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...
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