492 AD: The Irish Raiders

492 AD was about dealing with the consequences of what had happened the previous year. Cornwall continued to be unsettled after the invasion by the Pendragon, the previous year. Britain continued to slowly rip itself apart as more and more lords lost their faith in King Uther. The Saxons continued to reinforce their position in Caer Anderida. And across the land, reprisal attacks targeted the newly-born Wotanic movement, in retaliation for the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Saint Albans. Sir Esther sheltered Sir Albrecht's widow and children at her own estate, so that they could escape the violence, while Saint Gwiona travelled to the deceased knight's estate at Berwick Saint James, where she personally interceded with the incensed mob, in order to prevent further violence. She was accompanied by a young knight who, despite being male, also followed her cause, and when she returned to Amesbury, Sir George remained behind, appointed by Earl Roderick to watch over Berwick Saint James until Sir Albrecht's son Siegfried came of age.

The knights of Salisbury were called upon to travel again to Cornwall. King Uther wished for many knights to be patrolling the former duchy, to keep the peace. He himself was in Tintagel Castle with Queen Igraine, who was heavy with the child that he begat on her during when he, with the aid of Merlin, disguised himself as Duke Gorlois in order to rape her. It would not be long until the child was born, and all Logres was hoping for a son, a new heir to the throne after the death of Prince Madoc. So it was that Sir Arnulf, Sir Cadfael, Sir Esther, and Sir Neddig headed west to Cornwall.

While they were still en route, they were stopped by an out-of-breath peasant. Glastonbury Abbey, the oldest Christian site in all of Britain, where it was believed Jesus Christ himself went as a youth, was under attack by Irish Raiders. (It is probably worth noting at this point that there was a large error in the plot for this year - based on the fact that I thought that Glastonbury was further west than it is, and much closer to Cornwall! So for the rest of the year to make sense, we must assume that the Irish had bad maps...)

The four knights headed to Glastonbury Abbey, where they were welcomed by the Sacristan, Neot - a dwarf and former soldier. The Abbey was clearly damaged by the raiders, but the damage was far lighter than it could have been. Most surprising of all was the fact that of all those dwelling at Glastonbury, only nineteen had been taken as slaves! There seemed to be no pattern as to who was taken, also - they ranged from novices to the abbot himself. Searching around the monastery showed that the Irish raiders had thoroughly looted the abbey, but they had made no attempt to take more than their initial nineteen slaves. Why? There were also signs that the Irish had headed up to Glastonbury Tor, but the knights decided not to investigate the Tor - instead, they had to give pursuit as quickly as they could to try and catch the Irish raiders.

Before long, the knights found a campground where the Irish had rested for the night. Clearly, their ships were somewhere on the coast of the Severn Sea, far enough away that they had not been able to reach them in a single night. The knights investigated the campsite, and realised that this must have been a fairly sizeable Irish force - maybe as many as three warships worth of warriors had come to attack Glastonbury Abbey. In addition, Sir Neddig found a strange brooch, a pentacle in a circle, made all of silver, on a silver chain the right size for a woman's neck. It did not appear to be Irish in origin, and it was not a Christian sign - and there were no women at the Abbey. Where did it come from?

The knights continued northwards, into the Somerset marshes. Night was beginning to fall, and the horses were growing tired, so the knights and their squires found the driest area that they could and decided to rest for the night. They were near to the coast now, and so the Irish could not be far ahead at all. The Irish were unlikely to sail treacherous waters at night - they were more likely to wait for a morning tide, and so if the knights of Salisbury set off before dawn, they should be able to catch the raiders before they set sail. Settling down as best they could in the strange marshes, surrounded by the croaking calls of frogs and other, less identifiable things, they went to sleep.

As they slept, Sir Neddig had a vision. It was as if he were somewhere else, looking through other eyes - those of the woman who had owned the pentacle necklace, who was now the twentieth slave held by the Irish. She was now held in the Irish camp, not far at all from where Sir Neddig slept, with the other slaves, watching her captors carouse next to their boats. She psychically begged Sir Neddig's help, and identified herself - as Evienne, one of the Ladies of the Lake!

However, there was a more immediate problem, as strange creatures arose from the swamp to attack the knights. Sir Arnulf, wary of attack, had slept in armour, but exhaustion had made him fall asleep nevertheless. Only Sir Arnulf's squire Helbur noticed as creatures emerged from the night - like unto frogs, but the size of a child, and sprouting terrible bat-like wings. These were the dreaded water leapers, which claimed a score of careless Somerset fishermen every year. The knights scrambled to get ready, and shouted for their squires to fetch them armour and horses. The first water leaper propelled itself into Sir Neddig's squire, its tiny but razor-sharp teeth clamping down on his face and dragging the screaming, struggling boy into the marsh... The otherwise heroic Helbur's nerve finally broke, and rather than lead Sir Arnulf's horse to him, the panicking squire mounted it and fled!

The knights were now partially armoured, and they flung themselves against the enemy with furious abandon. This was Sir Esther's first battle (during the attack on Castle Terrabil, she had hidden during the night-time raid) and she hid behind her shield, flailing frantically with her sword to try and drive back the water leaper attacking her. Sir Neddig, meanwhile, recalled that somewhere he had heard that the water leapers could be tamed, and tried to wrestle one into submission! Sir Arnulf was groggy from having slept poorly in his armour, and a water leaper fastened its teeth around his helmet and dragged him underwater, then tried to beat his head against a rock to kill him! Fortunately, Sir Cadfael was ready for the monsters - he struck down one swiftly, then went to help the others. Revolted by the monsters and the violence, Sir Esther claimed her first ever kill. Meanwhile, Sir Cadfael slew the water leaper attacking Sir Arnulf, and Sir Esther stopped him from drowning in the water. Finally, Sir Neddig, who had been torn up badly in the attempt to tame a water leaper, realised that it could not be done and slew his foe.

