After a few minutes of argument, the leader said, “We’ll see
what’s cookin’ at t’crossroads first and come back to t’deer path after dinner
if we get nothin’ there.” They walked south out of sight. Again, Grainne worked
her head out of the bush and then stepped onto the road.
Gwilym followed her, stepping first onto the gravel drainage
ditch, then over the short stone wall and onto the paved road itself. The
roughly pentagonal paving stones were in good repair here. After crossing the
23 feet of road, he stepped over the short retaining wall. He smiled to
himself, remembering when Jac had asked him about the short walls that bordered
the Roman roads. “That wall is only a few inches high, Da? Are they to keep
ants off the roads?”
Gwilym had laughed when he replied, “That’s just the top of
a three-foot high wall, son. It keeps all the gravel and stone in that makes
the foundation for the road you see.”
They walked over the other drainage ditch and found the deer
path again on the other side of the road and saw where it wound into the woods.
They returned to the road.
They were crossing the Roman road near the top of a rise. The
roadway was visible for about 200 yards on either side of the deer path before
it dropped out of sight. The two made a hasty plan. They would go to the last
place visible from this point on each side to look for any traffic. When both
sides were clear, they would signal each other and then Grainne would whistle
to Bleddyn who would drive the first cart over the road and into the woods beyond.
Then he would return and do the same with the second cart and the younger boys.
Then the adults would return.
Everything worked well for the first transfer and Bleddyn
was back with his brothers in the second cart waiting for the next whistle.
Gwilym looked down the northern part of the road and saw nothing. He signaled
to Grainne who, instead of giving the all-clear signal and whistling, gave him
the signal to find cover, and then she dove into the undergrowth.
Gwilym looked around. The undergrowth here was tall but only
extended a foot off the road. He couldn’t hide within it and would be seen by a
mounted man if he hid behind it. The trees were short here and he couldn’t hide
behind any of their trunks.
He heard the hooves coming now, fast, from below the dip in
the road that Grainne had been watching. Gwilym ran into the woods and grasped
a low-hanging branch to swing himself up. Then he scrambled from branch to
branch, getting into the leaves. He noticed that his weight had started the
tree swaying. With a quick shift of his weight, he opposed the motion of the
tree and brought it nearly to a standstill. He held his breath and listened to
the horse approaching. It was a heavy horse, like the warhorses ridden by
knights. He prayed for the safety of his children, sitting unprotected in the
cart. The horse galloped by.
Gwilym descended and approached the road again. He saw that
Grainne was already out there, giving him the all-clear sign. He looked north
and saw nothing approaching. He also signaled all was clear and Grainne
whistled. He watched north and saw nothing. He looked back at the deer path,
seeing the cart crossing the road. He glanced back north. Another horse was approaching.
He looked back at the cart and saw it just crossing the road. He thought of
signaling to Bleddyn to hurry but realized that any signal could be
misinterpreted and could cause delay. There was nothing for it but to hope
Bleddyn made it. Bleddyn was already told to hurry so he had to trust him.
When Bleddyn was out of his sight but still not safe within
the woods, he signaled to Grainne that someone was approaching. He looked back
and saw the horseman drawing near. He had to make a decision. Hide himself and
hope that Bleddyn had gotten the carts to safety by the time the man reached
the deer path, or slow down the horseman to protect them. His mind raced through
the probabilities. He saw that this wasn’t a knight so he could take him by
surprise. Yet he didn’t look like an outlaw either and Gwilym didn’t want to
hurt a civilian. As someone unthreatening, he might think nothing of seeing a
cart on the deer path, though he might make mention of it at the crossroads. He
might not see the cart at all. He couldn’t just hail and delay him since Gwilym
was the one who was supposed to be hiding from sight.
The time to make the decision had arrived. Gwilym silently
pleaded for Bleddyn to hurry to safety and he ran to his tree again. This time
he took his time climbing up to avoid it swinging. He figured that this
horseman was minding his own business, not looking for them. He shouldn’t be
looking to the sides for anything but his eye was more likely to be caught by a
swaying tree than by a man’s unmoving body halfway up one.
As the rider passed by, not noticing Gwilym, he saw it was a
cleric. He held his breath as the cleric passed the deer path. The man turned
his head to the right, looking right where Bleddyn would be if he wasn’t hidden
yet. But he didn’t slow down and continued riding towards the crossroads.
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