Fitt Second: The Abduction

Prologue, Pontefract Castle*

Day sets on Pontefract’s great keep,
And flanking walls that round it sweep.
The warriors on the turrets high,
Moving athwart the evening sky,
Seem forms of giant height:
Their armour, shining in the rays,
Flashes back the western blaze,
In lines of dazzling light.
Lancaster’s banner, three lions Or
On field of Gules, has scarce the power
To wave upon the Donjon Tower.
The Castle gates are barred.
Above the gloomy portal arch,
Timing his footsteps to a march,
The Warder keeps his guard.
But unlocked and unwatched, a port
Leads to the castle's outer court:
There the main fortress, broad and tall,
Spreads its long range of tower and hall,
And its great donjon, multi-lobed
With fluttering red banners robed;
More like a castle found in France
Or chronicles of old romance.

> Choose one of the following places to look for Lady Alice: 1, The Turret; 2, The Dungeon; 3, The Great Hall; 4, The Gatehouse; 5, The Chapel; 6, The Solar. IF you don’t find Lady Alice, and don’t get caught, THEN you can try another room. IF you rescue Lady Alice, GOTO Interlude 2 (next posting). IF you get caught – POEM OVER!

1, The Turret

You clamber up a spiral stair
Which leads you to a turret where
Two damsels brush each other’s hair,
But of Alice there’s no sign.
You ask them if they know the way
To where she is, but they say nay –
You turn to go, but one cries, ‘Stay
With us and take some wine!
Our husbands on some quest have gone
And we are tired of being alone!”
You drink the wine – but best of blisses!
Soon you are drinking of their kisses.
But then you feel heaviness creep
Into your limbs – then fall asleep.
As helpless as if you’d been mugged –
You have! because the wine was drugged!

2, The Dungeon

Down to the dungeon, dark and damp,
With just a spluttering cresset lamp.
A place of iron bars and chains
And unidentified remains;
Of prisoners long ago forgotten
Whose bones are white and flesh is rotten.
A home for creeping things like bats,
Death watch beetles, lice and rats.
No sound is heard while you are waiting
Except groans through an iron grating.
No warder seems to guard the door
And so, unhindered, you explore,
Wondering if the Lady Alice
Must call a prison cell her palace.
But no-one can be found inside –
But what is that you hear?
The door slams shut – oh what a shock!
The key is turning in the lock!
Now YOU are prisoner here!

3, The Great Hall

You find yourself in the Great Hall
But there is no-one there at all
Just a table with empty chairs
(Each one a knight’s escutcheon bears
In argent, gules and gold.)
You pace the a hall, whose wall so wide
Is blazoned all with feats of pride,
By warriors done of old.
In middle lists they countered here,
While trumpets seemed to blow;
And there, in den or desert drear
They quelled gigantic foe,
Braved the fierce griffon in his ire,
Or faced the dragon's breath of fire.
For some short space you feed your sight
On these marvels of ancient might,
But seeing that Alice is not here
And fearing armed guards will appear
You take your chance to disappear.

4, The Gatehouse

This is a good place to explore,
So gingerly you push the door –
Suddenly in the torch’s glare
You see that twenty men are there
Armed in mail and plate,
And ready to spring up and fight
Any attack by day or night;
On Pomfret castle’s gate.
You turn, hoping to get away,
But one of them commands you: ‘Stay!
Say are you friend – or foe?
Nay, no need, I know –
You are one of de Warenne’s men
Sent to spy on us again!”
“Sieze him!” another calls.
You draw your sword, try to resist
But there is no-one to assist
And soon your weapon falls.
“Kill him!” shouts one, but the first
Replies, “No, he must be coerced
To tell us everything he knows
Whether it’s done by words or blows.

5, The Chapel

From the heavy Norman arches,
Past battlements where the guard marches,
And columns that soar to the gloom,
Of hammerbeams o’er lofty room;
To where the arches soar with grace
In vaults like forest glades,
Where traceries the windows grace,
And glass casts coloured shades.
Two damsels at the altar pray
And the soft charms of one betray
She is the Lady Alice.
“I come to take you from this place,”
You tell her as she turns her face,
“I wish ’twas to a palace!”
She rises, runs into your arms,
Bestowing on you all her charms,
And says, “No matter where we dwell
It will be better than this hell!”

6, The Solar

Most castles have a solar room,
Far from the arrow-slitted gloom
Of the outer donjon wall,
Where windows, facing in, are tall.
A place for the lady of the castle
To escape the noise and hassle;
A place of beauty and of peace
Softened with silks and tapestries.
Here is the obvious place where she –
The Lady Alice – ought to be.
But though her needlework is there,
Thrown carelessly on wooden chair,
And though a fire is in the grate,
And food is set upon a plate,
And goblets brim with rich red wine,
As though she was about to dine,
Of Lady Alice there’s no sign.

*Most of this prologue is heavily derivative of Scott's Marmion.