The Uninvited Guest (19 page)

Gwen bit her lip. She hadn’t counted on an
outright lie—to her father of all people—first thing.

Hywel came to her rescue. “The men found
neither him nor his body.” He dismounted and then helped Gwen to
the ground. She stood in front of her father, shivering, while the
stable boy took Braith’s reins.

Hywel and she had agreed during the ride
that they would meet in his office as soon as feasible. Gwen would
collect food from the kitchen and clothing from Gareth’s room, and
Hywel would see to his other gear—cloak, blanket, horse, and
Gareth’s sword, which was at that moment disappearing into the
stables on Braith’s back.

Hywel gave Gwen a knowing look and stalked
after the stable boy. Gwen took a step towards the hall, but her
father caught her arm, hauling her back. “What is it you’re not
telling me?”

“
Father—”

“
Your impulse is to lie to
me. Don’t.”

Gwen couldn’t remember the last time her
father had looked at her so intensely. He was concerned—concerned
for her, and for Gareth. “I don’t want to lie to you,” she said. “I
didn’t expect you to be awake, so I wasn’t prepared to answer
you.”

Meilyr glared at her. “You thought I’d sleep
while you—my only daughter—searched through the night for her
betrothed, the man who will be my son? Do you think so little of
me?”

“
It’s not that—”

“
I should hope
not!”

But it was exactly that. She and her father
could go for days without speaking more than a few words to each
other in passing, usually having to do with the music they
performed. Since her mother died, she’d felt little towards her
father but animosity. It was only recently, since meeting Gareth
again and after the events of last summer, that the frost that
she’d thought permanent between them had begun to thaw.

It seemed her father intended to start a
fire. “Father, please.” Gwen made a shushing motion with her hand
and lowered her voice. “I am well. And so is—” She stopped and met
her father’s eyes. He gazed back at her and understanding passed
between them. “Please don’t ask about Gareth.”

The lines around Meilyr’s mouth eased. He
released her wrist and stepped back. “Do what you must, my dear.
Just tell me this … are you truly well?”

“
Yes, Father.”

“
Then I am too. I will not
question or hinder you.”

“
Thank you.” The words
caught in Gwen’s throat, and then she surprised herself by throwing
her arms around her father’s neck and hugging him. He might have
been as stunned as she because it took him a moment to respond.
Then he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

“
You’re a good girl,” he
said.

They released each other and Gwen hurried
away, afraid to look at her father’s face. She couldn’t remember
the last time they’d touched each other. It must have been years
ago. She tried to swallow her emotions but found tears pricking at
her eyes. These deaths, coupled with Gareth’s disappearance, had
her off-kilter.

Just as she told herself this, she stopped,
half-in and half-out of the side door that led to Hywel’s office.
What if something happened to her father before she had a chance to
clear the air between them? Touching him was only a first step. She
looked back. Meilyr stood where she’d left him, gazing after her.
Gwen hesitated, about to run back and say something—anything—that
would let him know that she didn’t hate him anymore and had always
regretted the long silence between them.

But then her father lifted his hand to her.
“I-I love you, Gwen. Now go.”

“
I love you, too!” Gwen
sketched a wave, her heart lighter than it had been in days, and
went.

Chapter
Fifteen

“W
ake up, Gwen.” Hywel’s voice whispered in her ear and Gwen sat
up with a start. After she’d left Meilyr, Gwen had gone to the
kitchen for food for Gareth, and then had fallen asleep on the
floor of Hywel’s office waiting for him, with her pack as a pillow
and her cloak as a blanket.

“
Is it time?”

“
Nearly dawn now.” Hywel
cinched the tie on his pack and hoisted it to his back. It looked
heavier than hers.

“
My father knows, my lord,”
Gwen said.

Hywel eyed her. “How did that come about?”
His voice was calm, but she didn’t think he was exactly
pleased.

“
He guessed,” Gwen said. “I
didn’t expect him to greet me in the courtyard, and I wasn’t
prepared to lie to him.”

“
Fathers can do that to
you.”

