[Culhwch]

Well, I've been tossing up whether or not to post any more of this. I'm naturally a private sort of person, not usually too keen on sharing, but I wouldn't mind some opinions on this piece. It's from early in the second part of a novel I'm working on currently. It's a low-magic (almost no-magic, really) dynastical fantasy, rather traditional in its scope. I've started writing this second part even though I haven't done much on the first part (which is lucky, as it's totally different in tone, and I'll have to rewrite most if not all of it). But I was doing some background sketching and discovered an intriguing story amongst what I'd thought were tertiary characters. Any thoughts, impressions or suggestions are more than welcome...

III

Seagulls wheeled off the narrow headland, white feathers blazing brilliantly in the morning sun. Laurie brushed his unkempt hair from his eyes and watched them circle the old, tumble-down tower on the point, swooping occasionally to dip their beaks in the restless sea.

‘Tristafer! What’s that tower over there?’ he called to his two companions, a man and woman riding a handful of paces ahead of him.

The man turned in his saddle so he could see where Laurie was pointing. ‘It used to be a lighthouse,’ he called back, the words almost lost to the wind. ‘To warn ships of the rocks. It’s been deserted ever since I can remember.’

The woman riding at his side glared across at him. ‘I told you not to encourage him, Tris. If you answer his questions, he’ll just ask more. You’ll see.’

Tristafer laughed. ‘Come, Selyne, there is no need to be so harsh.’

Laurie spurred his horse and rode up between the pair. ‘Indeed, sweet sister. The All-God never made it a sin to possess an inquisitive mind.’

Selyne favoured him with a withering gaze. ‘And what of annoying your siblings? Did the All-God in his wisdom make that a sin?’

Laurie shook his head. ‘Nor that either, I’m afraid.’

‘Pity,’ Selyne said, turning back to the road ahead of them. She could not shake her imperious air, despite the common garb she wore. Laurie and Tristafer were dressed similarly, in trousers and roughspun shirts, and mostly looked the part. But on Selyne even the trews, light linen shirt and simple doublet looked regal. Her dark hair was for a change tamed, woven into a thick braid that reached almost to her saddle. She sat her horse as though born to it – unlike Laurie, who sat his a little like a drunkard aboard a ship in high seas.

Of all of us, she is the most like father, he thought as he watched her ride. The wind whipped his hair into his eyes once more, and he swiped it angrily away. And I the least.

He looked out to the point again, a notion suddenly striking him. ‘So then what of the ships?’ he asked Tristafer. ‘Do they simply run aground on the rocks?’

‘I imagine they know better, and steer well clear,’ Tristafer said. ‘These days most merchants have too much draught to cut so close to the shore, in any case. Though now and then a storm will fetch an unwary ship up onto the rocks.’

‘Does that happen very often?’

‘Every few years or so. When I was a boy I rode out there with my father to see the wreck of the Rose Queen. There wasn’t much left of her. A few spars of splintered wood, shreds of sailcloth. Only five men made it ashore.’

They rode in silence for some time after that. The Seaway stretched ahead of them, following the curve of the coast north, all the way to the shores of the Eastern Passage. Behind them it continued south almost as far as distant Vanyrr. Built by the Eiolan Empire when it had claimed ownership of a large part of what were now the Southern Kingdoms, it was still in good condition. A few weeds grew in the spaces between cobbles, but by and large they seemed as solid, Laurie imagined, as the day they had been laid.