Lord Gnarl; A Sequel To Gnarl

By Jeff Hopkins

Lord Gnarl receives information that might lead him to find the man who assassinated his Grandfather, the Lord Genet. He determines to track the alleged assassin down and bring him to justice. Adricart, the palace portrait painter, and Kyler the palace baker, are recruited to help. So, begins a series of journeys, both by land and sea, across half the known world from Lord Gnarl’s City State in the north to King Francis’s Great Ocean City in the west. On his journey, Kyler only survives with the miraculous intervention of Faustine of the Woodland.

The search for the murderer sees Lord Gnarl using a false name when he unexpectedly encounters Princess Jolie, the only daughter of King Francis. Princess Jolie determines to run away from an arranged marriage her father has negotiated, and she plucks a stable boy, Shay, from obscurity to be her squire and guide her on a dangerous journey.

There is an audacious plan to bring the assassin back to Lord Gnarl’s own City State for a trial. However, there are conflicting issues that the young Lord struggles to resolve. Shay proves to be wise beyond his years, as he deals with Atayla, a crucial player in a complex puzzle. As always, Lord Gnarl turns to his foster parents, Cuanzo and Shiedel, for advice. Misleading identities simply complicate matters.

All seems resolved in a series of wedding ceremonies. However, a strange pre-nuptial agreement and an unexpected wedding guest set the scene for an unravelling of the peace. Circumstances change and events conspire to shatter relationships and destroy lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Jul 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781925959291

Jeff Hopkins

Jeff Hopkins (1950) is a retired schoolteacher. He lives in Walyalup, Western Australia. Walyalup which means 'lungs' is the Whadjuk name for Fremantle, and is part of the Noongar Nation. As the drama master at Hale School in Perth, he wrote ten original musical plays and produced and directed them at the school.In 1992, he researched and wrote a family history, 'Life's Race Well Run', and after retiring in 2006 he has written twenty novels, a memoir, and three 'faction' biographies.

Book preview

Chapter 1:

A Generation Passes

The last part of Lady Siliqua’s life had been marked by tragedy. Twenty years ago, she had endured the unbearable when she watched her only son, Generis, being offered up as a human sacrifice. Then after all her efforts to secure a line of succession through Generis’s one day wife, Liesele, she had to make an agonising decision that saw that young woman die in childbirth. The joy of the birth of a grandson was tempered by the sadness of Liesele’s loss. Then in recent times she had to suffer the pain of the assassination of her husband the Lord Genet. Now as the Dowager Lady of the City State in the north, she put on a brave face, as her grandson, at the relatively young age of eighteen, had become Lord Gnarl. The Dowager Lady’s zest for life had been sapped and she declined rapidly.

Lord Gnarl saw Lady’s Siliqua’s plight at first hand. He tried to encourage her to become more involved in the running of the City State, but all her passion had gone. Lord Gnarl asked his foster mother, Shiedel, to become a companion to his Grand­mother and her visits to the palace did brighten some of Lady Siliqua’s days, but Shiedel warned Lord Gnarl that:

‘Your Grandmother has simply lost the will to live, Gnarl. She has a strong faith and desires to be reunited with her husband and her son in the Kingdom of the Gods.’

‘Is there nothing we can do, Shiedel?’

‘We can make her final earthly days comfortable and encourage her to stay with us as long as she can bear it, but I think she has determined to leave.’

The young Lord Gnarl was distressed. He had lost almost all of his blood relations and now the final link with that generation was slipping away. He was attentive to the Lady Siliqua and his heart filled with joy when she occasionally smiled and recalled something from the past that gladdened her, but then the dark days descended once again and she retreated to her apartments and her solitary thoughts.

In the middle of autumn, Lady Siliqua took to her bed and was destined never to leave it. Shiedel attended the palace more regularly and brought home-made soups and meals with her, but the Dowager Lady had lost her appetite. Then on one of Shiedel’s visits the Lady Siliqua seemed keen to talk. She wanted to unburden herself of something that had troubled her for too many years. She began without preamble:

‘I begged him not to do it, Shiedel.’

‘Begged who, my Lady?’

‘My husband, the Lord Genet, I begged him not to let the sacri­fice of our son, Generis, go ahead, but he said his hands were tied.’

