The Indigo King - James A. Owen [68]
He didn’t have to wait long. The front of the tent opened and Taliesin appeared. He was tall, bearded, and graying at the temples. He wore a simple tunic, leather breeches, and tall leather boots. There were feathers in his hair, which was swept back and grew long, almost to his waist in back.
Taliesin carried a black staff carved with runes, which seemed to glow faintly, even in the daylight. He walked to the base of the hill, then turned to address the gathering.
“I am Taliesin, called the Lawgiver,” he began, his voice low but commanding in tone. “Hear my words, all ye who have been summoned.
“We have come here, to the place where once, long ago, the man called Camaalis earned for himself the mantle of king of Albion and ruled this land as his stewardship. Here he built his first castle, called after his name, and here he died and was forgotten.
“What was lost to history, and forgotten by men, is that he was to be the ruler of two worlds—both this land we know, and another, in the Unknown Region.”
“The Archipelago?” Hugo whispered.
“I think so,” Hank replied, writing. “This is very intriguing.”
Taliesin went on. “Others have ruled parts of these lands since, but never the whole, and never the lands beyond. Those who had appointed Camaalis withdrew the knowledge and the means, until another, one worthy to rule, could be chosen.
“If there is no authority to rule, no chosen leader acknowledged by all, only a group of ‘nobles’ willing to destroy the land in order to wrest control of it, then the lands beyond will also remain forever apart.
“This is why the tournament has been called. To reestablish the lineage of the authority to rule. The lineage that began with the gods of myth and passed through their heirs—the heroes of the Trojan War.
“Aeneas, one of the great heroes of antiquity, possessed a great sword. When the walls of Troy finally fell, his grandson, Brutus, smuggled it away from those who would use it to further their own ends.
“He sailed far away, taking with him the sword and those who had managed to escape from the marauding Greek armies. He came here, to the island called Myrddyn’s Precinct, where he founded a settlement called Troia Nova.”
“Troia Nova,” Hugo whispered. “New Troy, then … It eventually became Trinovantum, then Londinium, didn’t it?”
Hank didn’t hear the question. “Did he say Myrddyn’s Precinct?” he asked instead. “That’s rather ominous, don’t you think?”
“There was another hero of the Trojan war,” continued Taliesin, “called Odysseus, who had a bow that could not be drawn except by the true king. That promise and curse protected his homeland of Ithaka for generations. And the same promise and curse, passed down through the lineage of Aeneas, will protect those who would unite and rule the world—beginning here, in Myrddyn’s Precinct, at the place where Camaalis was buried.”
Taliesin moved aside, and for the first time Hugo and Hank could see what was in the depression on the hill.
It was a stone block, which bore the mark of the Greek letter alpha. It was, Hugo realized, the topmost stone of a crypt.
At Taliesin’s signal, several burly men moved forward, grasped the sides of the great stone block, and slowly moved it aside. Underneath, set into the hillside, was a stone box. One of the knights removed the topmost stone and set it aside.
There, lying in state, was a black sword in a scabbard, covered in the dust of the first great king of the land.
“Caliburn,” the Lawgiver proclaimed, pointing down at the crypt. “The sword of Aeneas.
“Whosoever is able to draw the sword from its sheath shall henceforth be the High King of all the lands that are. So say we all?”
The question was answered with a thundering shout, which only grew louder and louder as the seconds passed, until Hugo thought he would go deaf from the noise of it. Finally the whoops and hollers died down, and the Lawgiver Taliesin spoke once more.
“The Tournament of Champions is begun.