Sir Finn of Glenrydlen

Sir Finn of
Glenrydlen

A children's
tale of knights and castles

By

Rowan Blair Colver

Cover image by
Vanna Alberti

Copyright
©
2015

Sir Finn of Glenrydlen
(A Friend for Princess
Bracken)

In a kingdom
far away, over the horizon and past the misty mountains of nowhere,
was a land called Glenrydlen. It was a small part of a much greater
kingdom, ruled by the firm but fair hands of the King and Queen who
lived in the captial city. The King and Queen had three children
and their eldest son, Prince Hans, was the heir to the throne.
Because he had a great responsibility waiting for him, his parents
gave their son the crown of Glenrydlen and asked him to rule over
the people there. He did this with the help of a league of knights,
wise people, advisors, and a direct embassy to the King and Queen
themselves, whom he could call upon in times of greatest need.

Prince Hans
lived in a grand stone castle, built on the top of a hill that was
surrounded by rivers and forests. The castle was enforced with
large circular towers at the corners and these were dug deep into
the ground. On the towers were tall brightly coloured flags which
were embroided with the Royal Standard, the symbol for the kingdom.
The flags were stiched with a serpent and a sword, surrounded by a
wreath of leafy blackthorn. The front gate had a large port cullis
which although was usually open, had to be closed from time to
time, when there was trouble in the lands below. His trusted
knightly guard would often venture out and settle any unrest that
would become too much for the sheriffs and towns-people. Often
however, it was a peaceful and friendly place where Prince Hans
could go fishing in the river and hiking through the forest.
Sometimes he would go hunting with some friends to catch a deer or
a wild boar for dinner, he did enjoy this but more often than not
he would have more Princely duties to attend to.

A long time had
past and many torrents of water had run under the bridge. The trees
had grown shoots, bloomed, fruited and shed their leaves a many
number of times and Prince Hans had become a fair and firm ruler
like his parents. He had found a beautiul wife, a Princess from
another kingdom, whose parents lived past the starlight forest and
across the sea of clams. Her name was Princess Serene and after a
few more years, she and Prince Hans had a child. The royal couple
called their daughter Princess Bracken and soon she had grown to be
almost ten years old. While the Prince was attending court with his
chief knights and his advisors for his stately affairs, Princess
Bracken wandered in and tugged at his luxurious, red tunic. Her
father was talking to an important member of his meeting and he
wasn't pleased to be interupted by her, but then he looked down and
saw his daughter. She stood there in her beautiful green and white
velvet dress with her face looking up at him with wide, beautiful
eyes. The Prince calmed his spirit then gently asked her what the
matter was.

"I have nothing
to do" she said, twisting her foot on the wooden floor.

"Nonsense,
where is your tutor? Surely he has some lessons prepared for you?"
asked Prince Hans, who was at a loss for what to suggest. He was
busy with his work and wouldn't be free until after dinner.

"He is busy,
instructing for the dance tomorrow. All the young men are preparing
in the barns."

"Ah yes, I see.
We can't interrupt them, it is a most important occasion. Right, I
think you need a friend, someone your own age. What about one of
the girls from the courtyard? Many of my attendees have children,
surely there are some to play with?"

"Yes, I do,
but, they are always coming and going, they are really nice to me,
but then once their mother and father have done their work, they go
home and I hardly see them again, unless they have more work."

Prince Hans
thought about what she was saying, and then he understood. She
wanted a friend who was here alll the time, and one who was not her
friend because of who she was. He smiled, then placed his hand on
her head, her soft hair felt sleek and gentle in his large
fingers.

"I know what we
will do, we will find you someone to spend time with you here, in
the castle. Someone who isn't a work friend, would that be good?"
he asked. Princess Bracken smiled widely, and her eyes opened like
flowers on a late spring morning.

"Yes, that
would be wonderful! We can play all day and take lessons together,
we can go riding and fishing and play in the fields.." She smiled
again and continued her list of possibilities in her head reeling
around until she went through the door into her private wing of the
castle. Her father could hear the elated cries of his daughter as
she ran through the corridor towards her room where she no doubt
began to imagine what she could do first.

Prince Hans
cleared his throat, and drew the room to his attention. As everyone
turned and quietly waited for him to speak, the Prince began.

"I have a duty,
we need a friend for my daughter, someone is to go into the town an
find a girl of Princess Bracken's age. She must be fair of heart
and just of mind, and so I need a Knight to be my judge. Who will
take this challenge?" Prince Hans looked around the room at his
court and waited for an answer. The wise adivsors all huddled
together and asked themselves questions, the knights looked up but
when they heard there was no fights to take part in, most of them
went back to their conversations. Then, from the crowd, one knight
stood forward. In a loud and heavy voice, Sir Finn addressed his
Prince.

"I will go, if
I may, Sire?" he asked, his chainmail vest rattled as he bowed
slightly, offering his services. Sir Finn was a young knight, who
had recently joined the ranks a couple of years before. He had seen
difficult times in his duties but was still a beginner when it came
to battle, his training had been in the practice sessions. Sorting
the just from the decietful was something he had been good at in
the past and was often called upon to help with problem solving and
for finding out who had been responsible when crimes were
committed. Prince Hans knew that Sir Finn was an ideal candidate
for this duty and so he allowed him to take it.