Shiedel was shocked to hear the revelation and moved closer to the Dowager Lady and held her hand and caressed it.

‘How were his hands tied, my Lady?’

‘He said the legend and the lore must be adhered to. There could be no exceptions, not even for our own son. I told him he was the law and he could spare our son, but he chose not to.’

‘It must have been a difficult time.’

‘The worst time. That is when he came up with the compromise to secure a line of succession through the last-minute marriage of Generis to Liesele and their one night together that consummated the marriage and saw Gnarl conceived.’

‘So, you agreed to that compromise?’

‘It was all I had left. I threw myself into the preparations. I found Liesele and after Generis was sacrificed I guided her through her pregnancy and then we lost her too. Then my husband was assassinated in the cruellest way.’

‘But you have your grandson as a result.’

‘Ah yes, Gnarl is the only light on a desolate landscape. I could not be more proud of him. When he forbade any further spring sacrifices, I could not have been happier. He displayed the strength of will his Grandfather failed to show.’

There was nothing more for Shiedel to say. How could she comfort a woman who had seen so much death in her life and had all those she loved taken from her in such terrible circumstances. She continued to caress the Dowager Lady’s hand and remained with her until she slipped into a peaceful sleep having unburdened herself of all her emotions, which had been pent up for so long.

Shiedel sought out Lord Gnarl and they walked in the palace gardens as Shiedel told her foster son what the Lady Siliqua had said. The young Lord Gnarl remained silent and listened intently. If he was angry at the revelations he heard; he did not show it. Finally, when she had told him all, Gnarl held his foster mother and said quietly:

‘Thank you for telling me these things, Shiedel. Clearly my Grandmother wants to follow her husband, her son and daughter-in-law into the realm of the Gods. We must make her comfortable until she determines it is time to make that journey.’

That evening Lord Gnarl made his way to the Lady Siliqua’s private apartments. He could not remember any other time that he had done so. Even as a child he had never been taken into this intensely private place. Since becoming the Lord of the City State, he had not ventured into the Dowager Lady’s domain. He knocked softly and the Lady Siliqua’s maid opened the door and expressed intense surprise when she saw the young Lord standing there. She could do little else but usher him in.

Lord Gnarl marvelled at the Dowager Lady’s apartments. They were richly decorated, and although the rooms were candle lit, and somewhat dark, the beauty of the place could not be underestimated. On the walls hung life size portraits of the Lord Genet and his son, Generis, as a sixteen-year-old completing his military service before his selection as the spring sacrifice. Where there were no portraits there were tapestries of the richest design and hue. For a moment, the young Lord was lost in the wonder of it all. The furnishings were all so ornate and displayed the highest quality of craftsmanship. In one corner stood a magnificent display cabinet and Gnarl’s eyes were drawn to it. It contained porcelain object d’arts of the most exquisite kind. Gnarl could not remember seeing anything like them in his own City State and assumed they must have been sourced from lands far to the east, where it was a matter of the legend and the lore, that such beautiful things were made. These items must have travelled huge distances before being placed in this wonderful display.

Then Gnarl saw the life-sized portrait of a young woman of no more than sixteen years of age. She was dressed in a beautiful white satin and lace gown that was hemmed at half calf height. The woman wore her auburn hair in a beautiful arrangement decorated with a garland of what looked like lilies of the field. Lord Gnarl looked down to the woman’s feet and she was incongruously barefoot. Lord Gnarl was physically drawn to the portrait and reached out to touch the canvas. The Lady Siliqua’s maid stepped towards him and spoke from behind:

‘It is Liesele, your mother, as she was on her wedding day, the one day wife of your father Generis, the son of the Lord Genet.’

Lord Gnarl mumbled his words as he continued to stare at the intoxicating picture:

‘I have never seen this before. She is exquisitely beautiful.’

‘Indeed, she was. I saw her first as a poor creature in a common man’s hovel, and then I saw her transformed like this on her wedding day.’

‘What kind of person was she?’

‘Just as she appears there, beautiful in every way; in appearance, in heart, mind and soul.’

‘If only I had known her.’

‘She died giving birth to you, my Lord. There can be no greater love than that!’

‘Indeed!’

