The Fourth Horseman (4 page)

“
As you may be aware,
Alard’s skills as a knight and a purveyor of information have
always been considerable. If he killed David, as it appears he did,
he did it for a reason he believes in. I find it unlikely that the
matter will end with the death of one Welshman.”

Earl Robert transferred his attention to the
two princes of Gwynedd, both of whom had been listening with great
interest to the Normans’ conversation. “I suppose you have a man
whom you would like me to include in this investigation? I will
allow him to participate as a courtesy to your father, since it
appears that he has been wronged in this matter.”

“
We do, sir,” Prince Rhun
said, speaking for both himself and Hywel.

Robert turned on his heel and canted his
head at Gareth. “It’s you, is it?”

“
Yes, my lord.” Gareth
stepped forward.

“
Ranulf!” Robert waved a
hand at his son-in-law in much the same way Ranulf had waved at
Amaury earlier. “See to this matter but keep me
informed.”

Ranulf bowed. “Yes, my lord.”

“
Now.” Earl Robert nodded
towards the two princes. “If you would come with me to my receiving
room, I would like to welcome you properly, without this
troublesome event hanging between us.”

“
Certainly, sir.” Rhun
bowed, though the act came off a bit stiff. Strictly speaking, as a
prince of Gwynedd, Rhun outranked the earl, but not if rank
depended on men at his command or wealth. The question of status
had been making their conversation awkward from the moment Earl
Robert greeted the two princes,
especially
in front of so many
observers. It was better for the three of them to meet in
private.

“
Good.” Earl Robert led the
way out of the room.

Prince Hywel clapped Gareth on the shoulder
as he passed him. It was a sign of confidence that Gareth knew what
to do and would do it. At least that’s what Gareth hoped it
meant.

When Gareth had ridden into Chester last
winter, from the moment he entered underneath the gatehouse, he’d
felt the eyes of every Saxon in the city on him. Here at Newcastle,
the feeling was similar, if not worse, and Gareth had to
acknowledge that he was more out of his depth in this Norman castle
than he’d ever been, even when he’d sailed to Dublin to find Gwen
after she’d been abducted by King Owain’s brother, Cadwaladr.
Gareth glanced at Gwen, who noticed his attention and lifted her
hand to him. Seeing her there settled him and started him thinking
more coherently about the investigation that faced him.

“
I would have you see to
this matter, Amaury,” Ranulf said, passing off the
responsibility.

Amaury tipped his head in assent.

“
You can work with this
Welshman?” Ranulf spoke as if Gareth wasn’t in the room.

“
Yes, my lord,” Amaury
said.

“
Good. I expect you to come
to me before speaking to Earl Robert,” Ranulf said.

Amaury bowed from the waist. Ranulf left the
hall through a back entrance, following the path his father-in-law
and the princes of Gwynedd had taken.

Left alone with Gareth, Amaury rubbed his
temple with two fingers. “I hope you did not take offense, Sir
Gareth. My lord can be a bit … abrupt at times. With this murder,
everyone’s machinations and strategies will come under unwanted
scrutiny from Earl Robert.”

Last winter, Ranulf had negotiated a deal
with Prince Cadwaladr. They’d discussed deposing King Owain and
putting Cadwaladr on the throne of Gwynedd. Gareth wondered if
Amaury was subtly telling him that other such dealings were in the
works and that David might have played a role in implementing some
of them. And would have still, had he not been killed.

“
I am not offended, my
lord,” Gareth said. “An earl does as he pleases.”

Amaury coughed a laugh. “That he does.” Then
he gestured to where Gwen and the others waited. “You brought a
woman with you?”

“
She is my wife and is here
at the request of Prince Hywel,” Gareth said.

Amaury eyed him. “I gather she is not one to
be underestimated either, if one were so inclined? I am to forget
that she is a woman?”

Gareth grinned. “As you say.” Gwen may have
been intimidated at first by all the Normans around them, but she
knew her own mind, and Gareth thanked God every day for it.

