The Knight Errant

"Stop that foolishness and show me your arm, right now!" That perfect voice could certainly be dismissive and commanding. She palmed and felt his bulging bruise, which was turning black-blue. She kept her concerns to herself.

"I implore you milady, let me dress. I am sure my arm will set and heal properly, in time. You should not concern yourself with it."

"As you wish, Eurig. At the condition you escort me while there is still light; I intend to forage for some herbs, both to help you recover and season tonight's meal."

"Of course, milady." And they set themselves to their tasks. Talk of Amor or romance would have to wait for after supper.

4. The dream

Ceinwen had just finished relieving herself and, from her bush, was silently watching Eurig tending to the fire, in the warmth of the evening. Cadfael was grazing, a short distance away. In her mind, a debate was raging.

(His arm is badly broken and he is slowly bleeding inside. He will be no good to me on the paths and maybe even die. But what will he do when he finds out? He said he would marry me... but he is a Christian. On the other hand, I said I owed him my life.)

That last argument settled the issue. She walked silently behind Eurig, who thought she was about to play a prank on him, so he did not bother to turn around and said, playfully "I hear youuuu! Would you like some more berries? Or shall I have the great pleasure of some more of your heavenly singing?"

As her only answer, Ceinwen whispered a soft incantation. Eurig, for a second night in a row, literally fell asleep. To herself, she said, softly "sleep, my beautiful hero... I need your strength to do what I must."

Ceinwen settled him comfortably, on his back, near the fire. She then lowered his pantaloons and examined his manhood.

(Hooo! He is blessed... I think it will be even bigger than mine!)

She checked again Eurig's eyes, which were now open but in an expressionless trance. "Very good, Eurig. Listen to my voice. To you this will all be a beautiful dream; a beautiful dream; a beautiful dream." She then, timidly at first, fondled his balls and stroked the shaft of his penis. It hardened almost instantly, under her approving look. She then kissed his glans and promptly licked away seeping fluids. When she was satisfied he was ready, she took the glans in her mouth and kept fondling his balls. She moaned her satisfaction and lowered her lips, eating him alive, right up to the point where his glans pressed on her throat.

Up and down, she repeated the motion of her lips and tongue while caressing his balls with constant loving care. She quickly felt a throbbing in his shaft and paused her lips, readying herself for his offering. Even in his trance, Eurig moaned as his penis erupted in her mouth; and again; and again. Ceinwen took care to swallow each and every spurt of his seed. She was at the same time satisfied and frustrated.

(His seed tastes good and is strong. I feel its life in me. He must still be virginal for it to be so quick, and now my loins are aching! Do I dare? Oh, do forgive me Eurig! I needed to but now, I badly want to!)

For this second time, she disrobed while repeating a whispered incantation. "Sleep, my sweet Eurig, and have a nice dream." She rubbed and gently pressed her perky breasts, with their throbbing hard nipples, on his chest. She also frotted her own penis on his cheeks and over his lips. She then set her sights, one more time, on his once-again very hard penis, kissed his glans and lowered her lips.

This time, she concentrated solely on the pleasure of her suction. She proceeded slowly, as if savoring the passage of every inch of flesh inside her lips and on the top of her tongue. But the pleasure of her carnal care was now second to the lust in her own loins and, seeing they were both comfortable, she presented her glans to his lips. "Kiss it, Eurig; take it into your mouth, you can do this and it will please me."

Surely enough, his lips puckered her glans and then opened up to welcome her own manhood in a moist cave of love and lust. That lust won her over and she lunged herself in his mouth until she heard him gasp. She quickly pulled back, startled. "I'm sorry Eurig, stay asleep, my lover, and stay calm; you can swallow all of me, my hero, you can." And she entered his mouth again, slowly and with care. This time, she triumphantly felt her glans passing his throat and felt the added pleasure of his lips right up to the base of her shaft. She even felt her balls pressing on his face. She was in pure ecstasy.

After getting used to a gentle motion to please herself in his mouth, she resumed her suction of his own penis. But the Goddess had another gift for her: a surge of intense bliss that made her shaft throb and tremble in his mouth, a pressure from her balls she had never felt before and, at glorious last, the eruption of her own seed in him, in several powerful spurts. She did not wanted to yell but, even while suppressing her voice, a sustained moan forced itself along her vocal cords and she was powerless to resist it. She was over him, on her hands and knees, barely able to breathe and completely amazed that her curse could yield such a reward.

