The Butterfly Device - A Grand Campagin

Late Winter, 1085 - Northern France

A dreadful affair.

This was clear to Matilda, who was once again near the front of the cathedral, tears streaming down her face.

But the man standing before them...a stranger to nearly all, having arrived in Guines just five days previously...had done his best to win over the population of Guines. He was proud enough to desire their approval, but not too proud to buy it.

For he was Charles de Blois, the son of Etienne-Henri, Duke of Champagne. And, having just come of age...


...his father had appointed him Count.


He had spent a fortune on today's ceremony...roast quail, turtledoves, partridges, fish, roast peacock, strawberries, pistachio nuts, ale-flavored bread, spicy mulled wine, gilded and slivered calves' heads...he had even introduced these backwards people to sugar.

There were minstrels and troubadours. No fewer than three jugglers. Count Charles de Blois had even brought his court jester to the occasion. Near the end of the night, there would be a round dance and carols.

He was wearing his finest purple robe...studded with gems especially for today's event.


In short, he had no equal in the entire county.



And yet...he was terrified. Terrified to the point that he did not trust his own voice.

Terrified to the point that he stood perfectly still, in complete silence, until the crowd began to murmur.



But when they heard the cathedral doors open, and turned around to look...the murmur turned to a deafening gasp.



Count Oswald de Guines stood at the door's frame...considerably worse for the wear...but also considerably alive.

Hehe.

I never said he was dead.

I just said he didn't wake up in time to stop the assassin's blade.

He did, however, wake up in plenty of time to say, "Aah! Aah! Somebody has stuck me with an assassin's blade! Heeeeeelp!"

:rofl:

TheExecuter said:

This is pretty much a standard rule in all narrative fiction. Never assume the guy is dead until you've seen him die...poked him, and burned the body. Then, maybe he might be dead...



TheExecuter

Oh, yeah...what's with the time traveling pirates?

Click to expand...

Just a screw-up on my part. I had the "pirate attack" event (with BOPACK), and wrote about a pirate attack.

For the follow-up, I figured I ought to do a little research...and discovered cannons hadn't reached western europe yet.

However...they DID exist in China, Japan, etc...so...

...I guess they are Chinese pirates? Who have someone made it to the Mediterannean Sea?



Or, if you prefer, the "point of departure" for this timeline was nearly 30 years ago...so maybe it has changed things to the point that cannons begin trickling into western europe a good fifty or sixty years early?

Time travel erases all of the author's mistakes!


Incidentally, we've had six responses to the contest so far...some very interesting answers! All have been wrong so far, but one of the answers was close enough that I will give them a win, unless somebody comes closer first!

The contest will be ongoing until it is time to finally reveal the message in an upcoming post. I'll try to give a 24-hour notice...but no promises, so get your answers in!

Late Winter, 1085 - Northern France

The gasp returned to a murmur.

"My God...walking! It's a miracle!"

"She looks beautiful, doesn't she?"

"With the Lord as my witness, I have never seen a lovelier bride."


They were not gasping at the Count, of course...for though he too was dressed in his finest robes, his mere existance was no shock. The fact that he had been stabbed in the heart by some Muslim assassin and not only survived, but that he had pulled the dagger back out and proceeded to kill the assasssin with his own blade had been well known for over a year. How the Count had become such a strong fighter with no actual battle experience was unknown...but most presumed that somebody must have been training him in secret.

Geva...Matilda's older sister...stood with the Count in the doorway, linked in his arm. Her dress...a nearly blinding shade of blue, to represent purity...had been paid for by her groom-to-be.

Charles de Blois...the wealthy Count of Blois.

Charles had been nervously silent before Geva arrived, but now that he saw his bride in person, he feared he may never speak again.

Likewise, Matilda...standing at the front of the cathedral in her role as bridesmaid...was momentarily stunned too. It wasn't just that her sister looked stunning...though she did. It was the fact that she was witnessing two miracles at once.

Her sister...who had broken both legs not two years ago when the castle collapsed...was being escorted down the aisle by Osbern...who had been stabbed in the heart even more recently. Yes, Osbern was struggling...she knew him well enough to recognize that...but the fact that he was even breathing, much less walking, was a true miracle.


Matilda had been upset by the extravagance of it all...clearly, Count Charles was trying to show that he was much wealthier than their own family...but as the couple exchanged their vows, and then their first kiss, Matilda became lost in the fairy tale of it all.

Two miracles at once...could it be that the curse that had afflicted their families for so long...caused so much tragedy...so much death...could it be that the curse was finally over?


As the new couple left on horseback, and the peasants fattened themselves with more food than they'd ever seen before, fuelling themselves for a night of dance and further merriment, Matilda sat at a table with her brother Geoffrey.

Matilda was just about to mention her prayer that the curse had ended...when Osbern approached.

"I wonder...might I steal you away for a moment?"

Geoffrey rose from his seat. With Robert and nearly all of the other able-bodied men away at war, Geoffrey had unofficially become the Count's right-hand man.

"Of course, my Liege. What can I do for you? Has one of the guests become to randy from the wine?"

Osbern rested a kind hand on his cousin's shoulder...and with the other, he took Matilda's.

"Thank you, Geoffrey...but actually I was speaking to Matilda."

"Me?"

"May I have this dance?"