Kingdom of the Grail by Attanasio A.A

Author:Attanasio, A.A. [Attanasio, A.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

further, these are not the teachings of the Church?"

"But they are the teachings of God," Gianni replies, drinking

more than half the chalices contents. "Ga-alti," he salutes. "T will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.'

The Torah. Exodus, chapter six."

'That is the God of the Jews."

"Hm, yes." Gianni finishes the wine and dabs his sharply

clipped mustache with an altar napkin. 'The God whom Jesus wor-

shiped and died for."

Thomas sits on a cushioned stool and stares at the narrow

sword hanging at the priest's side. "You fought for the Sepulcher?"

"I guarded it. I was there the night your grandmother was

transfigured."

"You saw the Grail?"

"And the tongues of fire as well. They burned in a celestial

cloud charged with the unearthly voices of angels. Yes—I saw it

all." Gianni sits on the edge of the chest, his features refulgent as a

sunrise with wine and revelation. "I had just recited the prayer of

extreme unction over her, had daubed her with the oil and given

her viaticum. She was right there, under my hands, shriveled and

spent. A dead lizard, really. Then a glory brighter than the desert

sun shoved me back and raised her up." Gianni shakes his head.

"No words can touch the magnificence of what transpired. To this

day, I'm not sure if it was a blessing or a punishment to be there.

After a miracle, there is true conflict. Heaven is all at once more

real. And then it is far more difficult to stand the earth."

At the gate to the inner ward, Clare and Gerald greet the digni-

taries who arrive the morning after Saint Eustace's Day. Six earls

appear—first the marcher barons of Builth Wells, Y Pigwyn, Car-

reg Cennin, and Carmarthen, and then the English lords of Glas-

tonbury and Hereford, all with their squires and families, to be

lodged as coevals of the baroness in the palais.

Rachel is not required to attend to them, her absence simply

explained as a determination to stand aside from her station until

her knights have won their assise de bataiUe. She has made it

known that, if they should fail, she will readily relinquish her chair

of state to her son Guy and return forthwith to her holy devotions

in Jerusalem.

This challenge piques the inspiration of the many troubadours

who have accompanied their earls and knights, and soon the castle

and the outer encampment begin to flourish with songs about the

baroness of the Grail and the miracle of her restored youth. The

gossips of palais, bailey, and village fuel the romances with suspicions of deceit and pacts with the Devil. And glimpses of the

baroness in her window inspire intriguing speculations about her

relations with the blue-eyed Muslim knight always at her door and

the sickly, woeful Jew with whom she and her knights pray and

study every day.

When the marquess of Talgarth unexpectedly rides up to the

casde with his elaborate retinue of armorers, haberdashers,

goliards, and black-armored knights, he has already heard too

many alluring tales of the mysterious Ailena Valaise to accept even

the possibility of not being attended by her. A herald announces

his arrival with the demand that the baroness greet him.

Unable to refuse a noble of higher rank, Rachel dons her

finest robes and her gold chaplet.

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