The Knight of the Dragon Helmet
From the Chronicles of the Venerable Nimor, Blessed of Sinardia
(Found in internet archive. I have looked for its owner but he is nowhere to be found.)
1257 years before the time in which The Legend of Sinardia begins.
The moons were shining in the sky: it was dark, but the existence of clouds made visible all the stars that illuminated the whole sky and also the camp.
The knight I served had come out of his tent: all those men around me were waiting for the signal to start for the place where the scouts had said the enemy army was. But they had to wait because some allies had not yet arrived.
In that situation, it was impossible to get any closer to the border, especially with such clear days and nights: they would be seen from afar, and nothing would prevent some of their hosts from being wounded or, worse, killed.
I was a boy at the time, so I went with my lord as a squire. Even so, I was one of the youngest, but the events that were to take place in the days to come, I have not forgotten them, despite my advanced age. At present, when writing these chronicles, I am already 72 years old, if the date of birth recorded in the Sinardian archives is true.
My father, a rough man if ever there was one, with a long coal-black beard, restless eyes and a great tendency to look at you in such a way that you had to accept that he was in charge, raised in the art of war from an early age, had enlisted me in that war. So, thanks to his influence through his military background and his familial closeness to the royal crown of Sinardia, he had forced me to be a squire to one of his princes.
Ever since he had been knighted several years ago, Garofied had been called ‘The knight with the dragon helmet’, because from that time on, he had always worn a helmet on top of which there was a winged dragon. Moreover, the helmet was painted in various colours: gold, copper and bronze, making it very easy to distinguish from a distance. It was fortunate, then, that Prince Garofied was strong and brave, for otherwise, with that helmet, it would have been difficult not to become the mockery of all knights, no matter which king or nobleman they served.
However, I knew that at that moment, Garofied, a good-looking man, was sad and accompanied himself on that lute which he had brought with him and with which he composed courteous and passionate songs at court. Now he could only play over and over again that sad song called, ‘The Farewell Song’:
In the courtyard a crowd was gathering,
And a constant murmur rose
To the ladies with souls in mourning,
to the soldiers in the bastion.
A Knight in shining armour,
that with the dragon shield,
for war was more than brave,
but madly sad for leaving.
The flowers, the smiles and the Spring,
seemed now but a distant past,
when looking from the courtyard
to his lady in silver Silk.
Wearing the scarf she embroidered
the closest he could to his heart,
he thought of the happy gazes
and dances under the bronze skans.
The trumpets sounded on the battlements,
the barbican opened with a clatter.
That was when their eyes met,
longing for the Battle’s end.
At 13, I understood very little about love, but he sang it with such feeling that even I realized that he was not singing it as a mere formality or for fun, but because something similar had happened to him. I understood him well enough not to be reassured: he was going into battle soon, and he didn't look very focused, which didn't go well with his brave, battle-hardened nature.
So, that night, when he got up from his seat at the door of his tent and went inside, I plucked up my courage and asked him:
- "Sir, what are these verses that you sing?"
He laughed and answered me:
- "Garnirio" (for that was the name my parents gave me at birth), "you are still very young, but’ - he pointed to a small chair in front of him - ‘it is time you learn something about life. You see, many years ago, a man from Sinardia fell madly in love with a beautiful woman, but her father strictly forbade her to marry him. But they secretly got engaged, in defiance of her parents. Then pirates attacked the coast of Sinardia and he, as one of the most important nobles of the kingdom, had to go to war. Their grief was immense at the moment of separation, but what followed was worse: her father, ambitious and unscrupulous, took advantage of his absence to arrange her marriage to another nobleman who, moreover, because of where he lived, would take her far away and it was possible that they would never see each other again?
She tried to reach him but he was fighting pirates and the messages did not arrive until the army returned victorious. It was only three days before her wedding.
The knight prevented the wedding, which would have caused so much damage to both of them, because the king understood that the alliance would damage his kingdom and also because of the services the knight had rendered him. But this did not make her father very happy, and on the pretext of some family matters, he left the kingdom of Sinardia with her’".
But then I understood that the prince was telling me his own story. It had been rumoured for months that Count Gavarinor, a rich, powerful and unlovely man, very much imbued with his own importance, had set out for his land, newly conquered by the kingdom of Sinardia, with his daughter. The king, the affable Gialaínor, had not wanted to stop him: he hoped that this setback would simply be forgotten in time.