The water leapers were dead, but attacking the Irish, always a risky proposition, now seemed suicidal. Sir Arnulf was gravely wounded, and Sir Neddig (who had begun skinning his fallen foe in order to obtain a fancy new cloak, and was also beginning to think about painting a water leaper on his shield) was not in much better condition. Sir Esther felt that saving their lives was more important than throwing away everyone's life against the Irish trying to save the slaves, and intended to return to Glastonbury. But Sir Cadfael refused, and on his own he rode north as the sun began to rise, to single-handedly confront the Irish slavers.

The three Irish ships were being prepared for the morning tide as Sir Cadfael came over the crest of a hill and gazed down upon them. There were fully sixty Irishmen around them, and the twenty slaves about to be put on to the boats. Sir Cadfael was spotted by Irish scouts, and since violence seemed pointless, he rode down to parley with the Irish and their leader! Fortunate he was that the Irish leader, the Morholt (King's Champion) Cahal of the Ui Cennseallaigh tuath of Leinster, had taken a geas to refuse hospitality to no man. All of this meant very little to Sir Cadfael, save that instead of being slain as he had expected, he was invited in to a hot breakfast at the Irish campfire!

He struck up a conversation with Cahal, where the Irishman let slip a massive surprise to Sir Cadfael - that the Irish had been given permission to raid for slaves, by none other than King Uther Pendragon himself! Sir Cadfael was shocked, but played along, bluffing for more information - which he received. The Irish were incensed by the theft of the standing stones of the Giant's Dance by Merlin, many years earlier, which he had used to rebuild Stonehenge. They had been raiding in reprisal ever since then. In the previous year, an Irish envoy had met with the Pendragon, and he had given them permission to take twenty slaves annually, for the next four generations, from the 'rebellious' duchy of Cornwall. However, Cahal pointed out that King Uther had never specified which twenty slaves could be taken in any given year, and so he had chosen to take the first twenty from Glastonbury Abbey, desecrating a holy site of Britain in recompense for the desecration of a holy site of Irish.

Sir Cadfael agreed, and then tried to strike a deal with Cahal for one of the slaves - the Lady of the Lake, Evienne. However, Sir Cadfael did not have the greatest skill as an orator, and so he was unable to convince Cahal to risk leaving Britain with fewer than the twenty slaves that he had been sent for. Next, Sir Cadfael tried to convince Cahal to take Sir Cadfael himself as a slave in her place - but Cahal pointed out that a Lady of the Lake was a far more valuable slave than an unknown knight. So it came to pass that Sir Cadfael challenged Cahal to a duel of honour, to prove himself worthy enough to be taken as a slave by the Irish in Lady Evienne's place! Amused, Cahal agreed. He was the personal champion of the Irish High King Lugaid mac Loegairi of Tara, a great warrior-lord, and did not think that any British knight could defeat him. After the first few blows were struck, Sir Cadfael was inclined to agree! The Irish knight was a far stronger warrior than he was, constantly driving the British knight back and raining blows upon him which Sir Cadfael could not hold off with his sword or his shield. In desperation, Sir Cadfael put his strength into a single mighty blow, which struck Cahal upon the helmet, stunning him. Cahal sank to the ground insensate, and Sir Cadfael surrendered himself to the Irish as their new slave. Lady Evienne was freed, and she departed, along with Sir Cadfael's squire, to return to Glastonbury Abbey.

Lady Evienne soon met up with the other three knights at Glastonbury. All were shocked to learn that King Uther had sold his own people into slavery, and flabbergasted by Sir Cadfael's actions. They also learned a bit more from Lady Evienne about her own story. The Ladies of the Lake were a pagan sisterhood, who gathered women from across Britain who had nascent magical abilities. They dwelt upon Glastonbury Tor. Evienne herself was one of the youngest and most inexperienced of the Ladies. She was clairvoyant, but she went into trances when her power took control of her - and this was how the Irish had managed to capture her. She also shared the subject of her vision. The walls between worlds are weakening, she warned...

The knights continued on to Cornwall, where they heard disturbing news. The royal heir had been born, and was a boy - but, immediately after his birth, he had been abducted by Merlin! Merlin was declared a traitor in absentia, and sentenced to death. In addition, Sir Neddig had a second vision - courtesy of the silver pentacle, which he had forgotten that he still possessed, which shared Lady Evienne's visions with him.

Queen Igraine was sitting naked in a dark room, lit only by candles arranged at the points and intersections of a pentacle. In her hands she held an athame, a ritual knife, and a silver chalice sat before her. A cage, holding a terrified, hissing cat, was also inside the circle. She removed the cat from the cage, ignoring the scratches which it inflicted upon her arm, and then slew it with the athame, draining its blood into the chalice. Once she was done, she cast the dead cat aside, and used a wand of hawthorne wood to anoint herself with the blood. As she did so, she called down a curse upon Merlin Ambrosius. It was his magic that had betrayed her husband Gorlois and allowed another man access to her bed. It was he who had stolen her baby away from her. Invoking the darkest of curses, she called upon a woman to be an avenger for her, for women to cast down all of Merlin's mighty works, and for Merlin himself to be destroyed three times at the hands of women. Once the oath was made, she drank the dregs of the cat's-blood in the chalice, and the vision ended.