Among the possessions of Sir Esther is a book of worn leather containing amateurishly bound pages, telling of the regular additions over the years. The cover is well-cared for. Yet, each leaf of paper is tear-stained which has marred the generally neat and careful script of the Lady of Letters.
These are the last farewells of Esther to her family, friends, and acquaintances. The short letters grieve for their loss and speak to the personal pain and misery of their author, Esther the Mourner.
To the memory of Argle, my beloved sister-in-law,
Our household changed for the better that blessed day you married into our family. With your quiet, warming presence, our manor was full of stories and wonderment. A sweet folktale to chase away tears, a cautionary tale to scare disobedient children, or a wise parable for us lost adults. The loss of my brother to war left a deep, paralysing scar in both our hearts. But together we shared our grief through night after night of tears. Together, you gave me the strength to carry on and come to peace with our collective loss.
But now you have been snatched away from me, from Idmiston, from all who you would have touched with your love. I have not felt such pain and utter, utter misery since the day news arrived of Percival's passing. Why, why must misfortune befall good, kind souls? For now, I take comfort in that you and your beloved can finally rest and finally be together.
In the confidence of this journal, I share with you my darkest worry. In the evenings, as I lay tear-ridden in bed I wonder... if I hadn't made that deal in the Forest Sauvage, to invite sorrows onto me in exchange for Nimue's protection... would you still be here today?
With great, grieving love,
Esther
* * *
To the memory of Sir Brietta, “Mountain Lady”...
Out of our entire family of knights, you were always the favourite aunt of my dear Nimue. She called you Mountain Lady and in the secrecy of my diary I confess that I thought it appropriate for years. I thought you a brutish, cold, uncivilized individual. I thought you uncaring, wishing for nothing more than to cavort with your beloved faeries rather than face the difficulties of the world.
I have never been so wrong; so deeply ashamed of my pre-judgement. You are a great, inexorable mother bear; quiet, introspective, and slow to rouse. But when others threatened your beliefs and loved ones, you were unstoppable and fought for your righteous cause. Sir Brietta, you were decisive, brave, and strong. The heart of a lion tempered by a heart of gold.
Yet just when my eyes were opened to your courage and nobility, just when we opened up to each other with loving respect, you are snatched away. No. That sentiment does not do your actions justice. You would want us to celebrate your legacy - paying the ultimate price for your loved ones and for the future of Logres.
They say that the mountain does not move. But you, the mountain, have moved me. Without your firm foundation, I don’t know how I can find the strength to carry on. You wished me to be your anchor. But with your loss, I too am now cast adrift.
Your little bear-cub,
Esther
Wednesday 18 December 2013
499 AD, Part Two: The King of Sauvage
In the middle of the Forest Sauvage, there was a reunion. Sir Esther had come to find her comrades-in-arms, to tell them of the fall of Salisbury to the Saxons. She told them of what had befallen: how Sir Brastias and Lady Ellen had perished, and how Lady Jenna had led an exodus to Amesbury. There, the Saxons had pursued them, led by Prince Cynric and the Redcap instigator. Saint Gwiona had gone forward to confront them. Sir Esther had feared for her lady's life (remembering tales of how Archbishop Hywel had died eleven years earlier), but Prince Cynric had been nervous about attacking a house of God, and Gwiona used this - unsettling the Prince by meeting his threats with serenity, and then calmly pointing out the retribution that God would visit upon those who would despoil his churches. She then presented her cross to the Redcap, and its burning purity repelled him. Prince Cynric withdrew his force, and Lady Jenna and the other refugees were able to escape - escorted by Sir George, they went north to Cameliard, where Sir Esther's friend King Leodegrance lived.
Sir Esther herself had been sent to find Sir Bleddyn, Sir Brietta and Sir Helbur, and to bring them to Cameliard. However, Sir Brietta was not willing to abandon her quest to find her missing nephew, Bert. With Merlin's aid, the path to the heart of the forest lay open at last, and there may not be another chance! The knights argued about what they should do, but eventually decided to aid Sir Brietta. The four knights continued deeper into the forest. The path seemed to turn back upon them, to go in circles, but the travellers knew that it was unerringly leading them into the heart of the strangeness of Sauvage. They soon came to Towchester, a town which seemed altogether too clean, too nice. The knights responded with paranoid suspicion - Sir Brietta destroying the food that was offered to them, and Sir Bleddyn all but assaulting a peasant girl who tried to give him wildflowers! Sir Brietta felt like discovering what strangeness was responsible for this entirely pleasant town, and Sir Esther wished to relax and enjoy the serenity of Towchester, but the group decided to swiftly press onwards.
After some time - which may have been minutes, or may have been months - the twisted trees suddenly stopped. Brilliant sunlight, blocked by the murky canopy, flooded the glade ahead. The knights entered, and their eyes beheld a strange vista: an immense field, where workers toiled to harvest the heads of multi-coloured flowers, which became crowds of brilliant and iridescent butterflies. At the heart of the field was a castle, tall and proud and white, of a style alien to mortal eyes and made of a metal unknown to humanity. Sir Esther wished to leave the path, to look at the beauty of the butterflies. Sir Brietta stopped her: the huge pagan woman was on the verge of losing herself to the fey sensations all about her, and needed Sir Esther to be her 'anchor'.
The knights continued towards the castle, and two riders emerged from the castle: one so bright that he could not be looked at directly; the other so dark that he seemed to drain the colour from all around him. Sir Sun and Sir Moon challenged the mortals: they should not be here! The knights of Salisbury explained that they had come to see the King of Sauvage, and were led into the castle by their fey escorts. The castle's paths twisted and turned amongst themselves, with the knights feeling as though they were walking upon the walls or the ceiling at times! They came to a great feasting hall, empty save for three courtiers: a handsome knight, a beautiful lady, and an ugly dwarf. Each of the three had a challenge for the mortals to overcome; otherwise they would have to leave Faerie and be unable to seek to return until a year and a day had passed.
The dwarf challenged Sir Bleddyn to a game of chess, where the pieces seemed not to stay still upon a board that bent behind the eye; the cunning Sir Bleddyn still managed to win. Sir Brietta went hawking with the knight. She had to pick a bird, representing a virtue that she would hunt with. Thanks to the Allegorical Zoo, she knew that the Eagle was the bird of Justice, and that Justice was what she sought here in Faerie. She was easily able to bring down prey, and pass the knight's challenge. Sir Esther had to demonstrate her courtesy to the Lady. Being an extremely polite and unaggressive woman, this challenge was simplicity itself for her.
With the three challenges passed, the four knights were taken to see King Madog, the lord of the Forest Sauvage. He was an exceedingly repulsive man, clad in the finest of silks and furs. For finding their way to him, he was prepared to offer a boon to the four knights, though he urged them to choose wisely. Sir Helbur was offered knowledge of Prince Madoc's lost child, which Sir Helbur rejected - after they spoke for a time, the King realised that what Sir Helbur needed was self-confidence. The King gave him a potion to drink which contained the memories of Sir Arnulf: everything that he had ever thought about Helbur; every time Helbur had been useful; how he thought of Helbur as his son. Sir Bleddyn initially refused any gift, which offended the King. Eventually, the King offered him an army upon his return to the mortal world, such as would strike fear into any heart and bring destruction upon his enemies. However, the King cautioned him that he might not be able to control it, and that it would not bring him happiness.
Sir Esther sought, rather than a boon, a pact with the faeries. She was troubled by the strife of the last few years, and so her wish was that her adopted child Nimue should be safe and happy. She wished that the Lady of the Lake, the faerie spirit that watched over Merlin, should protect Nimue as well. Such a deal would require Sir Esther to make a sacrifice in turn. She offered her own happiness, to protect Nimue's happiness. The King of Sauvage agreed: a life of sadness for Sir Esther, in exchange for a life of happiness for Nimue.
Finally, Sir Brietta asked for her boon: the return of her stolen nephew and his dog, the Questing Beast. The King of Sauvage was troubled by how the exchange was not an equal one, and summoned the Mother for arbitration. The Mother, who had given birth to the Nuckulavee that Sir Aeronwy slew and the Redcap that now plagued Salisbury, and who had stolen young Cuthbert, appeared in the form of Sir Brietta's own mother. But she attacked Sir Brietta with her own fears and insecurities, that she was never as good as her sister Sir Aeronwy and was a disappointment to her friends and her family. Sir Brietta's companions stepped forward to her defence, and turned aside her arguments. She said that the Questing Beast had come to faerie voluntarily and therefore the exchange was equitable; Sir Helbur argued that this did not change that it was unbalanced and unjust. The Mother said that Cuthbert was not her child, and that she could not even name his father; Sir Esther said that it was not blood but love which was important. Finally, the mother said that it was not Sir Brietta's quest, but Sir Aeronwy's, whom Sir Brietta did not even like; Sir Bleddyn retorted that nevertheless families had to work together.
With her excuses torn down about her, the Mother led Sir Brietta alone into the heart of faerie: the Lake of Death, from whence Merlin had drawn Excalibur and where Sir Aeronwy had slain the Nuckulavee. There, Cuthbert and the Questing Beast awaited Sir Brietta: but they had themselves become the Nuckulavee, and would never return to Sir Brietta. The Mother cursed the pagan woman, and hissed that she hated mortals, and would never consent to the exchange being reversed, no matter what the King of Sauvage said. Sir Brietta ignored her, and began talking to the Nuckulavee. She threw a stick, and saw the faerie creature's horse instinctively react. She began to sing a lullaby for Cuthbert, and to dance along, and saw the Nuckulavee begin to dance in reaction. Some of the seaweed and slime began to slough from its body, as the memories of the aunt who loved him returned to Cuthbert.
Wailing in fury, the Mother attacked Sir Brietta with claw-like fingernails, which cut through armour, flesh and bone. Sir Brietta ignored it as she walked towards the Nuckulavee and seized her nephew in a tight embrace. She felt the claws of the Mother rend her body asunder and tear out her heart - but as she died, she felt Cuthbert return her embrace, and felt the wet tongue of the Questing Beast as it licked her face...
The Mother screamed as the Nuckulavee died a second and final time. She was overcome by grief - her punishment for transgressing the rules of Faerie was that her sorrow would make her unable to leave the shore of the Lake of Death forever. Cuthbert, restored to his mortality, gave his aunt's body to the Lake, before returning to the others with his dog. Although only nine years had passed since his birth, his time in the Faerie realm had aged him, marking him forever. The mortals left the castle, and found themselves on the outskirts of the Forest Sauvage, not far from Cameliard.
Over the winter, the knights settled into their new home with the refugees from Salisbury. Cuthbert received his knighthood from the hands of Lady Jenna. Sir Esther learned that her sister-in-law and friend, Dame Argyl, had perished during the fall of Salisbury. She wept as she realised that the deal which she had made in the Forest had claimed its first victim, and prayed that it would truly save Nimue from sorrow.
As the snows thawed at the beginning of the year 500, which Christians claimed would see the end of the world, Sir Bleddyn secretly departed Cameliard. He had been given instructions by the King of Sauvage on how to wake the army which slumbered within the earth. His road took him deep into the Cambrian Mountains. He took no man with him, and carried only what he had been told he would need. Eventually he found a ruined tower upon the summit of a mountain, and sought the hidden cave beneath it. There was a pool within the cave. Sir Bleddyn had been told to make an offering to the pool of something that he valued, something that he hated, and something that he desired. He cast into the pool his brother Cadfael's sword, as well as his brother's coat of arms. For that which he desired, he cast in his first warrior's ring, representing the power and prestige that he craved. The final sacrifice was one of blood: Sir Bleddyn drew a knife and ran it along the palm of his left hand, letting his blood drip into the pool slowly.
There was a rumble, and the water drained from the lake. The earth shook, and the cavern began to collapse about him. Sir Bleddyn sprinted from the cave. Behind him, two monstrous forms emerged into the sky, screaming with satanic force and casting flames about them. And across Britain, more of their hellish brood awakened. From the top of the mountain where he stood, Sir Bleddyn could see plumes of smoke reaching into the sky, and a black cloud spreading as an ancient evil took wing once more.
Dragons...
Sir Esther herself had been sent to find Sir Bleddyn, Sir Brietta and Sir Helbur, and to bring them to Cameliard. However, Sir Brietta was not willing to abandon her quest to find her missing nephew, Bert. With Merlin's aid, the path to the heart of the forest lay open at last, and there may not be another chance! The knights argued about what they should do, but eventually decided to aid Sir Brietta. The four knights continued deeper into the forest. The path seemed to turn back upon them, to go in circles, but the travellers knew that it was unerringly leading them into the heart of the strangeness of Sauvage. They soon came to Towchester, a town which seemed altogether too clean, too nice. The knights responded with paranoid suspicion - Sir Brietta destroying the food that was offered to them, and Sir Bleddyn all but assaulting a peasant girl who tried to give him wildflowers! Sir Brietta felt like discovering what strangeness was responsible for this entirely pleasant town, and Sir Esther wished to relax and enjoy the serenity of Towchester, but the group decided to swiftly press onwards.
After some time - which may have been minutes, or may have been months - the twisted trees suddenly stopped. Brilliant sunlight, blocked by the murky canopy, flooded the glade ahead. The knights entered, and their eyes beheld a strange vista: an immense field, where workers toiled to harvest the heads of multi-coloured flowers, which became crowds of brilliant and iridescent butterflies. At the heart of the field was a castle, tall and proud and white, of a style alien to mortal eyes and made of a metal unknown to humanity. Sir Esther wished to leave the path, to look at the beauty of the butterflies. Sir Brietta stopped her: the huge pagan woman was on the verge of losing herself to the fey sensations all about her, and needed Sir Esther to be her 'anchor'.
The knights continued towards the castle, and two riders emerged from the castle: one so bright that he could not be looked at directly; the other so dark that he seemed to drain the colour from all around him. Sir Sun and Sir Moon challenged the mortals: they should not be here! The knights of Salisbury explained that they had come to see the King of Sauvage, and were led into the castle by their fey escorts. The castle's paths twisted and turned amongst themselves, with the knights feeling as though they were walking upon the walls or the ceiling at times! They came to a great feasting hall, empty save for three courtiers: a handsome knight, a beautiful lady, and an ugly dwarf. Each of the three had a challenge for the mortals to overcome; otherwise they would have to leave Faerie and be unable to seek to return until a year and a day had passed.
The dwarf challenged Sir Bleddyn to a game of chess, where the pieces seemed not to stay still upon a board that bent behind the eye; the cunning Sir Bleddyn still managed to win. Sir Brietta went hawking with the knight. She had to pick a bird, representing a virtue that she would hunt with. Thanks to the Allegorical Zoo, she knew that the Eagle was the bird of Justice, and that Justice was what she sought here in Faerie. She was easily able to bring down prey, and pass the knight's challenge. Sir Esther had to demonstrate her courtesy to the Lady. Being an extremely polite and unaggressive woman, this challenge was simplicity itself for her.
With the three challenges passed, the four knights were taken to see King Madog, the lord of the Forest Sauvage. He was an exceedingly repulsive man, clad in the finest of silks and furs. For finding their way to him, he was prepared to offer a boon to the four knights, though he urged them to choose wisely. Sir Helbur was offered knowledge of Prince Madoc's lost child, which Sir Helbur rejected - after they spoke for a time, the King realised that what Sir Helbur needed was self-confidence. The King gave him a potion to drink which contained the memories of Sir Arnulf: everything that he had ever thought about Helbur; every time Helbur had been useful; how he thought of Helbur as his son. Sir Bleddyn initially refused any gift, which offended the King. Eventually, the King offered him an army upon his return to the mortal world, such as would strike fear into any heart and bring destruction upon his enemies. However, the King cautioned him that he might not be able to control it, and that it would not bring him happiness.
Sir Esther sought, rather than a boon, a pact with the faeries. She was troubled by the strife of the last few years, and so her wish was that her adopted child Nimue should be safe and happy. She wished that the Lady of the Lake, the faerie spirit that watched over Merlin, should protect Nimue as well. Such a deal would require Sir Esther to make a sacrifice in turn. She offered her own happiness, to protect Nimue's happiness. The King of Sauvage agreed: a life of sadness for Sir Esther, in exchange for a life of happiness for Nimue.
