A note to my readers...

and to my followers as well.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE TO MY SUBSCRIBERS (and my Followers, too.)

I believe it was

Nick Richards

who put up a character profile for one of the characters in his: Tranith Argan Fantasy Series. He said it actually drew people in to look at his story. In line with that, I thought I’d tell you what my story is about…

Shall we begin?

Locksley is a young Bachelor knight of about 23-25. (His age is never really determined.) He’s nine years old when the story starts out though, in the Prologue, where he finds himself in the middle of a pitched battle. The Castle he lives in is under attack by Saxons. He cannot find his father and mother, who are out doing Kingly and Queenly things (as mothers and fathers are wont to do when they are Kings and Queens). Actually, his father is fighting off the invaders, and his mother’s off to a secret passageway where the young Prince is being led to, (as the story starts), by his tutor, Galen.

Are you with me so far?

The Queen, his mother, has been discovered and her escort is killed while she herself is crucified to a tree. Luckily, his tutor Galen is also an “adept,” and puts the boy under a spell so he won’t see the grizzly scene.

Fast forward some years later, and the True King, Arthur, is fighting the last battle of a war called THE WAR OF THE TWELVE KINGS. It after this battle that our young Bachelor is knighted, for having saved a King’s life during the battle. Locksley’s made A Knight of the Field after he is credited with saving King Pellinore’s life — what people don’t know is that he (Locksley) killed King Lot in order to do it.

The BIG rule is: That Only a King can Kill a King.

That’s all important background information, as the Orkney Knights — the sons of king Lot — are seeking vengeance for their father’s death, and will stop at nothing to kill King Pellinore. However, they also want to kill his son, because it’s come to their knowledge that his son, Sir Lamorak DeGales, has been boinking their mother.

It’s at this point that we start to figure out that some of these Knights are older than others. (I mean, a lot older.) The King for instance, Arthur — the True King — has been King for about thirty years now. He’s about fifty-five years old as we meet him in the story. His queen is in her late forties, and her champion, Lancelot, is fifty…ish.

There are knights in this story who are old, tired and worn out. Sir Bedivere and Sir Grummer, for instance, have been with Arthur from the beginning. They are old men when the story starts out. Bedivere’s hair is grey, as is the neatly kept beard he has. Lamorak is the same age. Ector is in his late forties.

The Orkney Knights, the sons of King Lot, are young, and in their thirties. These are Gawain — who was once Arthur’s Squire — Gaheris, Agravaine, Modred and Gareth, who is the youngest, at twenty-three.

When the story starts out, we meet Sir Grummer, the uncle of Locksley. And what is the boy’s pedigree you ask? He is Sir Locksley, Prince of Ivanore, Beyond-the-Wall, Knight of Inverness, and Knight of the Field; he is the son of King Ambrose.

Sir Grummer is his Maternal Uncle — important to know the difference — as his Paternal Uncle takes the boy into his castle and serves as regent until the boy comes of age. (He doesn’t give up the Regency because Locksley becomes a Knight.)

On their journey from Inverness to Camelot, we meet other characters who are travelling with Grummer. They are his men-at-arms, two Huntsmen, known as The Boys. They are well aged, and have been with Grummer for a number of years. They are discussing another Knight, Sir Palomides, who is a pagan — as is Grummer who comes from Beyond-the-Wall, and is a self proclaimed Pict — while the other comes from the lands of Araby, and is called The Saracen. He also rides a camel.

We discover, along the way, that they have been stopping at various whore houses on the road, as sort of an inauguration for the lad’s first trip to Camelot and his taking part in the Tournament of Youth.

Now, Grummer is a drunk — it cannot be denied — as all the man believes in, are whores, and wine. He knows every whorehouse and wineshop on the road to Camelot, and makes certain to stop at them all as they journey south. It is on this road that they come across Sir Ector DeMaris, the half-brother of Lancelot, who has set up his tent and is looking to take on all comers, but not really, as his tent is kind of off the beaten track. He’s on his way back to Camelot, and they decide to make the trip together. After all, Ector doesn’t mind visiting whorehouses any less than any other man.

They go to The Red Lion Inn. At the Inn, Locksley meets Brennis, a young seventeen year old who is the son of one of the whores. Rather than leaving him behind, Locksley says he’s going to make the boy his Squire. When they finally go inside, Locksley gets “first ride,” and is escorted up the stairs by two women.

At the same time, the Orkney Knights have been hiding, and attack both Grummer and Ector, but not before Grummer sneaks upstairs and locks our young Knight in the room before joining in the fray. He goes downstairs to fight, and is struck from behind and taken captive. He is given to a Knight, Sir Tarquin, who has a Keep he is building and uses Knights he captures and imprisons, for his work force.

Locksley, with no one to help him except The Boys and Brennis, his new Squire, decides he’s going to rescue the two captive Knights. The next days it rains and they stumble upon Sir Lamorak DeGales. He’s with a woman, thought to be a witch, and the last of the Druid Priestesses, now using the title of The Myrddin which is the title Merlin once held. (Merlin has been dead some ten years or more when the story starts.) After they meet the woman, she walks off into the night and disappears into a large puddle of water.

Now all of this is the beginning of the story. This is basically the Prologue — which is in two parts — and the first three chapters. The FOURTH Chapter, is divided into five parts, where we meet our heroine of the story, LADY GWENELLYN who is journeying to Camelot with her Uncle, King Pellinore, and her cousin, Miriam, to find a husband. Along the way, they join the Queen’s party, as she is on the trail looking for Lancelot.

All of this is FREE.

This is PART ONE of the story. It is a rollicking adventure that is unlike any other story of King Arthur you may know. For one thing, it is not about King Arthur. It is not about anything you may know. The Knights are all there. The only one in the story who is not in Mallory’s LE MORTE D’ARTHUR, is Locksley. Everyone else is: Bedivere, Lamorak, Ector, Brennis (the Squire), Lancelot, and yes, even Grummer, are all documented Table Knights.

The thing that is interesting about the story is that I have no plot. Even now, thirty chapters into it, and I don’t know where the story is going. The only guidelines I have are the chapters as the appear in my TABLE OF CONTENTS, which I wrote shortly after getting out of High school fifty years ago! Yes, that’s how old this story is.

But the rest of it is behind the PAYWALL. It’s only $30 for the whole year to Subscribe, or $10/month if you want to look around and decide if this is what you’re looking for.

I’m telling you right now, this is not for everyone. If you don’t like bad language; if you don’t like sex, or excessive drinking; if the idea of whores offends you, lying, cheating, stealing; even kidnapping, rape, and murder — if this is not what you want in an adventure story — then go back to your Bridgerton TV series where reality is not quite real (like this) and nobody kills anyone.

So tell me, why won’t you SUBSCRIBE to this and read it?