Then the young Lord turned back to look at the maidservant and asked:

‘May I see the Dowager Lady Siliqua?’

‘She is sleeping peacefully, but I will take you into her bed chamber.’

The maid then led the way through the highly polished double doors and showed Lord Gnarl into the Dowager Lady’s bedchamber. By contrast with the other rooms in the apartments it was sparsely furnished. The grand four-poster bed with crimson drapes dominated, and apart from that there was just a bedside table with a large vase of winter blooms, which were helping to give the room a pleasant scent. A few candles burned on other pedestals. One further door, which was half open, led off to a dressing room area. The drapes on all the windows were drawn.

Gnarl approached the bed and saw his Grandmother sleeping in the vast space, which made her seem smaller than she was. Gently he perched himself on the side of the bed and the Dowager Lady did not stir. Her breathing was shallow and sometimes faltering but she looked at peace. Gnarl searched her face for a sign. The Dowager Lady was just as she had always been to him. She was a woman with strong features and a pronounced nose, which had probably prevented her from being proclaimed a beauty. Her hair was brown, but was streaked with grey and it had been combed out long and cascaded across the pillows on which her head rested. Her hands, as they so often did, displayed the woman’s age more accurately than her face. Lord Gnarl reached out and took his Grandmother’s hand in his and held it gently. The Lady Siliqua stirred and her eyelids fluttered open and she tried to focus on the person sitting near her and holding her hand. Eventually she recognised her grandson and smiled:

‘Gnarl, how good it is to see you.’

‘And to see you, my Lady and my Grandmother.’

‘They call me the Dowager Lady now, Gnarl.’

‘Then I will simply call you Grandmother.’

With that Gnarl got up, leaned over his Grandmother and gently kissed her on the forehead before returning to his seated position on the bed.

‘Thank you Gnarl, I have missed that tender touch.’

‘I should have come before this. Shiedel encouraged me to do so. In truth Grandmother, you have always frightened me a little.’

A faint smile spread across the Lady Siliqua’s lips.

‘I know I did. I suppose I was always somewhat aloof, and a little scary, when you were a small boy.’

‘Indeed, you were, Grandmother.’

‘But I am no threat to you now my beloved grandson. That is all behind us. We have all suffered patiently what we were forced to endure. I rejoice that now you are in your rightful place as Lord Gnarl and ruling in such a wise and caring way. We are all proud of you.’

‘Thank you, Grandmother. I am merely a product of those ancestors who came before me and the nurturing of Cuanzo and Shiedel.’

‘All of that is true, but you are what you are because of your free will and the decisions that you have made in your own short journey so far.’

‘Thank you, Grandmother.’

There was a pause and the ageing woman and the young Lord simply enjoyed the moment together. Then the Lady Siliqua spoke more seriously.

‘I am tired, Gnarl and my earthly journey is almost complete. I long to be reunited with my husband and your parents. When I go, you will have few of the previous generations of your family left.’

‘There are your daughters, my aunts, and Liesele’s parents and brother are still alive.’

‘Yes, they are, but you need more, Gnarl. You need a wife to share your journey and your burden, and you need children. You require sons to continue your line of succession and daughters to give you joy and happiness. Marry soon Lord Gnarl. Sadly, I will not be here to see it happen, but promise me you will!’

‘Of course, you will be here.’

‘No, Gnarl. You have always been a truthful boy. Do not try to deceive an old woman. My time is almost done. Promise me you will marry as soon as you find the right woman.’

‘And how will I know that, Grandmother?’

‘Your father never saw his bride until they were married in the bathing chamber of the temple. He spent just one night with her. I found her for him and I knew she was the one; even though she was a poor girl from a lowly background. You will know her.’

‘Should I marry a common girl from a poor background like my father?’

‘He had little time to choose and others had to seek Liesele out. If you begin your search immediately you will have much more time to find the one.’

‘You sound very confident that such a woman exists, Grandmother.’

‘Oh, she exists, Gnarl. Now all you have to do is find her. Promise me you will.’

‘I will, Grandmother.’

‘Thank you, Gnarl. Now I am tired and must rest again. Come and see me again and we shall talk some more about your wife to be.’

‘I will, Grandmother.’

