A lie.
Kevin de Lara didn’t lie.
But he had.
That, to him, was the failure he was wrestling with.
“Kevin,” Sean said. “Everything looks peaceful and the castle seems to be well-organized. How would you say your first few months have been?”
Kevin tore himself away from his tumultuous thoughts. “There has been nothing terrible of note,” he said, trying to present a steady front. “When I first arrived, a delegation of local warlords told me that I did not belong, but that’s the first and last time I saw them. It has been quiet ever since.”
Sean and Alexander were listening carefully. “Who were the warlords?” Sean asked.
“Two men,” Kevin said. “Aeron ap Gruffudd and Glynn ap Hywel. They are two of the more powerful warlords in this area and they made it very clear they did not want me here, but they took no action. It has been quite peaceful, actually.”
Sean nodded faintly, rubbing his chin as he looked at Alexander. Concerned glances passed between them. It was Alexander who finally spoke.
“We may as well get down to business,” Alexander said. “Clearly, our visit is unexpected but there is a reason for it. Frankly, I’m surprised to see that there has been no hostilities or uprising.”
Now they were coming to the crux of the visit. “Why?” Kevin asked. “Do you know something I should be aware of?”
Alexander nodded. “A Welsh warlord by the name of Phylip ap Bedo has lands that border Chris’,” he said. “Ap Bedo is an older man and some say he has royal blood in him, the blood of the Welsh princes of Gwent. In any case, he and Chris tolerate one another but they are not what you could call allies. Chris has a spy in ap Bedo’s ranks and the man told us that ap Bedo received a request for assistance from his cousin to the north because the man wants to purge an English dog.”
“Who is his cousin?
“Aeron ap Gruffudd.”
“Ah,” Kevin said, not particularly surprised to hear that. “And I am the English dog?”
Alexander nodded. “Ap Bedo has thousands of men, Kevin,” he said. “Though he doesn’t seem to be apt to help his cousin at this time, the threat is real should he choose to support ap Gruffudd.”
Aeron ap Gruffudd. The same man who believes Juliandra belongs to him.
Juliandra had mentioned that Aeron had a few hundred men, which made him a low threat. But if he had access to thousands, that would change the dynamics drastically. The situation was going from bad to worse and, suddenly, Kevin wasn’t feeling so relaxed. In fact, he was starting to feel damned edgy. He abruptly stood up, motioning to Sean and Alexander.
“Come with me,” he said so the others heard. “I’ve something to show you.”
Peter and Gareth started to rise, but Kevin waved them off.
“Stay,” he said. “We shall return shortly.”
The pair sat back down, turning to the first of the powerful pear cider that began to arrive, as Kevin took Sean and Alexander out of the hall. The keep was across the small inner yard and he led them straight into the dark, cool recesses.
His destination was his tower chamber, and he took them up the spiral stairs, up five stories, to the tower room that overlooked the entire world. Sean, a head taller than his brother, had some trouble maneuvering the narrow stairs and Alexander, who was about the same size as Sean, nearly knocked himself silly on a low beam. There was some grunting and cursing going on. But they made it, finally emerging into the chamber that Kevin spent a great deal of time in. All they had to see was the view from the windows south to realize why they’d been brought here.
They were quickly mesmerized.
“God’s Bones,” Sean muttered. “You can see all the way to the sea from here.”
Kevin looked out over his domain. “Almost,” he said. “I can see everything I need to see, for miles around.”
“Meaning you can see the approach of a Welsh army who may try to sneak up on you.”
Kevin nodded but he didn’t reply right away. He was still looking at the view, still trying to figure out what he was going to tell them. It occurred to him that the only thing he could tell them was the truth.
His guard began to come down.
“I am in trouble,” he finally said. “Deep and terrible trouble and I do not know what to do.”
Both Sean and Alexander looked at him. “I had a feeling something was going on,” Sean said. “You have this look about you, Kevin. I cannot put my finger on it, but there is something in your expression. What is wrong?”
Kevin looked at them, then. “God,” he hissed. “I do not even know where to start. This is my command and I thought I would be flawless in my execution, but I have already gotten myself into trouble and I do not know where to turn.”
Sean was genuinely concerned. “Tell me, Keev,” he said, using the term of endearment he used for his brother when they were children. “What has happened?”
Kevin took a deep breath, trying not to feel stupid for what he was about to say. He was about to confess his failings to the one man he hadn’t wanted to fail.
But here he was.
“When I first arrived here, I already told you that ap Gruffudd and ap Hywel were unwelcoming,” he said quietly. “I did not let it trouble me, at least, not at first. I was determined to be the best lord Wybren had ever seen. I started by setting up a series of toll booths on the roads in the area, charging tolls to travelers and donating half of the revenue to the church. It was my way of showing the people of this land that even though I was English, I was doing something good for them.”
Sean and Alexander nodded in approval. “That was excellent,” Sean said. “You established your benevolence at the outset.”
“I did,” Kevin said. “At least, I tried to. I have also brought law and order to this area and I hear supplicants every Tuesday. If a man is wrong, I do not care if he is English or Welsh. I shall punish him. It was my further effort to show those on my lands that I am a fair and wise lord.”
Sean and Alexander were waiting for something more to come forth, the reason why Kevin was in trouble, but so far they hadn’t heard anything to support that declaration.
“Again, that was an excellent move,” Sean said. “Your vassals will come to know you and know they can trust you.”
Kevin grunted and hung his head. “That is where I have made a mistake,” he said. “A few weeks ago, a man named Gethin ap Garreg was traveling on one of the roads. He is a well-known and wealthy merchant with a stall in Pool. The man wouldn’t pay the toll even after he was told where the money went, so my guards sent him back the way he’d come. He tried to go around the road and was captured. In the struggle to put the man on a horse for transport, he fell off and landed on his head. It killed him instantly.”
Sean and Alexander looked at each other, trying to gauge how bad it was to have a respected Welshman killed in English custody.
“It was an accident,” Alexander said. “If the man was fighting you, then it is his own fault for falling off a horse, I would say. Surely you can impress that upon the locals.”
Kevin nodded, but it was clear that he wasn’t assuaged in any way. “It was an accident,” he said. “The man’s death is bad enough, but what I did afterwards is why I am in trouble. His daughter, told that her father was in my custody, came to Wybren to pay the toll for her father’s release.”