Session 23
Ruins of Covenant outside of Egremont Fire Pit
Quillius regains his sense of self. He thinks that collecting up the stuff from the ruined covenant is a very good idea. Gabriel and Gwynedd set about doing it. He asks Vivienne to tell him what happened. He knows bits and pieces. Vivienne tells the whole story to the best of her ability. She also explains the interesting melding of magicks. Quillius is intrigued.
Laurens: “Is it true Veronique is your mother?”
Quillius: “You find it hard to believe?”
Laurens: “She seems somewhat young, and you on the other hand seem old.”
Quillius: “Things are not always what they seem. She is indeed older than I.”
Laurens: “Well, your mother may be upset with me because I think she wanted your interment to be undisturbed. I don’t think she liked me very much when she left.”
Quillius: “Well, I guess I’m pleased that you didn’t listen.”
Laurens: “I usually don’t.”
Quillius asks Thomas if he can make use of his art. Thomas agrees.
Thomas: “Any preference?”
Quillius: “No.”
Quillius, Donal and Laurens prepare to head back to York. Vivienne stays behind to help sort out the artifacts. Before they leave, Laurens asks Thomas again why he is so heavy.
Thomas: “I think the universe just doesn’t like you.”
Laurens: “That goes without saying.”
Quillius: “Heavy?”
Laurens: “When Thomas tries to pull me through his pictures he says I’m heavy.”
Quillius: “Well, that’s your doing.”
Laurens: “Okay. How’s that my doing?”
Quillius: “Because, you don’t want to be.”
Laurens: “Alright.”
Quillius: “We can talk more about it.”
Laurens: “Alright.”
Thomas lets them use an image to travel back to York. Thomas stays to examine the artifacts that Gabriel, Gwynedd, Eric and Vivienne are pulling from the ruins. He’s trying to figure out why any of the m seem special. He doesn’t feel like they are different. He needs to study them back at in his study.
The group at the ruins spend the rest of the day searching the debris for artifacts. Late in the day, a pig wanders into the ruins.
* Mike: “Looks like dinner.” *
* Hank: “Fireball!” *
Thomas spends the day studying what is found. He has to be reminded that to be careful with the objects. He listens, but still wonders why.
In York, Quillius goes to meet with the Duke, then heads back to his quarters. Laurens goes to talk to him there. Laurens is interested in finding out more about the Blades. Quillius says that the ruined covenant held the blades for about 250 years. He knows that they were created by a different covenant in the eastern part of the Holy Roman Empire. He thinks they were created around 1000 AD. He knows that their creation had to do with the millennium. The light and darkness have to do with the battle between the light and the darkness. He’s happy to study them further if Laurens would like to bring it by sometime.
Laurens then goes to interrogate his prisoners further since the bookseller from Leeds is now in the castle. He finds out easily that the bookseller from Leeds believes that the traveling bookseller was the one who sold him the book. Laurens goes back to traveling bookseller to extract the truth from him. After careful application of his best techniques of extracting information from booksellers he concludes they are both telling the truth. Someone else must have taken the guise of the traveling bookseller to sell the book to the man from Leeds.
Laurens leaves them in prison to go ponder. He wonders whether to let them go or kill them. He realizes his recent oath will force him to let them go.
The group works into the evening. Vivienne conjures a nice campsite. Gabriel stands guard for the night.
* Vivienne: “If I have to rough it, I might as well be comfortable.” *
Thomas goes back to York to continue his investigations. Gwynedd closes up the entrance to the vault. Around 2 am, Sir Martin Owl swoops into camp, lands next to Gabriel and changes back to himself.
Sir Martin: “Are you the only one awake?”
Gabriel: “Eric just woke up, but otherwise, everyone else is asleep.”
Sir Martin: “Where is Eric?”
Gabriel points at Eric’s tent.
Sir Martin: “Let’s take a short walk for a second.”
Gabriel: “Okay.”
Gabriel and Sir Martin walk a short distance away.
Sir Martin: “The militia of Cocker Mouth is on march to this place.”
