Accolade

Aedric prepares for the Accolade, which is the ceremony of knighthood.

21.

Accolade

 

He had little time to think about all that transpired that evening before the knighting ceremony began.   Hurrying to take his place back at the table, Aaron and especially Gamel - both of whom saw the commotion at the Queen’s table, but could not hear what had transpired- were very curious about what happened.

 

He just shook his head, though he did apologize to the Duke’s son for his earlier rudeness.   A royal page went to each table where the Knights-in-training sat and at his approach, all the young men stood.  

The page was followed by a pair of servants who unbuckled each man’s sword belt from them and took them to a long table that had been set up directly in front of the Queen’s throne at the other end of the feasting hall.  

The sword belts were laid out in careful order, and then the next group of knights at the next table had their turn.   Lastly the page and servants came to Aedric’s table and they were all stripped of their swords.   

 

The young men were nearly buzzing with anticipation of the ceremony, but Aedric felt rather uneasy.   A pair of the Queen’s guards came to each table and led the knights-in-training from the chamber as a group, while servants began clearing away the feasting tables from the room.   He glanced around as he left the room with the other men and found the eyes of those at the Queen’s table upon his group.  

I really don’t belong with these young men, Aedric thought somewhat somberly, but he just followed the others out of the hall.

 

 

They were led to a room near the chapel of the royal barracks where the soon-to-be knights had their newly selected squires and attendants remove their chainmail.   Aedric, hadn’t taken part in that procedure, so he struggled with his own armor in some embarrassment.   

Attendants brought large bowls of water and towels for each man for the ritual cleansing and each man washed in silence while their attendants looked on.

 

They were brought pure white tunics which covered them from neck to ankle.   The squires helped their masters dress, while Aedric donned his own.   The feeling that he really shouldn’t be taking part in the upcoming ceremony was only amplified by his lack of any assistants. 

 

As the ritual bath was part of the Accolade ceremony, they all were silent through it and soon were marched quietly into the chapel of the barracks.   They were led to the area directly in front of the altar and all of them knelt in prayer as a young man’s voice (perhaps Brother Keaven) chanted a lengthy reverent prayer over them.

 

Here Aedric felt the most uneasy, for it was a Yeshian prayer in a Yeshian chapel, and though he had been exhaustively taught all about Yesh and the steps to become a follower of him, it was a step he had never taken.   It had greatly worried his foster mother and she had spent many hours pleading and cajoling him to pray for fellowship with Yesh the Merciful.

 

Yet he could not have faith in a god who would allow him to experience such grief and pain.    His father had scorned the Yeshites as a false human religion and would rant at length about the folly of the false god.

 

Yet hadn’t he been shown mercy, time and time again, by those who followed Yesh?   Or was he being deceived by truly diabolical people that sought to pervert another Elf into the false religion?

 

He didn’t have anything he believed in any more other than his own cause’s righteousness.   He had sought for revenge and to reestablish his father’s kingdom.   

Yet how easily the Dullerms had shaken his resolve, and in truth he found that he grew steadily less and less certain of the integrity of his father.  

He had been a very charismatic man; could he have enchanted his own son so strongly that even now, 22 years after his death, he could not clearly discern the truth?  

 

Aedric didn’t know, but as the others bowed their head reverently in prayer, he stared up at the blood red cross that represented the Cross of Pain upon which Soric had tortured and killed Yesh.  

 

Yesh the poor half-Elven shepherd who had announced that he was the Creator God incarnate.  Under the cross was a large plaque engraved with some of Yesh’s most famous words.   ‘None shall suffer alone who has faith in me, for behold, I have come to make all men brothers and all women sisters, who come unto me.’

 

All men as brothers - the thought sounded absurd to him.   If he followed Yesh, then Duke Dullerm would be his brother and Duchess Aurei, his sister.  How insane.   

 

Still, hadn’t they treated him kindly?   He remembered again the look of concern in the Duchess’ eyes.   She had sensed his torment and had cared, for some reason.  

 

It was just as his mother would have done.  

 

It had felt briefly almost as if he was her son… or brother.   Hadn’t he enjoyed the feeling; a brief easing of the hatred and blame?   Hadn’t his mind cleared for a moment, like a ray of sunshine in the middle of a storm?

 

Was that how it felt to come under the teachings of Yesh?

