With the conquest of Wales completed, King Nanteleod had sworn that he would turn his attention against King Cerdic, and reclaim Salisbury from the Saxons. However, his armies did not march to war this year. With the word that Malahaut was preparing for a mighty war, the King spent this year consolidating his forces. His victories in Wales meant that more lands were willing to openly swear allegiance to him - Gloucester, Orofoise, Galvoie, Cheshire, Cameliard, and Wuerensis. It was more important, he judged, to shore up his position against Malahaut than to make enemies on more fronts by turning against King Cerdic.
The knights of Salisbury were disappointed by Nanteleod's decision, but understood and accepted it readily. They spent the year engaged in no great quests, but in small tasks of diplomacy. It would take a great alliance to be able to defeat Malahaut in the war that all knew was soon to come. Standing neutral thus far was Duke Corneus of Lindsey. As one of the few lords who had not died at Saint Albans, he had kept his lands thus far. Winning his allegiance for the next year could be essential.
Meanwhile, in other parts of Britain, the Saxons continued to war amongst one another to become Bretwalda, their version of High King. King Aelle of Sussex challenged King Cwichelm of Anglia and defeated him at Hertford, but chose not to pursue: the battle cost Cwichelm little save his pride.
And so the year ended: a gasp for breath before the chaos that was to ensue...
Saturday, 26 April 2014
501 AD, Part Two: The Quest for King Pellinore
The armies of King Nanteleod were marching. Through hidden roads in the Cambrian mountains, they made their way north, into the lawless lands of North Wales. There, the local cantrev lords had put aside their endless feuding to unite against his advance. Should Nanteleod win the forthcoming battle, he would have all Wales united behind him. Should he fail, he would be forgotten: another would-be king brought low by the Anarchy.
The knights of Salisbury were summoned to his war camp for an urgent task, a few short weeks after the raid upon Amesbury. Sir Bleddyn, Sir Cuthbert, Sir Edwin, Sir Gherard and Sir Helbur were joined by Sir Esther's twin brother, Sir Jeremy. He was more of a hedonist than his sister, a hunter and a womanizer. With Sir Esther now Abbess at Amesbury, she had convinced her brother to fulfill his responsibilities at last.
King Nanteleod himself did not meet the knights as they arrived at his encampment. He was too busy with the forthcoming battle. Instead, one of his subordinates gave the knights their orders. They were not to take part in the forthcoming battle, as the presence of a few knights would have little bearing on the outcome. Instead, Nanteleod had his eye on restoring stability to North Wales after the battle had been won. The area had fallen into chaos ever since the disappearance of its king, many years early. King Pellinore had departed to hunt the fabled Questing Beast - but now Nanteleod wished him found and returned to his kingdom.
How to find such a man, a vagrant knight who never slept in the same place twice? The knights left Wales, talking to those they met upon the road, peasants and gentry alike, to find someone who had seen the elusive King Pellinore. They found themselves lucky when they found the young wife of a shepherd, six months pregnant after an encounter with the King. She remembered their meeting fondly, and was able to point the knights in the direction that he had left: northwards. Now that they had a lead, Sir Gherard, Sir Helbur and Sir Jeremy were able to trace his path through Malahaut and beyond, to the imposing shadow of the Roman Wall that marked the edge of civilization and the beginning of the Pictish Highlands.
In the shadow of the Wall lay Walton, a tiny little forgotten hamlet. As the knights drew closer to it, they could tell that it was in disrepair. Some of the crops were missing from the field, and some buildings looked damaged. The peasants huddled together for defence, although they seemed relieved when they saw knights approaching. Sir Gherard and Sir Jeremy went to the local tavern, where they spoke to the barmaid, Breta. She was the widow of a carpenter, who had fled to Walton from north of the Wall. They learned from her that a small band of Pictish scouts, returning from the south, had attacked Walton.
Meanwhile, Sir Edwin went to the local blacksmith, Philomore, as his horse had thrown a shoe. Philomore was wounded from fighting the Picts, and Sir Edwin insisted on properly dressing the man's wounds to stop the onset of infection. He also spoke to Philomore about the raids, and learned that Picts attacked every year across Hadrian's Wall - but that this year, instead of the raid, there was only a small band of Pictish scouts, coming from the opposite direction. He did not know why the Picts had not launched their usual assault.
Sir Bleddyn, Sir Cuthbert and Sir Helbur were less successful in gathering information. Sir Bleddyn and Sir Helbur went to speak to a man in the stocks, with rotten lettuce dripping off his face. The thief, Bort, had stolen food after the Picts had attacked, to supplement what little he had. Sir Bleddyn threatened to use force on the man to learn more from him, but Sir Helbur stopped him. Finally, Sir Cuthbert visited the farm of one peasant who seemed different from the others. The man's name was Thaddeus, or Ted, and from his size and mannerisms, Sir Cuthbert realised that the man was clearly nobly born! However, the older man was reticent. Sir Cuthbert attacked him, to try and prompt him into reacting instinctively - instead, he wound up striking Thaddeus, and out of guilt spent the rest of the day helping him dig ditches around his farm.
Sir Bleddyn, Sir Cuthbert, Sir Gherard and Sir Helbur reunited and swapped stories. They had heard that there was a wild-woman who lived in the woods near Walton, called Leona. As Sir Cuthbert was still doing manual labour, they decided to try and track her down on their own. They found her without much difficulty, but they spooked the girl, who tried to escape. Sir Jeremy outpaced her, but Leona managed to knock him down. Ultimately, the knights decided to let her escape into the forest, since they would not be able to get any useful information from her.
The knights decided to delay their quest for a while to help the village, and discover the purpose behind the Pictish raid. The peasants were overjoyed that someone was paying attention to their problem and willing to help them. Sir Bleddyn, Sir Cuthbert, Sir Helbur and Sir Jeremy decided to venture north of Hadrian's Wall to track down the Pictish raiders, while Sir Edwin and Sir Gherard remained behind to help build defenses for Walton. The four knights venturing into Pictland followed the trail of the raiders east for some time before they crossed the ruins of the wall. The knights had heard rumours in Walton that the ghosts of the Roman defenders still slew Picts who attempted to cross the wall - perhaps this was why the raiders had taken such a circuitous route?
A few hours north of the Wall, young Pictish warriors appeared from the wilderness about the four knights, throwing javelins at them. However, the Picts were young and inexperienced, and the four knights were anything but... the fight was short and brutal, with the assailants swiftly dispatched, save for one youth whom the knights took alive for questioning. The boy did not know much - just that the chieftain of the Salmon Tribe had forbidden raiding for that year, and the Picts truly did believe that the Wall was haunted. This young group of warriors had disobeyed orders to seek glory. It had not ended well for them. Now that they had learned all that they could from their captive, Sir Helbur wanted to release the boy, while Sir Bleddyn demanded that no survivors be left. Faced with this challenge to his leadership, Sir Helbur capitulated, and Sir Bleddyn murdered the Pictish captive.
The knights north of the wall now split up. Sir Bleddyn and Sir Cuthbert headed south with the bodies of the slain Picts. They intended to leave them at the Wall, to try and convince the Picts that their crossing-place was haunted. Meanwhile, Sir Helbur and Sir Jeremy would continue north after the raiders, to try and discover what was going on. They discovered a Pictish village, and Sir Helbur decided to immediately ride up to them and ask to parley. Sir Jeremy tried to change his mind, but Sir Helbur would not be swayed. Just as Sir Jeremy predicted, the Picts were hostile and attacked, and the scarred knight barely managed to escape. The two knights galloped south towards the Wall, pursued by Pictish warriors.
Just before reaching the Wall, the two fleeing knights met Sir Bleddyn and Sir Cuthbert again. They spun their horses to flee - when Sir Cuthbert's dog, the Questing Beast, began to bark and indicated a different direction, to the east. Sir Jeremy noticed that there were tracks of Pictish travelers on foot, but also hoofprints from a band of knights. The knights decided to head east to investigate, and discovered a ruined Roman staging post. However, when they entered they were attacked by Picts from many tribes, and by warriors of Malahaut, led by Prince Berrant, the son of the Centurion King! Malahaut was preparing to expand its borders by attacking Logres, and they were negotiating an alliance with the Pictish tribes. Now that their secret alliance had been discovered, Prince Berrant demanded that the four knights be imprisoned and tortured until they revealed who sent them to spy on the meeting and why, before being executed...
