Here Be Dragons - 1 Sharon Penman (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📖

consciencestricken cousins Madog and Hywel. They averted their eyes, like men too polite to look upon another's nakedness, offering him the lacerating balm of their pity, and Llewelyn's resolve faltered. For several harrowing seconds he found himself overwhelmed by emotions he'd never before experienceda physical fear of entrapment and a shattering sense of his own helplessness.Dismounting was an act of utter faith, the most difficult one of his life.With an intense effort of will, he blotted out the audience, focused his thoughts solely upon the man in the Abbot's oaken chair. And then he walked forward, knelt, and handed John his sword."I submit myself unto the King's will," he said, and John smiled."Surely you can do better than that. Not even the Lord God will forgive a man unless he first confesses his sins and then repents of them."Llewelyn had known John might demand this of himhad known, too, that he could never bring himself to do it. His mind raced, but he could think of no way to satisfy John while still salvaging his pride, and at last he said, with the candor born of desperation, "What would be the point? No matter how convincingly contrite I was, you'd not believe me, would know I did not speak from the heart. Would it not make more sense to speak of hard, irrefutable facts, of power? You've won. I admit your victory, acknowledge your authority as my King and liege lord. That I am here proves it beyond question, as does my willingness to do homage, to swear oath of allegiance as your vassal lord and liegeman.John laughed. "To put it in your own words, what would be the point? Twice in the past seven years you've done homage to me, hav you not? So all you've proven beyond question is that a Welshman sworn oath is worthless."Llewelyn was unnerved by the intensity of his rage, by the re'a tion of how close he was to losing control of his temper, his tongue- ' stared at John, his ears filled with the derisive laughter of John s

343j-ers his heart filled with such hatred that he knew it must show on mkt^ u face for all to see."Should I gather from your silence that you're loath to ask for» jitfe Q, I tion? Surely your pride is not as tender as all that. It did allowin 111%^ »fter all, to send a woman to plead for you!"Llewelyn was livid. "And would your brother Richard haven f'^j.j iHoned you at Lisieux if not for the intervention of your lady moth*' *i^gv nThis time the laughter came from behind Llewelyn, came front* itm^-own men. He saw John's face twitch, saw he'd drawn blood. JoruM W

342343imaginative reprisal. For his was to be a very public humiliation, to be n diers, his heart filled with such hatred that he knew it must show on his less a spectacle than a bearbaiting or the hanging of a notorious high° ,'e for all to see wavman His surrender was not to be made in the abbey hall, nor in On "Should Igather from your silence that you re loath to ask for abso-of the English command tents, but out in the open in the glare of hil' ,ution?Surely your pride is not as tender as all that. It did allow you, noon, witnessed by all of John's troops and those of his Welsh allies8 Derail, to send a woman to plead for you!"' J , ,i_ i 11 _ i . d»lv-. ___ ,.,^c.liiriHAnri iA7r»iilH wniir Vit-r»fVi£»i- Pi/^V»r»*-/4 U~»T7«n~.~noon, witnessed by all of John's troops and those ot his Welsh all' One of theAbbot's high-backed chairs had been brought o John; to his right were gathered the lords of his court, to his 1 ft L' Welsh Princes. Llewelyn could count his enemies like rosary b H* Gwenwynwyn, Maelgwn, Rhys Gryg, Thomas Corbet. Men who'd 1 * hungered for this day, men who watched him with mocking eyesHsmiles like unsheathed daggers. Even worse were the faces of h' friends, his stepfather, Stephen and Baldwin de Hodnet, his conscienc stricken cousinsMadog and Hywel. They averted their eyes, like me too polite to look upon another's nakedness, offering him the laceratine balm of their pity, andLlewelyn's resolve faltered. For several harrowing seconds he found himself overwhelmed by emotions he'd never before experienceda physical fear of entrapment and a shattering sense of his own helplessness.Dismounting was an act of utter faith, the most difficult one of his life.With an intense effort of will, he blotted out the audience, focused his thoughts solely upon the man in the Abbot's oaken chair. And then he walked forward, knelt, and handed John his sword."I submit myself unto the King's will," he said, and John smiled."Surely you can do better than that. Not even the Lord God will forgive a man unless he first confesses his sins and then repents of them."Llewelyn had known John might demand this of himhad known, too, that he could never bring himself to do it. His mind raced, but he could think of no way to satisfy John while still salvaging his pride, and at last he said, with the candor born of desperation, "What would be the point? No matter how convincingly contrite I was, you'd not believe me, would know I did not speak from the heart. Would it not make more sense to speak of hard, irrefutable facts, of power? You've won. I adnu your victory, acknowledge your authority as my King and liege lo That I am here proves it beyond question, as does my willingness to o homage, to swear oath of allegiance as your vassal lord and'ie§e ^John laughed. "To put it in your own words, what would be point? Twice in the past seven years you've done homage to m / you not? So all you've proven beyond