On the 29th day of September, which being Michaelmas, and a Friday
Shortly after Terce, a party arrived at court, this being the Witch Lyonesse whom my children and I knew by reputation, and the good knight Sir Hector Wyrm-Killer who had lately rescued the Prince Brunor and Princess Igraine from their captors, and the knight's confessor Fr. Josephus of the Tamarin order.
Sir Hector arrived with his companions at my own request. I, King Sagramore the Wizard King of Mermin, presented him with a quest: to retrieve the bones of St. Nynniaw from where they have been hidden in the Forest of Mermin so that they may be properly laid to rest.
I explained to the party that my own gifts of farsight and insight have shown me that St. Nynniaw's bones are somewhere in the woods, but that they are protected by threats both natural and unnatural. I am old, too old to fight, and I cannot abandon my kingdom to retrieve the bones myself. Nor will I allow my children to risk their lives and the continuity of the royal line for this retrieval. Nevertheless, the bones must be retrieved.
St. Nynniaw lived in the Forest of Mermin when my grandfather's grandfather was a child. Hit was a miracle-worker, curing blight on crops throughout hits life. When hit died at an old age, hits body was placed in a wicker casket and buried in the garden of the Castle Mermin, and never again did blight afflict the crops in our kingdom, until this harvest last.
At Lammas Day, the grave of St. Nynniaw was desecrated and hits bones were stolen. The harvest had just begun and fruits were being gathered in already, but that corn not yet picked was withering within the week.
The people gathered in enough to keep our kingdom from starvation this winter, but it is clear that the loss of our saint means death if we do not correct it.
Sir Hector readily accepted the quest without question, and Fr. Josephus has committed himself as Sir Hector's confessor and will go wherever the knight goes. The Witch Lyonesse, as canny as I expected her to be, had questions. But in the end she agreed to go and lend her abilities to the endeavor.
My son Brunor and daughter Igraine wished to join the party. I explained to them why the risk was unacceptable, and forbade them from leaving with Sir Hector and placed a sorcerer's bond on the command so that they could not disobey. Tonight we will celebrate the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, and at Lauds the knight, the witch and the friar will set out for the forest.