Act 2.
Samson.
A widely recognised name of a warrior of great strength. It is quite possible that Samson may have been based on a real warrior. But not, I believe, who you would expect to find at the origin of a legend.
In the many documents that have been found, there are numerous references to a Dark Knight or sometimes the Black Knight, who had hair that nearly touched the ground. This knight had made a pact that as long as the knights hair was left to grow, there would be a directly proportional strength. In other words, the longer the hair the greater the strength.
This young knight is the sister of a neighbouring king and consequently his champion. Many of her adventures are riddle with feats of strength that defied the relatively small stature she has attributed to her by the texts.
Thus the need to explain it away with magical means...
"Queen’s Champion." pp 41.
"The Dark Knight?" repeated the queen.
Mikako’s eyes returned to their normal colour as she turned to the queen.
"That is what I said." she told her.
"What would she want, I wonder." said the Queen as she extricated herself from under the pile of bed linen.
Her face did not flinch as her bare feet touched the floor. Linda could never get used to the cold floors and always wore something on her feet, but the queen never seemed to notice.
"But since she is here." continued the queen, while changing, "We must be a good host and go to greet her properly.
She had chosen to wear her riding outfit, which was still rather well made and elaborate enough to be used in court but was still practical enough to not completely render the queen incapable of doing most tasks.
Mikako’s eyes narrowed as she saw the selection. She looked at Linda with a ‘do something’ look.
She had figured out, as Linda had, that the queen was readying herself to be able to leave at a moments notice. If the Dark Knight was paying them an unannounced visit, it could mean that there was something up and she wanted there help.
To other people, this meant danger. To the queen this meant an adventure and time away from her tedious duties. It was hard to say no to a queen and so she got away with a lot.
At least until Linda and Mikako showed up. Now she was having troubles getting her way, since it was Linda’s job to keep her safe. She still could threaten enough to have her way anyway, but Linda could be just as stubborn, and so her outings were less frequent than before, much to the joy of the court, who needed her to run the country.
"My queen." said Linda.
"Yes, Champion?" asked the queen, not looking at Linda as she continued dressed.
"You are not thinking of going out are you? It would not be appropriate at this time." said Linda.
"You do have a lot to do." continued Mikako. "And I still have to teach you how to act when the Ambassador arrives."
"Oh fie!" said the queen waving her hand in dismissal. "He will not arrive for a few more days, so we have time. And I am only wearing proper attire to greet our visitor. If she is coming to ask for assistance. I want to be sure we are ready for anything."
It was clear to the other two that she would not budge for now. They could only wait to see what the knight’s visit was about, and then see if they needed to do anything about the queen.
She finished dressing and beckoned the other two.
"Come. We must go and meet our guest." said the queen, as she walked toward the bedroom doors, flung them open and walked regally with head held high down the corridor and through the castle, followed closely by her Champion and Mage, to the main courtyard.
Along the way, all the courtiers and servants they met would bow as she passed. The queen may complain about her lot in life, but Linda knew she did like the attention and obedience she received from her people, and it could be seen in the smile she had as she walked.
They exited the castle and entered the courtyard. By this time the Dark Knight could be seen just off the horizon and getting closer.
"She is definitely in a hurry." said Mikako. "She is pushing her mount to its limits."
"It must be pretty bad for her to do that. She normally dotes on that horse and only asks it to work like that in emergencies." said Linda. "I don’t think we are going to like what she has to say."
They waited, and in a short while the knight entered the courtyard and brought her horse to a halt. She dismounted quickly while removing her helm.
Black hair flowed out from under the helm and fell away down her back to stop just shy of the ground.
Linda remembered the first time she had seen that hair. She had only been here a week and was just getting used to the idea of being the Queen’s Champion, when the Dark Knight arrived to contest a land dispute between her brother the king and the queen of these lands.
As the champion, Linda had to duel with the knight to decide the ownership of the land. She wasn’t sure she could do it but she had some fighting experience and she had felt like she was remembering something from a long time ago. Old memories almost. So she fought the Knight. and to everyone’s surprise, including her own, she had won. It had been the first defeat the Dark Knight had suffered.
That was when she had taken off her helmet and Linda saw all that hair. She had wondered how it fit under there, and was told that it had been created by her sorcerer brother to be able to stuff all of it inside.
In the courtyard the knight walked up to them and knelt in front of the queen.
"Your Highness." she said. "Forgive my unexpected arrival. I had not the time to send word of my coming."
"We accept the apology." said the queen. "But pray, tell us why you have come here."
"If I may speak with her Highness and her two advisers in private."said the knight.
"Very well. Follow." said the queen, as she turned back into the castle.
She walked to her chambers for private audiences and Linda closed the door behind them.
"Now Margaret." said the queen as she relaxed now that she was not being watched by the rest of the court. "What is the problem."
"It seems," said Margaret, "That your visitor from the east has brought some trouble to your doorstep."
She turned to Mikako.
"I am unclear as to what you may be referring too." she said. "Can you please elaborate?"
"Yes Margaret." said Linda. "I know you two don’t always get along but don’t let that cloud your judgement."
"It is not Champion, don’t worry about that." replied Margaret. "The visitor we had in our land was looking for someone that matched Mikako’s description very closely. And he was determined to not let anything or anyone get in the way. He would have destroyed a whole village if he had not been told where to find her."
"And I suppose you told him." said Mikako.
"Of course." said Margaret. "Better than letting him cause destruction looking for someone who isn’t there."
"And who is this person looking for my Mage." said the queen.
"Not a person." said Margaret. "A dragon."
"What?!" said both Linda and the queen at the same time.
Mikako didn’t flinch.
"I don’t suppose he was of a red colouring with a green stripe along his back, and two long whiskers emerging from his snout." she asked after a pause.
"Yes." said Margaret, looking at her suspiciously.
"Damn!"