Finally, Sir Brietta asked for her boon: the return of her stolen nephew and his dog, the Questing Beast. The King of Sauvage was troubled by how the exchange was not an equal one, and summoned the Mother for arbitration. The Mother, who had given birth to the Nuckulavee that Sir Aeronwy slew and the Redcap that now plagued Salisbury, and who had stolen young Cuthbert, appeared in the form of Sir Brietta's own mother. But she attacked Sir Brietta with her own fears and insecurities, that she was never as good as her sister Sir Aeronwy and was a disappointment to her friends and her family. Sir Brietta's companions stepped forward to her defence, and turned aside her arguments. She said that the Questing Beast had come to faerie voluntarily and therefore the exchange was equitable; Sir Helbur argued that this did not change that it was unbalanced and unjust. The Mother said that Cuthbert was not her child, and that she could not even name his father; Sir Esther said that it was not blood but love which was important. Finally, the mother said that it was not Sir Brietta's quest, but Sir Aeronwy's, whom Sir Brietta did not even like; Sir Bleddyn retorted that nevertheless families had to work together.
With her excuses torn down about her, the Mother led Sir Brietta alone into the heart of faerie: the Lake of Death, from whence Merlin had drawn Excalibur and where Sir Aeronwy had slain the Nuckulavee. There, Cuthbert and the Questing Beast awaited Sir Brietta: but they had themselves become the Nuckulavee, and would never return to Sir Brietta. The Mother cursed the pagan woman, and hissed that she hated mortals, and would never consent to the exchange being reversed, no matter what the King of Sauvage said. Sir Brietta ignored her, and began talking to the Nuckulavee. She threw a stick, and saw the faerie creature's horse instinctively react. She began to sing a lullaby for Cuthbert, and to dance along, and saw the Nuckulavee begin to dance in reaction. Some of the seaweed and slime began to slough from its body, as the memories of the aunt who loved him returned to Cuthbert.
Wailing in fury, the Mother attacked Sir Brietta with claw-like fingernails, which cut through armour, flesh and bone. Sir Brietta ignored it as she walked towards the Nuckulavee and seized her nephew in a tight embrace. She felt the claws of the Mother rend her body asunder and tear out her heart - but as she died, she felt Cuthbert return her embrace, and felt the wet tongue of the Questing Beast as it licked her face...
The Mother screamed as the Nuckulavee died a second and final time. She was overcome by grief - her punishment for transgressing the rules of Faerie was that her sorrow would make her unable to leave the shore of the Lake of Death forever. Cuthbert, restored to his mortality, gave his aunt's body to the Lake, before returning to the others with his dog. Although only nine years had passed since his birth, his time in the Faerie realm had aged him, marking him forever. The mortals left the castle, and found themselves on the outskirts of the Forest Sauvage, not far from Cameliard.
Over the winter, the knights settled into their new home with the refugees from Salisbury. Cuthbert received his knighthood from the hands of Lady Jenna. Sir Esther learned that her sister-in-law and friend, Dame Argyl, had perished during the fall of Salisbury. She wept as she realised that the deal which she had made in the Forest had claimed its first victim, and prayed that it would truly save Nimue from sorrow.
As the snows thawed at the beginning of the year 500, which Christians claimed would see the end of the world, Sir Bleddyn secretly departed Cameliard. He had been given instructions by the King of Sauvage on how to wake the army which slumbered within the earth. His road took him deep into the Cambrian Mountains. He took no man with him, and carried only what he had been told he would need. Eventually he found a ruined tower upon the summit of a mountain, and sought the hidden cave beneath it. There was a pool within the cave. Sir Bleddyn had been told to make an offering to the pool of something that he valued, something that he hated, and something that he desired. He cast into the pool his brother Cadfael's sword, as well as his brother's coat of arms. For that which he desired, he cast in his first warrior's ring, representing the power and prestige that he craved. The final sacrifice was one of blood: Sir Bleddyn drew a knife and ran it along the palm of his left hand, letting his blood drip into the pool slowly.
There was a rumble, and the water drained from the lake. The earth shook, and the cavern began to collapse about him. Sir Bleddyn sprinted from the cave. Behind him, two monstrous forms emerged into the sky, screaming with satanic force and casting flames about them. And across Britain, more of their hellish brood awakened. From the top of the mountain where he stood, Sir Bleddyn could see plumes of smoke reaching into the sky, and a black cloud spreading as an ancient evil took wing once more.
Dragons...
Tuesday 26 November 2013
499 AD, Interlude: A letter from Sir Esther to Nimue
To Nimue, my dear, sweet child.
It is a beautiful summer’s day here in Amesbury and I write this from underneath our favourite birch tree, snacking on a sweet, crisp apple and a slice of hard cheese. Despite these gifts from our Goddess, the highlight of my day is the chance to write this letter to you! We have been very busy around the monastery. Sir George and I are planning a trip up to Cameliard to see his highness, King Leodegrance as we may be staying there over the winter. Meanwhile I hear that Sir Brietta, Mountain Lady as you call her, is leading another expedition into the Forest Sauvage. I hope she found the time to meet up with you and the Ladies of the Lake as I know you do so enjoy asking about her wild adventures.
Speaking of stories, I have just spotted an eagle soaring up ahead and am reminded of a story by your Aunt Argle, the wife of my late brother Percival. It is about a young eaglet who was eager to explore the world, hopping from nest to nest. She is taken in by several families of coots along the way, facing exciting experiences each time she travels. You remind me of this young eaglet, travelling from family to family. The Ladies of the Lake tell me you are a gifted, special child and have high hopes for you to make the world a better place. This much was apparent to me from the day I took you home to Idmiston. Things will be challenging at time. Always remember there are many who deeply love you and will gladly share your troubles.
Everyone from Amesbury sends their love. Sister Taffy complains that the windows do not shine quite so brightly as when you used to clean them, while Brother Wren moans that the dinner table has never been set so perfectly as under your careful hand. I send with this letter a rosary made by your close friend Gwyn, who you may remember cried so dearly when you left. She practices her birdsong to this day, though she doesn’t sound quite as sweet as you do. Aunt Argle also sends her famous honeycakes from Idmiston. Don’t eat them all at once.
Thinking of you always,
Esther
It is a beautiful summer’s day here in Amesbury and I write this from underneath our favourite birch tree, snacking on a sweet, crisp apple and a slice of hard cheese. Despite these gifts from our Goddess, the highlight of my day is the chance to write this letter to you! We have been very busy around the monastery. Sir George and I are planning a trip up to Cameliard to see his highness, King Leodegrance as we may be staying there over the winter. Meanwhile I hear that Sir Brietta, Mountain Lady as you call her, is leading another expedition into the Forest Sauvage. I hope she found the time to meet up with you and the Ladies of the Lake as I know you do so enjoy asking about her wild adventures.
Speaking of stories, I have just spotted an eagle soaring up ahead and am reminded of a story by your Aunt Argle, the wife of my late brother Percival. It is about a young eaglet who was eager to explore the world, hopping from nest to nest. She is taken in by several families of coots along the way, facing exciting experiences each time she travels. You remind me of this young eaglet, travelling from family to family. The Ladies of the Lake tell me you are a gifted, special child and have high hopes for you to make the world a better place. This much was apparent to me from the day I took you home to Idmiston. Things will be challenging at time. Always remember there are many who deeply love you and will gladly share your troubles.
Everyone from Amesbury sends their love. Sister Taffy complains that the windows do not shine quite so brightly as when you used to clean them, while Brother Wren moans that the dinner table has never been set so perfectly as under your careful hand. I send with this letter a rosary made by your close friend Gwyn, who you may remember cried so dearly when you left. She practices her birdsong to this day, though she doesn’t sound quite as sweet as you do. Aunt Argle also sends her famous honeycakes from Idmiston. Don’t eat them all at once.
Thinking of you always,
Esther
499 AD, Part One: The Fall of Salisbury
The end was coming. Only one year to go until the Second Coming, the priests said. And so Britain prepared itself for the final days and the Rapture. In some parts of the war-torn kingdom, there was anarchy and rioting; in others, missionaries preached the Good Word in an attempt to save as many souls as they could before the return of Christ.
The world was indeed about to end for the knights of Salisbury, although they did not know it at the time. For all that Logres was in chaos, beset by enemies from within and without, Salisbury was enjoying a respite from the bloodshed. She had proven herself more mighty than her enemies had known when Sir Rhisiart of Leucomagus had attacked two years ago, and had entered into an alliance with King Cerdic of Wessex, ensuring her further protection. Salisbury boasted one of the foremost religious leaders in Britain, in the person of Saint Gwiona. And furthermore, word came from Silchester that Sir Rhisiart of Leucomagus was dead in a riding accident. True, there were still enemies, but for now the situation seemed better than it had in many years.
But there were visitors to Salisbury, who arrived as the snow receded, whose coming was the first winds of the black storm upon the horizon. Prince Mark was the well-spoken young heir of King Idres of Cornwall. He seemed charming and personable, though crying serving-girls were a hint that there was a darker side to his nature. His father's armies had spread throughout the south-west, and were on the verge of attacking Jagent. From there, it would be only a year or two before they reached Salisbury. Accordingly, the King of Cornwall sought submission and fealty. "This land will be claimed by the sword," Mark argued, "and surely, better a Cymric King than a Saxon."
Meanwhile, emissaries from the Saxons arrived. The Saxon kings fought amongst one another for the title of Bretwalda, the ruler of all Britain. There were rumours of a new Saxon warchief, a deadly mercenary chieftain called Saexwulf, who sought no kingdom for himself but would serve the mightiest of the Saxons. King Cerdic sent his son, Prince Cynric, to garner military assistance from his new vassal kingdom. Other Saxon emissaries also came to court Salisbury, seeking any edge in their forthcoming battles.
Salisbury needed strong friends. Her long-serving Marshal, Sir Elad, suffered a stroke and was bedridden. Countess Ellen decided to follow the advice of Sir Brietta and Sir Helbur, and pledge herself in marriage to gain an alliance. Therefore, they planned to hold a great tournament, inviting emissaries from all of the major factions. The winner of three challenges - mind, body and soul - would win the hand of Lady Ellen, and the support of Salisbury.
Three of the knights of Salisbury put themselves forward. Sir Bleddyn, who had all the scheming ways of his older brother Sir Cadfael, sought to gain control of Salisbury. Sir Brietta was working for the Ladies of the Lake, who wanted control over Salisbury as a first step in the rebirth of paganism. Sir Helbur also competed. Prince Mark came from Cornwall, and Sir Alain (who had once met Sir Arnulf, five years earlier) from King Nanteleod in Escavalon. For the Saxons stood Prince Cynric of Wessex and the formidable Saexwulf on behalf of King Aelle in Sussex. The most unexpected competitor was Sir Brastias. Once the bodyguard of King Uther Pendragon, he was now lordless. Gaining control of Salisbury would make him a significant power once more. There were many other competitors as well, but these eight distinguished themselves in each event, and all knew that one of them would win the challenge.
There were three challenges for the tournament. The Test of the Mind and the Test of the Soul would determine who fought whom in the Test of the Body, which would end the tournament. The first challenge was a series of riddle-duels. Prince Mark proved himself quick-witted here, but mighty Saexwulf proved to have a mind as sharp as a dagger, and won the first challenge with ease. The second challenge was to spend a night in the Countess' famed Allegorical Zoo, and in the morning to identify the virtues which the animals therein personified. Here, Sir Alain triumphed, with Prince Mark coming second again (although there were whispers that he had cheated!)
The final round was a series of duels, which would decide the winner of the tournament. These duels would be fought until one warrior either surrendered or was incapable of continuing. Sir Alain and Prince Mark entered the duels in the lead, which gave them first choice of their initial opponents. Prince Mark chose Sir Bleddyn, thinking him the least threatening enemy, while Sir Alain surprised everyone by calling out the gigantic Saexwulf! Sir Brastias challenged Prince Cynric, owing to his hatred of the Saxons, and finally Sir Helbur and Sir Brietta were to duel.
In the first bout, Sir Alain surprised everyone when he struck Saexwulf down with two blows, and receiving not a scratch in return! Sir Bleddyn schemed with Prince Mark and threw his match. Sir Brastias took out his fury with the Saxons by humiliating Prince Cynric, and nearly dishonoured himself by murdering his enemy once he had defeated him, though with effort he restrained himself. Finally, Sir Helbur proved himself a better warrior by far than Sir Brietta, but the giant woman refused to surrender until she was beaten to the brink of unconsciousness. In the second round, the veteran Sir Brastias easily subdued young Prince Mark, while Sir Alain of Carlion, bastard son of King Nanteleod, continued to prove his worth to his father by defeating Sir Helbur. The final battle was a duel for the ages, where both Sir Brastias and Sir Alain landed many mighty blows and bled profusely from many wounds, but in the end Sir Brastias was triumphant!
The various competitors withdrew, gracefully or bitterly, as the forthcoming nuptials were arranged. The three knights spent some time in bed recovering from their fights. When they had healed, they set off upon a new quest. At the close of the previous year, Sir Brietta had accompanied Sir Esther and her ward Nimue to Glastonbury, so that Nimue could begin learning how to control her magic from the Ladies of the Lake. While there, the Ladies had spoken to Sir Brietta of the coming rebirth of paganism. For this to happen, however, the long-missing Merlin had to be discovered, for he was destined to be the first archdruid since their faith had been destroyed by the Romans, over four hundred years earlier, and to usher in the return of the old gods.
It was into the Forest Sauvage, upon this quest, that Sir Brietta now led her companions. Sir Helbur had heard rumours of a strange hermit on the outskirts of the forest. The knights travelled to Medbourne, where they paid their respects at the monument to Cadfael and Violette, before entering the forest to look for the hermit - for this was almost certainly Merlin Ambrosius. They spoke to villagers who had seen the naked man, but none knew where he was, for he fled whenever anyone approached.
Entering further into the forest, the three knights were startled as the trees began to shake around them. An immense beast of many hues appeared, terrifying Sir Helbur and Sir Bleddyn as it knocked down many trees. Sir Brietta recognised the creature as an elephant, far from its native land and bright with all the colours of the rainbow. She hailed the faerie beast respectfully. It transpired that the elephant was blind, and 'saw' with its trunk. Faerie hunters had blinded it and taken its eyes for sport, but then a strange hermit healed the elephant's wounds and showed it the way to the heart of the forest. There, the elephant had petitioned the King of Sauvage for recompense, and had received the eyes of the huntsman in restitution: it kept them in its mouth, and proudly displayed them to Sir Brietta. She was disgusted, but also pleased to learn where she would have to travel to deal with her changeling nephew. For now, she asked the elephant if it knew where the hermit who had treated its wounds was, and the elephant was able to point the knights in the correct direction.
Continuing onwards, the group discovered an old man: naked, with tanned skin and a wild beard, sitting beneath an apple tree with a pig by the banks of a river. The man babbled randomly to himself and the pig, but his words bore the weight of prophecy as he unknowingly revealed the souls of those who stood watching, who he had not even noticed as yet! The knights noticed that all of nature seemed to be bending towards the man - in some way he had returned to a state of primitive innocence and had truly become one with the natural - and supernatural - wilderness.
Sir Brietta approached, and Merlin fled from her. She gave chase, and managed to catch the insane enchanter. Sir Helbur then spoke to him, and so powerful were his words that he managed to soothe the panicking master magician. Sir Helbur spoke of Logres' need for Merlin, of how imperilled the kingdom had become since the death of Uther and the madness of Merlin. Merlin did not respond - but the trees began to rearrange themselves, and a straight path led onwards. The knights could tell that it led in the direction of Stevington Well, where they had hoped the magical healing waters of the famous well could restore Merlin's sanity. Subconsciously, it seemed, Merlin was exerting his new and puissant powers to aid them.
The knights, their squires, and the insane hermit followed the road east towards Stevington Well. As they drew near, Sir Brietta remained with the horses and with Merlin, who refused to continue onwards. Sir Bleddyn and Sir Helbur continued on foot towards the sound of singing, where they discovered the beautiful Lady Vithelen, white of face and black of hair. Sir Bleddyn hung back, suspicious of the custodian of the waters, but Sir Helbur agreed to subject himself to her trial, to demonstrate his honesty and chastity, to prove himself worthy of the miraculous healing waters. The two walked through the woods together, while Lady Vithelen asked Sir Helbur about his quest. While they talked, the lady innocently but very provocatively bared one perfect breast to Sir Helbur. Though gripped with desire for the beautiful faerie, Sir Helbur managed to restrain himself, and pass the challenge. After what seemed like hours, he returned alone to the others, bearing a wooden bucket with the diamond-clear waters of the well.
Merlin drank deeply of the waters, and his reason was restored to him. He thanked the three knights for saving him, but refused to accompany Sir Brietta to the Ladies of the Lake, dismissing them as fanatics whose desperation blinded them to the divinity all about them. Instead, he said that he had his own plans - a boy, who would grow to be the saviour of all Britain. Before he departed, he gave the three knights two pieces of advice. The first was positive, for Merlin pointed the knights upon the road that led into the heart of the forest, where Faerie itself held court, and where the King of the Forest Sauvage dwelt. With this aid, Sir Brietta would finally be able to rescue her nephew.
