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Page 242
"You are right so far as that goes," Simon was forced to admit, "but if the king makes peace with Richard, there would be no reason to attack Wales."
"A reason could be found it it would make the barons forget why Pembroke had rebelled in the first place. Perhaps you do not realize, Simon, that once the raiders are loose it is most difficult to recall them. When the army withdraws, they may well turn their attentions to the border farms as is their custom. Would this not be an excuse?"
Simon hissed angrily between his teeth. He had foreseen any number of results of the truce, but not this one. After a moment, however, he shrugged. "It would not work; at least, I do not believe it would. Richard will most likely demand that Winchester and Rivaulx and Seagrave be dismissed before"
"Before what?" Rhiannon interrupted. "You say Pembroke will have to be charged and cleared before a sitting of his peers. Then I suppose he would need to bring charges against Winchester and his friends. God knows how long that would take. Meanwhile, there is nothing to stop Winchester from convincing everyone that the most important business at hand is to curb the Welsh, since the king and his chief vassal are at peace. Is that impossible?"
Scowling, Simon was about to argue further, and then he saw the gleam of satisfaction and warning in Kicva's eyes. "I suppose it is not impossible," he said. "The Welsh and the Scots are often used as scapegoats. Agreed that there is raiding and that is a constant irritation, still it is often internal politics rather than any real fault in England's neighbors that begins a war."
"And even if it is not the first likelihood," Kicva put in, "Llewelyn does not wish to be caught unpre- pared. He would like to have an emissaryan unofficial emissarywho would plead his case."
First Simon felt betrayed. However, even as Kicva explained Llewelyn's notion that his daughter should

 
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