Lord Gnarl didn’t have the opportunity to talk any more with his Grandmother. Later that night, after they had spoken, she called to her faithful maid, who held her hand. She took two deep breaths, closed her eyes and went peacefully on her journey to join those she had so loved, but lost.

The Lady Siliqua’s trusted maid, who had been with her for almost four decades since she married the Lord Genet, and came to live at the palace supervised the preparation of the Dowager Lady’s earthly remains. She was washed and dressed in a beautiful gown. Her hair was reset and adorned with a jewel-encrusted skullcap, which was tied underneath her chin and removed the necessity for an unsightly cloth support. Then the Lady Siliqua was carried reverently on a bier to the Great Hall where she would lie in state for the mandatory three days.

At sunrise on the first day of the Lady Siliqua’s time in the Great Hall the doors were opened to the people of the City State and they filed in and around the Dowager Lady and paid their respects. The people were struck by the young Lord Gnarl, who stood in silent vigil behind the bier at his Grandmother’s head. Word quickly spread throughout the City State that Lord Gnarl was standing in vigil and the mourning crowds increased as the day wore on. The Great Hall was silent throughout the day.

At sunset when the Great Hall doors were closed at the end of the first day, the young Lord Gnarl donned a hooded cloak and left the city and walked contemplatively down to the fishing village and the cottage of his beloved foster parents, Cuanzo and Shiedel. They dined together and enjoyed one another’s company and support and just before midnight Lord Gnarl took his leave and made his way back to the City. He gained entry once he revealed his identity, and then he went to the palace and slept for a few hours in his private apartments.

When the doors to the Great Hall swung open once more at sunrise, a large queue had formed and was waiting in reverent silence. As the people processed in they once again saw the young Lord Gnarl standing in silent vigil at his Grandmother’s head. He stood there until sunset and then retired to his apartments, ready to resume his position at sunrise on the final day of mourning.

Almost everyone in the City State of the north paid their respects to the Lady Siliqua during those three days. Some came on each of the three days not only to honour the Dowager Lady, but also to be a part of the young Lord’s vigil. An hour before sunset on the third day, Kyler, the palace baker, and his old music tutor from his days as a second-year recruit in military service entered the Great Hall. They did not process past the bier. Instead they went to a position behind the young Lord Gnarl and sat on two simple stools, which they had brought with them. It was not all they had brought. They produced their silver flutes and, in duet, played the most plaintive melodies that everyone from the City State would have known and remembered fondly. When the young Lord Gnarl heard the beautiful notes, he did not need to turn to see who was playing. He was transported to all those times that his friend Kyler had played in the military barracks’ dormitories, but particularly sitting cross legged on the unturned tender of the naval vessel the ‘Shravan’.

Kyler and his aged tutor played until the detail of six soldiers came and lifted the bier from its raised platform in the Great Hall. The Priest and his Acolytes formed up in front of the bier and Lord Gnarl prepared to walk behind his Grandmother on her final journey. Kyler and his tutor left their stools and fell in behind the young Lord. As they left the Great Hall and processed to the City Square the people of the City State stood in silent tribute. A rectangle of guards delineated the space around the funeral pyre and they parted to allow the bier and the young Lord in.

The Lady Siliqua’s bier was placed on the funeral pyre that was constructed from logs laid in a criss-cross pattern. The space in the middle of the pyre was filled with smaller twigs and branches and stuffed with straw soaked in pigs’ fat. The Priest’s Acolytes took up their positions on each of the four corners of the pyre and lit the flaming torches that had been laid out in preparation for them.

The Priest spoke the funeral incantations in such soft tones that even the silent crowd had to strain to hear them. When all rites and due ceremonies had been completed an Acolyte handed a flaming torch to Lord Gnarl. He moved forward and lit the funeral pyre and simultaneously the other Acolytes followed his action. The pyre roared into a conflagration and the flames stretched high into the fading light of the night sky. Lord Gnarl’s vigil continued until the last logs of the funeral pyre had burned to ash. He then turned and walked alone through respectful avenues of his people to the palace where he retired to his private apartments. Gnarl wept.