Unfortunately, as the prince said then, Count Gavarínor was not going to.
- Liama, the count's beautiful daughter has already rejected two important suitors, in addition to the one with whom the wedding was arranged but never took place. But I sense that he will soon force her to marry someone else, and that will be devastating for both of us. - Suddenly his expression changed: now it was amused -. Well, well, how perceptive, Garnirio - and he ruffled my hair with his hand.
I laughed, but, deep down, I was worried: I understood his sadness and why he was singing that song, but also that, if he stayed that way, he could fall into the battle that was getting closer every day.
Then he sent me to bed, and I obediently had to go. But it took me a long time to fall asleep, worried about my master and the unhappy situation he was in. To this day I still cannot remember when I fell asleep: only that I was awakened the next day by the trumpets announcing that the King himself had just arrived.
My lord was to go to the royal tent to talk and converse with the other knights, and to hear what the King and his advisors had to say to them. Before that, however, a royal messenger came to our tent and announced that my lord was to go to the royal tent because the King wanted to speak to him. He looked at me with concern and ordered me to have his armour and saddled horse ready for him when he returned, for, as the tents were close together, he was to go only partly armed and on foot.
So, there I stood, not knowing what was going to happen, but with a very bad feeling about the situation. Although I wasn't thinking much about what I was doing, I kept the armour shining (the parts that my lord hadn't taken with him) and looked after the horse, a big strong horse called Raonte, which was chestnut-coloured with a white star on its forehead.
After a while, my master came and sat on the cot with his hands on his face. He said nothing to me so I knew it was something private that had been said to him, probably related to Liama. I didn't have to wait long: I had a basin of fresh river water ready for him, which I had been able to fetch while he was in the king's tent, and he actively washed his face with it, as if he wanted the bad news to wash away quickly.
When he had finished, he dried himself with a beige thread cloth with maroon trim (Sinardia's royal colour) and looked at me:
- The king has informed me that Liama has been captured by a demon, the worst being in Sinardia. Her father was trying to close her marriage and let in certain people with those representing the other side who quietly went to her rooms and took her away without anyone being able to stop them.
- I imagine we will leave to save her.
His face lit up:
- There is hope in the kingdom… Hahaha,’ he laughed, as I reminded him. Unfortunately, we have to wait for the King's permission…’ Again, his smile faded and he sat down to wait. But he moved his leg restlessly and began to whistle. Then he got up and began to stride around the tent. I was already nervous when he came in, but after a while of watching him, I just prayed for any celestial being to take care of him and calm my nerves. I knew well, however, that unless he was allowed to go and find Liama and rescue her, nothing would calm his nervousness… His head would be where she was, his desire to confront the being who had kidnapped her growing by the minute.
We did not have to wait long, however. About half an hour later, two other Knights came into the tent with a written paliondrado, and, without much ceremony, handed it to my lord, and gave him the good news that he and I, together with the great dog of his own property, could set out to fetch and release the girl. If he released her, however, the King himself would give his permission to marry her, depriving the father of any right to his daughter's hand, but retaining her rights to her dowry and to any part of the inheritance that might be due to her in the future.
The prince was not very happy: he didn't care about Liama's money, what he wanted was to go and save her.
- They have kept us waiting just for a bureaucratic matter that could have been solved once she was already freed…’ he told me as we were leaving the royal camp, both of us on horseback.
- Do we know our destination?
He looked at me and said:
- Of course, there is only one person who is called that… though, really, I doubt it is a person. But first we have to look for help: the King has not let us go with him, but others will.
In the following days, we were able to meet two very interesting characters: I later learned that the first one, a man with a long cloak and glasses called Darion, and another tall and thin one who called himself Akailo. No one told me what they did, but I knew from the start that the first was a wizard and the second an assassin, though neither of them was very talkative at all.
We followed the path of the newly conquered Iridium River to the East and the source of the Great River. The wizard was good, very good… so good that I myself felt that we made more progress at night than during the day, even though we were asleep. Thus, a journey that would have taken us months to the Perpetual Snow Mountains did not take more than four days. In short order, we were near the lair of that being, which was mysterious to me… though it did not seem to be mysterious to my master.
It was a place…how could I describe it?... Yes, it was mysterious… dark and quite… But how to describe it accurately? No, I haven't forgotten it over the years. How could I? But it was something I had never seen in my life. And even now more than what it was, it was the feeling it gave off: it was threatening like the darkest nightmare. Just thinking that Lamia was there, I understood my master's concern.
