The Knight (13 page)

Chapter Seven

Rhys woke in the dead of the night with hardly any effort at all. He had to try to summon Naida tonight. When the moon was high, he walked down to the River Trent, found a tiny sedimentary pond by the bank and sat down beside it.

“Naida,” he whispered.

“Rhys, how good to see you,” she replied.

They sat and stared at each other for a while. After what seemed like hours, he suddenly spoke.

“Has a muse never found a way to become human?” Rhys asked her suddenly.

Naida gasped at the forthright question.

“Well, there is an old myth about one muse who did manage to take human form, but she was so unfortunate for all her human days afterwards that the conundrum has always been whether it was really worth all her efforts at all.”

“Tell me the story,” he whispered to her suggestively.

She smiled, blushing until her neck and throat, as well as her cheeks, were pink. Clearing her throat, she began.

“Her name was Calamity. She was an artist’s muse many centuries ago in the time of Babylonia. She went to him in a dream one night, whispering in his ear about a terraced building with aqueducts for water where he could make beautiful plants and flowers flourish in the middle of the desert and which would make him famous for millennia.

“She appeared to him repeatedly in his dreams until he finished the final sketches of the gardens and then as the waters started flowing through the aqueducts and canals, she would appear in the pools and fountains and they would sit and talk and gaze at each other for hours on end. The man would bathe in the pools so that he could imagine that she could touch him and that they were lying together. He recited the poems of a king to her and she responded with these poems as well. Soon Calamity got tired of the distant relationship and the man’s heart was so tied to her that he became ill from not being able to hold her in his arms. He wanted her to be his wife and be with him on Earth forever. She wanted the same. So she went to Oberon and Mab and stated her case. They felt pity for her because in those days there was never a couple more in love than the royal couple were. Mab did not want Calamity to leave Eon, as she was one of her favorites at court, but she understood what the faery felt. Mab asked Titania, the High Priestess, to set a task for Calamity that would prove her conviction to the man and Oberon asked Mikah, High Steward, to do the same for the man. The man came to Eon and performed his task while Calamity was sent to Earth to do hers.

“It was meant to be a timely process because if too much time passed they would both begin to age rapidly. Calamity completed her task and returned to Eon to take the man back to Earth with her but when she arrived she found he had not completed his task and was growing weak and old. Calamity insisted that Mab perform the wedding ceremony and after they had been together for one night, they set to finish the task together. The union with his new wife reversed the signs of aging in the man since she was still a faery, but when the task was finished and Calamity pulled the man through the water back to Earth he died in her arms from drowning as she did not have the strength to take him through the watery path quickly enough.

“So now she was human and could not return to Eon. Calamity buried her husband in a crypt below the beautiful hanging gardens he had built for her and tended the plants until she grew old. One day, she dressed and left the garden. She walked to the sea and called to Amphitrite begging her to take her back to the water saying her feet were tired of dust and dirt. Amphitrite took her into the water and sent her to Anthemoessa, the Island of the Sirens, to be a handmaid to the three creatures.

“Every step she made in an effort to expedite her love of a human man was met with misfortune and distress; she was so ill-fated that she could not even find peace in her long mourning for her husband. That is why even today when events cause great suffering and distress or disasters, humans refer to it as a calamity.”

Rhys was lying on his back with his eyes closed, listening to her tale. He was enchanted and couldn’t look at her for fear that his emotions would be too plain in his green eyes.

“Naida,” he finally managed to say, opening his eyes to look up at the moon, “is the story true?”

“I do not know if the story is true, Rhys, but it is my experience that all legends and myths are born of true events; the only complication is that the stories are so old, one can never tell how much of it is still accurate.”

He sighed deeply and as the breath left his body, courage seemed to replace it.

“You are the most intriguing woman I have ever met. I look forward to seeing you again every time we are apart and I find myself wishing that we could be together more often.”

“I feel the same, Rhys, and the feeling is so strong that it hurts sometimes. Like a crippling pain that spreads through my chest and heart and I have to pause to recover from the alarm. Titania suspects something already and I had to confide in my friend Minerva for fear of breaking apart with this feeling.”

