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"No, eneit, no. It does not come to me," he soothed as they rode up the steep path to the main gate. "The blood you sense is very old. The threat is only against those who come with hatred and evil in their hearts. There has been peace and love in Roselynde for near a hundred years." |
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She said no more, but her eyes were very large and her breath quicker than natural as they fronted the drawbridge. Ymlladd stepped on it without hesitation, but Rhiannon's graceful mare, Cyflym, balked and danced. Simon backed his horse and held out his hand. He knew the bridge was sound and steady as rock. It could only be Rhiannon's fear that caused her mount to refuse. |
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"Inside there is love," Simon said. |
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Rhiannon took his hand and they went forward together. At the first shouts of happy greeting from the men on the walls and the watchtowers, the tension in her fingers began to relax. She could not understand what they said, for they shouted in English and Simon replied in that tongue, but no one could mistake the tone. It was in the servants' voices too, in the grooms who came to take the horses, in the men and women who broke away from their tasks to welcome home a son of the house with whom they were not afraid to laugh and joke. |
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By the time Simon had greeted Knud, who had taken Beorn's place as master-at-arms when the old man died, Rhiannon was standing at ease, looking curiously around at the activities of the inner bailey. It was not really so much different from the keeps in Wales. Here, too, the kitchens crouched against the wall of the inner keep close by the door of the forebuilding. She had noticed the grooms leading the horses around to the back, so there must be some stables there, although the pens for the cattle and other stables had been in the outer bailey. Off to the side, opposite the kitchen shed, were other sheds plainly used for storage. |
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