“
Empress Maud is such a
woman, though I would hope that your wife speaks more gently than
the empress.” Amaury pursed his lips. “It would be better to clear
this up quickly before she arrives.”

Gareth glanced at him, his gaze sharpening.
“I noted that Empress Maud’s banner flies above the tower, but we
were told she wasn’t in residence. She is coming to Newcastle?”

The corners of Amaury’s mouth turned down.
“Her flag flies wherever the Earl of Gloucester resides as a sign
of his allegiance. The empress, however, arrives tomorrow.” From
Amaury’s expression, encountering the empress didn’t delight him
any more than it did Gareth. “Rather than at the castle, she will
stay at the friary down the road to the east.”

Gareth nodded, accepting that information
with equanimity. It didn’t matter to him where the empress chose to
lay her head. “What is it about this incident in particular that
would disturb Empress Maud?”

Amaury chewed on his lower lip and looked
down at his feet, not answering at first. Then he cleared his
throat. “Alard has always been one of her favorites.”

Chapter Five

Gwen

W
hile the noblemen discussed the murder, Gwen sat. She was glad
that Gareth had been included in whatever they were deciding, but
she felt restless staying with Evan and Gruffydd and not knowing
what was going on. Gareth would tell her all about the conversation
later, but that knowledge wasn’t helping her right now. Gwen had
seen enough of this Norman castle already. She wanted to go home to
their cottage on Anglesey.

Gareth and Gwen had married
before Christmas the previous year and immediately traveled to the
lands Prince Hywel had bestowed upon Gareth as part of his
knighthood. As a captain in the prince’s
teulu
, it was no more than he
deserved.

The estate was near
St. Eilian's, a little church on the northeast
coast of Anglesey. Their home didn’t look like much—no more than a
small cottage, byre, barn, and stockade, with fields around, farmed
by the common folk who tithed to Gareth, who in turn would tithe to
Prince Hywel. Still, it was home, and Gwen could walk out her door
every morning and watch the sun rise over the Irish Sea. In the
years of wandering with her father since they’d left Gwynedd, she’d
forgotten what it was like to stay in one place and to have a
home.

Gareth, of course, couldn’t
really stay in one place if he was to continue in Prince Hywel’s
service. Gareth and Gwen had spent the winter and spring at their
new home but, even so, had ridden the twenty miles to Aber each
month so Gareth could confer with Prince Hywel. Soon, most likely
after this trip to England, Hywel would want to go south, to his
own lands in Ceredigion. He would want Gareth to ride with him as
the captain of his
teulu
, and Gwen might not be allowed to go with them.

Abruptly, she stood, stomach churning and no
longer able to sit still. “I’m going to see how Prior Rhys is
getting on with the body.”

Evan gaped up at her but then snapped his
mouth shut. “I don’t know that any other woman could get away with
saying those particular words, but coming from you, they make
sense.”

Gwen smiled. “Few women have my particular
history.”

Evan smirked. “I don’t object to you going,
and I don’t think Gareth would either. But I will come with
you.”

“
There’s no
need—”

“
Gareth would have my head
if I let you wander this castle by yourself without an escort. You
are among strangers,” Evan said. “Best you remember it. I’ll take
you there and then return to the hall, provided your presence is
acceptable to Prior Rhys.”

Gwen nodded. It would do no good to argue,
and she could believe that Evan wanted an excuse to leave the hall
too. He’d been jittering his leg underneath the table since they
sat down, and if she hadn’t decided to leave, she would have had to
speak to him about it.

She and Evan left the hall, passed through
the anteroom in which two dozen people still clustered—though what
exactly they were doing other than gossiping, Gwen couldn’t
determine—and left the building. Once in the bailey, Gwen had to
acknowledge that Evan had been right to escort her. This wasn’t
Aber, her home on Anglesey, or even Wales. She shouldn’t go about
on her own.

“
Did you ever meet David
when he came to Aber Castle?” Gwen said.