“I understand why you had to seek Minerva’s confidence. If I had not just recently found an advisor in my valet Erasmus, I would be bursting at the seams by now. Thus he is elevated from the position of servant to that of tutor. He advised my uncle, the great Caradoc Vreichvras in much the same way when he was a youth at Avalon.”

“Rhys, I am intrigued by all this. Would you please tell me more about your family?”

Rhys got up and walked to the water’s edge. He took a deep breath and turned to look at her face again.

“Where do I begin?” He paused for a little.

“At the beginning of course, silly boy,” she quipped, laughing.

“All right then,” he started. “My mother’s family comes from Burgundy, or Bourgogne, in France. In truth, they were from Narbonne but that may not be entirely important to the story. My mother is Mucuruna Cecilia of Gascoigne; her mother was Caretena Agrippina de Narbonne. Her stepsister is the great Chlotilde, the Holy Princess of Burgundy. She had two other step siblings, Chroma of Burgundy and a brother named Willibald, who became King of Burgundy. Her father was Caretena’s first husband, Ranfild Aurelius, Duke of Gascoigne. After Ranfild died, Flavius, Caretena’s father, sent her to the Burgundian court as a lady in waiting to Queen Hrothildis of the Visigoths. There she met the prince, Chilperic, and they fell in love and married.

“My mother was brought to court to live as the royal couple’s own child and eventually her sisters and brother arrived to fill the house. My mother had four step uncles and each ruled a borough within the Burgundian lands with the eldest, Chilperic the King, ruling them all as a council. The youngest brother, Gundobad, was dissatisfied with the fact that his chances to be king, if left to the line of succession, were very thin as forth in line to the throne. He plotted to murder his brothers. His plans were successful and after the murders of Chilperic and his brothers, Caretena and her children were removed from the court by Gundobad, the usurper, and placed in exile. Her daughters’ husbands rescued them all from the keep in Geneva. My aunts remained with their husbands while my mother and grandmother Caretena went back to Narbonne to live with their relatives.”

“This is intriguing,” Naida interjected. “But how is it that your mother’s younger sisters were married before she was?”

“That is an excellent and very important question, Naida. They were the royal bloodline, whereas she was not, so their father’s priority was to place them in ally courts as spouses to the princes of the Franks and the Visigoths. Mucuruna was his step daughter so it was Caretena’s responsibility to arrange her marriage, and she would do it very carefully so as to place her as high as her birthright made possible.”

Naida nodded to show that she understood Rhys’ explanation.

“Caretena took my mother to all the social events in an effort for her to be seen by the nobility in Narbonne and it was at one such outing that my mother met my father, Gwallawc, son of Anlawdd and Irelli. They were introduced at a grand ball thrown by his parents to celebrate his eighteenth birthday. Their other sons, Owain, Cedric and Amren were already married. It was an elaborate affair attended by the oldest families in the region; lords, ladies and royalty alike.

“My father came from good stock, not royalty but certainly a nobleman. Anlawdd was from Britain and the first born son of the prince, Anlawdd Wledig of Dumnonia. However, he was illegitimate and hence could not inherit his father’s throne or title. Nevertheless, his father bestowed every honor and all the riches of a legitimate prince on him. He became an established land owner and a lord with castles, fields and tenants, but when his father died, he went to Europe to travel and trade and that was when he met Irelli while purchasing wine to trade to Dover.

“Irelli’s family was one of the founding families of Narbonne, the Melusins. They were a famous family of herbalists and healers and some people thought they were magical. The two courted, were married and then Anlawdd decided to return to Britain and settle his growing family in his lands in the Midlands. The future of the country was going to change soon, as Uther Pendragon was poised to try to unite the clans of Britain as one country under one king. It was said that he wielded Excalibur, the sword of kings. Anlawdd had a lot of family in Britain including four living aunts Goleuddydd, Rieingulid, Igraine the queen and Tywynwedd, his favorite. She is my uncle Caradoc’s mother. He had to lend his support to his aunt’s husband, King Uther. Morgana le Fae is Queen Igraine’s daughter from her first marriage to Gorlois, the Duke of Cornwall; so are Morgause and Elaine. King Arthur is Igraine’s son from her marriage to Uther Pendragon, hence our relation.

