Footsteps in Time (26 page)

“
It’s because of history
that we’re telling you this now,” David said. “In our world, my
father was killed at Cilmeri in 1282, and Wales, as a country,
ceased to exist.”

“
In our world,” Mom joined
in, “in five years, Edward expels the Jewish community from
England.”

Aaron stared at her, then let out a
long breath. “Of everything you’ve just told me,” he said, “it is
this last that forces me to believe you. It’s such a small number
of people, to be perceived as doing such harm.” He paused. “I have
so many questions I don’t know where to begin, except ... There’s a
reason you’re telling me this now?”

“
Your people may have very
little time, as your son perceived. You may begin to spread the
word among your people that they are welcome in Wales,” David
said.

“
Prince Llywelyn agrees to
this?” Aaron said.

David and Mom exchanged looks. “We’ve
discussed it,” Mom hedged. “He’s not opposed to the
idea.”

“
It’s something we need to
explore with him further,” David said. “But in the meantime, Wales
can provide a safe haven for those who are able to venture here
now. Father said he wouldn’t object to that.”

“
Thank you,” Aaron said. He
stood to leave, but then stopped and sat down again. “My son also
writes that on the first of June, the Earl of Lancaster travels to
Chester for a meeting with King Edward and the other Marcher lords.
Samuel, Jacob, and Moses will travel with him. With your
permission, I will meet them, as long as Anna remains well. I don’t
trust this information to a letter that might never
arrive.”

David nodded. “I’ll send
word of this meeting to my father. He needs to know of
it.”

* * * * *

On the twenty-eighth of May, only a
day before Aaron intended to leave for Chester, a guard on the wall
shouted that a rider—a foreign rider—requested permission to enter.
Math and Anna went to find out who it was. The man dismounted and
bowed deeply.

“
I am Abraham ben Moses,”
he said. “I’m looking for my uncle, Aaron ben Simon, whom I’ve
heard is within.”

“
He is,” Math said. “I
suppose we’ve been expecting you.”

The man raised his eyebrows, but
didn’t ask questions, just allowed Anna to lead him into the
hall.

“
Are you okay with this?”
Anna asked Math (‘okay’ was one of the words she couldn’t seem to
stop using; apparently she said it often enough that other members
of the castle had adopted it too).

Math nodded. “I can’t
predict the future like you can. But I can see my way clear on
this.”

“
Abraham!” Aaron entered
the hall from a rear doorway, David a pace or two behind. In three
long strides, Aaron reached Abraham and embraced him. They patted
each other on the back, and then stepped away, smiling, though
Abraham’s smile quickly faded.

“
We are here to impose
upon your hospitality, Uncle, and that of your lord, if he will
have us.” Abraham looked past Aaron to David. “The King of England
has barred us from London. The Jewish community has fifteen days to
leave the city, ten of which have already passed.”

“
They will lose
everything,” Aaron breathed. “On such short notice, no one will get
a fair price for any of their possessions.”

“
If such a thing was ever
possible.” Abraham shook his head. “The edict caught us
unawares.”

“
What is your profession?”
David said.

“
I am a wool merchant,”
Abraham said, “though in recent years I’ve worked in the shop of a
gentile—ill-paid and ill-respected—except for the money I brought
in.”

“
I’m sorry for your
troubles,” David said. “But if you have contacts in Europe with
whom you do business, you may settle in the village and practice
your trade from here. There will be no undue taxes or restrictions
on your behavior or your movement.”

Abraham stared at him.
“Truly?”

“
We will restrict usury
among your bankers to a maximum of five percent interest,” David
said. “While they may not feel that is worth their efforts, over
the long term, they could earn a living if that profession is their
choice. Otherwise, we ask that you accept our hospitality as it is
offered: from one free people to another.”

Abraham shook his head, opening and
closing his mouth but unable to speak. Aaron patted him on the
shoulder. “He’s the Prince of Wales,” Aaron said. “Best take him at
his word.”

“
Sire.” Abraham finally
managed to speak. “Thank you.” He allowed Aaron to lead him to a
table and settle him on a bench, an expression of wonder still on
his face.

“
What is Father going to
say?” Anna said.

“
He’s not here, but it’s
the right thing to do.” David glanced at the two men who were too
far away to hear him. “But you’re right that I probably should
discuss it with Father before we get too far down this
road.”

“
I’d have to agree,” Math
said. “If not for the incident with Marchudd, you’d have gone to
him already.”

“
Then I guess there’s no
time like the present,” David said. His eyes lit and he spun on his
heel. “Bevyn!” he bellowed, and disappeared through the front door
to the hall.

Anna shared a glance with Math. “My
lord,” she said. “I think we’ve work to do too.”

He smiled at Anna’s uncharacteristic
use of his title and reached for her hand. “Abraham?” he said, and
gestured towards the door. “I’d like to meet your
people.”

They rode to the village of
Llangollen. Aaron came too because the villagers knew of his work
in healing by now, and most had learned to trust him. But his
presence was hardly needed. By the time they arrived, Abraham’s
sons were playing with three of the village boys and one of the
women had invited his wife into her home to rest. They’d probably
already learned their first words of Welsh.

“
One family is not a
threat,” Math said. “If a dozen were to arrive at once, that might
be a different story.”

“
There may be more than a
dozen, in the end,” Anna said.

“
We will leave tomorrow’s
troubles for tomorrow.”

Within another hour, Abraham had moved
his family into a hut that had belonged to the head man’s mother
who’d died the previous winter.

“
We’ll leave you in good
hands,” Math said.

