It was raining heavily. Not an unusual thing in Logres. But because of the rain, the river was swollen, and the knights would not be able to ford it until the morrow at the earliest. They would have to find shelter for the night. They had passed a small village, only a short way back. They turned their horses and made their way to seek hospitality there.
It had begun a few weeks ago, at the wedding of Sir Dagonet and Lady Elspeth. At the feast afterwards, Sir Balthazar discovered his lord, Earl Robert, in tears. The Earl had offered to make Elspeth his mistress a few years earlier. It turned out that he fancied her more than anyone had known. But after the feast, Robert declared that he was seeking a wife. Sir Balthazar and his companions were tasked with travelling north to Wuerensis, to meet the Earl's marriageable daughter. With Sir Balthazar were Lady Elspeth and Sir Connor, a young knight of Irish descent. They reached Warwick without mishap, and met the lady and her noble father. Their task done, they returned south - when the rains forced them to detour.
At the manor, the knights were received by Lady Enide, whose age added to her stateliness rather than diminished her beauty. But the lady was mournful, and could not restrain her words. Her husband, Sir Danain, had recently perished from wounds received at Badon Hill. Their son, Sir Danain the Younger, inherited his manor at Rimchurch. On his deathbed, the elder Danain had written to his son, encouraging him to follow the code of chivalry. But when Sir Danain the Younger went to visit the four lords who dwelt near Rimchurch and inform them of his father's death, he faced a number of challenges. Attempting to maintain the standards of chivalry, Sir Danain failed all four of the adventures. Now he renounced chivalry as the dream of fools, and lived as a bully with his brutish followers. Would the knights of Salisbury visit Sir Danain with her and help remind him of the value of chivalry?
There was no way the knights could honourably refuse. Nor did they wish to do so. The next day, Lady Enide, Sir Balthazar, Sir Connor and Lady Elspeth set off to Rimchurch. As they rode, the Lady read to them from the last letter of Sir Danain the Elder, on the subject of chivalry. It outlined four major tenets: that knights must honour and protect ladies; that knights should be willing to lay down their lives for one another; that knights should be gentle and courteous despite all provocation; and that knights must always be true to their faith.
As the knights drew closer to Rimchurch, they began to see signs of Sir Danain's poor rule. The land looked poor, and people did not meet the knights' eyes. The bodies of peasants were strung up in trees. When they reached the manor house, where they were discourteously welcomed by the sinister steward, Septimus. Soon the knights and ladies were 'enjoying' a feast with Sir Danain and his thuggish followers. Some of the brutes started to make distasteful remarks about Lady Elspeth, but when Sir Connor started glaring at them, they changed their minds. Sir Danain himself was sulky and silent in the presence of his mother. Sir Balthazar engaged him in conversation and managed to draw him out: it was not that he did not believe in chivalry, as much as that he did not believe that it was possible. Lady Enide proposed that Sir Danain accompany the knights of Salisbury to the four neighbouring castles, and learn from them how to conduct himself honourably. Sir Danain reluctantly agreed, but said that he expected that they would fail as he had.
The next morning, when the group was ready to join them, Sir Danain did not come down, and Sir Connor had to rouse him from his drunken slumber. Eventually, they were ready to depart. The first castle to which the group travelled was the Castle of the Red Beast, deep in a forest. Here, they were welcomed by the aged Sir Plenorius. After dinner, he explained that his lands were haunted by the Devil's Stag. It most commonly haunted the Devil's Keep, a ruin out in the middle of the forest. Legend says that the curse will be lifted if anyone can spend a night in the Devil's Keep, but any who try flee in terror. Sir Danain admitted that he went to the ruins, but when the Devil's Stag appeared, he was too scared to remain.
The knights were not dismayed, however. They departed for the Devil's Keep, a small stone building overgrown with vines. There they cleared out some of the vines and settled in for the night. Sir Connor briefly wondered about the meaning of the coloured glass that remained in one of the windows, but thought no more of it. They had been waiting for four hours, when suddenly the hellish apparition emerged from the woods. It was only a bit larger than a normal stag, but its immense twisted antlers showed that it was not of this world! Sir Danain and Lady Elspeth were terrified, but Sir Balthazar and Sir Connor managed to stand their ground. The demonic stag started eating some foliage, and Sir Connor finally approached it. Once he got closer, he could see that the 'Devil's Stag' was in fact just a normal stag. It had brambles and vines caught in its antlers, which gave it its terrifying silhouette. The two knights lured it closer, and then Sir Connor restrained it while Sir Balthazar cleared off its antlers. They then let it escape back into the forest. The next morning, the group emerged and told Sir Plenorius that the 'curse' had been lifted.