In the following days, Lord Gnarl had the portraits of his family taken from the Dowager Lady’s apartments and they were installed in his own rooms. In silent contemplation, he stared at the images of his dead grandparents and parents and realised that now a complete generation had passed and for a little while he was alone. Of course, he had loving foster parents and wonderful friends to support him, but the future of his bloodline lay with him now and no one else. His Grandmother’s words about marriage and children echoed in his consciousness and he knew what his duty must be. He wondered whether duty might be tempered with genuine love and affection. All that lay in the future.

Chapter 2:

Yarrick

In the final days of autumn, some weeks after the funeral of the Dowager Lady Siliqua, Ygritte, the wife of the palace baker, Kyler, went into labour. She gave birth to a healthy boy and Kyler was beside himself with joy. As was the custom, and according to the legend and the lore, Kyler and Ygritte needed to give the boy a name that included the first letters of their own names. They called him Yarrick. Kyler conveyed the news of the birth to his friend, the young Lord Gnarl and hesitatingly he asked whether Gnarl would be his son’s Godfather. The young Lord Gnarl was thrilled to be asked and readily agreed.

It was nearly a month later on a cold, but clear, winter’s day in the City State in the north, that a ceremony was conducted in the temple that saw Kyler’s and Ygritte’s son, Yarrick, formally initiated into the society of the City State, in the presence of his Godfather, the young Lord Gnarl and all of Kyler’s and Ygritte’s extended family. A celebratory luncheon was held in the palace hosted by the young Lord.

During the feast, Lord Gnarl proposed the toast to the new baby, Yarrick, and was generous in his praise of his father Kyler, the palace baker and his wife, Ygritte. The father of the new initiate was required to make a speech in reply and rather tentatively he got to his feet.

‘My Lord Gnarl, distinguished guests, family and friends. Firstly, I wish to thank Lord Gnarl for accepting the role of Godfather to our son, Yarrick. It is not only a huge honour to have the Lord of the City State to undertake such a role, but even more so that I count him as my best friend. We have shared many things together and now we share the joint responsibility for raising this newborn boy to being a worthwhile member of our City State’s community and hopefully, in the future, he may become a significant contributor to our society.’

A round of applause was essentially directed towards Lord Gnarl who acknowledged it with a humble gesture.

‘Secondly, thank you again to Lord Gnarl for his generosity in staging this feast to celebrate our son’s initiation. I have so many things to thank Gnarl for. Not to put too fine a point on it I really do owe him my life. If he had not brought me back from the Caliphate in the south and appointed me palace baker, I would never have met my wife, Ygritte, and seen the birth of my son, Yarrick. You are a generous and wise young ruler and events have not been kind to you in the past. You have lost too many of your close family in tragic circumstances and it is my earnest hope, and the hope of my wife, and all our extended family, that you find the happiness you so richly deserve. You have so selflessly brought so much of that emotion to so many other people.’

This time the applause was thunderous and it was clear that the young Lord Gnarl was deeply moved by the acknowledgement. When Kyler indicated that the applause should end he also concluded his speech.

‘Thank you to everyone for coming and sharing this special day with Ygritte and Yarrick and I trust you will stay and help us eat this enormous feast.’

Kyler’s words were warmly received and when he sat down his wife, Ygritte, embraced him and kissed him warmly. They were very much in love. After the feast, Gnarl and his long-time friend, Kyler, walked together in the palace gardens and talked of many things. Then Kyler directed the conversation in an unusual way.

‘Ygritte has told me a rather strange story about the generous patron who allowed her father, Tey, to refurbish his stables and buy new horses.’

‘In what way was it strange, Kyler?’

‘Well, perhaps strange is the wrong word, it was more mysterious.’

‘Mysterious? Now you have my interest.’

‘Ygritte’s father, Tey, described this young patron as no more than twenty years of age, and he simply appeared from nowhere and made a number of odd requests.’

‘Go on, I am intrigued.’

‘Firstly, he wanted a horse purchased on his behalf and stabled at Tey’s rather run down establishment.’

‘That seems straightforward enough, Kyler.’

‘But then he asked for the horse to be exercised in a particular way each day. My father-in-law was asked to take the horse out through the City gates and turn right towards the west. He was to ride for an hour and then return.’

‘That sounds a fairly normal request to me.’

‘However, whenever he rode the horse Tey was to wear a very fine outfit which the patron supplied.’

‘Now that is unusual.’

‘The patron always paid generously in gold pieces