A week had passed since King Arthur's coronation. Now, the Supreme Collegium - or what was left of it, in any case - gathered in Carlion. The King had led a great procession across Logres, showing the world that the Anarchy had ended, while his heralds summoned the Collegium to anoint Arthur as not just King of Logres, but High King of Britain.
The knights of Salisbury were in Carlion as well, waiting while Earl Robert conducted negotiations. All, that is, save Sir Donna. The knights had returned to Salisbury briefly (leaving Sir Helbur behind to lead Salisbury's defenses in case King Cerdic sought retribution for the events at London). When they departed, Sir Donna did not join them. Instead, her hitherto unknown twin sister, Sir Gwin, joined them instead. Where Sir Donna had been stoic and serious, Sir Gwin was boisterous and crude. She explained that Sir Donna had left on a religious pilgrimage. A few of the other knights had heard rumours that Sir Donna had had some sort of altercation with her younger sister, Elspeth, and had stormed off. There were some who thought that Sir Gwin was in fact a witch possessing Sir Donna!
Whatever the truth, Sir Gwin decided that the group were too uptight for their own good, and while everyone was waiting in Carlion, she attempted to take Sir Julius and Sir Mabon wenching - albeit with little success. Sir Edwin spent much of his time waiting attendance upon Earl Robert, and assessing the mood of the nobles - which was strongly in favor of the boy king. Lady Svenhilde, meanwhile, had noticed that many of the people of Carlion had been evicted from their homes by the arrival of so many lords to their city, and set up a soup kitchen and accommodation for those affected.
Sir Mabon, still hopelessly following after Lady Svenhilde, decided to shirk wenching to help her out. As was his wont, he found himself washing dishes out the back, quietly contributing in a small way. One night, he found another young man wanting to help him - the King himself! Arthur had snuck away from the meetings, in which he barely participated. He felt as if his entire life had changed - which it had! - and reminisced with Sir Mabon about the days when he was just Wart, the student of Ambrose, and his greatest ambition was to be his brother Kay's squire. The two young men had a heart to heart about power and responsibility, before the King returned to his chambers.
The next day, Earl Robert returned from the meetings, jubilant. The surviving lords of the Supreme Collegium had unanimously agreed to appoint Arthur as High King. Of course, there was some doubt about the validity of the decision, since the three-quarters of the council required to select a High King was not present; in fact, did not exist any more. There would be those who would choose to disregard the High King.
Later that very day, an army of rebel kings arrived outside Carlion - King Lot of Lothian, King Uriens of Gore, King Nentres of Garloth, the Centurion King of Malahaut, the King of Scotland, and the King of Carados. King Arthur sent messengers with gifts to them, but they spurned the gifts, intent as they were upon war. For four days, King Arthur kept his outnumbered force in Carlion, while the Kings ravaged the countryside. But on the fourth day, King Arthur grew impatient, and sallied forth to fight. King Lot had been waiting for this, with the largest part of his force ready to receive King Arthur's charge, and a small force held back to flank the enemy lines and press at King Arthur himself.
The knights of Salisbury, as usual, were in the thick of the fighting. Sir Edwin overthrew the young King of Scotland personally, taking him prisoner and captured his war banner. Sir Julius was separated from the others, and discovered King Lot's waiting reserves by accident. Sir Gwin heroically attempted to reach and rescue Sir Julius, but could never reach him in the fighting. She was dismounted, and forced to fall back. Once she found a fresh horse, she returned to the fray, to try and rescue Sir Julius. Although Sir Julius fought valiantly, he refused to withdraw and was slain, and his body was never found.
Meanwhile, King Arthur fought valiantly, but King Lot's reserves were pressing fiercely about him. Sir Edwin saw his peril and tried to reach him - remembering the death of King Nanteleod only a few years earlier. At that point, the boy king drew forth Excalibur. A light like a second sun shone across the battlefield, throwing King Arthur's enemies into dismay and giving new strength to his allies. Meanwhile, the citizens of Carlion surged forth from the city and fell upon King Lot and his allies. Realising that the day was lost, King Lot ordered a withdrawal, and his army withdrew from the field.
Following the battle, King Lot withdrew to central Logres, where he gathered reinforcements. His army began to pillage the lands around Bedegraine. King Arthur readied his forces, grievously outnumbered as they were, to go after him. The day after the Battle of Carlion, Earl Robert called upon his knights. In what way could Salisbury best contribute to the war effort and aid their new King? The knights spoke of various allies that they might seek, when Sir Gwin had a suggestion. She had heard an ancient legend, the Battle of the Trees, in which the the magician Gwydion called forth an army of the trees themselves. Might such magic still exist inside the Forest Sauvage? The Forest Sauvage, wherein lay the way to Faerie, held a strange and unfortunate fascination for Sir Gwin's family. Swayed by her words, the group decided to brave the Forest Sauvage once more to seek out this ancient magic.
