by David Noel
“We started home and the Lord spoke to me on the second day of our journey and said that before the sun set, a young man would come running into our camp and ask to join our Order. God told me that he was the one I was supposed to bring home. I was so sure that it would come to pass that when Father Cardic expressed his doubts that it was just wishful thinking on my part I made a bet with him on it.
“When Brendan came running out of the woods God told me that he was the one I was to bring home. He did not have the background, education, or training of the young men in Trieste, but I knew that I needed to trust the Lord. When he asked to join the Order, that confirmed it for me in my heart. I know that for many people he does not appear to be worthy of you. And yet, I cannot escape the fact, that he is worthy enough for God, as mysterious as that may seem to me. I love you and I want what is best for you and if he is God’s choice for you then he is truly what is best for you. I want to find a husband who will treat you right and who will love you for you.
“Unfortunately, you are not free to choose as you wish like most young women, but I want to give you some choice in the matter while you are still able. It is possible that he is not for you, it is possible that God sent him to me for some other purpose, but I know what I believe. If you have at least a little bit of interest in Brendan, then we will leave things be and see what the Lord says to you and how you feel about him. God calls to us but he does not compel us, so the choice is yours. If you have no interest at all then I will start looking for someone else.”
“And what will happen to Brendan if I’m not interested?“ Portia asked apprehensively.
“He will continue to be my squire. God sent him to me for a reason, he came as an answer to prayer. He is a troubled young man with tremendous potential, and I know that God has great plans for him.” Sir Gerard answered.
“Well, he is certainly very different compared to the other squires in the castle. And, I’ll even admit that there are some things about him that I like, but I don’t know him well enough and I can’t possibly make a choice about who I am going to marry yet.”
“No, and I am not asking you to do that. Also remember, it is not just you who gets a choice in this matter, he gets a choice as well.”
Portia felt confused and depressed; a tear leaked from her eye. It wasn’t fair! She was only 16! Why did she have to worry about these kinds of things now? Why was her life ruled by politics? None of the other 16-year-old girls in the castle had to worry about deciding who they were going to marry. If her brother had lived, then he could be the heir and she would be off the hook! In that moment she desperately missed Cyrus and her heart ached for him and, if she was honest, it ached for her own situation as well. Her father seemed to sense what she was feeling inside.
“I know that it doesn’t seem fair to you right now. Every one of us looks at different things in our lives as being terribly unfair. Tonight there will be some poor village girl whose only place to sleep is in the hayloft of the barn with the animals, she will look up at the castle and feel that it is unfair that we get to sleep in our own beds with warm covers and fireplaces while she has to sleep in a barn. Right now, you feel that it is unfair that even a poor village girl gets to choose who she will marry, and you can’t. Each of us has a different lot in life that we must face. We must learn to be grateful for the good things and ask the Lord for strength to deal with the hard things, it is how he trains us and makes us stronger. I am trying to give you as much choice as I can.”
“I am thankful for you, daddy,” Portia finally managed to say. “I have heard about some noblewomen who were betrothed as babies and then married off by their own fathers at 12 to men in their 60’s just to get a political advantage. Thank you for trying to find the best husband for me and not the best political alliance for Carinthia. Thank you for trying to give me some choice in the matter. Thank you for trying to find a man who would love me for me.” She remained silent for a long time before continuing. “You and mom had an arranged marriage and that worked out well for both of you.”
“Yes, her parents and mine spent a great deal of time in prayer, told us of their plans for us and then arranged for us to meet. I think that if either one of us had a strong objection to the marriage they would have released us from the agreement but, at the same time it was made clear to us that it needed to happen unless we had an excellent reason to say ‘no’. But she was 22 and I was 26, which is very different from two 16-year-olds, so I truly understand your fears and concerns.”
“When did you actually fall in love with mom?”
Sir Gerard smiled at the fond memory, “She and her family and a dozen knights and shieldmaidens were escorting some Frankish noblemen and their retinue towards Castle Warrick to attend our wedding. We rode out to meet them and escort them back to the castle. A Hungarian raiding party attacked us before we could meet up. They were harassing us with their bows, as is typical of their attacks. They try to draw you into attacking them and then they pretend to flee. If you aren’t careful and recklessly charge after them, you break your formation and then they turn and attack and destroy you in pieces. We refused to break our formation and give chase to their fake retreats, but they kept swarming back and forth picking us off one or two at a time with their bows. They were trying hard to get around our flank when I heard your mother’s voice, clear as a bell, yelling, ‘Cover their flank! Cover their flank!’ as she led her shieldmaidens in an attack on the flank of the Hungarians. They managed to catch the raiders completely by surprise. As the Hungarians tried to retreat from the maidens they ran directly into our position and we charged them with our lances and broke them for real. Your mother was a sight to behold. She took two arrows to her left leg while she was targeting the chieftain with her own arrows. She got him AND his lieutenant before the remnants of their raiding party managed to escape. After the battle she waved off medical help until everyone else had been taken care of. That’s when I fell in love with your mother and that was before we got married. She was clearly the woman for me and all of the wonderful things that I have discovered about her since that have just been bountiful gifts heaped upon bountiful gifts.”
Portia laughed and then got quiet again, “When must I marry?”
“The sooner, the better. If you marry before I die, then the king will have to acknowledge that you married a man that was acceptable to me and that your marriage is legitimate. He might try to claim that Brendan was not worthy, but he would not risk war with the Order by making you divorce Brendan and remarry someone else. On the other hand, if you do not marry then he can legally claim that it is his responsibility to take my place and determine who is an acceptable husband for you. The Order wouldn’t like it but I doubt they would go to war over such a situation. The Order would pull most of the Centurions out of the castle and they would be replaced by the Duke’s men. It would be a Centurion outpost in name only.”
“And I would be alone in a castle full of Germans, probably kept in the keep for safekeeping.”
Her father nodded, “Nevertheless, marriage is hard enough when you are married to a good person of your own choosing. We will not rush you into marrying someone simply to get you married. We will take as long as necessary to find the right person and trust the Lord to see us through.”
“Right, get married as soon as possible but no rush, whatever that means,” Portia responded. She thought back to when Brendan was washing her feet and a sudden thought occurred to her, “Daddy, who is the Vouivre and what did she say?”
“Now there is a story worth telling!” Her father exclaimed happily as they continued to ride along. “You may have already heard bits and pieces of the tale but now you will get to hear the full story of the Wyvern, the Vouivre, and how Brendan came to be my squire…”
Chapter 19
“Dragons exist on the edge of a razor, when there are too many, they over hunt the land and then die in large numbers through starvation, or battles over territory. When there are too few dra
gons, they stay in hiding because they are vastly outnumbered by the swarms of humans that cover the countryside, or they struggle to find mates and find it challenging to breed. But, when their numbers are in balance, they are a power to be feared.”
The Centurion Book of Beasts – Folio IV: Dragons
The Black raged as she flew home. The High Council had forbidden other dragons to move into her territory while she slept with her eggs, but now they had required her to attend the Gathering even though her children were still unable to fend for themselves. The Gatherings were tied to the solstices and this was the first summer solstice after the hatching of her eggs. She would have preferred waiting until the winter solstice, but the council didn’t want to wait for six more months so they had arrogantly demanded that she come to this one even though she wasn’t ready. They had made her justify her claim over the territory of Carinthia when others were greedily eyeing it for themselves. How would she defend it? How would she extend her control over it? How would she deal with the humans living there? The truth was that those weak worms on the council were getting desperate. Human populations were expanding everywhere, human technology was increasing every year, and dragon populations were in decline. She could see what they refused to see, that this new generation of dragons was soft, too soft to hold their own against the humans. Some of the Blues had even begun allying themselves with human nobles. In return for a regular supply of livestock and security for their nest, they would help the humans defend themselves from other human invaders. The Blues always claimed that they were the most “pragmatic” of the colors, but the truth was that they were cowards and fools. How long did they really think these alliances would last? Twenty years? Thirty? Humans couldn’t keep their promises to each other, why should they keep them to a dragon? What if the invader were another dragon? Would they side with their kind against the humans and break their treaty or would they side with the humans and break faith with their own kind?
It was all idiocy! She had wasted a night flying to the Gathering, a day making her case, and now another night was wasted flying back. She had left plenty of food for the young ones and she had no doubt that they could handle any of the forest creatures they might encounter but she prayed to Tiamat that they had not done anything that might betray the location of her lair to the humans. She could not have a mistake now, she was too close to breaking the prophecy and getting her revenge.
Chapter 20
“One must always be flexible when dealing with God, he has a way of changing your plans when you least expect it.”
The Centurion Guide to Practical Advice – Chapter 2: Proverb 11
Brendan stood naked before Sir Gerard in a small tent in the bailey. He was preparing for his Step of Faith ceremony to enter the Order but first there was a private ceremony that struck him as being rather like a baptism. He had been assured that it was a baptism for those who had not been baptized, but in his case, it would simply be a reminder of his baptism. Brendan had been baptized as an infant, which was the way of the Eastern Church, but he didn’t remember it and wondered if it still counted. He had reached a point in his life where he had no faith in God, Christ, or the church. That had changed after he had seen the dead raised, heard the words of the Vouivre, and fought the Wyvern. God was real and Brendan knew it. He still had a thousand questions, but that was okay. It was impossible for a limited human being to understand everything about an infinite and eternal God, but he would keep working to understand as much as he could.
“Brendan, you stand now as Adam stood before God, naked and unafraid,” Sir Gerard began. “Sin entered into Adam as sin has entered into you,” with this, the attendants began sprinkling dirt on him, “and you became unclean in the eyes of the Lord and your relationship with him was broken.” Sir Gerard paused and looked at him, “do you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? Do you wish to be washed clean by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and the baptism of the Holy Spirit?”
