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Abergavenny, which would put him sixteen miles from Monmoutha royal strongholdand twenty-four miles from Herefordanother keep and town loyal to Henryor, at least, not openly rebels. Both passages were easy, a day's travel or less for Pembroke's troops so that they could counter any move westward the king might make. |
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Llewelyn assured Pembroke there was no need for him to leave to join his army yet. Welsh scouts would bring in news of Henry's movements every few hours. Although he would not admit that he did not trust the wily Welsh leader, Richard could not eliminate all his doubts. He found a solution to his dilemma by asking that Simon be in charge of the scouting parties. Despite the fact that Simon was Llewelyn's vassal, Richard was certain his dead brother's squire would do nothing to harm him. |
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It did not take much perception for Llewelyn to understand the request. He was mildly irritated again because he had wanted Simon to be at Builth when Rhiannon came. However, that was certainly not important enough to increase or confirm Pembroke's suspicions. Rhiannon would simply have to wait. She would be perfectly safe at Builth until this action was over. Llewelyn not only sent Simon out but asked Pembroke to give him his instructions, since only Pembroke knew how much warning he would need to join his men and get them in action. |
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Simon was delighted to go. He still knew nothing about Kicva's letter or Llewelyn's answer to it. In Llewelyn's opinion, to expect a reconciliation with one's love from moment to moment was no way to make that reconciliation proceed smoothly. Rhiannon would come; Kicva was never wrong, but whether she would come flashing down from the mountain like a bird or ride slowly over the roads with an escort and baggage, Llewelyn could not guess. He wanted Simon's mind on what he was doing, which was mixing with |
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