Meeting king Cerdic
The year of our lord 496, one year after the death of the rightful king of Britain Uther Pendragon, the just Lady Ellen was besieged on all sides and sought counsel from her most trusted knight and so the sons of the bannermen were called to Salisbury. After seeking counsel with her knight lady Ellen decided to pay tribute to the Saxon invaders from the east and to begin the fortification of Salisbury; a task which would take many years. I shall also mention that not all the knight that had served Roderick remained in the service of Lady Ellen; many not content with serving a woman.
Now the sons of the bannermen and some other assorted knights, led by myself, were sent to Hanntonne in order to save refugees and seek an audience with the new ruler of the land who had the audacity to call himself king. On the way south they met with the king’s son Prince Cynyr, who even though he rode with Saxons conducted himself as a noble Cymrii. As the prince escorted the knight to his father’s court the knight witnessed much suffering and destruction at the hand of the Saxon invaders but found it to be less than expected. King Cerdic received them with open arms even though his demeanour was always proud. He declared that he was the son of High King Vortigen, thrice curse his name, and that he intended to become the new high king of Britain. He offered the most prominent of my fellowship manors and land if they would choose to serve him instead of Lady Ellen; but being ever faithful they refused. King Cerdic made it clear that he would demand tribute from Lady Ellen if she would not bend her knee to him but that the knight would be free to travel back to their homeland.
The way home was tumultuous, many of the unproven knight felt disheartened by the destruction they saw by the invading force and many heated discussions were held. But at the end of the journey something extraordinary happened. We were beset by a great beast, which sir Cadry called a Hippogriff, and it was only by the quick thinking and bravery of Sir Padern that the beast was tricked away. But as the beast took of an even more fearful foe came from the forest: The Wild Hunt. We rode as hard as we could and as we entered Salisbury the vile apparitions abandoned their chase; content with the few sergeants and horses they had caught.
We returned safely to Salisbury and counselled Lady Ellen to remain neutral and pay King Cerdic his blood money; at least until we had more knowledge of where we could seek alliances.
As Recorded by Maelgwyn the Bulwark