490 A.D.--The Castle Behind the Water

490-- Two of my younger acquaintances were knighted today. It was a time for celebration, and as they leaped onto their horses, I couldn't help but feel I helped play a part in that. Not long after, I was asked by Count Roderick to pick three good men to bring with me on a courier errand to the Baron of the Castle Behind the Water, not far from the town of Saint Peter. We first stopped in London, where we exchanged tales with Sir Ezo, the Standard Bearer for King Uther himself. After a short conversation about Sarum and our travels, Sir Ezo was kind enough to give us directions to Saint Peter, where we would head toward in the morning. He also left us with a final warning: "Do not tarry."

As we set off for Saint Peter, nothing particularly interesting happened, save for a bishop passing and many of the common rabble traveling to London for one reason or another. As we passed through St. Peter, though, and as we headed to the marsh where we would find the Castle, we found a weeping peasant on the side of the road outside of a village. After asking her what was wrong, she asked us to look for her child. Remembering Ezo's warning, though, we offered to bring the child back if we found it on our way. She then took it upon her filthy common self to insult us, the count's men! I made a point of knocking her over with my horse, but my comrades guided me away before I could do much worse. Peasants are, after all, just commoners. It would be a waste of time to try and put her in her place.

It turned out, however, that perhaps hurting the wretch was probably not for the best. When we reached the marsh, the peasants were unwilling to help us find the ferryman, and when we found him on our own he charged us double the fare because of so-called "water leapers."

Well, apparently those "so-called" water leapers are real.

Four of the vile creatures swarmed our boat while we were pushing across the marsh. Luckily, I was able to strike one down and distract the others with the scent of blood while we got away. When we finally reached the Castle Behind the Water, our stories impressed the folk. Apparently the water leapers are some sick creation of a Witch of the Marsh, taking frogs with their legs eaten by the villagers and giving them wings and unnatural strength. After hearing the horror stories, I'm sure my fellow knights are even more glad that I saved their lives.

The letter that we delivered told the Baron that Saxons were to invade the Castle in the morning. It is a good thing that we did not stop to find that wretched woman's child--the castle would have likely been sacked by the time we reached it if we hadn't made haste!

We volunteered to help in the battle, and I plunged in with my great spear, casting my shield aside to more quickly kill the damned barbarians. Our party killed a significant portion of the Saxons ourselves, one of them even being a horrible berserker!

After the battle was over, we took our leave back to Sarum, where we told Count Roderick of our quest. He was pleased, and we were recognized for our effective execution of the count's word. Later in the year, Arianwen gave birth to twin boys-- Uren and Cadfæl. It has been a good year, and I look forward to the next.

485-489 A.D.

485 A.D.
I was knighted today. It was a joyous ceremony, and the burden that my father bears is now mine as well. I am honored to serve Count Roderick of Salisbury. Serving alongside my friends and brothers for Justice and Glory is all I could have ever asked for.

486 A.D.
A most momentous occasion! A few comrades and I were given our first significant duties as knights, sent to deliver a letter from the Count to the King of Carlion, and we set off immediately to the North, eager to win the love of our Lord. Upon passing through the Forest of Shadow, it took far longer than we expected to traverse, and we had to set up camp. In the night, we ran into what the villagers outside of the forest called "The Brown Goblin," which turned out to be a Lion. We saw a Lion in the flesh! There were three of the beasts in the woods, circling us. I approached one, jabbing at it with my spear. Although I got a decent hit in on it, it swiped me with one of it's massive paws and brought me to the ground, bloody and incapacitated. My friends tried to join in to help, but Andrew was also brought down, with Stanson dead from loss of blood. Oren was able to successfully fend off one of the beasts, but not before one of the others would make off with one of Stanson's fine horses, a Charger by the name of Swiftfoot. Oren managed to bandage my wounds will enough for me to walk, and we carried Andrew and Stanson with us into the nearest city, which we managed to reach within the next day. We buried Stanson and left Andrew to be taken care of by monks, and we continued to Carlion with the letter. We returned with Andrew, returning Stanson's horses to the Count.

487 A.D.
The Count was pleased with our work delivering the letter, and has assigned us wives! My wife, Arianwen, is a fair maiden and will deliver to me a strong Heir. We also managed to kill a party of Saxons on patrol, and the thrill of Saxon blood on my blade was powerful indeed.

488 A.D.
The Count has deemed Andrew and myself, along with a few other of his household knights, worthy to attend the King's Court with him this winter. I impressed the King himself with my stories of the Brown Goblin and delivering the letter to the King of Carlion. He was so impressed, in fact, that I was to hunt with him on the next day. However, my good friend was not so fortunate, and failed to kneel in front of the King's nephew. He was sent outside that night, with no dessert. The next day, I was hunting with the King and slayed on my own a mighty boar, which I was given the Champion's cut of. It is truly amazing what the King and his party dines upon! As we were readying to leave the court, the King overheard me singing to myself, and was impressed even more! it has been a good trip to see the King, indeed.

489 A.D.
There was a band of filthy outlaws living in the cliffs to the West, and Andrew and I were sent to relieve a village of their vile ways. They proved to be of little challenge, and we killed most of them very quickly.  Andrew, being the soft-hearted fool he is, spared their lives, but not before I took the head of one of the outlaws that had struck me just before. We returned to Sarum invigorated and in high spirits.