Gabriel: “Towards us? Why is that?”
Sir Martin: “It appears that a certain knight had a conversation.”
* Gabriel: “Why did you do that?” *
Gabriel: “What did he say?”
Sir Martin: “He apparently had a conversation with a priest, a rather interesting conversation. A lot of talk about black magick. And he was escorting a small child. And the small child was talking about a small group that came into the town and caused havoc, lead by some man in black. One guess who that might be.”
Gabriel: “Maybe we should let Eric speak to these charges.”
Gabriel and Sir Martin walk back into camp. Gabriel says just loud enough for Eric to hear, “Eric, we need to talk to you.” Eric gets up and steps out of his tent.
Sir Martin: “The militia is en route from Cocker Mouth.”
Eric: “Good. They can help rebuild this area.”
Sir Martin: “I don’t think they’re coming here to rebuild.”
Eric: “Well, what are they coming here to do?”
Sir Martin: “I think they’re trying to find out what sort of black magick has been going on around here.”
Eric: “That’s probably not a bad idea. What sort of black magick has been going on around here?”
* Dan: “I just love the fact that Sir Martin has just gotten a guy that is just like Sir Martin was to me.” *
Gabriel: “What sort of black magick happened? A spirit possessed a very powerful sorcerer and took advantage of it.”
Sir Martin: “And destroyed the town to the north. And we came to stop it.”
Eric: “And therefore destroyed this town in the process?”
Gabriel: “That town is Egremont. Or was Egremont. Now it’s an ash pit. But, that town was destroyed. Where we’re standing now are the ruins of a compound where a covenant of sorcerers lived. They were destroyed by this spirit as well.”
Eric: “Was this spirit after something in particular, or he just didn’t like the way the town looked?”
Gabriel: “He was after Quillius and Gwynedd and Thomas and Vivienne. So that he could remake the world into the image he wished. That was the whole point of what we did before. To stop him from doing that.”
Eric: “And were you successful? Has he been stopped.”
Gabriel: “Yes.”
Eric: “Then I’d say you’ve done your job well.”
Sir Martin: “Well, the militia is coming, and they want to find out what happened here.”
Gabriel: “How many are in the militia?”
Sir Martin: “Platoon.”
Gabriel: “When will they arrive?”
Sir Martin: “By morning. We have a few hours. I got back here as quickly as I could.”
Gabriel: “Who is leading the militia?”
Sir Martin: “Forty citizens lead by some official. Not the priest. I was talking to him when they left.”
Gabriel: “We weren’t going to leave until later in the morning. That’s when we were going to finish.”
Sir Martin: “Well, I managed to collect the refugees. They were taken back to the town. They were taken care of. Well, they have a home of sorts. What has transpired since I left? Quillius is still trapped and ...”
Gabriel: “No. Quillius has been freed.”
Sir Martin: “Oh.”
Gabriel: “The spirit has been destroyed.”
Sir Martin: “Destroyed? Not just imprisoned?”
Gabriel: “Destroyed. His mother came and destroyed the spirit. Thought him dead and left him in our hands.”
Sir Martin: “Who’s mother?”
Gabriel: “Quillius’ mother. Thomas, Vivienne and Gwynedd figured out how to restore his spirit to his body. He’s now back in York.”
Sir Martin: “Thank the Merciful God!”
Gabriel quirks a very small smile at that.
Sir Martin: “His mother?”
Gabriel: “She claims to be his mother.”
Sir Martin: “That woman must be even older than the one that we found in Wass.”
Gabriel: “Yes.”
Eric: “She appears to have aged well.”
Sir Martin: “Or Quillius poorly.”
Gabriel: “She is twenty something and very pretty.”
Sir Martin: “At one point that would have surprised me. How old is Vivienne?”
Gabriel: “It does beg the question, doesn’t it?”
Sir Martin: “It’s a little disconcerting. I shall probably have a conversation with Donal at the first opportunity.”
Gabriel: “Could Sir Martin Neville, Knight of the Realm, be able to convince the militia that there is nothing needs further to be done in Egremont, and they should go home? So that it gives us time to finish what we are about here?”
