My Life Before....

Long has it been since I took up the quill and put my thoughts to parchment. Circumstances now, however, dictate that I do that, in the cause of diplomacy, should some unforeseen fate still my hand forever. Diplomacy...and the trepidation of the unknown....which has not caused me pause for some time, but now....now things are much changed.




I ride tonight at the request of the Duke of Bradenford, my sovereign and friend, who has coerced me to represent his interests and personally respond to a missive he received from the Lady Keira, late of Bradenford, and now returned to her own lands of Ashford. With relunctance, I have agreed. I quite fully understand Pwyll's hesitation to attend to the matter personally, as the current of unease among the citizens of Bradenford persist, and rightly so, for if the orcs are again massing in preparation to attack, and if the stories about a new leader in their midst are true....well, tis yet another reason for my reluctance....for I find I am loathe to leave Bradenford at just this moment. That being not entirely the truth - I am loathe to leave not only Bradenford, but the presence of a woman currently residing there who has so captured my heart, so entrenched my soul....that I fear if I am gone from her I would wither away, become nothing less than a shell of a man. Ah, God in Heaven, but when she is with me, she so stills my restlessness and fills me with a hope that I thought had all but vanished forever from my life....and even a brief separation from her leaves me weak, out of sorts and off-balance, sour and darkly introspective. I am a better man when I am with her.



But all the more reason that I should attend to the matter at hand expeditiously and then be able to return to her side. With luck, I should be back within a fortnight....



I am not so concerned with my reception, although I did not meet the Lady Keira when she was a resident of Bradenford, and I am not aquainted with her knights; but I bear a letter from Pwyll himself, complete with his seal, so I am sure she will accept my identity as genuine. It is vital to our lands that friendly relations be established between Bradenford and Ashford....and my own tiny holdings of Pantera sandwiched in-between....and it is my hope that my visit will help that to come to fruition. I must reach Ashford....and I must be successful. There is always the danger of highway ambush, though, from theives and ruffians, and with unrest already permeating the lands....well, it makes good sense to stay to the trees and avoid the main road....which is my plan.



So I must depart without further delay....but in the case that some ill will should befall me and these words should fall into the hands of those who might have mercy upon the everlasting rest of my soul....then I beseech whoever finds this book, to deliver it to the hands of one, Lady Marian DeLinsky, residing at the Riverview Pub, Bradenford, so that she might be informed of my fate....and so that she would know....beyond all doubt....that I did truly love her.



(signed) Sir Antonio Sabatier

First Knight and Diplomatic Liason to the Duke of Bradenford

Marquis of Pantera

~~ the Black Panther ~~