“
I think they’re a bit
overwhelmed by the unexpected hospitality and the foreignness of
their circumstances,” Anna said to David when she found him later.
“As city people, they know nothing of country life, nothing of
Wales.”

David shrugged. “Like all of us,
they’ll just have to learn.”

Chapter Eight

David

“Y
ou’re looking forward to this trip,
aren’t you?” David said.

Bevyn rubbed his hands
together. “If we are to pay a visit to Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn, it
will give me a chance to see what that traitorous bastard is up to.
I hear his son and daughter-in-law have fled to her family in
England, but he stays for Prince Llywelyn. A dubious proposition at
best.”

“
Gruffydd holds Dolforwyn
for us and has reestablished the town,” David said. “My father
keeps him on a short leash and intended to visit him on his way
north. We’ll see him on our way south, instead.”

Dolforwyn was roughly
thirty miles south of Dinas Bran. They made it in two days of easy
riding. It was another thirty miles to Buellt, which Gruffydd also
held, and a further thirty to the flatlands of south Wales, near
where David hoped to find his father. Where exactly Father was
David didn’t know, but the people there would direct him. Mom
expected that his business in the south would take all summer, so
even if David stayed a short time with Gruffydd, he should still be
able to take part in whatever maneuvers Father was
planning.

Gruffydd himself came out of his newly
built gatehouse to welcome David’s company. After the initial
greetings, he brought David into his hall, seated him, and launched
into an exposition of everything he’d achieved in the months since
David’s parents’ wedding. Bemused, David leaned back in his chair
and listened. Gruffydd was enthusiastic and fiery, pacing back and
forth, waving his hands in the air, forcefully presenting his
points.

Finally, he swung around to David. “I
hear you were taken prisoner for a time,” he said.

“
Yes,” David said. “The
ringleader was one of my own men, in fact.”

“
A bad business.” Gruffydd
shook his head. “You can never be too careful, even with those you
deem most loyal.”

David leaned forward. “Is
that some kind of warning, Gruffydd? Do you have more to add to
that statement?”

“
No! No!” He waved his
hands again. “I was only making an observation on the perils of
leadership.”

David sat back, unsatisfied. Father
thought Gruffydd had spent too much of his life in the company of
the English to work against them so passionately now. Perhaps
sensing David’s discontent, Gruffydd hastened forward and took a
chair in front of him.

“
This brings me to some new
business; something on which I’d like your opinion,” he
said.

“
I’m happy to help.” David
hadn’t thought that Gruffydd would ever want his opinion on
anything.

“
A week ago, three families
of Jews crossed into Wales from England. They found their way here
and asked to settle in our village.”

“
What did you say to
them?” David said.

“
Well ... one is a doctor,
and I welcomed him into my household. The other two are both
well-educated, but their former profession as goldsmiths is
completely useless to me. I made one an overseer of the castle
accounts, and the other a scribe. I refuse to waste such knowledge,
just because of their religion.”

“
Excellent!” David slapped
a hand on the table. “That’s exactly as I hoped. We had a similar
situation at Dinas Bran. A wool merchant and his family arrived.
Math is seeing to establishing his trade on behalf of Wales,
instead of England.”

“
Just be prepared for
trouble,” Gruffydd said. “Two days ago, my priest railed against
Jews as the killers of Christ. I told him if he said another word
I’d rip out his tongue.”

David blinked. But Gruffydd was
serious.

“
Come, man!” he said, “If
Edward has turned against them, stolen their land, subjected them
to unfair laws, they have something in common with us. The enemy of
my enemy could be my friend. I say, give them a chance. At the very
least, we can line our coffers at their expense if things don’t go
well.”

That had Bevyn laughing. “I like your
way of thinking,” he said.

David wasn’t so sure, but
as usual, Gruffydd swung whichever way most benefitted him. In this
case, his goals aligned with David’s, so David could tolerate
him.

“
I intend to discuss these
developments with my father, who perhaps hasn’t heard the latest
news. I’m glad to know your position on this,” David
said.

“
You know I’ve had troubles
with Prince Llywelyn, now and again,” Gruffydd said—the
understatement of the year as far as David was concerned, but he
let it go—“but he’s not as fickle an overlord as Edward has proved
to be. His laws are Welsh laws, and by God, I will stand by him in
the face of English oppression as long as need be.”

“
I will
tell my father he has your continued support,” David said. “Wales
can stand against England,
if
all Welshmen stand with her.”

* * * * *

Four days later, they rode for Buellt,
accompanied by Gruffydd who wanted to see how the garrison there
fared. They arrived as dusk fell on June the fourth in time for the
evening meal. As always, David was starving and was pleased that
the cook at Buellt was one of the more skilled he’d
encountered.

Towards the end of the meal, a man
dressed in plain homespun asked for admittance to the hall and
permission to speak with David. At David’s nod, he strode towards
the dais, sure of himself and unafraid. “My lord,” he said, bowing
as he reached him. “I’m Rhodri ap Tathan. I’ve heard that you are
interested in the movements of our enemies. I have news for
you.”

David sat forward in his
chair. “I’m pleased to see you, Rhodri ap Tathan. Tell
me.”

“
Humphrey de Bohun, the
Earl of Hereford, is on the move,” Rhodri said.

Gruffydd stood so quickly he upended
his chair. “Hereford!”

“
Where!”

“
He gathers men at his
castle of Huntington,” Rhodri said.

“
Bohun is supposed to be in
Chester,” David said.

“
His men are here,” Rhodri
said.

“
How many?” Gruffydd
said.

“
Twenty knights and many
more foot. This news comes from my sister, who is a servant in
Hereford’s hall.” He shrugged. “There may be more but she can’t
count higher.”