Chapter 1

‘Visions From The Past’

She was puffing slightly from the exertion when she mounted the crest of the hill, for a moment she halted and looked down onto the road below her, she could see where she normally walked, the loop that took her back on herself, she frowned, puzzled by the dark water flowing along the canal. Unless its because of the rain, she thought, her gaze swept up along the fields, except that where there had once been fields divided by hedges there was now a great forest, green and dark. As Ceri watched she saw a glint of silver, then through a patch where the trees thinned out she saw them. She would have recognised the first one anywhere, Galahad, she thought, the others she did not know but their names dropped into her mind like stones thrown into pools of still water, the one with black hair and green eyes is Sir Perceval, the other with brown hair and brown eyes is Sir Bors. The last figure with straw coloured hair and blue eyes is Perceval’s squire, Cerdic.

“This is where we must part, Cerdic?” Perceval turned to the young man who wore the same coat of arms as him.

“Yes, my lord.” The man’s voice was gentle, “this quest for the Grail is yours now and yours alone, you need no-one to share it.”

“Where will you go?”

“There is a monastery near here,” he replied, “I shall go there and ask if they would have me as a postulant.”

“But you’ll be giving up everything you wanted!” Perceval sounded shocked, “I can give you a letter of manumission and send you back to Camelot, any knight would be glad to have you as his squire.”

The man smiled, “Thank you, Sir Perceval, but no. To serve you and your friends this past year has been more than enough for me. I did want to be a knight, once, but the day we saw the Grail in Camelot was the day that this bright fellowship of knights was broken and would never be again. There will be much to do before and after you return the Grail to its resting place.”

Galahad turned sharply, “How much do you know about the Grail?”

“Who does not know about the Grail?” The man replied, “continue on your way, Sir Knights, I tell you this – soon you will have to part and go your separate ways; you must be tested as all are whose Destiny it is to see and serve the Grail.”