(after finishing a book "The Forgotten Queen" a fiction about the history of King Arthur and Merlin I had this dream, it seems Merlin's name was originally Lyloken)
Lyloken awoke opening his eyes there was only darkness. Was he dead? He did not know. Until he tried to move and the pain of every cut, scratch and gash burned with hot, piercing fire. He tried to get up but found himself pinned under the dead weight of dead bodies. Then he smelled it. The smell of death, it was all around him. He tried again to stand, pushing against the bodies that were piled over him and on his legs.
There were 7 deadmen lying on him. He pushed them aside and looked down at their faces, all dragon warriors. Pendragon’s men. He learched up to standing, the pain and the darkness filled his circle of awareness. He sensed no living thing near him. The darkness closed in around him and he felt alone standing in the dark of the battlefield. Standing in the dark surrounded by the dank, dark silence of death.
He dared not light a light or make a sound, there was no way for Lyloken to be sure the darkness wasn’t hiding more enemies. It seemed all his friends, the men of Pendragon, were dead. He would return in the light of day when he could be sure no one else was watching nearby. He had to look for his niece. He had promised his sister he would protect her, but they had never suspected the force of their enemies were not the Angles, but his sister’s husband and the High King’s personal guards.
He bent down and searched the bodies for a knife and a sword. He took the belt and scabbard from around the body of a deadman strapping it on around his waist. He lay back down on the ground and crawled to the the edge of the woods. He slowly scrambled along the perimeter of the grass, along the in-between place where forest met the field. “The magic is in the between places” he thought to himself. He could use some of that magic now.
He whispered a prayer to the Old Ones. As he prayed a small path appeared in the darkness. Little more than a rabbit trail, still it was likely a path he could follow into the forest, crawling on his hands and knees he was little taller than a large rabbit. The thought of it lightened his mood and he carefully followed the small trail as it wound downhill into the dark safety of the encircling trees.
He crawled for what seemed like an hour, he wanted to be sure he was far from the sightline of the battlefield before standing up and showing himself. He wasn’t sure what caused his caution. Caution wasn’t something that came to him naturally. His natural reflex was to fight, not hide. He stood up. His years of fighting and training kicked in and his body broke into a steady trot without his even thinking, he spent his focus on moving quietly, if not silently, through the woods. He ran on and the stiffness left his legs began to soften. His heart began to beat and his breath moved in and out through his lungs, the steady rhythm of running cleared his head and he began to think clearly of the events of the past day.
The day had begun with a quiet sunrise,. Lyloken was first to notice the crows that were cawing in the distance, he looked up as they flew closer and then settled in the trees above the druid grove that had been built not far below the fortress walls. The crows got louder and then the messenger came. He rode up exhausted falling off his horse as the scouts ran at him with their swords drawn. A single word broke from his lips as he fell to the ground, “Langoreth” he hissed. The scouts picked him up and gave him water, pouring the water down his throat. He began to revive slowly and softly asked them if they were Pendragon’s men and could they take him to Lyloken. He reached in his pocket and produced a broach and handed it to them. One of the Dragonwarriors wrapped it in a piece of cloth. Jumping on his horse he galloped up to the gate and was immediately let through towards the heart of the fortress.
Lyloken had seen the whole thing from his perch on the southern wall. He felt something about the messenger something urgent. The messenger knew the urgency of the messenger immediately, he knew the shape of the trinket the messenger had given him. He recognized the design as the broach worn by Lyloken’s sister Langoreth.
When Lyloken had seen Languoreth’s broach he knew darkness and death would be close behind. He ran down the stairs and out the southern gate to the scout’s camp and recognised the messenger at first sight. He looked up as Lyloken came running up to him, sword dangling noisily from his belt. “Lord Lyloken, I come with a message from your sister,” he said, and Lyloken froze in his tracks.
“I know why you have come, how close are the king’s men?” Lyloken could feel his sisters thoughts in that moment. “Languoreth, I hope you are safe sister” he thought to himself.
“The king has sent Rhydderich his son leads a large band of the King’s Guard, and the armies of Gwergi and Peredyr joined too, the high king ordered it, that is what Lady Languoreth told me to tell you.”
“Languoreth...do you think you were discovered?” asked Lyloken.
“No, I do not think anyone knows I have gone, Languoreth told them I must leave Cadzow because my wife is ripe with child. Which is true enough.”
“I thank you for your courage. I will bring the Dragon warriors together. We will mount what defense we can, but against such odds it is unlikely we will survive. It would be better for you to go back to Cadzow. But first go north and east, you will be less likely to run into Rhydderich and Gwergi. There is a way around the eastern mountain stay to the creek and walk uphill when you see a large oak shaped like an old woman, you will know it when you see it.
Go now, while there is time, there is nothing here for you but death.” Luloken breathed heavily.
“Oh and take this broach back to my sister, tell her I will meet her once again when all this is over, tell her I will wait for her in the Summerlands.”
With that proclamation Lyloken hung his head, turned and walked back towards the fortress. His mind had been reeling but he walked through the gates standing straight and strong. He climbed the stairs of the north wall to Uther’s apartments. He found the Pendragon staring out the window.
“So the kings men are coming to kill us now? Funny now that the Angles have been quiet for a few years... we are no longer useful to the king!” he said with a wry tone in his voice.
