The Emerald Flame Read Online Free

onto the mountain to take you back to the prince,” he said slowly. “I have no desire to return to Doeth Palas; I have a mission in the east. A mission that will brook no delay.”
    “It’s the boy, isn’t it?” Rhodri said, nodding toward the scared-looking lad. “I know the look of a boy who has been in servitude to the Saxons, and I know a runaway when I see one.”
    Branwen glanced at her friend—so she had been right in her guess! The boy
was
an escaped prisoner of the Saxons.
    Gavan looked at Rhodri with a new respect. “A shrewd man you are,” he said. “It
is
news from the east brought to me by the boy Dillon that has hastened me from Doeth Palas.” He turned to Branwen. “Forgive my slow response, Branwen of the Old Gods,” he said. “I am a man of action, not thought; but your tale of the prince’s perfidy chimes all too well with an encounter I had with him before I departed his court.” He paused, his face grim, as though the words were bitter in his throat.
    “When Iwan came to Prince Llew with his tale ofa Saxon army approaching Gwylan Canu, it seemed strange to me that the prince should choose to send out fifty horsemen,” he said. “Were that citadel taken by an enemy, all of Brython would be in danger.” He shook his head. “If an army were marching on Gwylan Canu, fifty men could not hold them back—and the prince had not called for a muster of footmen or armed riders to follow on after Captain Angor’s troop. Yet if the prince believed Iwan’s tale to be false, then why send so many? A brace of swift riders would be enough to gauge the situation and report back.”
    “So,” said Branwen. “Fifty was too few—or too many. Yes, I understand. We thought the same … until we learned the truth.”
    “I went to the prince with my thoughts,” Gavan continued. “But he became angry and dismissed me with my questions unanswered.” Gavan’s jaw set. “So I left him; but it rankled with me, although I had no inkling of the reason behind his decision.” His hand balled to a white fist; rage was building in him. “But were he indeed in league with Herewulf Ironfist, then the sending of Captain Angor and his fifty riders had a good purpose.”
    “Exactly,” said Iwan. “To delude my father into allowing them to enter Gwylan Canu at their ease and then to hand over the citadel to Ironfist upon his arrival. And the plan would have worked if not for the loose lips of one of Angor’s men.” He looked at Branwen, his eyes shining. “And if not for this princessof the eastern cantrefs, whose allies you despise, all would still have been lost.”
    “Aye,” growled Gavan. “She has served the land well; but the Old Gods have their own purposes, I deem, and the lives of those who are caught up in their webs are of little value to them.”
    “I do not think that is true,” said Branwen.
    “It is not,” added Blodwedd. “All life is sacred to the Elder Powers—I wish the same could be said of you humans!”
    “But do I understand you correctly, Gavan ap Huw?” asked Iwan. “Do you now believe that the prince has betrayed us?”
    There was a heavy silence. Branwen saw that the eyes of Gavan’s three lads were riveted on the old warrior’s face. “I do,” he said at last. “It grieves me to the heart—but I can see no other answer to the riddle of his actions.” He clenched his fists and shook them at the blind sky. “Traitor most foul!” he shouted. “Had I known of this when I stood at his side, a knife to the heart would have been his reward!”
    Branwen saw Bryn and Andras and Padrig staring at Gavan in consternation. There were tears in Padrig’s eyes.
    Gavan surged to his feet. “Bryn! Fetch my horse! I must return and unmask the prince’s villainy!” His hand clamped onto his sword hilt. “I have not lived the life of a warrior these three score years and five only to see Brython fall to such base corruption!”
    The three boys also scrambled to their