The second was less positive. For dark events had befallen in Salisbury since the knights had left upon their quest. The changeling child, no longer pacified by the influence of Nimue, had slipped his prison and spoken to Prince Cynric. The Saxon prince was already bitter about how Salisbury had all but cast off their alliance with Wessex. The changeling twisted Prince Cynric's mind to a bloody vengeance. And so, on the day when Sir Brastias was to marry Lady Ellen, a force of Saxons had entered Sarum by stealth, and then attacked. With Marshal Elad bedridden after his stroke, there was no defence of which to speak. The Saxons massacred many at the feast, including Sir Brastias and Lady Ellen. Their bloody bodies were cast into the Allegorical Zoo, to be devoured by the animals there.
But not all had perished in the Saxon treachery. Lady Jenna, Sir Esther and Sir George led an exodus from Salisbury, smuggling out Robert, the young heir. For now, they were encamped in the sanctified sanctuary of Amesbury, until they decided upon their next move. They would need allies to give shelter, and to aid in reclaiming their homeland. For now, however, all of Salisbury lay in the bloody grasp of the Saxons, and above all echoed the maniacal laughter of the changeling, revelling in the ultimate chaos that he had wrought upon his adoptive homeland.
The world was indeed about to end for the knights of Salisbury, although they did not know it at the time. For all that Logres was in chaos, beset by enemies from within and without, Salisbury was enjoying a respite from the bloodshed. She had proven herself more mighty than her enemies had known when Sir Rhisiart of Leucomagus had attacked two years ago, and had entered into an alliance with King Cerdic of Wessex, ensuring her further protection. Salisbury boasted one of the foremost religious leaders in Britain, in the person of Saint Gwiona. And furthermore, word came from Silchester that Sir Rhisiart of Leucomagus was dead in a riding accident. True, there were still enemies, but for now the situation seemed better than it had in many years.
But there were visitors to Salisbury, who arrived as the snow receded, whose coming was the first winds of the black storm upon the horizon. Prince Mark was the well-spoken young heir of King Idres of Cornwall. He seemed charming and personable, though crying serving-girls were a hint that there was a darker side to his nature. His father's armies had spread throughout the south-west, and were on the verge of attacking Jagent. From there, it would be only a year or two before they reached Salisbury. Accordingly, the King of Cornwall sought submission and fealty. "This land will be claimed by the sword," Mark argued, "and surely, better a Cymric King than a Saxon."
Meanwhile, emissaries from the Saxons arrived. The Saxon kings fought amongst one another for the title of Bretwalda, the ruler of all Britain. There were rumours of a new Saxon warchief, a deadly mercenary chieftain called Saexwulf, who sought no kingdom for himself but would serve the mightiest of the Saxons. King Cerdic sent his son, Prince Cynric, to garner military assistance from his new vassal kingdom. Other Saxon emissaries also came to court Salisbury, seeking any edge in their forthcoming battles.
Salisbury needed strong friends. Her long-serving Marshal, Sir Elad, suffered a stroke and was bedridden. Countess Ellen decided to follow the advice of Sir Brietta and Sir Helbur, and pledge herself in marriage to gain an alliance. Therefore, they planned to hold a great tournament, inviting emissaries from all of the major factions. The winner of three challenges - mind, body and soul - would win the hand of Lady Ellen, and the support of Salisbury.
Three of the knights of Salisbury put themselves forward. Sir Bleddyn, who had all the scheming ways of his older brother Sir Cadfael, sought to gain control of Salisbury. Sir Brietta was working for the Ladies of the Lake, who wanted control over Salisbury as a first step in the rebirth of paganism. Sir Helbur also competed. Prince Mark came from Cornwall, and Sir Alain (who had once met Sir Arnulf, five years earlier) from King Nanteleod in Escavalon. For the Saxons stood Prince Cynric of Wessex and the formidable Saexwulf on behalf of King Aelle in Sussex. The most unexpected competitor was Sir Brastias. Once the bodyguard of King Uther Pendragon, he was now lordless. Gaining control of Salisbury would make him a significant power once more. There were many other competitors as well, but these eight distinguished themselves in each event, and all knew that one of them would win the challenge.
There were three challenges for the tournament. The Test of the Mind and the Test of the Soul would determine who fought whom in the Test of the Body, which would end the tournament. The first challenge was a series of riddle-duels. Prince Mark proved himself quick-witted here, but mighty Saexwulf proved to have a mind as sharp as a dagger, and won the first challenge with ease. The second challenge was to spend a night in the Countess' famed Allegorical Zoo, and in the morning to identify the virtues which the animals therein personified. Here, Sir Alain triumphed, with Prince Mark coming second again (although there were whispers that he had cheated!)
The final round was a series of duels, which would decide the winner of the tournament. These duels would be fought until one warrior either surrendered or was incapable of continuing. Sir Alain and Prince Mark entered the duels in the lead, which gave them first choice of their initial opponents. Prince Mark chose Sir Bleddyn, thinking him the least threatening enemy, while Sir Alain surprised everyone by calling out the gigantic Saexwulf! Sir Brastias challenged Prince Cynric, owing to his hatred of the Saxons, and finally Sir Helbur and Sir Brietta were to duel.
In the first bout, Sir Alain surprised everyone when he struck Saexwulf down with two blows, and receiving not a scratch in return! Sir Bleddyn schemed with Prince Mark and threw his match. Sir Brastias took out his fury with the Saxons by humiliating Prince Cynric, and nearly dishonoured himself by murdering his enemy once he had defeated him, though with effort he restrained himself. Finally, Sir Helbur proved himself a better warrior by far than Sir Brietta, but the giant woman refused to surrender until she was beaten to the brink of unconsciousness. In the second round, the veteran Sir Brastias easily subdued young Prince Mark, while Sir Alain of Carlion, bastard son of King Nanteleod, continued to prove his worth to his father by defeating Sir Helbur. The final battle was a duel for the ages, where both Sir Brastias and Sir Alain landed many mighty blows and bled profusely from many wounds, but in the end Sir Brastias was triumphant!
The various competitors withdrew, gracefully or bitterly, as the forthcoming nuptials were arranged. The three knights spent some time in bed recovering from their fights. When they had healed, they set off upon a new quest. At the close of the previous year, Sir Brietta had accompanied Sir Esther and her ward Nimue to Glastonbury, so that Nimue could begin learning how to control her magic from the Ladies of the Lake. While there, the Ladies had spoken to Sir Brietta of the coming rebirth of paganism. For this to happen, however, the long-missing Merlin had to be discovered, for he was destined to be the first archdruid since their faith had been destroyed by the Romans, over four hundred years earlier, and to usher in the return of the old gods.
It was into the Forest Sauvage, upon this quest, that Sir Brietta now led her companions. Sir Helbur had heard rumours of a strange hermit on the outskirts of the forest. The knights travelled to Medbourne, where they paid their respects at the monument to Cadfael and Violette, before entering the forest to look for the hermit - for this was almost certainly Merlin Ambrosius. They spoke to villagers who had seen the naked man, but none knew where he was, for he fled whenever anyone approached.
Entering further into the forest, the three knights were startled as the trees began to shake around them. An immense beast of many hues appeared, terrifying Sir Helbur and Sir Bleddyn as it knocked down many trees. Sir Brietta recognised the creature as an elephant, far from its native land and bright with all the colours of the rainbow. She hailed the faerie beast respectfully. It transpired that the elephant was blind, and 'saw' with its trunk. Faerie hunters had blinded it and taken its eyes for sport, but then a strange hermit healed the elephant's wounds and showed it the way to the heart of the forest. There, the elephant had petitioned the King of Sauvage for recompense, and had received the eyes of the huntsman in restitution: it kept them in its mouth, and proudly displayed them to Sir Brietta. She was disgusted, but also pleased to learn where she would have to travel to deal with her changeling nephew. For now, she asked the elephant if it knew where the hermit who had treated its wounds was, and the elephant was able to point the knights in the correct direction.
Continuing onwards, the group discovered an old man: naked, with tanned skin and a wild beard, sitting beneath an apple tree with a pig by the banks of a river. The man babbled randomly to himself and the pig, but his words bore the weight of prophecy as he unknowingly revealed the souls of those who stood watching, who he had not even noticed as yet! The knights noticed that all of nature seemed to be bending towards the man - in some way he had returned to a state of primitive innocence and had truly become one with the natural - and supernatural - wilderness.
Sir Brietta approached, and Merlin fled from her. She gave chase, and managed to catch the insane enchanter. Sir Helbur then spoke to him, and so powerful were his words that he managed to soothe the panicking master magician. Sir Helbur spoke of Logres' need for Merlin, of how imperilled the kingdom had become since the death of Uther and the madness of Merlin. Merlin did not respond - but the trees began to rearrange themselves, and a straight path led onwards. The knights could tell that it led in the direction of Stevington Well, where they had hoped the magical healing waters of the famous well could restore Merlin's sanity. Subconsciously, it seemed, Merlin was exerting his new and puissant powers to aid them.
The knights, their squires, and the insane hermit followed the road east towards Stevington Well. As they drew near, Sir Brietta remained with the horses and with Merlin, who refused to continue onwards. Sir Bleddyn and Sir Helbur continued on foot towards the sound of singing, where they discovered the beautiful Lady Vithelen, white of face and black of hair. Sir Bleddyn hung back, suspicious of the custodian of the waters, but Sir Helbur agreed to subject himself to her trial, to demonstrate his honesty and chastity, to prove himself worthy of the miraculous healing waters. The two walked through the woods together, while Lady Vithelen asked Sir Helbur about his quest. While they talked, the lady innocently but very provocatively bared one perfect breast to Sir Helbur. Though gripped with desire for the beautiful faerie, Sir Helbur managed to restrain himself, and pass the challenge. After what seemed like hours, he returned alone to the others, bearing a wooden bucket with the diamond-clear waters of the well.
Merlin drank deeply of the waters, and his reason was restored to him. He thanked the three knights for saving him, but refused to accompany Sir Brietta to the Ladies of the Lake, dismissing them as fanatics whose desperation blinded them to the divinity all about them. Instead, he said that he had his own plans - a boy, who would grow to be the saviour of all Britain. Before he departed, he gave the three knights two pieces of advice. The first was positive, for Merlin pointed the knights upon the road that led into the heart of the forest, where Faerie itself held court, and where the King of the Forest Sauvage dwelt. With this aid, Sir Brietta would finally be able to rescue her nephew.
The second was less positive. For dark events had befallen in Salisbury since the knights had left upon their quest. The changeling child, no longer pacified by the influence of Nimue, had slipped his prison and spoken to Prince Cynric. The Saxon prince was already bitter about how Salisbury had all but cast off their alliance with Wessex. The changeling twisted Prince Cynric's mind to a bloody vengeance. And so, on the day when Sir Brastias was to marry Lady Ellen, a force of Saxons had entered Sarum by stealth, and then attacked. With Marshal Elad bedridden after his stroke, there was no defence of which to speak. The Saxons massacred many at the feast, including Sir Brastias and Lady Ellen. Their bloody bodies were cast into the Allegorical Zoo, to be devoured by the animals there.
But not all had perished in the Saxon treachery. Lady Jenna, Sir Esther and Sir George led an exodus from Salisbury, smuggling out Robert, the young heir. For now, they were encamped in the sanctified sanctuary of Amesbury, until they decided upon their next move. They would need allies to give shelter, and to aid in reclaiming their homeland. For now, however, all of Salisbury lay in the bloody grasp of the Saxons, and above all echoed the maniacal laughter of the changeling, revelling in the ultimate chaos that he had wrought upon his adoptive homeland.
Saturday 2 November 2013
498 AD: The Allegorical Zoo
Countess Ellen had a plan.
Sir Bleddyn, Sir Brietta, Sir George, Sir Helbur, Lady Jenna and her retinue headed north to the Forest Sauvage. On the way, they were accosted by apologetic bandits: a group of peasants who had turned to banditry to survive after the storm of two years earlier destroyed their livelihood. Rather than fight them, Sir George chastised them in the name of God, and shamed them into surrendering. The knight told them to go find a monastery for aid, and then sent them on their way.
Continuing to the Forest, the party encountered a traveller upon the road: Nineve, the Lady of the Lake who had recruited them to defeat Sir Gorboduc the previous year. She greeted the knights and asked for their company as she conducted the errands that she had on the outskirts of the forest. In exchange for this help, she would act as midwife for Lady Jenna, and help with the capture of the stork for which they quested. The knights agreed.
Around mid-day on the following day, Nineve called the procession to a halt outside a small cottage in the middle of nowhere. She then asked for everyone to wait outside, while she went in to talk to the inhabitant. After an hour or more, a grim Nineve emerged and explained what was happening. The cottage belonged to a friend of hers, dying of an inoperable illness. Nineve was now going to go and pray over a poison which would end her friend’s suffering. The knights argued about the morality of this while she was gone, with Sir George particularly upset; meanwhile Sir Helbur went inside and used his skill as an orator to tell the bedridden old woman a beautiful story. While he was telling it, Nineve returned with cups of tea for them all, and the old woman slipped away from her pain-ridden life as Sir Helbur finished his story.
It was now time for Lady Jenna to give birth. The group headed deeper into the forest, for only where the border between reality and the other world blurred could the group hope to find a stork. With Nineve and the elf-stone as their guides, the procession was able to penetrate deep into the forest. In a empty glade, Lady Nineve delivered the child, with Sir Brietta’s aid. A stork watched from the branches of a nearby tree, and the Lady of the Lake sang to it, so that Michael Falconer could catch it. The quest of the stork was a success! The new mother, her attendants, the knights, and the Lady of the Lake departed the forest. Nineve left the group behind to visit another friend of hers who lived nearby, while the others returned to Salisbury to learn what Sir Esther had learned next.
Sir Esther, in the time that the knights had been gone, had successfully discovered the location of camels! During the Roman invasion of Britain under the Emperor Claudius, a regiment of camels had been brought across in case they were needed. The descendants of the camel-handlers had settled in Dorset, and had continued to look after a herd of camels in case the Romans ever returned and needed them again. She decided to leave her books and join the other five, as they rode to meet Sir Gaius, custodian of the imperial camels. Sir Gaius received the five knights hospitably, but refused to surrender any camels to them: they were not his to give away, but the property of the Emperor!
Eventually, Sir Gaius relented and decided that if the five proved themselves to be true Romans, he would entrust them with a pair of camels – but they had to promise to give them back immediately if the Romans ever returned and wanted them! This did not prove to be a difficult task. Sir Esther, as a woman of letters, was able to quote from a number of latin literary texts, impressing Sir Gaius. Sir Brietta offered sacrifices to Epona, the pagan goddess of horses (and camels) – a deity that the Romans respected. Sir Helbur demonstrated his excellent rhetorical skills in a debate with Sir Gaius. Impressed by their Roman virtue, Sir Gaius decided to entrust the knights with a pair of camels for the zoo.
Returning to Salisbury, Sir Esther returned to her studies as she directed the group upon their next challenge: finding a lion, the symbol of courage. This would be a difficult challenge, for lions were notoriously rare in the British Isles, as well as being extremely dangerous: it was only five years since Sir Aeronwy had been devoured by one in Malahaut. Sir Bleddyn, Sir Brietta, Sir George and Sir Helbur headed out into the wilderness (with considerable trepidation) to look for a lion. After much hunting, they discovered the trail of a lion and followed its spoor until they discovered the beast itself. Sir George thought about what he knew of lion-hunting, and remembered erroneously that a lion could be subdued by an act of supreme bravery. Accordingly, he stripped off his armour and approached the lion naked – only to discover that he was mistaken in his beliefs! The lion pounced at them, its breath fetid with the stink of meat, and only Sir Bleddyn and Sir Helbur stood to fight it – Sir Brietta and Sir George turn and fled in terror! A ferocious battle ensued, in which the lion savaged the knights brave enough to withstand it. As they vainly tried to resist its claws, Sir Brietta and Sir George gathered their courage and returned to the battle. Sir Brietta drew the lion’s attention from her bleeding companions, and Sir George, still naked, struck a mighty blow with his sword, knocking the lion unconscious. With the terror subdued, it was hurried back to Salisbury, where it was put in a very secure cage.
Meanwhile, Sir Esther journeyed to London to meet with a merchant there. As pelicans, the bird of faith, were not native to Britain, she decided that it would be easiest to purchase one, and only in that metropolis might she be able to find one. She managed to track down a merchant who sold exotic animals, and after some bargaining she found herself the proud owner of an Egyptian pelican. She also had the merchant throw in some Occitanian lapdogs – a better animal for a zoo than the commonplace British hounds that the knights had already acquired.