"I will ensure
the Princess extends a favour to your Lady, so you may wear it with
remembrance for your hard work." Said the Prince, who was talking
about his wife, Princess Serene. She was away on official duty
preparing the Ladies in waiting for the dance on the next evening.
It was very important that the young men and women knew the steps
and formailities as to impress their partners and win their hearts
for future days. Sir Finn bowed in a deep bend of his body to
signify that he was about to leave. He took several steps backwards
while facing the Prince and when his eyes moved away from the
knight's, Sir Finn turned and walked through the main door. Upon
his exit, the court began to chatter and banter, bicker and brew as
before, Prince Hans returned to his simple throne and sat, thinking
about who Sir Finn might find.

As the eager
Sir Finn walked through the courtyard, he looked for his esquire, a
young man of fourteen years who was in charge of looking after his
horse. Realising they would all be at the dance rehearsals for the
following evening, he decided to hand some extra duties to Sam, his
squire, who was only eight years old. Sam was playing with a wooden
sword and shield in one of the empty paddocks and Sir Finn called
him over. It was rare for Sam to speak directly to his knight,
usually Edmund, the esquire would trickle down requests but today
he had a direct ear. Beaming with a gappy grin, Sam ran across to
see how he could help. Any work done for Sir Finn would go towards
his career as a knight in the future and so he was always looking
for ways to help.

"Suit up my
horse, Sam, I'm headed for the village", he commanded, with a
rewarding twinkle in his eye.

"Yes, Sir, of
course, right away!" Sam skipped the fence in a clear and easy
bound as his hands pushed him up and over the highest rail. “Thank
you”, he said as he rushed past Sir Finn and made his way to the
stable. Emerald, Sir Finn's steady and well mannered horse waited
in the stable after having a moring run around earlier. Sam was
pleased to find that her shoes had been freshly made and her riding
gear was in a large leather bag on the shelf in the corner. The
shelf also had a saddle on it, and Sam used a small barrel that he
rolled in from outside to reach up and take it down. As he was
reaching and touched the cold leather seat, and was about to yank
it from its position, the barrel slipped from under him and he fell
quickly. A strong hand caught his fall and another one took the off
balance saddle from the shelf before it also toppled. It was lucky
Sir Finn had arrived so quickly and had the reflexes to rescue Sam
from his efforts.

“
Sorry, my boy, it was short sighted of me, you're
not yet tall enough to reach up here. Here, let me help you” Sir
Finn took the riding equipment from the high shelf and handed it to
Sam one piece at a time. It was only a short while until Emerald
was suited up and he rider was able to adorn his helmet and mount
her. She circled her large, silvery white, well groomed head in
acknowledgement and Sam untied her reins from the stable bar wih
his small and nimble fingers. Sir Finn jeered her once and then
they gradually accelerated out of the gate and down the path
between the upper fields.

It was late
summer and the neatly spaced trees were beginning to bear fruit,
which were being watched by the birds and bugs as they promised
sweet things in days to come. Flowers were growing in sunny spots
in various places but their colours merged together as Emerald and
Sir Finn cantered past them all, towards a small group of wooden
and stone buildings standing a little further away. A column of
woodsmoke rose into the sky and at its base, the greyish brown
plume could be seen to be made of several smaller chimneys and
bonfires whose updrafts merged somewhere close above the
rooftops.

Sir Finn took
his horse, Emerald, along the widening path until they reached an
orchard at the edge of the villiage. There, in the field of apple,
pear and cherry trees, lined with bushes of bramble, berry and
nettle were three children. They were standing over something and
making a lot of fuss so he decided too take a closer look. Emerald
lept over the hedge with a mighty bound following a quick run-up,
the knight from the castle appeared before them like a spark from a
bonfire. The children looked and saw his clothes, chainmail
underlined his tunic and trousers, then his shirt bore the crest of
the Prince and of the King. He looked down and saw that they were
surrounding another child, who'd been laying on the floor.

“
What's going on?” he asked, relieved to have been
able to be there to help.

“
We caught her scrumping, Sir!” said one of the
three, cheerfully. “Got her though, now we're taunting her, care to
join us?”

“
I certainly do not, care to join you in the
taunting of a child, young master, who may I ask, are you?” Sir
Finn aked, scornfully, from his high seat upon his
horse.

A little voice
came from the crumple of clothes and hair on the leafy ground and
said, “He's the taxman”.

Sir Finn looked
perplexed. “The taxman?” he asked, surprised, “But he's only a
boy”.

“
I had to pay him ugly tax, Sir, he demands it when
ever he sees me”, said the muddy rags.

Sir Finn
suddenly realsied what has happening, this boy had been stealing
from her and using cruelty to do it. Before he could speak, another
of the crowd began to splutter with words,

“
Well, you have to pay for these apples and you
can't so you're stealing!”

The voice from
the ground spoke again, “You promised me an apple, you said if I
ran away as far as I can, you'd let me have one”, the words had a
quaver in them, as if their source was holding back tears.

“
Really?” asked Sir Finn, to this second
child.

“
Well, I did have an apple but I ate it while she
was running away”, she said, trying not to smirk.