Meanwhile, in Walton, Sir Gherard and Sir Edwin constructed some basic barricades for the peasants, as well as a shrine for Saint Gwiona. They also had a father-son talk, and began to reconcile. Having finished their work, they headed north to investigate Hadrian's Wall. The weather soon changed, and in the middle of the storm the two were confronted by a Roman ghost... who, it turned out, was no ghost! Sir Julian was the descendant of the last Roman defender of the wall. His ancestor (also called Julian) had been badly wounded just before the Romans withdrew from Britain, and so his legion had been forced to leave him behind. The original Sir Julian had continued to patrol the Wall single-handed. When he grew old, he took a wife, and trained his son to succeed him. So it was that for the last hundred years, a single Roman knight, taking the name Julian, would attack Picts as they crossed Hadrian's Wall, giving rise to the rumors of a ghostly guardian.
Sir Julian had also seen the four knights crossing Hadrian's Wall, and knew that they had gone to investigate the Roman ruins - and had not returned. Sir Gherard and Sir Edwin realized that their comrades were in danger, and decided to prepare a rescue mission. They convinced Sir Julian to join them, and headed to Walton to gain more assistance. They first met Bretta, the refugee. She and Sir Julian fell in love at first sight, and Bretta agreed to help the knights. Sir Gherard went to confront Thaddeus. Thaddeus revealed that he had, in fact, been Sir Thaddeus of Malahaut. He had fled in fear from a battle against bandits, leaving his comrades and the village they were defending to die. As a result, he regarded himself as a failure, and no longer worthy to be a knight. Sir Gherard convinced him to take up his sword one more time, to redeem his failure. Finally, they took Bort (the villager in the stocks) with them, as his sneakiness would be an asset.
The group traveled north towards the ruined staging-post. They found the way blocked by Pictish warriors, but managed to sneak around them and reach the little fort. The six entered secretly over the ruined wall, and Sir Julian slew a Pictish sentry who would have raised the alarm. The group entered the dungeon, where they fought against the Malahautians and Pictish defenders. Meanwhile Bretta and Bort slipped further on and found Sir Helbur, being tortured for information. Bretta found a piece of wood and struck the jailer from behind, knocking him out and rescuing Sir Helbur. The rescuers successfully freed the other three knights and took a Malahautian shield for evidence, before setting the building on fire and escaping. There was no sign of Prince Berrant, however. He had fled as soon as the fighting began - and had thus dishonoured himself in front of his would-be allies. The Pictish alliance was no more, and the knights would be able to report to King Nanteleod about Malahaut's battle plans.
The group returned to Walton. Sir Julian married Bretta, and the two returned to the wall with Thaddeus, who had decided to take up his sword once more and keep defending Britain. The knights said that they would try to get King Nanteleod to reinforce the Roman Wall, and then bid everyone in Walton a fond farewell and continued south, following King Pellinore.
The mad huntsman's trail had almost gone cold now, but they managed to follow him into the Pennine Mountains. There, one cold night, their camp was attacked by a group of desperate peasants. Their homes had been destroyed in the fighting of the anarchy, and they were reduced to banditry to survive. The knights talked them down and agreed to share food with them, and then told them to seek shelter with Nanteleod. Without any supplies remaining, Sir Jeremy had to forage for the knights as they headed south and east, slowing their pursuit of King Pellinore down even further.
The trail led into the Fens. Pellinore's trail became harder to follow through the marshes and the reeds. There, the group met Roger, a friendly trapper, who spoke to them about what lay in the marsh. There lived a witch and her son, a giant, whom the knights decided to avoid. There was also a band of Saxons who had fought their way into the swamp some years earlier and then never emerged again. The knights did not trust Saxons, but decided to visit this strange tribe. They found a small village in the swamp, living self-sufficiently and hiding from the outside world.
The men of the swamp were, in fact, not Saxons but men of Thule, a far distant land. Their King Aguar gave the knights hospitality and offered to help them navigate the swamps. He had been exiled from his lands when one of his lords, Sligon, had led a coup against him. He and his followers had sought sanctuary in Britain, and sought no conflict with the inhabitants of the land. Meanwhile, Sir Cuthbert was bombarded with questions by a young boy of Thule: Val, son of Aguar, who dreamed of adventure far from the swamps. Sir Cuthbert entertained Val, and the two played together for a while.
The next day the knights set off southwards, out of the swamp. Not far south of the fens, the knights saw signs of a Saxon army marching to war, and hid from them. By their banners, they could tell that it was the men of Anglia, driven by King Cwichelm to invade the County of Huntingdon. The knights did not wish to abandon their quests, but they knew that Huntingdon must be warned. Sir Gherard turned to his squire, Hubert, and made the boy a knight, and entrusted him with riding swiftly to warn the men of Huntingdon. Sir Hubert galloped east, while Sir Gherard led the others south. They would never meet again in this life.
King Pellinore's trail led further south. His pursuers stopped briefly at Saint Albans, and saw the memorial where Archbishop Iestyn and Sir Albrecht had perished, years earlier. The next night, the group sheltered at a monastery just outside London loyal to the teaching of the martyred Saint Gwiona. The monks asked for a favour from the knights. Nearby was the manor of Sir Heward the Pale. This generous knight accepted refugees on to his land, but refused to accept any priests, and the monks were concerned about the state of his soul, and of those with him. Since it was not out of their way, the knights agreed to talk to Sir Heward.
Sir Heward offered his hospitality, and took the knights around his estate. He was afflicted with a club foot, and was unable to fight; his time spent indoors was the source of his pale complexion. There were peasants sheltering all about his lands, and the knights could tell that Sir Heward had more men living upon his land than he could afford to support. In his manor, Sir Heward showed the knights the paintings which he had created, and was now forced to pawn to pay for food for the refugees on his land.
Speaking tactfully, Sir Gherard teased out of their host at dinner the story of how he had been betrayed by the church in years past, and how he still bore great resentment for this. His lover had died in childbirth, and as she had had sex out of wedlock the church had refused to give her a Christian burial - unless Sir Heward paid then. Sir Gherard used soft words to convince Sir Heward to let the Church show how it had changed with the coming of Saint Gwiona by letting them helping him care for the peasants. When the knights left the next morning, Sir Heward agreed to let the monks visit his lands.
The trail led onwards. It doubled back upon itself, heading to the north and the east - deep into the lands of the Saxons. The knights managed to elude Saxon patrols and entered the trackless depths of the Quinqueroi Forest, where they found a small hunting lodge. Its owner had but recently left, but it was sumptuously provisioned. The knights interrogated the servant and discovered that this was the lodge of none other than King Aescalax himself, the King of Essex - and the man who was responsible for the death of Saint Gwiona. He was hunting in this part - but more interesting by far, he would be returning this way in a week or less, on his way back to Colchester. The knights decided to stay and to slay the King upon his return. Sir Bleddyn argued that they should murder the King, but Sir Gherard's honour forbade him from such strategies. Instead, they decided to barricade the door when the King entered, to split him off from the bulk of his bodyguards, and then to challenge them to a fair fight,
For a week, the knights feasted on King Aescalax's largesse. When signs of the travellers came, they took their prearranged positions. Only the King and a few of his attendants entered before the knights dropped a crude wooden portcullis over the doorway. Sir Gherard drew his sword and denounced the King, and battle was joined! The King's defenders fought ferociously to protect their liege, but the knights were driven by their hatred of the Saxons and their indomitable desire to avenge Saint Gwiona. They slew the bodyguard and attacked the King himself. Sir Edwin's blade cleft King Aescalax's heart asunder, and a moment later Sir Bleddyn struck the King's head clear from his shoulders.
Their victory was not without cost. Sir Gherard was struck down by the axes of King Aescalax's bodyguard. He died happy, knowing that he had found a glorious end worthy of his ancestors. Sir Edwin spoke to him before he died, and acknowledged him as his father, in spirit if not in blood, taking his signet ring. Sir Cuthbert took the King's highly trained warhorse on a whim, which he named Aescalaxing. But there was no time to dally - for outside, the rest of the King's bodyguard was hacking through the portcullis to avenge the King's death. Sir Bleddyn dropped a torch to bar their escape, and the knights fled through the back of the lodge, through a route that they had prepared earlier.
The trail of King Pellinore now grew cold. Once, on a distant wind, the knights thought that they could hear the baying of fifty hounds questing, but there was no further sign of him. Perhaps if they had not delayed so often, they would have been able to find him. However, they had accomplished great good that year, and so they returned to Wales proudly. There, they found that King Nanteleod had vanquished the Cantrev lords in a pitched battle, and was master of all Wales. He listened to their report with great interest, and appointed one of his followers as King of the Isles in the place of the missing King Pellinore.
