Page 1 of 5 Prologue And so it begins! We can no longer wait. Merlin has asked me to keep a record of what has gone on, and so I will, but I don't know if I am up to it or not. Now that Aurelianus-yes I know the name is strange, but I will talk more about him later-he has been brutally murdered and as a result Arthur has had to step forward, the time ahead looks so grim, so undecided. My name is Dubricious. I am a priest and a scribe. Although not British, I have been here so long and become so involved in the fortunes of the Pendragons, that I have almost forgotten that Ireland was the land of my birth. I came to Albion as young man and I was there when Uther and Ygraine were married. I was also there in that hideous castle on the western sea on the ironically joyous day Arthur was born. I made sure he was marked with the sign of the Pendragons. I will vouch that he is the son of Uther and Ygraine, although I wish they had waited until Ygraine's husband Gorlois was dead before they embarked on their, uh, liaison. I taught Arthur his lessons, along with Kay, Ector's son. They were extremely bright children. Ector had been Uther's right-hand man for many years. We were keeping Arthur in hiding at the time. Arthur and Kay are the same age and except for their hair coloring they look a lot alike. Arthur's hair is golden. Lord knows where that comes from, most Britons are dark. Kay's locks are brown. They both were big for their age, Arthur I think was a little taller, but Kay a little broader. From a distance though, it was hard to tell them apart. Some people thought of them as twins. It was easy to see what Arthur's destiny was to be. He had been the selected one. He was the son of a British King and a Queen. His job would be to unite the fractious British tribes into a unified entity so they could repel the common enemy. This was not an easy task, nor would it be in the future. There are deep seated divisions among the Celtic peoples.
Page 2 of 5 The four hundred years that the Romans ruled our land-britannia as they called it; we called it Albion or LLogre-there were those who adopted Roman ways and those that didn't. The Pendragons were among those that moved ahead in their development and became Romanized, but a goodly number of the remainder stuck with the old ways. In numbers, it was about an even division. Most of those in the western mountains remained as they had for centuries. Those in the central and eastern parts of LLogre took on the new ways. If anyone looked at the situation without bias, they couldn't help but know that unity against the common enemy was the right path. But mistrust and long held negative animosities clouded reason for some. And who is this common enemy? They are the invading heathens from the continent and the cold countries from the north, the Saxons and the Angles. And how did they get here? This is all history, but I'm sure Merlin would want me to report on it too. The Cymru, the name the British call themselves, made a mistake. I'm sure they have rued the day their leaders asked Hengest and his band of Saxon pirates to help in their fight against the ferocious Picts from the north. They invited them here-the Saxons I mean-and they never left; in fact they bred and multiplied and then brought in others. Worst of all, they massacred three hundred of the British leaders at a meeting that became known as The Night of the Long Knives, setting the British back many years. Now there are more of them than us and we are embarked on a war of annihilation with them. This all began before Arthur's time. The Pendragon clan leader is Old Ambrosius or Ambrosius the Elder. He lives in Armorica, or Brittany, as we call it. That's on the continent, in Gaul. The family calls him Old Da. He led the fight for many years in the past. He's too old and crippled for that now, but he has been instrumental in Arthur's training. He lives with King Ban and his sons Bors and Lancelot. Uther and Ambrosius Aurelianus-yes, I now the names are confusing, I think I will just call him Aurelianus from here on-da's two sons, have been doing the fighting. Actually they have been conducting a "holding action" as Aurelianus called it, buying time to build up their forces and for Arthur to grow and hopefully unite the others. Aurelianus had been doing most of the "holding" in the south and east. Uther had been fighting in the north against the emboldened Picts and, lately the opportunistic Irish. But now he is recovering from some serious injuries he recently sustained in those battles. Not too long ago, Uther's older son, Medraught, joined the battle as Aurelianus's second in command. Uther had a daughter too, Morgan, a churlish sort. She is married, quite reluctantly I
Page 3 of 5 understand, to Lot, King of Orkney; a much older man. Lot has four sons by his first wife. Their names are Gawain, Gaheris, Gareth and Agrivane. They joined our efforts along the way, Morgan and Medraught were born to Morag, Uther's first wife who died a few years ago. Let's not talk about them yet. Oh, I hope this all isn't too boring for the reader, but I must be thorough, and the record must show who the players are. There are many more "dramatis personae" in this bit of Greek theater and we need to know at least a little about them all. Well where do I begin with that? Perhaps with Bedwyr. Bedwyr joined us a few years ago, and along with Kay became one of Arthur's most talented and trusted leaders. He is an imposing figure, especially when astride his magnificent roan horse. He has a gnarled hand, which he received in the Brocelinde Forest in Brittany, the night Arthur killed the bear. The bear had clamped onto Bedwyr's arm before Arthur got to him. True to his character however, he turned the injury into a weapon. He is able to hold the reins and wield a sword better now than before. I wish he were a little more Christian however. He seems to have a devil's streak in him when it comes to the ladies. And I'm distressed to say, they seem to respond favorably. Sweet Guinevere, daughter of a King without a Kingdom, Leodegrance, has become, along with myself, Arthur's conscience and balancing influence. Guinevere, little