A Fatal Word

Sword Hilt

A horn sounded to announce their arrival at the burned farm. It snapped Thom away from his memories but would not save him from seeing the king's reaction to the news from the manor.

He dismounted and gave his horse to a trooper, then walked to find the king and his cousin. Thom had seen Lord Evan in a murderous rage once, when Rhys ap Dylan objected to the edling taking the throne. True, Rhys was related to the deceased king but the money he paid to a war-brother to fight a challenge for him boded ill for his future as a king. His “supporters” had been paid and they all had reputations for dirty dealing. To make it worse Rhys would never be accepted as a war-brother; he couldn’t fight.

Thom had no use for the man and stood in the Great Hall as Rhys' champion, Brynmor, announced the challenge, squinting through lank hair as he shouted about Evan’s "inabilities." Then a fatal word -- "whoreson" -- was declaimed with volume.

Everyone gasped; the insult included both son and mother. Alys the Mild had been a beautiful, loving queen. The edling leapt from the dais to the floor and used his sword to slice across Brynmor’s mouth. Then, as the man screamed, Evan thrust the blade into the throat, a second to the liver and then the thigh, where he severed an artery.

Brynmor collapsed as blood poured out of his body; his face went gray. His eyes met Evan’s.

"Who’s the whoreson now?" Evan said as he slashed through the man’s breeches and cut off his man root.

The new king had barely broken a sweat and calmly watched as Brynmor died. Then he walked to Rhys and wiped his sword clean on the man’s tunic.

"After you and your friends drag out your "champion" you will return to clean the mess he made. Then go home.”

Rhys had gone completely white. "But it's a fierce blizzard outside, we could--"

"Die? I can only hope."

Then Lords Evan, Gareth and Owen left the Hall.

It took a bit of time for everyone to recover and begin to talk, much less move.

Thom heaved a sigh of relief as he saw the cousins talking at the edge of the burned farm. His news could never compete with the night Evan became king.

Note from Lynne: This site will soon become interactive. It will be possible to read alternate versions of scenes and open a glossary that defines Welsh words or customs. So, if you don't know what an edling is…when you tap the word, it will tell you. The photo above shows the hilt of a sword made infamous by Norse raiders. But to know more about that, you will need to wait for the interactive site to become reality. Until then, ending on an anomalous note…"Live Long and Prosper."