There were only two animals left to acquire, the coot and the eagle. Sir Esther’s continued reading had revealed that both animals could be found in close proximity, in the peaks of Wales. The noble eagles made their nests at the summit of the mountains, while the coots were lower down, and often raised the offsprings of eagles which were forced from their nests for failing to meet the exacting standards of their parents. On the way to the mountains, the five knights encountered a group of Welsh tribesmen, who refused to believe that anyone would come such a distance simply for a few birds. Sir Esther and Sir Brietta went with the Welsh as hostages. True to Sir Brietta’s expectations, the Welshmen soon attempted to attack them, but Sir Brietta fought them off, and the two women knights escaped back to their companions. The Welshmen’s mountain ponies could not keep up with the stronger warhorses, and they soon abandoned their pursuit.
The group, led by Michael Falconer, found the cliffs where eagles and coots nested. Sir Bleddyn volunteered to scale the cliffs and steal eggs from their nests. He was easily able to reach the coots, and took several eggs without difficulty. Stealing from the eagles proved more difficult, as the parents attacked him. He attempted in vain to defend himself from their incensed talons with his knife on the summit of the mountain. When this proved ineffective, he decided to simply climb down again, ignoring the eagle as best he could. Sir Bleddyn managed to climb down the mountain again, even with an eagle tearing at his face, and Michael Falconer shooed off the attacking eagle. When the knights returned to Salisbury, they installed the eggs in their new enclosures. The Allegorical Zoo was complete!
That winter, Sir Helbur was married to Lady Jenna with much pomp and ceremony in the grand hall of Sarum. Sir Brietta drank too much, and the next morning woke up naked save for a codpiece in the camel enclosure, with no idea of how she got there. In addition, Sir Esther had visitors: two of the Ladies of the Lake had come for her adopted daughter. They won over Sir Esther by impressing upon her how the girl’s power would grow to be a threat to her unless she was trained in its use – and so the girl Nimue was taken from Amesbury and her playmate Morgan, to go to Glastonbury and train to become one of the Ladies of the Lake. Sir Esther was assured that she could visit whenever she wanted. Sir Brietta confessed to Sir Esther that she had told Lady Nineve about Nimue when they were travelling in the Forest Sauvage. Sir Esther forgave Sir Brietta, and as the snows began to thaw, the two travelled west to Glastonbury, to visit Nimue and the Ladies.
This was a prospect fit to make grown men run screaming. The
Countess was famously airheaded and impractical, and the only mercy about her
reign as Regent of Salisbury for her son Robert was that she was generally so
distracted that other, more capable souls (such as Sir Elad, the Marshal of
Salisbury) could do the work for her. But now she had an idea that she was
fixated upon, and there was no getting out of it!
First was the small matter of Sir Rhisiart, the Steward of
Leucomagus. He had made a deal with the Saxons of Essex to invade Salisbury and
have himself installed as puppet ruler, a plan which went wrong when Sir Elad
led a far more spirited defence than anyone had expected. The Saxons, disgusted
by their erstwhile ally, had abandoned him to his enemies and departed, and now
he languished in the dungeons. The knights of Salisbury debated vigorously
about what should be done, with Sir Cadfael's younger brother Sir Bleddyn
advocating that he be put to death immediately. However, the faction that
suggests peace won the day, and Sir Rhisiart was ransomed back to his home for
a princely sum, which went towards finishing the inner ramparts of Sarum - the
stone walls would be useful in case the Saxons came back!
As the meeting was about to adjourn, the Countess revealed
her new orders to her son's vassals. Salisbury had been through much hardship
and suffering over the last few years. It was also said by the Christians that
there were only two more years until the second coming of Christ and the end of
days. Too many people were not prepared for Heaven, and so Ellen intended to
solve both problems at once. She wanted to build a zoo! Not just any zoo, but
an allegorical zoo, with animals representing the most important Christian
virtues, so that everyone who visited would become a better person and be sure
of going to heaven!
Sir Bleddyn, Sir Brietta, Sir Esther, Sir George and Sir
Helbur were assigned the job of assembling the zoo. Sir Esther withdrew to her
books for the year, looking through as many bestiaries as she could to discover
exactly which animals represented the most important virtues, as well as
checking the Bible to remember what the virtues actually were. The other
knights took turns aiding her, or going out into the field to track down the
animals that she assigned them to find. Over the course of the year, she
decided that the key virtues were prudence (represented by a stork), justice
(represented by an eagle), temperance (represented by a camel), courage
(represented by a lion), faith (represented by a pelican), hope (represented by
a dog) and love (represented by a coot). The hunt was on!
Sir Brietta was soon able to track down a dog; then she and
Sir Helbur went looking for a dove, thinking that it represented one of the
virtues. The quest became awkward immediately, for Sir Helbur and Sir Brietta
had slept together two years earlier; then Sir Brietta been taken by Faerie,
and their child Deidre had grown wings and flown away. They spent more time
arguing than they did looking for doves, and so failed to find any. Finally,
Sir Helbur hired an expert, Michael Falconer, to help track down the doves for
him.
The next animal that the knights needed to find was a stork.
White storks were a very rare bird in Britain, but Sir Brietta had a brainwave.
The Forest Sauvage was a place where the borders of reality weakened, where
fable walked under the boughs. And fable said that a stork would attend a woman
in labour. Perhaps if a pregnant woman were taken deep into the wildest parts
of the Forest Sauvage, she would be able to summon a stork. Sir Helbur agreed,
and then asked his lady-love, Lady Jenna. Jenna and he had been in love for a
long time, since before she was married to Sir Arnulf. She, lonely, had
propositioned Sir Helbur while she was living in Tilshead, but the knight had
refused to betray his lord. However, after the strangeness of his fling with
Sir Brietta, Sir Helbur had returned to Lady Jenna and slept with her, and she
was to be delivered of a child soon. So Sir Helbur used his amazing skills of
oratory to convince his beloved to travel to the borders of Faerie to give
birth, all so that her mother could complete her allegorical zoo. To everyone's
surprise, she agreed!
Sir Bleddyn, Sir Brietta, Sir George, Sir Helbur, Lady Jenna and her retinue headed north to the Forest Sauvage. On the way, they were accosted by apologetic bandits: a group of peasants who had turned to banditry to survive after the storm of two years earlier destroyed their livelihood. Rather than fight them, Sir George chastised them in the name of God, and shamed them into surrendering. The knight told them to go find a monastery for aid, and then sent them on their way.
Continuing to the Forest, the party encountered a traveller upon the road: Nineve, the Lady of the Lake who had recruited them to defeat Sir Gorboduc the previous year. She greeted the knights and asked for their company as she conducted the errands that she had on the outskirts of the forest. In exchange for this help, she would act as midwife for Lady Jenna, and help with the capture of the stork for which they quested. The knights agreed.
While they rode under the boughs of that strange forest, Sir
Brietta was eager to talk with Lady Nineve, as she was a fervent follower of
the old ways, and the Ladies of the Lake were virtually the only remnant of
paganism left. She learned that Lady Nineve was looking for children who had
magical gifts to join the Ladies of the Lake – one in particular, of whom Lady
Evienne had dreamed: a child with powers as great as any of the Ladies, and
constantly growing in strength. Sir Brietta told Nineve about Sir Esther’s
child, entrusted to her by Merlin, who had calmed the changeling child the
previous year. They also spoke about Ganeida, about whom the knights had heard
many strange rumours. Nineve confirmed that Ganeida, although stillborn, was
The Lady of the Lake, the faerie spirit who led the mortal Ladies, and, by
extension, the faerie godmother of Merlin. The answers left Sir Brietta
realising that she would never truly understand the ways of Faerie.
On the first day that they were with Nineve, the group met a
beggar upon the road who requested a cloak to keep him warm; in exchange, he
would guide them upon the road. Sir Brietta immediately offered hers; however,
when the beggar put it on, it only covered one shoulder. Sir Helbur, Sir Bledri
and a reluctant Sir George were forced to surrender their cloaks as well, until
the vagrant was fully covered, and pointed them upon the correct path.
Upon the second day, the knights heard the jingle of small
bells and the sound of approaching horses. A group of beautiful women, led by a
fair lady so pale she seemed almost white, attended by a number of
handsome young pages, were riding upon the road from the opposite direction.
The two groups stopped to take food together, during which time Lady Blanche of
Blanche introduced herself, and made a curious request of the knights. "I
would like you to teach my ladies something," she said. "Will each of
you please tell us why you are a good person?" The knights happily spent
the afternoon bragging of their exploits to the attentive audience, before
continuing onwards.
On the third day, the cavalcade passed through a field of red
poppies, with a beautiful fragrance floating through the air. So beautiful was
the odour that the riders began to fall asleep in their saddles. Only Sir
Brietta was able to force herself to stay awake, and led the group through
safely. All soon recovered from their brush with the poppies - save Sir
George, whose beard mysteriously vanished while he was sleeping. Sir Brietta
only grinned when she was asked about it.
Around mid-day on the following day, Nineve called the procession to a halt outside a small cottage in the middle of nowhere. She then asked for everyone to wait outside, while she went in to talk to the inhabitant. After an hour or more, a grim Nineve emerged and explained what was happening. The cottage belonged to a friend of hers, dying of an inoperable illness. Nineve was now going to go and pray over a poison which would end her friend’s suffering. The knights argued about the morality of this while she was gone, with Sir George particularly upset; meanwhile Sir Helbur went inside and used his skill as an orator to tell the bedridden old woman a beautiful story. While he was telling it, Nineve returned with cups of tea for them all, and the old woman slipped away from her pain-ridden life as Sir Helbur finished his story.
It was now time for Lady Jenna to give birth. The group headed deeper into the forest, for only where the border between reality and the other world blurred could the group hope to find a stork. With Nineve and the elf-stone as their guides, the procession was able to penetrate deep into the forest. In a empty glade, Lady Nineve delivered the child, with Sir Brietta’s aid. A stork watched from the branches of a nearby tree, and the Lady of the Lake sang to it, so that Michael Falconer could catch it. The quest of the stork was a success! The new mother, her attendants, the knights, and the Lady of the Lake departed the forest. Nineve left the group behind to visit another friend of hers who lived nearby, while the others returned to Salisbury to learn what Sir Esther had learned next.
Sir Esther, in the time that the knights had been gone, had successfully discovered the location of camels! During the Roman invasion of Britain under the Emperor Claudius, a regiment of camels had been brought across in case they were needed. The descendants of the camel-handlers had settled in Dorset, and had continued to look after a herd of camels in case the Romans ever returned and needed them again. She decided to leave her books and join the other five, as they rode to meet Sir Gaius, custodian of the imperial camels. Sir Gaius received the five knights hospitably, but refused to surrender any camels to them: they were not his to give away, but the property of the Emperor!
Eventually, Sir Gaius relented and decided that if the five proved themselves to be true Romans, he would entrust them with a pair of camels – but they had to promise to give them back immediately if the Romans ever returned and wanted them! This did not prove to be a difficult task. Sir Esther, as a woman of letters, was able to quote from a number of latin literary texts, impressing Sir Gaius. Sir Brietta offered sacrifices to Epona, the pagan goddess of horses (and camels) – a deity that the Romans respected. Sir Helbur demonstrated his excellent rhetorical skills in a debate with Sir Gaius. Impressed by their Roman virtue, Sir Gaius decided to entrust the knights with a pair of camels for the zoo.
Returning to Salisbury, Sir Esther returned to her studies as she directed the group upon their next challenge: finding a lion, the symbol of courage. This would be a difficult challenge, for lions were notoriously rare in the British Isles, as well as being extremely dangerous: it was only five years since Sir Aeronwy had been devoured by one in Malahaut. Sir Bleddyn, Sir Brietta, Sir George and Sir Helbur headed out into the wilderness (with considerable trepidation) to look for a lion. After much hunting, they discovered the trail of a lion and followed its spoor until they discovered the beast itself. Sir George thought about what he knew of lion-hunting, and remembered erroneously that a lion could be subdued by an act of supreme bravery. Accordingly, he stripped off his armour and approached the lion naked – only to discover that he was mistaken in his beliefs! The lion pounced at them, its breath fetid with the stink of meat, and only Sir Bleddyn and Sir Helbur stood to fight it – Sir Brietta and Sir George turn and fled in terror! A ferocious battle ensued, in which the lion savaged the knights brave enough to withstand it. As they vainly tried to resist its claws, Sir Brietta and Sir George gathered their courage and returned to the battle. Sir Brietta drew the lion’s attention from her bleeding companions, and Sir George, still naked, struck a mighty blow with his sword, knocking the lion unconscious. With the terror subdued, it was hurried back to Salisbury, where it was put in a very secure cage.
Meanwhile, Sir Esther journeyed to London to meet with a merchant there. As pelicans, the bird of faith, were not native to Britain, she decided that it would be easiest to purchase one, and only in that metropolis might she be able to find one. She managed to track down a merchant who sold exotic animals, and after some bargaining she found herself the proud owner of an Egyptian pelican. She also had the merchant throw in some Occitanian lapdogs – a better animal for a zoo than the commonplace British hounds that the knights had already acquired.
There were only two animals left to acquire, the coot and the eagle. Sir Esther’s continued reading had revealed that both animals could be found in close proximity, in the peaks of Wales. The noble eagles made their nests at the summit of the mountains, while the coots were lower down, and often raised the offsprings of eagles which were forced from their nests for failing to meet the exacting standards of their parents. On the way to the mountains, the five knights encountered a group of Welsh tribesmen, who refused to believe that anyone would come such a distance simply for a few birds. Sir Esther and Sir Brietta went with the Welsh as hostages. True to Sir Brietta’s expectations, the Welshmen soon attempted to attack them, but Sir Brietta fought them off, and the two women knights escaped back to their companions. The Welshmen’s mountain ponies could not keep up with the stronger warhorses, and they soon abandoned their pursuit.
The group, led by Michael Falconer, found the cliffs where eagles and coots nested. Sir Bleddyn volunteered to scale the cliffs and steal eggs from their nests. He was easily able to reach the coots, and took several eggs without difficulty. Stealing from the eagles proved more difficult, as the parents attacked him. He attempted in vain to defend himself from their incensed talons with his knife on the summit of the mountain. When this proved ineffective, he decided to simply climb down again, ignoring the eagle as best he could. Sir Bleddyn managed to climb down the mountain again, even with an eagle tearing at his face, and Michael Falconer shooed off the attacking eagle. When the knights returned to Salisbury, they installed the eggs in their new enclosures. The Allegorical Zoo was complete!
That winter, Sir Helbur was married to Lady Jenna with much pomp and ceremony in the grand hall of Sarum. Sir Brietta drank too much, and the next morning woke up naked save for a codpiece in the camel enclosure, with no idea of how she got there. In addition, Sir Esther had visitors: two of the Ladies of the Lake had come for her adopted daughter. They won over Sir Esther by impressing upon her how the girl’s power would grow to be a threat to her unless she was trained in its use – and so the girl Nimue was taken from Amesbury and her playmate Morgan, to go to Glastonbury and train to become one of the Ladies of the Lake. Sir Esther was assured that she could visit whenever she wanted. Sir Brietta confessed to Sir Esther that she had told Lady Nineve about Nimue when they were travelling in the Forest Sauvage. Sir Esther forgave Sir Brietta, and as the snows began to thaw, the two travelled west to Glastonbury, to visit Nimue and the Ladies.
Friday 25 October 2013
497 AD: The Forest Sauvage
Sir Cadfael was morose this year, brooding over what had been taken from him
by the faerie knight he had encountered in the forests around Winchester. To
lose all sensation of feeling, scent and taste of his beautiful wife Violette
was a heavy curse. His annual reunion with her in Illwind had been awkward, and
he had returned to his lands in Salisbury early, trying to decide how to find
his fey adversary and reclaim what was lost. However, his plans were
interrupted by the arrival of a cloaked traveller, come to entreat his aid.
The traveller was Bronwyn, the intelligent handmaiden of Lady Violette who had aided him in his courtship. Illwind Castle was haunted! For years, they had shielded themselves behind a web of deceit, intended to frighten any who meant them harm away from the defenceless homes. But now Illwind was beset by the same ghosts that they had used on others, but this time they were no charade! Odie, the old wisewoman who had masterminded the ruses, had perished in an attempt to confront the hauntings. Furthermore, any who sought to escape the town were attacked by a Black Knight, much like the one that Violette herself played. Only Bronwyn had managed to slip past it, and had then made haste to beseech Sir Cadfael and his companions to save Illwind.