Eric: “How far are they away again?”
Sir Martin: “4-5 hours. Is Gwynedd still with you?”
Gabriel: “She’s asleep. Same with Vivienne.”
Sir Martin: “She has a certain way with, umm, mending words.”
Gabriel: “Then, why not the two of you go then?”
Eric: “How much time to do you need to finish what you are doing here?”
Gabriel: “Sunlight and two to three hours.”
Eric: “Alright and do you need to do anything at the town that was destroyed?”
Gabriel: “No.”
Sir Martin: “You are the one who originally told these people what happened or at least your suspicions of what had happened.”
Eric: “I told them that when I arrived that the town had been burnt to the ground.”
Sir Martin: “Who did you tell this to?”
Eric: “The priest that I left the boy with. So the villagers will be here around dawn from the sounds of it. If there is nothing about the town that you are worried about them finding ...”
Gabriel: “There is nothing but ash at the town.”
Eric: “Their concern is the town, not this place.”
Gabriel: “Okay.”
Eric: “We could easily redirect them ...”
Sir Martin: “They know where the town is. There are paths that lead directly through the town.”
Eric: “That’s fine. They can go to the town. From what I understand you are not concerned about them finding the town. You’re concerned about them finding what is here.”
Sir Martin: “This is further south than the town. They don’t have to ever come this far south, anyway. That’s not the issue.”
Eric: “Then what’s the worry?”
Sir Martin: “The issue is that you should probably address them to tell them what had happened in terms that they can understand since you are the one who brought the child and informed them about the situation in the first place. The child did a very good job of getting the militia interested.”
* Dan: “Next time, kill the kid.” *
Eric: “There is no denying that the town that was there before is not there now. No amount of explaining from me can make any sense of it. How could I possibly make sense of a town being swallowed up in a great ball of fire.”
Sir Martin: “Before we get that far, I think the bigger issue initially is that they believe that we as a group are responsible for that great ball of fire.”
Eric: “Says who?”
Sir Martin: “Says the militia that had that idea planted in their head from the word of a hedge knight and a young boy.”
Eric: “So you blame me for this militia?”
Sir Martin: “Well, I was there when they left.”
Eric: “I see. And yet you seem fairly certain that I am the cause.”
Sir Martin: “So says the priest.”
Eric: “Not says I.”
Sir Martin: “I fail to see where you are going with this.”
Eric: “You seem to be going to blame me for this mob coming this direction which by your own accord is not coming here. They are going to a town that was destroyed.”
Sir Martin: “Understand, I’m not angry at you. I understand where you are coming from. I would have made the same mistake earlier had I been in your shoes.”
* Dan: “Then he went to the ‘School of Laurens’ and straightened out.” *
Gabriel watches the exchange between the nobles. Gwynedd and Vivienne wake up from the heated discussion.
Gwynedd: “So there is a militia coming, and you need an explanation for what happened to the town that they’ll believe so that Laurens doesn’t get blamed again.”
Vivienne: “I don’t think Laurens would mind so much.”
Sir Martin: “They’re of the belief ...”
Gabriel: “I want them to stop seeking blood. I’m not really worried about Laurens getting blamed.”
Gwynedd: “Okay. I’ll go take care of it.”
Gabriel: “Do you want the brave Sir Knights to go with you.”
Sir Martin: “Yes. Of course. A single woman?”
Gwynedd: “Oh, I don’t plan on meeting them. I’ll just leave the evidence for them to find that it was a dragon, a small dragon, that caused it, that’s dead. And then they’ll stop looking. And they’ll stop worrying that there is some curse marauding through the countryside and rename the town ...”
Gabriel: “Okay.”
Sir Martin: “What if Laurens breathed fire ...”
Vivienne: “Or Laurens’ pet dragon ...”
Gabriel: “Okay. It might be a good idea to take Sir Martin with you, though.”
Gwynedd: “No. That’s fine.”
Gabriel: “Or they could stay, and I could go with you.”