Then he ordered the magician and the assassin to stay outside. But the magician gave him a kind of horn: he told him that if he needed help, he only needed to blow for it and that, even if he didn't hear anything, they, from outside, would hear it. My master, not too happy at the prospect of calling for help, took it and hung it around his neck. Then he put on his helmet and shouted:
- Inhabitants of this putrid lair, where is Liama?
At first, nothing happened… but then the rake of the castle went up and the door opened. Then, out came an old woman with a cane, very stooped. Both my lord and I were surprised, but not the wizard, who stepped forward and said: ‘Ah!
- Sorceress, tell your son to return the girl to us and we will leave.
She laughed and said:
- Oh, Blue Sleeves, how much you have grown since we last met… let us see if you have progressed… - and then she threw a kind of lightning at him… which caused him nothing, for it deflected him and sent him towards the door through which a great wolf was coming out.
My lord did not wait any longer and, with spear at the ready, he attacked the animal, which stood up on its hind legs, to transform itself into a child. But my lord did not stop… On seeing it, that being transformed into a kind of monster of unclear shapes, but my lord thrust the spear into it and a terrible scream was heard coming out of that formless blob. Then, we understood that he was not yet invincible but still powerful.
My lord, knowing his chance, spurred his horse and rode into the darkness of the castle. I did the same and passed the evil sorceress and her son the monster inside the fortress like an exhalation.
If it was dark outside, it was even darker inside… There were skeletons hanging in cages along that corridor and further inside we saw more wolves very similar to the master of that building, but those did not transform into anything, so I deduced that those, although bigger than normal, were real wolves.
Foto de Zekai Zhu.
I followed my master into the dungeon, but something strange happened there. Then he sang the song of farewell again, and as I heard the notes of the lute, it seemed that the dungeon regained some warmth and light and the shadows dissipated. Only then could he cross over to where Liama lay chained and free her. But the wolves were waiting for us at the exit, and this time, fearful of their master, they tried to prevent us from leaving.
My master, anxious to get out of there as soon as possible, first instructed me, while he went to one side, trying to protect Liama, to take on those on the other side, and I did a good job for a while. But no matter how many we killed, more always came up. When he saw that our efforts were futile he blew the horn and immediately, the assassin and the wizard were in there.
The wizard couldn't believe the darkness in there and knew that if we spent any more time in there, we would be affected by it too. So he decided it was time to get out of there. Underneath the horses, he spread out a kind of raft… although it wasn't a raft, because it flew, and so we were able to get out of the monster's lair.
Once outside, and they were far away, the wizard handed my lord a sword, called AüRoPhlAm, the Flame of the Dawn, and gave him a message:
- You shall guard it with the utmost care, for it alone can strike the coup de grâce to the worst servant of the one we have just seen. For though he and I may appear to be alive, we are not: we have been waiting for you so that we could give you this sword as a reward. It will be the emblem of your family until the worst of your descendants dies for it. But fear not, there are many paths open and none of us can see them all. It will only happen on one of the paths that you and your descendants will begin to walk from now on.
Then, a strange sword, made of an almost transparent, translucent material. It had a strange glow. When we looked up from the sword, our two companions had disappeared. Liama was still unconscious from the mistreatment he had received.
Few of us knew then that my lord and I had met Klandorg, Lord of the Necromancers, when he was still a child, and his mother, the evil necromancer Sorceress, Abliadas, on that strange adventure. It would take many years for me to realise the importance of what we had experienced at that time, and it was no doubt the reason why I ended up abandoning a promising military career to become a hermit in the mountains of Sinardia.
My lord, of course, when he arrived in the capital, Tiaronesta, celebrated his marriage to Liama, a union from which they had seven children. In the years that followed, I was also knighted but the camaraderie with him never ceased. Sometimes, he would be left with a strange look on his face and only I understood what was going on: he would think of which descendant would be the one to die at the hands of the sword kept in a specially designed safe in one of the most guarded rooms in the south tower of the castle.
However, this was a prediction that might or might not come true. Then he would look at his children and his wife and the light would return to his face: at least they were there and had a lifetime ahead of them.
Foto de Ann H.
(3,073 words).
This story has been written for the prompt Romance and Knights by
.Cross-posted in Wordpress.