Chapter 1

"Gwenhwyfar! Why don't you perform your tasks?" I asked her admonishingly as I warmed my frozen hands by the lukewarm fire, "If you don't, you will be reprimanded severely." She glanced at me for a moment disbelievingly and gave me her aggravated look. Her long wavy russet brown hair tumbled down the side of her brown frock and her dark and elegant eyes were intently gazing out the window. Her frock did nothing for her thin figure but made her look as if she was wearing a potato sack. I had long blond wavy hair that streamed down to my lower back and I shared the same kind of eyes Gwenhwyfar had. I was somewhat thin but a little wide at waist and was always very embarrassed about it. I too wore a similar frock to the one she was garbed in except the fact that mine was a pale blue. Similar to me, she had very thin lips but hers were nicely shaped with curves and all. My lips looked like two rose petals pressed closely together, despite the fact that I had a pouty lower lip. It always made me appear angry. Her face had chiseled features that one would deem angelic and my face was plain with a chin that had a cleft indentation. She and I shared the same snout and jaws so we appeared similar in some ways. I looked nothing like my sisters, they all looked like my father and I looked like my mother and her side of the family.

"Well animals live! It's the natural state of a man to live free!" She declared looking out the window at the night sky which was now the hue of a dark blue; the sea was when it stormed, "Isn't it?" I heard her say that constantly so I just nodded. My mind was busy thinking of my husband, Brychan and where he was. One day he escaped in the middle of the night and he murdered one of the Roman overseers, Aulus as he was fleeing. I dearly ached to be held by him once more but he would never return to me. I also had the thought of my baby girl, Rhiannon who only lived for a day. I always had her on my mind. After I had given birth to her and all the pain was gone, I just stared at her with her rosy cheeks and pink skin.

"Isn't it?" Gwenhwyfar inquired again as she broke my concentration of thought.

"Isn't what?" I responded turning away from the flames.

"Gwenledyr! Honestly, why do you do that?" I looked so stupefied that she started to laugh.

"I like a moment to think once in a while. I am thinking of Brychan. I miss him." I added as tears slowly started to stream down my ashen face.

"Oh forget Brychan. There are many other men around. Like Cledwyn and his ridiculous antics. Did I tell you what he did to Nant? He is so humorous that he is so dense."

I wiped away my tears away with my worn sleeve from years of continuous work. "What did he do to Nant now?"

"Well, he was joking about her humpback saying that she looks like she placed a bag of potatoes on her back. So then he put some potatoes on his back under his tunic and went around acting as her." Gwenhwyfar always knew how to make me laugh. Even though we were cousins, we were very very close and we even shared each other's deepest darkest secrets. My sisters, Awel and Heulwen and Gwenhwyfar's little brother Lucan lived with Gwenhwyfar and me in our little serf cottage on the skirts of the land. Heulwen had a husband, Dynawd who lived with us as well but he spent most of his time sitting outside in the back, smoking his pipe. Furthermore, Dynawd never liked the fact that he was the only man in a cottage of women. Awel and Gwenhwyfar always made a joke of that and it would really anger Dynawd and he would storm out of the cottage. When Brychan lived with us, Dynawd had someone to speak with but when Brychan departed, he had no one to speak with.

"Only Cledwyn. Only he could do something impractical and amusing like that." I replied poking at the fire with the fire poker.

"Cledwyn almost got beaten to death by Lucius. Lucius chased Cledwyn with his sword and plump elderly Lucius wasn't fast enough to seize Cledwyn."

"Gwenhwyfar, call Dynawd, we need more logs, the fire will go out soon." I pointed out as Gwenhwyfar arose and went out the door. She hastily came back and sat back down on the table.

A moment later, Dynawd strode in carrying a bundle of logs in his hand and set down on the stand beside the fireplace. He was cursing under his breath angrily and the only word here muttered was, "There." At least that was all I could make out. I couldn't tell if his mouth was moving because of his wild ebony black beard that covered his thin lips. He was a stalwart and lanky man who seemed as if he had never cut his hair in his life. He always had an angry frown on his weather beaten face which was the basis of more of Awel's jokes. He stomped out of the room and went back to the side of the cottage to finish smoking his stretched pipe.

