Tales Of Gallanol : Introduction and Deneldinhew's Meeting

By 1100 Martans were well established in possession of lands right up to the borders of Baerwvs and Lanardein. The Kingdom of Martainia was gaining quickly in strength and numbers, and towns were becoming more permanent. There were frequent wars and truces between the Gallanolians and the Martans.

It was at this point in time that Gallanol’s previous peace and unity first cracked seriouslv.

When High King Denhelew died without a close successor in l113, tensions which had previously been unnoticed during his tactful and beneficent reign came to the surface. And within the next half century Martainia was to expand southward and establish its control over the Senl basin as a result of petty disputes between the Gallancian kingdoms -Baerwys (ruled directly by the High King usually), Lanardein, Elladein, Falwent, Galdellyn, Prydein and Paldein. Finally in ll64 it would result in the sundering of Gallanol into three different states:— Prydein, Paldein and Gallanol.
Denhelew’s throne was desired by more than one relative and so factions built up around the claimants. King Lewden of Paldein was Denhelew’s cousin, and was thus already in his fifties. He was well established in Paldein and could thus claim its total support for his claim.

Deneldinhew was Denhelew’s mother’s brother’s grandson, and he had the next best claim to the throne. Had he been a patient man he might have allowed the much older Lewden to take the throne.
Lewden certainly had a better claim, but Denhelew had stated no preference for either candidate during his life or in his will. Deneldinhew was an ambitious young man of only twenty two. He had grown up in Denhelew’s court in Emywid and was very popular among the rich and influential of Baerwys. Thus it was that Baerwys supported his claim in preference to Lewden’s.

King Lewden was Paldeini. If he became High King he would have granted positions of authority to Paldeini. The Baerwysians felt they would have greater power and influence under Deneldinhew, who was one of them. Also the acceptance of Lewden would have occasioned the uniting of the two royal houses of Paldein and Baerwys, giving him undue power, they felt (although in fact Deneldinhew would probably have safely inherited Baerwys and the position of High King when Lewden died, because he had no offspring). This accounted for the support accorded to Deneldinhew by the royal houses of Galdellyn, Falwent and Lanardein. It was obvious that it would be Deneldinhew who sat in Emywid, but the question was what reaction would there be from Lewden. He had a just claim and support in Paldein. He would be unlikely to give in so easily. King Lew of Elladein declared in favour of Lewden, whom he held to have a more justifiable claim, and who was also a great friend and a cousin of his.
Prvdein remained uncommitted although King Rhodri nominally supported Lewden’s claim. He was however unwilling to support his claim by the use of arms, seeing its futility because the central
four kingdoms were in a better geographical position to defend against Lewden’s supporters. In the interests of Gallanolian unity he was willing to accept Deneldinhew, if Lewden’s claim could not be supported.

Elladein and Paldein were, on the other hand, willing to support Lewden with arms.

Throughout the winter of 1113/14 both sides hastily prepared defences and made preparations for war, a war between royal houses, one which was not in the best interests of Gallanol as a whole.

I

Deneldinhew passed through the corridors of the palace quickly. He’d been making his own personal preparations with his own personal servants for the expeditions northwards to ElIadein. Deneldinhew had decided that his best policy lay in defeating King Lew of Elladein decisively before Lewden in Paldein had time to march his army north into Gallanol. He was late now, making his way hastily through the palace to his council room where his commanders would be waiting for him.

He was a tall proud man. He had a handsome tanned body, well proportioned and slim. He was taller than most of his people. His hair was black and curly. He wore tight black striped trousers, a dark blue shirt with billowy sleeves and a thick black leather waistcoat on top. He trailed a thick black cloak over his shoulder which would keep him warm against the March winds. His boots were strong brown leather fastened up his shins and over his knee with leggings. He wore a heavy long sword and a couple of knives on his belt. He had fought before, in skirmishes on the Martainian frontier, and had acquitted himself very well.

Deneldinhew hurriedly passed out of his personal section of the palace into the open air atrium where, looking up his eye could meet the icy grey sky closed in by colonnaded white marble wells which stretched higher and higher, one wall section above another like building blocks allowing small colonnaded walkways and verandas where inhabitants of the Great Palace could walk and look down into the atrium itself. It was a scene of pure, white, marble, symmetrical beauty. The richly jewelled domes, which topped two of the towers, and which formed the centrepoint of the High King’s Palace at Emywid, were only slightly discernible from the atrium below. It was a scene of great beauty which Deneldinhew had no time to savour on this momentous day. Gallanol and his destiny were awaiting him. Gallanol’s strength and peace depended on the decisiveness of his rule. He must be an effective High King, for when in the past had weakness ever helped Gallanol?

Passing around the atrium’s central fountain (a statue of Rodin 1, the founder of Gallanol, water spouting from his mouth), he continued straight ahead into a series of internal covered atriums, through doors toward the council room. It was warmer there within the protection of a maze of palace rooms and atriums. It still amazed him after a life spent often in and around this populous palace that so many rooms and halls should be bereft of souls.

In the fourth atrium he found Owen Gireald of Girithon (a town a few miles downstream from Emywid towards Elladein, which the army would pass through on its way northward). Owen was one of Deneldinhew’s closest friends, a rich merchant’s son whom he had known in childhood, and had recently nominated to be a King’s Companion. Owen was a tall, by Gallanolian standards, young man, more muscular and stocky than Deneldinhew. Owen was an athlete and already well accomplished fighter, one of the most dynamic young men of Baerwys. He wore a great fur cape, coloured in forest green, over his shoulder, and a thick tunic of green, bordered with red cuffs, frills and laces. His trousers were, like Deneldinhew’s, skin tight, but green and yellow striped. His boots were black and extended just above the knee. He also carried a longsword and knives dangling from his belts.

He looked up when Deneldinhew burst in and smiled, and said, “At last!”

Deneldinhew hurried past and said, “Come. We must hurry. I almost forgot the time.” His friend leaped up and followed him toi the right and up a great stairway, richly endowed with tapestries of hunting scenes and horses.

Bursting into the council room, richly decorated with dark purples, reds and natural woods, without windows, lit by enormous candles, and with a long oval table in the centre, they took their seats. Deneldinhew addressed his councilors without apology, but with angry passion. He was a decisive youth, graced with the confidence, charisma and talent of a great man. He was a man who understood his own gifts, was in supreme control of them, who seemed to know how to win, and to succeed in his ambitions. Not often is such a man born. It is not surprising therefore that the people of Baerwys, who knew him well, fully believed that he should rule a united Gallanol, that he would grace the High Kingdom with a return to the Golden Age.