(My Goddess! Such pleasure! I thank you for all your gifts and mysteries... and now I want more!)

Her softened penis, still in Eurig's mouth, was rapidly hardening. The hardness in Eurig's penis had not yet faltered. She resumed both her suction and her penetration, in agonizing slowness and in harmony. She was pleasing and teasing herself at the same time, and enjoying every second of it. She savored both the taste of him and the feel of her in him. She felt as one with her knight and a surge of emotion wetted her eyes. As another throbbing burgeoned in her, she fondled his balls to quicken his bliss. To her great satisfaction, she felt the onrush of seed from both members practically at the same time.

(Thank you Goddess, and thank you Eurig... if you ask, I will be yours forever.)

After her breath and heart both slowed down to more normal rhythms, she dressed herself and caressed the cheeks of a deeply sleeping Eurig. She still had much to do before joining him in slumber.

5. The Knight, the Beast and the Journey

"Good morning, noble knight... wake up please, it will be daytime soon."

Eurig yawned, stretched and greeted his lady with a sated voice. "Good morning milady, have you slept at all? I don't recall seeing you fall asleep and now you are already awake, dressed and ready to leave camp!"

"I have slept well enough, thank you. And, in truth, I had little to do but prepare myself. What about you, Eurig, did you sleep well?"

He answered with a voice that showed surprise. "I have slept as soundly as I ever have, milady, with vivid dreams of happiness and pleasure..."

"Really? I am curious now: what were those dreams about?"

"I don't recall, sadly... I just remember that they were the exact opposite of nightmares, bringing me joy and peace in my sleep."

"Then I am glad. And how do you... feel... this morning?" This time, there was apprehension in her voice and, watching her, Eurig felt she was awaiting judgment.

"I feel very good, milady; in fact I..." Eurig stopped talking, startled and almost panicked. He lifted his shirt arm: the bruising in his right arm was completely gone, even the discoloration. He then went to her and inspected her wounds, rudely moving or lifting the garbs he had lent her to do so: all the stitches were removed and all the wounds were fully healed. Ceinwen, terrified, could not find it in her to object to such manhandling. Eurig then turned around to Cadfael, who was grazing at the peak of health. He watched her intensely now, his face trembling with fear, battling within himself to decide how to react to this.

At least, Ceinwen thought, he was not reaching for his sword. Eurig closed his eyes and Ceinwen guessed, correctly, that he was praying for wisdom. Finally, he said "I thank you. Lead on, we should go."

But Ceinwen would not budge. The absence of any feeling in his voice devastated her. And she did notice he did not refer to her as "milady" for the very first time. "Please, lord Eurig, do not be upset at me. I am the very same Ceinwen whom you wanted to court in fine Amor yesterday and I wish you nothing but good. We have a long journey ahead of us and I believe it is high time for you to know the truth about me. And I meant what I said: I never lie. We have several hours to talk and please let me say my story before choosing to hate me or not."

Eurig let out a very deep, and very audible, sigh. "Of course, milady. Please forgive my curt manners and take all the time you need. I will listen."

As they walked up the path that linked directly Llyn Cwellyn to Snowdon Peak, Ceinwen riding Cadfael and Eurig walking in full arms and armor - save his helm for a better field of vision - Ceinwen told her story of love, curse, conviction and conflicting faiths.

Meiriona tended to the faerie court at Glaslyn and, seeing Heddwyn in hermitage near the lake at Llyn Llydaw, became overcome with lust and offered herself to him. After their coupling, she immediately foresaw her womb with life and she thanked Heddwyn for this priceless gift but, instead of leaving her be, as she bequeated, he proposed instead.

Even after she explained that she served the Goddess and that a common life would be fraught with complications, Heddwyn was undeterred and professed his love as well as reiterate his request of marriage. And, touched, she accepted. When Meiriona was warned that the Goddess would frown upon such a union, now it was she who remained undeterred.

They soon married under Christian rites and Ceinwen was born... like Eurig saw. Meiriona was told Ceinwen would be the only child she would ever bear, to repay the debt of her defiance, but Ceinwen was blessed by parents who utterly loved her just the same. Of course, she could not be baptized; but the fiefdom of Llyn Llydaw is remote and she was never treated with pity or shame at any moment of her 21 years.

