Chapter 13

The morning of their departure for the Court de la Mer, and the celebration of Beltane, dawned in typical Seattle fashion. They say that native Aleut are known to have over one-hundred words to describe snow ... Seattleites have about a bazillion words to quantify rain! Late April in the Pacific Northwest can be summed up with any one of them. In fact, the terms “partly cloudy” and “partly sunny” do, in fact, mean entirely different things to the hardy folks that inhabit the upper left-hand corner of the map of the United States!

But, the weather that met the traveling band as they started the final load-out for the day was right on the edge of epic! Dark, stormy looking clouds blotted out what little sunlight might have been trying valiantly to peek through. The wind was whipping and gusting so that it was actually felt within the warmth and comfort of the house as it rattled against the windows. Erin saw many of her little band glance out, sigh, and then retighten a bit of strapping on some armor, or on the flap of a saddlebag or kit bag. The King’s troops in the courtyard were all bundled up in their travel cloaks over their armor, while the Pen Dragon battle standard and pennants snapped and popped overhead. The level of industry seemed to pick up a bit, as knights were assisted by their squires, and the men-at-arms seemed to be going about a similar set of tasks to get ready for the addition of having to battle the elements on the way. The clouds also colored the mood at the breakfast table, as she and her ladies finished the last of a hearty travel breakfast as well. Though they would all be happy with the warmth of the meal in their bellies, not many took on more than the bare minimum of calories from the banquet.