 

Aedric sighed and closed his eyes.   ‘If you are truly the all-powerful Creator God’, he prayed in his thoughts, ‘then you can hear this prayer.   You know who I am; you know my pride and my scars.   I am not able to just forget and forgive.’  

‘I will attempt both if you show me that you really want a person like me to follow you.   Give me a sign, a clear sign, and I will put my faith in you.’   Aedric waited, hoping and fearing for some sound, sign or feeling to confirm it all to him.   Instead he just felt his stomach roll with nausea.  

 

He tried to force himself to feel disdain for the lack of any proof, but weariness just crept over him as if the weight of the world hung on his shoulders again.   ‘So this is your answer.’ He said wordlessly to Yesh, but the bleak feeling did not leave.  

The young Elf just stared at the altar, numb.

 

***

 

Half of an hour later they were told to stand and then were led in silence out of the chapel back to the banqueting hall.  

 

Many of the young men had apparently felt moved by the time in the chapel and were crying, though most also wore a serene smile on their faces.   

 

Gamel and Aaron both seemed to radiate peacefulness; their eyes wet with tears and their gaze far away as if they saw something that Aedric could not see.

Yesh had answered their prayers, he thought bitterly as they went back into the hall.

 

***

The banqueting hall had been rearranged; where tables had sat, now rows of benches had been placed.   In front of the Queen’s throne at one end of the room, two long kneeling benches had been set up, with the table holding the knights’ swords behind them.  

 

As they marched in, Aedric could hear an unseen choir singing a Yeshian blessing while the knights’ sponsors, patrons, family members and squires all stood and watched them pass. 

 

They were led down to the very front-most benches that had been reserved for them, and there they all sat in their pure white long tunics through a lengthy prayer by Reverend Mother Zeatt and then the Queen outlining the articles in the vow of knighthood.

Loyalty to your Lord, honesty and justice for all, courtesy to the weak and poor, courage against all forms of evil, valor in combat, mercy to all deserving, respect and honor to all women and homage to worthy rulers.

 

But these articles of the vow -and in fact, the vow itself- did not impart the mantle of a Paladin upon them.   It only made them a knight.   It would be Matron Zeatt who, led by the Spirit of Yesh, would lay her hands upon one of them as they all knelt receiving knighthood, and then pray for the mantle to fall upon them.   

 

If she did not come forward and lay her hands on a newly created knight, he would not be recognized as anything other than a Cavalier.

 

From listening to the young men in his training group, most of them were very nervous about whether or not the mantle would fall upon them.  Many feared the disgrace if the Drow Priestess of Yesh did not come forward and lay her hands upon them.  

 

But Aedric already knew he would lack this and though it was indeed somewhat embarrassing to not be like the others, he would happily deal with it just to get the whole accolade done.

 

Duke and Duchess Dullerm stood alongside his foster parents as they marched in and a surprising feeling of regret filled him as he looked at Alis.   She had tried so hard to be a mother figure to him, though as a young man that was very difficult in even the best of situations.

 

Yet she had won his respect and he knew that she had hoped passionately for him to receive the mantle of a Paladin as she did for her son Aaron.   He really didn’t want her to experience disappointment on account of him.   Hopefully she will be prepared for it.   Perhaps Duke Eleazar told her of the agreement they had worked out.

 

They lined the last kneeling bench in the long row and knelt down, glancing up the long line to the other end where the ceremony would begin.   Aedric sighed softly; he would be the last one dubbed.  

 

Queen Eioldth rose from her throne and waited for Reverend Mother Zeatt to join her.   The Drow Cleric wore the white and red vestments of an Archbishop and despite her attire; she still looked beautiful and feminine.   All of the Drow women of this family seemed blessed with incredible comeliness.

Though Zeatt was the matriarch of the Drow clan, she, like Duchess Aurei and Queen Eioldth, appeared as young women, hardly any older than Aedric. 

 

He tried to remember the horror stories of the dark Elves that his father had ordered that his bards would recite to his children and the others in the court.

 

They had been tales of darkness, spiders, demons and evil. Yet none seemed believable now, at least not this evening.    

 

The Queen and Archbishop went to the young men at the furthest kneeling bench from him and began the accolade.

