Ides of the May (Children of the May 2 - updates weekly)

Chapter Three: North

We ate a fine meal of edible leaves stuffed with chunks of lamb and strange vegetables. After that Aglinda and Alisander insisted we play a game with glass tiles, a game that seemed arranged so that only Aglinda could win, unless she decided to donate a victory to her friend. So it was not until the ship was well underway, and the two young ones were sleeping together on a bed made up of colourful silk-covered cushions, that Palomina and I had a chance to talk properly. We sat close to each other on the benches fixed at the table.

‘They were so excited to see you that they could not sleep last night,’ she told me as she poured us both cups of wine. ‘Though I was surprised that Alisander agreed to come with us. When we arrived back on Britain he vowed that he would never again set foot on a ship.’

‘But where Aglinda goes, he follows.’

She smiled, her large eyes soft and warm. ‘It is true that they do not like to be apart.’ She lifted my arm around her and rested her head on my shoulder. I kissed the top of her head and breathed in the scent of her smooth, slightly salty hair.

‘What I don’t understand is why they’re still with you. Why didn’t someone take them back to their families?’

She took a sip of her wine. ‘Alisander has nowhere to go. We tried to get Aglinda back to her family, but things have been difficult. She is from the middle lands, and we have not been able to journey there. King Arthur has been consolidating his power in Britain by removing other kings from power. King Pellam of the Red Rock has fallen in the west, and Uriens of the Land of Gore has not been seen in several years. King Rience of the middle lands is no longer king; he agreed to become a duke in return for the safety of his family and his people. Only three areas are still ruled independently of Arthur: the isles of Orkney by Agravaine’s father in the far north, Cornwall by King Mark in the south, and the Lands of the Lake by your mother in the middle north and west. The rest of the island is controlled by Arthur, and knights loyal to him.’

I sat back in my chair. Her initial joy at seeing me was still on her face, but now I could also see the sadness that had lurked at the bottom of our kiss at the harbour. Outside, Safeer shouted something at his crew, and she flinched. I put my hand on her arm.

 ‘He is not here,’ she said, sensing the question I was trying to ask. ‘This is not our ship, but Safeer’s. Palomides has been a prisoner at Camelot for more than a year now.’

‘Oh,’ I said, not knowing what else to say.

‘Camelot is King Arthur’s new fortress in the south-west of Britain. They say it bubbled up out of the earth fully-formed, soon after we were taken away from Caerleon. Arthur moved the round table there not long afterwards.’

‘As Avalon built Castle Eudaimon for lady Bertilak.’

She nodded. ‘Epicene supposes that Camelot is Merlin’s work, but she has not been close enough to know for certain. Shortly after we returned to Britain Mordred asked my brother, Piers and Brunor –’

‘Brunor?’ I interrupted. I had seen a boy with that name in Mordred’s memory. ‘He was with Mordred when Merlin and Sir Tristan captured him. A dark-skinned boy – well, darker than you and Palomides, but lighter than Epicene? Wears a coat that doesn’t fit him?’

 ‘Yes. It is his father’s coat. Bellina calls him La Cote Mal Taille – which she says means the boy of the ill-fitting coat, though Melwas says she is not correct. Mordred asked the three of them to go to Camelot. Palomides was to pose as a merchant trading in fine silks – not a role he finds difficult to play, Brunor as his manservant, and Piers as a British man they had hired to do their heavy lifting. They were to spy out the fortifications of Camelot, and if possible form a plan to steal Excalibur from the king.’ She looked away. ‘But something went wrong.