Here Be Dragons - 1 by Sharon Penman (best ebook reader android TXT) 📗

heard Davydd say, "Why, Mama, why?""Davydd?" Her voice broke. "Davydd . . . you saw? My God, oh, myGod, no..."He moved from the shadows of the antechamber, stood there starjne at her as if he no longer recognized her. "Glynis sent word that you'd been taken ill, that the doctors feared a rupture . . ."He sounded dazed, his words labored, coming as uncertainly as if he were speaking a language not his own. "She said . . .said you might be dying. Papa, he ..." He shook his head, as if to clear it."We half killed our horses, and when we rode into the bailey, no one knew, no one . . ." The words trailed off raggedly, his mouth contorting."What have you done, Mama? Jesus God, what have you done?"DAVYDD had gone. Joanna was alone. She would never know how long she lay there in the darkness. Upon the table a solitary candle still sputtered, burning down toward the wick. When at last it flickered out, Joanna rose from the bed, groped her way across the chamber. She did not bother with stockings or chemise; finding a gown in one of her coffers, she pulled it over her head, began to search for her shoes. She did not braid her hair, merely brushed it back over her shoulders. She had to see Llewelyn. She had to tell him that she'd not lain with Will in his bed. Nothing else mattered. He could never forgive her, she knew that. But le' his grieving be for those October afternoons in the hafod. Not for this, "°t for a betrayal in his own bedchamber. She could at least do that for"n. She could give him the truth about tonight and hope it might in "me help to heal some of his pain.Once she was dressed, though, she found herself standing motionby the door.How could she find Llewelyn? The thought of entering ^ 8feat hall in search of him was terrifying. She wanted only to stay m the dark, never to have to face others again. But she must somebra *^e Coura8e to do this, forLlewelyn's sake if not her own. She armnerself and then opened the door, only to find her way barred by^ed guards.

12ABER, NORTH WALESApril 1230TJ. HE men came for Joanna the following morning. She had no warning; they entered without knocking, announced brusquely that she was to accompany them."Where are you taking me?" she asked, the composure of her question utterly belied by the tremor in her voice, and one of the men laughed."Did you not hear the hammering? Carpenters have been laboring since dawn to erect a gallows ... for two."Even before she saw the startled looks on the other faces, Joanna was sure the man lied. If Llewelyn meant for her to die, she'd have died last night in her own bed. He would never hang her; she knew that with such certainty that she found the assurance now to challenge their authority. "I want to know where Iam to be taken.""Do you indeed? Well, I'd not give a fig for what you want," he jeered, andJoanna stiffened, for that expression had long since taken on obscene connotations. "You've no right to ask questions. You forfeited all rights the day you chose to play the whore for a Norman lord.No one had ever dared speak to her with such contempt, and Joanna felt as if she'd been torn, naked and defenseless, from a cocoon of privilege and power, with no skills for survival in this harsh new world. But indignation was an indulgence no longer available to her. she could do was to salvage what dignity she could. "Very well, come with you as soon as I braid my hair." , Her tormentor stepped toward her, took the brush out of her a "No, you will come now," he said, and she had no choice but to ^ When Topaz sought to follow, he thrust the dog aside impatiently- a*' * i <*jJoanna had no choice but to accept that, too.Just as they reached the door, a terrifying thought came What if he was not lying about the gallows? What if she was

635eht out to watch as Will was hanged? Merciful Jesus, let it not be so, was praying wordlessly, desperately, as they opened the antechamber door.As early as it was, the bailey was thronged with men and women.p. v watched in unnerving silence as Joanna emerged into the sunlight, t as she was led forward, they began to murmur among themselves.eral gpat deliberately upon the ground; one bolder than the rest lied out loudly, "Norman slut!" Joanna flushed, suddenly seeing her-lf through other eyes, hostile eyes. How she regretted dressing last ght in such haste; without stockings or chemise she felt half naked, slatternly, and with her hair loose, tumbling down her back, blowing untidily about her face, she must look as if she'd just been roused from a man's bed, a lover's embrace.There was a sudden stir; Glynis broke through the crowd, ran toward Joanna. "Idid not do it, Madame," she cried. "I sent no message, I swear by Our Lady Idid not!""I know, Glynis, I know." Joanna's eyes swept the crowd. "Where is Senena?""Gone, my lady. She left nigh on an hour ago for Deganwy Castle." That came as no surprise to Joanna. Senena would want to tell Gruffydd with no delay.Glynis was gazing at her in sudden comprehension. "Madame, you think it was she . . . ?""Who else? But you must go back now, Glynis, lest the others think you too sympathetic, lest they suspect you of aiding and abetting me in a liaison withWill."Glynis looked frightened, but she stayed resolutely by Joanna's side for several strides. "Go with God, my lady."The crowd's anger was growing, and as Joanna feared, some of it was now directed at Glynis. But most of the abuse was reserved for Joanna, and as she heard herself called