Sir Danain was impressed by the bravery of the knights of Salisbury, but pointed out that godliness was not really involved - a lit torch would have done as well. In fact, by showing that the stag was only an animal, they disproved the need for a knight to be pious! In any case, they would not succeed at the Castle of the Sons of Sir Cadlew. Shortly before reaching that castle, the group met some travellers upon the road, heading to the same destination. Duchess Blandine, her beautiful daughter Lady Analine, and their retainers were travelling to the castle, for Lady Analine had been betrothed to marry one or another of the sons of Sir Cadlew at birth. Analine herself was putting on a good face about the whole thing.
It was late at night when the group arrived at the castle. An old servant, Berenger, seemed strangely reluctant to welcome them, and then hurried them past the great hall, from where the sounds of drunken revelry were issuing. Sir Danain revealed that the five brothers were horrible boors, such that no man could maintain his composure in the face of their taunts. And now there were ladies whose virtue was at stake! Soon, the group was invited to join their hosts at the feast. Sir Cleris, Sir Cleremond, Sir Caulus, Sir Caradoc and Sir Cadlew the Younger were as drunken, foul-mouthed and crude as expected. After only a short while, Lady Analine was struggling to hold back tears, and Sir Connor was struggling to hold back his fists.
In the end, no one could quite manage perfect knightly restraint, but neither did they completely lose their temper. Lady Elspeth suggested that Blandine and Analine go to see Queen Guinevere, who would annul the engagement. In the meantime, Sir Balthazar and Sir Connor stood guard outside the ladies' rooms that night, in case the brothers should try something untoward: fortunately, nothing happened. In the morning, Sir Balthazar denounced the brothers for their churlishness, and fought a duel of honour with one of them, defeating him handily. The other four brothers looked like they were about to attack, but after sharp words, they slunk inside in shame. Blandine and Analine departed to see the Queen. Sir Danain again was pedantically critical, but underneath his bluster, the knights could see that he was starting to come around.
The third castle was the Castle of the Tethered Giant. It was situated on one side of a hill with two peaks, with a great lake between them. A harried-looking knight, Sir Pertacus, welcomed the knights inside. Shortly after they entered, there was a tremendous bang, and the keep shook. Sir Pertacus explained that there was a truly immense giant, Hargyll, imprisoned upon the second peak. He had been chained to the bottomless lake for killing his brother. Now he kept cages of imprisoned knights who had come to slay him or to save their brothers. Legend said that if a knight was brave enough to sacrifice himself by leaping into the bottomless lake, the giant would be freed and the knights saved.
After a long night, subjected to Hargyll's bombardment, the knights set out to the second peak. A single path led up to a cave, where the imprisoned knights were bound in wicker cages. Hargyll was a truly monstrous giant, a beast of legend. He was bound by a massive chain that disappeared into the black lake. The knights were horrified: how could they win without sacrificing their lives? If they engaged the giant, it would surely crush them, while diving into the water was suicidal. Lady Elspeth went hysterical, insisting that none of this made any sense. Finally, Sir Connor agreed to sacrifice himself. He stripped himself of his armour and jumped into the lake. To his relief, it was not bottomless. Just under the water's surface, there was an immense lock fastening the chain. At the bottom of the lake, obscured by the bones of Hargyll's brother, was a key greater in size than a man. Sir Connor held his breath, swam down, and managed to extract the key. He then unlocked the chains. Hargyll stomped off happily, and Sir Connot grabbed hold of the chain and was hoisted out of the water! Once the giant was gone, the group were able to free all the captive knights, and there was great rejoicing.
Only one castle remained: the Castle of the Maiden Knight. Its old Saxon lord, Sir Ethelheard, had imprisoned his daughters for falling in love with Cymric men. Any who would seek to free them, as Sir Danain the Elder's letter insists, must fight with Sir Ethelheard's champion: his young warrior bride, Lady Ethelrida. But how can one pledge to offer no harm to ladies and fight one, or should one refuse to harm Lady Ethelrida and abandon the daughters to their fate? This was Sir Danain's dilemma. Lady Elspeth personally thought that not fighting Lady Etherida would be an even greater insult to the honour of ladies than fighting her. However, she talked reasonably to Sir Ethelheard about the High King's dream for British and Saxon to unite, and was able to convince him to relent.
Sir Danain still dug in his heels, The knights had failed to address the final challenge personally, and a woman had resolved the problem for them. Lady Elspeth spoke to him too. Yes, they not always succeeded as Sir Danain the Elder might have wished - but Sir Balthazar and Sir Connor had always tried to do the right thing, and had succeeded at all their challenges. Chivalry was not easy, and like any ideal, it could not always be achieved, but we should always strive for it. Properly chastised, Sir Danain admitted that she was right. He swore to correct his ways, and returned to Rimchurch. There, he apologised to his mother, and swore to be a good knight until the end of his days.
The rains had stopped. Sir Balthazar, Sir Connor and Lady Elspeth bade Sir Danain and Lady Enide farewell, and then resumed their journey back to Salisbury.
