A Chronicle of the Year of Betrayals,

Five Hundred

Being an Account of Saxon Wolves, a Monster That Walks, and a Town That Was Not There Last Year

Set down by the Clerk

Session Summary

• Countess Ellen's court convened to distribute Salisbury's first real surplus in living memory. Euric's exceptional stewardship advice unlocked 40 libra for kingdom investment.
• The knights split their vote along fealty and self-interest lines, forcing a compromise: Sarum's central keep was completed, and a port town, Brenicote, was founded near Amesbury to draw pilgrim trade. Drusilla topped up the last libra needed to finish the moat around Sarum.
• Two Saxon embassies arrived at court seeking Salisbury's sword-arms for other people's wars. The knights declined both and chose instead to raid Ryderchan on their own terms.
• Lady Emma timed the raid with extraordinary precision, but the execution fell short; the haul was modest. The plunder was quietly redirected to Salisbury's treasury regardless.
• Countess Ellen summoned the knights alongside Seaxwulf, a formidable Saxon warrior sent by Wessex, to hunt a monster attacking border villages. Seaxwulf refused cooperation and rode out alone to claim the glory.
• The knights rode south, questioning villages along the Ebel. Rumours spoke of a night creature that tears down walls and steals women and children.
• At Oddstock, they found a palisade wrenched apart and two buildings still smouldering. Emma examined the body of Odric, a Saxon settler: split by a single blow from a massive axe. The knights exchanged a look. This was no monster.
• News from the wider world: King Nanteleod has broken the Irish hold on southern Wales and founded a new kingdom. The year is not short of portents.

Dramatis Personae

• Lady Drusilla of Figsbury, the Devout
• Sir Euric of Aquitaine, the Ardent
• Lady Arianrhod, the Sharp-Eyed
• Lady Emma of Caerwent, the Far-Sighted
• Countess Ellen — Lady of Salisbury, their liege
• Countess Eloise de Wallingford — rightful lady of Ryderchan, exiled, currently a guest of Salisbury
• Seaxwulf — Saxon warrior of Wessex; terrifying; not interested in allies
• Godhelm Ashmere — newly appointed mayor of Brenicote, formerly a secular clerk to the nunnery at Amesbury