“
I’m sorry.”

Hywel gave Gwen a wry smile. “Perhaps it’s
just as well. Someone should know that Gareth lives, if something
should happen to us.” And then he grinned. “I’ve already told Evan,
so I can’t blame you too much.”

“
I’m glad,” Gwen said. “But
why him, exactly?”

“
Because somebody has to
watch our backs,” Hywel said. “And Gareth trusts Evan. I had him
send a horse around to the hay barn for Gareth just
now.”

Hywel and Gwen made their way to the
trapdoor, laid over the stairs down to the tunnel that led south
out of Aber. The guardroom for the tunnel that went north, to the
sea, was on the ground floor of one of Aber’s ancient towers. Extra
armor and weapons were stored there, but it had space enough within
it for a man to put his feet up on a table in some comfort. Gwen
knew for a fact that it was a favorite gathering spot for members
of the garrison to entertain each other with dicing or cards.

In contrast, the guardroom in which she
found herself now hardly deserved the name: it was dank, dark, and
chilly, located at the bottom of a flight of narrow stone steps—and
was the least popular posting in the castle.

There, they met a much happier Evan. He’d
relieved the usual guard, who’d needed no persuasion to depart,
thinking Evan crazed.

Gwen peered through the half-open door to
the tunnel and sniffed. It stank of mold and dead animals. She
glanced at Hywel. “Are you sure about this?”

“
There is no other way to
leave the castle undetected at this hour,” Hywel said.

Though nothing but darkness crept down here,
dawn was coming to the outside world, which meant that the castle
was waking. The craft people, servants, and herders would be
tending to their stalls and their animals.

“
It’s all right, Gwen,”
Evan said. “One of the men walks the length of the tunnel every few
days. You’ll be safe enough.”

“
I might. But my stomach
may not be,” Gwen said.

Hywel poked Gwen in the back. “I’ve never
seen this side of you. You survived an abduction to Dublin and yet
you can’t walk a quarter of a mile in the dark?”

Gwen swallowed hard.
“I
can
. I just
don’t want to.”

“
I’ll lead.” Hywel
magnanimously stepped in front of Gwen.

One yard into the tunnel, Gwen’s creeping
sensation of impending doom couldn’t be denied. At the very least,
she felt that the tunnel would collapse around her ears at any
moment. She wanted to turn and run, but she concentrated on putting
one foot in front of the other, her eyes on the torch Hywel held.
“Your father should either improve this tunnel, or block it in,”
Gwen said (tartly).

“
Given the drain on the
exchequer caused by rebuilding Aber in stone, he may have to leave
that to his successors,” Hywel said. “Talk to Rhun about it when
his time comes.”

Gwen glanced back. The tunnel had curved
slightly, blocking the light from the guardroom. She looked forward
again. So far, they’d walked the longest hundred yards of her life.
Hywel swore the whole journey wouldn’t last long, but each step
brought the darkness closer around her. Moisture seeped from the
walls and she heard rats squeaking in the corners.

“
Steady, Gwen.”

Gwen nodded, even if Hywel couldn’t see it,
and kept walking. Then, a hint of light appeared ahead of them.
Both she and Hywel picked up their pace.

They reached the ladder leading to the hay
barn. The trapdoor above them was already open, hence the bit of
light they’d seen while in the tunnel.

“
Someone must be here.”
Hywel said, softly. “Let’s hope it’s Gareth.”

Please let him be here. Please let him be
safe!

Hywel climbed out of the hole, leaving Gwen
in the dark without a torch. Her ears strained for any sound of
Gareth, but the promised rain had started with the coming of the
day. Raindrops pounded on the roof and plopped into puddles in the
dirt outside, ensuring that Gwen could hear nothing but the
thudding of her own heart.

Gwen began to climb. Her head rose above the
floor of the barn and she was tempted to squeeze her eyes shut,
sure that something had gone wrong and Gareth wouldn’t be there.
Neither she nor Hywel had dared to call out Gareth’s name in case
they weren’t alone. What if the murderer was a step or two ahead of
them? What if in trying to avoid him, Gareth had run into him on
his way back to Aber?