Not all news was positive. Word came that Huntingdon had been overwhelmed by the Saxons of Anglia. and was lost. Essex, with the deaths of King Aescalax and Prince Aescwine in the same year, was dissolving into anarchy, and King Nanteleod predicted that Anglia would annex it and grow still more powerful. The great conflict between Nanteleod and the Saxons would surely not be long off - and the army of Malahaut would soon be ready as well...
The knights of Salisbury were summoned to his war camp for an urgent task, a few short weeks after the raid upon Amesbury. Sir Bleddyn, Sir Cuthbert, Sir Edwin, Sir Gherard and Sir Helbur were joined by Sir Esther's twin brother, Sir Jeremy. He was more of a hedonist than his sister, a hunter and a womanizer. With Sir Esther now Abbess at Amesbury, she had convinced her brother to fulfill his responsibilities at last.
King Nanteleod himself did not meet the knights as they arrived at his encampment. He was too busy with the forthcoming battle. Instead, one of his subordinates gave the knights their orders. They were not to take part in the forthcoming battle, as the presence of a few knights would have little bearing on the outcome. Instead, Nanteleod had his eye on restoring stability to North Wales after the battle had been won. The area had fallen into chaos ever since the disappearance of its king, many years early. King Pellinore had departed to hunt the fabled Questing Beast - but now Nanteleod wished him found and returned to his kingdom.
How to find such a man, a vagrant knight who never slept in the same place twice? The knights left Wales, talking to those they met upon the road, peasants and gentry alike, to find someone who had seen the elusive King Pellinore. They found themselves lucky when they found the young wife of a shepherd, six months pregnant after an encounter with the King. She remembered their meeting fondly, and was able to point the knights in the direction that he had left: northwards. Now that they had a lead, Sir Gherard, Sir Helbur and Sir Jeremy were able to trace his path through Malahaut and beyond, to the imposing shadow of the Roman Wall that marked the edge of civilization and the beginning of the Pictish Highlands.
In the shadow of the Wall lay Walton, a tiny little forgotten hamlet. As the knights drew closer to it, they could tell that it was in disrepair. Some of the crops were missing from the field, and some buildings looked damaged. The peasants huddled together for defence, although they seemed relieved when they saw knights approaching. Sir Gherard and Sir Jeremy went to the local tavern, where they spoke to the barmaid, Breta. She was the widow of a carpenter, who had fled to Walton from north of the Wall. They learned from her that a small band of Pictish scouts, returning from the south, had attacked Walton.
Meanwhile, Sir Edwin went to the local blacksmith, Philomore, as his horse had thrown a shoe. Philomore was wounded from fighting the Picts, and Sir Edwin insisted on properly dressing the man's wounds to stop the onset of infection. He also spoke to Philomore about the raids, and learned that Picts attacked every year across Hadrian's Wall - but that this year, instead of the raid, there was only a small band of Pictish scouts, coming from the opposite direction. He did not know why the Picts had not launched their usual assault.
Sir Bleddyn, Sir Cuthbert and Sir Helbur were less successful in gathering information. Sir Bleddyn and Sir Helbur went to speak to a man in the stocks, with rotten lettuce dripping off his face. The thief, Bort, had stolen food after the Picts had attacked, to supplement what little he had. Sir Bleddyn threatened to use force on the man to learn more from him, but Sir Helbur stopped him. Finally, Sir Cuthbert visited the farm of one peasant who seemed different from the others. The man's name was Thaddeus, or Ted, and from his size and mannerisms, Sir Cuthbert realised that the man was clearly nobly born! However, the older man was reticent. Sir Cuthbert attacked him, to try and prompt him into reacting instinctively - instead, he wound up striking Thaddeus, and out of guilt spent the rest of the day helping him dig ditches around his farm.
Sir Bleddyn, Sir Cuthbert, Sir Gherard and Sir Helbur reunited and swapped stories. They had heard that there was a wild-woman who lived in the woods near Walton, called Leona. As Sir Cuthbert was still doing manual labour, they decided to try and track her down on their own. They found her without much difficulty, but they spooked the girl, who tried to escape. Sir Jeremy outpaced her, but Leona managed to knock him down. Ultimately, the knights decided to let her escape into the forest, since they would not be able to get any useful information from her.
The knights decided to delay their quest for a while to help the village, and discover the purpose behind the Pictish raid. The peasants were overjoyed that someone was paying attention to their problem and willing to help them. Sir Bleddyn, Sir Cuthbert, Sir Helbur and Sir Jeremy decided to venture north of Hadrian's Wall to track down the Pictish raiders, while Sir Edwin and Sir Gherard remained behind to help build defenses for Walton. The four knights venturing into Pictland followed the trail of the raiders east for some time before they crossed the ruins of the wall. The knights had heard rumours in Walton that the ghosts of the Roman defenders still slew Picts who attempted to cross the wall - perhaps this was why the raiders had taken such a circuitous route?
A few hours north of the Wall, young Pictish warriors appeared from the wilderness about the four knights, throwing javelins at them. However, the Picts were young and inexperienced, and the four knights were anything but... the fight was short and brutal, with the assailants swiftly dispatched, save for one youth whom the knights took alive for questioning. The boy did not know much - just that the chieftain of the Salmon Tribe had forbidden raiding for that year, and the Picts truly did believe that the Wall was haunted. This young group of warriors had disobeyed orders to seek glory. It had not ended well for them. Now that they had learned all that they could from their captive, Sir Helbur wanted to release the boy, while Sir Bleddyn demanded that no survivors be left. Faced with this challenge to his leadership, Sir Helbur capitulated, and Sir Bleddyn murdered the Pictish captive.
The knights north of the wall now split up. Sir Bleddyn and Sir Cuthbert headed south with the bodies of the slain Picts. They intended to leave them at the Wall, to try and convince the Picts that their crossing-place was haunted. Meanwhile, Sir Helbur and Sir Jeremy would continue north after the raiders, to try and discover what was going on. They discovered a Pictish village, and Sir Helbur decided to immediately ride up to them and ask to parley. Sir Jeremy tried to change his mind, but Sir Helbur would not be swayed. Just as Sir Jeremy predicted, the Picts were hostile and attacked, and the scarred knight barely managed to escape. The two knights galloped south towards the Wall, pursued by Pictish warriors.
Just before reaching the Wall, the two fleeing knights met Sir Bleddyn and Sir Cuthbert again. They spun their horses to flee - when Sir Cuthbert's dog, the Questing Beast, began to bark and indicated a different direction, to the east. Sir Jeremy noticed that there were tracks of Pictish travelers on foot, but also hoofprints from a band of knights. The knights decided to head east to investigate, and discovered a ruined Roman staging post. However, when they entered they were attacked by Picts from many tribes, and by warriors of Malahaut, led by Prince Berrant, the son of the Centurion King! Malahaut was preparing to expand its borders by attacking Logres, and they were negotiating an alliance with the Pictish tribes. Now that their secret alliance had been discovered, Prince Berrant demanded that the four knights be imprisoned and tortured until they revealed who sent them to spy on the meeting and why, before being executed...
Meanwhile, in Walton, Sir Gherard and Sir Edwin constructed some basic barricades for the peasants, as well as a shrine for Saint Gwiona. They also had a father-son talk, and began to reconcile. Having finished their work, they headed north to investigate Hadrian's Wall. The weather soon changed, and in the middle of the storm the two were confronted by a Roman ghost... who, it turned out, was no ghost! Sir Julian was the descendant of the last Roman defender of the wall. His ancestor (also called Julian) had been badly wounded just before the Romans withdrew from Britain, and so his legion had been forced to leave him behind. The original Sir Julian had continued to patrol the Wall single-handed. When he grew old, he took a wife, and trained his son to succeed him. So it was that for the last hundred years, a single Roman knight, taking the name Julian, would attack Picts as they crossed Hadrian's Wall, giving rise to the rumors of a ghostly guardian.
Sir Julian had also seen the four knights crossing Hadrian's Wall, and knew that they had gone to investigate the Roman ruins - and had not returned. Sir Gherard and Sir Edwin realized that their comrades were in danger, and decided to prepare a rescue mission. They convinced Sir Julian to join them, and headed to Walton to gain more assistance. They first met Bretta, the refugee. She and Sir Julian fell in love at first sight, and Bretta agreed to help the knights. Sir Gherard went to confront Thaddeus. Thaddeus revealed that he had, in fact, been Sir Thaddeus of Malahaut. He had fled in fear from a battle against bandits, leaving his comrades and the village they were defending to die. As a result, he regarded himself as a failure, and no longer worthy to be a knight. Sir Gherard convinced him to take up his sword one more time, to redeem his failure. Finally, they took Bort (the villager in the stocks) with them, as his sneakiness would be an asset.
