< previous page page_428 next page >

Page 428
not common for a woman to act the spybut it is not impossible. You had better explain yourself more clearly."
"There is nothing to explain," Rhiannon insisted, but she entered the tent without protest when he gestured her inside.
He dropped the tent flap, but there was no reason to tie it. His eyes were on Rhiannon, whose beauty, although a little marred by dust and fatigue, was quite striking in the better light provided by candles. Thus, he did not notice the gray shadow that slipped under the flap and then melted away under his bed. Rhiannon's eyes flicked to it and away. The sidelong glance was unintentionally provocative, for she had just been replying to the question of why her men had laughed.
De Guisnes seized on that, called it a lie, and insisted on an answer. But he neither wanted nor expected one; he simply needed an excuse to punish Rhiannon. The questioning continued for almost half an hour, with Rhiannon pretending to weep but refusing to answer "for shame." Then, feeling he had justification in case the Pwyll she had mentioned was more important than he thought, he began to threaten her. Rhiannon realized she would have to offer something new, and admitted with more false tears that her husband had put her away for being barren. The men he had sent to escort her back to her father's house had laughed at her in mockery.
This was better than de Guisnes had expected. The name Pwyll of Dyfedd had seemed familiar to himwhich was not surprising since the story of Pwyll was one of the commonest legends in Walesand de Guisnes had felt a touch of uneasiness about raping the wife of a man who might be important. But if he had rejected the woman already, there could be no harm in it. De Guisnes cocked his head as some faint sounds in the distance caught his ear. Then, someone closer

 
< previous page page_428 next page >