Gwynedd: “I was just going to go and rearrange some things in the village to leave signs that it was a dragon. They’ll find the remnants of it. If someone wants to explain who came to kill the dragon or something. The boy just misunderstood. Then all the better. I certainly can’t see explaining that there was a spirit that possessed a sorcerer that rampaged and got ...”
Gabriel: “It’s easier to believe it was a dragon and more likely.”
Eric: “Do you need someone to lead them to the evidence.”
Gwynedd: “Oh, I think they’ll find it.”
Eric: “Very well.”
Gwynedd: “If someone was to ...”
Eric: “I have an excellent mind for strategy.”
Gwynedd: “I’m good at stories.”
Gabriel: “I would go and meet them, but I am a man wearing black and that would probably not work out very well.”
Sir Martin: “Okay.”
Gwynedd: “Neither of you are what the man said whatever you had to say. Obviously someone else has to meet them.”
Sir Martin: “Yes, of course.”
Gwynedd, Sir Martin and Gabriel head off into the dark. They walk back up to Egremont, and Gwynedd leaves marks in the ash that could have been made by a dragon. Then they head off into the woods and find a tree. Gwynedd tears it down and “sings” it into a charcoal husk. She makes it look like the head has been chopped off and reminiscent of a salamander of some sort. Gabriel makes tracks around the fallen “beast” that look like a battle was waged.
As the militia approaches, Gabriel realizes that Sir Martin can’t meet the militia because it would cause questions and complications when the militia returns to Cocker Mouth and speak with the priest.
Gabriel: “It occurs to me ...”
Gwynedd: “You’re good at this.”
Gabriel: “... that you talked to the priest in Cocker Mouth. Is that not true?”
Sir Martin: “Yes.”
Gabriel: “And so if you talked to the militia that came from Cocker Mouth, they’ll go back and ...”
Sir Martin: “I don’t have to be Sir Martin.”
Gabriel: “That is an option also.”
Gwynedd: “Respectfully, Sir Martin, that is a dangerous course to run with this story when two passing peasants could just as easily make up some details and tell what they saw of a party riding in and defeating a salamander led by a man with dark clothing.”
Sir Martin: “I understand. I can be a peasant as well.”
Gwynedd: “Uh, you are a bit too well groomed. And your build is ... not from working in the fields.”
Sir Martin changes to look like a wizened old woman.
Sir Martin Crone: “As you were saying, dear.”
Gabriel: “I’m no longer needed here.”
Gwynedd: “I think you can help make it more convincing.”
Gabriel: “Okay, I will stay.”
Morning comes as the militia approaches the town. Gwynedd says that she saw flames in the town and saw a beast walking among the flames. A party rode in and engaged in battle with the beast. She says that they weren’t sure what was happening and were too nervous to look any closer, but it seemed like some momentous calamity that caused death, destruction and people fleeing.
Gabriel and Sir Martin Crone are almost convinced by Gwynedd’s story, almost certain her version is the correct one, then they shake it off. The militia poke around at the salamander carcass, and then head back to Cocker Mouth to share the story of the attack on the town.
Sir Martin, Gabriel and Gwynedd return to the ruins to find all the rocks stacked and the last one walking to its place. All of the items seem to have been collected.
Gwynedd: “So if anyone asks, it was a dragon ...”
Everything is ready to leave. But, Thomas is not there to take them back to York.
Sir Martin: “Oh no. Not the pentagram again.”
Gwynedd: “Are we going to look at the Dolmens?”
Gabriel: “We need to get this stuff back first.”
Gwynedd: “Okay.”
Gabriel: “Or Vivienne can go back with it, and we can go from here. It might be useful to get a horse.”
Sir Martin: “Can you contact him?”
Vivienne decides to reach out long distance to see if she can make contact. She focuses ...
Thomas works all evening and finally finishes his work. He doses off for a bit and hears someone whispering his name ...
Thomas: “Just a little bit more. I just got to sleep.”
Vivienne: “Thomas!”
Thomas wakes up. “Vivienne?”