There were other concerns in Salisbury as well. Peasants were in rebellion in Winterbourne Stoke, the former home of Sir Neddig, who had died at Saint Albans. They had attacked Sir Bremius, the steward of Winterbourne Stoke, and his tax collectors with sticks. Now Sir Bremius hid in the manor house and plotted his next move, while the peasants built barricades around their village. Sir Esther and Sir George met with Sir Cadfael, and they decided to ride first to Winterbourne Stoke, before continuing north to aid Illwind.
It did not take the three knights long to resolve the situation in Winterbourne Stoke. They soon discovered that Sir Bremius had been a neglectful lord, who still insisted on his feudal due despite the condition of the estate, and despite the terrible storm of the previous year. The peasants, meanwhile, had been lying about the extent of the damage done, so that they could survive comfortably. The knights could see that both sides were right, and both sides wrong. Sir Esther soon resolved the situation by arranging for Sir Bremius to collect the tribute from the village, the peasants to be fed from her own pocket, and a steward to be hired to prevent the situation from deteriorating again. In this way, the peasant rebellion was easily quashed without recriminations.
The three knights then headed north to the Campecorentin Forest and Illwind. They were delayed by an encounter upon the road - a group of robber knights attacking a merchant and his family. The knights of Salisbury easily overcame the robbers and brought them back to Salisbury to face the legal consequences of their action, and gave the brigand knights' armour and horses to the merchants in recompense for those that had been slain.
At this time, Sir Cadfael, Sir Esther, and Sir George were joined by Sir Brietta, and they returned north to Illwind, to seek out the cause of whatever was plaguing the town. Sir Cadfael went first to see his wife, who was still grief-stricken after the death of Odie, who was like a mother to her. The tension between them as a result of the fae curse, and Violette's grief, soon led to the two quarrelling, and before long Sir Cadfael made his departure, to help search the village for signs of what was going on.
The knights spread out to investigate the goings-on. They all experienced strange and unsettling occurrences as they did so - a house making strange noises, a peasant who was being stalked by something unseen whenever alone, a puppy that seemed to speak, a woman who seemed to be giving the Evil Eye. (In this last case, Sir Brietta soon realised that the woman simply had a lazy eye!) They also met some people with definite opinions about what was going on. Sir Cadfael was led astray by a deranged woman called Cya; when she implicated Lady Violette in the goings-on, Sir Cadfael refused to have anything more to do with her. A younger woman, Kada, was quite offensive: she blamed all the problems on the interloper knights. Illwind had never had any problems before they came along! Sir Esther managed to calm her. Meanwhile, Sir George dealt with Oda, who was jealous of Kada and tried to blame her.
Something definitely seemed to be happening here. Suddenly Sir Esther remembered the stone which Merlin had given her brother Percival years ago. A stone with a naturally occurring hole in it - an elfstone, which could see the truth behind all glamour! She had worn it for years as a keepsake. But now, when it was needed, it was gone! Whatever mysterious force was behind this had taken it. And on top of all this, the knights had the strange sensation that someone, glimpsed from the corner of the eye, was watching them. Sir Brietta began to hunt for the elfstone, and saw a small form, like a child, heading into the Campecorentin Forest.
Sir Brietta and Sir Cadfael entered the Campecorentin Forest as well, to follow the strange youth. The path led them deeper into the forest, where the two intrepid hunters followed... off the edge of a cliff. Sir Cadfael was gravely hurt in the fall, and would not respond intelligibly to his companion. Sir Brietta, who was less hurt, put a splint on his broken leg, set up a campfire, and waited for the morning, when the other two knights might come and help them. During the long watch of the night, a spectre impersonating Kada appeared nude to Sir Brietta and tried to tempt her from the campfire. Though sorely tempted, Sir Brietta stayed to guard over Sir Cadfael, and the visitation vanished.
The next morning, the other two knights and their squires entered the forest and soon found Sir Brietta and Sir Cadfael, who had now lapsed into a feverish unconsciousness. They were able to rig up a travois to help him back to town, and began to transport him, when they realised that they were not alone. The terrible spectre of the Black Knight - like unto Lady Violette's alter-ego, but larger, more imposing, and more real in every way - was following behind them. Sir George went to confront this devil, but his nerve failed him at the last moment, and he fled into the town. The Black Knight watched him go, and then wheeled his immense war-horse and vanished into the forest.
Sir Cadfael was rushed into the castle and to the tender ministrations of his lady wife. Then a council-of-war was called, to deliberate about what it was that beset Illwind, and what could be done about it. Sir Brietta had realised that the entity was of faerie, a being of deceit that was attracted to the village due to the charade perpetrated there, and which was now causing chaos by turning that very deceit against those who dwelt there. Since it was drawn to lies, the knights now attempted to summon the faerie by lying, but Sir George, Sir Brietta, and Sir Esther were unconvincing and unenthusiastic liars at best, and the faerie did not manifest itself.
Lady Violette sighed, and stroked her temporarily lucid husband's face. "Don't worry, my love," she said. "I didn't mean any of those things that I said before. What happened to you has not changed anything about how I feel about you," she said, her heart breaking as she said it. The faerie became apparent by the door, a short and gleeful fellow. The knights rushed at him, trying to grab him, but he easily slipped their clumsy attempts. Sir Brietta stared, fascinated. She had long been obsessed with the world of faerie, and the story of her sister's journey with Merlin into that land, and dreamed of doing the same herself. She thrust her companions aside. "Faerie, take me with you!" she screamed, and the fae spirit acknowledged her, grinned, and then vanished.
As did Sir Brietta.
The haunting of Illwind was now at an end, as Sir Brietta and the deceitful faerie departed together. The Black Knight (which was no more than another illusion) was gone, and so Sir Esther, Sir George and Lady Violette set out to find the place in the forest where the faerie had been keeping all the livestock and valuables which it had taken from the village. Sir Brietta's squire Jamie found a cave full of animals, and with the missing elfstone as well! However, the cave also turned out to be the abode of an angry bear, which had been expelled by the faerie. Now it was free to return home, and attacked the panicking livestock, turning the scene into a confused massacre! The knights, deciding not to confront a furious bear, fled with the elfstone, leaving most of the animals to be slaughtered.
The group spent some time in Illwind, waiting for Sir Cadfael to recuperate. Their next destination was the Forest Sauvage, where Sir Cadfael hoped to find the faerie knight who had stolen his senses. Lady Violette donned her armour as well: she was going to accompany them, along with Bronwyn, and there was nothing that they could do to dissuade her.
The group decided to pass by Rydychan, after their misadventures of the previous year, and instead took the road north to Wuerensis, entering the forest from the west. Here they met guards belonging to the kingdom of Tribuit, which were preventing anyone from entering the strangeness that lay beyond their lands. Rather than provoke a fight, the knights decided to withdraw and seek to enter further to the north. Entering off the road only led them astray, however. Even with the elfstone to reveal the truth behind the shifting paths, they soon became lost, and after a few days of aimlessly wandering emerged from the south-east of the forest near Bedford, over fifty miles away.
In Bedford, the knights heard a strange story: nearby was Stevington Well, a magical spring with healing waters. The knights received directions towards the well, but once they entered the forest, they soon became lost once more, and missed the path that would have taken them to the well. In the midst of the forest, a terrible wind soon rose, whipping words away. The boughs of the trees shuddered, and a terrible pelting rain fell. Howls came from all around, and the sound of hooves: it was the Devil himself, a skeletal form with flaming eyes, and his hellhounds, come to hunt for the souls of the damned! No mortal instruments could withstand the Devil, and so the knights fell on their knees and began to pray. Sir Esther began to praise God and Jesus Christ in loud, ringing terms, and the savage yelps of the dogs turned to whining as they shied away. So powerful was her faith that the Devil could not touch her, or any with her, and soon he departed with his hounds, vanishing deeper into the forest.
After this traumatic encounter, the knights continued along to find a fort in the middle of the forest, with its gates wide open and no sentries to be seen! They cautiously entered, to find the guards reclining within, relaxing by talking, drinking, and playing chess. Sir Garmon, a rotund knight who was the lord of the Castle of Ease, welcomed them and offered the knights his hospitality, which they were anxious to refuse, seeing how slothful the castle made its inhabitants. But in the name of hospitality, they were honour-bound to take one meal there. The food was plentiful and delicious, the wine rich but never intoxicating, and a very pleasant evening was had by all – but when the feast ended, it was too late at night for the knights to continue deeper into the forest. Sir Garmon offered them rooms for the night, with soft and luxurious beds for them to sleep in. They slept deeply, and woke in time to refresh themselves for the next meal… and so it went, until Sir Brietta realised that they had been in the Castle of Ease for over a week already! Fortunately, she did not find it hard to rouse the others to action, and they immediately made their apologies to Sir Garmon. The genial host regretted that they had to go, but saw them to the road, and welcomed them to return any time they so desired.
Continuing deeper into the ever-shifting pathways of the Forest Sauvage, the knights continued to wander for many days. At one point they were attacked by a group of bandits, driven nearly feral as a result of being lost in the enchanted woods. The night after the bandit attack, all four of the travellers experienced the same, strange nightmare. They dreamed that they were upon a hillside, overlooking a village. As they watched, an immense snake slithered forth and spat upon the little wooden church within the village. Smoke hissed off the church as it burned and melted from the serpent’s venom. Once the church was no more than ashes, the snake coiled widdershins about a second hill, rearing back as if to strike. The snake’s body shifted to become the walls of a castle, and its raised head became a tower. With a fearsome sound, the gates of the castle opened wide, and began constantly vomiting forth many more snakes, like unto the first but smaller, which spread out from the village and returned with fledgling eagles, young lambs, wolf cubs and human babies in their envenomed maws. With this, the nightmare faded. Lady Violette, shaken, identified that the snake coiling widdershins was a sign of bad luck or evil –as if the rest of the vision had not been ominous enough!
The next morning, the travellers were met by a strange woman upon the road, who seemed to know them by name. “I have need of your aid, brave knights,” she said, “or else a great evil shall be loosed upon the land.” The woman was Nineve, one of the Ladies of the Lake. She warned the four heroes that the task before them would be truly perilous, but that for the good of Logres it must be undertaken. Nearby was the village of Medbourne, which was ruled over by Sir Gorboduc the Fiend. Sir Cadfael and Sir Esther remembered Sir Brietta having spoken of this Sir Gorboduc, of whom she had heard fell tales. The former lord of Medbourne had been one Sir Staterius, whose daughter had become pregnant when she visited a faerie well on Samhain night, and was delivered nine months later of a fiendish child, dying in childbirth. Gorboduc grew to the height of a man within only seven years, and terrorised the area. At the age of nine, he slew his grandfather and seized control of Medbourne. Nineve revealed that Sir Gorboduc and his reavers planned to abduct virgins from the area and then tie them down at the faerie well to be raped, and thus engender an army of monsters like Sir Gorboduc. Although the peril would be great, the knights agreed that the Fiend had to be vanquished.
At noon on the next day, the knights reached Medbourne, the village of which they had dreamed, and saw the fearsome tower being constructed. Guards were watching over the workers – and by the flails in their hands, they were not above using force to motivate their labour. The four warriors drew their weapons and charged into battle. However, Sir Esther did not wish to slay the brigands, who she saw as not culpable in their master’s devilry, and did not fight with all of her prowess. Furthermore, Lady Violette was not a trained combatant as were the others, and struggled to defeat her adversary. Soon the advantage of surprise was lost, and reinforcements appeared from Medbourne, leaving the knights grievously outnumbered. Sir George, incensed with rage, lost control of himself and charged them, but left his defences open and was struck down. The situation seemed hopeless.
Sir Cadfael, deciding that there was no means of victory, flung himself at the bandits, shouting for Sir Esther and his beloved wife Lady Violette to flee. Sir Esther was swift to comply, mounting her horse and pausing only to drag away Sir George’s gravely wounded body. Lady Violette remained, however, unable to abandon her husband. She could only watch her husband’s final moments. Sir Cadfael was a truly mighty warrior, but the weight of numbers was too great for him to prevail. Blades hewed into him and brought him low, and the great hero perished. Lady Violette howled in rage and charged forward, seeking to slake her grief with the blood of those who had slain her husband. In a berserker fury, she struck down several of them, but her sword shattered in her hand and she was herself laid low, to the very edge of death. Sir Esther cried in horror, and then wheeled her steed and departed with Sir George.
Still barely alive, Lady Violette saw Sir Gorboduc approach. The immense fiend taunted her – but the fire that burnt in her veins would not be extinguished so swiftly. “You… slew… my… love!” she gasped, and with her final burst of strength she seized Sir Cadfael’s sword and cleft the demonic knight in twain, before falling dead upon the body of her own true love.
Lady Nineve met Sir Esther in Medbourne and sorrowfully congratulated her – for the Lady knew what had transpired as it happened, and the price that had been paid for victory. She used her potions and unguents to bring Sir George back from the brink of death. As for the fallen, there was no sign of Sir Gorboduc’s body save a scorched mark on the ground where the grass had burned away. Sir Cadfael and Lady Violette she had placed in a single tomb. Above it she placed a stone bearing the inscription: “Here lies Cadfael and Violette – two lovers who gave all for the sake of all.” Over the graves she planted two trees, whose branches would in future years grow together over the graves.
Sir Esther and Sir George slowly returned south, shattered by the tragic events that had befallen. They found Salisbury in ruins. In their absence, a Saxon warband allied with the Steward of Leucomagus had attacked, ravaging the countryside. Despite the damage, the Saxons had been repulsed by Marshal Elad and the forces which he had been training ever since the Battle of Saint Albans. His victory had kept Salisbury free, and the Countess Ellen had been forced to pay a humiliating tribute to force the Saxons to withdraw. However, they had grown angry with their erstwhile ally, who had lied to them about the defences of Salisbury in a self-serving attempt to seize the Countess’ hand, and had left him behind for the defenders of Salisbury. Sir Rhisiart of Leucomagus languished a captive in the dungeons of Sarum.
As the year drew to a close, Sir Brietta emerged, looking more savage than usual as a result of her sojourn with the faerie of Illwind. It had grown tired of her and had abandoned her. She had other news awaiting her at home: her child Deidre by Sir Helbur, which had been conceived in the magical Forest Sauvage, had apparently grown wings and flown away!
She was also concerned about her changeling nephew Bert, who she feared might become a second Sir Gorboduc. This fear grew worse when she learned that the changeling had slipped away and gone to the nunnery at Amesbury, doubtlessly for some horrible purpose. But at Amesbury, she discovered that the changeling had met Sir Esther’s adopted daughter, who had been entrusted to her many years earlier by Merlin, and this miraculous child had somehow managed to pacify the changeling’s wild urges.
And so the year drew to a close. It had been a time of great tragedy and great heroism also, for all those who dwelt in Salisbury.
The traveller was Bronwyn, the intelligent handmaiden of Lady Violette who had aided him in his courtship. Illwind Castle was haunted! For years, they had shielded themselves behind a web of deceit, intended to frighten any who meant them harm away from the defenceless homes. But now Illwind was beset by the same ghosts that they had used on others, but this time they were no charade! Odie, the old wisewoman who had masterminded the ruses, had perished in an attempt to confront the hauntings. Furthermore, any who sought to escape the town were attacked by a Black Knight, much like the one that Violette herself played. Only Bronwyn had managed to slip past it, and had then made haste to beseech Sir Cadfael and his companions to save Illwind.
There were other concerns in Salisbury as well. Peasants were in rebellion in Winterbourne Stoke, the former home of Sir Neddig, who had died at Saint Albans. They had attacked Sir Bremius, the steward of Winterbourne Stoke, and his tax collectors with sticks. Now Sir Bremius hid in the manor house and plotted his next move, while the peasants built barricades around their village. Sir Esther and Sir George met with Sir Cadfael, and they decided to ride first to Winterbourne Stoke, before continuing north to aid Illwind.
It did not take the three knights long to resolve the situation in Winterbourne Stoke. They soon discovered that Sir Bremius had been a neglectful lord, who still insisted on his feudal due despite the condition of the estate, and despite the terrible storm of the previous year. The peasants, meanwhile, had been lying about the extent of the damage done, so that they could survive comfortably. The knights could see that both sides were right, and both sides wrong. Sir Esther soon resolved the situation by arranging for Sir Bremius to collect the tribute from the village, the peasants to be fed from her own pocket, and a steward to be hired to prevent the situation from deteriorating again. In this way, the peasant rebellion was easily quashed without recriminations.
The three knights then headed north to the Campecorentin Forest and Illwind. They were delayed by an encounter upon the road - a group of robber knights attacking a merchant and his family. The knights of Salisbury easily overcame the robbers and brought them back to Salisbury to face the legal consequences of their action, and gave the brigand knights' armour and horses to the merchants in recompense for those that had been slain.
