THE BOOK OF LAMORAK DeGALES
pt 3 of THE SHIELD OF LOCKSLEY
PREAMBLE…
Welcome one and all, to the FREE part of the show.
This is a PAYWALLED series, just so you know.
But just to catch you up in case you didn’t know…
On Wednesday, we start PART THREE of my serial THE SHIELD OF LOCKSLEY. (If you thought this was a spin-off of that show THE SHIELD, you’re in the wrong place.) This is a story, if you’re late to the show, set in the waning days of King Arthur. There is a conspiracy being plotted against the King, by his bastard son, Modred. He wants to set up his own Kingdom in the North, Beyond-the-Wall, calling it New Caledonia. Of course, the North is where our hero and his uncle, Grummer, originally come from. Modred is being helped with his conspiracy by his aunt, Queen Morgana LeFay, who is also the half-sister of Arthur. She’s married to King Urein, (pronounced you-rain) and is the mother of Uwain, whom she plans to marry to the woman Locksley has sworn himself to, Lady Gwenellyn, niece of King Pellinore, and cousin of Sir Lamorak DeGales.
Are you with me so far?
Some of what you’re learning you don’t find out unless you read PART TWO. There’s a lot that happens in Part Two, so we’re barely skimming the surface here. So we’ll skim along to the end of Part Two, where there’s a big feast given in honour of the Victor in THE TOURNAMENT OF YOUTH. (Hey, if he didn’t win, we wouldn’t have a story, so it’s not like it’s a spoiler if you haven’t figured it out yourself. It’s how he gets there that’s the story.) Anyway, there’s a woman who asks the King for a boon. Lamorak steps up and takes it, which brings us to here, PART THREE.
Now on a side note, you don’t really get to see Arthur and Guinevere as often as you’d think you would, it being a story that takes place in Camelot, I mean. And there’s a reason for that. They’re background characters. The story centres around Locksley. In this part, he’s forced to go out on a Quest with Lamorak. But Grummer and Bedivere have volunteered to go with Lamorak, while Locksley is commanded by the King. It’s one of the few times you actually get to see the King. He’s an old man, though. And his Knights are also old. Lamorak, Grummer and Bedivere are all in their late fifties. They are the older generation of Table Knights. A lot of them are looking to retire, and have land. Some of them are married, and have children. Palomides is married, but he and his wife have no children. Palomides is an Arabian Prince, and his wife is Indian. He found her in the slave market in Constantinople.
Locksley is young. He’s about 23. And so is Gareth, the youngest of the Orkney Brothers, the oldest of whom is Gawain; we don’t see him too often, either. But that’s because Gawain’s a big name. (Much like Lancelot.) But Gawain’s a man of questionable character. While Gareth is by far the best of the bunch, he’s still an Orkney Knight. He actually took part in the attack at Hollyburn, way back in Part One. He takes part in the Tournament of Youth, and basically comes in second.
Locksley, is fictitious. He’s one of the few “fictitious” name in the story. Every other character is pretty well from LE MORTE D’ARTHUR. But…some of the other names in here are historical figures. The thing about writing an Historical Fantasy, is that the Historical part of it has to be true, as much as the fantasy part has to make sense. You have to find out when they first used lances, and when you discover it wasn’t until a century later, you ask yourself: How do I resolve a problem like that? Have them be the ones who develop it quite by accident, and have them using it first, sort of trying it out to see if it actually works.
Like I said, there’s a lot of stuff that happens in Parts One and Two, and a shitload more to come in Part Three. Without sounding too much like I’m blowing my own horn, this is one of the better series out there. It has everything you could hope to have in a story of this size. When I eventually get it published (probably Self-Published) it will be somewhere in the 800-850 page range. If you’re looking for the first tow parts, you can find them here:
