The Du Lac Princess: (Book 3 of The Du Lac Chronicles)

by Mary Anne Yarde

  “I was,” Cerdic agreed. “Although I am sure your father would have had something to say about it if he had known.”

  “He would have had something to say if he knew you and my mother were having secret meetings,” Garren chucked without humour. “I kept your secret for you, in return for your tutoring.”

  “It was a fair deal,” Cerdic replied cautiously.

  “Would you believe me if I said I came back to finish what we had started?” Garren asked.

  “No,” Cerdic laughed again. “You have been gone a long time. I am not the same man as I was ten years ago. Please leave before I do something I may later regret.”

  “I do not feel the mind to leave just yet. You have something that I want. I will not leave until I have it.”

  “We will both regret it if you stay,” Cerdic warned again.

  “What could you possibly do to me, that hasn’t already been done? Throw me in the dungeons? Lash my back?” Garren scoffed. “It has all been done before.”

  “Just so you know, if you do end up in my dungeon, I don’t have any other daughters who may look into your pretty face and decide to rescue you.”

  “That really hurt, didn’t it?” Garren asked, stepping closer still. “How betrayed you must have felt, when Annis chose Alden over you.”

  “You are on wet ground, Garren,” Cerdic warned. “Be careful you don’t slip.”

  “I want to know where Josse is,” Garren replied taking another step closer to the throne. “Come on, Cerdic, you know you want to tell me. Where is he?”

  “Why do you want to know where Josse is?” Cerdic returned. “Why does it matter to you where he is? He is dead. It is better he remains so. To dig him up after all this time would do no one any good. Let him, as you Christians say, Rest In Peace.” Cerdic mockingly performed the Christian cross of protection, and then he scoffed.

  “I am going to take back Benwick,” Garren announced.

  Cerdic started to laugh. “I am sorry, I must have misheard you. You are going to take back Benwick? That, I would pay to see.”

  Garren smiled along with him. “Yes. You and Josse are going to help me.”

  “Are you trying to be funny?” Cerdic asked, still laughing. “I am not going to help you take back Benwick or your bloody ancestral lands.”

  “Do not be too quick to say no. I am going to kill him, Cerdic. I think his death would be mutually beneficial to both my family and yours.”

  Cerdic sobered. “Who are you planning on killing?”

  “My enemy. Yours. I am talking about Mordred Pendragon.”

  “No one can kill him,” Cerdic said, with a small shake of his head. He got up from his throne, picked up the purse and tossed it to Garren. “It is impossible,” he hissed the words between his teeth.

  “For you, maybe,” Garren agreed as he caught the purse. “But not for me. I am going to ask you one more time, and if you choose not to answer then I am going to walk away, and you can spend the rest of your life bowing to the whims of Mordred Pendragon. So for the last time, where is Josse?”

  Cerdic tilted his head to one side and regarded the man in front of him. “You are serious?” Clearly rattled, Cerdic sat back down on his throne. He studied Garren for a long moment. “Last I heard, Josse was in Winchester,” Cerdic stated, coming to a decision.

  “Thank you, Sire. That wasn’t so hard, was it? I will bid you good day,” Garren turned to leave.

  “You are really going to kill him?” Cerdic asked. “You do realise that if you kill him, you could bring Rome down on all of our heads.”

  Garren turned back around. “We have defeated Rome before,” he said with a simple shrug of his shoulders. “I am positive we can do so again. If you want to help me, then please by all means, come along. I may have some news that would interest you about the Keeper of the Blade.”

  “There is no Keeper of the Blade,” Cerdic stated, his face showing fear at such a thought. “I have hunted down all the knights. There will be no magical resurrection. The Knights’ of Pendragon will never ride again.”

  “If you say so,” Garren said. “Once again, I bid you good day.” He bowed and left the Hall.

  Cerdic leant back in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. Garren was wrong about the Keeper of the Blade. And yet… Cerdic sighed deeply. Garren had never lied to him before.

  Regardless of the Knights, Garren was going to do something that no one else had been brave enough to do. Going after Mordred was suicidal. If Mordred found out, the consequences did not bear thinking about, but if Garren was successful…

  This was an opportunity too good to miss. Cerdic rose quickly to his feet and ran from the Hall.

  “Garren,” Cerdic called as he raced down the castle steps. “My Lord.”

  “Sire?” Garren turned to look at the Saxon King. He had just had his weapons returned and was busy strapping his sword back onto his belt. “Did I forget something?”

  “I want to come with you. I want to see that bastard die.”

  A ghost of a smile haunted Garren’s lips, but when he spoke his words were guarded. “And I would welcome your help. But before you commit, ask yourself this, can you really see yourself taking orders from a du Lac?”

  “It can’t be any worse than taking orders from a Pendragon,” Cerdic replied. “Can it…?”

  Author’s Notes

  When I set out to write The Du Lac Chronicles, I intended it to be a trilogy, what I had not envisaged was just how much I would grow to love the characters. After I had finished writing The Du Lac Devil, I realised that there was no way I was going to fit this story into three books! So instead of a trilogy, The Du Lac Chronicles is going to be a series of books, which I hope, dear Reader, that you will love reading as much as I love writing them.

  One of my favourite characters in the series thus far, has to be the young monk, Sampson. Sampson was one of the seven saints of Brittany and he had the most extraordinary life. Sampson was a very pious man who it is said had a reputation for unearthing anything demonic and sending it away. It was widely known, back when he lived, that wherever Sampson was, God was. He spent the early part of his life at the monastery at Caldey, off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. Unlike the Abbot of Caldey, Sampson abstained from alcohol. He tried desperately to make changes at the monastery and to bring his fellow monks back into the proper rule and order of things, but he found this very difficult. Eventually he gave up trying and left. He went on to do many great and wondrous things.

  With the Roman Empire on its last legs, the Bishop of Rome became more powerful as the people began to look to the Church for guidance. By the late 6th Century the Pope was rapidly becoming the recognised authority in Rome. For a Christian kingdom, the Roman Catholic Church played an increasingly important role in matters of State. But, as with all things political, corruption was widespread, and although there were some good and caring Bishops, there were also those who sought power and spread fear.

  In the middle of the 8th Century, Pope Zachary introduced the practice of excommunicating members of the congregation by Bell, Book, and Candle. But for the sake of the story, I decided to bring this practice back in time to the 6th Century.

  There was a distinct difference between the Church of Rome and what historians would later call The Celtic Church, the latter of which Saint Sampson belonged to. The Celtic Church used a different way of calculating the date of Easter. They had a system of penance that was not as harsh as the one imposed by the Church of Rome. It became very popular to go into ‘exile for Christ,’ and of course, their monastic tonsure (hairstyle) was different to the Church of Rome’s. However, there seems to be little evidence to suggest that the Celtic Church was opposed, or formed, in response to the Church of Rome.

  Julius Caesar did indeed portray the Druids as a bloodthirsty race that carried out human sacrifices, and for thousands of years, we have believed him. But some historians are now of a mind that Caesar was wrong in his interpretation. For the mo
st part, the Druids were a peaceful people, who believed in equality and justice for all. They were men and women of great learning. They were judges, healers, warriors and priests. They were the fabric that held their civilisation together. No wonder Caesar feared them for they were far more progressive, with regards to, what we could call, Human Rights, than the Roman Empire could ever hope to be.

  The Molmutine Laws, which Tegan mentions in Chapter 9, is a set of ‘ancient’ laws, credited to Dyfnwal Moelmus — King of Cornwall. These laws can be found in the Welsh Triads and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s, The History of the Kings of Britain. The Laws were, to put it simply, a set of fundamental Human Rights. They spoke of equality for all and certain freedoms, such as free water, free firewood, and they even allowed you to hunt for your own food in order to feed your family. There were also laws that dealt with military subscription, religion, and taxes. Whether these laws ever did come into existence is open to debate, but once again, we see such progressive ideas for a time that is often portrayed as uncivilised and barbaric.

  The sacred weapons that are hidden with The Order of the Knights can be found in Irish mythology. No one knows where the spear, the sword, the cauldron, and the shield are, but the Lia Fái, The Stone of Destiny, is on display in Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. In The Welsh Triads, Arthur’s knife was called Carnwennan. It was said that Carnwennan could shroud its user in shadows, but I decided to break with tradition and call the knife Draíocht instead. Draíocht in Irish Gaelic means Magic, and I think Alan could do with a little bit of that!

  The most challenging aspect of writing The Du Lac Princess was in the portrayal of Merton du Lac. The back condition I describe is called scoliosis. Scoliosis has touched my life not once, but twice. Two of my dearest friends suffer from this condition, and as a friend, I have watched as they not only struggle with the pain and disability of the condition, but also how they learned to live with it. Zoe, thank you so much for the long hours you played at being Merton so I could see what he could and couldn’t do. I know you were in a lot of pain, but we still managed to have a giggle, especially when you pretended to throw an axe! I promise to never put a real one in your hands, or one of us will end up in hospital without a foot! Kelly, our brave shield-maiden, thank you for taking the time to read through Merton’s chapters, while you were recovering from major reconstructive surgery to straighten your curve. Your insight was invaluable to me, and your bravery is inspiring. And, Kelly, I know you can dig your garden, and I know that spade will do, just…not yet! I am blessed to have such friends.

  The Dark Ages, as I have said many times before, is a difficult time in history to research, but I hope I have given you a little glimpse into what life could have been like.

  If you would like to read more about the times of myths and legends in Dark Age Britain, and to keep up to date with my latest news, then please pop over to my blog — Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots — and say hello!

  http://maryanneyarde.blogspot.co.uk

  I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading The Du Lac Princess. Please consider writing a short review on the site from where you purchased my novel. It would mean a great deal to me. Thank you.

  A complete biography of the books I have used to research this period of history would be too long to list, but if I have sparked your interest, then I suggest you check out these fascinating books:

  (Author Unknown) — The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles,

  Nennius — The History of the Britons,

  Gildas — On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain,

  Bede — Ecclesiastical History of the English People,

  Geoffrey of Monmouth — The History of the Kings of Britain,

  Thomas Taylors — The Life of Saint Sampson of Dol,

  Francis Pryor — Britain AD: A Quest for Arthur, England and the Anglo-Saxons,

  John Matthews, Caitlín Matthews — The Complete King Arthur: Many Faces, One Hero,

  Michael Wood — In Search of the Dark Ages,

  Michael Wood — In Search of England,

  Neil Oliver — A History of Ancient Britain,

  T.W. Rolleston — Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race,

  William Bottrell —Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall,

  Peter Berresford Elllis — Celt and Saxon (The struggle for Britain AD 410-937),

  Peter Berresford Elllis — Celtic Women (Women in Celtic Society and Literature),

  Peter Berresford Elllis — The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends.

  Reference:

  THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

  Quotes in order of appearance:

  “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first…” John 15:18-19

  “With God all things are possible…” Matthew 19:26

  “Don’t be afraid; just believe…” Mark 5:36

  “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing…” Luke 23:34

  “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things…” Jeremiah 33:3

  “To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than any sacrifice…” Proverbs 21:3

  “…for I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings…” Hosea 6:6

  “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Luke 7:47

  “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’” John 20:21

  “You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.” Psalm 86:5