more than a teenager herself-i remembered her when she was all giggles and curls-will be the perfect mate for the young prince when the time comes for him to wed. Leodegrance's situation reflects some of the problems we have with the invaders. He was the ruler of the Canti people in southeastern Albion. Now his people are gone, wiped out. They stood in the way of the Saxon march. Now, except for himself, Guinevere and a few retainers, I believe there are no more. Leaving Guinevere, I come to Brigit. What do I say about Brigit? She is like a firefly on a warm summer evening. She brings smiles to my heart. Brigit, small, pretty, intelligent and precocious, she is like a forest nymph that has taken human form. Merlin, who is known as Myrddin in Celtic lands, and Arthur and Kay found her in the woods where her protector had been killed. She has joined our little band and with her questioning mind and winsome ways, she has brought supreme joy to us all. She and Myrddin have become extremely close although there are many years between them. He calls her Little One. Right now she commands Arthur's messengers, "The Flyers." Oh yes, the Flyers. Brigit came up with this great idea. She developed a band of small riders, mounted on small ponies to deliver messages from unit to unit in time of war. She recruited small women and men like herself to be her riders. Most are teenagers. When Arthur came back from his great adventure in the Brocelinde Forest he brought back a number of small ponies. Brigit adopted them for her people's mounts. Over the last year or so she has been establishing way stations for them all over Albion; the idea being, to ride hard from station to station, change
Page 4 of 5 ponies and continue on. The speed in delivering news from one end of the island to the other is astonishing. Bedwyr tells me that I have to record that Arthur was left handed. I'm not sure why; he mumbles that this gives him an advantage sometimes in fighting or something. Also some warriors are superstitious and they are afraid to fight left handed opponents. The Goths call him Linksmeister, which means left handed in their horrible guttural tongue. Even in Latin the word for left is sinister. I try not to think about things like this, superstition being the work of Satan, but I guess it can be important to a warrior. I like to think of Arthur as someone more like the Archangel Michael than someone sinister. I have just read back through what I have written and it occurs to me that I have said little about Myrddin. Let me correct that now. Besides Arthur, he is the most important player in this whole history. Myrddin was born and raised as a Druid. Early in life, he fell under the influence of Saint Patrick and he became a Christian. Now he blends the best of both worlds. He calls it sincreticity. He is an extremely well educated man and he has traveled the world, including visits to the lands where Jesus walked, where St. Paul taught, to Rome and where the Greek scholars wrote. He has knowledge people don't understand. Some say he is a wizard. I think not. I just think he is learned, experienced and terribly smart. He grew up with Uther and Aurelianus, and although not a blood relative, he is the unquestioned brains of the Pendragon clan, as well as the person providing their moral direction. He is also Arthur's mentor. I consider him my mentor too, and my best friend. I guess I would be remiss, if I didn't at least mention the name of the Saxon and Angle leaders too. As loathsome as they are, they are part of the history no matter how distasteful. Aesc, or Oisc or Ochta as some people call him, the leader of the Angles, had been nothing but a pirate until landing in our midst. Now he leads thousands of barbarians. Aelle is the Saxon leader in Albion, the largest contingent of Germanic invaders and Cerdic is the leader of the Jutes. Some people call them Danes. Where all these places are, I haven't the slightest idea. I just know that they come mostly from cold lands and that they are pagans. They raid and kill and rape women. They take young people as slaves and sell them. They are vile, murderous people. Sometimes my faith is tested. How can Our Lord allow people like that to exist? I try to see some good in them. Jesus told us there is some good in all, but I have to say, I haven't found any yet in these people. My readings teach me that I am to love all however, even if I don't like them. There. That's done. Ugh. I guess that catches us up. Well, why did Myrddin ask me to start this journal now?
Page 5 of 5 Because, we're moving from one time to another. We are moving from the time of the Raven, Myrddin's time; the time of treachery and fear, the time of preparation, to the time of the Eagle, Arthur's time, and, God willing, the time of resolution. I have noted as I read and studied, that often in history it is difficult to tell what event is the seminal event that sends a people down one path rather than another, but that is not the case with Arthur and the Pendragons. Earlier, the telling incident for them and the British people was The Night of the Long Knives, when the Saxons sneakily killed all the Celtic leaders. The telling incident now though, the incident which pushes Arthur and the whole of the Pendragons to seek the end of this problem, at this time, was the death of Aurelianus. It was not just a death per se. If he had died as the warrior he was, sword in hand, slaying enemies, perhaps the situation would have been different. But in the words recorded by Myrddin: He and a dozen of his men were captured in a ruse and stripped naked, their heads were removed, their genitals cut off and thrown into the brambles, and their decapitated bodies placed in the wagon they had brought with them. Aurelianus body had been impaled upon a stake rammed through the rectum and up into his body while he was still alive. He had been placed on the wagon so that his now headless corpse was upright and "looking" back the way he had come. The wagon was returned to the British lines secretly. The killers had been led by Clymen, Aelle's son. The Time of the Raven has passed. It was now The Time of the Eagle. ###