The Shadow Roads

Twenty-nine

“I wonder how the Prince has been received by his cousin?”Carl said. He and Jamm sat eating apples and raw carrots they’d stolen from thenearby orchards and garden.

“You don’t seem to hold the cousin in high regard,” Jamm saidbetween bites. Carl could hardly see him in the dark, but the sounds of hismunching were loud and clear-unusual for the silent Jamm.

“My father judged him harshly, and he was seldom wrong aboutmen.”

Jamm continued to eat. “Then I say we move our camp. Thereis an old barn foundation in a stand of trees overlooking the road. We can keepthe manor house under our eye there.”

“Why would we move?”

“You can never be too careful,” the thief said, and he begancollecting up the apples and carrots, being sure not to leave any apple coresbehind.

Carl woke to cold steel at his throat, the dark shape of aman looming over him.

“Tell your companion not to move, or I’ll cut your throat,”a voice said softly.

“Jamm …?” Carl said, but he could hear that Jamm was alreadyawake.

“I won’t move,” came a voice out of the darkness.

The man sat down on a stump, his blade still at Carl’sthroat. “You travel with two men I know: Prince Michael of Innes, whose fatheris said to have been murdered, and Samul Renne. Both men have recently beenallies of Hafydd, or Sir Eremon, as some know him.” The man was silent amoment. “Your father I knew by reputation, Lord Carl, but you keep strangecompany. So I wonder what you are doing in these lands. Make your answerconvincing because I will kill both you and your friend without muchhesitation.”

Carl swallowed hard. Was this some ally of Hafydd’s? Hethought of the dead men they’d found in the grass and the stranger who rescuedthem in the dark.

“You haven’t time to contrive an answer, Lord Carl. Speaknow, or you will have no throat to speak from.”

“We are enemies of Hafydd,” Carl said, praying he read theman right. “And have crossed the river in hopes of finding allies for our causeamong the Prince’s friends and family.”

“So you say, but both the Prince and the Renne traveled withHafydd not so long ago.”

“I don’t know that whole story, but certainly the Rennetrusted Prince Michael, and as for Samul, he made some bargain with hiscousins.”

“No doubt. He has made several bargains in recent weeks,”the shadow said, but Carl thought he felt the pressure of the blade lessen alittle.

“That was you who helped us that night when we were trappedin the lane …?”

“Yes. Menwyn Wills allied himself with a sorcerer, makinghim an enemy of mine. His troops were trying to kill you, making you a possiblefriend … but it is difficult to tell friend from foe these days. Samul Rennehas changed allies too often. If I had been Lord Toren, I would have sent himto the gallows, as the rumors said he had-along with Lord Carl A’denne.” Hefell silent a moment, thinking. “But if Lord Toren saw fit to let you live-tofeign your death-then he must have either had good reason or been entirelydesperate.” The man removed the point of his sword from Carl’s neck but heldthe weapon still so that he could use it instantly-and Carl was not going totest this man’s reflexes.

“You’ve not told us your name …” Carl said.

The man considered this a moment. “Pwyll, I am called.”

“Pwyll? — who won the tournament at Westbrook?”

“By Lord Toren’s generosity and sense of fair play-yes.”

“I have been secretly Lord Toren’s ally,” Carl said. “It wasI who warned him of the invasion of the Isle of Battle.”

“Was it, indeed? I was far away when that happened, or Imight have ridden with the Renne myself.”

“Then you are an enemy of Menwyn Wills?”

“I am an enemy of Hafydd’s, and at the moment so is MenwynWills, though for all the wrong reasons, I suspect.”

“May I sit up?” Carl asked.

“Slowly. I can see your hands even in the darkness,” the mansaid. “Keep them away from your sword and dagger. That goes for you, too,master thief.”

Carl sat up, trying to shake off both sleep and fear. Itseemed his throat wasn’t about to be cut. They might even have found an ally-aformidable ally.

Pwyll shifted on the stump. “Tell me, Lord Carl, do youtrust Lord Samul and the Prince?”

“Prince Michael has worked against Hafydd even while his fatherwas in the sorcerer’s thrall. I don’t doubt him in the least. Despite presentalignments, the Renne are still the main enemies of Hafydd, and Prince Michaelis trying to rally allies to their cause. Michael believes that Menwyn will notwin a battle with Hafydd despite the size of his army.”

“The Prince is right. Men-at-arms won’t stand and fight a sorcererfor a captain like Menwyn Wills. He does not have either their respect or theirlove. The first signs of sorcery, and they will break and run. Hafydd willgather them all together again in a few days and command them out of fear.Menwyn will not survive this war. But if we are to defeat Hafydd, he must bedenied that army.”

“And that is the Prince’s purpose.”

“There is a small problem that the Prince did not foresee…”

“And that would be?”

“His kin sent out a rider soon after he arrived, and a troopof men-at-arms wearing Wills livery arrived at the manor house not half an hourago.”