“
I saw him a few times, but
we never had a conversation,” Evan said. “He would arrive late at
night and leave early the next morning.” Evan glanced down at her.
“We all knew that he spied for King Owain, so we kept our
distance.”

“
Hywel knew him,” Gwen
said.

“
He did indeed,” Evan
said.

“
I will ask him about David
later,” Gwen said.

“
You do that—and then let
me know what he tells you,” Evan said. “Far too many secrets are
being kept here for my comfort and—strangely—only a few of them by
our lord.”

“
When did you last see
David at Aber?” Gwen said.

Evan shook his head as he thought. “Oddly,
not since the winter, just as Ranulf said. It would have been nice
to know what he was doing.”

“
And where he was doing
it,” Gwen said.

“
David should have known
better than to choose a
Norman
over King Owain.”

Gwen couldn’t help smiling
at the derogatory way Evan said
Norman
. She was sure he meant it
exactly the way it sounded.

“
I wonder how that came
about,” Gwen said.

“
We may never know now,”
Evan said. “King Owain will need to think twice from now on about
the men he trusts.”

Now Gwen shook her head.
“It isn’t that easy to know who might be a traitor. Prince Hywel is
usually very wary, and
he
didn’t suspect David was dealing falsely with his
father.”

Evan took Gwen’s elbow, leading her around
the horses and men—and manure. King Owain kept the offal under
control at Aber, but it seemed impossible to keep up with here.
Gwen would have held her nose as she picked her way around the
piles, but holding up the hem of her dress meant she didn’t have an
extra hand.

When she and Evan had appeared at the top of
the steps to the keep, two dozen heads had turned towards them, and
many still hadn’t turned away. Gwen didn’t know how to interpret
their expressions, whether it was scorn or dismay—or even
admiration in the eyes of some of the men. It was the kind of
admiration that made Gwen uncomfortable. She was glad that it was
Evan who walked with her and not Gareth, for the looks would have
made him angry.

“
How many soldiers do you
think Earl Robert houses here today?” Gwen said.

“
Soldiers haven’t made the
castle so full,” Evan said. “Earl Robert’s barons have brought
hangers-on with them. Only a hundred of us rode with Hywel and
Rhun, and few will ever enter Newcastle. Think about how many men
of rank
Ranulf
has
at his command, not to mention Earl Robert. They will expect to
enter the castle and be well received.”

“
At Winchester, when Ranulf
and Cadwaladr barely escaped with their lives and Queen Matilda
captured Earl Robert, how many men did the earl have with him?”
Gwen said.

“
Well over a thousand,”
Evan said. “He wasn’t outnumbered. He got caught while defending
his sister’s retreat.”

“
That’s what I’d heard,”
Gwen said. “What’s strange is that he lost so many and yet still
has enough men at his command to fill this castle. I don’t know
that King Owain has more than a few thousand men in all of Gwynedd
upon whom he can call.”

“
He has that many,” Evan
said, “but you are right in principle. The English outnumber the
Welsh tenfold. It’s why we are here in the first place: King Owain
must tread carefully so as to not offend either Earl Robert or King
Stephen. The day an English king decides to direct the full weight
of his armies towards conquering Wales might be our last day of
freedom.”

Gwen shuddered at the thought. The Normans
held the Welsh in disdain and always had.

“
My greatest concern is not
the men here, nor these Norman barons. It’s the undercurrents,”
Evan said.

“
What do you mean?” Gwen
said.

“
Even without the matter of
this dead man, which is sure to sour relations between Earl Ranulf
and King Owain, I sense defensiveness in Ranulf’s manner. He is not
as solid in his allegiance to Earl Robert as his attendance here
implies.”

“
How can you be sure?” Gwen
said. “He’s married to Earl Robert’s daughter, after
all.”

“
And how often has kinship
stopped our own people from betraying those to whom they claim
allegiance?” Evan said.

Gwen had to admit Evan was right.
“Disloyalty does seem to be in our blood; you only have to look to
Prince Cadwaladr.”