Footsteps in Time (31 page)

“
I’d had
close calls before in my younger years,” Llywelyn said, “as some of
you witnessed, but nothing like this. All my companions were dead,
ambushed by the English who poured out of those trees.” He pointed
up the hill where
David
had parked the van.

“
We were supposed to be
meeting the Mortimer boys, but they sent their men against us
instead. All my men had fallen in my defense, and I had my back
against a tree. In fact, I had lost my footing in the snow and
landed on my hip when Dafydd and his sister drove into the meadow
in their chariot.

“
I can still see it in my
mind. Falling and knowing that my life was over, only to have my
attackers turn away and themselves fall under the wheels of that
incredible machine. One moment I was about to die, and the next, my
son and daughter had swept away my enemies.”

“
God’s will,” Bevyn said
gruffly.

“
It
was
God’s
will,” Father said firmly. “And thus, our responsibilities to Wales
are all the greater.”

Father clapped his hand on
David’s shoulder. “Now, I would like a ride in your chariot. I
understand from Ieuan that it’s the experience of a
lifetime.”

David
led the way up the hill to the spot where the van
still sat, undisturbed since their last visit here. He unlocked it
and opened the sliding door. As before, everyone piled in, except
this time,
David
had an idea. Witchcraft couldn’t help but haunt them. Maybe
there was a way to defuse it.

“
Here.”
David
handed his father the keys. “You drive.”

Llywelyn took them
from
David
,
hesitantly, reminding
David
of Anna. “Are you certain?”

“
Sure,”
David
said, figuring the worst he could do was wreck it
permanently.

They climbed
in.
David
showed
his father how to insert the key and twist it so the van would
start. This time the engine caught right away.
David
explained how to press the brake
with his foot and shift into drive.

“
Now, press that right
lever gently with your foot.”

“
Like this?” Llywelyn
said, and the van jerked forwards a few feet. Fortunately, Llywelyn
removed his foot before the vehicle crashed into a tree.

David
had him experiment with the brake and showed him
how to steer. After a few more jerks, Llywelyn got the van moving
forward. He turned the steering wheel to the right and headed down
the hill. As it picked up speed entering the meadow,
David
glanced back at the
men and had to laugh at the looks of utter horror on their faces.
Little did they know that when David had driven the van a few weeks
ago, it had been his first time too.

“
The
brake, Dad, the brake!”
David
said as they got near the far side of the
meadow.

Llywelyn found it and managed to stop
the van about two feet from the edge. The breath eased out of
everyone in the van.

“
Maybe you should drive,
son.” Father took a deep breath himself.

The pair got out of the
van, and as they passed each other in front of it Llywelyn put his
hand on David’s arm. “What’s this word, ‘Dad’?”

David
laughed, surprised. He’d never called his father
that before. In Welsh, ‘father’ is ‘tad’, and he’d been comfortable
with it, given the similarity in pronunciation.

“
It means ‘Father’, but
more familiar. Like Anna’s ‘papa’.”

His father smiled
and
David
could see
that he was pleased. They got back in the van. This time,
David
eased the van down
the hill, back through the brambles, into its little clearing and
then turned off the engine.

At this point, Ieuan could
stand it no longer. “May I sit there?”

“
Absolutely.”
David
opened the door and climbed out to make room for Ieuan, who
scrambled between the front seats and sat down in David’s spot. He
surveyed the instrument panel, and the other men leaned forward to
listen to the subsequent conversation.

“
What is that?” Ieuan
pointed to the speedometer.

“
That
tells you how many miles the chariot can go in one hour,”
David
said.

Ieuan studied the panel. “And how fast
is that? I can’t make out the script.”

“
Those are Arabic
numerals—numbers. They read zero on one end, and one hundred and
ten on the other.”

“
How is that possible?”
Ieuan said.

David
hesitated. “Well, you would need a very straight
and flat road.”

“
Like the
roads the Romans built?” Cadwallon said from the back. David had
included him in the party because he thought the van might lose
some of the aura of magic if Cadwallon rode in it.
David
was probably
wrong.

“
Yes,
exactly like that,”
David
said.

“
And what is this?” Ieuan
said.

“
The—”
David
searched for the proper word. “The fuel gauge. It tells how
much fuel the van carries and thus the driver knows how many miles
he can go before he needs more fuel.”

“
So what is this fuel?”
Dad said.

“
Um—”
Once again
David
struggled to explain. “The van contains an engine that runs on
burning naphtha.”

“
Oh, naphtha.” Dad nodded.
‘Naphtha’ was a Greek word for petroleum, which was also used in
the weapon ‘Greek fire’. It was something they had never seen, but
many had heard of.

“
It really isn’t
witchcraft,” Cadwallon said.

“
Of course not,” Gruffydd
said. “Did you not hear the prince say it was God’s
will?”

“
So,” Ieuan said, having
thought hard throughout their extraneous conversation, “who built
the chariot?”

Oh yeah. That little
detail.
Silence filled the van. Ieuan
looked up, realizing that nobody was answering.
David
racked his brains for something
to say and came up with nothing, but Llywelyn hit upon the answer.
And it wasn’t even a lie.

“
You know of the great
Welsh hero, Madoc ap Owain Gwynedd, who sailed west across the sea
to a land full of strange peoples, previously unknown to
us?”