“Yes, brother, Rhyddich and Gwergi, and Peredyr and their army. There will be at least 800 warriors maybe more. There are only 200 of us and we have been lazy of late...Gwyndolow, we have no chance against such a force, and even if we did the king has thousands more he could send to reinforce them. We should parlay.”
“Are you speaking now as my brother, my advisor or a coward?”
“I am speaking as your brother and your friend. We can no fight so large a force, these men are not Angle farmers and raiders we fight against, there are professional warriors and they outnumber us 5 to 1!”
“You think you can parlay? Maybe with Rhyddich, or even the king we might parlay. But the likes of Gwergi? He will take our heads and hang them from pikes in the center of Cadzow! He is brutal and his brother is little better! Do not think that Rhyddich would be able to rein them back. That is why they were sent brother, they were sent to be sure the job got done, that they killed every last one of us!”
Uther stood up with a jerk and pulled a map from a shelf next to where they sat, he spread it out on the table next to them studying the lines of the land spread out before him. The lands surrounding the fortress.
“We need to move south, south and west towards the ocean. We can gain high ground there and draw the king’s men into the gap beneath the cliffs. We can use archers. They are on horses. There are so many more of them…”, he thought for a moment, “ we will use fire, flaming arrows, even if we can’t hit them through their armor we can burn them out, between the cliffs and the flames they will have to retreat! Or so we can hope.”
“What we will do next, where will we go, there is nowhere we can hide from Tutgual at least, not in Strathclyde! Perhaps we can fight them to retreat then go east across Britainia and over the water to the Land of the Franks, we would have to leave the north, it sickens my soul to say so!”
At that Uther sat down again shaking his head.
“It is a poor plan brother, but a plan it is, and we have no time for another, I will gather the Dragon warriors and ready the horses”
So Lyloken remembered the happenings of the day. He continued walking along the deer path. Walking through the dark. He was shaken from his revery by a light in the dark of the forest. He shook his head to clear his vision, but still the glow remained, the orange light of a fire lit the darkness. Lyloken walked towards the light cautiously not knowing who had kindled it and sat by warming themselves.
He smelled the smoke and there was another strange smell with it. An herbal smell, but such an herb burning as he had not smelled before. He came quite close to the opening in the trees where he saw an old man sitting, he wore an odd shaped hat and had the look of an old forest druid.
He turned to look up at Lyloken, even as he stood hidden in the shadows behind the trees.
“Hello my boy, how have you been doing? Looks like you had some problems today, no?”
Lyloken stepped into the light of the fire. The clearing was filled with the orange glow of the flames as they burned in the small stone circle at the center of the grove. “This is a grove”, Lyloken thought to himself. “How strange that a grove should be built so far in the wilderness.”
“Not only is this a Druid grove, it is the oldest grove you have ever stood in Lyloken.”
“Who are you?” Lyloken asked the old man.”Are you a druid? Who was your teacher?”
“A druid? ….a druid…? Yes I suppose I am a druid…” the old man spoke slowly, as though he was dreaming and seeing into the dark, as if he were remembering as he spoke.
Oh, I almost forgot, said the old one, “I almost forgot I found a little girl walking through the woods today. She told me she had been with her uncle who was teaching her magic and that her uncle was a great druid warrior, and that there was a battle happening and she had run to hide like her uncle told her and while running through the forest she ran into me! I told her to stay with me and made her a bed and shelter..”
Lyloken looked around, “Where is she now, my niece?”
“She is over there in a small shelter I made for her, she is fine, I gave her some stew and she fell asleep waiting for you to come and find her, I told her you would be here.”
“I want to see her now” Lyloken had thought his niece dead in the battle. Learning she had escaped brought some hope back to his heart. He followed the old man around a small hill and could dimly make out the shape of a triangular wikiup he called out softly to her,
“ Angharad,”he whispered into the darkness. “I have come to find you,” with that he heard a shuffling within the low wikiup and a young girl crawled out.
Seeing him she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck,” Oh uncle, it was terrible waiting for you, I heard the screams and clash of the battle even from here! Did we win? Are the Dragonwarriors now the kings of this land?”
Lyloken lifted her up and held her and tears came streaming from his eyes. “No my dove, we have lost, the Dragonwarriors are no more. It is only by a miracle you and I have survived! Thank the gods this faithful druid has come to our aide.” He turned and found the old man was gone. Likely he went back to the fire to give them time alone.
“But what do you mean uncle, I see no one.”
“The old man, the one that built this shelter for you, where did he go?”
“But uncle, I found this place on my own, I saw no one since I ran into the forest like you told me. I was walking along and found this shelter and thought it would be a safe spot to hide. I was wondering how you found me...I thought it was by your druid magic that you found me here and knew I was sleeping inside...how did you know that Uncle Lyloken?”
“I knew by druid magic as you say, but it was not a magic of my own making, there is something here older and very mysterious. Something that protected us. Something or someone. There are many ancient things in these woods...ancient spirits who guard this place. It is no accident you found your hiding place, or that I was guided to it. We will go back to the fire and wait for morning. Perhaps we can learn more in the light of day.”
With that he took his niece’s hand and they walked back to the fire. Lyloken was not overly surprised to find no sign of the old druid. He had disappeared just as he had appeared, from and back into thin air. Lyloken and Angharad walked back to the fire and sat on the logs that had been arranged around the circle and waited to figure out their next move.
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