About an hour later, Lucan came dashing into the room declaring that he was famished. Gwenhwyfar and I exchanged looks, there wasn't much to eat despite the watery onion soup and the stale bread we had. I arose from my spot, retrieved a wooden bowl and ladle from the cabinet, went over to the cauldron and ladled out some soup, then gave it to Lucan. Next I went to the other cabinet and recovered the bread and newly churned butter, and offered it to him which he took happily. "How was your day poppet?" Gwenhwyfar asked her brother as she arose, went up to him, and ran her fingers through his wild hair.

"Bad!" He exclaimed with a grimace on his face, "Lucius lashed at me again." The fat old overseer, Lucius developed a strong hatred for Lucan and always teased, taunted, and tortured him.

"Let us see your back." Gwenhwyfar commanded as he slurped his soup which annoyed me very much.

"No!" He shouted back at her, "Can't you see I am eating, woman?" Gwenhwyfar and I exchanged looks and we were thinking the same thing. He started to sound like Dynawd.

"Never...never again call me woman! You hear me Lucan?" Gwenhwyfar scolded. He didn't reply but just nodded. After he finished his soup, he left the cottage and went outside to play with his friends.

In the week that followed, Gwenhwyfar and Lucan went missing and I soon received word from Cledwyn that they had been thrown in the dreadful pit on the side of the house. I suddenly went pale and my mouth went dry. This couldn't be.

"What was the reason that they were put in there?" I asked taking a seat on the side of the cottage.

"They are Pagan." Cledwyn added as he repeatedly glanced at the chasm on the side of the house.

"Aren't we all?"

"They were caught not performing their chores so they are being punished for it."

"Oh this is bad." He just nodded then excused himself. Cledwyn had a giant crush on my sister Awel and he was going to go tell her about Gwenhwyfar and Lucan being imprisoned by those, "Soldiers of God."

With the next week that followed, I too was thrown in the chasm, into one of the side cells. I was thrown in because Appius, an overseer overheard me chanting a spell for the crops to grow well in the spring. So he went and took it up with Marius who then seized me by his own hand and handed me over to the priests in the pit. The priests were scary looking and I couldn't look them straight in the face. I looked around for Gwenhwyfar and I saw her in a cell almost identical to mine, just staring into space, but I searched and couldn't find Lucan. It was the scariest thing I had ever witnessed. My favorite cousins motionlessly lying there in the prison. One of the priests, Pater Aquila, I believed secured my cell and fastened it.

"You sinner of god, this will teach you to be a Pagan." He declared frowning at me. I just gave him my stare of death.

"I believe in the Mother Goddess, not your so called, 'merciful god.' Leave us be with our beliefs." I bellowed as he tapped his wooden staff at the side of the cell, indicating that he wanted me to be silent. I just was so angry and I bottled it all up that I wanted to let it out now.

"I will not be silent! Our Lady is merciful; she doesn't tell her followers to go chain up the monotheists and believers of other gods and goddesses."

"Do not question our beliefs or the heavens. No woman should question the heavens. That is mere blasphemy and if you continue with this chitchat then I will personally lash you myself."

"You cannot silence me! I do question the heavens! In my religion, women are not so belittled. They are equal to men as men are equal to them. Who are you to tell me who I am equal to or not?" I demanded as Aquila angrily unlocked the cell and let me out. The two other men held onto to either side of my body. Aquila took out his whip and lashed me once. Tears started to stream down the side of my face and my mouth went dry. He lashed me again and this time I screamed nice and loud so I could hurt their ears. I was known for my piercing scream where I used to live. He lashed me again and again until my back was covered in blood. He then continued on to throw me back in the cell and say, "Child, repent now or you will certainly go to hell." I was in so much pain that I couldn't speak. My body surged in anger and I was completely frozen in the cell.