“
Yes, of course, Sire,”
Ieuan said. This was one of the stories every Welsh child knew from
birth.

“
Before Dafydd was born,”
Dad said, “I sent Marged and the children away for their
safekeeping. It is from that country that they have come and it is
Madoc’s descendents who built this chariot.”

Ieuan sighed. “I would like
to see that land someday.”

“
God
willing, Ieuan, someday you may.” But even as
David
spoke, he thought,
God willing, I won’t—ever again.

Chapter Eleven

Anna

T
he battlements of every castle Anna had lived in since she
came to Wales were her favorite places. She could stand on them and
see for miles in four directions, feel the wind and the weather,
and be alone with her thoughts. Looking down, she had a bird’s eye
view of the activity in the courtyards, and a detachment from her
surroundings that she treasured. With Math beside her being
protective, Anna climbed the battlements of Dinas Bran once again
to watch David and his company wind their way up the long road to
the castle gate. They always had warning when visitors were
arriving, which was a good thing when David and his men came.
They’d be hungry.

“
I don’t see Papa’s
banners,” Anna said. “Mom will be disappointed.”

“
Dafydd doesn’t ride
Taranis,” Math said. “What other changes are in the wind?” They
walked down the stairs to greet the riders as they crossed under
the gatehouse.

“
Oh, don’t look at me that
way,” Anna said.

“
You’re
huge!
Amazingly huge!”
David said before he’d even dismounted, open-mouthed with
astonishment.

“
I’m not that
fat.”

“
I didn’t say you were
fat!” He hugged Anna from a distance, given the size of her
belly.

Math and Bevyn consulted about the
disposition of David’s men, while Anna brought David inside,
pleased that he was here again after the upheaval of his last
visit. It didn’t take long, though, to learn what ‘changes’ Math
was talking about.

“
I’ll be meeting Edward
without Dad.”

“
Why?” Mom said. “Surely
this will make Edward more angry than he already is.”

“
The prince talked with
his lords,” Carew said. “They agreed that they couldn’t risk both
the father and the son. The journey is too far into English
territory for safety. It’s one thing for King Alexander to
go—Edward has acknowledged him as king long since. It’s quite
another for Prince Llywelyn to make that journey. Edward sees him
as an upstart.”

Mom was appalled. “So Llywelyn thinks
to sacrifice David instead?”

Aaron turned to her, his
expression gentle. “He does no such thing. One of them must attend,
but I think David will be the first to admit that he’s not yet
ready to assume the responsibilities of rule if something were to
happen to his father.”

“
Absolutely.” David
nodded. “I’m happy to go. If we take the sea route, we can’t be
ambushed on the road.”

Mom didn’t appear
convinced. “It was bad enough when you were gallivanting about the
countryside these last few weeks. At least you were in Wales, among
your fellow countrymen, with access to aid and comfort if need be.
In England you’ll be dependent entirely on your own
resources.”

“
That’s the way it has to
be,” David said.

Mom ground her teeth and muttered
under her breath.

“
It’s okay, Mom,” Anna
said, in an aside to her. “He’s done well so far.”

“
I want to put my foot
down and say he can’t go,” Mom said, “but I don’t think I can tell
him what he can or cannot do, anymore.”

And I suspect that’s
a painful thing for a mother to admit.
Anna
touched her belly, feeling the baby move and wondering if it was a
boy or a girl.
Mom still tells me what to
do.
It was curious that she didn’t feel as
able to tell David.

David wasn’t listening to either of
them, having turned to Aaron to find out what he’d been up
to.

“
I know little of what went
on in the conference,” Aaron said. “Word spread throughout the
city, however, of King Edward’s anger at your father. Given your
successes in the past few weeks, Edward’s Marcher lords will be
calling for your blood.”

“
They were doing that
before,” Math said, “though I agree with Aaron’s conclusions. All
is not well with England.”

“
Hereford will not easily
forgive his defeat at Buellt,” Carew said. “When we meet with
Edward, we must take care. Even if Edward seeks an honest exchange,
you can be sure that many of his barons do not.”

* * * * *

They had a quiet few weeks at Dinas
Bran. With each passing day, Anna became more uncomfortable. Unlike
in the old world, there were no ultrasounds to perform or exams to
make. The midwife’s attitude was ‘the baby will come when it
comes,’ and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Mom kept
busy by overseeing the boiling of everything in sight. Anything she
couldn’t boil, she sterilized through fire or by dipping in an
alcohol concoction that was so strong, even Math’s men wouldn’t
touch it.

She had explained to
Aaron long since, and to the midwife more recently, what her
standards for cleanliness were. If someone couldn’t get with the
program, she was out. In the Middle Ages, most women didn’t
actually die in childbirth. They died later, from childbed fever
caused by unclean conditions and dirty hands during labor.
That will not be me! Dear God, that will not be
me!

Math made himself scarce
for the last weeks before Anna’s due date—and then during the long
two weeks after her due date. He and his men patrolled the Welsh
border with England, keeping an eye out for any incursions across
the border or a massing of men where there should be none. He
didn’t want a repeat of what had happened at Castell y Bere. He
rode out of the castle daily to return at dusk, sweaty and hungry,
and too tired to worry much about Anna. She understood him well
enough by now to realize that he was suppressing his worry for her
by ignoring it, and keeping himself so busy that he had no time to
think.