Being the history of the human world called Earth and the fae world called Tia N'Aill and the events which led to their joining and the great deeds done by the peoples of this time, chronicled by your most humble author Edythe of London.

Draft copy for proof reading by the Collegium Profanum and the Knights of St George.

Dear Gerard and Patience

Hope you and the children are doing well! Aleyn and Adelise send their love – they’ve off touring Spain – Aleyn claims it’s just to promote Adelise’s new songs but everyone knows they’re working on some secret diplomatic project for Emperor Hector – something to do with the Ayyubid Dynasty, I think.

As promised, here’s the text of the new book for comment. I’ve also send a copy to the Collegium but they take forever to get back to you, what with everything being sent up to Camelot as well!

Love to the Knights, especially Samuel! I know I said I would make it up to visit, but with my health going the way it is that’s not looking too likely this year. You can’t really complain at my age, though!

Edythe

Gerard of York ably led the Knights through the centuries and leads them to this day, aided by his second-in-command, Rhydian Coedwig. Despite taking a lot of time out to care for his four children: Mercy, Arthur, George and Cedric, he does spend a lot of time working for the benefit of all. He and Patience enjoy many romantic evenings together killing evil things, though these days they tend to drag them back for justice rather than simply slaughtering them where they stand. Apparently killing things generates too much paperwork which George eats.

He doesn’t any more! He’s well over fifty! Edythe, this is not fair. - Gerard

Gerard also worked closely with the Collegium to expand the Knights’ researches into creatures both Fae and mundane.

Has she put in the bit whereby I created utterly amazing and unique weapons from them? We made loads of money from that in the first few years! We only make less now cos you lot stop me killing things and keep locking them up instead. We should grow our own resources in the garden – all those plants of Rhydian’s must be good for something. - Lahav

Gerard was the first signatory under the Pact of Samuel

Show off! - Lahav

and pledged the support of the Order to protecting those who called for their aid.

and thanks to this, Carjadzi moved in next door, and his bedroom faces mine, and he refuses to shut his curtains - Rhydian

Since then, the Knights have worked tirelessly for peace and protecting the innocent, and have helped lead England’s armies in many conflicts, aided by their pride and joy, the Round Table, which is used for gatherings of Pact signatories and for recreational activities.

I’ve given up on this. - Gerard

Unfortunately, the main threat to the Knights has come from within. Despite continually maintaining his line that he only abuses those who threaten the weak, the stories of the monster Lahav benIdan, who will steal power from others if given the chance are spreading far and wide. The self-styled Demiurge of Trickery actively enjoys grafting parts of his foes to himself

I think she means ‘crafting parts of his foes to his weapons’ - Gerard

and has spent the greater part of his life to date aiding the utterly unforgivable Ishri

Ishri has that on her door at college now - Lahav

in her ‘work’ at the Collegium Profanum.

Other threats include Osmund, Lord Shipwright, who appears determined to fight for the sake of human souls against any innocent Fae who go near him, developing new Cold Iron weapons ‘for protection’ at any opportunity and glaring at the Collegium from on high.

Do you have actual evidence of the glaring? - Ishri

I am something of an expert in this area - Guardian Samuel

Guardian Samuel was re-elected as Queen Guardian of the Seelie, entirely unopposed, with everyone convinced he was truly repentant and had seen the error of his ways in being swept up in the whole revolution thing. Possibly as an overcompensation, he promptly began trying to push for weapon and spell regulation and attempted to restrict the use of offensive spells to those tasked with enforcing the law and the Pacts, such as his chief enforcer, Rhydian. Despite some unease among the Fae at his choice of enforcer, Rhydian has utterly failed to live up to their expectations and has not murdered anyone in their sleep for at least fifty-five years now.

Slacker - Blodeuwedd

Guardian Samuel maintains the Pact from his palace in the Holy Roman Empire, which acts as a central hub for the portal network around and has many large and comfortable beds

surely ‘bedrooms’ - Patience

in which his guests can lay. Below lies the prison to hold those Fae who cannot be persuaded from their criminal ways and who can actually be caught, which is why the Demiurge of Deception is not there now.

Samuel, when not entertaining guests at the palace, goes home to the Knights of St George HQ, where he is not able to remain for very long owing to the ‘one guest per person’ rule enforced by Gerard. He only remains an honorary Knight as otherwise Gerard doesn’t get that happy bunny feeling of looking after Samuel, and Samuel is a considerate, sensitive and talented friend who wants Gerard to feel good.

Gerard? - Patience

Don’t blame me for the author getting caught up in reminiscences! - Gerard

Most of the Fae are Seelie now and willingly submit to Samuel’s authority: those few who remain Unseelie largely keep themselves to themselves, every now and again appearing on a deserted road somewhere to prey on passers-by and then vanishing again. This does not of course apply to any Unseelie who may be living near or with any members of the Knights of St George.

Can we cut this? - Rhydian

Because we're all dating people who refused to sign the Pact? YES - Lahav.

Dear Collegium

Please find enclosed some drafts of a little work of mine intended for publication. Any comments would be gratefully received.

Edythe

Under the leadership of Stanley the Abiding the Collegium Profanum became the foremost university of magical study in Britain. Almost as soon as the Godstow meetings stopped – probably because Aelindis blew up Godstow Abbey and murdered all those nuns – Stanley started overseeing the renovations of Tintagel, which had some truly shoddy décor left over from Morgan, who liked dark funereal colours and heavy velvet curtains-

I think we might want to replace some of this with information about the flesh monstrosity inside Tintagel which was powering the place, and instead explain how we all share part of our power with the castle to keep it standing and the wards and defences up. - Stanley

Why? That way they’ll know how to get in and how we did it. I say we keep the many paragraphs about how we cleaned the place up and put new curtains in. - Thomas.