The group traveled north towards the ruined staging-post. They found the way blocked by Pictish warriors, but managed to sneak around them and reach the little fort. The six entered secretly over the ruined wall, and Sir Julian slew a Pictish sentry who would have raised the alarm. The group entered the dungeon, where they fought against the Malahautians and Pictish defenders. Meanwhile Bretta and Bort slipped further on and found Sir Helbur, being tortured for information. Bretta found a piece of wood and struck the jailer from behind, knocking him out and rescuing Sir Helbur. The rescuers successfully freed the other three knights and took a Malahautian shield for evidence, before setting the building on fire and escaping. There was no sign of Prince Berrant, however. He had fled as soon as the fighting began - and had thus dishonoured himself in front of his would-be allies. The Pictish alliance was no more, and the knights would be able to report to King Nanteleod about Malahaut's battle plans.
The group returned to Walton. Sir Julian married Bretta, and the two returned to the wall with Thaddeus, who had decided to take up his sword once more and keep defending Britain. The knights said that they would try to get King Nanteleod to reinforce the Roman Wall, and then bid everyone in Walton a fond farewell and continued south, following King Pellinore.
The mad huntsman's trail had almost gone cold now, but they managed to follow him into the Pennine Mountains. There, one cold night, their camp was attacked by a group of desperate peasants. Their homes had been destroyed in the fighting of the anarchy, and they were reduced to banditry to survive. The knights talked them down and agreed to share food with them, and then told them to seek shelter with Nanteleod. Without any supplies remaining, Sir Jeremy had to forage for the knights as they headed south and east, slowing their pursuit of King Pellinore down even further.
The trail led into the Fens. Pellinore's trail became harder to follow through the marshes and the reeds. There, the group met Roger, a friendly trapper, who spoke to them about what lay in the marsh. There lived a witch and her son, a giant, whom the knights decided to avoid. There was also a band of Saxons who had fought their way into the swamp some years earlier and then never emerged again. The knights did not trust Saxons, but decided to visit this strange tribe. They found a small village in the swamp, living self-sufficiently and hiding from the outside world.
The men of the swamp were, in fact, not Saxons but men of Thule, a far distant land. Their King Aguar gave the knights hospitality and offered to help them navigate the swamps. He had been exiled from his lands when one of his lords, Sligon, had led a coup against him. He and his followers had sought sanctuary in Britain, and sought no conflict with the inhabitants of the land. Meanwhile, Sir Cuthbert was bombarded with questions by a young boy of Thule: Val, son of Aguar, who dreamed of adventure far from the swamps. Sir Cuthbert entertained Val, and the two played together for a while.
The next day the knights set off southwards, out of the swamp. Not far south of the fens, the knights saw signs of a Saxon army marching to war, and hid from them. By their banners, they could tell that it was the men of Anglia, driven by King Cwichelm to invade the County of Huntingdon. The knights did not wish to abandon their quests, but they knew that Huntingdon must be warned. Sir Gherard turned to his squire, Hubert, and made the boy a knight, and entrusted him with riding swiftly to warn the men of Huntingdon. Sir Hubert galloped east, while Sir Gherard led the others south. They would never meet again in this life.
King Pellinore's trail led further south. His pursuers stopped briefly at Saint Albans, and saw the memorial where Archbishop Iestyn and Sir Albrecht had perished, years earlier. The next night, the group sheltered at a monastery just outside London loyal to the teaching of the martyred Saint Gwiona. The monks asked for a favour from the knights. Nearby was the manor of Sir Heward the Pale. This generous knight accepted refugees on to his land, but refused to accept any priests, and the monks were concerned about the state of his soul, and of those with him. Since it was not out of their way, the knights agreed to talk to Sir Heward.
Sir Heward offered his hospitality, and took the knights around his estate. He was afflicted with a club foot, and was unable to fight; his time spent indoors was the source of his pale complexion. There were peasants sheltering all about his lands, and the knights could tell that Sir Heward had more men living upon his land than he could afford to support. In his manor, Sir Heward showed the knights the paintings which he had created, and was now forced to pawn to pay for food for the refugees on his land.
Speaking tactfully, Sir Gherard teased out of their host at dinner the story of how he had been betrayed by the church in years past, and how he still bore great resentment for this. His lover had died in childbirth, and as she had had sex out of wedlock the church had refused to give her a Christian burial - unless Sir Heward paid then. Sir Gherard used soft words to convince Sir Heward to let the Church show how it had changed with the coming of Saint Gwiona by letting them helping him care for the peasants. When the knights left the next morning, Sir Heward agreed to let the monks visit his lands.
The trail led onwards. It doubled back upon itself, heading to the north and the east - deep into the lands of the Saxons. The knights managed to elude Saxon patrols and entered the trackless depths of the Quinqueroi Forest, where they found a small hunting lodge. Its owner had but recently left, but it was sumptuously provisioned. The knights interrogated the servant and discovered that this was the lodge of none other than King Aescalax himself, the King of Essex - and the man who was responsible for the death of Saint Gwiona. He was hunting in this part - but more interesting by far, he would be returning this way in a week or less, on his way back to Colchester. The knights decided to stay and to slay the King upon his return. Sir Bleddyn argued that they should murder the King, but Sir Gherard's honour forbade him from such strategies. Instead, they decided to barricade the door when the King entered, to split him off from the bulk of his bodyguards, and then to challenge them to a fair fight,
For a week, the knights feasted on King Aescalax's largesse. When signs of the travellers came, they took their prearranged positions. Only the King and a few of his attendants entered before the knights dropped a crude wooden portcullis over the doorway. Sir Gherard drew his sword and denounced the King, and battle was joined! The King's defenders fought ferociously to protect their liege, but the knights were driven by their hatred of the Saxons and their indomitable desire to avenge Saint Gwiona. They slew the bodyguard and attacked the King himself. Sir Edwin's blade cleft King Aescalax's heart asunder, and a moment later Sir Bleddyn struck the King's head clear from his shoulders.
Their victory was not without cost. Sir Gherard was struck down by the axes of King Aescalax's bodyguard. He died happy, knowing that he had found a glorious end worthy of his ancestors. Sir Edwin spoke to him before he died, and acknowledged him as his father, in spirit if not in blood, taking his signet ring. Sir Cuthbert took the King's highly trained warhorse on a whim, which he named Aescalaxing. But there was no time to dally - for outside, the rest of the King's bodyguard was hacking through the portcullis to avenge the King's death. Sir Bleddyn dropped a torch to bar their escape, and the knights fled through the back of the lodge, through a route that they had prepared earlier.
The trail of King Pellinore now grew cold. Once, on a distant wind, the knights thought that they could hear the baying of fifty hounds questing, but there was no further sign of him. Perhaps if they had not delayed so often, they would have been able to find him. However, they had accomplished great good that year, and so they returned to Wales proudly. There, they found that King Nanteleod had vanquished the Cantrev lords in a pitched battle, and was master of all Wales. He listened to their report with great interest, and appointed one of his followers as King of the Isles in the place of the missing King Pellinore.
Not all news was positive. Word came that Huntingdon had been overwhelmed by the Saxons of Anglia. and was lost. Essex, with the deaths of King Aescalax and Prince Aescwine in the same year, was dissolving into anarchy, and King Nanteleod predicted that Anglia would annex it and grow still more powerful. The great conflict between Nanteleod and the Saxons would surely not be long off - and the army of Malahaut would soon be ready as well...
Thursday, 27 February 2014
501 AD, Part One: The Death of Saint Gwiona
Spring arrived in Cameliard, and with it travellers, weary from the road. They arrived at Carohaige, arguing as only family can, and were soon admitted, for they knew the knights of Salisbury who were refugees there already. In fact, one of the pair knew them very well, for he was none other than the long-lost Sir Gherard, and his companion was his step-son, young Sir Edwin.