At this time, Sir Cadfael, Sir Esther, and Sir George were joined by Sir Brietta, and they returned north to Illwind, to seek out the cause of whatever was plaguing the town. Sir Cadfael went first to see his wife, who was still grief-stricken after the death of Odie, who was like a mother to her. The tension between them as a result of the fae curse, and Violette's grief, soon led to the two quarrelling, and before long Sir Cadfael made his departure, to help search the village for signs of what was going on.
The knights spread out to investigate the goings-on. They all experienced strange and unsettling occurrences as they did so - a house making strange noises, a peasant who was being stalked by something unseen whenever alone, a puppy that seemed to speak, a woman who seemed to be giving the Evil Eye. (In this last case, Sir Brietta soon realised that the woman simply had a lazy eye!) They also met some people with definite opinions about what was going on. Sir Cadfael was led astray by a deranged woman called Cya; when she implicated Lady Violette in the goings-on, Sir Cadfael refused to have anything more to do with her. A younger woman, Kada, was quite offensive: she blamed all the problems on the interloper knights. Illwind had never had any problems before they came along! Sir Esther managed to calm her. Meanwhile, Sir George dealt with Oda, who was jealous of Kada and tried to blame her.
Something definitely seemed to be happening here. Suddenly Sir Esther remembered the stone which Merlin had given her brother Percival years ago. A stone with a naturally occurring hole in it - an elfstone, which could see the truth behind all glamour! She had worn it for years as a keepsake. But now, when it was needed, it was gone! Whatever mysterious force was behind this had taken it. And on top of all this, the knights had the strange sensation that someone, glimpsed from the corner of the eye, was watching them. Sir Brietta began to hunt for the elfstone, and saw a small form, like a child, heading into the Campecorentin Forest.
Sir Brietta and Sir Cadfael entered the Campecorentin Forest as well, to follow the strange youth. The path led them deeper into the forest, where the two intrepid hunters followed... off the edge of a cliff. Sir Cadfael was gravely hurt in the fall, and would not respond intelligibly to his companion. Sir Brietta, who was less hurt, put a splint on his broken leg, set up a campfire, and waited for the morning, when the other two knights might come and help them. During the long watch of the night, a spectre impersonating Kada appeared nude to Sir Brietta and tried to tempt her from the campfire. Though sorely tempted, Sir Brietta stayed to guard over Sir Cadfael, and the visitation vanished.
The next morning, the other two knights and their squires entered the forest and soon found Sir Brietta and Sir Cadfael, who had now lapsed into a feverish unconsciousness. They were able to rig up a travois to help him back to town, and began to transport him, when they realised that they were not alone. The terrible spectre of the Black Knight - like unto Lady Violette's alter-ego, but larger, more imposing, and more real in every way - was following behind them. Sir George went to confront this devil, but his nerve failed him at the last moment, and he fled into the town. The Black Knight watched him go, and then wheeled his immense war-horse and vanished into the forest.
Sir Cadfael was rushed into the castle and to the tender ministrations of his lady wife. Then a council-of-war was called, to deliberate about what it was that beset Illwind, and what could be done about it. Sir Brietta had realised that the entity was of faerie, a being of deceit that was attracted to the village due to the charade perpetrated there, and which was now causing chaos by turning that very deceit against those who dwelt there. Since it was drawn to lies, the knights now attempted to summon the faerie by lying, but Sir George, Sir Brietta, and Sir Esther were unconvincing and unenthusiastic liars at best, and the faerie did not manifest itself.
Lady Violette sighed, and stroked her temporarily lucid husband's face. "Don't worry, my love," she said. "I didn't mean any of those things that I said before. What happened to you has not changed anything about how I feel about you," she said, her heart breaking as she said it. The faerie became apparent by the door, a short and gleeful fellow. The knights rushed at him, trying to grab him, but he easily slipped their clumsy attempts. Sir Brietta stared, fascinated. She had long been obsessed with the world of faerie, and the story of her sister's journey with Merlin into that land, and dreamed of doing the same herself. She thrust her companions aside. "Faerie, take me with you!" she screamed, and the fae spirit acknowledged her, grinned, and then vanished.
As did Sir Brietta.
The haunting of Illwind was now at an end, as Sir Brietta and the deceitful faerie departed together. The Black Knight (which was no more than another illusion) was gone, and so Sir Esther, Sir George and Lady Violette set out to find the place in the forest where the faerie had been keeping all the livestock and valuables which it had taken from the village. Sir Brietta's squire Jamie found a cave full of animals, and with the missing elfstone as well! However, the cave also turned out to be the abode of an angry bear, which had been expelled by the faerie. Now it was free to return home, and attacked the panicking livestock, turning the scene into a confused massacre! The knights, deciding not to confront a furious bear, fled with the elfstone, leaving most of the animals to be slaughtered.
The group spent some time in Illwind, waiting for Sir Cadfael to recuperate. Their next destination was the Forest Sauvage, where Sir Cadfael hoped to find the faerie knight who had stolen his senses. Lady Violette donned her armour as well: she was going to accompany them, along with Bronwyn, and there was nothing that they could do to dissuade her.
The group decided to pass by Rydychan, after their misadventures of the previous year, and instead took the road north to Wuerensis, entering the forest from the west. Here they met guards belonging to the kingdom of Tribuit, which were preventing anyone from entering the strangeness that lay beyond their lands. Rather than provoke a fight, the knights decided to withdraw and seek to enter further to the north. Entering off the road only led them astray, however. Even with the elfstone to reveal the truth behind the shifting paths, they soon became lost, and after a few days of aimlessly wandering emerged from the south-east of the forest near Bedford, over fifty miles away.
In Bedford, the knights heard a strange story: nearby was Stevington Well, a magical spring with healing waters. The knights received directions towards the well, but once they entered the forest, they soon became lost once more, and missed the path that would have taken them to the well. In the midst of the forest, a terrible wind soon rose, whipping words away. The boughs of the trees shuddered, and a terrible pelting rain fell. Howls came from all around, and the sound of hooves: it was the Devil himself, a skeletal form with flaming eyes, and his hellhounds, come to hunt for the souls of the damned! No mortal instruments could withstand the Devil, and so the knights fell on their knees and began to pray. Sir Esther began to praise God and Jesus Christ in loud, ringing terms, and the savage yelps of the dogs turned to whining as they shied away. So powerful was her faith that the Devil could not touch her, or any with her, and soon he departed with his hounds, vanishing deeper into the forest.
After this traumatic encounter, the knights continued along to find a fort in the middle of the forest, with its gates wide open and no sentries to be seen! They cautiously entered, to find the guards reclining within, relaxing by talking, drinking, and playing chess. Sir Garmon, a rotund knight who was the lord of the Castle of Ease, welcomed them and offered the knights his hospitality, which they were anxious to refuse, seeing how slothful the castle made its inhabitants. But in the name of hospitality, they were honour-bound to take one meal there. The food was plentiful and delicious, the wine rich but never intoxicating, and a very pleasant evening was had by all – but when the feast ended, it was too late at night for the knights to continue deeper into the forest. Sir Garmon offered them rooms for the night, with soft and luxurious beds for them to sleep in. They slept deeply, and woke in time to refresh themselves for the next meal… and so it went, until Sir Brietta realised that they had been in the Castle of Ease for over a week already! Fortunately, she did not find it hard to rouse the others to action, and they immediately made their apologies to Sir Garmon. The genial host regretted that they had to go, but saw them to the road, and welcomed them to return any time they so desired.
Continuing deeper into the ever-shifting pathways of the Forest Sauvage, the knights continued to wander for many days. At one point they were attacked by a group of bandits, driven nearly feral as a result of being lost in the enchanted woods. The night after the bandit attack, all four of the travellers experienced the same, strange nightmare. They dreamed that they were upon a hillside, overlooking a village. As they watched, an immense snake slithered forth and spat upon the little wooden church within the village. Smoke hissed off the church as it burned and melted from the serpent’s venom. Once the church was no more than ashes, the snake coiled widdershins about a second hill, rearing back as if to strike. The snake’s body shifted to become the walls of a castle, and its raised head became a tower. With a fearsome sound, the gates of the castle opened wide, and began constantly vomiting forth many more snakes, like unto the first but smaller, which spread out from the village and returned with fledgling eagles, young lambs, wolf cubs and human babies in their envenomed maws. With this, the nightmare faded. Lady Violette, shaken, identified that the snake coiling widdershins was a sign of bad luck or evil –as if the rest of the vision had not been ominous enough!
The next morning, the travellers were met by a strange woman upon the road, who seemed to know them by name. “I have need of your aid, brave knights,” she said, “or else a great evil shall be loosed upon the land.” The woman was Nineve, one of the Ladies of the Lake. She warned the four heroes that the task before them would be truly perilous, but that for the good of Logres it must be undertaken. Nearby was the village of Medbourne, which was ruled over by Sir Gorboduc the Fiend. Sir Cadfael and Sir Esther remembered Sir Brietta having spoken of this Sir Gorboduc, of whom she had heard fell tales. The former lord of Medbourne had been one Sir Staterius, whose daughter had become pregnant when she visited a faerie well on Samhain night, and was delivered nine months later of a fiendish child, dying in childbirth. Gorboduc grew to the height of a man within only seven years, and terrorised the area. At the age of nine, he slew his grandfather and seized control of Medbourne. Nineve revealed that Sir Gorboduc and his reavers planned to abduct virgins from the area and then tie them down at the faerie well to be raped, and thus engender an army of monsters like Sir Gorboduc. Although the peril would be great, the knights agreed that the Fiend had to be vanquished.
At noon on the next day, the knights reached Medbourne, the village of which they had dreamed, and saw the fearsome tower being constructed. Guards were watching over the workers – and by the flails in their hands, they were not above using force to motivate their labour. The four warriors drew their weapons and charged into battle. However, Sir Esther did not wish to slay the brigands, who she saw as not culpable in their master’s devilry, and did not fight with all of her prowess. Furthermore, Lady Violette was not a trained combatant as were the others, and struggled to defeat her adversary. Soon the advantage of surprise was lost, and reinforcements appeared from Medbourne, leaving the knights grievously outnumbered. Sir George, incensed with rage, lost control of himself and charged them, but left his defences open and was struck down. The situation seemed hopeless.
Sir Cadfael, deciding that there was no means of victory, flung himself at the bandits, shouting for Sir Esther and his beloved wife Lady Violette to flee. Sir Esther was swift to comply, mounting her horse and pausing only to drag away Sir George’s gravely wounded body. Lady Violette remained, however, unable to abandon her husband. She could only watch her husband’s final moments. Sir Cadfael was a truly mighty warrior, but the weight of numbers was too great for him to prevail. Blades hewed into him and brought him low, and the great hero perished. Lady Violette howled in rage and charged forward, seeking to slake her grief with the blood of those who had slain her husband. In a berserker fury, she struck down several of them, but her sword shattered in her hand and she was herself laid low, to the very edge of death. Sir Esther cried in horror, and then wheeled her steed and departed with Sir George.
Still barely alive, Lady Violette saw Sir Gorboduc approach. The immense fiend taunted her – but the fire that burnt in her veins would not be extinguished so swiftly. “You… slew… my… love!” she gasped, and with her final burst of strength she seized Sir Cadfael’s sword and cleft the demonic knight in twain, before falling dead upon the body of her own true love.
Lady Nineve met Sir Esther in Medbourne and sorrowfully congratulated her – for the Lady knew what had transpired as it happened, and the price that had been paid for victory. She used her potions and unguents to bring Sir George back from the brink of death. As for the fallen, there was no sign of Sir Gorboduc’s body save a scorched mark on the ground where the grass had burned away. Sir Cadfael and Lady Violette she had placed in a single tomb. Above it she placed a stone bearing the inscription: “Here lies Cadfael and Violette – two lovers who gave all for the sake of all.” Over the graves she planted two trees, whose branches would in future years grow together over the graves.
Sir Esther and Sir George slowly returned south, shattered by the tragic events that had befallen. They found Salisbury in ruins. In their absence, a Saxon warband allied with the Steward of Leucomagus had attacked, ravaging the countryside. Despite the damage, the Saxons had been repulsed by Marshal Elad and the forces which he had been training ever since the Battle of Saint Albans. His victory had kept Salisbury free, and the Countess Ellen had been forced to pay a humiliating tribute to force the Saxons to withdraw. However, they had grown angry with their erstwhile ally, who had lied to them about the defences of Salisbury in a self-serving attempt to seize the Countess’ hand, and had left him behind for the defenders of Salisbury. Sir Rhisiart of Leucomagus languished a captive in the dungeons of Sarum.
As the year drew to a close, Sir Brietta emerged, looking more savage than usual as a result of her sojourn with the faerie of Illwind. It had grown tired of her and had abandoned her. She had other news awaiting her at home: her child Deidre by Sir Helbur, which had been conceived in the magical Forest Sauvage, had apparently grown wings and flown away!
She was also concerned about her changeling nephew Bert, who she feared might become a second Sir Gorboduc. This fear grew worse when she learned that the changeling had slipped away and gone to the nunnery at Amesbury, doubtlessly for some horrible purpose. But at Amesbury, she discovered that the changeling had met Sir Esther’s adopted daughter, who had been entrusted to her many years earlier by Merlin, and this miraculous child had somehow managed to pacify the changeling’s wild urges.
And so the year drew to a close. It had been a time of great tragedy and great heroism also, for all those who dwelt in Salisbury.
Sunday 15 September 2013
496 AD: The Age of Anarchy
A storm swept across Britain.
Winter storms are no strange thing, but at mid-day, the previously cloudless sky grew black with the storm. They mustered with unnatural swiftness, and then unleashed their fury upon the land below: driving rain, terrible lightning, and roaring winds tore at the landscape, before subsiding with similar, unnatural haste. In estates across Salisbury, knights huddled inside their halls with their peasants, hearing the sounds of their lands being ravaged by an enemy more deadly than any Saxon army. Sir Helbur's estates of Newton Tony were particularly badly affected, while Sir Albrecht's old home at Berwick (now administered by Sir George until his son came of age) and Sir Esther's lands at Idmiston escaped largely unscathed.
In the weeks that followed the storm, rebuilding occurred: buildings had been damaged, herds of livestock had perished or escaped, orchards had been uprooted. A summons also came, from Countess Ellen, the acting leader of Salisbury after the death of her husband the year before, summoning her knights to Sarum to advise her. They took their leave of the devastation behind them and travelled to her side.
In the keep of Sarum, unexpected guests waited for them. Aescwine, a Saxon aetheling or prince, sent as envoy to Sarum by his father King Aescalax of Essex to negotiate an alliance. The Saxons of Essex had largely kept inside their borders over the past years, but now Logres was weak, they smelled opportunity. Prince Aescwine offered the protection of Essex in exchange for a tribute of silver and of cattle - or, if they preferred, they could swear fealty to the Saxons and offer military service to aid them. While Sir Esther (still struggling with the weight of having killed, the previous year) was in favour of anything that would prevent further bloodshed, the knights decided collectively to refuse the Saxon offer.
The Countess also had a question to put to her advisors. Should Sarum invest in defensive walls, given that future bloodshed seemed extremely likely? The knights decided that this would be a good idea, and started laying in money to build defensive walls: a stone wall around the central keep, and once that was completed, further walls around the entire city. Over the course of the year, Sir Cadfael and Sir Helbur diverted their income into defending Sarum, and so the central walls were half-completed. In addition, Sir Elad, the elderly Marshal of Salisbury who had survived the Battle of Saint Albans, concentrated his attention on quickly training up a new generation of knights. Salisbury would not be undefended! Sir Elad could also feel the weight of his own years upon him, and so he began to instruct Sir Cadfael, preparing the younger man to take his place when Sir Elad was gone.
A second alliance came to Salisbury soon. The neighbouring duchy of Hampshire had been overthrown by a new force of Saxons during the winter of the previous year, and now an envoy came from 'Wessex', requesting ambassadors be sent to their capital of Winchester. Sir Brietta, Sir Cadfael, Sir Esther, Sir George, and Sir Helbur decided that they would go and see what the new Saxon king wanted. At Winchester, they were welcomed with a succulent feast (though the Saxon food was rather strange) and met King Cerdic of Wessex. He was half-Cymric, half-Saxon by descent, and wished to see Saxons and Cymric live together peacefully. Sir Cadfael did not trust him, however - his father was King Vortigern the tyrant, enemy of the Pendragons and the man who was responsible for the present crisis as he had invited the Saxons to Logres and given them land. While this offer seemed more tempting than the previous one, the five knights felt it most fitting to wait and see what King Cerdic did next, and so declined his offer for the time being.
