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Page 151
He did not bother to answer that, turning his attention first to cutting the thongs that bound her hands and feet, then to taking her in his arms and holding her so tight that she gasped in pain. Indeed, although her arms were too numb to move, Rhiannon pressed herself as tight as she could into his broad chest. After a little while, however, she lifted her head and smiled. Simon was shaking. Apparently he had been more frightened than she.
"Simon, I am all right," she assured him. "I was not much hurt, except for a few bruises from falling. But how did you find me?"
He began to tell her how Math had wakened him and he had grown uneasy, thinking she was away too long.
"You were right. Mallt asked me to take her into the forest to gather herbs. I should have been back soon after sunrise." Her eyes flashed. "Wait until I get back to Aber. I will teach that Mallt to connive with ransom-seeking abductors. I"
"She is dead," Simon said, "and Madog . . . oh, good God, I forgot the man completely."
He got to his feet, lifting Rhiannon in his arms as he rose, but when he got back to the fallen tree, Madog was nowhere to be seen. On the way he had told Rhiannon briefly what had happened.
"But why?" she asked as he set her down. "It is quite mad. Surely he did not think he could force me to marry him"
"He did not want marriage," Simon said, examining the ground near where Madog had been lying. "He believed you had cursed him. He was the one who made Ymlladd uneasy when we were at the cove yesterday."
"Oh, dear Lord," Rhiannon sighed, "it is all my fault! How sorry I am, and how useless it is to be sorry. Mallt also thought I was a witch because of my stupid habit of talking to Math. She heard some silly words I said in

 
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