Footsteps in Time (21 page)

The March was the border region
between England and Wales (including the traditional Earldoms of
Chester, Shrewsbury, and Hereford, as well as Pembroke, Norfolk,
and Gloucester in south-eastern Wales). English lords ruled these
lands as almost-kings. The Welsh had hated them for centuries.
Although he hoped to carry the war into southeast Wales, Father’s
plan was to contain the English and to prevent them from building
up their strength to attack him.

Powys was also of concern for him,
partially because it was closer to Gwynedd, and partially because
it was controlled by the Welsh lord, Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn.
Amazingly enough, Gruffydd had taken to the new rule of Wales with
passion and vengeance. Gruffydd had actually taken Dolforwyn Castle
for Father (who, after all, had built it), and Buellt Castle, near
where Anna and David had saved Father’s life. Father was
apprehensive, however, not wanting to trust all these potentially
fair-weather friends too far, and especially not the luck that
seemed to be holding.

Looking at the maps, it was hard to
remember that Wales was only 140 miles long and 50 miles wide in
the middle. It was the roughness of the terrain that made Wales
difficult to conquer, not its overall size.

The night before everyone left,
Llywelyn called his children and his wife into his study for one
last conversation. “Foremost in your mind should be the
strengthening of Wales,” he reminded them. “Do we have men who are
able and willing to more actively join our cause? Who has contacts
in England who can spy for us against the English? Just because a
man isn’t a soldier, doesn’t mean he can’t serve us.”

David nodded, understanding his
charge, and the need for it.

“
Dinas Bran is ideally
located for access to information from England,” Anna
said.

“
You are correct in that.
All the Welsh can help, which leads me to my other concern,” Father
said. “I’ve spoken with the Bishop about admitting Jews into
Wales.”

Mom’s face lit. This had
been of particular interest to her. Although Edward himself didn’t
yet know it, he was about to start a long-term pogrom against the
Jews, culminating in his decree in 1290, six years from now, that
banished all Jews from England.

“
What did he say?” Mom
said.

“
He has agreed not to
condemn them, and to consider welcoming them. We must go slowly.
This idea is new and unprecedented. I realize that your mother
looks far into the future, but I cannot always see what she does
from where I sit.”

Father shifted in his seat. Mom and
Anna sat together on a bench against one wall, with David beside
them in a chair. Llywelyn’s eyes went to each of them in turn.
“Foremost in my mind is to unite the people of Wales and the Bishop
has promised to promote that idea. The problem with war, as you
must know by now, is that it is eminently destructive. Peasants are
caught between armies in war. Their crops don’t get sown and their
children starve. In Wales, unlike in England, all men must be
warriors, else we have too few to hold off the English. It is
reasonable, then, to ask a man to take sides and the Bishop agreed
that he would encourage his priests to try to explain that to their
flock.”

David shook his head. “How am I to
rule after you, Father? There’s so much I don’t know and don’t
understand. Half the time I don’t even know the right questions to
ask!”

Llywelyn smiled. “Son, you will be a
great Prince—perhaps even the King of Wales one day. They’ll name
you ‘Fawr’, like my grandfather.”

David didn’t contradict him, having
learned by now it was fruitless, but didn’t see how that could
possibly be true.

Chapter Five

Anna

M
om, David, and Anna left Aber on a clear day that for once
didn’t have a cold wind with it. Anna could almost believe it
wasn’t going to rain soon, but as this was Wales, it always did. As
the crow flies, it was less than twenty miles from Aber to
Dolwyddelan, but they wouldn’t be traveling as the crow flies.
David intended to take a week to make the
journey.

Along the way, they’d stop at every
hut and hamlet. David would stand for Papa as arbiter and judge in
any dispute, Aaron would attend to any ailments, having improved
his Welsh considerably in the six months he’d lived in Wales, with
Anna herself assisting. That way, she could also translate for him
if he needed it. Mom planned on being, as she called it, Papa’s
‘Cheerleader in Chief’.

Anna was excited to get moving, but
for some reason, Mom was apprehensive and not at all herself. Anna
thought at first that she didn’t want to leave Papa or Gwenllian,
but when she asked her about it, she furrowed her brow and
complained about the weather and its effect on her skin. For the
first time, Mom had found lines around her eyes and on her
forehead. Aaron snorted into his cuff at that and promised to
concoct a lotion for her to counteract that as soon as he was
able.

Anna turned to look at her and then it
dawned on her what day it was. “It’s your birthday, isn’t
it?”

Out of nowhere, Mom gave Anna a
brilliant smile that was a sharp contrast to her glum look a moment
before. “And if I weren’t so stubborn, I would have told Llywelyn
and he would’ve done something for me. But then I might have to
talk to all the well-wishers about exactly where I was born, and
who my father was, and so far, nobody seems to be asking those
questions, at least not to my face. On top of which, I’m
thirty-eight and getting old, and can’t seem to do the math to
figure out in what year I’m supposed to have been born.”

“
It’s 19—” Anna said. “Oh
... I guess that would be 1247.”

“
Ha!” Mom looked away but
she was smiling.

It occurred to Anna
that her mother might be suffering the same way Anna herself had
when she first came to Wales. In truth, except for Papa, David,
Anna, and sometimes Aaron, there was no one for her to talk to. Mom
had plenty to
do
as
the Princess of Wales, but as she and Anna had lamented many times,
twenty-first century women just didn’t fit in well in the Middle
Ages. It wasn’t so much that men treated women poorly, but that
they didn’t expect anything important of them, beyond an ability to
raise children and run a household (which wasn’t unimportant, even
if some men dismissed it). Men didn’t
talk
to women.

