Anion

The stockman Anion, at the end of the table, said never a word, but kept his eyes lowered to his trencher, his hip pressed against the crutch he was almost ready to discard, as though he needed a firm contact with the reality of his situation, and the reassurance of a weapon to hand in the sudden presence of his enemy.

A Caregiver's Homage To The Very Old 2010

'I left them snoring,' said Anion, turning the full stare of his deep, set eyes on Cadfael.

A Caregiver's Homage To The Very Old 2010

Anion had got to know him, the times he came into town, they were on good terms.

A Caregiver's Homage To The Very Old 2010

And the man who had made away with him so lightly lay now barely twenty yards away, and at the very sound of his name every drop of blood in Anion ran Welsh, and cried out to him of the sacred duty of galanas, the blood feud for his brother.

A Caregiver's Homage To The Very Old 2010

'I tend and care for them and mean them well,' said Anion, 'and they know it.'

A Caregiver's Homage To The Very Old 2010

One of the ponies the lay servants used as packhorses had fallen lame and was in need of Cadfael's rubbing oils to treat the strain, and he brought the flask himself to the stable, yard, as good as certain he would find Anion there.

A Caregiver's Homage To The Very Old 2010

'But now that we know what befell my pin,' said Einon, 'and are satisfied Anion did not murder, does not that leave that boy again in danger of being branded for the killing of a sick and sleeping man?

A Caregiver's Homage To The Very Old 2010

A good worker and honest, Anion, but a surly fellow and silent, and never forgets a benefit nor an injury. '

A Caregiver's Homage To The Very Old 2010

'My lord,' said Cadfael, watching Owain's enquiring eye, 'there was another heard to enter and leave that room, some little while later, someone who went not haltingly, as Anion did, but lightly.

A Caregiver's Homage To The Very Old 2010

Cadfael looked back from Anion ap Griffri to Griffri ap Llywarch, to whose drear and childless middle age this unlooked, for son had suddenly supplied a warm heart of hope and content.

A Caregiver's Homage To The Very Old 2010