494

We each went to do our duties assigned to us by Roderik in the previous winter. Giles went to war with the Saxons, Luceers to diplomacy with a northern Irish prince, and I to tend to Roderik's estate.

Sigerius from Gaul would be visiting Roderik's manor, and I would be taking care of him.

I met with countess Ellen, and she welcomed me to the manor, and let me know that there would be a dinner of welcome that At dinner, Sigerius was an ass. I put him in his place, and he ordered me to find him a hunt the next day. Ellen told me that Bishop Dewey wanted to meet with me the next day. And she wanted to talk with me at the garden that night. When I went to visit Ellen, I chatted a bit with Jenna about her romance and then met with Ellen. She tempted me, but I resisted her advances and turned the conversation to talk of her daughter.

I met with Dewey and a young woman. I ruled against Dewey's scheme to steal the woman's estate, and talked to Hanzel about his prospects of marrying the young noble woman.

I sent the women away from Sarum in order to make Sigerius bored, and after a few days of minimal rations, he left.

Luceers met with a knight sent by Akalon who said that Akalon needed his help about two days to the north. Luceers and Ektor headed north and met with Akalon. Luceers to.d Akalon he would spend two days to find Ygraine and Morgan, who had been captured by bandits. But then he reconsidered, thinking it may be a trap, so he left Akalon to his business. Akalon told Luceers that if Ygraine was killed, he would have words with him when he returned. Ektor got them lost as they headed back to the path to the Irish king. When Luceers took the lead, they became lost in the Forest Savage.

Luceers arrived at the coast, about a week and a half late for his meeting. The knight he met offered an assassin to Luceers to kill the Irish king, and rid Britain of one more foreign invader, but Luceers refused such "generosity."

Luceers arrived at King Canan's castle. Luceers presented his case, but the king's response was noncommittal. The next morning Luceers was awakened and told to ride with a contingent of Irish knights to another castle. They feasted, with Luceers at a place of honor. The king asked about King Lot who had already been to see him. Luceers told what he knew, and the king left, and then the entourage rode north to another castle.

Luceers composed a song and sang it, and the next day the entourage rode into the mountains. They met some tribal leaders loyal to King Canan. And they repeated this routine of riding and meeting vassals for about two weeks, and then he introduced Luceers to his oldest son. He ordered his son to fight Luceers. They fought to first blood, and Luceers felled the son with one blow. The king grunted and left again. They went to another castle and the king abruptly turned to Luceers and told him that he would fight with Uther next summer. They partied all the way back, and one night, Luceers saw Sir Alain Corleone give poison and a bag of coins to Sir Orkis. Luceers took the poison from Sir Orkis and kicked him out of camp.

Meanwhile, Giles found that Roestock was preparing for war when he arrived to ask for Afion's help. Afion agreed even though he was scheduled to go to war, as ordered by Lot.

Callus met Giles at Ebble. He suggested that they could either go <unintelligible> or go to the aid of Cairsbrook. Giles wanted to go to Cairsbrook. When they arrived, they saw that they were outnumbered 2 to 1. Giles decided to ambush them, but his ambush failed. He charged in with his five knights as the vanguard unit. Giles continued to fight, pushing farther towards the Saxon prince. The battle turned against Giles as more Saxons arrived. Giles kept fighting,but the battle was not going well. However, Giles fought his way to the Saxon leader.

Giles was finally relieved by the troops coming out of the castle, and the tide of battle turned, and Giles held the field, but he was unable to capture the Saxon king.

Roderik returned, unsuccessful in his trip. We told him about our jobs.

I swore to Roderik faithfulness to Jenna if he allowed me to marry her.

Luceers and Giles went to visit Akalon. Akalon told them that he found Ygraine and Morgan in a tower with dead guards--killed in a strange way, as if they had burst from the inside. Further inside he found the kidnappers dead as well. Morgan was tending to her shaken mother, showing no emotion, and when asked what happened, Morgan said , "They got careless."

He also told them that Lot had talked the northern kings into attacking the northern Saxons. But the Saxons annihilated the northern army, and they are most likely headed south.

The winter was mild, and none of our families suffered.