Here Be Dragons - 1 by Sharon Penman (best inspirational books txt) 📕

get within ten feet of the latrine pits, the stink be so vile! What are you waiting for, until the bloody flux kills off those who do not starve?"The chamber was utterly still. It had been years since any man had dared to defy John like this. Both Will and Pembroke had come to their feet. Richard took one look at his father's face and he, too, moved forward. But Chester was beyond discretion or prudence."You cannot say you were not warned, my liege, because I told you it would likely come to this! I told you this man would be no easy fox to snare, that he'd be too shrewd to take the field against you, that you'd find your quick, clean war of conquest being fought on his terms. Now do you believe me? Now are you ready to admit defeat, to cut our losses whilst we still can?""You've said enough, more than enough! I'm beginning to wonder just where your loyalties lie. You've never had any stomach for fighting this man. Why? It could not be that the two of you have reached a private accommodation, could it?"Chester's eyes glittered, black pools of utter outrage. "I do not deserve that, have served you faithfully. If you call me disloyal for daring to speak my mind, to be honest with you, so be it then. But answer me one question, my lord. Have you so many men whom you can trust to tell you the truth that you can afford to spare even one?""Ah, yes, and Scriptures tell us to 'rejoice in the truth,' do the, not?" John said mockingly. But it was a surprisingly restrained r sponse, showed Richard that Chester had unexpectedly hit a ne&e' Chester sensed it, too, was quick to press his advantage."I'm not saying Llewelyn ab lorwerth could not eventually be run

327ffa, though I still think it'd be a Pyrrhic victory. But there'll be no 'ctory at a" this time. He's won, you have to face that. It is done, my liege, done/-John turned away, walked to the window. He stood there for some minutes in silence, staring out at Llewelyn's alpine citadel, the remote, Houd-crested peaks of Eryri. "No," he said. "Not yet."THE hill the Welsh called Mynydd y Dref rose some eight hundred feet above sea level, offering sweeping views of Conwy Bay, the river, and Deganwy Castle.Joanna moved cautiously toward the edge of the cliff, was grateful whenLlewelyn slid a supportive arm around her waist.A high wind was gusting, but the sea was a brilliant sapphire blue, and the light was resplendent upon the grey stone church below; the monastery looked prosperous and orderly and utterly at peace. But the encampment on the far side of the river was a scene of disorder and desolation. Some tents were still standing, flapping forlornly in the wind; the area was littered with debris, scarred by ditches and smoldering campfires; bones and rotting carcasses of dead horses were piled at the water's edge, and when the wind shifted toward the west, it brought to them a sickening stench of death and decay."My lord! It's true, they're gone!" Several horsemen were coming up the slope at a gallop. The lead rider was soaked from the river crossing, shivering and short of breath, but he was exultant, stammering with excitement."They've pulled out, all of them, even the castle garrison!" He glanced then toward Joanna, said in a lower voice, "You'd best not let your lady cross the river, my lord. The English King left his dead for you to bury.""That much ground I'm willing to yield up to John," Llewelyn said, and the other men laughed, began to crowd around him, gesturing toward the deserted encampment, interrupting one another freely, Baking boisterous jests and sardonic puns, theirs the grim gallows hu"Wrof the suddenly reprieved. Joanna turned, walked away.Finding a sheltering boulder some yards from the cliff, she stoodS^ing out to sea, watching as gulls skimmed the wind-crested waves of e bay, circled above her father's abandoned castle keep. She could still ar Llewelyn's laughter, as buoyant and soaring as the birds wheeling"/ " out I Jilt I II WC1C ILl^l. iJlltlll/ &1 It LI ll^H til ll/J.IVV-»U»J.J C7V71411U J.1LU,11Llewelyn's laughter. It had been so long since she'd heard himI Lead; if sunlight were not silent, she thought, it would sound much I eLlewelyn's laughter. It had been so long since she'd heard him oft.,( After a time, Llewelyn broke free from the encircling men, came to aBeside her. His hair was blowing about wildly, and she raised her

328hand, brushed it back from his eyes. As she did, he ca^nt her hand jn his."I understand that you cannot rejoice in my victo1^' >oanna> but I hoped you'd not begrudge me the joy I take in it.""I do not, God's truth, I do not!""My poor Joanna; no matter who won, you had to I"56' Jt s OVer now, breila."He reached for her other hand, drew her t^ward him- "YOU can await me at the abbey whilst I cross over to the can1?' en we " go home."Joanna swallowed, rested her head for a moment $amst hls ches*. "It is not over, Llewelyn," she said, her voice so muffr lf was a11 but inaudible.His eyes had seemed full of light, showed golden f5|ints in the sunBut as she looked up at him now, she saw that all th/ llght had been completely quenched;his eyes were utterly opaque, W& A"You think he'll come back," he said flatly, and sh/nodded."I know he will, Llewelyn." She moved back into hlS arms' whis' pered, "I know he will. . ."LLEWELYN knew that Joanna's love for her father blint^d her tO what others saw in John. Yet for all that she was disbelievi*^ er impulses, she still knew better than most the intimate vVOrkmSs of hls mind.Llewelyn accepted her anguished certainty as ^fim8osPe ' ut