It had been some seven years since anyone had seen Sir Gherard, and so there was joy at this unexpected reunion. The older knight related his story to the knights of Salisbury. After the feast of 491, he had married the Dowager Countess Edwina and the two had lived together happily. She passed away only a few years later, shortly before the death of King Uther and his court at Saint Albans. Sir Gherard had been unable to attend, for he had been wounded in a scuffle with brigands, and too unwell to be able to attend the battle. The Baron of Devon died in at Saint Albans, and his heir was a lesser man, who was jealous of the more illustrious Sir Gherard. At a feast, the new Baron insulted Sir Gherard, impugning his honour. He said that Sir Gherard's exploits were only hearsay, that he had failed his duty a result of being wounded in a pitiful affray, and that he was a disgrace to his glorious ancestors. Sir Gherard had, of course, rose to the bait. So he swore before the court of Devon to prove his worth. He would not return to Devon unless he brought with him one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain.
Sir Gherard had left his home, with what men would follow him. Foremost amongst them was his step-son, Sir Edwin, then but a young knight. They travelled throughout the war-torn land, seeking word of one of the treasures. After a year, they heard of the Hamper of Gwyddno Garanhir, a magical basket which contained endless food. It was said to be in the Cantrev Gwaelod, a kingdom of Wales which lay on the ocean floor! Legend spoke of the Lost Isle of Manannan, where the ancient sea god dwelt. Sir Gherard did not believe in the old gods, but it seemed the best place to seek a path beneath the waves. He and his men managed to sail through the wall of fog that guarded the Isle of Manannan, but were captured and flung into prison when they made land. (It was here that Sir Gherard smuggled out the note which Sir Esther would later receive.)
It was the custom of that castle that every solstice, a man should be executed. Over the long years of imprisonment, one by one Sir Gherard's men were taken out to be slain in this pagan rite. When only Sir Gherard and Sir Edwin survived, and it was time for them to die, a strange occurrence saved them: the castle was attacked by a monstrous dragon. In the confusion, the two were able to escape and make their way back to the mainland, from where they sought out their companions. Sir Edwin blamed his step-father for their misadventures, while Sir Gherard lamented the fall of his adopted home to the Cornishmen, and the fact that his oath kept him from returning home.
A week passed. Sir George departed from Cameliard, to fight another dragon. (Word would later come that he had been eaten by it.) Sir Cuthbert continued to recover from his ordeal of the previous year. Meanwhile, Sir Esther had a strange dream. She was caught in a terrible storm, and wherever she tried to shelter was destroyed by wind and rain and lightning. On the horizon the storm seemed to grow fainter as a red light grew. Then Saint Gwiona appeared behind Esther, untouched by the storm that raged about her. “You must return to Amesbury immediately,” she said, before fading back into the storm.
It had been some seven years since anyone had seen Sir Gherard, and so there was joy at this unexpected reunion. The older knight related his story to the knights of Salisbury. After the feast of 491, he had married the Dowager Countess Edwina and the two had lived together happily. She passed away only a few years later, shortly before the death of King Uther and his court at Saint Albans. Sir Gherard had been unable to attend, for he had been wounded in a scuffle with brigands, and too unwell to be able to attend the battle. The Baron of Devon died in at Saint Albans, and his heir was a lesser man, who was jealous of the more illustrious Sir Gherard. At a feast, the new Baron insulted Sir Gherard, impugning his honour. He said that Sir Gherard's exploits were only hearsay, that he had failed his duty a result of being wounded in a pitiful affray, and that he was a disgrace to his glorious ancestors. Sir Gherard had, of course, rose to the bait. So he swore before the court of Devon to prove his worth. He would not return to Devon unless he brought with him one of the Thirteen Treasures of Britain.
Sir Gherard had left his home, with what men would follow him. Foremost amongst them was his step-son, Sir Edwin, then but a young knight. They travelled throughout the war-torn land, seeking word of one of the treasures. After a year, they heard of the Hamper of Gwyddno Garanhir, a magical basket which contained endless food. It was said to be in the Cantrev Gwaelod, a kingdom of Wales which lay on the ocean floor! Legend spoke of the Lost Isle of Manannan, where the ancient sea god dwelt. Sir Gherard did not believe in the old gods, but it seemed the best place to seek a path beneath the waves. He and his men managed to sail through the wall of fog that guarded the Isle of Manannan, but were captured and flung into prison when they made land. (It was here that Sir Gherard smuggled out the note which Sir Esther would later receive.)
It was the custom of that castle that every solstice, a man should be executed. Over the long years of imprisonment, one by one Sir Gherard's men were taken out to be slain in this pagan rite. When only Sir Gherard and Sir Edwin survived, and it was time for them to die, a strange occurrence saved them: the castle was attacked by a monstrous dragon. In the confusion, the two were able to escape and make their way back to the mainland, from where they sought out their companions. Sir Edwin blamed his step-father for their misadventures, while Sir Gherard lamented the fall of his adopted home to the Cornishmen, and the fact that his oath kept him from returning home.
A week passed. Sir George departed from Cameliard, to fight another dragon. (Word would later come that he had been eaten by it.) Sir Cuthbert continued to recover from his ordeal of the previous year. Meanwhile, Sir Esther had a strange dream. She was caught in a terrible storm, and wherever she tried to shelter was destroyed by wind and rain and lightning. On the horizon the storm seemed to grow fainter as a red light grew. Then Saint Gwiona appeared behind Esther, untouched by the storm that raged about her. “You must return to Amesbury immediately,” she said, before fading back into the storm.
Sir Esther immediately told her companions. Sir Bleddyn, Sir Edwin, Sir Esther, Sir Gherard, and Sir Helbur rode south for Amesbury with all haste. When they drew near, they saw a plume of smoke rising from the monastery - and immediately began to fear the worst. The knights espied a small group of Saxons fleeing the monastery, heading east, and rode them down, taking one alive for questioning. Then they headed towards the monastery itself. Flames were billowing from it, and some of the buildings had collapsed. The front doors were shattered, and inside the slaughtered bodies of nuns and monks lay.
Sir Edwin led a search for survivors, while Sir Esther ran to find Saint Gwiona. Sir Edwin heard a noise from a cellar, and found a small group of acolytes huddling there. Gwiona had summoned everyone to assemble shortly before the Saxons attacked. She warned them that violence was coming, and that everyone needed to hide. Only some had managed to do so before the Saxons arrived, and some hiding groups had been discovered and massacred. The Saxons were clearly looking for someone. Sir Edwin and the others led the survivors outside, and treated what wounds there were. Meanwhile, Sir Esther found Saint Gwiona's sparse chambers empty. With a terrible foreboding feeling, she ran towards the main chapel, where she found a grisly sight. The Saint lay dead before the altar, hacked to pieces. The brave knight fell to her knees and wept bitterly.
Continuing to look for survivors, Sir Edwin went deeper into the ruined monastery. In the guest quarters, the knights discovered Queen Igraine, catatonic with shock. Nearby, young Morgan idly drew on the floor with a stick. And on them, about them, dripping off every wall, was the gory remnants of the rest of the Saxon raiders. Horrified by the carnage, the knights took Igraine and Morgan to join the other survivors.
The knights were soon able to piece together what had happened, from the survivors and from their captive. The raiders were men of Essex, led by Prince Aescwine himself. They had travelled to Amesbury to abduct the Queen and drag her back to be married to their King Aescalax. When they finally found her, however, young Morgan's magical ability manifested itself and she tore then asunder from within. Prince Aescwine himself was dead - and a grief-stricken Sir Esther killed the captive Saxon herself. But her sorrow was not over, for there was one final letter from Saint Gwiona, addressed to her.
To my beloved Esther,
I write this letter knowing that I will soon be dead. I do
not know how or why this will happen. I feel neither fear nor regret: I have
lived as well as I have been able, and none can ask for more than that.
I may not fear the future, but it is wise to prepare for it.
Therefore I ask you, Esther, to succeed me as Abbess of Amesbury. I know that
this is a role for which you will not wish. It is my belief that this makes you
more appropriate than any other. Furthermore, when we consider all that has
been accomplished in my name, the greatest part was accomplished by you. There
are monasteries across Britain which offer aid to the defenceless, and it was
your work that made this come to pass.
In all things, the Lady God reveals herself to us. As I go
to join her, so I know that her work will be carried out by you. Go now and
make me proud of you – as I always have been.
Gwiona
A few days later, four knights returned to Cameliard. The fifth remained behind forever, laying aside her sword and starting her new life as the Abbess of Amesbury.
