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Day Four
Math
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Ralph chose that moment to let out a huge yawn, but Math was feeling more awake than before. They were on the hunt. He had understood for a while that it was this part of the job that kept Rhys interested. Math had experienced a bit of the excitement himself at Vale Royal Abbey, particularly when he’d gone about on his own, poking his nose where some might have said it didn’t belong. At first Rhys hadn’t liked that, more because Math might have got himself into trouble than because he was usurping Rhys’s authority. The fact that he’d given Math this entire assignment all on his own showed the extent of his trust.
Gwrgenau took them into the market, wending his way among the many stalls. The places nearest to the festival were the most desirable, but Gwrgenau continued to stride along, passing stall after stall, until they were almost out of the market, at the far northeastern end. Once again, Math was made very conscious of his tunic emblazoned with the king’s crest. It wouldn’t do for anyone to see him amongst these stalls and wonder if his business here was personal.
They were on the margins of polite society. They wouldn’t find hair ribbons and soaps here. This area was host to questionable medical remedies, home-brewed alcohol, gambling dens, and, at the very edge, prostitutes.
Ralph hesitated too, prompting Math to wonder how worldly his friend really was. He had traveled. He served the king. His uncle was Justiciar of North Wales. But that didn’t mean he’d spent much time in the less savory corners of the earth any more than Math had.
“This woman we are seeking ... she’s a putain?” Ralph asked. And then, when Gwrgenau nodded, he came to a complete halt. “You can’t trust a word any of them say.”
Math nudged him forward. “We are the king’s men, on a quest for the king. We go where we must.”
With each step into this den of iniquity, Ralph’s eyes got a little wider. Gwrgenau, meanwhile, was paying their concerns no heed. Women called out to him from every side, and he grinned and waved as if there was nothing strange about him bringing two of the king’s men into their midst.
Finally, he stopped at a stall slightly less makeshift than those on either side. Each was basically a single room with curtains all around. Once the financial transaction was made, the prostitute and her latest customer would retire behind a pulled curtain for as long as the man had paid for. Men were coming and going unabashedly. Exchanging money for sex happened in Gwynedd, but just not in as organized a fashion as this, not even in the sea-trading towns of Llanfaes and Nefyn. There wasn’t a brothel in the whole of north Wales.
Or rather, there hadn’t been during Llywelyn’s reign. With so many foreign soldiers permanently stationed throughout the country, maybe there were now, despite King Edward’s similar views to Llywelyn’s on the matter. There was even talk within the court that the king was going to ban all prostitution from the city of London proper. He might not know this corner of the market existed.
Math decided then and there to leave it to Ralph to tell him, if he needed to be told at all.
“You want to talk to Mina.” Gwrgenau brought a dark-haired woman closer. She was past her prime, though that didn’t mean she was old. It was a hard life she was living, and she was swaying as if she had started early on the ale or one of the gut-rotting drinks, or maybe hadn’t stopped since last night.
That fact honestly made Math more sympathetic to her instead of less. None of these women would be here if they had any other choice of employment. Although his own work was different, and much more respected, he had sold himself to the king to survive. Maybe every single person had to sell themselves in some fashion or another. His soul was still his own, however, or at least that’s what he told himself. He feared most of these women had given up on theirs a long time ago.
That he felt for them didn’t mean he wanted to stay here any longer than needful. Ralph still looked as if he was about to bolt, so Math started right in. “Gwrgenau saw you with Steward Hugh before he died. Why were you talking to him?”
Mina simpered at him in a way she might have thought was attractive but turned Math’s stomach. “How much are you willing to pay for the answer?”
He didn’t want to pay, and he was certain that any answer she gave had an even chance of being a lie. Thus, he turned to Gwrgenau. “How much, Gwrgenau?”
“A farthing,” he said immediately, “and another if you think she’s told the truth.”
Mina pouted. “You’re no fun.”
“I saw you, Mina. And Steward Hugh is dead. If you don’t want them to think you killed him, you should tell them why you talked to him.”
Math wouldn’t have told her all this so abruptly, but Gwrgenau’s words had the desired effect. He had spoken loudly enough that others around them overheard too.
Mina didn’t feign ignorance. “I heard about that. I didn’t do it.”
“Someone did.” Math put a farthing into her hand. “What did you talk about?”
“What makes you think we talked?” She was back to simpering.
Internally, Math sighed at having to play along. “He wasn’t that man.”
He said it with such certainty that Mina gave up flirting. “He paid me to fetch him to someone else.”
“Another woman?” Ralph asked.
“No. Two men. Brothers. I didn’t know them.”
“Can you take me to them?”
“I’ll lose my trade!”
Math gave her another farthing.
She clenched her fist around it. “I don’t have to take you. They’ve been spending all their time either in the market or at the inn in the village, The Mare.”
They’d just come from there. Math wanted to throw up his hands in frustration. “I’ll need you to point them out.”
“No, you don’t.” She turned to Gwrgenau. “Tall, both of them, blond. One has a scar on his right cheek.”
Gwrgenau brightened. “I saw them. I know the people you’re talking about.”
“Good boy.” She patted his arm. “Gwrgenau knows everyone, you see, not just the horses.”