While in Winchester, the knights decided to go hunting. Sir Cadfael caught sight of an immense white stag and attempted to pursue it, but with no success. Soon he realised that he was separated from his companions and lost in the forest. A knight wearing strange and ornate armour, clad all in white and with a white shield, chastised Sir Cadfael for scaring away his prey, and demanded recompense - he would take away Sir Cadfael's senses of touch, smell and taste, past and present, as they related to his wife Lady Violette. Sir Cadfael challenge the faerie knight to a duel, but was overcome and abandoned in the forest, his memories and senses taken from him forever.
Returning from Winchester, it was time to decide what to do next. All of the knights had heard various things about what was going on: Sir George spoke of the need to journey to Malahaut, to convince the Archbishop of Eburacum to accept Gwionaism. Sir Brietta had heard of the Forest Sauvage, where shadows moved without the sun. Sir Helbur and Sir Cadfael related the tale of Rydychan, where Countess Ellen's sister-in-law Maegan had been overthrown by three brother knights following the death of her husband at Saint Albans. The knights decided to travel to Rydychan, to locate Countess Maegan (who had vanished during the uprising) and to restore her to power - hopefully gaining a useful ally for Salisbury in the process!
Before leaving, they spoke to travellers to learn about the three brothers: Sir Basil the eldest, Sir Beleus the wastrel and Sir Bege the ambitious. It was decided that the knights would split into two groups. Sir Helbur and Sir Brietta would scour the countryside for news of the missing Countess, while Sir Cadfael, Sir Esther and Sir George spoke to Sir Bege and attempted to turn him against his brothers by playing on his ambitions. While they managed to gain an audience with young Sir Bege with ease, the rest was less easy. Sir Bege seemed amenable to the idea of betraying his brothers and becoming the hero who restored the Countess, but he had no idea where she was, and ultimately decided to trust his brothers over a group of strangers. Sir Cadfael, Sir Esther and Sir George were imprisoned, and a squire sent forth to seek ransom.
Sir Brietta and Sir Helbur encountered the squire as they rode throughout Rydychan, trying to find some sign of the missing Countess. They contemplated attacking Sir Bege's castle to attempt to free their companions, but decided against it - it was too risky, and the three knights could easily afford to pay their ransom. They decided to focus on the Countess instead. They suspected that either she had been imprisoned by Sir Basil, or that she had fled - most likely southwards to her sister-in-law in Salisbury - but no peasants were willing to speak with them, and all their attentions brought them was a force of men-at-arms, led by a knight of Rydychan loyal to Sir Basil. The two fled on horseback, with the enemy in close pursuit, but the knights of Salisbury were superior riders and were able to use their skill to engage the enemy one-by-one. The men-at-arms fell easily to the flashing blades of Sir Brietta and Sir Helbur, and then hardy Sir Brietta slew the knight leading them.
There was still no sign of the Countess, and Rydychan had been alerted to their presence. The two knights decided that their mission had been a failure. However, at the urging of Sir Brietta, they went on a further quest, to the forest just north of Rydychan - the mysterious Forest Sauvage! There, they were soon lost, bewildered by strange sounds and by paths which seemed to shift under their feet even as they travelled upon them! The two knights encountered a marvellous serpent, fully twelve feet in length, its body divided into bright red, blue and green, its fangs dripping venom and a terrible barb upon its tail.
They decided that discretion was the better part of valour. Continuing through the forest, they encountered a group of bandits, also lost and almost feral, who they slew with great ease. The stress was taking its toll on the two knights, and led to them having sex in the Forest Sauvage - which would leave Sir Brietta pregnant.
Finally, they encountered a hunting party, and discovered that they were now on the opposite side of the forest from where they entered, even though only a week had passed! The two knights found themselves in Lonazep, on the north-east of Logres. They stayed there as guests of the Marshal of Lonazep for a few days, and heard strange news: a small force of Saxon settlers had recently landed on the coast. The Marshal had led forces to repel them, but they were better armed and organised than the usual Saxons, and easily defeated his force - then promptly fled east, into the fens of the Wash. Most peculiar!
The five knights of Salisbury were reunited in Sarum much later that year, Sir Brietta and Sir Helbur having travelled south, and the other three having paid their ransoms and been released by Sir Bege. In Salisbury, terrible news awaited Sir Brietta. Her younger brother was dead, the result of broken glass in his wine, and the killer was... her nephew, Bert? For Bert was now many years older than he should have been, foul-featured and hairy. He was a fairy changeling! The previous year, when the Questing Beast had barked and then vanished, both dog and child had been abducted by the fae, and the changeling left in their place.
Sir Brietta ordered the child sequestered but not harmed, and immediately made plans for the next year, to travel north once again to the Forest Sauvage and to seek out the stolen child. Sir Cadfael was keen to accompany her, to reclaim what had been taken from him by the faerie knight. Meanwhile, Sir Esther (who had recovered from her depression after being spoken harshly to by Sir Brietta and told to toughen up) had been in correspondence with the eccentric monk Eilmer of Malmesbury, who had studied the strange storm of months earlier and deduce that it had originated in the Forest Sauvage. Surely the answer to all these puzzles lay somewhere beneath the boughs of that fae wilderness...
Winter storms are no strange thing, but at mid-day, the previously cloudless sky grew black with the storm. They mustered with unnatural swiftness, and then unleashed their fury upon the land below: driving rain, terrible lightning, and roaring winds tore at the landscape, before subsiding with similar, unnatural haste. In estates across Salisbury, knights huddled inside their halls with their peasants, hearing the sounds of their lands being ravaged by an enemy more deadly than any Saxon army. Sir Helbur's estates of Newton Tony were particularly badly affected, while Sir Albrecht's old home at Berwick (now administered by Sir George until his son came of age) and Sir Esther's lands at Idmiston escaped largely unscathed.
In the weeks that followed the storm, rebuilding occurred: buildings had been damaged, herds of livestock had perished or escaped, orchards had been uprooted. A summons also came, from Countess Ellen, the acting leader of Salisbury after the death of her husband the year before, summoning her knights to Sarum to advise her. They took their leave of the devastation behind them and travelled to her side.
In the keep of Sarum, unexpected guests waited for them. Aescwine, a Saxon aetheling or prince, sent as envoy to Sarum by his father King Aescalax of Essex to negotiate an alliance. The Saxons of Essex had largely kept inside their borders over the past years, but now Logres was weak, they smelled opportunity. Prince Aescwine offered the protection of Essex in exchange for a tribute of silver and of cattle - or, if they preferred, they could swear fealty to the Saxons and offer military service to aid them. While Sir Esther (still struggling with the weight of having killed, the previous year) was in favour of anything that would prevent further bloodshed, the knights decided collectively to refuse the Saxon offer.
The Countess also had a question to put to her advisors. Should Sarum invest in defensive walls, given that future bloodshed seemed extremely likely? The knights decided that this would be a good idea, and started laying in money to build defensive walls: a stone wall around the central keep, and once that was completed, further walls around the entire city. Over the course of the year, Sir Cadfael and Sir Helbur diverted their income into defending Sarum, and so the central walls were half-completed. In addition, Sir Elad, the elderly Marshal of Salisbury who had survived the Battle of Saint Albans, concentrated his attention on quickly training up a new generation of knights. Salisbury would not be undefended! Sir Elad could also feel the weight of his own years upon him, and so he began to instruct Sir Cadfael, preparing the younger man to take his place when Sir Elad was gone.
A second alliance came to Salisbury soon. The neighbouring duchy of Hampshire had been overthrown by a new force of Saxons during the winter of the previous year, and now an envoy came from 'Wessex', requesting ambassadors be sent to their capital of Winchester. Sir Brietta, Sir Cadfael, Sir Esther, Sir George, and Sir Helbur decided that they would go and see what the new Saxon king wanted. At Winchester, they were welcomed with a succulent feast (though the Saxon food was rather strange) and met King Cerdic of Wessex. He was half-Cymric, half-Saxon by descent, and wished to see Saxons and Cymric live together peacefully. Sir Cadfael did not trust him, however - his father was King Vortigern the tyrant, enemy of the Pendragons and the man who was responsible for the present crisis as he had invited the Saxons to Logres and given them land. While this offer seemed more tempting than the previous one, the five knights felt it most fitting to wait and see what King Cerdic did next, and so declined his offer for the time being.
While in Winchester, the knights decided to go hunting. Sir Cadfael caught sight of an immense white stag and attempted to pursue it, but with no success. Soon he realised that he was separated from his companions and lost in the forest. A knight wearing strange and ornate armour, clad all in white and with a white shield, chastised Sir Cadfael for scaring away his prey, and demanded recompense - he would take away Sir Cadfael's senses of touch, smell and taste, past and present, as they related to his wife Lady Violette. Sir Cadfael challenge the faerie knight to a duel, but was overcome and abandoned in the forest, his memories and senses taken from him forever.
Returning from Winchester, it was time to decide what to do next. All of the knights had heard various things about what was going on: Sir George spoke of the need to journey to Malahaut, to convince the Archbishop of Eburacum to accept Gwionaism. Sir Brietta had heard of the Forest Sauvage, where shadows moved without the sun. Sir Helbur and Sir Cadfael related the tale of Rydychan, where Countess Ellen's sister-in-law Maegan had been overthrown by three brother knights following the death of her husband at Saint Albans. The knights decided to travel to Rydychan, to locate Countess Maegan (who had vanished during the uprising) and to restore her to power - hopefully gaining a useful ally for Salisbury in the process!
Before leaving, they spoke to travellers to learn about the three brothers: Sir Basil the eldest, Sir Beleus the wastrel and Sir Bege the ambitious. It was decided that the knights would split into two groups. Sir Helbur and Sir Brietta would scour the countryside for news of the missing Countess, while Sir Cadfael, Sir Esther and Sir George spoke to Sir Bege and attempted to turn him against his brothers by playing on his ambitions. While they managed to gain an audience with young Sir Bege with ease, the rest was less easy. Sir Bege seemed amenable to the idea of betraying his brothers and becoming the hero who restored the Countess, but he had no idea where she was, and ultimately decided to trust his brothers over a group of strangers. Sir Cadfael, Sir Esther and Sir George were imprisoned, and a squire sent forth to seek ransom.
Sir Brietta and Sir Helbur encountered the squire as they rode throughout Rydychan, trying to find some sign of the missing Countess. They contemplated attacking Sir Bege's castle to attempt to free their companions, but decided against it - it was too risky, and the three knights could easily afford to pay their ransom. They decided to focus on the Countess instead. They suspected that either she had been imprisoned by Sir Basil, or that she had fled - most likely southwards to her sister-in-law in Salisbury - but no peasants were willing to speak with them, and all their attentions brought them was a force of men-at-arms, led by a knight of Rydychan loyal to Sir Basil. The two fled on horseback, with the enemy in close pursuit, but the knights of Salisbury were superior riders and were able to use their skill to engage the enemy one-by-one. The men-at-arms fell easily to the flashing blades of Sir Brietta and Sir Helbur, and then hardy Sir Brietta slew the knight leading them.
There was still no sign of the Countess, and Rydychan had been alerted to their presence. The two knights decided that their mission had been a failure. However, at the urging of Sir Brietta, they went on a further quest, to the forest just north of Rydychan - the mysterious Forest Sauvage! There, they were soon lost, bewildered by strange sounds and by paths which seemed to shift under their feet even as they travelled upon them! The two knights encountered a marvellous serpent, fully twelve feet in length, its body divided into bright red, blue and green, its fangs dripping venom and a terrible barb upon its tail.
They decided that discretion was the better part of valour. Continuing through the forest, they encountered a group of bandits, also lost and almost feral, who they slew with great ease. The stress was taking its toll on the two knights, and led to them having sex in the Forest Sauvage - which would leave Sir Brietta pregnant.
Finally, they encountered a hunting party, and discovered that they were now on the opposite side of the forest from where they entered, even though only a week had passed! The two knights found themselves in Lonazep, on the north-east of Logres. They stayed there as guests of the Marshal of Lonazep for a few days, and heard strange news: a small force of Saxon settlers had recently landed on the coast. The Marshal had led forces to repel them, but they were better armed and organised than the usual Saxons, and easily defeated his force - then promptly fled east, into the fens of the Wash. Most peculiar!
The five knights of Salisbury were reunited in Sarum much later that year, Sir Brietta and Sir Helbur having travelled south, and the other three having paid their ransoms and been released by Sir Bege. In Salisbury, terrible news awaited Sir Brietta. Her younger brother was dead, the result of broken glass in his wine, and the killer was... her nephew, Bert? For Bert was now many years older than he should have been, foul-featured and hairy. He was a fairy changeling! The previous year, when the Questing Beast had barked and then vanished, both dog and child had been abducted by the fae, and the changeling left in their place.
Sir Brietta ordered the child sequestered but not harmed, and immediately made plans for the next year, to travel north once again to the Forest Sauvage and to seek out the stolen child. Sir Cadfael was keen to accompany her, to reclaim what had been taken from him by the faerie knight. Meanwhile, Sir Esther (who had recovered from her depression after being spoken harshly to by Sir Brietta and told to toughen up) had been in correspondence with the eccentric monk Eilmer of Malmesbury, who had studied the strange storm of months earlier and deduce that it had originated in the Forest Sauvage. Surely the answer to all these puzzles lay somewhere beneath the boughs of that fae wilderness...
Wednesday 21 August 2013
495 AD: The Battle of Saint Albans
King
Uther was dying.
That
was the rumour that flew from lip to lip across Britain that year, as heavy
snows fell. The King was more than fifty years old now, and the loss of two
sons had aged him further. And with their loss, there was no heir to the throne
in Logres’ darkest hour. The Supreme Collegium would not meet to appoint a new
king, not after the fiasco when they had met four years earlier. Nor was there
a lord powerful enough to be acclaimed king or to seize power: Duke Ulfius of
Silchester, the most powerful landholder in the kingdom, had lost much
political capital when he had foolishly allowed the Saxon King Octa’s
half-brother Eosa to walk free in an attempt at appeasement. Marshal Talferyn,
leader of the armies of Logres in the King’s absence, was rumoured to be
seeking a private settlement with the Saxons.
And
it was indeed Logres’ darkest hour. From the north, Octa and Eosa had struck
from Deira into Lindsey, supported by their ally the Centurion King, driving
the Duke into his fortress at Lincoln. With the Duke powerless to stop them,
Lindsey was being ravaged, and only the snowfall had stopped the enemy from
pressing further inland. Once the thaw came, however, they would surely strike
from the north, supported further by King Oisc of Kent from the east. And what
was to say that Aelle of Sussex and Aethelswith of Anglia would not join in as
well, wolves tearing meat from a dead lion’s carcass?
A
royal summons bearing the seal of the Pendragon arrived in Sarum, calling Earl
Roderick to London. There, the decision would be made about what should happen.
Some sort of resistance against the Saxons had to be organised. But, not
trusting the others lords, he took a retinue of many of his most trusted
knights with him: his son-in-law Sir Arnulf, Sir Aeronwy’s younger sister Sir
Brietta, the cunning Sir Cadfael, gentle Sir Esther, outspoken Sir George, and
many others. They spent the winter with their loved ones. When they fell, the
spring rains would presage only death.
As
the knights were about to depart to London, they had a visitor. Saint Gwiona of
Amesbury herself, leader of the controversial feminist Christian movement that
was spreading throughout Britain, wished to accompany Earl Roderick to London. She
had dreamed that her presence would be required in the events that would
unfold. The Earl agreed. It is never a bad thing to have a Saint accompany you!
When
the knights reached London, they found that it was as they had heard: the King
was weak and listless, barely attentive to what was happening. If he had sent
the summons, he gave no indication of it now. The other lords had also brought
their own followers, and so armed camps were set up about city. Violence seemed
about to erupt at any minute, when one or another lord decided to simply seize
power for himself. And every day brought the spring thaw closer and closer…
The knights spent their time waiting as well. Sir Brietta tried to keep an ear to the ground, monitoring the tensions between the different lords and their followers, but with little success: no one wanted to talk to a six foot warrior woman! Sir George and Sir Esther withdrew to their lady's side, spending the time in prayer with Saint Gwiona. Sir Cadfael, feeling fatalistic, also visited Saint Gwiona. In a roundabout way, he had caused the sect's existence, by courting Gwiona and then failing to live up to her expectations. Now, he went to seek her forgiveness. The woman who received him was unrecognisable as the one he had romanced. The Saint chastised him gently for his despair, and then gravely forgave him and blessed him,, knowing that whatever path he strode, it was always with the best intentions of Logres in his heart.