Friday, 10 January 2014
500 AD: Monster Slaying
The refugees of fallen Salisbury sheltered in Cameliard as they planned their next course of action. Sir Bleddyn, Sir Helbur and Sir George contemplated what they should do to reclaim their homeland. Meanwhile, Sir Cuthbert, newly returned from Faerie, had a different task. Sir Esther had been morose and despondent ever since the death of her sister-in-law Lady Argyl, and her comrade in arms Sir Brietta. Sir Cuthbert made it his task to bring some levity to her life to cheer her up. In this task he had an ally: the adorable three-year-old Guinevere, daughter of King Leodegrance. Guinevere drew a picture for Sir Esther (of Jesus, and bunny rabbits), while Sir Cuthbert and his dog the Questing Beast snuck fish into her quarters to attract all the cats in the castle. After that, fish kept showing up when Sir Esther least expected it. It did manage to pull Sir Esther out of her fugue: she began playing pranks on Sir Cuthbert in revenge!
Sir Esther had also received a letter from a long-lost friend. After Sir Gherard moved to Devon, he had corresponded with Sir Esther regularly, but after the death of King Uther, the letters stopped. In the chaos of the subsequent years, she had been unable to discover what had happened to him. But now a merchant delivered a weather-beaten letter to her from her friend.
Sir Esther,
You must forgive the tardiness of my reply to your letter, and also the brevity of my response. I do not know if this letter will even reach you. If it should, know that I have been imprisoned upon the Lost Island of Manannan for many years. Any assistance which could be rendered would be appreciated.
Your friend,
Sir Gherard
There was no time to start investigating just yet, however. The leaders of Salisbury decided that it was important that Sir Bleddyn, Sir Cuthbert, Sir Esther, Sir George, and Sir Helbur begin the restoration of their homeland. They would have to seek out alliances (for while King Leodegrance was happy to shelter the exiles, he did not have the military strength needed to defeat the Saxon force occupying Salisbury). There would also need to be a scouting mission to gain information about the Saxons.
Sir Cuthbert knew that all of this was unimportant compared to his counterpart - the redcap changeling. Now that he had returned, there was no place for the Redcap in Salisbury any more. Furthermore, the Redcap was responsible for the fall of Salisbury by corrupting the Saxon Prince Cynric. If the Redcap were destroyed, the black heart of the Saxon occupation would be no more.
And before any of these tasks were undertaken, there was a problem closer to home. In the town of Wednesbury, in southern Cameliard, a rapacious green dragon had been attacking the chapel on Sundays and massacring the faithful. It had already eaten the Mayor, and many people were no longer attending services. The knights of Salisbury decided that they should confront this terror, in the name of Jesus Christ and for the sake of their current alliance with King Leodegrance.
The five knights travelled to Wednesbury on a Thursday, giving them a few days to prepare for the arrival of the dragon. Sir Esther and Sir George convinced the townsfolk to hold a service on Sunday despite the danger (with some knights suggesting that Sir Esther, as the most pious, would be acting as bait). Sir Cuthbert thought about what he knew of dragons, and remembered that most dragons have a weakness, connected to their nature. He was sure that the Green Dragon's weakness would be connected with its hatred for Christianity. Sir Helbur spoke to his new squire, Siegfried (the eldest son of the deceased Sir Albrecht). Siegfried told Sir Helbur about the legends of his namesake and how he slew the dragon Fafnir. Fafnir had a weak underbelly, and Siegfried dug a pit so that he could hide in it and then attack the dragon's weak point; Sir Helbur decided to do the same. Sir Bleddyn tried to take charge of the defence, although the other knights did not trust him and his plans, expecting that he would betray them and flee if things went wrong. He organised for more pits, with spikes and oil, to be dug.
On Sunday, the (small) congregation gathered outside the ruins of Wednesbury's chapel as Sir Esther rang an improvised church bell, and listened to Sir George's sermon. Sir Helbur and Sir Cuthbert hid in trenches, while Sir Bleddyn sat nearby on his horse, to oversee the situation. The first sign of the dragon was the terrible smell, followed by the rasping slither of its scale and the crashing of breaking trees. Finally the monster itself emerged, a terrifying serpent with row upon row of teeth and gleaming red eyes. Sir Bleddyn and Sir Esther's nerves broke at the sight of the fiend, and they turned to flee, along with most of the peasants. One brave peasant boy who was going to ignite the oil in the first trenches panicked as well and fled in the wrong direction; the serpent tore him into shreds without stopping its advance towards the congregation. But to do so it had to pass over Sir Helbur's pit. Crushed by the weight of the dragon above him and gagging on its terrible reek, the brave knight still had the strength to drive his sword into the slug-like underbelly. The dragon's own weight and momentum did the rest, tearing open its innards. The dragon screamed in terrible agony, rupturing Sir Helbur's eardrums. Its black blood ran down into the trench, melting away Sir Helbur's armour, skin and flesh.
Gravely wounded, the Green Dragon turned to flee. Sir George refused to let it depart, however. He mounted his nearby horse, seized his lance and galloped after it. Meanwhile, Sir Cuthbert climbed from his trench, and Sir Esther regained her nerve; they rushed to Sir Helbur and dragged the gravely wounded man from his trench. Sir George screamed a prayer at the dragon in challenge. It spun to face him, charging forward like a striking serpent. His lance struck it in its open mouth, and went through the roof of its mouth and out the other side of its skull. Still the dragon would not die; Sir Esther drew her blade and rushed to help him. She hacked the monster's tail nearly entirely off, and Sir George's own sword split the already wounded skull. The dragon thrashed about in its death throes. It flung itself into the spiked trenches, impaling itself repeatedly. It tore itself free, with many of the spikes still driven through it and struck the forest, impaling itself anew on broken trees.
At last, the dragon was dead. But as Sir Esther, Sir George and Sir Cuthbert tended to their fallen companion, they heard a sound behind them. Although it still had spikes and tree limbs still in its flesh, the dragon's wounds were knitting together, and it was beginning to stir once again. Sir Esther and Sir Cuthbert drew their blades and then attacked once more, cutting the terrible beast into bloody chunks. As they did, Sir George administered the last rites of the church upon each piece of the dragon - and by doing so, slew the dragon permanently. It was foul work, all three soon becoming soaked in the dragon's caustic blood, but the Green Dragon of Wednesbury was no more.
Sir George and Sir Esther held Mass immediately, to thank God for delivering Wednesbury from the peril of the foul worm. They set about directing the villagers in rebuilding their ruined church. Some time passed as the knights recovered from their ordeal. For a time, they did not know whether Sir Helbur would live or die. But he gradually began to recover, in body if not in spirit. He had a mask made for him of wood, to fit into the places in his face where the dragon's blood had eaten away at him. Meanwhile, Sir Esther and Sir Cuthbert headed into the forest and tracked down Sir Bleddyn. His terror, and perhaps a sense of guilt, had driven him witless. None of his comrades were surprised by how he had fled the battle. When Sir Bleddyn was found, he was raving incoherently. As Sir Esther tended to him, some of his ravings about dragons began to make sense, as he ranted about what he had done the previous year. For now, Sir Esther kept Sir Bleddyn's secret to herself, and said nothing to anyone.
Two months after the battle with the dragon, the five knights set off upon a new quest. They decided to seek an alliance with one of the powerful lords of Britain, who could help them reclaim Salisbury. Some of the knights thought that King Idres of Cornwall would be the best to seek aid from; others, King Nanteleod of Escavalon. King Idres was openly seeking as much power as he could seize, believing Logres dead, while Nanteleod was trying to become High King to restore order. The knights decided to seek an alliance with the more honourable King Nanteleod. They travelled to Estregales. King Nanteleod had recently defeated the Irish who had conquered it, and restored King Dirac to the throne as his vassal. The King agreed to help reclaim Salisbury when he could spare the troops, in exchange for Lady Jenna officially acknowledging his claim to become High King.
The knights spent a little time in Pembroke, while messengers settled the negotiations between Jenna and Nanteleod. While they waited, the knights helped drive out one of the remaining groups of Irish. Sir Helbur told a story, Sir George played the harp, and Sir Cuthbert and Sir Esther danced. They also did their best to avoid King Dirac, remembering his abnormal attraction for Sir Esther. He asked to see Sir Cuthbert privately, which left the group feeling worried that he had transferred his feelings to the beautiful young man. Fortunately, King Dirac was not interested in him and just wanted to ask him tips for attracting Sir Esther's attention, after he saw the two dancing together!
Word came from Lady Jenna: a proclamation that Salisbury acknowledged King Nanteleod as High King of Britain, and would swear vassalage to him. While Nanteleod was preparing war against northern Wales, he could not spare an army, but he assigned a group of ten experienced mercenaries to accompany the knights. They would do reconnaissance in Saxon-occupied Salisbury. They would also find and slay the Redcap, who was responsible for the entire affair. With Cuthbert's return, the presence of the Redcap was an imbalance which had to be corrected. The leader of the mercenaries was Sir Cador, formerly of Cornwall. He did not like how dishonourable the mission was. Sir Helbur immediately antagonised him by telling Sir Cador about how his father Duke Gorlois had died. Sir Cador was furious, but managed to stay focused on the mission at hand.
