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.