Vivienne: “Yes. Can you pull us back. We’re ready to return to York.”
Thomas: “You don’t happen to have an image of me there do you?”
Vivienne: “No.”
Thomas: “Huh.” Thinks a bit. “Huh.”
Thomas pulls out Vivienne’s picture with Orro’s help. He first checks to see where he is before he proceeds to try to pull everyone through. Trying to make sure that he’s not in Quillius’ chambers.
Thomas: “Are you ready?”
Sir Martin: “Are you going to join us?”
Eric: “I am looking for employment at the moment.”
Gwynedd: “Would you like to ride back or take the faster way?”
Eric: “The faster way?”
Sir Martin: “You are looking for employment aren’t you?”
Gwynedd: “York is just a step away for some people.”
Thomas: “Is there some problem?”
Vivienne: “They are explaining matters to Sir Eric who has not travelled this way before.”
Thomas: “Well, uh, I’ll come there.”
Gabriel: “Vivienne, where is he bringing us?”
Vivienne: “Thomas is coming here.”
Thomas steps through into the ruins. He sees the assembled group.
Thomas: “Let’s send you to the East gate. That’ll make a lot more sense for a horse than the third floor of the castle, east wing.”
Sir Martin: “Do you have a the west gate?”
Thomas: “Well, that too.”
Sir Martin: “We are to the west.”
Thomas: “We are? I travel around like this so much I don’t know.”
Sir Martin: “Yes, we are to the west.”
Eric: “So this quick way ... Your artist travels in this manner?”
Gwynedd: “Often.”
Vivienne: “Quite.”
Gabriel: “It’s more black magic.”
Thomas: “I’d explain it to you, but it gets confusing.”
Eric: “I’m just worried about what sort of side effects ...”
Thomas: “It has almost no side effects.”
Vivienne: “Statistically speaking, it is safer than horse travel.”
Sir Martin: “You know what? That is true. Except there was one time. Somebody ended up ... Well.”
Thomas: “At least they could swim. Mostly.”
Sir Martin: “It will be fine.”
Eric: “You all instill great confidence about this.”
Gabriel: “It’s safer than meeting someone on the field of battle.”
Eric: “A great many things are.”
Vivienne: “It’s perfectly safe. Trust me.”
Laurens is getting his morning workout in the castle yard.
Thomas: “So what you want to do is concentrate on the picture ... Well, why don’t Sir Martin explain it. He’s getting good at this sort of travel.”
Sir Martin: “Stare at the damn painting until you get dizzy, then fall through.”
A thoughtful pause.
Eric: “Okay.”
Sir Martin: “Make sure you grab the horses reigns.”
Gabriel, Gwynedd and Vivienne step through to outside the Michel Gate and step off to the side next to a building. They seem to be unnoticed by the guards.
Eric stares, focuses, the picture comes to life, then steps through with his horse.
Eric looks up and sees two guards pointing crossbows at him.
Guard: “What manner of sorcery is this?”
Eric mutters as he raises his shield, “Safer than horse travel, my ass!”
Gwynedd says a word of power. The guards forget about what they were doing. Gabriel feels his memory slipping, but manages to hold on to it.
Gwynedd: “You ever hear stories of centaurs? Good thing you weren’t riding your horse.”
Thomas changes his mind about stepping through after seeing what happened. He changes to an eastern gate card, Walden Gate.
Thomas: “Umm, we’ll go a different way.”
Sir Martin: “Why?”
Thomas points at the picture. “See those two big guys there, they just spotted Eric and pointed their crossbows at him.”
Sir Martin: “How could they spot him? They’re on the other side of the castle.
Thomas: “So we’re going to this gate. Unless you rather visit castle Raby.”
Sir Martin: “No! We’re going to York.”
Thomas turns to a different page.
Sir Martin: “Why there?”
Thomas: “Because it’s in the woods.”
Sir Martin checks to make sure there are no passers by.
Thomas and Sir Martin travel through and head for the castle.