Meanwhile Sir Arnulf spent his time practicing, and making sure that everything was prepared. He encountered a few old friends as well: the remnants of Prince Madoc's bodyguard, the so-called 'Rainbow Guard' (since they bore heraldry from all across Logres). Sir Glesni, the most veteran of the Rainbow Guards, bemoaned the Prince's untimely death. If he had been here, surely the fight would have already been taken to the Saxons! She also mentioned an interesting rumour - that Prince Madoc had had an illegitimate son. If this rumour was true, the child might be an heir to the throne! Sir Arnulf also spoke to Sir Bertram of Leucomagus, who had decided to come to London to help with the inevitable battle against the Saxons. Sir Arnulf and Sir Helbur had convinced him that it was important the previous year.
The tensions festering below the surface boiled over as the snows began to melt and the first blossoms of spring to bloom upon the branch. The Saxons would surely begin to march on every side now, and still no decision had been reached. At a feast, Earl Roderick lost his temper, leapt to his feet and angrily denounced Duke Ulfius for his failures. Another lord then rose and shouted at Roderick for failing to recruit Malahaut, and soon the entire room was on its feet, shouting at one another, while the king sat listlessly in its midst, waiting for his end.
"Enough!" a voice roared. There was a flash of light. It was Merlin.
The court stood still and silent as the great enchanter strode amongst them, despite having been outlawed by the King's edict for abducting the heir, and chastised them all like children. "The Saxons are on your very doorstep, and yet still you squabble!" Octa and Eosa had not been slowed by the winter snows - instead, they had marched throughout the winter, avoiding settlements and roads to stop from giving their deadly purpose away, with the intent of killing King Uther himself. Saint Albans, a day's ride north of London, had just fallen to their wrath, and now the heart of the kingdom itself was imperilled. Merlin Ambrosius revealed that it was he who had summoned the lords of Logres, in hope that they would be able to come to an accord, but now the hour was too late.
One lone knight in the court challenged Merlin: the wizard was a wanted outlaw for stealing the young prince. "If you believe this more important than the safety of the realm, then step forward and seize me now," Merlin challenged, and the room was completely quiet once more. WIth no reply, Merlin strode over to the King and slapped him. "Hearken to your duty! Your children are gone and you mourn them, but behold that your son the Prince is kept safe and shall be revealed when the time is right! But now it is time for you to step forth once more in the defence of your kingdom. Rise to war, King Uther Pendragon!"
Uther rose, weakly but with his eyes blazing with anger. "Bring me my sword!" he shouted. "To war!"
Merlin slipped away, to talk to his friends once more (returning to his guise as Ambrose the scholar in the process.) For starters, he admitted that he was terrified that something would go wrong when he bluffed the entire court! His knowledge of the Saxon was nothing magical, certainly - Archbishop Bartholomew of Canterbury and Sir Julius of Saint Albans had just arrived from that city, having fled to London as soon as the Saxons were sighted. Sir Esther presented Merlin with the cheese from Carmarthen, which he ate with gusto. Sir Arnulf contemplated asking Merlin about his sister Ganeida, but decided not to raise the topic.
The army was already mostly assembled, thanks to Merlin's foresight. King Uther's sickness was as much the result of depression at the loss of his two children as any physical ailment, and so he led the army to battle, albeit borne in a litter. The army that travelled northwards was small, but it was elite: the lords of Logres, and their mightiest retainers. The windsock banner of the Pendragon fluttered boldly, as did the banner of Prince Madoc, borne by Sir Glesni as the Rainbow Guard rode one last time, and the banners of all the other dukes and earls and knights.
The army arrived at Saint Albans to find the Saxons occupying it. There was barely any sign of their presence: the town had been taken swiftly and secretly. If the Archbishop had not escaped, then the surprise attack would have worked for certain. Sir George rode forward to parley with the Saxons, and found a strange sight: the gates of Saint Albans were open. "King Octa disdains to fight a sick, old man, and so we Saxons have withdrawn into the city," the Saxon envoy jeered. An unlikely story - clearly, the open gateway was a trap! However, it would allow the use of the knights' horses, which was their most significant advantage over the Saxons, and which would be denied to them if they assailed the walls. Furthermore, Octa was clever enough that the seeming bluff could be a double-bluff, or a triple-bluff... Waiting was also clearly not an option: the most likely reinforcements to arrive would be more Saxons from Essex or Kent. The only thing for it was a forward assault, with the flower of British chivalry charging into the maw of Octa's trap.
The knights charged boldly in, and soon found themselves out of their depth. Octa had armed his troops with long-spears, to negate the advantage, and had secretly created simple traps, like hidden holes, to slow or cripple horses. Then, once the knights were engaged, heorthgeneat warriors led by Sir Eleri the Traitor swarmed in to attack them, driving them back from the gate in hours of fierce fighting. The knights of Salisbury, incensed by the sight of the traitor, and sensing a way to possibly turn the tides of the battle, charged to attack Sir Eleri's Saxon bodyguards. Sir Brietta was the first to strike down her foe and confront the former Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard: but Sir Eleri was too experienced a warrior for her, and struck her down with a blow that would have surely slain any less-harder mortal. Sir Cadfael suggested to Sir Arnulf that the two could dishonourably engage Sir Eleri to strike her down, but Sir Arnulf refused, and a furious Sir Cadfael went to what he was sure would be his doom, while Sir Arnulf kept other Saxon warriors at bay. Sir Cadfael and Sir Eleri were both hardened veterans, and their swords splintered shields and cleft mail asunder, but in the end Sir Cadfael fell from his horse, blood streaming from his many wounds. Now Sir Arnulf charged in, and the mightiest duel of all ensued, for Sir Arnulf was one of the foremost swordsmen in all of Britain. Both warriors were exhausted now from hours of fighting, but it was Sir Arnulf whose blade struck true, badly wounding Sir Eleri. She fled from the battlefield, while other Saxons attacked Sir Arnulf to cover her retreat.
Despite Sir Eleri's defeat, the forces of Logres had the worst of the first day. Morale was low - Octa had successfully tricked them into attacking the open gate, and they had suffered losses before being repulsed. Some of the more experienced knights realised that cunning Octa had set up a position where no matter where the Cymric forces struck, they would have had the worst of it - so no matter what choice they had made, it would have seemed that he had predicted their actions. Sir George used his pre-eminent skill as a harpist that night, moving through the camp and singing songs of past victories against the Saxons to give heart to the knights. Meanwhile, a few reinforcements did arrive, for the Cymric forces. Sir Cadfael was in the first aid tents, where he was being tended by Saint Gwiona and Sir Esther (who, gentle soul that she was, had avoided the battle in favour of helping to save lives), when he had a visitor. Sir Cador, now the commander of a small mercenary force, had come to repay his debt to Sir Cadfael by taking the field, even though in his view King Uther was scarcely better than the Saxons. In addition, a small column of determined peasants appeared and asked to join the fighting. Saint Albans was sacred to more than just Christians, they said - for they had come to defend the place where their own hero, Sir Albrecht, had died in the name of Wotan!
The next day dawned, cloudless and dry. A wind whipped through the camp, teasing through the unfurled banners of Logres. The army of the Saxons emerged from Saint Albans, to take the field against the Cymric knights and their allies. Straps were tightened. Shields were set. Prayers were said. The lords of Logres, outnumbered, mounted their warhorses and set their lances for a charge, against a shield wall screaming the name of Wotan. Hooves churned up the soil beneath them. A terrible, splintering impact as the force of riders drove into and through the wall. The battle was joined.
Only Sir Arnulf and Sir George took the field that day, Sir Esther again staying with her lady to attend to the wounded, and Sir Cadfael and Sir Brietta being amongst those wounded. They found themselves fighting for their lives against a sea of Saxon warriors - but the vast majority of the Saxon forces were only ceorls, inferior warriors recruited to bulk out numbers. The two struck down an innumerable host of enemies, as did the other knights of Logres. King Octa released his berserkers immediately, a small group of senseless ravagers wielding mighty axes, who tore into the side of the knights' charge. Sir Neddig fell there, cleft asunder by the axes of his enemies. Cursing and swearing every oath he had learned over his many, many years as a knight, Sir Elad of Vagon Castle, who had personally trained almost all the knights of Salisbury, led a counterattack against the berserkers. Old he may have been, but experienced, and under his leadership the berserkers were slain to a man.
The sun continued to rise in the sky until it reached its zenith. The initial deadly momentum of the knights had slowed and ceased, and now the knights were beset on all side by Saxon ceorls, Now King Eosa the half-giant led a group of elite heorthgeneat warriors against them, and none could stand before them. Sir Lycus, veteran warrior of Salisbury, tried to challenge Eosa and was slain. Then a hardened contingent of mercenary knights rode to confront the giant: the men of Sir Cador. At the Battle of Lindsey, his father had defeated Eosa, and now his son Sir Cador completed what his father had done. Sir Cador boldly confronted the immense warrior and struck him down, and the Saxons wailed as his fall shook the earth.
The tides of battle were turning. The Saxons were greater in number, but the knights of Logres were greater warriors, and Eosa's fall sapped their fighting hearts. The attackers began to fall back, and the Cymricmen assailed them with fresh vigour. Sir Arnulf and Sir George rode for the Saxon war banner, and Sir Arnulf struck down every man about it with deadly vigour, before trampling his second battle standard into the mud. Sir George was less skilled: a Saxon axe struck him down, and he fell insensate to the ground.
With the falling of the sun and the falling of the Saxon banner, the fight left the enemy and they began to flee, to be struck down by the pursuing knights. Through the press, Sir Arnulf caught sight of his archnemesis, King Octa, trying desperately to rally his routing forces. This was the enemy who had created the bandit menace, had subverted Sir Eleri, had engulfed London and Lindsey in war, had claimed Malahaut. Sir Arnulf had sacrificed much of his life in his quest: his loyalty, his lands, his estates, all for the greater good, all for this moment: saving Britain by slaying Octa. A red rage took control of him and he flung himself forward, ignoring the hulking Heorthgeneat bodyguards, and darting past them to strike at Octa himself. The Saxon king never saw it coming. He was flung from his horse, his blood running into the ground. However, he was not dead. Desperately he scrabbled away on hands and knees from the grim Sir Arnulf.
Sir Arnulf never saw the blow that struck him down. His passion had consumed him so that he ignored the bodyguards, one of whom struck a mighty blow at him, opening him wide and sending him to the ground, his life swiftly running from him next to the Saxon King. But Sir Helbur, his former squire, and Sir Barr of Salisbury, saw. The two charged the roal bodyguard, and Sir Barr felt, his head cleft asunder. With a scream of incoherent rage, the former squire cleft the head from the shoulders of the warrior who had felled his friends, and then dismounted to attend to Octa. A single blow downwards, and the king stopped moving. Sir Helbur ignored him and went to Sir Arnulf's side. "Good boy, Helbur," the dying Sir Arnulf said for the last time. "Find him... Prince Madoc's son. Find him..." As Sir Helbur's tears fell upon him, Sir Arnulf closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Nearby, there was a spluttering, bloody cough. Octa spat out a gobbet of blood upon the ground, and tried to speak, very quietly, and gestured for SIr Helbur to come closer. "I didn't think I'd die here," the king gasped. "Not the plan. I'm... afraid. What happens now? What.. waits for me?" The king asked Helbur to hear his last confession, in case it was the Christian God who waited for him, and Helbur bent closer to hear the king's last words. "My... worst... sin... I said.... I'd never die alone." And with his dying breath, Octa drove a knife at Sir Helbur's throat, cutting deeply. Sir Helbur fell into a swoon, but the blow was not fatal: he would have a beautiful scar, but he would survive.
With Octa's death, the battle was over. Against the odds, King Uther Pendragon had won a decisive victory, smashing the armies of Octa and Eosa once and for all. There were many casualties: Sir Lycus, Sir Barr, Sir Neddig, and Sir Arnulf amongst them, and many lay wounded: Duke Ulfius and Sir Brastias both were grievously wounded, and being attended by the healers, as were Sir Cadfael, Sir Helbur, Sir George, and Sir Brietta. In fact, only Sir Esther had escaped unharmed, by virtue of the fact that she had used the excuse of protecting Saint Gwiona to avoid the entire battle. A mass funeral pyre was arranged for the Saxon dead, while inside the great hall of Saint Albans, King Uther prepared a victory feast of special extravagance. Everyone who had taken part was invited.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Bartholomew returned to the cathedral, along with Saint Gwiona. The two had much to talk about. Gwionaism had become a major new religious movement, but apart from its focus on the feminine, it promoted Christian ideals of charity and compassion, and had spread throughout Britain (in large part because of the good work of Sir Esther). The Archbishop had decided that it was time to come to some settlement with Gwiona. As it happened, Bartholomew was a follower of the teachings of Saint Pelagius, who denied the concept of original sin - and if there was no original sin, then Eve was not responsible for damning the human race, and women were not the root of all sin. The two managed to reach a compromise: of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit is genderless; God the Father could be reinterpreted as 'God the Parent of Humanity' and be seen as either male or female; and God the Son is Jesus Christ. This compromise warded off potential internal conflict in the British Christian Church, but both were aware that it was sure to be unpopular with the distant Pope Gelasius.
Sir Esther attended the feast briefly, though her heart was burdened by her wounded friends, and so she did not intend to stay long at the feast. However, she saw something in the crowded, carousing hall which drew her attention: a familiar face, hidden beneath a hood, moving surreptitiously from the hall. It was Sir Eleri. Sir Esther slipped out and followed. The streets were quiet as everyone in the town was at the feast, and so the two were uninterrupted as they moved through the darkness. Sir Esther called out to Sir Eleri to get her attention, and then finally confronted her by name, making her stop and turn.
Sir Eleri was clearly still wounded after her fight with Sir Arnulf the previous day. Sir Esther called on her to surrender and be treated with mercy, and Sir Eleri laughed bitterly. There would be no mercy for anyone that night. Her life had fallen apart completely, and she was consumed by despair. In a fury, she drew her sword and attacked the warrior-nun, screaming at Sir Esther to kill her. Sir Esther fought back to defend herself, and tried to reason with the maddened woman, but to no avail. Screams began to sound through the night, from the King's feast, as Sir Eleri battered Sir Esther down. Instinct and training took over as Sir Eleri knocked Sir Esther down: the nun was no warrior by nature, but she had drilled extensively, and she automatically parried Sir Eleri's blade and then slashed her across the stomach. The traitor fell bonelessly to the ground, and her blood mingled with the falling rain and Sir Esther's tears. Sir Esther tried to bandage her enemy and save her life, but Sir Eleri was dead, and her empty eyes stared at Sir Esther: she had claimed her first life.
There was no time to think about it now. Screams were still coming from the king's feast, and so she turned and sprinted through the night, to discover an unspeakable horror behind her. The King was dead, lying face-down in a pool of foaming blue vomit and blood. So were the rest of the court. Sir Eleri had managed to poison everyone at the feast. Earl Roderick was dead, as was Sir Leo of Salisbury. So was Sir Bertram of Leucomagus. King Canan had fallen from his chair to stare sightlessly at the ceiling. Both Admiral Gwenwynwyn and Marshal Talferyn were dead, leaving the army and navy of Logres leaderless. Sir Ifan of the London Guard was dead, as was Sir Owen, the last of the Tower Guard, and Sir Glesni of the Rainbow Guard. In addition to these familiar faces, many other lords, nobles, and knights had been poisoned. Logres was leadership. There was only one survivor: somehow, Merlin had managed to survive. He had used some of the magic which he did possess to protect himself, but at a steep price: Merlin had been driven insane in the process. Sir Esther moved towards him, and Merlin failed to recognise her, fleeing the hall like a cornered animal.
The first part of Igraine's prophecy had come true. Merlin had been destroyed by a woman for the first time. And Logres was without lords.
Two mass funeral pyres were set by the survivors, for the Saxons and the Cymric. The few survivors, those who had been wounded or who had not attended the feast, or had left early, dispersed. King Uther's remains were taken to Stonehenge, where he was buried next to his brother and his son. Sir Brietta, Sir Cadfael, Sir Esther, Sir George and Sir Helbur returned to Sarum, to break the news to Countess Ellen. Her son Robert, a three-year-old boy, was now the Earl, and Ellen was the ruler of the county until he reached his majority. Sir Elad, the veteran Marshal of Salisbury, had also survived. But enemies would beset them from every border. Octa and Eosa might be dead, but the Saxons of Anglia, Essex, Kent and Sussex yet remained, and Malahaut and the Irish would continue their raids. With no King in Logres, Logres was surely facing a time of anarchy...
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