Synopsis and excerpt copyright (c) 1998-2006 by System Support Services, Inc.
Page last updated 1/3/06

Zenith Glory

(working title)

"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads."
Erica Jong , The First Ms Reader

IN PROGRESS: Synopsis has been rewritten.

Synopsis

In the fiery crucible of the last three of Arthur's twelve legendary battles, Arthur, Gyan (Guinevere), Angusel (Lancelot) and their allies forge lasting peace for all the diverse peoples inhabiting Brydein.

Pursuing the campaign started toward the end of Raging Sea, Arthur sends Angusel and two-thirds of the legion to Caer Berwych (Berwick Law), the stronghold of the Angli king, Colgrim. Arthur positions the remaining cohorts to set up an ambush, gambling that the Angli soldiers will mobilize the bulk of the force to protect their king and leave Dun Eidyn (Edinburgh) with only a token defense.

Angusel and his troops find Colgrim firmly ensconced at Berwych. They storm the hill in a battle so intense that, in its aftermath, Angusel renames the place Dùn na h'Aignidhean, "Fort of the Spirits." King Colgrim is one of the spirits doomed to haunt its halls.

Arthur's gamble pays off. When the unsuspecting Dun Eidyn forces emerge from their fortress, he and Gyan lead their elite unit to attack.

This victory almost costs Arthur his life. A blow from an enemy axe shears through his scabbard and bites into his thigh. The injury is serious, but--hearkening to the medieval legend describing the scabbard's magical properties--the scabbard deflects enough of the blow to prevent the axe from severing an artery.

Meanwhile, Camilla, the Saxon warrior-princess bent on avenging the death, at Gyan's hands, of her beloved fiancé in Morning's Journey, chooses to attack Arthur's minimally-guarded Legion Headquarters at Caer Lugubalion (Carlisle). Allied with another of Arthur's enemies, the Scotti (Irish) Laird Cuchullain introduced to readers in Dawnflight, Camilla leads her foot soldiers in a land-based assault while Cuchullain attacks by sea.

With Arthur lying gravely wounded at Dun Eidyn, Gyan assumes command and learns of Camilla and Cuchullain's attack. Gyan dispatches a message ordering Angusel to return to headquarters with as many men as possible. She sends a general recall order to all western garrisons, and a special message goes to Bedwyr (Bedivere) at Caerglas (Glasgow), to sail all available warships to headquarters. Gyan leaves enough troops to hold Dun Eidyn, and leads the rest back to relieve "the City of the Legion."

But treachery awaits, and no one stands immune.

A series of harrowing events propels Arthur, Gyan, Angusel and their enemies toward their ultimate trial: the fierce and bloody event known in Arthurian literature as the Battle of Mount Badon.

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