View source for To chase a Knight, who is chasing a King, who is chasing a Beast

{{JournalHeader
|Image=Pellinore.jpg
|Author=Skarpskytten
|Character=Padern
|Year=501
}}
And at last they were all there, his father, his uncle, his younger brothers, in the warmth of the log fire in ---- Hall. They had not met in a long time, there was gossip and banter. He stood with his back to the fire, silent, waiting for them to settle down. They were, after all, here to hear him speak, speak of his strange [[adventures]] during the years he had been away.

He had left them a boy and returned a, well, a man. 

And he was not going to utter a syllable until he had their full attention.

With an unstudied an air, he started to fidget with the massive gold ring that adorned one of his fingers. It was worth more than anything his father had owned his whole life.

That got their attention. They started to quiet down, and at last his uncle spoke: "So, m'boy, what about that trinket? A gift from your knight for a job well done?"

He smiled. "No, uncle, Sir [[Padern]] is poor as Grey friar. It's a gift from a King. A mad King".

Now they were all ears. But the thing with the ring and King had done its job, it would have to wait. He started with the strange [[adventures]] in Sauvage [[Forest]] with the sorceress Nineve, his knight's lost "joust" against the [[Brown Knight]] of the Wild, and Sir Garmon and the Castle of Ease. He told about the life of luxrious comfort he and Sir [[Padern]] had enjoyed there: the food, the beds, the wine, the conversations! King [[Uther]] had not kept such court, nor lived so sumptously, according to Sir [[Padern]], nay, perchance not even the Emperor in Rome.

"That's a fine story, m'boy", said his uncle when he got lost in a tale which included Sir [[Padern]] and a beautiful maid who would have him sleep with her, not play harp for her, "and if just half of it is true it is still a pretty strange tale. But surely you have not been at that "jolly" castle all these years? I know you met Sir [[Cadry]] and some others on the road to [[Escavalon]] a few years back. How did you and that crazy knight of yours end up there? And what about that ring?"

Awan collected his thoughs, enjoying their attention. Second sons of [[Vassal Knight|vassal knight]]'s rarely was in the center of things, after all. 

"This one day", he spoke up, "it was at the end of the summer we "disappeared". My master was sitting in a window, strumming his harp as always, and I was flirting with one of the wenches, when he suddenly gave a cry and almost fell out of the window. He was all in rave, pointing down into the courtyard. All I could see was a half dead old nag of a [[charger]] and a dirty old knight with a beard like a saint and rusty armor that looked like it had been used since Emperor Ceasar's days. 'Look, that's Sir Gammond's noble steed, and that knight, that, that must be Sir [[Pellinore]]! The king, I mean, King P, he must have been riding it all these years.'"

Awan made a pretty good impersonation of Sir [[Padern]]. Most of his audience who knew the strange knight smiled knowingly, but his father was stern as always. 

Awan took up his story: "Well, [[Padern]] was ..." but was interupted by his father.

"Yeah, I've heard some tale about Sir Gammond changing [[horses]] with that fool of King, that was the year King [[Uther]]'s heir was kidnapped. I've seen it, at [[Tisbury]], the most magnificent [[courser]] I've seen in all my days. You saw it too, did you not, B----?"

His brother nodded, but didn't dare to speak up amongst the men, so Awan continued his tale.

"So King [[Pellinore]] became a guest, too. He seemed pretty disenheartend, dirty and worn, and at first did not speak much. He just ate and slept. I even think he was talkning a bit to himself. But there is some kind of spell on that a-cursed castle. No-one can mope for too long at such a place. The King revived a bit, and I think [[Padern]] played his part too. He was all over him, wanting to joust, wanting to learn of the King's [[adventures]]. And, you know, that King is really a proud man ..."

"As it shoud be!" interupted his uncle. "Good King [[Uther]] was like that too, and he was the best King this land ever had or is likely to ever have, m'boy!"

"Anyways", Awan continued, "the two of them were soon having the bromance of a life time. The King talking, and [[Padern]] hanging to his every word. They were like made for each other. If it hadn't been for that Beast of the King they would still be talking!"

"What Beast?" asked little brother C---- with wide eyes.

"It's called the [[Questing Beast]]", answered Awan, "and King [[Pellinore]] has been chasing it these seven years, neglecting his Kingdom, his family, everything for the vain chance of catching it. 'Cause it can't be caught. It's a Demon or Elf of some sorts."

His uncle and his father shaked their heads mournfully and gave his younger brothers a long sermon about fullfillings ones Duty vs chasing after random monsters. It took a while before he could continue.

"So one fine summers morning, the King and [[Padern]] is talking in the garden as they use to, and suddenly there is this horrid ratchet outside the walls, like a hundred hounds put in a bag. 'My Beast!' screams the King, and then in a blink he is gone. He was like a man possessed, got his gear, his horse, and dashed out of the castle as if the Devil himself was after him".

There was a lot of shaking of heads from his uncle and his father again, but they all wanted to hear the end of it so they kept mum and let him continue.

"So he was off. Sir [[Padern]] did not quite forget himself, he ran to Sir Garmond pronto and asked for his leave. And before I knew what had happend I had left that castle, chasing a knight, who was chasing a King, who was chasing a Beast. And so we came to the edge of the [[forest]]. And I told him, Sir [[Padern]], that Sir Garmond had told us a thousand times never to leave the paths, and [[Lady]] Nineve too. You know, the [[Forest]] Sauvage beeing cursed and Fae and all that. And he just looked at me as if I, as if I had asked him to join the [[Saxons]] or something, and started a long sermon about Adventure and True Knighthood and Lord knows what. So the King's Madness had gotten him too, like a Plague. And he dashed into the [[Forest]] like it was nothing, and two minutes later we were lost. Took us 'bout a year before we got out. And then ..."
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