Gabriel, Gwynedd and Vivienne head to the castle. Eric follows along. Eric is stopped at the gate. After some careful checking Eric is let through. They see Laurens in the yard practicing.
Gwynedd: “Laurens, you’ll be proud to know you defeated a dragon in Egremont. Your noble victory will no doubt be spread far and wide.”
Laurens: “Not at Egremont, but ...”
Gwynedd: “You’ve actually met a dragon before?”
Laurens: “No ... not a real dragon ...”
Gwynedd: “Just checking.”
Gabriel looks from Gwynedd to Laurens, quirks a very minimal smile and walks on.
Sir Martin arrives a little later. He goes to talk to the Duke to mention Eric and arrange for the formal introduction when/if the Duke so chooses. The Duke suggests that he report to the Master of the Horse and maybe sometime the Duke will invite him to dinner.
Sir Martin: “Do you feel he may be of use to you?”
Duke: “We’ll see what the Master of the Horse says and some of the others.”
Sir Martin: “He knows his way with a sword.”
Duke: “He was of use to your group?”
Sir Martin: “Yes.”
Duke: “Oh. We’ll see how it goes. I’ve heard tales of his trustworthiness, however.”
Sir Martin heads for the stables before he heads to see Cecily.
When Laurens finishes his practice, he goes to see Quillius to find out what happened to the bookseller’s son.
Quillius: “He was discarded as much as I can remember.”
Laurens: “Do you think him dead?”
Quillius: “Oh, I’m certain of it. He was in the middle of all of it. And sort of used up by the ...”
Laurens goes to the bookseller and tells him his son is dead. Laurens turns him loose. Then, Laurens goes to the traveling bookseller and explains to him how lucky he is to be alive. Laurens explains to him that he will now be working for Laurens and is going to continue on his route to find out where the book came from and who has been impersonating him. Laurens finishes by telling him that if the he doesn’t report back to Laurens, he’ll hunt him down and kill him.
Gabriel gets the artifacts to Quillius’ chambers, heads back to his room and writes his report, then gets some much needed sleep.
Thomas knocks at Gabriel’s door while he is asleep.
Gabriel: “Come in, Thomas.”
Thomas: “I have this wonderful, wonderful thing I think you’ll be very pleased with.”
Thomas shows Gabriel an object.
Gabriel: “How detectable is it? The source?”
Thomas: “I didn’t do anything special to conceal it.”
Gabriel: “That’s one of the things I’m concerned about.”
Thomas: “Part of the problem is that trying to do anything to conceal it might make it more obvious. It’s one of those ...”
Gabriel: “Well consider that as part of the problem. The reason for something like this is to walk into enemy territory.”
Thomas: “Well, I can tinker with it some more ... I can tinker with it.”
Gabriel: “But it is a good idea.”
Thomas turns and leaves dejectedly. Laurens sees Thomas leaving.
Laurens: “What have you got there?”
Thomas: “Apparently nothing.”
Thomas walks off. Thomas goes back to his room and continues working on the ring. Two hours later Thomas wakes Gabriel again. This time he gets better results.
The Dukes suggests to Gabriel that he gather a group to investigate the Dolmens. Gabriel goes to Quillius to see who would be a good choice for the investigation. Quillius suggests Vivienne and Laurens. Gabriel also asks about the Blade of Light. Quillius gives him the same answer he gave Laurens.
Vivienne goes back to work trying her best to please he that cannot be pleased. She knows how bad it could be now. She takes any free time to begin prepping spells.
Laurens practices with the Blade of Dark to get an understanding of the swords abilities.
Sir Martin goes and talks to Sir Andrew about Eric.
Sir Martin: “... seems to know his way around a sword. Knows how to ride. The Duke feels that he may be of use.”
Sir Andrew puts Eric to work with the other young knights. Sir Andrew thinks Eric may be of use in the calvary.
Sir Martin goes to speak with Cecily to see if she has any news of home and ... Then he goes to the chirurgeon to see Simon. Sir Martin finds out that Simon has been released. So, Sir Martin returns to the castle to see Simon. He talks to Simon about his attackers. Sir Martin also talks to Thomas about investigating his family heirloom sword. Thomas says to come back later when he isn’t so busy.
