Free The Shining City by Kate Forsyth Page B

marveling. “Damn! He‟ll be out for her blood. And Dai-dein too. Och, she‟s gallows apples for sure.”
    “Owein!” Olwynne said softly. Obligingly he shut up and she went over to Lewen, tentatively putting her hand on his shoulder. “Tell me what happened,” she said.
    He would not look at her. “Connor was captured by the herd, riding through their territory.
    Rhiannon helped him escape, but he was captured again by Rhiannon‟s mother, who is First-Horn o‟ the herd. He tried to fight free. Rhiannon shot him to save her mother.”
    “Did they no‟ ken he rode in the Rìgh‟s service?” Owein demanded, scandalized.
    “Dubhglais is deep in the mountains, a million miles from anywhere,” Lewen said wearily. “The satyricorns are wild there. They ken naught.”
    “Ignorance is no defense,” Owein said. “The satyricorns have signed the Pact o‟ Peace. They had no right to hinder a Yeoman, let alone murder him!”
    “I doubt these satyricorns have even heard o‟ the Pact o‟ Peace,” Lewen said. He shrugged off Olwynne‟s hand and went to sit on his bed again, his face in his hands. “Anyway, none o‟ it should matter,” he said in a muffled tone. “Rhiannon is naught but a lass, and she shot him to save her mother‟s life. Besides, she‟s shown herself brave and true. She rescued Roden on the way here and saved his life. That has to count for something.”
    “Ye mean Nina‟s little boy?” Olwynne asked. “The heir to Caerlaverock?”
    “Aye. He was kidnapped, and Rhiannon rescued him. Nina and Iven promised they would speak up for her, tell the Rìgh what happened. And now she‟s rotting in some foul dungeon and Laird Malvern is being waited on hand and foot in one o‟ the tower‟s best rooms!”
    “Who?” Owein and Olwynne asked together.
    “The laird o‟ Fettercairn,” Lewen said impatiently. “He was the one who kidnapped Roden. He‟s a murderer and a traitor and a foul necromancer, and if it wasna for Rhiannon, we‟d all probably be dead!”
    Even Olwynne was beginning to be bewildered by the complexity of Lewen‟s tale. “I‟m sure it willna be for long,” she said hesitantly. “ Dai-dein will get to the bottom o‟ it all, I‟m sure.”
    “But she hates being confined,” Lewen said miserably. “When I first found her, she‟d never even seen a house afore. It‟ll send her half-mad, being locked up in a dungeon.”
    “I‟m sure it‟s no‟ that bad,” Olwynne said.

    “Ye didna see the captain‟s face,” Lewen retorted.
    “He was pretty angry,” Owein agreed.
    “I‟ve got to get in to see her!” Lewen cried, lifting his face to look at his friends. “I‟ve got to reassure her. Please, ye‟ve got to help me.”
    “O‟ course we‟ll help ye,” Owein cried. “I‟ll bang the guard on the head and we‟ll steal his keys and then—”
    “Dinna be such a gawk!” Olwynne said crossly. “We canna do that.”
    “At least I‟m no‟ a namby-pamby muffin-faced prig,” Owein retorted, firing up.
    “Ye‟ll get yourself and Lewen into dreadful trouble and only make things worse for this Rhiannon girl,” Olwynne said.
    “Aye, happen we‟d be best slipping something into his wine,” Owein said thoughtfully. “Then he‟ll just think he dozed off.”
    “And the captain will order him put to the lash,” Olwynne snapped back. “That hardly seems fair.”
    “Well, got any better ideas?” her twin jeered.
    “Aye, I do, as a matter o‟ fact.”
    “O‟ course ye do, Miss Perfect,” Owein muttered.
    “Let‟s just go and see Dai ,” Olwynne said. “Surely if we just explain to him how important it is that Lewen gets in to see her . . .” Her voice faltered. She could not look at Lewen as she asked,
    “Just why is it so important, Lewen? I mean, Dai-dein will be in conference. . . .”
    Lewen raised his face from his hands and gazed at Olwynne imploringly. If anyone could intercede with the Rìgh, it was Olwynne, for Lachlan adored his only