Then Gareth reached down a hand to pull her
all the way out of the hole.

“
I told you not to worry,”
Hywel said.

But she had, and so apparently, had Gareth.
“Praise be to God.” Gareth enveloped her in his arms. “I didn’t
even know you were here until Hywel popped out of the hole.”

Which wasn’t surprising since the sound of
the rain was even louder inside the barn than it had been echoing
down the shaft.

“
The tunnel was horrible,”
Gwen said.

Gareth laughed and his voice was like music.
“I only poked my nose down it, but I agree. Why doesn’t King Owain
improve it?”

“
That’s what I asked,” Gwen
said.

“
Because then people would
use it, and he wants to discourage that.” Hywel clapped Gareth on
the shoulder. The three of them stood in a circle, grinning at each
other. “Did you have any trouble?”

“
No,” Gareth said. “I
reached the barn just before the rain started falling. I hid in the
hay. Even slept a little.” Pieces of straw had caught in his hair
and clothing and Gwen plucked one out.

“
Your wound is bleeding
again.” Blood had seeped into the outer layer of the cloth she’d
wrapped around his head. “I’ve brought more linen and herbs so I
can bandage you properly.”

“
We’ve brought other
things, too,” Hywel said.

“
Sit,” Gwen said to
Gareth.

“
Yes, ma’am.” Gareth made
himself comfortable on the floor with his back to one of the posts
that supported the roof. For all that King Owain wanted to
discourage visitors to the tunnel, he kept the barn maintained in
the right way. From the outside, it looked as if it might blow over
in the next windstorm, but the supporting beams were solid (even if
a few listed to one side), and the roof had been rethatched
recently. The companions were dry beneath it.

Hywel stood behind Gwen, his hands on his
hips. “I’m glad you’re alive, Gareth.”

Gareth looked up at his prince. “I am too.
What did you bring me?”

“
Your sword, of course.” He
handed it to Gareth, who rested it across his lap. “And I borrowed
an old cloak from Rhun.” Hywel tossed it to him. “It’s frayed
around the bottom and torn in one corner but is otherwise whole. He
won’t even miss it.”

“
Thank you.”

While Gwen dabbed at his wound, Gareth
shrugged the cloak around his shoulders. Then he leaned against the
post again and sighed. “I hate being cold.”

Hywel followed the cloak with a small loaf
of bread, which Gareth bit into hungrily.

“
Do you have any idea who
did this to you?” Hywel said.

“
No idea at all,” Gareth
said around a mouthful of bread. “I didn’t think we were close to
finding the killer.”

“
I didn’t think so either,”
Gwen said.

“
It seems you have
developed a reputation for discovering the identity of wrong-doers,
and our killer didn’t want to give you the chance to identify him.”
Hywel left Gareth to his food and went to the doorway of the barn
to look into the rain, humming under his breath.

Gwen took out the tweezers and held them up.
“Dirt has lodged in the wound. I need to pick it out.”

“
Go ahead,” Gareth
said.

“
Why don’t you tell me a
story while I do it,” Gwen said. “To distract yourself.”

“
I thought you were
supposed to tell a story to me?” But Gareth closed his eyes as Gwen
got to work. “What do you want to know?”

“
When did you learn to
read?” Gwen said.

Gareth opened his eyes. “How did you know
about that?”

“
You read the labels on my
medicine jars last summer.” Gwen said.

“
Are you sure?”

Gwen was worried suddenly that she’d exposed
a great secret. She glanced at Hywel, but he remained as he’d been,
his back to them, watching the rain.

Then Gareth’s eyes twinkled. “I’m jesting. I
do know how to read.” Gareth winced as Gwen pulled a particularly
gruesome splinter from his wound and then he closed his eyes again.
“It was after I left Lord Goronwy’s.”

Gwen pulled out another wood shard, holding
her breath all the while because she was hurting him. “How long had
you been there?” Gwen wanted him to keep talking so he wouldn’t
think about what she was doing.