Shades of Time by Sarah Woodbury

Author:Sarah Woodbury
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: wales, middle ages, teen, time travel, alternate history, historical fantasy, medieval, treachery, westminster, after cilmeri
Publisher: Sarah Woodbury

Chapter Nineteen

19 March 1294

Ieuan

Math spoke low in Ieuan’s ear. “You, my friend, are very good at what you do.”

It was late afternoon by now, and the search parties had converged on Beeston Castle—Ieuan because he’d followed the trail of the company, and Math because he could apparently read minds.

Ieuan didn’t take his eyes off Beeston’s battlements, which he was studying through his binoculars. He’d found a spot on the top of a hill three-quarters of a mile to the south. It was the closest his company could get without calling undue attention to themselves. “I take little credit. Once we learned the riders crossed the Dee at Overton, the way was plain. What about you?”

“One of FitzWalter’s soldiers died falling into a ravine. He had a tunic with the FitzWalter crest in his saddle bag.” Math proceeded to relate all that had transpired in the hours since Ieuan had last seen him.

“I’m glad Anna is safe in Avalon.” Ieuan gripped his friend’s upper arm. His chest tightened to think about how it could as easily have been Bronwen these men had targeted—and she didn’t have the ability to time travel. “Anyone else would have been dead.”

Math shot him an aggrieved look. “I don’t know that safe is the correct word.”

“Better than being here. It was only a matter of time before the Scots grew restless, but that they’ve allied with English barons makes me very nervous.”

“FitzWalter looks to be a very busy man.” Math held out his hand for the binoculars. The sun was well down in the west by now, the light glinting off the glass in the keep’s windows.

“The traffic in and out of the gatehouse has been nearly constant in the last hour since we arrived,” Ieuan said, his hand itching to take the binoculars back.

Beeston Castle was a mighty fortress built on a rock five hundred feet above the Cheshire plain. From the castle, the garrison could see for thirty miles in every direction, which was why Ieuan had ordered his men to approach cautiously, as Math had done. It was a fine thing to have a compatriot so completely trustworthy.

Math put a hand on Ieuan’s shoulder. “We need to regroup.”

“We found an abandoned barn at the bottom of the hill.”

“I know. We’re there too.”

Ieuan laughed and followed his friend down the trail to the barn. It was large enough to hold all thirty of the men they’d brought between the two companies.

In their leaders’ absence, Math’s men and Ieuan’s men had brought each other up to date, even to the point that Rhys, Math’s tracker, had pulled the tunic in question from his saddle bag. Everyone stopped talking as soon as Math and Ieuan entered, and Math stepped to the center of the barn floor. “I am satisfied the company we are tracking is even now inside Beeston. The question before us is what we are going to do about it.”

Venny was the first to speak. “Thirty men isn’t enough for a siege, my lord.”

“Are we agreed the princess isn’t in there?” Cadwallon said.

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