Gwynedd spends the rest of the day in York. She will leave in the morning.
Thomas gets some rest. Then he send three of his guards to make a presence for themselves in the city. Thomas then goes back to working on his projects.
Gabriel seeks out female companionship for the evening.
* Hank: “Catherine the Bawd’s place?” *
* Brett: “No. Something human.” *
Gabriel has no trouble finding a companion.
Early evening on Tuesday, Donal goes to visit Laurens. Afterwards, Laurens pounds on Thomas’ door. Thomas is lost in his work and is surprised out of it.
* Patrick: “You involuntarily break into a sweat.” *
Thomas; “Hello? Yes?”
Laurens enters the room. That cat hisses and growls low.
Laurens: “I need one of your pictures. Preferably of Vivienne or Gabriel.”
Thomas: “Isn’t Vivienne in Quillius’ room?”
Laurens: “I need to be able to contact her from afar. Or anyone in the group. You have an extra picture?”
Thomas: “I don’t have any extras, but I can make you up a set.”
Laurens: “How long will it take. I only need one. I’ll take one that you have if you can make another one.”
Thomas: “Umm. You just need Vivienne’s?”
Laurens: “Yes.”
Thomas: “It should just be an hour to do one image ... not on my best paper or anything ... but should get the job done.”
Laurens: “That fine.”
Thomas: “Until it gets folded, tattered, torn, the paint falls off ... Should get the job done.”
Laurens: “I heard you went to France?”
Thomas: “Briefly. Of France? ... Only of one of the cities there ... but only of Calais.”
Laurens: “Can you meet me in the courtyard in an hour please?”
Thomas: “Ah ... it may be a little longer. I do have to finish the picture and ...”
Laurens: “As soon as possible.”
Thomas: “I’ll bring it to you the moment I finish.”
Laurens leaves. Thomas wonders why he wants a picture of Calais.
—
Laurens goes back to his room and packs every weapon he has. He puts on the heavy armor he has from the far east. He heads down, mounts his horse, then waits for Thomas to arrive.
Sir Martin joins the Duke for dinner. He sees the Duke and Cecily trade barbs. Sir John de Mowbray and Katherine are there as well. Sir Eric was not invited to dinner. After dinner on his way back to his room, Sir Martin sees Lauren in full armor fully armed astride his large black horse. Sir Martin approaches him.
Sir Martin: “Laurens, are you headed somewhere?”
Laurens: “Yes.”
Sir Martin: “What’s the matter?”
Laurens: “I need to go help someone.”
Sir Martin: “Do you need help?”
Laurens: “I don’t know yet.”
Sir Martin: “Do you have a way of keeping in contact with us should you need it?”
Laurens: “I have arranged that with the Artist.”
Sir Martin: “Is there anything you want to share before you go off?”
Laurens: “No.”
Sir Martin: “God’s Speed.”
Laurens: “Thank you.”
Sir Martin: “You know where to find me.”
Laurens: “Thank you.”
Sir Martin salutes him and continues on his way.
Thomas comes out and brings the image of Vivienne.
Thomas: “I have a little picture of Vivienne. Suitably sized to fit ... to put right next to your heart.”
Laurens: “All right. Sure.”
* Brett: “And if you had good stuff, it would stop and arrow ...” *
Laurens: “Can you open the pathway to Calais?”
Thomas: “You’re skilled enough to do it yourself. Especially after your time with Quillius.”
Laurens looks at the book. As soon as the image comes to life, Laurens rides through with all haste and disregard for his surroundings.
* Alan: “You turn into a centaur.” *
Thomas: “By the way, you may want to be aware of where ... too bad he went off before I could warn him about where he was going to show up. I hope he can swim.”
The image is of a lighthouse.
The book squawks and turns into a bird and flies away.
The horse scrambles for purchase and falls into the water. Laurens and the horse get back to land without injury.
Laurens: “Stupid artist!”
No sticks.