 

The protocol was the same for each one.   The Queen would approach, holding a ceremonial sword, and at her approach, the patrons of the knight would stand behind him, with the young man’s newly selected squire behind them.  

 

The Queen would raise the sword as the knight bowed, and lightly tap him on first the left and then the right shoulder while saying, “In the name of Yesh the Merciful, I Eioldth the First, Queen of Northmarch, dub thee Sir (whatever the knight’s name was) by your vow of obedience to the orders of Knighthood of the Knights of Yesh.   Be strong and courageous and may God keep thee pure.”  

 

As she was saying this, the knight’s patrons were given the knight’s sword belt by an attendant, and they buckled the belt around him, while his squire attached spurs to his bare feet as symbolism of his status as a horseman of the Queen.  

Then the Queen would turn to Reverend Mother Zeatt and with her eyes closed and her head raised to heaven, she would come and lay both hands upon the young man, speaking in Linguam regali - the language of enchantment and blessing.   She would bless the knight and for an instant a slight white glow would surround him as he received the mantle of a Paladin.  

 

The Knight would rise and his squire would hand him a shield decorated with his coat of arms, which he had designed weeks before.   Then he would join his patrons, squire and family to watch the others being dubbed.

 

Aedric had been told over and over that the service was very reverent and powerful, and he found that to be true.   The first four knights were also consecrated as Paladins, but when the Queen finished dubbing the fifth young man and turned to Zeatt, the Reverend Mother shook her head once and somberly the squire handed the new knight his shield and he left with his head hanging low.

 

The sight was painful to watch, which amazed him, for he was to be one of those not receiving the mantle.   For a reason that escaped him, he found himself hurting for the knight.    It seemed so humiliating and humbling.  

But after eight more consecrations, another young man was skipped over, causing the new knight to weep as he joined his patrons who comforted him as he left the kneeling bench.

 

Again Aedric shared their anguish.   ‘Please’, he said in his mind to Yesh, ‘Have mercy on these young men; do not let them be discouraged and disheartened.   They’ve labored long and hard for years.’   In his concern over his fellow knights-in-training, he failed to realize that he was actually praying to the God he didn’t know.    He hadn’t cared a lick for any of the young men before this evening and didn’t know most of them at all.   

 

It was the ceremony that had done it, he reckoned, but he didn’t think long on the change of his attitude, for he was too busy praying for each young man while the Queen spoke, then holding his breath until Zeatt approached them.

 

The ceremony slowly wound its way toward him and of the roughly 60 young men participating in the ceremony, seven failed to receive the mantle of a Paladin by the time they came to last kneeling bench, where the 11 of them from Dullerm and Westmark waited anxiously.

 

Aedric didn’t turn to see their group’s squires stand to join the Dullerms, Aeric and Alis behind them, for he was too focused on those in his group.   ‘His group’ - how odd that seemed to him, but that was how he felt right then.  

 

These were his brothers-in-arms, for they all were Dullerm’s people and Aedric knew that they all had received the very best training.    Those he knew personally, he strongly felt should receive the mantle of a Paladin.  For they all were good, faithful followers of Yesh.   Surely that was the key.

 

Soon they were only two away from him, and it was the Duke’s son, Gamel, who bowed his head as the Queen spoke.   He had hated the boy earlier in the day, mainly because he was the son of the Duke and Duchess that he had hated.   Yet to his dismay, he found himself strongly hoping and praying that the young Drow man would receive the mantle.  

 

By the anxious look on his face, Gamel, for some reason unknown to Aedric, didn’t seem to be confident.   This perplexed him, for the young man was a paragon of purity.   Upon seeing the vulnerability evident in his face, he found the last trace of his unjustified hatred leave him.   Quickly he again spoke silently, pleading for Gamel to the boy’s deity.  

The Queen ended her part of the ceremony and turned to Zeatt, with a concerned look on her face that told Aedric that she knew of something that may hamper the boy’s chances.   There was a pause and Aedric found himself holding his breath.  

 

But a smile crept over the face of Zeatt that spread into a relieved grin as Yesh apparently signaled his approval.   The Archbishop leaned over with her eyes batting back tears, and spoke the words of consecration to her great nephew.