Anna had discussed this with David,
and he’d understood, even sympathized. For his part, he had plenty
of male friends and acquaintances because they mostly talked about
what they’d done that day, or what the plan for the next day was.
With the older men, all David had to do was get them going about
some battle or other that they’d been in, and there were no awkward
silences.

The drawback for the
three of them was that beyond superficial conversation, they had
little in common with anyone. It wasn’t so much that people weren’t
smart, because many were, especially within their own sphere of
knowledge; it was just that they were
ignorant
. Everyone saw the sun rise
and set every day, but those from the twenty-first century knew how
and why, and the rest didn’t.

Anna had the same
problem with the girls who lived at court—it was really hard to
make friends with them. As soon as she actually tried to have a
conversation, it became clear that they didn’t know how to
think
about
things.

David was young and
male, but it bothered even him, since he might have liked a
girlfriend. To David’s embarrassment, Anna had been present for
Mom’s lecture on the subject: “Most girls are less interested
in
you,
David, than
the fact that you are the Prince of Wales.”

“
I know that, Mom,” he’d
said.

“
Bearing your child would
set any one of them up for life.”

He’d been mortified and
refused to talk about it with Mom anymore. When Anna told Math of
it, he’d laughed. “He’s a Prince of Wales. Your mother needs to let
him do what he wants. More than most princes, I, for one, would
trust his judgment.”

When they reached the first
little village, nestled in the crook of a river, Anna and Mom gazed
down at it from their vantage point on the ridge above.

“
I don’t know about this,
Mom,” Anna said. “I grew up in Oregon. How can I be a princess? It
isn’t like they voted for me or anything. I’ve lived here for just
two and a half years. It isn’t like I really understand them at
all, yet I sit with Math as the lady of the castle.”

“
That’s one reason for
making this trip,” Mom said. “We all have the same problem. There’s
a limit to the changes we can make. This isn’t a democracy and
never will be, not in our lifetime or your children’s. The people
are uneducated and thus ill-equipped for self-rule. David’s job is
to campaign for Llywelyn’s vision of Wales. Your job is to support
him and counsel Math.”

“
I don’t think that helps,
Mom,” Anna said.

“
Why is it you speak of
democracy in Wales?” Aaron asked from behind them.

They turned together as Aaron walked
his horse closer. “I apologize for speaking out of turn, but I
couldn’t help but overhear.”

“
I was just saying that
I’m not well acquainted with the people over whom Math rules,” Anna
said. “I didn’t grow up here, and both they and I know
it.”

“
Yes, but democracy?”
Aaron said. “There hasn’t been a true democratic state since Athens
was defeated by Macedon fifteen hundred years ago. Where did you
learn of its principles?”

“
I don’t know if this is a
conversation we should be having, Aaron,” Mom said. “I realize that
there are times when my children and I make you uncomfortable with
the extent of our differences, and I’m afraid that this just needs
to be one of those times.”

Aaron’s face took on a look that Anna
could only describe as fierce. It struck her that he was deeply
insulted. He thought Mom was disparaging his intelligence. Anna
wanted to tell him a little piece of truth, but didn’t even know
how to begin.

David must have thought the
same thing, because he prodded Taranis closer. “Listen to me,
Aaron. We are from a country which is governed by a democracy as
much as it can be. It’s a land where all citizens are educated. My
mom taught history at a university. There, I was not known as a
prince’s son, but as a schoolboy. There, much of the knowledge
you’ve spent a lifetime acquiring, is learned routinely by
ten-year-olds. We are here by chance and happenstance. If you can
bear it, without thinking us witches or devils, someday I will tell
you more. I tell you this now so that you won’t be offended by our
knowledge or our ideas—or by our secrets.”

David pulled at Taranis’
head and spurred him forward, leaving his mother and Anna to deal
with Aaron’s questions David had unleashed.

“
Where ... where are you
from?” Aaron said.

Anna turned her head, following David
with her eyes, not wanting to look at Aaron.

“
Every day we travel a
little closer to it,” Mom said.

The future, Mom means.
Except that we’ll never reach it, not from here.

Chapter Six

David

A
s the company traveled inland from the sea, the people of
Gwynedd flocked to them. With every day that passed, the news of
their coming spread. Most days, a following of men, women, and
children traveled with them for a few miles and then would melt
into the landscape, only to be replaced by others who strode, rode,
and sidled out of the forest to walk for a time at David’s side. It
seemed the entire countryside was on the move.

David’s presence was a novelty and it
drew people to them. Everyone wanted to touch him, talk to him, and
tell him their life story. Of course, David would be Prince of
Wales one day, but because he was young and had less authority than
an older man, the people showered more welcome and love on him than
his father might have experienced.

In the first three
days, David mediated everything from a dispute over a fishing line,
to a marauding bull, to a marriage contract for a young couple
whose fathers couldn’t agree on price.
That
was not something David had
encountered in twenty-first century America!

But marauding bulls
aside, David thought being the Prince of Wales was okay. The
thirteenth century would never give him a life of luxury and ease,
but he’d adjusted to it. He was busy. He was needed. For the first
time in his life, he had both parents in the same place. Perhaps
David was too young to be a knight, really, but he
was
a knight, and he would
do his duty as the Prince of Wales. For the most part, that aspect
of the job was within his scope.

Although the responsibilities of
command had ceased to be quite as intimidating, the need to kill
other men was another matter. It wasn’t really that life was worth
less here, though it was, but that lives were taken more easily
here. Babies died. Children died. Women died in childbirth all the
time, though Mom and Aaron were working on that. David had
overheard her and Anna talking about it, and David tried not to
dwell on the worry he heard in Mom’s voice. Anna was happy and
optimistic, but Elinor, Gwenllian’s mother, had died in childbirth
and David didn’t think that knowledge was ever far from Mom’s
mind.