‘I may not see any action at all.’
‘I will pray that you do not, Ralph.’
‘Marry a soldier and there is always a faint risk.’
‘So I have learned,’ she said, pursing her lips and breathing heavily through her nose. ‘But what brought about this change?
I thought they were trying to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.’
‘They were, my love.’
‘What happened?’
‘Idwal and Gervase went down to the dungeons to bargain with Gruffydd ap Cynan,’ he explained. ‘They actually got him to send word to his people to refrain from any further action. Gervase tells me that he and Idwal were on the point of leaving to deliver the message.’
‘What prevented them?’
‘News of other developments.’
‘What are they?’
‘Does it matter?’ he said, not wishing to be drawn into a full discussion. ‘The simple fact is that the Welsh do not seem to want peace. Hence, the call to arms. That is all I know at this stage. Earl Hugh is a skilled commander who has beaten Welsh armies time and again. He will do so again.’
‘And sustain losses.’
‘Probably.’
Golde tried to master her anxiety. She forced a smile. ‘What must you think of me?’ she said. ‘Behaving like a young bride whose husband is about to go off to war. I should have more confidence in you. And more control over myself.’
‘It is good to show your concern.’
‘The Lady Ermintrude prefers to mask it.’
‘That is why I am married to you and not to her.’
‘I feel that I have let you down.’
‘Far from it, Golde,’ he said, taking her in his arms again. ‘You are bound to worry. So am I, if I am honest. But we must bow to the inevitable. When duty calls, I must go.’
‘Yes, Ralph,’ she whispered.
‘I’ve fought the Welsh before and lived to tell the tale.’
‘I’ll remember that.’
‘Good.’
He placed a kiss on her forehead then pushed her gently aside while he darted across to the door, flinging it open and stepping through it. There was nobody there. Golde was alarmed. She came out to join him.
‘What is the matter?’ she said.
‘I thought he would be here again.’
‘Who?’
‘The eavesdropper.’
‘Are you sure that he exists?’
‘I’m certain of it, my love,’ he affirmed. ‘He was out here listening to us the other night. And he was back again today.’
‘When?’
‘When I was in here with Hubert and Simon.’
‘Why should anyone want to eavesdrop on you?’
Ralph took her back into the chamber and closed the door.
‘That is what I’ll ask him when I catch the villain.’
Security which was already tight was now markedly increased.
Movement to and from Chester was even further restricted. City gates were barred and guards doubled on the walls. Those who had brought their goods to sell in the market found that they were unable to return to their homes. Boats which sailed up the River Dee were turned back before they reached the port. A city which had been preparing for the possibility of conflict now knew that it was unavoidable. The clatter of destriers’ hooves rang through the streets. Anvils sang in the armourers’ workshops.
Tactics were discussed.
The last vessel to be allowed into port before the new restrictions were imposed was a small boat which was loaded with pelts. Two guards watched the crew unload their cargo.
‘Where are you from?’ demanded one of the guards.
‘Ireland,’ said the captain of the vessel.
‘Have you traded here before?’
‘No, but we heard that we would get a good price.’
‘How many in your crew?’
‘What you see. Three men. Four of us in all.’
‘How long did you plan to stay?’
‘A day or so,’ said the other. ‘No more.’
‘Think again.’
‘Why?’
‘Orders,’ said the guard with a grim chuckle. ‘Nobody is to sail in or out of Chester until further notice. You may be here for a week. A month even.’
‘But we must get back to Ireland.’
‘Not until we are ready to let you go.’
‘And when will that be?’
‘You will be told.’
‘We have families!’ protested the captain.
‘They will have to wait.’
‘You can’t keep us here against our will.’
‘Nobody leaves.’
‘But we are expected back.’
‘Nobody.’
Having made his point, the guard sauntered off with his colleague to question the captain of a vessel which was unloading its catch of fish. The Irishman continued to voice his complaints and his crew did the same. All four of them were standing on deck, bemoaning their fate, when a fifth man crept out from the tarpaulin under which he had been hiding and slipped quietly ashore. Having seen him safely off the vessel, captain and crew stopped their protestations at once and resumed their work.
The fifth man, meanwhile, lost himself in a maze of streets, zigzagging through the city with a confidence born of close acquaintance with it. When he came to a house on the eastern side, he made sure that he was not being followed then rapped on the door. It opened immediately and he darted inside.
Eiluned and Dafydd embraced the newcomer in turn.
‘We knew that you would come,’ she said.
‘Nothing would have stopped me.’
‘What if they had turned your boat away?’ asked Dafydd.
‘I would have swum here,’ said the newcomer. ‘When I make a promise, I honour it. Whatever the obstacles.’
Gervase Bret was seething with frustration. Having been involved in the negotiations with Gruffydd ap Cynan, he was proud to feel that he might, in some small way, have helped to bring peace to the region and it was dispiriting to watch his hopes so cruelly swept aside. The consequences were quite unimaginable.
Open warfare might keep him and the other commissioners trapped in the county for some time and his immediate thought was of Alys, pining for him in Winchester and fretting when he did not return.
Gervase also worried about Ralph Delchard. Unable to fulfil his commitments at the shire hall, his friend would not sit idly on his hands while a battle was going on nearby. Ralph would be certain to join in and Golde would be equally certain to suffer the agonies common to all soldiers’ wives. Gervase would share those agonies with her. Ralph was very dear to him and he could wish him elsewhere than in the middle of a quarrel in which he had no legitimate part.
Frustrated by the turn of events, he was not blind to the suffering of others. Archdeacon Idwal, he realised, would be even more devastated, having laboured so hard to bring his countryman round to the notion of peace. Time spent with him in the dungeon had increased Gervase’s admiration for Idwal but it was tinged with suspicion. Notwithstanding the letter which the archdeacon had wrested from the Prince of Gwynedd, his behaviour in the dungeon had left Gervase with the vague feeling that he had been subtly duped.
The only way to allay that feeling was to confront Idwal himself and Gervase resolved to do just that. While the rest of the city was in a state of turbulence, he used his status as a royal commissioner to gain the right to leave the city by a postern gate and he strode off towards the cathedral. The first person he met there was Frodo, coming out of the main door. The archdeacon was very surprised to see him.
‘What are you doing here?’ he said.
‘Searching for Archdeacon Idwal.’
‘You would be far safer in the city,’ advised the other. ‘Bishop Robert has withdrawn to his palace and taken most of the holy brothers with him.’
‘What about you?’
‘My place is here, Gervase. At the cathedral.’
‘It will offer you scant protection from attack.’
‘I will worry about that when the time comes,’ said Frodo with a brave smile. ‘But I have a bounden duty to be here and you do not. Even Canon Hubert and Brother Simon have fled. You should do likewise.’
‘Only when I have seen the archdeacon.’