The knights decided to send a small scouting group ahead to Amesbury, to learn what had happened in Salisbury in their absence. Sir Cuthbert, Sir Esther, and her attendant Asha disguised themselves as nuns and made their way across Salisbury, avoiding the main routes. However, they did not know that the Redcap was anticipating their arrival, sooner or later. A group of Saxon warriors intercepted them in the Chute Forest and called for their surrender. Sir Esther and Asha managed to escape, but Sir Cuthbert was captured and taken as a prisoner to his evil counterpart, the Redcap.
Sir Esther returned to her companions, waiting outside Salisbury. As the Saxons were aware of the mission, Sir Cador followed his instructions and sent his knights home. He himself refused to abandon a comrade, however, and proposed a lightning strike at Sarum to rescue Sir Cuthbert. The five knights rode like the wind along the road, before any preparations could be made for their arrival. They struck down the Saxon patrols that they encountered, and reached Sarum that evening, to find that they were expected. The gates were open and unguarded, and Sir Cuthbert's flayed body was staked up, still wearing the nun's habit disguise, along with a message, "The Zoo." The knights were appalled, but they recognised that the corpse was too short for Sir Cuthbert - it was just a sick joke by the Redcap.
The knights entered the city, and made their way into the Allegorical Zoo. It was overgrown, and the animals howled and screeched at them. In one of the cages, Sir Cuthbert was imprisoned, naked but largely unhurt. The Redcap had only barely started to play with him. The sadistic faerie locked the doors to the zoo behind them, and opened the animals' cages. The seven animals that had represented Christian virtue had been driven insane by the Redcap's influence, and attacked the knights, while the Redcap himself fought with Sir George and Sir Esther. Sir Cador single-handedly held off the lion, while Sir Bleddyn fought the eagle, and the dog attacked Sir Helbur. The birds and the camel were less effective, but served as a distraction from the more lethal adversaries. Sir Cuthbert used his own faerie talents to soothe some of the animals from within his cage. As for the Redcap himself, he vastly underestimated his enemies. Sir Esther, usually a pacifist, was driven into a quiet fury by the horrors that her foe had unleashed, and decapitated the evil faerie with a single mighty blow. His cackling head flew off into the gloom. Freed from his fell influence, the animals fell upon their hated oppressor and devoured his remains.
The knights had been victorious against the second supernatural enemy of the year. They took Sir Cuthbert and fled the city. With the Redcap dead, reclaiming Salisbury would be a far easier task - but one for another day.
Sir Esther had also received a letter from a long-lost friend. After Sir Gherard moved to Devon, he had corresponded with Sir Esther regularly, but after the death of King Uther, the letters stopped. In the chaos of the subsequent years, she had been unable to discover what had happened to him. But now a merchant delivered a weather-beaten letter to her from her friend.
Sir Esther,
You must forgive the tardiness of my reply to your letter, and also the brevity of my response. I do not know if this letter will even reach you. If it should, know that I have been imprisoned upon the Lost Island of Manannan for many years. Any assistance which could be rendered would be appreciated.
Your friend,
Sir Gherard
There was no time to start investigating just yet, however. The leaders of Salisbury decided that it was important that Sir Bleddyn, Sir Cuthbert, Sir Esther, Sir George, and Sir Helbur begin the restoration of their homeland. They would have to seek out alliances (for while King Leodegrance was happy to shelter the exiles, he did not have the military strength needed to defeat the Saxon force occupying Salisbury). There would also need to be a scouting mission to gain information about the Saxons.
Sir Cuthbert knew that all of this was unimportant compared to his counterpart - the redcap changeling. Now that he had returned, there was no place for the Redcap in Salisbury any more. Furthermore, the Redcap was responsible for the fall of Salisbury by corrupting the Saxon Prince Cynric. If the Redcap were destroyed, the black heart of the Saxon occupation would be no more.
And before any of these tasks were undertaken, there was a problem closer to home. In the town of Wednesbury, in southern Cameliard, a rapacious green dragon had been attacking the chapel on Sundays and massacring the faithful. It had already eaten the Mayor, and many people were no longer attending services. The knights of Salisbury decided that they should confront this terror, in the name of Jesus Christ and for the sake of their current alliance with King Leodegrance.
The five knights travelled to Wednesbury on a Thursday, giving them a few days to prepare for the arrival of the dragon. Sir Esther and Sir George convinced the townsfolk to hold a service on Sunday despite the danger (with some knights suggesting that Sir Esther, as the most pious, would be acting as bait). Sir Cuthbert thought about what he knew of dragons, and remembered that most dragons have a weakness, connected to their nature. He was sure that the Green Dragon's weakness would be connected with its hatred for Christianity. Sir Helbur spoke to his new squire, Siegfried (the eldest son of the deceased Sir Albrecht). Siegfried told Sir Helbur about the legends of his namesake and how he slew the dragon Fafnir. Fafnir had a weak underbelly, and Siegfried dug a pit so that he could hide in it and then attack the dragon's weak point; Sir Helbur decided to do the same. Sir Bleddyn tried to take charge of the defence, although the other knights did not trust him and his plans, expecting that he would betray them and flee if things went wrong. He organised for more pits, with spikes and oil, to be dug.
On Sunday, the (small) congregation gathered outside the ruins of Wednesbury's chapel as Sir Esther rang an improvised church bell, and listened to Sir George's sermon. Sir Helbur and Sir Cuthbert hid in trenches, while Sir Bleddyn sat nearby on his horse, to oversee the situation. The first sign of the dragon was the terrible smell, followed by the rasping slither of its scale and the crashing of breaking trees. Finally the monster itself emerged, a terrifying serpent with row upon row of teeth and gleaming red eyes. Sir Bleddyn and Sir Esther's nerves broke at the sight of the fiend, and they turned to flee, along with most of the peasants. One brave peasant boy who was going to ignite the oil in the first trenches panicked as well and fled in the wrong direction; the serpent tore him into shreds without stopping its advance towards the congregation. But to do so it had to pass over Sir Helbur's pit. Crushed by the weight of the dragon above him and gagging on its terrible reek, the brave knight still had the strength to drive his sword into the slug-like underbelly. The dragon's own weight and momentum did the rest, tearing open its innards. The dragon screamed in terrible agony, rupturing Sir Helbur's eardrums. Its black blood ran down into the trench, melting away Sir Helbur's armour, skin and flesh.
Gravely wounded, the Green Dragon turned to flee. Sir George refused to let it depart, however. He mounted his nearby horse, seized his lance and galloped after it. Meanwhile, Sir Cuthbert climbed from his trench, and Sir Esther regained her nerve; they rushed to Sir Helbur and dragged the gravely wounded man from his trench. Sir George screamed a prayer at the dragon in challenge. It spun to face him, charging forward like a striking serpent. His lance struck it in its open mouth, and went through the roof of its mouth and out the other side of its skull. Still the dragon would not die; Sir Esther drew her blade and rushed to help him. She hacked the monster's tail nearly entirely off, and Sir George's own sword split the already wounded skull. The dragon thrashed about in its death throes. It flung itself into the spiked trenches, impaling itself repeatedly. It tore itself free, with many of the spikes still driven through it and struck the forest, impaling itself anew on broken trees.
At last, the dragon was dead. But as Sir Esther, Sir George and Sir Cuthbert tended to their fallen companion, they heard a sound behind them. Although it still had spikes and tree limbs still in its flesh, the dragon's wounds were knitting together, and it was beginning to stir once again. Sir Esther and Sir Cuthbert drew their blades and then attacked once more, cutting the terrible beast into bloody chunks. As they did, Sir George administered the last rites of the church upon each piece of the dragon - and by doing so, slew the dragon permanently. It was foul work, all three soon becoming soaked in the dragon's caustic blood, but the Green Dragon of Wednesbury was no more.