The Collegium then found where Camelot had fallen, with the merging of the worlds, and discovered that left behind were several spell stones and many, many desperate letters to Arthur from Aelindis, some begging, some gloating, some simply obscene.

We should publish those. We’d make a fortune. - Maxim

Put it on the agenda for the Camelot Committee - Thomas.

Do we want to add in all the bits about how the Demiurge of Deception made a load of tunnels underneath the place and listened in on all our plans any time he wanted and how we only found out he was there last week when Stanley went down to clear out the wine cellar before ordering more from Gerard? - Maxim.

No. - Thomas

Stanley then stepped down as leader, transferring the position to Thomas, called Feyborn, who Stanley claimed was ‘our most responsible, most respected members, so was my favourite for the role. Internal memos stating that if Thomas could not take the role for any reason, for example turning it down, getting killed, or causing a genocide when nobody was looking, then the position could go to anyone except Ishri, as this would be a PR disaster of the highest magnitude, and would probably cause Osmund to drop ships on the Collegium, have never before been published.

YOU SAID WHAT! - Ishri

WHERE THE FUCK DID SHE GET THOSE? - Stanley.

IS THAT TRUE? - Thomas.

Following his ascension to Head of the Collegium, Thomas went on to offer a truce with the mysterious and shadowy Wyllenbar, who are, as far as I can tell, an organisation who research Fae and destroy other organisations who research Fae. The Wyllanbar sent back an appropriately rude reply carved onto one of Thomas’s colleagues and as a result the Collegium went along and massacred them en masse, stealing all their power and using it to help them all get further along the path to becoming Demiurges. I’m told it was a spectacular magical battle and the Wyllanbar headquarters, which were magically altered to appear to be a smoking ruin, were left in that exact state. After this Thomas said there were going to be no more magical massacres as there had been too many already, though I’m pretty sure he also said, when walking up to the Wyllanbar gates, that one more would not hurt.

Did you? - Ishri/

I don’t remember - Thomas.

Having left the Collegium, Stanley went to found the magical sciences faculty in Aachen, ensuring strong ties existed between the faculty and the Collegium.

Note capitalisation - Thomas.

A healthy academic relationship is said to exist between the senior and extremely junior branches of magical study.

Who says this? - Stanley

Me. - Maxim

The junior branch were lent some sort of credibility by the employment of Andris Peleks, the Demiurge of Discovery, as head of teaching. As well as bothering himself with Gatekeeping duties, Andris emphasised the teaching of magical theory to ensure nobody else would ever be as good at magical practice.

This is not true! Where does she get this rubbish? - Andris

I did see her talking to the students. - Stanley

Despite this, Andris generally got positive reviews in the end of term student feedback forms, particularly for the entertaining school trips which only occasionally caused loss of limb and Ishri could saw them back on anyway.

’Sew’, surely. - Andris

The leading discovery made by Stanley and Andris was that Cold Iron, being made of a metal from beyond the stars, is a substance which has no parallel in Tia N’Aill and therefore works as the anathema of Willpower, thus causing so much pain to innocent Fae. All spells to turn Cold Iron from harming Fae have so far failed, much to the delight of Osmund.

Andris also spends a lot of time working out how to jam other people’s portals, usually opening portals just beyond theirs which send the person straight back where they came from (if he’s feeling nice) or into a lake or thorn bushes if he isn’t. No method as effective as dropping ships on them has yet been found.

We’ll cut this bit. - Stanley and Andris.

Unfortunately, at this point Gavin dropped by to inform his friends that he had offered a lectureship to Maxim the Unstable. Maxim spent a lot time following this convincing them all that he was boring as toast by giving the worst lectures anyone had ever heard – so dry and tedious all his students walked out. With this sort of academic credibility they couldn’t help but keep him on and gradually Maxim grew more and more interesting until these days the students who survive his classes give him really good ratings.

Attempts by Maxim to gain a senior position in the faculty have never succeeded because Stanley and Andris burn his applications.

Do you?

No!

Lady Patience The Guardian

Chrysalis Variety and Transition

Lahav benIdan The Trickster

Ishri Saint Clair The Agent of Change

Andris Peleks - The Explorer

Martin, called the Devout The Deceiver

Stanley the Abiding The Discoverer

Thomas Feyborn Refuses to say, will not answer my letters, and is being generally unfriendy.

I'm so sorry. My relatives used your letters to line their nest. - Thomas

Gerard, I would prefer for this entire chapter to be removed. It casts a most unsavoury light on the doings of the Knights of St George. While Samuel's time and energy, understandably, has been mostly focused on Fae/Human negotiations, this could reflect upon our organisation; after all, he is still one of us.

If this chapter is anything to go by, I'm surprised Samuel had time or energy left for Fae/Human negotiations. Unless that's a euphemism?

LAHAV! That is NOT - uh, no, that is not what my wife meant.

If you turn the second page upside down it makes more sense.

Thank you, Ishri.

You're right, it does. You'd need a large circular flat surface and a fair bit of time to get all that set up, though.

I wonder where we might find one of those…

ANYONE attempting ANYTHING in this chapter on the Round Table will face my extreme displeasure! And also possibly severe spinal damage! Which you will then have to explain to the priests of St Seiriol! From this moment onwards, NOBODY is to even THINK about any of this! Is that quite clear!

Good job we got round to it last night, then.

RHYDIAN!