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this sort of thing from me and was smiling
too, though with no idea of the joke.
    I wiped at my cheeks. “I’m fine. Let’s go
in.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    Anna toddled happily after Goronwy and he
picked her up before we were half-way down the first flight of
steps. That was a good plan because she took a very long
time to navigate a set of stairs on her little legs, usually with
me counting them one by one. I followed them, watching my feet as
we made our way down the stairs, tears still pricking behind my
eyes.
    Goronwy escorted us to our room, where the
same maid from before waited.
    “Hello, Dana,” I said. “I see we need more
clothes.”
    She’d piled two sacks beside the door to the
room. Goronwy signaled to the guard waiting outside for us that he
should carry them away. Then Goronwy hesitated in the doorway,
looking at me as I stood in the center of the room, my hands
clasped in front of me. Dana knelt on the floor in front of Anna,
helping her into an extra petticoat.
    “You’ll be all right, then?” he said.
    I honestly didn’t know, but didn’t tell him
that. “Thank you, Goronwy. We’ll be fine.”
    “I’ll return for you in a few minutes,” he
said, and closed the door. I gazed at the closed door, a cold
feeling in my chest at the knowledge that I was going to have to
turn off that part of me that needed to question what was happening
and go with the flow of things.
    Dana dressed Anna like a miniature adult,
with cloak and hood like mine. On the bed lay further clothes for
me. The dress split up the middle, designed for riding astride. The
thick black wool cloak hung heavily on my shoulders, the clasp at
the throat. It had ties up the front so I wouldn’t have to keep it
clutched around me while we traveled, and two slits for my hands
instead of sleeves.
    Goronwy knocked on our door again.
    “Thank you, Dana,” I said in Welsh as we
left. Diolch.
    “My pleasure, Madam.”
    Once in the same courtyard where I’d last
seen Llywelyn, a boy stood off to the right of the stairs with a
horse, waiting for us.
    “Up with you,” Goronwy said. I gazed up at
the horse. It was huge—not that all the horses weren’t huge from
the ground, but this one seemed to loom over me in a most
uncomfortable manner. All around us men and horses jostled each
other to mount and I hugged Anna closer to me. I would be the only
woman on the journey and all the men, like Goronwy, wore full
armor, with long swords at their waists. At least a dozen of them
also had giant bows and quivers strapped to their saddlebags.
    “I’m supposed to ride this horse to Brecon?
I couldn’t take my eyes off the monstrous beast in front of me.
    “Your chariot is sunk in the marsh,” Goronwy
said. He took Anna from me.
    “I’ve been thinking,” I said, stalling for
time. “We’re spending tonight at that place you mentioned, Coed y
Brenin?”
    “Yes that’s right,” Goronwy said.
    “Isn’t that where Owain Glendower was
ambushed and died?”
    “What did you say?” Goronwy said.
    “Isn’t that the place? My mother sings a
song about it. He rode into a gap in the road with high hills on
either side and archers attacked him and his men. He and his men
fought, but they all died. It was a lot like how Llywelyn . . .” I
stopped, horrified. I’d run at the mouth. I shouldn’t know how
Llywelyn would meet his death.
    “Who was Owain Glendower?” Goronwy said.
    “He—”
    “We’ll discuss this later.”
    Llywelyn had come up behind me. Without
warning, he put his hands around my waist and threw me into the
saddle. I plopped onto my bottom on the seat and then managed to
swing my right leg over the horse to get both feet in the stirrups.
I wiggled into a more comfortable position and gathered the reins,
as I’d seen actors do in movies. Llywelyn handed Anna to me and she
snuggled into my lap, her knees tucked inside her cloak.
    “Are you sure about this?” My voice came out
high. The horse stepped sideways restlessly