“Anlawdd owned extensive lands with several halls and lodges built of heavy stone, so with four sons who were now all married, it made sense. They all returned to Britain and settled at Kenilwurt, in Worwick’s Shire. My grandmother, Caretena, stayed in France; eventually she returned to court and remarried. Ultimately, she became the mother of Queen Ingoberge of Paris and Queen Inconnu of the Franks during her third marriage.”

All the while that Rhys was speaking, Naida stared intently at his face. He purposely avoided her gaze to avoid blushing from the attention she was giving him.

“In Britain, my mother bore two children before me, but they both died as infants. My grandmother, Irelli stepped in when I was conceived. She took trips to Dover to purchase food and herbs from Burgundy and sent servants to the markets at London for grain from the south which she prepared for my mother to eat. My father and uncles were still having a hard time reviving the farmland which had lain fallow for so many years. Irelli told me that when I was born, I was crying before she had removed me from my mother’s body. She encouraged my mother to nurse me herself. To the joy of my parents and grandparents, I grew quickly. I walked at nine months and spoke at one year and with Irelli's help my mother conceived and delivered three more children, all girls.

“My sisters are Glynnis, Aelwyd and Cadwynn. They are all fair haired like you, Naida— like my mother as well—but they all have my father’s green eyes like I do. This makes them an eerie trio to see. It is as if they were one person being copied and reborn a year apart from each other. The little princesses at Kenilwurt Hall, spoilt by my father but reined in and educated impeccably by my mother. As I grew, my mother taught me as much language, music and deportment as she knew how to, while my grandfather taught me everything about rearing animals and tending the land. We rode out every day to survey the different fields and vales of the countryside we owned and I paid attention to how he planned the use of the land for the coming year; which of the parks the tenants would be allowed to hunt or fish in during the hunting season and what each would plant come the fall. He tried to teach me how to command people, making them productive without being a tyrant and how to be compassionate without becoming spineless. When I was four, my father gave me my first horse, a palfrey mare called Clarity, which I bred every two years until I had six horses altogether. I traded her first colt for a beautiful charger colt from the stables of my first uncle, Owain. Originally it was to bring in some better blood, but he quickly became my favorite and I trained him for combat by practicing my archery while riding him. I hoped it would prepare him for the joust and I was right; he is fearless.”

“How wonderful,” Naida interjected, forcing Rhys to look up at her. “What is his name?”

Rhys sighed at the sight of her face. She had the most sincere look of admiration in her eyes.

“His name is Broderick,” he said shyly.

She smiled at him then. To Rhys, it was as if the sun had broken free of clouds. He smiled and cleared his throat to continue.

“When I turned fifteen, my father sent me to Avalon to live with my distant aunt, Morgana le Fae at her court. I gave him three of my horses before I left home, all mares; one to add to the dowry of each of my sisters because I knew they would be married and gone before I ever saw home again. I gave Clarity to Irelli and the two colts I brought with me to Avalon. Morgana insisted that a young man in her care must come to Avalon with two ponies; a fit, young palfrey for riding out and a charger or destrier for jousting and hunting. It is what is proper, she said. I also had to bring a suit of fighting armor, a rapier and dress scabbard, as well as a fighting sword and shield. When I arrived at Avalon, I was assigned an apartment which is comprised of three rooms, a presence chamber, a privy chamber and a bedroom which has its own water closet. Erasmus was presented as my valet; he in turn is attended by a team of privy stewards and other servants who do his bidding. I was given new shirts, jerkins and trousers and other garments, most of which are the uniform of the queen’s pages. Presently, my days at Avalon are spent waiting on the queen, attending classes and training to fight as well as attending the rigorous lessons that my aunt has set my tutors to teaching me.