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...