Brendan nodded his head, “I do.”
Sir Gerard lifted up a cup of wine, “This wine represents the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was poured out for you.” With that he poured the wine over Brendan’s head. Two attendants came forward with a pair of buckets full of fresh water and began pouring them over his head and body. “This water represents the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” The attendants continued to pour water over him until all the dirt had been washed off.
The attendants came forward with a clean, white, linen tunic. “Be clothed in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ and enter into His kingdom.” With this, the attendants pulled the tunic over his head led him out of the tent into the bailey where all of the people who lived in the castle stood waiting and watching.
Brendan looked around as a young woman, wearing a tunic similar to his, stepped out of a different tent where Lady Evelyn was presiding over a similar set of ceremonies for the girls. He waited with the others for several minutes until three other boys and four more girls were standing together in a small group in the center of the bailey. There was the young woman, who appeared to be in her mid-twenties, and then himself, all the others looked to be about 12 or 13 so he judged that they were probably the children of Centurions. He spotted Marcia among the girls and she smiled and waved at him, he smiled politely and waved back until he caught sight of Portia in the crowd, glaring at him. Sir Gerard and Lady Evelyn came out of the tents and made their way to a small platform in front of the keep.
“We are gathered here as witnesses for these young men and women who wish to join our Order here at the summer solstice Step of Faith ceremony. They have renewed their commitment to serve Christ and now they wish to make a commitment to serve with us. You may choose to serve in one of three paths; you may choose to serve as God’s Shield, as God’s Hands, or as God’s Glory. Remember that ALL paths of service are honorable in the eyes of God and worthy of respect from your fellow Centurions.”
The assembled witnesses all said in unison, “We are all members of the same body and worthy of respect.”
Sir Gerard led the assembly in a prayer for wisdom on behalf of the applicants and then Lady Evelyn began calling applicants to stand front and center before the platform.
“Hespera,” Brendan watched as the woman in her mid-twenties stepped forward, “How have you been called to serve?”
“I have been called to serve as God’s Glory and be a smith.”
“Do we have a sponsor for Hespera?” Lady Evelyn called to the crowd.
“I will sponsor her,” said a lean man in his early 30’s.
“Master Garret, our senior smith will sponsor you, do you accept his sponsorship?”
“I do,” he walked over to her, put a smith’s apron on her, and then stood beside her.
Neither seemed surprised by the other’s decision so Brendan surmised that most of these sponsorships were worked out before the ceremony.
“Brendan,” Lady Evelyn called his name and he stepped forward. God’s Shield was the military class within the order, the knights and shieldmaidens, squires and handmaidens, who carried out the primary work of the order by defending the people of God. God’s Glory was the artisan class; the smiths, musicians, doctors, engineers, scribes, and other educated people who supported the work of the order. God’s Hands were the servant class; the cooks, brewers, bakers, grooms, and other workers who supported the other two groups. Brendan had been told to select serving as God’s Shield if he felt called to be a knight, but Sir Gerard had made it clear to him that if God led him to some other decision, he should do it.
“How have you been called to serve?”
“I have been called to serve as God’s Shield and be a knight.”
“Do we have a sponsor for Brendan?”
Brendan waited expectantly for Sir Gerard to speak up but was surprised when he said nothing.
“I will sponsor him,” announced Father Cardic.
“Father Cardic will sponsor you, do you accept his sponsorshi
p?”
Brendan was stunned, “Umm, I do,” he finally said.
The old priest walked forward with a kite shield and slid it onto his arm. He saw the shock on Brendan’s face. “Were you thinking it was going to be Sir Gerard? He’s a busy man and I knew he would be too soft on you. He planned to be your sponsor, but I convinced him otherwise. And before you say I’m not a knight, I am a knight, I’m just a knight with a few extra duties. And don’t worry, I’ll be able to give you much more of my attention than Sir Gerard would.”
Brendan groaned, why did extra attention from the priest NOT sound like such a good thing?
Chapter 21
“Women are more unpredictable than dragons. This is part of their charm.”
The Centurion Guide to Practical Advice – Chapter 5: Proverb 8
Portia stalked around in the crowd, watching and waiting. The knights, squires, and men-at-arms had all returned so there was a pretty large mob. First, she had seen Brendan and Marcia smiling and waving at each other which had been irritating. Naturally when she had been trying to catch his eye and wave at him, he hadn’t seen her, but as soon as Marcia starts waving at him, he notices! How typical of boys! Now she REALLY wanted Marcia to choose to be a shieldmaiden. Both of her parents and her older sister were all serving as God’s Shield, she would have to pick that too, right? But something told Portia that Marcia was going to make a different choice. She was always reading and writing, maybe she would be a scribe.
Portia watched as they called each applicant until Marcia was the last one left.
“Marcia,” her sister stepped forward. The handmaiden frowned, somehow her little sister even made a wet linen tunic and bare feet look good.