Chapter Fourteen
The Tale of Two Empires
1240-1260
After the death of his wife Cadfael chooses not to remarry, already an old man with plenty of children. Welcoming a new member of the family does help with his grief with the loss: a grandson named Sieffre.
After the disastrous failure of the Fifth Crusade heresies have started to pop up around Europe, people becoming disillusioned with the church and looking for different churches to follow. Specifically in Northern Italy, Adamites and Cathars have begun to pop up, eroding the church even more.
In Eryri, where problems with heresy were nonexistent currently, Cadfael orders an upgrade to the Hunting Grounds with new stables.
This would be Cadfael's last act as Pendragon. Forcing himself to stay away from alcohol in order to get rid of his dependency on it, Cadfael suddenly suffered from a seizure. His courtiers tried to help but the seizure would take his life then and there, ending his rule at the age of 64. Elfin, his designated heir, is crowned the next Pendragon at age 35.
Elfin was an accomplished diplomat much like his father, even if his lisp that he inherited from his father held him back slightly in speaking. He was a very handsome man who was apparently very brave and ambitious, hidden under a calm exterior.
The first thing Elfin does as Pendragon is go on a pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem, this time deciding to go by boat for the entire way there as it would be faster than walking the entire way through Europe.
Still, the trip by boat is long and in some cases uncomfortable. There wasn't a proper place for mass on the ship so they had to make do with holding mass outside on the deck of the ship, often getting caught in the wind and rain.
After weeks of sailing, Elfin reaches Jerusalem. He spends several days in the city, seeing the sights and holy places, even mingling a little with the Polish nobility before sailing back home.
Once back home, Elfin commissions an Epic to be written, hiring a famous, but local, bard named Tewdwr to help write the Epic.
Elfin and Tewdwr could've easily made it about Elfin, but he instead dedicated it to his family, specifically to the founder of the dynasty: Ffransis Fane.
The two of them do take some mythical elements to the story, notably with Ffransis finding Excalibur, the famed sword from Arthurian legends, and using it for himself and to push his claim for the isles. The church didn't like these additions, especially that it was instead being written in Welsh rather than Latin, but the two simply ignored the opinions of the church and continued writting.
The two took many inspirations from Ffransis' own colorful military history, often placing more mythical spins within these stories. One case being when Ffransis fights the Anglo-Saxons who fielded a dragon in battle against him, using Excalibur to slay the beast and win the battle.
Soon, the two finish the epic:
The Legend of King Ffransis Fane. It would become a famous epic across the isles, still widely popular in the isles today and often held in the same regard as King Arthur's legends.
After finishing the epic, Tewdwr leaves the court for other places. He pretty much disappears from the historical records after this, besides the rare book or manuscript that is claimed to be written by him found in Germany and Scandinavia.
Welsh continues to spread across England, next to fall being Warwickshire and Lincolnshire.
Lloegr falls into another civil war, this time against the tyranny of King Tomaltach. He had be imprisoning his vassals and they finally had enough of it.
The civil war doesn't last for very long though. Tomaltach is killed in battle against the rebels and his son, Taithlech, takes power.
Padrig, Elfin's eldest son, comes of age. While having a lisp similar to his father's, Padrig was known for his good looks and nothing else positive. He enjoyed stuffing his face with food and women, leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake of his many relationships. Other than that, he was also known to be extremely fickle, always changing his mind on something several times before coming to a decision.
His eldest daughter also comes of age soon after. Glynys had good looks similar to her older brother and an intelligence to back it up. She was known to be a kind and very rational person, with a love of God and the church.
In 1255, Elfin receives a message from an ally in the Holy Roman Empire, asking to back Prince Ferdinand's claim on the empire against Magnus. Elfin answers the call and raises the army.
The army is split into two and land in Holland where they begin sieging down the local castles.
Elfin stays back in Wales. As he's sitting in the castle something suddenly crashes through the ceiling. It was a mangled, rotting corpse covered in various rashes and bumps, exploding in gore upon impact with the floor of the castle after crashing through the ceiling. The body was launched by Rogvolod of Mann, the Duke of the small island that was camping nearby. It isn't known why he did this as he quickly disappears before the guards could apprehend him. The corpse, what's left of it anyway, is quickly disposed of.
Shortly after the corpse is disposed of Smallpox begins to spread throughout the castle, infecting Eflin's daughter Ysbail with it.
Elfin approves of a procedure that could help her. It does help alleviate the infection but lives Ysbail disfigured.
Then his second eldest son, Padarn, contracts Smallpox.
The same procedure is done on him with the same results, alleviating the symptoms but permanent disfigurement.
After these infections it would move on to the courtiers before disappearing from the castle, the only ones surviving it being members of the Fane dynasty.
Meanwhile, the war wasn't going too well. Magnus still had a large army of almost 25000 men which they use to surprise part of the Welsh army sieging down the capital of Aachen.
The army is routed back north to Holland.
In Holland they recover for a while before returning to the fight, joining the Rebel army at a battle in Munster.
It turns out to be a mistake, with one of the rebel leaders being captured in the battle.
The Welsh army once again spends some time recovering in Holland before moving with each other to Aachen. As they siege down the capital a small contingent of the Holy Roman army attacks them. It seemed like the Welsh were going to win.
And then the reinforcements arrive. Once again routing them back to Holland where the Welsh stay for the rest of the war, a great humiliation to the army.
In the battle at Aachen, Padrig is killed. A stray arrow pierced his helmet and went through his eye, killing him instantly.
Hearing of his son's death, Elfin suffers a mental break from the grief. He very much loved his son despite his flaws and his death broke him. Like his father before him, he turns to alcohol to quell his pain.
Padarn coming of age doesn't help his grief. Ever since the surgery Padarn had been forced to cover his face with a mask as it was now too disfigured to be shown in public, much less in private. His beautiful face, permanently ruined.
Considering that his heir was now dead, Elfin needed to choose a different heir. After some consideration he makes a decision. In another first for the empire he declares his eldest daughter Glynys the heir. A lot of his vassals protested this decision, even though she was married matrilineally to a Greek noble.
In the war with the Holy Roman Empire, it suddenly ends. Emperor Magnus had died from complications related to gout, the claim having to be abandoned.