had no idea what he had said. She could see a massive crowd below and the sight was rather startling.

             
“So many men,” she whispered.

             
Bhrodi held her hand tightly. “It would seem that all of my vassals have come to hear me speak,” he said. “I am pleased.”

             
She tore her gaze away from the group below and looked at him. “What have you told them?”

             
He shrugged. “That my wife is an English tyrant and I fear her greatly.” When Penelope shrieked with outrage, he laughed. “I told them that I married you to ally with your father. I also told them about Dafydd and asked for their support. That is what you hear them discussing.”

             
She was still shaking her head reproachfully at him as she once again turned her attention to the crowds below. Even she could see that their angry shouts had become those of encouragement, but not entirely. One of the men who had been shouting loud insults at Bhrodi was standing directly below, hollering up at him.

             
“Bring Edward to these lands!” he shouted. “Let him come! Turn the beast of the marsh loose on him as you do all of your enemies! Even Edward cannot fight The Serpent!”

             
Penelope was hanging over the side of the wall, listening to the man shout in the harsh Welsh tongue. She looked at Bhrodi. “What did he say?”

             
Bhrodi had a half-grin on his face. “He says that I should allow Edward to come to Anglesey and turn the beast loose on him,” he said, shrugging. “I have truthfully never thought of that. It might be worth considering.”

             
She shrugged her shoulders in agreement. “You Welsh need all of the help you can get,” she said. “Not even Edward can profess to have a beast to slay his enemies with.”

             
Bhrodi’s grin grew as he grasped her by the arm and pulled her against him, where he stood at the edge of the parapet. He lifted his hand again to get the attention of his vassals.

             
“This is my wife, daughter of The Wolfe,” he yelled, introducing her to the crowd of men below. “She has his heart and his spirit, and you will respect her and love her as you do me. This I command.”

             
The reaction was mixed for the most part but the men were very curious to see Penelope, who looked at Bhrodi with some uncertainty.

             
“What are they saying?” she asked.

             
Bhrodi paused before answering as he listened. “They are trying to decide whether or not to give you their loyalty,” he said. “Tell them this:
Yr wyf yn tyngu i chi byddaf yn rhoi fy loyaty i Gymru.”

             
Penelope looked at him in fear but dutifully struggled to repeat it. She leaned over the parapet and began to shout. “
Yr wyf yn tyngu
…”

             
He nodded encouragingly. “
I chi byddaf yn rhoi fy loyaty i Gymru
.”

             
She spit the rest out in one long sentence. “
I chi byddaf yn rhoi fy loyaty i Gymru
!” she said, looking to him for approval. “Did I say it right?”

             
“You said it beautifully.”

“
What did I just say?”

             
He was serious. “That you hate them all and you curse their families.”

             
Penelope shrieked. “I said
what
?”

             
Bhrodi broke down into laughter, as did the
teulu
commanders; they had all been listening to the conversation, amused by her reaction to Bhrodi’s tease. The man had been known to have a wicked sense of humor at times, as she was no doubt coming to discover. Bhrodi squeezed Penelope tightly around the shoulders, giving her a gentle hug.

             
“You told them that you swore your loyalty to Wales,” he said, looking at the men below and trying to gauge their reactions. “They seem pleased by it.”

             
Penelope still wasn’t over his joke, shaking her head in exasperation. “You are a terrible man with your jesting,” she told him. “You could have told me to repeat anything to them and I wouldn’t have known what it was.”

             
“Then I would suggest you learn Welsh very quickly.”

             
Penelope could hardly disagree. “To be safe, I’d better,” she said, watching Bhrodi as he listened to the crowd below. “What else are they saying? Are they agreeing with our marriage?”

             
He was leaning on his elbows over the parapet, listening to the rumblings. “It is difficult to tell,” he said. “But they seem to be far less angry than they were even a few moments ago. Mayhap I can let them into the castle now and we can calmly discuss our plans to join Dafydd.”

He turned to Ianto and
Ivor, instructing them to begin letting the chieftains into the castle. Rhydilian wasn’t big enough to hold thousands of men so those loyal to the chieftains needed to be kept outside the gates, an uncomfortable arrangement for men who were very aware of the beast that roamed the area. They felt vulnerable. Still, it couldn’t be helped. Now that the initial animosity was over, Bhrodi was eager to get down to business and do what needed to be done.

He made Penelope go into the keep and lock it up tight before he opened the gates and allowed his chieftains ad
mittance to the castle grounds, so she watched men pour in through the front gates from the safety of the chamber Thomas and Kevin shared. In fact, all three of them watched the bailey of Rhydilian fill up with Welshmen, a very strange sight indeed for the English. The only time they ever saw such numbers of Welsh were in battle, so it was an odd vision to Thomas and Kevin in particular.