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Page 78
could lift his arm, Walter found himself so angry because he would not be allowed to rest that new strength flowed through him. There was a grinding pain in his left shoulder and a sharp agony in his knee, but that only made him angrier, and he struck and struck again at those who denied him rest and freedom.

When Walter woke, he felt the softness of a real bed under him. This left him very puzzled, and he considered the matter before he opened his eyes. He had not slept in a real bed since he had joined Richard, a natural result of being one of the earl's less important adherents. Then he must be a prisoner, Walter thought. But before he realized how unlikely it was that a prisoner should be provided with such luxury, he groaned and opened his eyes.
"Did the earl escape?" Walter asked of the face hanging over him. And then he recognized the face and cried, "Dai! What do you do here?"
"Attend you, my lord. Yes, of course the earl escaped. Escaped? Was he in danger of being taken?"
By this time it had occurred to Walter that Dai had not followed him into captivity. Indeed, Dai could not have known Walter had been captured, because the master-at-arms had been sent with Walter's troop into the town of Monmouth. Walter had not wanted to deprive the men of whatever chance of loot was available.
Now he tried to sit up and groaned again, every bone and muscle crying out with pain. Walter could not remember aching so excruciatingly since his early years as a squire, when his big body, combined with great swiftness, had made him overconfident and boastfula condition his master had cured by using him as a fencing partner.
Dai then lent a hand, and Walter found himself sitting upright, the sharper pangs of discomfort subsiding to a dull overall malaise. Walter stated dazedly around, still not certain where he was. Dai began to look concerned.
"Are you hurt, lord?" he asked.
Walter gaped at him. There was no part of him that did not hurtexcept his head. Then he understood what Dai meant. "No, but I feel as if I had been soundly beaten from neck to toe." He glanced round the chamber again. "Where am I?"
"In Abergavenny keep," Dai replied, looking more wor-

 
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