Sir George and Sir Esther held Mass immediately, to thank God for delivering Wednesbury from the peril of the foul worm. They set about directing the villagers in rebuilding their ruined church. Some time passed as the knights recovered from their ordeal. For a time, they did not know whether Sir Helbur would live or die. But he gradually began to recover, in body if not in spirit. He had a mask made for him of wood, to fit into the places in his face where the dragon's blood had eaten away at him. Meanwhile, Sir Esther and Sir Cuthbert headed into the forest and tracked down Sir Bleddyn. His terror, and perhaps a sense of guilt, had driven him witless. None of his comrades were surprised by how he had fled the battle. When Sir Bleddyn was found, he was raving incoherently. As Sir Esther tended to him, some of his ravings about dragons began to make sense, as he ranted about what he had done the previous year. For now, Sir Esther kept Sir Bleddyn's secret to herself, and said nothing to anyone.
Two months after the battle with the dragon, the five knights set off upon a new quest. They decided to seek an alliance with one of the powerful lords of Britain, who could help them reclaim Salisbury. Some of the knights thought that King Idres of Cornwall would be the best to seek aid from; others, King Nanteleod of Escavalon. King Idres was openly seeking as much power as he could seize, believing Logres dead, while Nanteleod was trying to become High King to restore order. The knights decided to seek an alliance with the more honourable King Nanteleod. They travelled to Estregales. King Nanteleod had recently defeated the Irish who had conquered it, and restored King Dirac to the throne as his vassal. The King agreed to help reclaim Salisbury when he could spare the troops, in exchange for Lady Jenna officially acknowledging his claim to become High King.
The knights spent a little time in Pembroke, while messengers settled the negotiations between Jenna and Nanteleod. While they waited, the knights helped drive out one of the remaining groups of Irish. Sir Helbur told a story, Sir George played the harp, and Sir Cuthbert and Sir Esther danced. They also did their best to avoid King Dirac, remembering his abnormal attraction for Sir Esther. He asked to see Sir Cuthbert privately, which left the group feeling worried that he had transferred his feelings to the beautiful young man. Fortunately, King Dirac was not interested in him and just wanted to ask him tips for attracting Sir Esther's attention, after he saw the two dancing together!
Word came from Lady Jenna: a proclamation that Salisbury acknowledged King Nanteleod as High King of Britain, and would swear vassalage to him. While Nanteleod was preparing war against northern Wales, he could not spare an army, but he assigned a group of ten experienced mercenaries to accompany the knights. They would do reconnaissance in Saxon-occupied Salisbury. They would also find and slay the Redcap, who was responsible for the entire affair. With Cuthbert's return, the presence of the Redcap was an imbalance which had to be corrected. The leader of the mercenaries was Sir Cador, formerly of Cornwall. He did not like how dishonourable the mission was. Sir Helbur immediately antagonised him by telling Sir Cador about how his father Duke Gorlois had died. Sir Cador was furious, but managed to stay focused on the mission at hand.
The knights decided to send a small scouting group ahead to Amesbury, to learn what had happened in Salisbury in their absence. Sir Cuthbert, Sir Esther, and her attendant Asha disguised themselves as nuns and made their way across Salisbury, avoiding the main routes. However, they did not know that the Redcap was anticipating their arrival, sooner or later. A group of Saxon warriors intercepted them in the Chute Forest and called for their surrender. Sir Esther and Asha managed to escape, but Sir Cuthbert was captured and taken as a prisoner to his evil counterpart, the Redcap.
Sir Esther returned to her companions, waiting outside Salisbury. As the Saxons were aware of the mission, Sir Cador followed his instructions and sent his knights home. He himself refused to abandon a comrade, however, and proposed a lightning strike at Sarum to rescue Sir Cuthbert. The five knights rode like the wind along the road, before any preparations could be made for their arrival. They struck down the Saxon patrols that they encountered, and reached Sarum that evening, to find that they were expected. The gates were open and unguarded, and Sir Cuthbert's flayed body was staked up, still wearing the nun's habit disguise, along with a message, "The Zoo." The knights were appalled, but they recognised that the corpse was too short for Sir Cuthbert - it was just a sick joke by the Redcap.
The knights entered the city, and made their way into the Allegorical Zoo. It was overgrown, and the animals howled and screeched at them. In one of the cages, Sir Cuthbert was imprisoned, naked but largely unhurt. The Redcap had only barely started to play with him. The sadistic faerie locked the doors to the zoo behind them, and opened the animals' cages. The seven animals that had represented Christian virtue had been driven insane by the Redcap's influence, and attacked the knights, while the Redcap himself fought with Sir George and Sir Esther. Sir Cador single-handedly held off the lion, while Sir Bleddyn fought the eagle, and the dog attacked Sir Helbur. The birds and the camel were less effective, but served as a distraction from the more lethal adversaries. Sir Cuthbert used his own faerie talents to soothe some of the animals from within his cage. As for the Redcap himself, he vastly underestimated his enemies. Sir Esther, usually a pacifist, was driven into a quiet fury by the horrors that her foe had unleashed, and decapitated the evil faerie with a single mighty blow. His cackling head flew off into the gloom. Freed from his fell influence, the animals fell upon their hated oppressor and devoured his remains.
The knights had been victorious against the second supernatural enemy of the year. They took Sir Cuthbert and fled the city. With the Redcap dead, reclaiming Salisbury would be a far easier task - but one for another day.
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Prelude to 500 AD: The Journal of Sir Esther the Mourner
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
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
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...
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
499 AD, Interlude: A letter from Sir Esther to Nimue
To Nimue, my dear, sweet child.
It is a beautiful summer’s day here in Amesbury and I write this from underneath our favourite birch tree, snacking on a sweet, crisp apple and a slice of hard cheese. Despite these gifts from our Goddess, the highlight of my day is the chance to write this letter to you! We have been very busy around the monastery. Sir George and I are planning a trip up to Cameliard to see his highness, King Leodegrance as we may be staying there over the winter. Meanwhile I hear that Sir Brietta, Mountain Lady as you call her, is leading another expedition into the Forest Sauvage. I hope she found the time to meet up with you and the Ladies of the Lake as I know you do so enjoy asking about her wild adventures.
Speaking of stories, I have just spotted an eagle soaring up ahead and am reminded of a story by your Aunt Argle, the wife of my late brother Percival. It is about a young eaglet who was eager to explore the world, hopping from nest to nest. She is taken in by several families of coots along the way, facing exciting experiences each time she travels. You remind me of this young eaglet, travelling from family to family. The Ladies of the Lake tell me you are a gifted, special child and have high hopes for you to make the world a better place. This much was apparent to me from the day I took you home to Idmiston. Things will be challenging at time. Always remember there are many who deeply love you and will gladly share your troubles.
Everyone from Amesbury sends their love. Sister Taffy complains that the windows do not shine quite so brightly as when you used to clean them, while Brother Wren moans that the dinner table has never been set so perfectly as under your careful hand. I send with this letter a rosary made by your close friend Gwyn, who you may remember cried so dearly when you left. She practices her birdsong to this day, though she doesn’t sound quite as sweet as you do. Aunt Argle also sends her famous honeycakes from Idmiston. Don’t eat them all at once.
Thinking of you always,
Esther
It is a beautiful summer’s day here in Amesbury and I write this from underneath our favourite birch tree, snacking on a sweet, crisp apple and a slice of hard cheese. Despite these gifts from our Goddess, the highlight of my day is the chance to write this letter to you! We have been very busy around the monastery. Sir George and I are planning a trip up to Cameliard to see his highness, King Leodegrance as we may be staying there over the winter. Meanwhile I hear that Sir Brietta, Mountain Lady as you call her, is leading another expedition into the Forest Sauvage. I hope she found the time to meet up with you and the Ladies of the Lake as I know you do so enjoy asking about her wild adventures.
Speaking of stories, I have just spotted an eagle soaring up ahead and am reminded of a story by your Aunt Argle, the wife of my late brother Percival. It is about a young eaglet who was eager to explore the world, hopping from nest to nest. She is taken in by several families of coots along the way, facing exciting experiences each time she travels. You remind me of this young eaglet, travelling from family to family. The Ladies of the Lake tell me you are a gifted, special child and have high hopes for you to make the world a better place. This much was apparent to me from the day I took you home to Idmiston. Things will be challenging at time. Always remember there are many who deeply love you and will gladly share your troubles.
Everyone from Amesbury sends their love. Sister Taffy complains that the windows do not shine quite so brightly as when you used to clean them, while Brother Wren moans that the dinner table has never been set so perfectly as under your careful hand. I send with this letter a rosary made by your close friend Gwyn, who you may remember cried so dearly when you left. She practices her birdsong to this day, though she doesn’t sound quite as sweet as you do. Aunt Argle also sends her famous honeycakes from Idmiston. Don’t eat them all at once.
Thinking of you always,
Esther
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)