The next day, Aquila took me out of the cell and stood me up then studied me closely. "Frater Publius, please retrieve the thumb screws." Aquila commanded as the fat assistant handed it to him. Aquila forced my hands onto a flat surface and wound a long cord around my thumbs, next he tied both my hands together. This cord was attached to a hideous large screw and I couldn't even bare to think what pain it would bring.

"Child, now it is time to repent. You won't even need to feel pain if you admit that you have wronged our lord." He uttered in his boring mono-tone voice which could probably make me fall asleep, no problem. He waited a moment for me to speak but I muttered nothing. I just gave him my stare of death.

"Now you have refused your lord god, then I shall change your mind about be a Pagan with you witch magic."

My stomach started to cramp and my mouth became dry. He twisted the screw and slight pain was inflicted upon me but I howled in pain. "Repent child! Repent!" He shouted once more. I said nothing. He continued onto screw my thumbs out of their sockets. I think I could've ruined all the ears of the prisoners and monks alike. I was then thrown back into my cell with my bleeding thumbs.

About a day later, salvation came and it came in the oddest form, the form of knights.

"This one's dead!" I heard Dagonet announce to his fellow knights. I saw Dagonet with his bald head and his gorgeous bluish grey eyes. The other men said something but I couldn't stay awake because of the loss of so much blood. I was so weak that I could hardly even heave a breath. Moments later, a knight saved me and scooped me up in his arms and carried me out. I glanced at my savior and stared at him in awe, my face a ghostly pale. He gave me some water and said, "Everything will be fine. You are safe now. Away from the absurdity of that chasm." I finally made out a face of my savior, he had wild and untamed chocolate brown hair and his eyes were a very beautiful hue of green.

"Who are you?" I mouthed trying as hard as I can to speak.

"I am Galahad at your service, Mylady." I blushed, feeling so flattered that someone would do that for me.

"Are you strong enough to ride side saddle with me?" I nodded as he snaked his arm around my waist. Finally we set off with Gwenhwyfar quite smitten with Arthur, by her looks at least. She never was interested in the serfs who we worked with but she couldn't take her eyes off Arthur. I found that quite hilarious. Galahad was so very handsome that I couldn't even believe that I was up on his colorless steed with him. As I was atop the horse with him, he smiled at me and I beamed back at him.

Am I asleep? I thought as I was in his warm embrace. He had a nice smile which brightened up his face. We traveled along the path until the men declared that we had to take a route through the mountains. Being a serf, I had never personally seen the mountains myself but I had heard of stories about through the mountains from Dynawd and other men.

Finally I gathered enough strength to speak and I said, "I have heard of you." He glanced at me in interest as if he wanted me to continue so I did, "I have heard of the great deeds you have done for the Romans." His look changed from interest to disinterest.

"More like duties that we have to complete so we can go home." He retorted grinning again at me, "I am the youngest of my kin and so therefore I remember my homeland the most. Arthur, he isn't from my homeland, he is Briton and Roman. Lancelot, just wants to get out of here in haste. Gawain, he doesn't care if he returns. He always says that if he dies in battle, so be it. He is a lot braver than I. Tristan, he never tells us whether he wishes to return or not. He is rather disturbing; he loves to kill and believes in no god. I hope one day he finds a woman who can tame him. Bors, he doesn't want to return. He already has three wives and five children. He can't wait for the Romans to leave so he can 'run things.' Then Dagonet, he never voices his opinions either. He is the quietest of us all and believe it or not, the most gentle. And then there is me, who wants to return home badly." He said this all sarcastically which made me giggle and he occasionally laughed. I wondered if he ever told this to other women.

"I thank you for saving me. I have been in there for at least two days. I believe." I started and glanced curiously around at the mountainous landscape.

He gazed back at me and answered, "Oh it was nothing, Mylady." I blushed again and thought that I could just stare into his emerald eyes forever.

"You may call me Gwenledyr if you wish." I added as I drew myself out of my daze.

"Then if you permit me, I will, Gwenledyr."