Here Be Dragons - 1 Read Online Free PDF

So does Adda. I'D1 so homesick, Mama. I miss Rhys and Ednyved and Uncle Gruffyd^ and"
"Ah, Llewelyn ..." Marared's eyes filled with tears.
"Please, Mama, can we not go back where we belong? Can we not go home?"
"You will, lad," Morgan said quietly. "I promise you that the daj shall come when you will."
Llewelyn stared up at him and then turned his head aside on "1 pillow. "You mean we have to stay here for now."
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"Yes . ror now." Morgan stepped back, stood looking down at boy- "But y°u wi^ *>° kack to Wales, Llewelyn. You will go home."
SHROPSHIRE, ENGLAND
]unc 1187
Unri
J.HINK you, then, that there'll be war?"
Hugh Corbet hesitated. It was no easy thing to be a younger brother in an age in which all passed by law to a man's eldest son. But Hugh had been luckier than most. His was a family of considerable wealth; the Corbets held lands not only in Shropshire, but in Normandy, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Wales.
Robert Corbet had inherited the barony of Caus, but there were manors to spare for Hugh, too, and his relationship with his brother was blessedly free of the poisonous jealousy that bred such strife between a fortunate firstborn and his landless siblings.
Much of the time they were in harmony, working in tandem for the common Corbet good. But in this they were at odds. In this they were a House divided, much like the rival royal masters they served, for Robert's loyalties lay with
Richard, King Henry's eldest son and heir, and Hugh's sympathies went out to the beleaguered, aging King.
Hugh was silent, considering Robert's grim query. "I would hope to God it will not come to that, Rob," he said at last. "Father against sonthat is the ugliest of all feuds; it goes against the natural order of things."
nev R hbert t0°k thiS 3S a Veiled Jab at Richard'the unfilial son. "It would as IT £ave,,come to this if Henry would but formally recognize Richard defend"8^ had to concede the truth of that. Finding himself forced to the indefensible, he at once took the offensive, saying sharply,
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"Be that as it may, Richard had no right to ally himself with the King
Francenot against his own sire!"
"You know damned well why he felt that need, Hugh! With the' brother Geoffrey dead in France last summer, that does leave but Richard and John in line for the succession, and Richard knows all ton well that his father loves him not.
He knows, too, that Henry has eve favored John. What else can Richard think, except that his father means to raise John up to the place that is rightfully his?"
"And a right fine fear that be," Hugh scoffed, "one to cover a multitude of sins. You know fully as well as I that Henry could anoint John as the very
King of Heaven for all it'd avail him. The lords of this realm would never countenance so flagrant a breach of the laws of inheritance Nor can you doubt the outcome. Whatever John might be given, he'd not long holdnot against
Richard. No, Rob, if that be the balm Richard uses to soothe his conscience, he is a man much in need of absolution."
Robert's face was mottled, splotched with resentful red. "Richard is to be our next King, should God so will it, and I'll not have you speak ill of him in my hearing."
Hugh sighed. By now he could recite the dialogue verbatim for these acrimonious exchanges. Rob was as blind as a barn owl in a noonbright sun, dazzled by Richard's celebrated skill with a sword. Mayhap it was true that he was the finest soldier in Christendom, but if he had in him the makings of a good King, Hugh had yet to see any signs of it. Like as not, he'd pawn London itself to raise the gold he needed for his foreign wars. And John . . . would
John be any better? Hugh thought not.
He came abruptly to his feet. Why offend Rob and unsettle himself? To what end? Let it lie.
They were sequestered in the uppermost chamber of the castle keep, alone but for a bored page and a dozing mastiff, Robert's faithful shadow. The window was unshuttered; in winter it would be screened with oiled and