A Prince of Wales (The Saga of Roland Inness Book 5) by Wayne Grant

Author:Wayne Grant [Grant, Wayne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Graogonzo
Published: 2019-12-03T16:00:00+00:00

Riders in the Night

It was past midnight when the rider reined in his horse at the gate of Deganwy Castle and leapt from the saddle. His mount staggered from exhaustion and the man looked in no better shape than the horse. The glow of torches set above the fortress gate illuminated the rider’s face, streaked with dust and lined with fatigue. He’d ridden all day and most of the night to get here, ruining three horses in his haste. A sleepy guard heard the commotion and peered over the rampart.

“Open the gate! I’ve urgent news for Lord Roderic!” the man shouted.

The guard ducked out of sight without replying and the messenger, left standing before the barred gate, began to pace back and forth in agitation. He was about to pound on the unyielding oak of the gate, when it suddenly began to swing open with a loud groan. The sleepy guard appeared, and right behind him came a tall man in mail and helmet, who was anything but sleepy.

“This better be good!” the captain of the watch snarled at the exhausted rider.

The man straightened. He might be of lower rank than this man, but he had ridden eighteen hours to get here and was out of patience. He snarled back.

“Rouse Lord Roderic—at once! Aberffraw has been taken!”

“Taken? What nonsense is this?”

The messenger wanted to scream.

“It’s the rebel, Llywelyn, damn you! Llywelyn has taken Aberffraw!”

The captain of the guard blinked, then shook his head.

“That bastard is bottled up in the mountains of Eryri—last I heard.”

The rider stepped in close to the captain.

“I was there, and he’s not in Eryri anymore! The men coming over the wall of the Llys were shouting Llywelyn’s name. This is no mistake. Now, get me to Roderic or answer for it later!”

The messenger’s certainty troubled the officer of the guard, but his story seemed far-fetched. Just a fortnight ago, Llywelyn had been routed from his winter quarters and driven into the mountains. Most of his men were scattered out near the border with Powys. How could he now appear at Aberffraw in strength?

But the damn man seemed certain…

“Very well,” he said at last. “But if I rouse Lord Roderic and this is a faeries’ tale, I’ll have yer balls!” He turned and headed back through the gate with the messenger trailing behind. In minutes, he was rapping tentatively on a door on the second floor of the timber keep.

Roderic pulled open the door in his nightshirt. He was a man who slept lightly, an asset in a world full of betrayal and shifting fortunes, and was fully alert, despite being roused from slumber. He looked right past the officer of the guard to the dust-covered messenger standing in the man’s shadow.

“What news?” he asked, calmly.

The messenger could read nothing in Roderic’s face, as he told of men attacking the royal court in the predawn darkness, scaling the walls with Llywelyn’s name on their lips and overwhelming the garrison at Aberffraw.

“I got out the north gate on a good horse just ahead of them, my lord.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.