2011/09/05 - A Nunnery of Saxons
We have arrived at the Isle of Wight.
The ship we saw carried the Shield of the White Tower.
It is night, and the town is shut since it is past curfew, but we manage to talk our way into the town. Apparently the curfew here has been in affect for the last couple of weeks, Lord Prosser Ap Huwel is the castalan here. They are the lands of the Lady Philomela. We are escorted to the church where we can stay for the night.
There was some illness in the town, so the curfew was enacted to stop people being out and about when the bad air was around.
It is the church of St Conquin (patron saint of fishing and dragons). We are met at the church by Brother Beddow. Tywydd makes a large donation, and we are shown the bones of the dragon that their saint slew. Apparently it was killed in a rock fall. It was a water dragon, hence the flippers, long neck and long tail.
We sleep for the night, though are woken several times by services during the night. We awake for morning service, which we attend. The monks agree to pray for Lord Bryn. There is pottage, bread, fish stew and small beer for breakfast. There are a number of large monks sitting at breakfast,all very blonde.
We have a guide to the convent, a small monk who is a herbalist. He doesn't seem to be fond of the reverend mother. She isn't very holy, and can have a temper. She has a lot of temporal influence. We travel south, inland, along the inlet. We notice that travelling in the same direction, but on the other side of the inlet, is another group. There are about 30 of them, carrying covered shields and wearing armour.
We stick the friar on one of our horses, and begin to make haste towards the convent. The others are on foot, and seem to be marching in step. We make it to the head of the inlet well before the other knights. Going inland, we meet a couple of men with birds and hounds.
One of them introduces himself Gware ap Gothin and his cousin Iolair. He offers to join us. After a while, we approach a hill fort. The ground around he fort has been kept clear out to a distance of about 400m. The ditches are also well dug. It looks like the place is well prepared for war. After a brief conversation with the guards, we are let into the nunnery. The guards here wear leather and carry spears and bows. The fort consists of two ditches and palasades, and a complex gate arrangement. There is a stone tower in the middle and a smaller stone broch.
We are show through to the Revered Mother Philomela (the Lady Orn). She is dressed in rich robes and wearing many expensive jewels. We hand over the letter to her, and she asks if we have a token for the lady Eilis. We state that we can only give it to Eilis personally, though Tywydd shows her the ring of Vortigorn. She looks greatly satisfied.
Eilis is brought in. She is a very attractive 13 year old young woman. She retires to read her letter, and Tywydd goes with her.
We have a fine meal. Caradoc and the Lady seem to be getting on very well, and he pretty much tells her everything he can think of that she might possibly want to know. I have to sit next to Eilis, who may be a little bit less bratty than she was 5 years ago.
That night, we find that we are locked into the tower. There is a great movement of men outside, where the men seem to be carrying shields with the sign of Vortigorn. There is also a finely armoured man with long red hair, and carrying a shield with a white dragon. The dragon was the symbol of Hengest and Horsa.
At this point Iolair gets out some device which he is pointing out the window and begins cranking it. Gware calls him Aquila. He decides not to shoot since he cannot guarantee to hit. We agree to team up. The plan is to block the outside doors from the inside, and to break our way into the interior of the tower to find the Reverend Mother, and do her a nasty.