The Quest for Elena the Fair part 2

Only Govalon remained,

And so, heavyhearted, he stepped to the shore,

His face looking troubled and pained.

He knew not how well the lady would take

The news of her suitors' demise.

She awaited a knight both noble and true,

A man who was handsome and wise.

Now in his stead came Govalon the squire,

Not a knight and not noble, but true.

Of the knights and their squire who started this quest

The squire alone made it through.

But ladies of rank wanted noble-born men,

Versed in the arts of the court.

Govalon was low born, his father a squire,

Not of the type ladies sought.

*****

And so he set off, walking inland alone,

Approaching the tower's white wall,

Til his progress was stopped by a moat with no bridge,

A man could be killed by the fall.

Undaunted Govalon sat down on the ground

To look all around at his plight.

He must reach the lady and tower by dawn

Before all disappeared with the light.

Close at hand, by the moat, grew a stand of young trees,

Narrow around and yet tall.

So Govalon forced down a dozen of these,

Laid across they allowed him to crawl

To the opposite side of the moat and go on,

Arriving at last at the tower.

On the door, which was white, Govalon could see

The golden outline of a flower.

At his knocking the door opened inwards

Then closed at his back as he passed.

Outside the warm sun crept up in the sky,

Of Govalon the ship saw it's last.

*****

As he stood and looked round at the room he was in

The air seemed to shimmer with heat,

Then suddenly there, in front of the squire,

A lion reared up on hind feet.

Govalon lurched back til he stood gainst the door,

He prayed for a sword or a knife

As the lion roared loud and stretched out its paw.

The squire had fear for his life

But then, as he stood with his back to the door

A thought came into his mind.

If the lion had not come through window or door

Perhaps he could leave fear behind.

"I do not believe you are here in this room."

Govalon called out to the air.

A shimmer of heat then followed his words,

Just as suddenly, nothing was there.

*****

Govalon then went through a door to some stairs,

Ascending to yet one more place,

Where he found some clean outfits laid out on a bench,

Fresh water and soap for his face.

Removing his dirt covered tunic and boots

He scrubbed at his face and hair,

Then he looked at the clothes as they lay on the bench,

And chose what he wanted to wear.

He didn't chose armour or clerical cloak,

He didn't chose leather, no he,

He chose simple boots and a tunic of blue,

Short sleeved and straight to the knee.

As he straightened his clothing a knocking was heard,

It came from the door to the stair.

Govalon walked over and opened it wide,

The Lady Elena stood there.

She lead him away to a meal and some wine

In a kitchen with roaring log fire.

As he ate he was watching the light on her face,

Of which he never could tire.

*****

He told of the knights and the fates they had met,

But she told him each one was a test

Now someone had come through them all quite unscathed,

She knew who was noble and best.

Govalon asked who had passed through to her door

And she laughed and took hold of his hand.

"Govalon, my hero, that person is you,

"A true noble man just as I planned.

"You are clever and strong, without graces or airs,

"Rich of nature though not of the purse,

"You had strength when you needed it, used common sense,

"Having no touch of vanities curse."

And she laid her soft hands either side of his face,

Which she kissed with both love and desire,

Then asked him to choose her for his one true love,

As she knelt at his feet by the fire.

So squire Govalon laid claim to his prize,

The Lady Elena he wed,

And each night he gave thanks to the Gods for his luck

As he lay, by her side, in their bed.

******

This one is going to take some explaining. When we arrived on this planet it seemed much like the Earth we had left behind, indeed many parts seemed too familiar. The people appeared human and were friendly and welcoming, although they refused to let us do any testing at all, either on them or the planet itself.

When I was told the six stories that make up The Legends of Light I couldn't believe how similar they were to Earth stories with knights and dragons and good triumphing over evil. At first I put it down to the extraordinary fact that these people seemed to have developed exactly as we had although many of us wondered why they hadn't developed space flight if they had the same technology as us. It was only when members of the crew began to report having seen places they remembered from Earth and seeing people they knew they had met before that we became suspicious and confronted our guides.

It turned out that the whole thing was an illusion, created from the minds of all the people on board the ship. The reality was very different, the planet being a barren desert and the people, for want of a better word, being entirely gaseous. Having studied them for the time we had left on the planet I can honestly say I have no idea what they look like, what they consist of, how many there were, how they think, what they think with and more especially how they can read minds. If they had not been able to read our minds and use what they found to create the Earth-like surroundings and identities we would not have had any idea of their existence. The fact that they recognised us as sentient beings when we differ so greatly from them shows that they have a much more sophisticated intelligence.

Having discovered who, if not what, they were I asked about The Legends of Light, wanting to know if it too had been created from our minds but was told that the stories were indeed part of their race memories. The stories had been adapted to our way of thinking much as the landscape and people had been. I was told that the stories still carried the original meanings and ideas despite their adaptation and so I have written them as I was first told them, any other way would be totally meaningless. These people appear to communicate by chemical reactions and the transference of molecules. They found the idea of rhymes to be fascinating, apparently it tastes' good!