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The 14th year of interregnum. [[Salisbury]] is on the move to Sarum, it’s knights and people having spent the winter salvaging what may and trying to bring order to the savaged county. [[Brynach]], [[Cadry]], [[Cynyr]] and [[Maelgwyn]] meet en route. The crows ride through a burnt land, ruins and hanged men and women a common sight. Still, many people are doing what they can, trying to rebuild. As they [[travel]], [[Cynyr]] asks of the [[lady]]. [[Maelgwyn]] and [[Cadry]] explain the oath, the sacrifice their fathers made to save their families. How the [[lady]] comes to them with the crows, and they do her bidding. She has asked two things of them so far, both times to aid [[Merlin]]. Once to retrieve the [[sword]] of victory, excalibur, and once to help him abduct Uthers infant son. She is also, says [[Cadry]], behind the poisoning of [[Uther]] and the death of [[Melkin]], Brynachs father. Sarum is full of people, but not as many as there should be for an event such as the knighting and elevation of a count. The guard is out in force, knights manning the gates ready to charge. Commoners are harassed and put through draconic and arbitrary treatment in the name of safety. The crows enter the city and prepare for the coming ceremony. Pavillions are bought by those who can afford them and lost war and [[travel]] gear replaced. The merchants are thriving off the losses of yesteryear where most of the knights in [[Salisbury]] lost everything they brought to war. “Famous Marcus”, a merchant renowned for his almost supernatural grasp of what will be the fashion of tomorrow, greet the most famous knights warmly. New and fantastic clothes have been made, tailored for each of them, in the colours of their houses. To the great merchants even greater surprise, [[Cynyr]] refuses the offer with unusual acerbity. Grey will suffice, warm and durable. Save the reds with silver pins for another this winter at tourney, taller and slimmer. As time grows short [[Cadry]] and [[Maelgwyn]] are given leave to bathe in privacy, while [[Cynyr]] and [[Brynach]] share baths with many others. [[Brynach]] apologises for his sharp words on [[Ennis]] last year, and the older knight forgives. He will help clear the Marwth name he says, with or without permission. Young [[Robert]] enters the courtyard where a large stage with seats has been built. The knighting ceremony is short and to the point, a matter of utility and necessity rather than celebration. Dillwyn, [[Elad]] and a druid there for appearances officiate. [[Elad]] speaks. “In these dire times we must stand together and stand strong. Boys must become men before their time. [[Amig]], with whom I spoke often before his passing, thought his squire Lord [[Robert]] should serve his time not because he needed the training, but to learn humility and walk the path all men take to knighthood. Circumstances force our hand, the county needs its’ lord more than it needs another squire”. With the customary blow, Lord [[Robert]] arises a Sir. The crowning ceremony begins immediately, desultory cries of “leap” dying out. Abbot [[Dilwyn]] holds an almost comically truncated coronation and [[Robert]] swears to serve the land rather than any king. Many know that the ceremony is not strictly legal without a king, but it must serve. Count [[Robert]] stands, and one by one the great lords of [[Salisbury]] swear him fealty. But all does not go to plan. As [[Cynyr]] approaches his would be count, he does not kneel. Instead, he turns and addresses the gathered knighthood of [[Salisbury]]. “I must speak words you will not like. I care not, for they must be said. I knew [[Ennis]] better than anyone, I knew him to be a good and honourable man. I stood next to him during that foul deed, and that was not my friend. He was bewitched, he aged 10 years in minutes and his face was twisted. He was bewitched, and who among you have a defence against sorcery? I know who did it, the countess spoke her name in my ear with her dying breath, The [[Lady]]. I swear on my honour, I will find her and kill her. I cannot take [[winterstream]] from you your grace, it would be dishonest to do so and then leave. If anyone wishes to challenge my word that this was not [[Ennis]], I welcome you to do so with a blade in your hand”. Many step forward, hands on hilts, angry muttering and high emotion running rampant through