Up to that point, Eurig had listened in reverent silence.

"Milady, are you faerie folk or Cymric?"

"Did you not see me bleed? I am Cymric, silly! And how can a Christian so readily acknowledge faerie folk?"

"I would never be so foolish as to willingly disbelieve evidence in front of my very eyes, milady. The fact that I believe God created Heaven and Earth and that I know that he sent his son Jesus to die for our redemption does not preclude me from acknowledging that there are mysteries I do not understand... I can accept them just the same."

"Most of our vassals and the miners dismiss this all as superstition."

"But what is superstition if not a behavior accounting for what one does not understand? Of course, there is a difference between avoiding black cats and dabbling in witchcraft..."

"Ah, yes... that..."

"Was our healing magic or a miracle, milady?"

"I would not know the difference, but you may call it magic, since I have trained in this art with Mother."

"Are you both Ladies of the Lake, like Lady Nimue?"

"My, my! Are we curious! Maybe Mother was before my time... she has never been forthcoming about herself. But I myself have lived all my life sequestered in our manor, until I was of such an age that Father could not oppose my occasional riding foray to visit our lands instead of languishing at the sights from my window. Of course, once you have returned me home, I suppose he will lock my door for good... unless you really want to marry me?" She was wondering why she could not resist needling him so... and to great effect, as he was blushing profusely; did their coupling and magical healing create a bond between them that she could not have foreseen?

"You really want to be married that much, milady?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, of course not. We all want to have children and leave a legacy in this world. But you are an amazing daughter of a landed lord and I do not know why you would want to leave the freedom and privileges of your rank for household chores and duties... even more so if your family adheres to the old Cymric ways, as you could then in fact be liege of Llyn Llydaw, since you are your father's only heir."

"And you would not want to be?

"I do not know about that and have not thought about it, but I do think that whoever marries you should do so for you, not for the kingdom. I love my kin, of course, but I was always saddened by the way Father treated Mother. Where in the gospels is it said that you can leave your wife home, days on end, returning sporadically only to bring in a bastard child or vent your anxieties violently on a person you have sworn to love and to hold? I admire King Arthur and Queen Guinevere because they set an example of love and respect between husband and wife, but I know that they are an exception and not the rule. When I was a squire, I travelled to many large battles and have seen all kinds of knight and nobles. I do not know if it is due to the corruption of power or the evils of warfare, but I can tell you that what I have witnessed falls woefully short of the teachings of Jesus-Christ. Oh! I apologize for the sermon, milady, I believe I got carried away..."

"Not at all, my good Christian knight. But now that you have stated your heartfelt belief, tell me truthfully: would you marry me for love?" Eurig, who was already deep red, was now almost purple, as he kept forgetting to breathe.

"Yes I would, milady. I am in awe of your beauty and your talents, your voice enraptures me and I wish nothing more than to worship you... be it for just a kiss in return."

"A kiss? And what about... you know..." She had difficulty finishing her thought so, to dodge the issue, she pinched his cheek, to the expected effect on poor befuddled Eurig.

"Was not Jesus himself chaste and childless? I would be quite willing to live a chaste life with you at my side but, for some strange reason I cannot fathom, I have a feeling that it would not be so; that we would, in fact, celebrate the flesh, as you called it yesterday, and... my God, milady, you are blushing! I apologize for my inappropriate behavior..."

"No, no, good knight, it is quite alright, please, finish your thought... I believe you were about to speak about children."

"I was still young when Mother died, while giving birth, and I am aware this happens, unfortunately, all too frequently. I am sure some helpless fathers would let us adopt children and love them as our own. Maybe that is the reason for your being and your destiny, milady."

Ceinwen did not respond and, in fact, wondered what kind of God allows one to view her curse in such a manner. Eurig had already made very clear he wishes to be her admirer but, in fact, she was sure she was feeling the very same way about him. She then realized she had distanced Eurig, who had slowed down while trying to scan the horizon through heavy morning mist concentrated in the valley they were crossing. "Please hurry along, my good knight, we still have ways to go."

