By the time he finished, tears were pouring down my cheeks. ‘Oh, Myfanwy!’ I whispered. ‘What happened to her, Lewys, do you know?’

He hung his head, perhaps attempting to hide his own tears from me. ‘I know nothing more, Mistress Jane. But I think I would have heard if she had been taken or harmed. She will come back to Pembroke somehow, to her son, that is what I believe.’

‘If she is mad with grief, who knows? We can only hope.’ I wiped my tears on my sleeve. ‘You are the first to return, Lewys. Will Lord Jasper come back here, do you think?’

‘For certain.’ The bard nodded emphatically. ‘He will come back to you and to his children.’

I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to calm the thudding in my head. ‘I pray you are right but I would not want him to risk it if the Yorkists are hot on his heels. If they cut off Owen’s head, why should they not take Jasper’s as well?’

Lewys made no comment but his silence acknowledged the truth of my words. Then servants arrived with the food and he fell on it like a starving animal, causing me to wonder how Jasper and his retinue were faring in the winter wilderness of the mountains.

27

Jasper

Tŷ Cerrig, Gwynedd

BEFORE WE REACHED GWYNEDD we learned from a well-informed driver of a mule-train that Edward of York had turned to march east at double speed to meet a fresh challenge, recalling his troops from our pursuit, for it seemed that our cause might not be entirely lost.

Queen Marguerite had made a successful rendezvous with the Duke of Somerset and together they had marched their armies towards London, prompting the Earl of Warwick to bring King Henry out of the Tower to confront them, doubtless hoping that the queen’s men would baulk at attacking the king’s person, although that had not stopped them at St Albans six years before. Ironically this confrontation also occurred near St Albans but this time Warwick had been caught with his guns facing in the wrong direction, forcing him under fire to abandon the battle and hasten west with his army to meet Edward of York. In doing so he inadvertently left King Henry behind, who sat calmly waiting under a tree for his queen to collect him. Although I was heartily relieved to hear that my brother was once more with his family and not languishing alone in the Tower, I could not help laughing when I heard this story, imagining Edward’s anger. The king he thought he had dethroned was once more at large with an army and I greatly enjoyed the thought of Warwick’s embarrassment at losing him.