the crowd. [[Robert]] stills them with hand raised, anger tight in his voice “For the great service you did my mother, for your loyalty and great honour, and the good words she spoke of you I forgive you for disrupting the ceremony, for speaking out of turn and for refusing the great gifts I was about to bequeath you. For those things I will allow you to uphold the oath I know you have [[sword]] to one of my foremost knights, Sir [[Cadry]]. You may [[travel]] within [[Salisbury]] in the fulfilment of that oath, but after that, Sir [[Cynyr]], you will no longer be welcome in my county. All men here are charged to capture or kill you should you [[travel]] here.” [[Cynyr]] makes to leave, but [[Maelgwyn]] stops him, standing in his path. “This is a way for men and for knights. You can leave by the servants entrance”. [[Cynyr]], never known for modesty, refuses to budge. “Do you refuse me the rights granted to me by knighthood Sir? Do you mock my honour?”. Violence smoulders and threatens to spill over into the courtyard, but Count [[Robert]] again intervenes, calming his men, and granting [[Cynyr]] leave. The remainder of the gathered lords swear their allegiance. The planned feast is cancelled, the mood for festivities thoroughly soured. The new count and his men simply gather and eat. [[Brynach]] takes heart, and stands to speak in a hall quiet with brooding and anger. He speaks of the man [[Ennis]] was, a vile traitor and a coward, a false man with murder in his heart. He makes no excuses, his kin committed the worst crime imaginable. He spits on his uncles [[shield]], and offers Count [[Robert]] two gifts of restitution. [[Torrent]], the magnificent warhorse captured at the battle of [[Cambridge]] four years previous and [[Ennis]] [[shield]], to hang upon a wall of traitors, to be maligned for as long as [[The Rock|the rock]] stands. [[Robert]] responds, he does not blame the Marwth, as far as he is concerned, [[Ennis]] was never a part of their family. He bequeaths all the lands of his father to him in perpetuity, and thanks him for his great gifts. The [[shield]] is hung on an angled stretch of wall furthest from all men in the hall. [[Brynach]] thanks him, and speak words of admiration and elevation of the late Countess [[Ellen]]. Many weep openly, and many a glass is drunk in her honour. [[Cadry]] vows to fight for [[Robert]] in the coming tourney, and put the crown on his head. [[Robert]] thanks him, and commands him not to die. [[Cadry]] will allow [[Cynyr]] to accompany him on his quest to save his daughter, he gave his word he could, and he will not break it no matter how he feels about the man. The crows meet early next moring outside Sarum, where [[Cynyr]] and the travelling performers company known as “The Magpies” have made camp. Cadrys’ priestess and [[Saxon]] whore is also there. [[Cynyr]] invites them to breakfast, and they speak. He explains that he hopes to find the Ladys’ weakness and kill her, or if he cannot, get word of his findings to the crows. One way or another, he will do his best to bring their lines out from under her shadow. The others are sceptical. On the matter of the curse, [[Cynyr]] asks them not to worry. This past winter, displaced distant kin of the Anarawd sought him out and asked for his aid, costly aid. When asked why he would do such a thing, they produced telling evidence of his heritage. Many years ago an old woman, then young, had borne a boy in shame. They had asked [[Edern]] to take him in as his own to avoid the worst of the the scandal it would otherwise cause. He was never a true Anarawd, [[Edern]] was never his father. He asks [[Maelgwyn]], as a good christian man, to take care of his family in return for a gift. He accepts. [[Brynach]] confronts him over whether he thought for a moment of the danger he put the Marwth family in by his actions. The older man disagrees, thinks he helped separate them and bring circumstances that speak to [[Ennis]] innocence to light. [[Brynach]] disagrees sharply, and the gathered company agrees to let the matter lie and avoid the subject until [[Cynyr]] can bring evidence to exculpate his friend. Together, if uneasily, the crows turn their focus to the task at hand. To enter the heart of [[Saxon]] power by stealth, and rescue Cadrys daughter from the clutches of the Fenris clan and their deadly witches.
Unfinished
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