"I believe I see a lake in the heart of this valley, beyond all this cursed and putrid mist... if you are in such hurry, could we not cross overland in a straight route?"

"No!!! Outside this path are several bogs, some of them quite deep. It is their emanations mixed in the mist you are smelling. Besides, that lake is Llyn Ffynnon-y-gwas; our lands lie beyond the peak. The path is about to become steeper and we should concentrate on our climb, especially making sure Cadfael does not slip on some wet rock."

"As you wish, milady."

They walked slowly, in silence, past the lake and Ceinwen broke the silence just before the upcoming ascent in the path. "Eurig?"

"Yes, milady? Is everything alright?"

"Yes... I wanted to thank you for listening, just as I asked. I am curious, now: do you hate me? Or do still want me to be your Amor?" She held her breath, awaiting his answer.

"I could never hate you milady; in fact, quite the opposite, I believe I am under your spell. You ought to be admired by all, not just by a knight errant, and yes, I would very much like the honor and privilege of courting you."

"Granted, my hero, you may court me in fine Amor until you are allowed to marry me."

"Just like that, milady?"

"Well, yes... is it supposed to be otherwise?"

"Is there a romantic deed you wish to bequeath me, to prove my feelings?"

"Mmmm... for now, just promise me your heart."

"You already own my heart, milady."

Then, upon reaching the steep path, they walked in silence again. Once passed the ascent, on top of the ridge of Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, Eurig once more lagged behind. "Do you need to rest, Eurig? I keep forgetting that you are clad in armor..."

"I thank you for your concern, milady, and I am quite all right... in truth I am quite awed by this view of the kingdom. Will you look at that! One should really be allowed to live forever, to be able to see all the glory in God's Earth."

"I agree. But we really should walk along and, from now on, the gravel will be loose underfoot. Please tend to Cadfael." Eurig did so. They walked in silence once again until they reached a path junction near the summit, which Ceinwen avoided by taking an eastward path marked by a cairn. Once alongside a lake, she could not resist a point of pride. "Well, Eurig, do you want to pause near the lake?"

"Is this the lake of your lands, milady?"

"No, this is Glaslyn, THE Lake. The bottomless one, home of Lady Nimue."

"Indeed? Then we should push forward some more. I would not risk tempting the Avanc out of the water to claim you."

"A wise observation, my Amor. Very well, and since our lands are close by, we should keep on going until we... Eurig?" He was immobile, looking at something in a fixed stare, but she could not see what. He suddenly dashed back some ways and kneeled to the ground. "Eurig, what is it?"

He answered, but to himself. "This is unbelievable... this is impossible!"

She stepped down from Cadfael, telling him to stay still, and walked over Eurig, still crouched and scanning the horizon all around, intensely. "Eurig, what is it?"

"I have hunted and tracked for almost 15 years, milady, and yet that... beast... which had hooves, left no trail!!! What madness is this?"

"A beast with hooves?"

"Yes... but it was neither a horse nor a deer; it was a fantastic beast, with a large snake's head and a body of both leopard and lion. And I swear I heard the noise of hounds coming out from its belly. It was right there, drinking by the lake! Did you not see it? Did not Cadfael hear it?"

Ceinwen took his hand to calm him down and responded with a soothing smile. "No, Eurig, Glatisant only wanted you to see it."

"You KNOW this beast?"

"I know only of it. Glatisant lives to be hunted, never to fight or to be caught. I am glad you did not succumb to its spell, Eurig, for you can very well lose yourself chasing after Glatisant until the end of your days..."

"You are telling me I just saw the Questing Beast? Then today is to be the most blessed of my days, as I have received the grace of your Amor, seen the glory of God's kingdom and now been privy to the legends of the fae... what is it now?" Eurig had been interrupted by Cadfael, warning them of incoming noise - a knight and his squire. Unnerved by all these wonders, Eurig was relieved that, this time, the sight was mundane.

He went to Cadfael's side, asked Ceinwen to stay behind and grasped his sword, hoping it was his newfound foe seeking combat. Ceinwen stayed behind as asked, apprehensive, and could not comprehend Eurig suddenly kneeling, as the old veteran and his squire paused to greet them properly.

"King Pellinore! It is an honor to cross your path."

"Rise, young knight, and who might you be, since I do not have the pleasure of recognizing either you or your arms?"