 

Aedric smiled, blinking back tears as well, which would have caused him great confusion and puzzlement, if he had been aware of how he was responding.   His squire put the ceremonial spurs onto his bare feet, buckling them so they would stay on long enough for him to walk across the room.   He stood up, his face beaming with joy, and his parents hugged him as his squire handed him his shield which bore his coat of arms, which was a combination of his parents’ coats.

 

The Queen moved to Aaron, next to him, and again Aedric prayed for his foster brother, though he knew him well enough to know he would have no trouble.   Sure enough, while his parents wrapped his sword belt around his waist, the Drow Archbishop chanted the consecration and a gentle white glow surrounded him.  

 

Aedric could hear Alis weeping behind him softly in joy.   As Aaron’s squire buckled the spurs to his feet then handed him his shield, Aedric realized suddenly that he had not selected a squire.

 

The ceremony would end in double embarrassment, he thought, though he wasn’t really too concerned.   All of his fellows had been consecrated as Paladins.  One failure out of eleven would not be too bad.  

 

The Queen now turned to him and he bowed for his turn.   A strange peace had come over him and he actually relaxed as the lovely Queen touched him on each shoulder while speaking, “In the name of Yesh the Merciful, I Eioldth the First, Queen of Northmarch, dub thee Sir Aedric by your vow of obedience to the orders of Knighthood of the Knights of Yesh.   Be strong and courageous and may God keep thee pure.”

 

Behind him he felt Aeric and Alis buckling his sword around him, but he was amazed to feel someone taking his bare foot in his hand and strapping spurs to his feet.   Maybe they had asked one of their knights’ squires to fill in, to save him embarrassment.   Of that he was glad.  

Eioldth turned to the Matron Mother who had her eyes closed still and seemed to be in prayer.   He shifted to stand, so as to not drag out the awkwardness of the situation, but suddenly Zeatt’s eyes opened, glowing a hot red as she placed her hands upon his head.  

 

He opened his mouth to warn her of her error, but he found himself unable to speak or even move.   His eyes wide in awe, he looked up at the Reverend Mother as she spoke the words in the regal tongue:

“In nomine Yesh misericordes, Sanctum sanctorum, deus omnipotens, Paladinus tibi consecro sanctus in aeternum. Accipite vobis pallium suum!”

 

Though he did not know the sacred language, the words filled his mind:

In the name of Yesh the Merciful, Holy of holies, God Almighty, I consecrate thee a Paladin, sanctified to Him forever.   Receive unto you his mantle!

 

Warmth flooded over him as did a white light that seemed to fill him from head to toe.   With it came a feeling of great joy and the presence of someone who he had not known until that moment.   It was power and comfort, guidance and love, wrapped in one wonderful moment of awareness.   He heard someone weeping behind him and Sir Aeric praising God.  

 

But not just Aeric’s God, but HIS God.   Yesh had heard him and had given him a sign.

 

Tears streamed from his eyes as numbly he stood up and was hugged fiercely by Alis.

“I love you, child.” She whispered to him and she kissed his cheek, her tears mixing with his.   He kissed her cheek in return.

“I love you too.” He replied, speaking the words for the first time to her, and meaning it.  

 

Sir Aeric was valiantly battling his own tears and leaned in and quickly embraced him, pride showing on his face.  

 

But they parted to make way for someone to hand him his shield.   It was his own design upon the shield: a white swan’s feather and an Oak branch, bundled inside a crown, with a long sword in the center, all on a purple field.  

 

He marveled at his Coat of Arms for a moment as he took it, but then looked up to see who had served as his squire.

 

He was shocked to find a pair of familiar red eyes glowing back at him from a ghostly white face.   It was Snoe and she smiled meekly and uncertain at his amazement.  

“Thank you” he at length was able to stammer to her as they followed Alis and Aeric to the other benches.

 

She leaned in close to whisper, “Yesh told me to do it.”

His heart thrilled at the news, “Really?”

“Yes… did I do alright?”

“Perfect.”  He replied.

“Good.   There is more he wants me to do, I’m afraid.” She continued in a whisper as they seated themselves.

“What does he want you to do?”

 

She shook her head, nodding to the platform, where the Queen and Matron Zeatt were about to finish the service.   Those assembled fell silent as Eioldth briefly congratulated the new Knights and Paladins and reminded them of the opening ceremonies for the tournament the following day.   Then Zeatt raised her hands and blessed all those assembled and they were dismissed.