The four companions - Sir Edwin, Sir Gwin, Sir Mabon, and Lady Svenhilde - traveled to the edge of the forest. Time was short. They knew that the Lord of Tribuit, who hated visitors, guarded the nearby roads, and so they decided to take the great risk of leaving the paths and venturing into the Forest. Lady Svenhilde's magic let her see something of the truth behind the trickery of the forest, and Sir Mabon was a skilled huntsman who could help them navigate. However, when their path was crossed by a red stag, Sir Gwin chased after it, and the group found themselves hopelessly lost. After a week, they finally reached the outskirts of the forest, and found themselves near Dunstable.
The group re-entered the Forest, and found themselves upon the Whispering Path. That night, crows - first one, then several, then a dozen, then a host - perched in the trees about them and cawed at the knights - "Spying on you!" Lady Svenhilde's magic told her not to harm the crows. Some of the group decided instead to feed them, and one of the crows pecked Lady Svenhilde's hand so hard it drew blood - a wound that then refused to heal properly. Over the next few nights, the group was beset by a host of terrors each sunset, spectral guardians and black hellhounds. Sir Mabon attempted to flee, but was saved by Sir Gwin. However, no one was able to save Sir Gwin the following night, when her will snapped and she fled into the forest, never to be seen again.
Sir Gwin wandered alone in the forest for days - she could not tell how many - until she discovered the same stag as before. Following it was a giant and his dog, who were hunting it. Sir Gwin was tricked by the giant, and taken prisoner. The giant took her back to his house, where he locked her in a cage. Every day he would go out hunting with his dog, leaving only a sleeping giant cat that awoke whenever Sir Gwin stirred. The knight resigned herself to indefinite imprisonment...
Meanwhile, Sir Edwin, Sir Mabon and Lady Svenhilde arrived at a nameless village deep in the forest. The villagers there were frightened, and quickly explained that a terrifying witch lived on the outskirts of town. Could they save them and defeat the witch? Through her magic, Lady Svenhilde learned that only an oddly-specific ritual would lead to the witch's death. Sir Edwin hunted through all the horses of the town until he found the correct horse, which turned out to be a common draft-horse. He was forced to remove his armour, as Bayard the draft-horse could not support its weight. He then rode to the cave where the witch dwelt, and began to insult her until she emerged, leaping up on to Bayard and sinking her claws into the horse to steady itself. This caused Bayard to leap an impossible distance, across a nearby pond. The witch lost her grip, fell off, and drowned in the pond. Sir Edwin and Lady Svenhilde were hailed as heroes, and the townsfolk named their little village Bayard's Leap, after the feat.
Continuing onwards, the group arrived at the castle of a lord obsessed with horse-riding. He challenged Sir Edwin to a horse-race. His own horse moved as swiftly as Thought, and the simple path turned out to be magically complex. However, Sir Edwin had the foresight to ask Lady Svenhilde to ride behind him, and she was able to help him navigate the course. Although he lost the race, he reached the end safely, and so the group was offered hospitality. The next night, the three travellers reached the Castle of Felicity, where Lord Felix and his three beautiful daughters offered them hospitality. The lord attempted to keep them there indefinitely, calling upon their sense of hospitality not to leave early, but the group managed to steel themselves and depart, keeping the urgency of their task in mind. Who knew how much time had now passed?
The next day, the three travellers emerged from the forest into the realm of Faerie, to the Castle Sauvage where once Sir Bleddyn, Sir Brietta, Sir Esther and Sir Helbur had ventured. They were admitted to the castle. It seemed no different to the stories that they had heard, though to their surprise they heard that no less than the Rabbit King and the Rabbit Queen were in attendance. The Rabbit Queen, it turned out, had once been Deidre, the fey child of Sir Helbur and Sir Brietta, who had been conceived in the Forest Sauvage, and had subsequently grown wings and flown away. She was still a butterfly-winged baby, and her husband an enormously obese rabbit, They doted upon one another fed each other morsels of human pie. The three travellers informed the Rabbit Queen that her cousin, Sir Gwin, had been lost in the forest, and the Rabbit Queen promised to look for her and rescue her. Meanwhile, the three undertook the same quests as their predecessors had done, in order to reach the King of Sauvage. Sir Edwin and Lady Svenhilde achieved their challenges, but Sir Mabon failed the challenge of the Dwarf, and so the three were bid farewell, having failed in their task.
On the way out of the forest, the three travellers stopped at the village of Oundle, There was a well in that village, and it was said that any fighting in Britain could be heard through the well. They stopped to listen, and heard the sounds of battle - now! King Arthur's force had engaged King Lot's at Bedegraine, and if they spurred their horses, they might reach the battle before it was over! And so they raced away to aid their King... and as they did, Lady Svenhilde barely noticed the renewed throbbing in her wounded hand...
